Mirror Image (PD with Daren and Dalia)
A sloppy smirk attempted to march across the child's face as once more he'd managed to sneak bomb the darker haired girl beside him. Not that it mattered much. Both children were already the image of sand monsters with as much as they'd managed to cake on each other. Part of this was due to the fact the edges and deeper parts of the sandbox were still damp from a previous rain. It was winter afterall. It was a wonder what had been going through Raja's mind when he'd brought the children out with him.
What had he been thinking?
Oh well, they were playing and apparently having fun. Because rather than screeching and falling into tears as the sand being dumped in her unruly hair the girl splatted a new clump onto her brother's shirt before he was able to make an escape. Which only turned it into a sandmud war of clumps being shoved onto each others already mucked up clothes. Ever the competitive siblings weren't they?
A loud noise was heard suddenly. A slight roaring that came from far away and was getting nearer. But suddenly it stopped, just as quickly as it had started.
A young woman had just stopped a moped by the curb, near the park's entrance. In the sidecar were two baby seats, a pink haired girl in one and a blue haired boy in the other. Standing and removing her helmet the woman was revealed to be in her mid twenties and a redhead. Leaning down she unfastened the babies and carried them into the park area.
There weren't really many other children there-why would they be? It was winter, they'd probably be inside keeping warm- but there were two rather messy ones in the sandbox. Smiling she walked over, wondering if she should put the two down in it.
Etce squeaked and pointed. It was a girl and a boy duo-just like him and Etce- and they were fighting! He and his sister did that a lot! She liked to kick him and he'd try to bite her. That was fun. Ene also squeaked and pointed at the kiddlets.
Small fingers once again dug into the mess as Daren began to prepare the next retaliation in this war. Heaven forbid he let his sister win. Though he froze mid hand plant at the noise, ears flopping back against his head. His sister mimicked the behavior given him a look at only the other child understood. That was far too loud. Four hands drew up to cover their ears as the sound suddenly ceased.
As a set they both glanced in the direction that the whole issue had come from only to spot a girl and two other children. They looked a lot alike too... A momentary pause came from both before Daren gave a laugh that spelled trouble for all. Which was what caught Raja's attention.
Amber eyes glanced up from the paperwork he'd been finishing up to spot the woman and the children. Eh, not a problem. Just another mother stuck with an odd set, right? He'd met more than enough people around town to not spazz over it. Besides, it was a public sandbox. Not like he could complain. And those twins would be the ones at risk if they were put in there with Daren and Dalia. "For the record, I'm not responsible if your kids get turned into muck beasts." He mumbled quietly and turned his attention back to the paper in his hands.
Daren was far more positive about the appearance. He'd inched slowly over to be closer to that side of the box, long bushy tail waving to and fro in the sand as he starred up at them. What perplexing creatures. Dalia hadn't moved from her spot, but she too looked more than a bit curious about the two brightly colored creatures.
Ene looked down at the tail-wagging sand creature and giggled. Etce however chose now to be shy. "Don't worry. I don't think it'd hurt them." Kendra laughed, her long pointed ears wiggling as she spoke. Gently she put down the two children. Placing them both on the edge of the sandbox she watched for any signs that they were uncomfortable in that situation. However, contrary to that notion, Ene reached out one small hand and poked Daren. She didn't really know what he was so of course the girl was investigating.
Etce hid a bit behind his sister and peaked over at the other twins. They'd never seen children with tails before. Well they'd seen one, but Kaveri's tail was MUCH different from the one he could see on the boy. It confused him
Daren drew his head back a bit at the poke eyeing the child a moment before once more silently glancing at his sibling. This was a curious encounter indeed. How best to approach this. The blank stare receive from his sister didn't help. So eyes turned back to the young girl before him and a friendly poke back. That wasn't so much a poke as a handplant. He wasn't so good at being exact yet.
Dalia managed an inch forward, matching tail and ears flicking as she did. Though her eyes never left the two new creatures. She might have been a curious child, but caution ran in her unlike her sibling. Still, they seemed harmless enough and they were on her size level. They couldn't be too dangerous. But it didn't mean she'd stop using her brother shield yet.
Ene giggled at the handplant and poked Daren again. This was all great fun for her. But of course her sitting up to poke Daren exposed Etce more. He squeaked and tried to latch back onto his twin, which just landed the boy face first in the sand. He sat up, sputtering and whimpering.The blue haired child had never encountered sand before and didn't know what to make of it. The stuff was strange and now the usually very very clean little boy was dirty. His sister was getting dirty too but she, unlike her brother, had played in the garden with their "father" and was used to both getting dirty and feelings of things like dirt and sand. The boy looked around whimpering some more. His Mama had wandered over to lock her bike and make sure it was secured so he couldn't really cry to her for help. And of course poor Etce didn't know how to walk yet. So he was stuck.
Daren smirked at that. It was a war now. For this girl seemed similar to his sister in that she too returned actions. Which meant that he could not lose in anything to her. Another muddy print right back at the elflike girl, his tail continuing to drag back and forth across the sand as he played. This was quite fun, the child loved a good bit of competition. Even if he didn't entirely understand the reasoning behind why he had to poke her back.
Dalia's attention was drawn away from the counter with her brother as the blue haired thing landed face first in the sand. Curious indeed. A few testing slinks forward and then she simply advanced until he face was almost in his. Obviously she lacked a sense of personal space at her age. Likely not the best of things to do, seeing as she might have been muckier than her brother even due to the over zealousness of her sibling. Certainly Raja would spend an hour getting all the grit out of the child's hair.
Competition! Eneth knew EXACTLY what that was. Sitting up to her full height-a trick she'd learned from watching her mother deal with some of her friends-the girl used her weight to push Daren back into the sand. She wasn't strong enough to hurt him-nor was she trying to. This was a game and the smiling girl liked playing it. Prove who was the bigger and stronger. She played that with her brother and won quite a lot. Etce was a tough opponent as he could shriek like nobody's business and he liked to try and bite. Somehow he'd gotten very very strong jaws even though he had no teeth. Ene, being a rather competetive and rambuncious child liked being able to "fight" with people. She'd learned that from her Mommy as well. She waned to win this and show this bigger child that she was boss-and still have fun.
Etce fell back when Dalia got near him. This was a strange creature with a funny tail, just like the other one. He waited, trying to see if she was going to hurt him. If she was, he'd have to hurt her. If not, then things would be okay-or so he hoped.
Never! He wouldn't allow some smaller child to win the match. Ever as he was shoved back into the sand he was working to shove the other child back off. He wasn't so much a kicker or biting, but a tussler. He was also good at climbing up Ymir's face, but that wasn't good for much else. The fact of the matter here was that he wasn't about to give up without a fight.
Dalia smiled at the creature leaning over to stare at it closer when it fell back. Strange indeed. It was nothing like the other children at the house. Politely she reached out a hand to help the other child up, or something along that line. She probably wouldn't be much help, but she had the idea. and besides, wasn't this how you made a friend of someone? Doing something nice.
Ene giggled and did the one thing she could think to do in a situation like this. Took hold of a part of the other child that was readily in reach. In this case, it was Daren's tail, which she promptly began to hold tight once she realized that it was snuggly. She'd have to investigate this funny fuzzy thing when she was finished winning!
Etce blinked and took the hand, sitting up along with Dalia's help. It wasn't a mean creature! He was glad of that. She seemed nice. Etce smiled shyly at her and tried to make a sound to indicate that he was happy she'd helped him. Squeaks and whimpers weren't working though. But he remembered something...him Mama said it when their Daddy helped her or something. "pffffaaaaanku."he forced out. The word was strange and hard to squeeze out but it sounded right.
Latching onto things worked well. Both for getting what you wanted and in fights. Which caused a problem here. Just as Daren thought he might have gotten the upperhand his tail was suddenly held captive. This actually caused a pause in his movements for a moment before he tested the appendage's capture by yanking it. No good. Another one. Nope she still had it. He quickly took a bit of the fluffy thing in his own hands to try and tug it loose from the child, a slight frownon his face. He'd never had this problem before.
Dalia practically beamed as the offer was accepted along with the word that came next. "'Elcum." She chimed right back at him. It was something the rest of the family said when someone called out a thanks. So she knew to say it right back as the wierd person. She hadn't seen a pointy eared person like that before, which was part of why she'd been wary of him at first.
Yanking?! Oh no no no! That wasn't allowed! Ene had a favorite blanket, one that Etce sometimes tried to grab. So the girl would hold it tight and keep it close to her. She had a good grip. And she liked holding this fluffy thing! So she held tighter and pulled back. The girl was going to win this, one way or another.
Etcetera was very happy at this. The creature had understood him! And it was a female! He knew the sound of a female voice from hearing his Mama and her friends. Girls were nice to him. Except Ene. She was weird. He smiled at this bigger girl, his ears wiggling on the sides of his head. Maybe she'd be fun to play with.
Now it was almost a scowl. He wasn't free yet! A few more heavy pulls to try and get the striped plume of fluff loose. Sort of a 'Gimme!' look replaced the scowl on his face. It was a war indeed. He didn't fight with Dalia so much, but chasing around some of their more energetic siblings taught you a bit of endurance. Or at least stubbornness. He wasn't giving up his tail yet.
Dalia had little care if things were male or female. Though most of the family was male and so was her brother. So as it was she tended to be more comfortable around such things at the moment. Still, she didn't understand the true difference. Likely this was why she had no qualms about being a mess like her brother all the time. A lack of predjudice was a wonderful thing afterall. Speaking of her bother though... a brief glance in his direction showed that he was in the middle of mortal combat with the pink thing, over... his tail? The girl quickly hunched down a bit before dragging herown matching appendage up to cling to it protectively an eye the other child before her suspiciously. Was he a danger afterall? Perhaps they were tail snatchers?
Etce blinked at Ene strangely. What was she doing? He didn't get it. Gently he started to suck his thumb-not really knowing what else to do.
Ene decided to pull a trick her brother used on her to show she was the winner. She tried to bite Daren's tail. However the girl was a lot weaker then her brother in that respect. He had much stronger gums and jaws then she did. Had it been the younger-well one this situation wouldn't be an issue- twin Daren might be in severe pain right then. But luckily it was the girl so it only served to let Daren know that she was going to win this no matter what.
Daren had one piece of protection for his tail. Fluffy. And that was what saved him in this case. Though he still knew what biting was and a definite scowl formed. That was playing dirty. They got in trouble if they ever tried to play like that. So without much thought to if he had any right to it he did what usually came when they behaved badly. A swift whap to the girls head. Raja usually only did a for hard pokes to get the point across, but that didn't translate well in the child's head. So a sloppy hand came down to demonstrate the case of 'NO!' to the other child.
Dalia didn't understand much of it either. Or simply didn't care to step in. Her brother wasn't in any real danger, it wasn't as if the girl had claws. And no one had grabbed her tail... so it was ok. Right?
Ene had just been discovering the fluffy and how uncomfortable it was to have in her mouth when the hand descended. So she bit that instead-with more force. She couldn't really stand up so she knelt on the tail and used that to prop her up so she wouldn't lose her grip on the now bitten hand. And being a rather heavy baby, that was a very very bad thing for Daren. She tried to make a growling sound and dig her small fingers into the bigger boy's arm to hold him. Her mama had forgotten to clip her nails again so it was a bit annoying. But being a baby it couldn't seriously hurt him.
When his sister made that movement Etce squeaked and hid behind Dalia. She seemed bigger and more in charge then he so she was a logical choice to hide behind. At least to him. He was usually very social but Daren scared him.
There was a moment of shock and disbelief from the child as first when the mouth closed on his hand. Then a quick yelp and frantic tugging to try and get it loose. It wasn't long before he'd given up on just dragging and tugging his arm, which was rather tiring, and kicked out with his legs at the girl. This wasn't about winning anymore but getting out without injury. She was a bad girl. Like brother Nu sometimes spoke about. Bad people were... bad?
Dalia's ears fell back as she watched the girl fingers digging into her tail a bit as she tried to decide if she should help. It wasn't her place to step in, but... she didn't want something happening to Daren. Still, in the end her timid side won for now and she hunkered down, becoming a bit of a shield for Etce for the time being.
However help did come in the form of a very loud and powerful female voice. "ENETH!" and within a moment Kendra's long legs carried her over to the sand box to remove her child from the other. This frightened Etce even more as he'd NEVER seen Kendra angry. Removing her charge from the other child she lifted Eneth over her shoulder and gave her a hard smack on the rear. The child whimpered, cowed at the fury of her mother. If she obeyed anyone it'd be Kendra.
Carrying the girl over to where Raja was she spoke in a somewhat annoyed tone. "I'm really sorry but would you be able to check on him? I was dealing with my bike and I didn't notice Eneth getting into a fight with the one child. I'm not sure if he's okay or not and I have to deal with her. She's never acted up like this and I haven't got a clue how to deal with children in these kinds of situations." the woman was rather flustered. Ene was never THIS bad.
Daren was about to try shoving a muddy food in the direction of the girl when the loud voiced woman intefered. Moments later the other child was drug up and away and he was rubbing a hand sloppily over the reddish skin. No real wounds, but he wasn't happy. Still, an idea occured to him that drug a sliy smile across his face even as he nursed the wound. He won. She'd lost be default for cheating. So he won the competition.
Raja glanced up at the woman from his paperwork only having half noticed what went on. He'd heard the noise just fine and had thought nothing of it. He was the father of Keanu, the hell raising toddler of doom, nothing surprised him anymore. Nothing. So for a moment he glanced in the drection of Daren eyeing the child before shaking his head. "He's fine. He'd be plenty loud if he was hurt." The confident face said it all. Pure trouble. "Don't worry to much about it." This was kind of akward... it was usually him appologizing for his child. Then he glanced toward the older woman. "I've learned one thing... sometimes kids are unpredictable." Oh god did he know that...
Dalia felt it was clear not to scoot over toward her brother and investigate the wound. A quick prod earned her a scowl from the boy which was returned. That was one thing, she rarely let him win too easily.
Etce blinked a few times before looking up at his mommy. She'd taken his sister away cause she was bad. He would have to be nice to these two. Not that he minded being nice to the girl. He attempted to crawl over and hug Daren. He didnt' really know what that'd entail but he figured he'd try to say sorry to the boy for his sister being bad. "suwi" he tried to mumble. It was hard to get these funny word things out. and he was just so small and didn't know how to manage them! They were big words!
Eneth was throwing a hissy fit on her mother's lap. Now that Kendra was calmer the girl was less scared to. And the boy had won! That made her mad. She tried to bite Kendra but the woman wouldn't show any emotion about that. She'd simply sat down near Raja and kept her hand in the girl's mouth. At least it hushed her and the child would eventually tire.
"For the record..." the man started, watching the three children in the box a moment more before defining that it was safe to assume no more problems. "Daren might have started it." Wasn't entirely impossible. Daren was a handful, he just might have known when the playing was getting too rouge. Though it was really hard to define.
Daren blinked cluelessly at the hug at first before giving the other child a smile. He was still rubbing his arm, so the gesture wasn't returned. Still, a new thought formed in his mind. So beating another twin meant you got their sibling? This could be interesting... he might get an army of them with time. It took only a second for the good this could do to set in and a smirk that screamed of possible world domination appeared on his face. Which probably meant he was thinking he could get an army to bring him cookies in reality.
Dalia momentarily glanced toward the child being restrained in mild curiosity. Yep. That's what happened when you were bad. You got in trouble. "Tahmouh." Was the word that escaped the girl. She heard it a lot when Arianna misbehaved. Though the young harpy was often put in her room rather than held. The clawed feet had something to do with that.
Etce sat back down and looked up at the two bigger children. He didn't know what to do now. He wiggled his ears again and pointed at the older boy's tail with a big questioning look in his face. He tried to squeak another word but didn't succed. Seemed the only ones he'd be able to use-with a ton of effort- were suwi and fanku. Poor little one. That frustrated him. He wanted to know about the boy's tail! It was interesting and looked like one on a stuffed animal.
Kendra looked over at Raja. "I'm just not used to this I guess. I didn't expect to get kids and this is only the 3rd time they've ever seen other children. The only kids they've fought is eachothre and her brother will usually shreik for me when she even gets close to starting a real fight."
Raja scribbled in a few notes on the paper while nodding his head. "You'll learn. Believe me." Because he had. "I raised a kid who wouldn't stop running off. He also walked in front of cares, and in general caused more trouble than anything ever should." Oh yes... they all learned. "Daren and Dalia just have stare downs really, but they brother plays with them sometimes."
Daren glanced down at his tail as the child pointed at it. He didn't want it too did he? He wasn't giving a servant his tail. Mainly because the thing didn't come off, but it was his afterall. Just like the other child was now his. "Mine." He quickly stated with a nod, padding the mucky thing with a hand.
The girl had tugged her own tail closer as they became a focus of attention again. She didn't want it getting pulled at all. Though she nodded faintly in agreeance with her brother as he spoke. Yes, their fluffies.
Etce shook his head and tried to ask what it was again. "uuuuuwhaasaat!" he finally whimpered pointing at the tail. "whasat whasat" he repeated trying to indicate what he wanted to know.
Kendra shrugged. "Hopefully I will. I only have so long before......." she trailed off rubbing her forhead.
The boy frowned at the question. What was it? "Mah tail." He stated bluntly. That's what it was. He didn't think of it as anything more than a tail, and having one was normal. Nu had one, Tsuya too. So did Riri. And daddy too. So tails were completely normal.
"Hmmn?" He really wasn't one to pry, though the statement did drag up a curiosity. One he quickly beat down. "You will. Children have a way of being great teachers." That's one thing he knew. Like learning that there was such a thing as a harness and leash for children. Oh that would have been lovely to know when Keanu was a toddler.
"Whassat?" he repeated, now getting more used to this word. He cocked his head as he spoke. What was a tail? He'd never heard that word. Mommy didn't have one. And Daddy didn't have one. And Ene didn't have one. Kaveri had one but he hadn't heard it called a tail. It wasn't like their tails. It was a body. This thing was like what was on his stuffed animal. Reaching into the pocket of his small hoodied outfit he pulled out his favorite plushie. It was a purple creature that looked like a long skinny raccoon. The tail was like that. He pointed at the tail and cocked his head. "sat?" the word was still hard to get out even if he was getting used to it.
Both children eyed the toy curious. He wanted to know what their tails were, but they'd already explained it. It was a tail. A tail was a tail. They didn't have another word for it. Still, as the toy emerged it was undeniable to say that the tail thing was similar to theirs. Daren was the first to reach out to prod it. "Me tail-" the boy was interrupted as his sister spoke up at that. "sss gooder." She mumbled shaking her head at it. Afterall, they could move their tails. Plushie things could not.
He still didn't get it. He shook his head and started to sob. This was confusing and frustrating! The poor baby just wanted a nap right then! A big long nap!
Kendra hopped up and walked over to the boy when he started to cry. His sister had calmed down and fallen asleep at that point and he was obviously ready for a nap. Gently reaching out she picked up the boy and smiled. "Maybe these two will come and play when they're bigger and better behaved. Right now I think I'd better put them down for a nap." turning to Raja she nodded her head with a smile. "And thanks for the wisedom. Maybe I'll see you around."
A sloppy smirk attempted to march across the child's face as once more he'd managed to sneak bomb the darker haired girl beside him. Not that it mattered much. Both children were already the image of sand monsters with as much as they'd managed to cake on each other. Part of this was due to the fact the edges and deeper parts of the sandbox were still damp from a previous rain. It was winter afterall. It was a wonder what had been going through Raja's mind when he'd brought the children out with him.
What had he been thinking?
Oh well, they were playing and apparently having fun. Because rather than screeching and falling into tears as the sand being dumped in her unruly hair the girl splatted a new clump onto her brother's shirt before he was able to make an escape. Which only turned it into a sandmud war of clumps being shoved onto each others already mucked up clothes. Ever the competitive siblings weren't they?
A loud noise was heard suddenly. A slight roaring that came from far away and was getting nearer. But suddenly it stopped, just as quickly as it had started.
A young woman had just stopped a moped by the curb, near the park's entrance. In the sidecar were two baby seats, a pink haired girl in one and a blue haired boy in the other. Standing and removing her helmet the woman was revealed to be in her mid twenties and a redhead. Leaning down she unfastened the babies and carried them into the park area.
There weren't really many other children there-why would they be? It was winter, they'd probably be inside keeping warm- but there were two rather messy ones in the sandbox. Smiling she walked over, wondering if she should put the two down in it.
Etce squeaked and pointed. It was a girl and a boy duo-just like him and Etce- and they were fighting! He and his sister did that a lot! She liked to kick him and he'd try to bite her. That was fun. Ene also squeaked and pointed at the kiddlets.
Small fingers once again dug into the mess as Daren began to prepare the next retaliation in this war. Heaven forbid he let his sister win. Though he froze mid hand plant at the noise, ears flopping back against his head. His sister mimicked the behavior given him a look at only the other child understood. That was far too loud. Four hands drew up to cover their ears as the sound suddenly ceased.
As a set they both glanced in the direction that the whole issue had come from only to spot a girl and two other children. They looked a lot alike too... A momentary pause came from both before Daren gave a laugh that spelled trouble for all. Which was what caught Raja's attention.
Amber eyes glanced up from the paperwork he'd been finishing up to spot the woman and the children. Eh, not a problem. Just another mother stuck with an odd set, right? He'd met more than enough people around town to not spazz over it. Besides, it was a public sandbox. Not like he could complain. And those twins would be the ones at risk if they were put in there with Daren and Dalia. "For the record, I'm not responsible if your kids get turned into muck beasts." He mumbled quietly and turned his attention back to the paper in his hands.
Daren was far more positive about the appearance. He'd inched slowly over to be closer to that side of the box, long bushy tail waving to and fro in the sand as he starred up at them. What perplexing creatures. Dalia hadn't moved from her spot, but she too looked more than a bit curious about the two brightly colored creatures.
Ene looked down at the tail-wagging sand creature and giggled. Etce however chose now to be shy. "Don't worry. I don't think it'd hurt them." Kendra laughed, her long pointed ears wiggling as she spoke. Gently she put down the two children. Placing them both on the edge of the sandbox she watched for any signs that they were uncomfortable in that situation. However, contrary to that notion, Ene reached out one small hand and poked Daren. She didn't really know what he was so of course the girl was investigating.
Etce hid a bit behind his sister and peaked over at the other twins. They'd never seen children with tails before. Well they'd seen one, but Kaveri's tail was MUCH different from the one he could see on the boy. It confused him
Daren drew his head back a bit at the poke eyeing the child a moment before once more silently glancing at his sibling. This was a curious encounter indeed. How best to approach this. The blank stare receive from his sister didn't help. So eyes turned back to the young girl before him and a friendly poke back. That wasn't so much a poke as a handplant. He wasn't so good at being exact yet.
Dalia managed an inch forward, matching tail and ears flicking as she did. Though her eyes never left the two new creatures. She might have been a curious child, but caution ran in her unlike her sibling. Still, they seemed harmless enough and they were on her size level. They couldn't be too dangerous. But it didn't mean she'd stop using her brother shield yet.
Ene giggled at the handplant and poked Daren again. This was all great fun for her. But of course her sitting up to poke Daren exposed Etce more. He squeaked and tried to latch back onto his twin, which just landed the boy face first in the sand. He sat up, sputtering and whimpering.The blue haired child had never encountered sand before and didn't know what to make of it. The stuff was strange and now the usually very very clean little boy was dirty. His sister was getting dirty too but she, unlike her brother, had played in the garden with their "father" and was used to both getting dirty and feelings of things like dirt and sand. The boy looked around whimpering some more. His Mama had wandered over to lock her bike and make sure it was secured so he couldn't really cry to her for help. And of course poor Etce didn't know how to walk yet. So he was stuck.
Daren smirked at that. It was a war now. For this girl seemed similar to his sister in that she too returned actions. Which meant that he could not lose in anything to her. Another muddy print right back at the elflike girl, his tail continuing to drag back and forth across the sand as he played. This was quite fun, the child loved a good bit of competition. Even if he didn't entirely understand the reasoning behind why he had to poke her back.
Dalia's attention was drawn away from the counter with her brother as the blue haired thing landed face first in the sand. Curious indeed. A few testing slinks forward and then she simply advanced until he face was almost in his. Obviously she lacked a sense of personal space at her age. Likely not the best of things to do, seeing as she might have been muckier than her brother even due to the over zealousness of her sibling. Certainly Raja would spend an hour getting all the grit out of the child's hair.
Competition! Eneth knew EXACTLY what that was. Sitting up to her full height-a trick she'd learned from watching her mother deal with some of her friends-the girl used her weight to push Daren back into the sand. She wasn't strong enough to hurt him-nor was she trying to. This was a game and the smiling girl liked playing it. Prove who was the bigger and stronger. She played that with her brother and won quite a lot. Etce was a tough opponent as he could shriek like nobody's business and he liked to try and bite. Somehow he'd gotten very very strong jaws even though he had no teeth. Ene, being a rather competetive and rambuncious child liked being able to "fight" with people. She'd learned that from her Mommy as well. She waned to win this and show this bigger child that she was boss-and still have fun.
Etce fell back when Dalia got near him. This was a strange creature with a funny tail, just like the other one. He waited, trying to see if she was going to hurt him. If she was, he'd have to hurt her. If not, then things would be okay-or so he hoped.
Never! He wouldn't allow some smaller child to win the match. Ever as he was shoved back into the sand he was working to shove the other child back off. He wasn't so much a kicker or biting, but a tussler. He was also good at climbing up Ymir's face, but that wasn't good for much else. The fact of the matter here was that he wasn't about to give up without a fight.
Dalia smiled at the creature leaning over to stare at it closer when it fell back. Strange indeed. It was nothing like the other children at the house. Politely she reached out a hand to help the other child up, or something along that line. She probably wouldn't be much help, but she had the idea. and besides, wasn't this how you made a friend of someone? Doing something nice.
Ene giggled and did the one thing she could think to do in a situation like this. Took hold of a part of the other child that was readily in reach. In this case, it was Daren's tail, which she promptly began to hold tight once she realized that it was snuggly. She'd have to investigate this funny fuzzy thing when she was finished winning!
Etce blinked and took the hand, sitting up along with Dalia's help. It wasn't a mean creature! He was glad of that. She seemed nice. Etce smiled shyly at her and tried to make a sound to indicate that he was happy she'd helped him. Squeaks and whimpers weren't working though. But he remembered something...him Mama said it when their Daddy helped her or something. "pffffaaaaanku."he forced out. The word was strange and hard to squeeze out but it sounded right.
Latching onto things worked well. Both for getting what you wanted and in fights. Which caused a problem here. Just as Daren thought he might have gotten the upperhand his tail was suddenly held captive. This actually caused a pause in his movements for a moment before he tested the appendage's capture by yanking it. No good. Another one. Nope she still had it. He quickly took a bit of the fluffy thing in his own hands to try and tug it loose from the child, a slight frownon his face. He'd never had this problem before.
Dalia practically beamed as the offer was accepted along with the word that came next. "'Elcum." She chimed right back at him. It was something the rest of the family said when someone called out a thanks. So she knew to say it right back as the wierd person. She hadn't seen a pointy eared person like that before, which was part of why she'd been wary of him at first.
Yanking?! Oh no no no! That wasn't allowed! Ene had a favorite blanket, one that Etce sometimes tried to grab. So the girl would hold it tight and keep it close to her. She had a good grip. And she liked holding this fluffy thing! So she held tighter and pulled back. The girl was going to win this, one way or another.
Etcetera was very happy at this. The creature had understood him! And it was a female! He knew the sound of a female voice from hearing his Mama and her friends. Girls were nice to him. Except Ene. She was weird. He smiled at this bigger girl, his ears wiggling on the sides of his head. Maybe she'd be fun to play with.
Now it was almost a scowl. He wasn't free yet! A few more heavy pulls to try and get the striped plume of fluff loose. Sort of a 'Gimme!' look replaced the scowl on his face. It was a war indeed. He didn't fight with Dalia so much, but chasing around some of their more energetic siblings taught you a bit of endurance. Or at least stubbornness. He wasn't giving up his tail yet.
Dalia had little care if things were male or female. Though most of the family was male and so was her brother. So as it was she tended to be more comfortable around such things at the moment. Still, she didn't understand the true difference. Likely this was why she had no qualms about being a mess like her brother all the time. A lack of predjudice was a wonderful thing afterall. Speaking of her bother though... a brief glance in his direction showed that he was in the middle of mortal combat with the pink thing, over... his tail? The girl quickly hunched down a bit before dragging herown matching appendage up to cling to it protectively an eye the other child before her suspiciously. Was he a danger afterall? Perhaps they were tail snatchers?
Etce blinked at Ene strangely. What was she doing? He didn't get it. Gently he started to suck his thumb-not really knowing what else to do.
Ene decided to pull a trick her brother used on her to show she was the winner. She tried to bite Daren's tail. However the girl was a lot weaker then her brother in that respect. He had much stronger gums and jaws then she did. Had it been the younger-well one this situation wouldn't be an issue- twin Daren might be in severe pain right then. But luckily it was the girl so it only served to let Daren know that she was going to win this no matter what.
Daren had one piece of protection for his tail. Fluffy. And that was what saved him in this case. Though he still knew what biting was and a definite scowl formed. That was playing dirty. They got in trouble if they ever tried to play like that. So without much thought to if he had any right to it he did what usually came when they behaved badly. A swift whap to the girls head. Raja usually only did a for hard pokes to get the point across, but that didn't translate well in the child's head. So a sloppy hand came down to demonstrate the case of 'NO!' to the other child.
Dalia didn't understand much of it either. Or simply didn't care to step in. Her brother wasn't in any real danger, it wasn't as if the girl had claws. And no one had grabbed her tail... so it was ok. Right?
Ene had just been discovering the fluffy and how uncomfortable it was to have in her mouth when the hand descended. So she bit that instead-with more force. She couldn't really stand up so she knelt on the tail and used that to prop her up so she wouldn't lose her grip on the now bitten hand. And being a rather heavy baby, that was a very very bad thing for Daren. She tried to make a growling sound and dig her small fingers into the bigger boy's arm to hold him. Her mama had forgotten to clip her nails again so it was a bit annoying. But being a baby it couldn't seriously hurt him.
When his sister made that movement Etce squeaked and hid behind Dalia. She seemed bigger and more in charge then he so she was a logical choice to hide behind. At least to him. He was usually very social but Daren scared him.
There was a moment of shock and disbelief from the child as first when the mouth closed on his hand. Then a quick yelp and frantic tugging to try and get it loose. It wasn't long before he'd given up on just dragging and tugging his arm, which was rather tiring, and kicked out with his legs at the girl. This wasn't about winning anymore but getting out without injury. She was a bad girl. Like brother Nu sometimes spoke about. Bad people were... bad?
Dalia's ears fell back as she watched the girl fingers digging into her tail a bit as she tried to decide if she should help. It wasn't her place to step in, but... she didn't want something happening to Daren. Still, in the end her timid side won for now and she hunkered down, becoming a bit of a shield for Etce for the time being.
However help did come in the form of a very loud and powerful female voice. "ENETH!" and within a moment Kendra's long legs carried her over to the sand box to remove her child from the other. This frightened Etce even more as he'd NEVER seen Kendra angry. Removing her charge from the other child she lifted Eneth over her shoulder and gave her a hard smack on the rear. The child whimpered, cowed at the fury of her mother. If she obeyed anyone it'd be Kendra.
Carrying the girl over to where Raja was she spoke in a somewhat annoyed tone. "I'm really sorry but would you be able to check on him? I was dealing with my bike and I didn't notice Eneth getting into a fight with the one child. I'm not sure if he's okay or not and I have to deal with her. She's never acted up like this and I haven't got a clue how to deal with children in these kinds of situations." the woman was rather flustered. Ene was never THIS bad.
Daren was about to try shoving a muddy food in the direction of the girl when the loud voiced woman intefered. Moments later the other child was drug up and away and he was rubbing a hand sloppily over the reddish skin. No real wounds, but he wasn't happy. Still, an idea occured to him that drug a sliy smile across his face even as he nursed the wound. He won. She'd lost be default for cheating. So he won the competition.
Raja glanced up at the woman from his paperwork only having half noticed what went on. He'd heard the noise just fine and had thought nothing of it. He was the father of Keanu, the hell raising toddler of doom, nothing surprised him anymore. Nothing. So for a moment he glanced in the drection of Daren eyeing the child before shaking his head. "He's fine. He'd be plenty loud if he was hurt." The confident face said it all. Pure trouble. "Don't worry to much about it." This was kind of akward... it was usually him appologizing for his child. Then he glanced toward the older woman. "I've learned one thing... sometimes kids are unpredictable." Oh god did he know that...
Dalia felt it was clear not to scoot over toward her brother and investigate the wound. A quick prod earned her a scowl from the boy which was returned. That was one thing, she rarely let him win too easily.
Etce blinked a few times before looking up at his mommy. She'd taken his sister away cause she was bad. He would have to be nice to these two. Not that he minded being nice to the girl. He attempted to crawl over and hug Daren. He didnt' really know what that'd entail but he figured he'd try to say sorry to the boy for his sister being bad. "suwi" he tried to mumble. It was hard to get these funny word things out. and he was just so small and didn't know how to manage them! They were big words!
Eneth was throwing a hissy fit on her mother's lap. Now that Kendra was calmer the girl was less scared to. And the boy had won! That made her mad. She tried to bite Kendra but the woman wouldn't show any emotion about that. She'd simply sat down near Raja and kept her hand in the girl's mouth. At least it hushed her and the child would eventually tire.
"For the record..." the man started, watching the three children in the box a moment more before defining that it was safe to assume no more problems. "Daren might have started it." Wasn't entirely impossible. Daren was a handful, he just might have known when the playing was getting too rouge. Though it was really hard to define.
Daren blinked cluelessly at the hug at first before giving the other child a smile. He was still rubbing his arm, so the gesture wasn't returned. Still, a new thought formed in his mind. So beating another twin meant you got their sibling? This could be interesting... he might get an army of them with time. It took only a second for the good this could do to set in and a smirk that screamed of possible world domination appeared on his face. Which probably meant he was thinking he could get an army to bring him cookies in reality.
Dalia momentarily glanced toward the child being restrained in mild curiosity. Yep. That's what happened when you were bad. You got in trouble. "Tahmouh." Was the word that escaped the girl. She heard it a lot when Arianna misbehaved. Though the young harpy was often put in her room rather than held. The clawed feet had something to do with that.
Etce sat back down and looked up at the two bigger children. He didn't know what to do now. He wiggled his ears again and pointed at the older boy's tail with a big questioning look in his face. He tried to squeak another word but didn't succed. Seemed the only ones he'd be able to use-with a ton of effort- were suwi and fanku. Poor little one. That frustrated him. He wanted to know about the boy's tail! It was interesting and looked like one on a stuffed animal.
Kendra looked over at Raja. "I'm just not used to this I guess. I didn't expect to get kids and this is only the 3rd time they've ever seen other children. The only kids they've fought is eachothre and her brother will usually shreik for me when she even gets close to starting a real fight."
Raja scribbled in a few notes on the paper while nodding his head. "You'll learn. Believe me." Because he had. "I raised a kid who wouldn't stop running off. He also walked in front of cares, and in general caused more trouble than anything ever should." Oh yes... they all learned. "Daren and Dalia just have stare downs really, but they brother plays with them sometimes."
Daren glanced down at his tail as the child pointed at it. He didn't want it too did he? He wasn't giving a servant his tail. Mainly because the thing didn't come off, but it was his afterall. Just like the other child was now his. "Mine." He quickly stated with a nod, padding the mucky thing with a hand.
The girl had tugged her own tail closer as they became a focus of attention again. She didn't want it getting pulled at all. Though she nodded faintly in agreeance with her brother as he spoke. Yes, their fluffies.
Etce shook his head and tried to ask what it was again. "uuuuuwhaasaat!" he finally whimpered pointing at the tail. "whasat whasat" he repeated trying to indicate what he wanted to know.
Kendra shrugged. "Hopefully I will. I only have so long before......." she trailed off rubbing her forhead.
The boy frowned at the question. What was it? "Mah tail." He stated bluntly. That's what it was. He didn't think of it as anything more than a tail, and having one was normal. Nu had one, Tsuya too. So did Riri. And daddy too. So tails were completely normal.
"Hmmn?" He really wasn't one to pry, though the statement did drag up a curiosity. One he quickly beat down. "You will. Children have a way of being great teachers." That's one thing he knew. Like learning that there was such a thing as a harness and leash for children. Oh that would have been lovely to know when Keanu was a toddler.
"Whassat?" he repeated, now getting more used to this word. He cocked his head as he spoke. What was a tail? He'd never heard that word. Mommy didn't have one. And Daddy didn't have one. And Ene didn't have one. Kaveri had one but he hadn't heard it called a tail. It wasn't like their tails. It was a body. This thing was like what was on his stuffed animal. Reaching into the pocket of his small hoodied outfit he pulled out his favorite plushie. It was a purple creature that looked like a long skinny raccoon. The tail was like that. He pointed at the tail and cocked his head. "sat?" the word was still hard to get out even if he was getting used to it.
Both children eyed the toy curious. He wanted to know what their tails were, but they'd already explained it. It was a tail. A tail was a tail. They didn't have another word for it. Still, as the toy emerged it was undeniable to say that the tail thing was similar to theirs. Daren was the first to reach out to prod it. "Me tail-" the boy was interrupted as his sister spoke up at that. "sss gooder." She mumbled shaking her head at it. Afterall, they could move their tails. Plushie things could not.
He still didn't get it. He shook his head and started to sob. This was confusing and frustrating! The poor baby just wanted a nap right then! A big long nap!
Kendra hopped up and walked over to the boy when he started to cry. His sister had calmed down and fallen asleep at that point and he was obviously ready for a nap. Gently reaching out she picked up the boy and smiled. "Maybe these two will come and play when they're bigger and better behaved. Right now I think I'd better put them down for a nap." turning to Raja she nodded her head with a smile. "And thanks for the wisedom. Maybe I'll see you around."
