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 Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:41 pm
A Winner Is You
October 15, 2006 They had said it couldn't be done.
No one had ever dared to enter the Gaian Origami Society's Annual Paper Airplane Flying Contest with glitter on their plane. But this year, someone had dared and that someone had won.
His name was Jimmy, and he was seven years old. Upon hearing the announcement, his father - who had never won anything in his life - hoisted little Jimmy up onto his shoulders and carried the boy off to Sven's Pizzeria for an impromptu party. The crowd followed, every last one of them chanting "JIM-MY JIM-MY JIM-MY," adoration evident on each and every upturned, smiling face. Jimmy's winning plane lay abandoned on the ground, a light breeze fluttering its wings and causing it to shimmer like blacktop under a streetlight.
Smerdle sat on a wooden bench several feet away from the departing insanity, staring at the prize-winning plane, eyes slit in a combination of curiosity and mild annoyance. As long as she was looking directly at it, the plane looked just like a plane - shiny, but simple paper all the same. But as soon as she turned her head, or caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye... Something was living in that plane, she would swear it.
As the last echoes of "JIM-MY" faded down the street, Smerdle broke from her staring contest with the inanimate object and stretched, sighing as her spine snapped out of hours of disuse. She hoisted her laptop bag onto her shoulder and took a tentative step away from the plane, keeping her eyes focused on something else entirely. The jolly squiggle of light in her periphery danced and bobbed as if it was trying to get her attention again. Yup. The plane was alive.
Against her better judgment - not that Smerdle had much of that, but she had heard stories of children popping out of the strangest things around here - she hurried over to the plane, snatching it off of the ground and roughly examining the folds for mini glowsticks or light bulbs. As soon as she touched it, impish laughter bounced through her brain, bringing with it the feeling of flight and the thrill of competition.
"Yes, you won," Smerdle whispered, a smile crossing her lips.
The spirit exuded a wave of indignation. Of course it had won.
Smerdle glanced around the convention center courtyard as she folded the plane up and slipped it into her bag. No one was likely to miss a simple paper airplane, winner or not, and she was too curious to leave it behind.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:42 pm
My Name is Shye Smerdle, and I'm a Mighty Pirate
October 15, 2006 The cavern was dark, the only light tinged blue and emanating from the snow that surrounded her. She knew the flame-bearded pirate was on her trail, it was just a question as to when he would arrive. Smerdle searched her pockets; an oily rope, a small keg of gunpowder, some pepper. It was worth a shot. She jammed one end of the rope into the keg and flung the other over the edge of the short cliff she was perched on. Then she wiggled the keg into the crook of a frozen yeti's arm that just happened to be nearby. She sincerely hoped it wouldn't wake up, 'cause that would kind of suck.
Now for the tricky part. Smerdle carefully slid back down the icy slope, positioning the dangling, oily rope between herself and the tracks of the roller coaster o' doom. She spent a few long seconds pondering how she would work the pepper grinder while also managing to catch some in her other hand, but when she got to grinding she found she could work up a respectable handful with barely any contorting at all.
From down the tunnel, Smerdle heard a whoosh and watched as the tracks were illuminated with an ominous, firey glow. Her final test. The pirate jumped out of his speeding roller coaster car, landing with a flutter of dirty, smelly cloth. He smirked, and the expression was lit by his fiercely burning facial hair. Smerdle smirked as well, right before she brought the fistful of pepper up to her mouth and blew. A black cloud surrounded the pirate's face, and Smerdle backed up, preparing herself for the inevitable.
The pirate twitched and gasped and finally sneezed. A flicker of burning beard launched from his cheek and landed perfectly on the end of the rope. Smerdle couldn't have planned it better.
"YEAH!" she screamed. The paper airplane flickered with shared triumph. It sat on the bed next to Smerdle's laptop, a skull bandanna draped over its length. It was never too early to prepare Halloween costumes. Smerdle was a winner. The game had been beaten, and now it was time for the soda. "I'll be right back," she said to no one in particular.
Smerdle was gone just long enough for her game's end credits to roll. When she returned, there was a sleeping baby on her bed, partially covered by her festive bandanna. Somehow she wasn't terribly surprised.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:47 pm
Shye and Ziya
October 20, 2006 Azhar sat in the park watching Ziya crawl about the sandpit. It amused him, they come all this way to give him a bit of a change in environment and all he wanted to do was play in the sand as though he didn't live surrounded by it.
Azhar smiled and glanced around, he usually hated the large towns and cities but this Oasis amongst the chaos was quite pleasant. All around children and families seemed to be having fun and relaxing from the usual daily grind.
Ziya was building a sand castle, or rather a sand hill, across the sandpit he spotted an older child using a bucket and spade. They had a much better castle. Sitting back he contemplated how he could get such useful equipment.
Smerdle had always enjoyed aimless running. As a child, she had indulged in a good old-fashioned sprint around the block whenever she liked, but adults had little reason to engage in such activities, and until very recently, she had been trying to emulate one. Shye was good for many things - laughing, crapping himself, playing peek-a-boo - but the thing Smerdle enjoyed most about the kid was that he gave her excuses.
So that was how they passed the sandbox; Smerdle jogging, eyes bright and smile firmly on face, and Shye sitting up in his garage sale red wagon, wings fluttering behind him. They were a streak of bright colors and clanging metal until the baby screamed.
Smerdle skidded to a stop. "What?!" she asked, following Shye's stubby, pointing finger to another boy, a pretty normal looking kid until you got to his feet, which were kind of flaking off. Interesting. "All right, come on. Socialization!" Smerdle lifted Shye out of the wagon and carried him the few short feet to the edge of the sand.
"Oh, hey," she said to Azhar. He was so quiet and she... really wasn't. She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry to bother you. I can be quiet, really."
Azhar looked up at the noise and blinked at the rather vibrant girl and her tiny companion. He smiled, the baby appeared to be not quite what he seemed, like Ziya maybe?
"Hello." He said with a polite smile making room on the bench. This was an interesting occurance. "And it is no bother at all. I'm rather used to noise." He smirked nodding to Ziya. "Not that you were being noisey" He covered so as not to be rude and looked up.
Ziya noticed the new boy immediatly. Not like the other boring children in the park. Maybe he could help him find a bucket. Grinning he started to crawl over to the dark skinned newcomer. "Want one?" He asked with a purpose pointing to the kid with the big castle.
"That's okay, we kind of were," Smerdle said, her smile still wide. She slid onto the bench next to Azhar and pulled back her knitted cap from where it had flopped over into her eyes. "It sure is a nice day," she sighed, stating the obvious. "I'm Smerdle. Raquel actually, but no one calls me that." She held out her hand to shake, if he was so inclined.
Shye looked over at the well-made castle and nodded slowly in response to Ziya's question. He didn't have a very good grasp of spoken language yet, none at all actually, but he understood a surprising amount based on body language and tone of voice. People could be ridiculously easy to follow when they weren't necessarily trying too hard. The pointing helped too. Shye scooted closer and added a few small fists of sand to Ziya's pile before momentarily glaring at the older child's awesome sand castle tools. They needed some of those. He flapped a bit to fall over onto his hands and knees before crawling over to the bucket and placing his sand-covered hands on it. He and his new friend would build a sand fortress. Surely this other boy would see that his bucket was going toward a good cause!
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Azhar said with a smile, reaching out to shake her hand and look back to where Shye and Ziya seemed to be getting along. "My name is Azhar." He continued, looking back to the girl. "I hope you don't think this a rude question, but how did you come across your child?" he asked, slightly unsure as to how she might take the wording of his question. "Assuming you did just, some across him, it's just ... he seems so much like my foundling."
Ziya watched Shye with interest as he moved with his wings and on his hands and knees to borrow the bucket from the other child. It wasn't even as though the older child needed the bucket. He was bigger and he had a spade.
Clapping, Ziya grinned at Shye in thanks and started to scoop up more sand, moving his hands together like a bulldozer.
"Oh, hey, you too?" Smerdle reclaimed her hand from Azhar's friendly shake and clasped it in her lap with excitement. "He used to be the winner of a paper airplane flying contest," she said, unaware of how ridiculous that might sound. "Like the plane, not the kid who made it or anything. He was kind of glowing out of the corner of my eye, and when I picked the plane up, I knew there was someone in there. I couldn't just leave him, so I brought him home and he became... that," she finished, pointing at her son. "His name's Shye, even though I don't think he is."
Not meeting any resistance, Shye pulled at the bucket until it gave, toppling him onto his back and folding a wing under his body. He didn't cry out, instead his face scrunched into a little unhappy mess for a second before he got himself straightened out. His wings didn't exactly hurt when they were creased, but it wasn't the most comfortable of sensations either. He rolled over onto his stomach and braced himself on the overturned bucket. There, all better! Sliding forward, he unintentionally pushed quite a bit of sand inside before he reached Ziya, offering the open end of the bucket to the other boy. He had no idea how heavy the bucket would turn out to be, full of sand, but that was the last thing on Shye's mind at the moment. He laughed sharply at Ziya's clapping and joined in, alternately bulldozing sand and smacking his hands together.
Azhar nodded as he listened in amazement. "I found Ziya in my workshop. I kept hearing laughter and finding everything knocked over. It petrified me." He smirked as he thought of how scared he had been of something so small. "Then, one night, my wife and I heard a child crying, and there he was ... lying on the floor." He looked over at the two boys as they played. "So strange, though he is definitely an interesting child. Very cheeky."
Ziya watched with concern as Shye toppled onto his back. Seeing he was all right ziya smiled once more and crawled over to help him with the bucket. He had seen all the sand that Shye had managed to get into the bucket ... now all they needed to do was empty it out. Crawling he got behind the bucket and started to try and push it upside down so they could start on their own fortress. With two of them it would be the best one in the playground.
"Yeah, really weird," Smerdle said before trailing off into silence. She too watched Shye and Ziya play, wondering if they were the same sort of creatures inside. It seemed that every other kid in Gaia nowadays came from some inanimate object or another, and Shye was no exception. Could these two have been born for the same reason? She blinked, breaking out of her blank stare. Hey, as long as they got along, who was she to have such deep thoughts? "Ziya's cute," she said. "Shye can be demanding, but he's cute most of the time too. I think I'll be able to predict his moods better once he's been around longer." Smerdle was a new mother, but something about the whole experience felt extremely familiar.
Shye hit at the bucket a couple of times before helping Ziya to push it over. He sat and stared at it, not really comprehending the fact that someone had to lift the bucket again before they could see the new sand shape. He stuck sand-covered fingers in his mouth and watched Ziya to see what to do next.
Azhar laughed. "He may look cute but he's a little pain." He said watching the two boys. "He likes to hide things." He smiled at her description of Shye, they seemed very similar, the two boys. "Hmm I agree, it's hard having a child just dropped on you. Most people have time to get used to the thought. Though it's not as hard as I assumed it might be."
Ziya watched Shye and tilted his head to the side. Something wasn't right. Where was the sand. Frowning a little he hit the top of the bucket again ... nothing happened. How did the elder kid do it? Getting frustrated his lip started to tremble, why didn't the sand come out?
Smerdle nodded. "They don't seem like they need us as much as normal kids do. I mean, they're still babies, but they do a lot more than any babies I've ever seen." She smirked. Well, she might have spoken too soon.
Shye looked up at his guardian. Maybe she could help! His eyes widened as Smerdle mimed lifting the bucket off of their new sand tower. That was it! Shye pulled his hand from his mouth and slowly freed the packed sand from its plastic prison. He smiled. Ta da!
Azhar laughed and nodded, watching as she tipped Shye off as to what they needed to do.
"Indeed." He said, watching them finally figure out what they were doing. "I agree though, my niece was no where near as aware as Ziya is when she was his age."
Ziya watched with a small ammount of hope as Shye freed the sand from the bucket. It looked just as he had imagined. Giggling Ziya clapped his hands and grinned at Shye. The were going to have the best castle ever.
Crawling to the bucket he started to push it against the sand as Shye had done to make another castle.
Smerdle didn't really know any other babies personally, so she just nodded. "I definitely like Shye the way he is. He's more fun than all of these other stroller-lumps I see around combined. No offense to your niece, of course."
Shye watched Ziya as he pushed sand into the bucket again. Hmm. What could he do? Well, Smerdle had given him a pretty good idea a second ago, so stealing another one would probably be just as cool! Shye peeked at the older kid's castle, noticing the moat right away. He didn't know what it was, but obviously it was necessary. He sunk his fists into the sand, opened them and scooped, making a tiny hole that half filled with sand again once his hands were out of the way.
...
And they lived happily ever after.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:50 pm
Little Like Me
October 20, 2006 Shye clapped his sandy hands and squealed loudly. That castle-making stuff had been the most fun he'd had... well... ever. He looked up at Smerdle, then pointed back at the playground.
"Mmm hmm," Smerdle said, humoring her new child. Who knew if they would ever see that little boy or his father again? Hopefully Shye would forget all about his new friend before he realized Smerdle didn't know how to get in contact with them again. "Are you tired?" she asked, bouncing Shye's weight against her hip to raise him closer to eye level.
The little boy ignored his mother, turning to his hands and shoving one of them in his mouth. Ew. He coughed after swallowing several salty grains of sand and shouted once, a bird-like shriek that attracted the eyes of the surrounding adults. Smerdle immediately pulled the 'I'm not mauling my kid, I swear' face and ducked turned toward the nearest window, hoping it would be filled with fun, distracting things.
"Look, Shye. Mannequins!"
The baby's face crumpled and his eyes filled with tears. Smerdle ran for the bus as quickly as her legs could carry her.
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Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 2:52 pm
Shye and Elazu
October 21, 2006 Who knew that having a child would be such a colossal guessing game? Smerdle had known about the teething and the changing and the sleep refusal, and any number of other things the baby books had mentioned. Obviously, those baby book authors had never met Shye. He slept through the night with no problem, which was weird enough in and of itself, but he was an awful menace during the day, demanding things with screams and pointing instead of discussion and actual words.
Today, for example, the baby had crawled to the front door, as soon as he had stopped spilling Cheerios all over himself, and had sat there wailing for no apparent reason at all. It was only after Smerdle had tended to every baby need and decided to take Shye outside as a last resort that the crying had stopped.
Now they stood outside a huge toy store, peering through the glass at the colorful displays and dancing costumed characters within. Smerdle was very afraid to take Shye back indoors, so she offered a compromise.
"Shye?" she said, smiling at the baby when he looked at her, "If you don't cry when we're inside, I'll buy you a toy. Okay?"
Smerdle had no idea whether he understood her or not, but when he pointed at the door and stuck a slobbery fist in his mouth, she decided it was safe to enter.
Sika stood in an aisle of the toy store, a fairly colourful cd in her left hand, and a fairly verbal child tugging on her hair on her left side while gumming a piece of stringed cheese. With her eyes narrowed towards the CD she sighed a little and turned her gaze towards the child, who greeted her with a sharp pull of her long, blonde hair.
By now she had already been getting used to his tugs of her hair, and his squeals of excitement whenever he happened to tug any strands from her head. She had kept her hair long, even after many warnings from experienced mothers that it would be her famous last words. It kept him happy, so why should she care? After so many tugs and bites, you finally just stop feeling anything.
Now as far as the CD goes....Well the small child, Elazu, had grown fond of yanking CDs off of displays and connecting them with Sika's temple until she grabbed it from him. Had it been merely for her reaction, or if he actually wanted the CD, she was never too sure. But he didn't always do it, and whenever he did they were always similar in genre, classical or rock. So after a while she finally started to look the CDs over, no matte rhow colourfuly sickening they were, and then put them in their shopping basket to take home. As it was their current basket was already starting to near the top, it seemed that Elazu had caught on.
" What am I going to do with you Elazu," she questioned the blubbering child on her hip. He answered with a smile and a garbbled answer from around his stringed cheese. She sighed and smiled softly.
Smerdle made her way down several aisles before coming to the pair. Shye was the first to react, pointing again at the boy in Sika's arms and smiling happily. Smerdle noticed Elazu's hair-tugging and winced, glad that she kept hers short. She also noticed that the child's arms seemed to disappear at the ends, but that didn't stop him from grabbing all kinds of stuff, from string cheese to CDs. Weird.
"He looks like a handful," Smerdle said to Sika, smiling and wiggling her fingers at the boy. She wasn't trying to intrude, it just wasn't every day that she saw a kid with ghost arms.
Shye was trying to intrude, however, and he leaned over to get to the other boy, almost falling out of his mother's arms in the process. Smerdle struggled to sit him upright for a moment before muttering, "They're all handfuls," and resuming her happy grin.
Sika looked up from her reading and turned toward Smerdle and smiled in response.
" You get used to it, " she said as she hefted Elazu higher on her hip and turned him closer toward the other pair.
Elazu giggled as he waved his free hand at Smerdle's wiggling fingers. Then he caught sight of the other boy who in a sense could be considered his inverse. Elazu tugged closer to Sika as Shye approached, not afraid but weary. He was fond of checking things out slowly, not getting them thrown at himself. He let out a quiet whimper as he tugged Sika's hair again to get her attention.
Sika sighed and placed the cd she held into their already overflowing basket then reached to comfort Elazu.
" Deffiantly handfuls," she muttered as she tried to calm him down. It didn't take much, a few coos and promises of blocks of cheese when they get home, and he was fine.
She hefted him higher on her hip again and smiled as he returned to sucking on his stringed cheese, keeping a careful watch of Shye.
" Don't mind him. He gets upset if things happen too fast." She smiled as she turned back toward Smerdle, extending her free hand to the other girl.
" My name's Sika, and this little devil, is Elazu." Elazu squealed at the mention of his name, somehow knowing he was being introduced.
"Smerdle," she said, shaking the offered hand. "This is Shye." The baby tried to wiggle out of her arms again, but when the handshake was over she used her freed hand to clasp him to her chest. "Elazu doesn't want to experience you up that close yet," she scolded. "Sorry," she said to Sika. "He just met another boy his age yesterday. I think it made him a little too curious about other small people."
Shye took a few minutes, but finally followed Smerdle's implied order and settled down, watching the cheese-eating child with unwavering interest.
"Elazu likes music?" Smerdle asked. So far the only things Shye had expressed an interest in were hearing his name followed by the word "no" as many times a day as he was able.
She smiled and nodded, " He loves music mainly rock and classical from what I can tell. Oh and cheese. As to why, I have no idea," she leaned her head against Elazu's as she spoke, giving him some comfort and hoping for him to grow some courage to actually interact with Shye.
Elazu giggled as he continued to stare at Shye, then suddenly offered the other boy his half eaten stringed cheese. Sika laughed with a surprised look on her face and turned him closer toward Shye.
" Elazu hasn't really met anyone else his size," she mused out loud. " Well except for the twins at home, but they are shy compared to your boy." She smiled at Shye and leaned in toward him. " Who, I might add, is a very handsom little man."
"Say 'thank you,' Shye," Smerdle prodded.
Shye looked up at the sound of his name, but when all he saw was the same old Smerdle his attention turned, once again, to Elazu. He smiled gleefully and reached over, trying to grab the cheese without thinking of how his enthusiasm might upset his potential playmate.
"Shye's... interesting looking," Smerdle agreed with a smirk at the baby's antics. "Elazu's hands - does he have bones in there?" She didn't mean any offense, she just had never seen anything like them before.
Elazu watched Shye with caution, but he did not cower away this time, but freely gave his new friend the gift of cheese. Elazu smiled softly and giggled as she snatched a lock of Sika's hair giving a great tug in order to get praise for being a good boy.
Sika smiled down at Elazu, barely even wincing when he pulled her hair, but absentmindedly started to pry his semi visible fingers from her hair.
"His hands are indeed interesting," she mused as she patted him on the head, finally getting her hair free. " It really depends, when I felt them for the first time, they felt like any other hands. But there are times where I wont be able to grab a hold of his hand at all, he'll even drop things without notice, but his hand will still be cupped as if he didnt even know it had happened." She shrugged and hefted him higher on her hip again, his constant squirming and jumping made him slide slowly down her hip. " I don'tknow what to think of it really," she frowned a little and looked up at Smerdle. "I mean I dont know whether its some ability or somethign thats just taking effect slowly? Its a real mystery, especially when he can't explain it to me."
As if sensing Sika's confusion, Elazu cooed and cuddled closer to her, petting her hair with his cheesy fingers. Sika smiled and kissed his forehead, then looked back up at Smerdle.
" What about Shye? i see his interesting outfit, can he actually fly with that?" Sika wasn't too keen about flying machines or flying abilities, so it was always somethign interesting to find out.
Smerdle looked at Elazu's hands with renewed interest. "That's so weird," she said. "Cool, but weird."
As if they knew they were being spoken of, Shye's wings beat strongly for a moment as he got a hold of the cheese and brought it up to his nose to sniff. They didn't do more than stir the air around, but the flat of one caught Smerdle in the face mid-breath.
"Um... yeah," she said, blinking at the white thing invading her line of sight. When Shye had calmed down, she continued. "I don't think he can fly, at least I hope not," she said, smiling. "I don't even want to think about it, actually."
Deeming the cheese all right for consumption, Shye shoved the rest of it in his mouth and chewed. Hey, it was pretty good! He smacked his own cheese-covered hands together in appreciation.
" Yes it is very weird. He does get frustrated whenever he notices that he dropped soemthign though. Its cute and sad all at the same time," she snickered as she said this and kissed Elazu's head again.
Elazu cooed and stared at Shye as he ate the cheese. The other boy had eaten his food, the food he had offered him. A sudden giggle escaped Elazu's mouth and he tried to wiggle his way closer to Shye while still staying in the safety of Sika's arms.
" Well a flying child could deffiantly b a problem. I have one of those at home, with hooves, and he likes to land on just about anything, tear things up and bumping into things." She sighed, thinking of the mess she would more than likely be going home to.
"Hooves too? Man." Smerdle looked down at Shye as he clapped, once again thankful that he couldn't actually get off the ground by himself. She loosened her death grip on the baby, letting him once again get within touching range of Elazu.
Shye stopped clapping at the shadow baby's giggle. He had heard Elazu giggle other times since they had met minutes before, but something about this one was different. It was directly related to something he had done! Awesome! Shye raised his arms in the air as if he was heading down a hill on a roller coaster before smacking them down, hard, against Smerdle's forearm. "Aaa!" he said, a wide grin never leaving his face.
She winced before continuing. "Do you want to walk around with us? I told Shye he could have a toy, and even though I don't think he understood me, kids need toys, right? I should probably get him one anyway." She didn't really have any stuffed animals she was willing to part with, even if they would be gifts for her new child.
" Yea, he's a hand full." She smiled at the thought of her other kids at home. The thought suddenly made her curse under her breath. She had told her eldest son that she would only be gone for a moment or two to get Elazu some CDs.
" I would love to! Unfortuneatly I cannot. I promised my eldest I woudl only be gone for a little bit so he wouldn't have to watch the kids for too long. Raincheck?"
Hefting Elazu higher on her hip, she quickly used her free hand to fish out a card from her inner jacket pocket. She held out the white business sized card toward Smerdle with a smile.
" Thats my home phone number and my cell. We should hang out again when I have the time to let little Elazu actually have some fun." She snickered to herself then bent down to pick up her basket of CDs.
"Oh yeah sure!" Smerdle said, taking the card. "I should get some of these made." She smiled. "I guess... I'll call you?" She didn't have cool cards nor any sort of writing implement, so she supposed she would be the one to contact Sika. "It was nice to meet you," she said with a wave.
Shye had less than no idea that his new cheesebuddy was about to leave, so he just continued to squirm, babbling softly to himself.
...
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Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:04 pm
 Shye is the spirit of a champion paper airplane, but he doesn't quite have the hang of his physical body yet! Does this effect his mood at all when he realizes he can't quite fly across the room anymore? Satisfy Shye's champion spirit with some activities that remind him of his former self. 
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Incantation Esprit Captain
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:52 am
On A Quest for Sass Part Zero of Four - Nodding For Great Justice
October 25, 2006 It was kind of freakish how much Shye was growing and changing every day. Not in size - he was still very small with very, very large wings - but in capability. Normal babies didn't progress in these ways, at least Smerdle didn't think they did.
In addition to being able to hold his head up on his own mere hours after appearing, the 10-day-old baby had now mastered use of the word "yes," and liked to show anyone within a five block radius of him at any time that, yes, the word was his b***h.
"Are you done coloring Tom Cruise's face silver, Shye?"
"Yes!"
"Would you like a lollipop, Shye?"
"Yes!"
"Are you the cutest boy in the whole world?"
"Yes!"
He especially liked that last one.
Smerdle imagined that it would be very frustrating for her little yes-man to find something he just couldn't do.
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:53 am
On A Quest for Sass Part One of Four - I'm Half the Man... Plane I Used To Be
October 25, 2006 Shye awoke abruptly from a peaceful nap, only to find himself alone. He had been dreaming, and in his dream he had been sitting on a pile of rocks, eating lollipops and chocolate bars that were regularly dropped by a giant, gray bird with long, purple eyelashes. The baby's wings flapped slowly with the memory as he blinked groggily. Shye was willing to bet he could (still?) fly.
He looked around again. Nope, nobody.
Not bothering to stifle a yawn (and really, what babies do?), Shye flopped over onto his hands and knees and slowly began scaling the arm of the sofa. His body vaguely remembered what to do when it was up high, and he scrambled more quickly, eager to reach his goal. His hands and feet began to tingle, but he continued on, smiling around another yawn as he reached the top of the sofa's wide back. Now to... fly? Shye crouched on the balls of his feet, using his hands and arms to keep himself upright. He was so absorbed in maintaining his precarious balance, that he didn't notice when Smerdle entered the room, his stuffed cat draped over one arm, and a bottle half full of lemonade in the opposite hand.
He carefully spread his wings...
"Shye! No!"
...and plummeted to the floor, dropping like one might imagine a bowling ball attached to one of those army-man parachutes would.
As soon as he realized where he was and what had happened, Shye began to cry. Where was the whoosh and the up and the cheering? All he felt was hurty and crumply. He didn't stop wailing, even when his new mother rushed over to comfort him. Shye sobbed and whimpered until he fell asleep in Smerdle's arms, fist clenched around one of his plush cat's headwings.
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:54 am
On A Quest for Sass Part Two of Four - Keep Your Hands, Arms, Feet and Legs Inside the Elephant
October 28, 2006 It turned out that bringing a baby to an amusement park wasn't nearly as amusing as one might imagine. Halfway through the sunny, but still chilly day, Shye had become tired and irritable. On top of that, despite his uncanny understanding of the world around him, he still lacked control of his basic bodily functions, which meant a heavy bag filled with diapers, bottles and drool rags for Smerdle. After approximately nine times around the Choo Choo Bru-ha-ha Kiddie Train, she was about ready to give up and head home.
"Time to go!" she chirped, accidentally waking Shye from his momentary shoulder-nap. He looked around, brow slowly creasing with the start of what was widely known as an "I-don't-like-it-here-but-I-don't-want-to-leave-either" tantrum. Smerdle quickly formulated a backup plan.
"Elephants, Shye! Look!" she exclaimed, pointing at the spinning, airborne pachyderms.
Shye's frown quickly spread into a neutral line before breaking into a huge grin. They were flying! He bounced and pointed as well. Now there was a ride worth riding.
It wasn't long before they were buckled in and spinning. It was a little slow, but if Smerdle pushed the joystick all the way to the top and Shye leaned over the front of the elephant's head, it almost felt like he was flying too. Almost.
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:55 am
On A Quest for Sass Part Three of Four - Don't I Know You, Mister?
October 30, 2006 Shye had been so extraordinarily well behaved since their little trip to the amusement park that Smerdle thought it was high time to get the kid a pet. She was well aware that taking care of a living creature probably wasn't going to be Shye's strong suit, but it still seemed like the next logical step. Woman. Baby. Animal. Family. Something like that. Smerdle thought something furry would make the perfect companion for the rambunctious baby. A kitten perhaps.
That was why it turned out to be such a shock when Shye instantly fixated on a strange, dingy parrot. The bird's only redeeming feature were the bright rings of purple feathers around its sad eyes. It almost made the parrot look magical. When Smerdle carried Shye over to the animal, it immediately perked up, nuzzling the baby's curious hands with its beak.
"Well, I guess that's it then," Smerdle said. "How much for the freaky bird?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 8:56 am
On A Quest for Sass Part Four of Four - b*****d
October 31, 2006 "Teeeeeeee!" Shye squealed. He leaned back in Smerdle's arms and held out his plastic pumpkinhead bag like she had told him, wings waving slowly with anticipation.
The door opened slowly, revealing a middle-aged man with bright auburn hair and an extremely sour expression on his face.
"How many kids do you need?" he rasped.
Smerdle was slightly taken aback. How many kids did this guy think she had? "Um... sorry?"
The man responded by reaching into a dirty bag at his side and retrieving a pink rubber ball. He let out a phlegmy cough and threw the ball into Shye's bag. "Damn magic kids," he muttered before slamming the door in two very confused faces.
Well, that certainly ruled out this block.
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:31 am
Bigger
November 4, 2006 Shye didn't have his own room yet, a fact that Smerdle didn't think needed to be remedied any time soon. He had a crib and a colorful mobile, and what more could a kid want really? It didn't help that her apartment was barely large enough for herself, let alone a kid and a bird. She was comforted by her assumption that Shye wouldn't be growing any time soon. That's why it was all the more shocking when he did.
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:33 am
Teach Me To See The Future, O Beaky One
November 10, 2006 "Keebler elves."
"Keeeeeeeeebleeerrrrr."
Smerdle twitched awake, stretching out the kinks inevitable when one spent the night on an old loveseat instead of in an actual bed. Adaptability was key, her manager was fond of saying. It was beginning to become obvious to Smerdle, and probably to any casual observer, that perhaps her manager hadn't experienced much in life, let alone giving up his bed for a rapidly growing magical baby.
"Llama rabies."
"Boober-bee."
"Rabies."
"Ray-bees."
She didn't have any copies of Dr. Spock lying around, so when Shye had refused his crib in favor of the Big Boy bed (formerly her Big Girl bed), she hadn't quite known how to respond. After a bit of a struggle, she relinquished not only her bed, but her entire room, fearing further refusal would send Shye into some sort of painful downgrade back to Airplane. The living room needed remodeling anyway.
"Shye die."
"Shye die!"
What? Smerdle slowly scraped herself off of the couch and started toward the bedroom. Was that bird telling her kid he was going to die? She rounded the corner and narrowed her eyes at the scene in front of her. Shye lay on his back in the center of her bed, little hands grabbing his pajama-encased foot in some sort of intense self examination.
"Die!" he piped.
Smerdle nodded, and if even though it seemed impossible to narrow her eyes any further, she managed it as she looked at the still unnamed bird. It ruffled its colorless feathers, poofing up into a basketball-sized, dirty ball.
"Die," it said accusingly.
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 10:34 am
Shye and Ziya
November 22, 2006 Ziya was in his favourite place, the park. It was a crisp winters day and he was wrapped up warm in a thick quilted jacket, his usual harem pants and soft leather shoes.
His mother sat reading on the bench beside him, her hair and mouth covered in a scarf of blue that she usually wore to protect her from the desert winds and cold nights.
Ziya giggled to himself. It was not that cold out here, no colder than a clear starlit evening where they lived.
They had been to town and she had brought him a box of crayons. Now, he was sat happily scribbling away on the pad of paper in front of him.
To the untrained eye it would look like scribbles but to him it was a rather detailed picture of the tree in front of him. He was singing to himself as he drew, hoping that the fluffy grey mouse with the bushy tail would appear again. If not, he might have to try to find it himself.
Shye and Smerdle had been shopping too, but for nothing as fun as crayons. Well, there had been one purchase that even Shye had to admit was pretty cool. With the weather getting colder, Smerdle had insisted on buying the toddler shoes, much to his initial dismay. Shye preferred to go barefoot, but even he couldn't resist his new, little, bright red, light-up sneakers. He had demanded he be allowed to wear them as soon as they were paid for, which was why he was stomping through the park in them right now.
The spirit child turned around to check on his mother, satisfied to see her just a few feet away, arms filled with packages. He turned back the way he had been heading, but instead of looking down at his shiny feet, Shye looked ahead. His eyes lit up. There was a very familiar boy on a bench!
"Hay!" he said, trying to catch Ziya's attention. He half-skipped, half-hobbled over to the bench, feet blinking all the way. "I kno yooo!" he sing-songed, a bright smile on his face. "'m Shye!" They might have known each other, but they had certainly never been properly introduced.
Ziya looked up at the voice and tilted his head to the side with a bright smile, his golden eyes lighting up as he recognised his playmate.
"Sand castle." he said with a laugh. Grinning he wriggled his way off the bench and held out his hand as he had seen adults doing. "Ziya." He declared. as he looked over the boy he had decided was his friend. The red trainers drew him in instantly crouching down he reached out a chubby finger to poke them. "oooh, they're pretty." he grinned, looking back up to Shye.
Shye nodded. Sand-Castle-Boy! Or Ziya, as it turned out. He looked at the offered hand for a moment before grabbing it, executing an action that probably constituted a fair approximation of a handshake, even though Shye had no idea what he was doing.
"Watch!" he said, making sure there were no lingering pokey fingers before lifting his foot and stomping. The lights flashed frantically, and Shye chortled, loud enough to alert Smerdle to the fact that the toddler was probably getting into trouble of some sort.
"Shye, what... oh," she said, lowering the bag that had obstructed her view of the children. She recognized the second boy as the sandy kid from the other day, in a new larger size just like her own midget charge.
"Ma, go 'way," Shye said. His tone wasn't whiny or mean, but it seemed as though the child already knew he would get his way. Sure enough, Smerdle hoisted her bags and packages again and carried them to the base of a tree near the other side of the bench.
"I'll be over here," she said.
Shye nodded again, his eyes lingering on Smerdle to make sure she was staying put. From there, they fell to Ziya's mother, the Blue Lady, and continued on until they were stopped by Ziya's scribbly masterpiece. "What'choo drawrin'?"
Ziya watched as he stomped and let out a loud gasp as the lights flashed on his shoes. His eyes widened, he was entranced. They had to be the coolest thing he had ever seen.
"WOOOOAH." he cried standing and looking down at his own boring leather shoes. He stomped a foot and nothing happened. "Magic shoes." he laughed, pointing to Shye's shoes again, watching as the lights continued to dance.
At his question lights were forgotten and Ziya grabbed his drawing book and his crayons.
"The tree." He said pointing to the tree to show how obviously similar his drawing and the original were. "You want to draw?" He asked, turning the page clumsily and offering Shye his crayons.
"'Kay," Shye said, taking a bright purple crayon and a seat on the ground. "I draw tee too!" He had better shoes, and he would certainly have a better tree, purple or not. "Diff'rent tee tho," he added. He wouldn't want Ziya to think he was copying or anything.
Ziya giggled as he settled on the grass and started to scribble away finishing his tree off with lots of heavy green scribbles.
After a few moments of silent scribbling from both of them a movement by the tree trunk caught Ziya's eye.
"Look." Ziya cried in a false whisper, pointing at the squirrel that was scrabbling around not far from them. "Dog!"
Shye looked up from his hideous masterpiece. A dog? He had never been close to one before, but, yeah, that thing with the bushy tail looked about right.
"What we gon' do?" he asked. Catch it, dress it up, ride on it - Shye wasn't very good with the concept of perspective yet - he didn't really care, so long as they did something. It would be a shame to let a good dog get away.
Ziya looked from the squirrel to Shye and allowed a smirk to cross his lips.
"Catch it." he said standing up and attempting to creep towards the creature who seemed to be happily burying things under the tree. "Come on." he said beckoning Shye and walking on his toes. "Shhhhhh." He continued pressing his finger to his lips.
Shye clasped his hands together silently and stood as well. Catching a dog! He grinned widely. His mother probably wouldn't approve, but she - he looked over, just to make sure - was reading some boring, thick book.
He nodded and tiptoed after Ziya, feet flashing intermittently.
Ziya repressed the giggle that wanted to bubble out from his lips as they crept up on the poor unsuspecting 'dog.' Stopping just behind the busy squirrel he turned to Shye and cupped his hand to whisper in his ear.
"I count, three and then we catch." He said in the quietest voice he could manage."
Shye's mouth quirked as they reached the tiny dog. He supposed they couldn't ride on it after all. Nodding at Ziya without moving the rest of his body, his eyes remained fixed on the squirrel. He couldn't count higher than five on a good day, but he knew all about the famous "one, two, THREE" that was coming any second now. Shye tensed his little legs in anticipation.
Ziya crouched down as low as he coudl go. He had seen animals in the desert do this before, ready to pounce.
"One ... four ... three!!" he said as he lauched himself into the air and towards the dog. Hoping that Shye would be joining him. He knew he would not be able to catch it on his own.
Shye threw himself forward, saw grass and dirt and squirrel rushing up to meet him, and squeezed his eyes shut. He hit the ground with a muffled 'oof' and clasped his hand around something furry. He wasn't sure if it was the dog or some rogue handful of coat.
"Whassit?" he asked Ziya, his eyes still clamped shut.
Ziya also launched himself forwards, hitting the floor with an oof that matched Shye's. Opening his eyes his slightly he looked at Shye and the sqirming little creature in his hands.
"Issa Dog!" Ziya gasped in wonder, sitting back on his knees and reaching a finger out towards the fluffy creature.
"Ha!" Shye said. They had caught a dog! He sat back as well, waiting for the animal to do something. Didn't dogs do tricks? "Talk!" he encouraged.
At the sharp command issued by her demanding child, Smerdle looked up from the magazine she'd been looking through. "Shye? What are you doing?"
"Dog, ma!" he said, as if that explained everything.
Smerdle got up and started to head toward the two toddlers.
Ziya giggled and stuck his finger out again towards the dog. Why didn't it talk like Shye told it to. His mother's dog talked, then again it looked nothing like this dog.
At Smerdle's words he looked up. His finger still moving in the general direction of the dog.
The squirrel, now a little agitated spotted the easy target and sank his teeth into the toddler's skin.
Ziya's face wrinkled up for a moment as he pulled his finger back and looked at the red starting to pool on the tiny bite marks.
"Owwwwww!!!" he howled as he stared at his finger.
Isra looked up from her book and frowned. That didn't sound good. Standing she walked over to them and smiled at the adult that the other child must belong to.
"What on earth are you doing?" she asked Ziya, crouching down with a jangle of bracelets and taking his small hand in hers. "Dog bited me." Ziya sobbed, pointing at the offending squirrel.
Smerdle smiled back at the other woman before frowning slightly when she saw what the boys were playing with.
"Shye, that's not a dog," she said shakily. She knew that if she told him to get away from it, he was likely to poke at the animal just to spite her, and maybe get bitten too. Shye made a face but held still.
"Is he all right?" Smerdle asked Isra, motioning Shye closer to her side. He ignored her and stayed seated, turning to look at his friend's bleeding finger with interest.
Isra sighed and took a handkerchief from her pocket, smiling a little she dabbed it at his finger and looked closely at the tiny marks.
"He's fine." she said with a smile. "How on earth did they manage to catch that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at the poor fluffy captive.
"It's a squirrel Ziya, not a dog."
Ziya looked at his finger and held it up to Shye to see.
"Look." He said, his grin returning. "Skirrel bited me." He smirked proudly and looked back to their prize. "You want?" he asked Shye, pointing to the Skirrel.
"Why would anyone want to catch that?" Smerdle chuckled. She wasn't much for possibly rabid, squirmy little forest creatures herself, but she supposed that was one of many differences between herself and Shye.
The little boy's mouth squished into an 'o' of awe. "Yeah!" he said, leaning forward to claim the squirrel as his new pet.
Smerdle bent quickly to stop him. "You've got a pet at home," she said, receiving a short huff in return. "Thank you very much though," she added to Ziya. "Speaking of home, I think we'd better be getting there."
"No," Shye said. "I wanna go home wit' Zi-ya!"
"Not today, but you can see him again soon," Smerdle said. She looked up at Isra. "I could give you my address?" She vaguely remembered the sand spirit as being someone Shye had played with before today which was nice, and plus, it would prevent future Shye-tantrums if she kept her word and arranged for the two to play again in the near future.
...
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:09 am
What in the Hell...
December 16, 2006 "Shye, honey, no."
"But... orange," the little boy said, pointing at a bird sitting to the right of the door.
"Also dead. Look. Guts."
Shye leaned in closer.
"Okay. Don't look." She waved him over to her side and examined a yellow slip of paper stuck to the door. A package? But she hadn't ordered anything. Untidy handwriting directed her to the convenience store attached to her building and a Mr. Herbert who had signed for her mystery delivery. How nice of him, whoever he was.
A few minutes and a handful of uncomfortable pleasantries later, Smerdle was graced with the presence of a box labelled 'Amazon.com: Magic Division.' It was official. She really hadn't ordered this thing.
Smerdle unlocked the apartment door and Shye zipped past her legs, up the stairs, and back into his room - formerly hers (she was still bitter about that) - to play with his freaky bird. The thing continued to give her the creeps, and that feeling was guaranteed to get stronger in the next five minutes.
"Whassin the box?" Shye yelled. Before Smerdle could answer, a mass of gray, squawking bird shot down the hall and tried to land on the box in question. Claws scrabbled, wings flapped, a beak snapped repeatedly until Smerdle took matters into her own hands.
"STOP IT!" she screamed, yanking the package out from under the bird's frantic attempts to mount it. Her mouth thinned into a hard, accusing line. "You ordered it!" she said.
Smerdle hurried to the kitchen, the bird close behind. She stabbed at the innocent sliver of packing tape with a pair of silvery scissors and flung the cardboard flaps open dramatically, but nothing happened. Even the bird stayed still and quiet for a moment, its purple-rimmed eyes wide and fixed on the box. There was a scroll inside. When the bird saw what the box contained it resumed its movement, shuffling from foot to foot.
What the hell? She couldn't see the thing wanting to kill Shye or herself. It was well fed and the apartment was warm most of the time. What more could a bird want? She supposed it was safe to conclude that whatever this scroll did, it was fairly harmless. Smerdle lifted the rolled paper from the box, unraveled it, and began to read.
"Amphinia deluus, clea dalmus.
Ammero.
Yutanda gera."
Shye skidded into the room as Smerdle's voice was leaving it, and the three - bird, woman, boy - stood in silence, patiently waiting for something to happen. After what seemed like forever, but was in actuality 44 seconds, there was a loud pop and a bright flash of light. Smerdle and Shye shielded their eyes, and when they opened them again, the bird was gone.
"Where's Rocco?" Shye asked.
"Rocco?"
Pop.
"My name... is not Rocco."
Smerdle peeked out from between her fingers at the room's new occupant. He was small and gray, with purple rings around his eyes and large, feathery wings, very like a certain parrot she knew.
"Hi Rocco," Shye said. He grinned and waved at the former bird.
The little man hopped into the air and buzzed up near Smerdle's face. "My name is Deph, and you will kindly tell your son to stop being such an idiot." Deph had a low voice for such a tiny creature and his movements were choppy and angry. Smerdle could already tell he was going to be a joy to have around.
"Will do, Deph. But you should know he's probably not going to listen to me."
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