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 Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:40 pm
__Part 1
It had been a lousy night.
Isaiah walked home, trying to ignore the hunger pangs that kept distracting him from his irritation with life in general. Where the hell was everybody?
Head ducked down and mood morose, Isaiah kicked at the junk littering the alley way. He had a numerous amount of shortcuts and paths that lead him all over the place, unnecessarily winding pathways that added more time onto his journey home than they took off. Iz didn't care - he liked to walk. And he wasn't afraid of anything that came out at night.
But that didn't keep him from pausing and looking 'round when he heard something clatter behind him.
"Stupid alley cats," he muttered, shoulders hunching and speed picking up as he carried on his way. The clattering came again and he whirled around, looking irritated.
"Shoo!" he said sharply, expecting to see some mangy flea-ridden feline staring at him from the shadows. "Go on! Leave me al....oh."
At the mouth of the alleyway, a stone was floating in midair.
"Huh. That's new."
Deciding the best reaction would be to turn and walk away, Isaiah did exactly that. He looked over his shoulder and made an uncomfortable sound.
The rock was following him.
"No. Bad rock. Go home," he said, walking faster. The rock kept up with him. Isaiah dared another look back, uttered another uncomfortable sound, and decided the time for walking had long since past. He broke into a run, and didn't stop until he was home.
---
"Who the hell gets chased by a rock."
Safely home, Isaiah locked his door and glanced out the peephole, half-expecting to see the rock hovering outside. The hallway looked empty...
"Jeez. Maybe I'm just hallucinating. Too hungry," he said dully to himself. "In fact, since I seem to be able to have a full conversation with myself at this point...hallucinations aren't out of question..."
Sighing, he wandered through his tiny house and threw himself onto the couch. It was very late at night, though some would see it as very early in the morning. He yawned, and stretched, and ignored the growling of his empty stomach. He'd just close his eyes for a second, then he'd go to bed...
---
It was the sound of something smashing that startled Isaiah awake. Light flooded in from the slit-like windows high on his walls, nearly up towards the ceiling. It must've been late afternoon. Grumbling and swearing, Iz rolled off the couch and stretched.
"Damned mice," he said to himself, yawning again. He was fully intent on shuffling off into his bedroom, and was nearly there when he suddenly backtracked a few paces. There was something about the door he didn't like.
"Why is there a hole in my door."
The hole was fairly large, as holes go. It was perfectly centered, a splintery mess a good distance up from the floor, so it couldn't possibly have been from an animal....though Isaiah could think of no animals that could crash through a door, outside of a rhinocerous.
"Weird."
Decidedly too sleepy to care, Isaiah resumed his shuffling towards his bedroom, determined to care about the door only when he was fully-rested. He threw himself onto his bed, eyes closed.
He jumped up again when he landed on something that shrieked and yanked hard at his hair.
"Son of a-"
Rolling off the bed, Isaiah grabbed the nearest weapon (which was in fact only a shoe), brandishing it threateningly. It must've been the door-mashing animal.
Brilliantly odd-colored eyes stared at Isaiah reproachfully, and the baby Isaiah had landed on gave an affronted burble. Isaiah stared back, lowering the shoe. There was a small child in his bed.
Well, better that than a hovering rock.
"Um...hello...small creature."
Uziri.
The word was an echo in Isaiah's mind, a random, meaningless scrap of thought that came up unbidden.
"Pardon?"
Uziri.
"Uh....huh."
Perhaps this was the onset of some kind of dementia, Iz reflected. Hearing random voices in ones head was never a good sign.
"I doubt this'll come to any good," he said to the baby.
"Blrrrth," the baby gravely replied.
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:55 pm
__Part 2
Isaiah sat on the sidewalk curb with a dourly anxious look on his face, peering down at something currently wiggling around in a blanket-stuffed box.
He stared at it for a moment or two, then back down at the ground, his expression unchanging.
For the first time in his life, he wished Oliver would unexpectedly show up to bother him. He, at least, might know what to do.
The thing in the box belched and burbled, making Isaiah look over at it again.
Opec sighed, walking down the street with Irizu who simply would NOT sleep. He'd heard that babies fell asleep during car rides, but he had no car, and so he figured that walking was the next best thing. He passed Isaiah without giving him so much as a passing glance.
Irizu, on the other hand, was not one to miss much of anything. She wriggled about and peered over Opec's shoulder, a curly mop of hair and entirely-awake eyes appearing suddenly.
She saw the box and gave a big baby-grin.
Under different circumstances, Isaiah most likely would've tried to get a quick meal off the guy walking by. But by now he was overtired, his appetite diminished from subjection to Critter Fluids and Odors, and damn it all he just wasn't in the mood.
He sighed, and winced when the thing in the box emitted a very long, loud shriek.
"What?" he said, seizing the box and pulling it onto his lap. "What else do you want from me?"
The thing, which was in fact a tan-skinned and brilliant-eyed baby, gave a toothless smile and reached her hands upwards.
"Fine, fine..." Iz said dully. He lifted the baby out of the box and held her awkwardly, his expression defeated.
Irizu gave a suddenly high-pitched yawp, reaching for the box in vain.
Opec's ears flew back as he gave a small cry of surprise. His ears rung and he picked the child up, holding her out in front of him.
"What, Baby?"
Irizu gurgled and smashed a hand against his face.
"That is not an answer."
The girl then looked past the large grey form in her way, reaching for the figures on the sidewalk and shrieking again.
The baby in Isaiah's hands wiggled and writhed and squalled, reaching out towards the other baby.
"NYAAAH," she said, sensibly.
Isaiah growled.
"No. Bad critter. Shh," he said, trying to sound authoritative. "Bad baby. Hush."
His attention drawn to the new shrieking, he gave a wince and looked 'round.
"Hey," he said, a note of desperation in his voice as he looked at the stranger. "Want a baby?"
"I already have one, thank y--" Opec said, turning. His ears flipped up as he saw the young man and smiled.
Cute baby.
Cute boy.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" the freckled baby happily squalled
"Nngh!" Opec exclaimed and held Irizu off to one side, "You want the other baby? Fine. Have a box." Realizing that it would be rather rude to simply place his baby in the poor guy's arms, he instead put her in his box.
"NYEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Isaiah groaned, halfhearted hopes dashed into the ground. He made a small noise of protest as the new critter was put in the first critter's box, and stared at the little one currently kicking like mad in his arms.
"I swear, she's rabid," he said dolefully. He glanced up at the new guy speculatively. Huh. Nifty ears. Kinda cute, too....
Isaiah looked back at the baby to distract himself.
"Uziri, please, hush..."
Uziri burbled and writhed, frantically grabbing for the baby now inhabiting her box. She could see what she wanted and she wanted to be put down now.
"Nyeeeeeeeeh!"
"Fine! Jeez! Here, go play with the other one," Iz said, setting Uziri down in the box and drawing back, as though afraid putting the two together would trigger an explosion.
Irizu burbled laid a hand on the other baby's cheek.
Her sister's cheek.
"Bllllrp," she burbled and grinned.
Opec took a seat beside the man on the curb, watching the babies.
"Uziri, huh?" he nodded toward the infant that had claimed him, "Irizu. Funny, eh? How you wind up with her?"
Had he not been paying so much attention to the man, he probably would have noticed how alike the children were in physical appearance.
"Nrfft!"
Flashing another toothless smile, Uziri grabbed at Irizu's hair and gave it a tug. Sister-thing! Letting go, Uziri poked and prodded Irizu, bent on investigating every bit of the other child she could reach.
"Huh, yeah, I guess so. Heh," Isaiah said, trying to pretend enthusiasm at the little discovery. At Opec's question he sighed.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said dryly. "Weird little...wiggly-shadowed baby-creature..."
Too involved in his brooding, Isaiah didn't even bother to look at the box.
Irizu giggled and drummed lightly upon her sister's head, grinning and burbling nonsense.
Opec blinked. He wasn't used to people being so downright irritating. Oh well.
"Well!" he said, trying to keep upbeat, "Children certainly come about oddly in Gaia, hm?" He went for the box then and peered within at the wriggling masses.
The same skin tone, the same eyes, the same hair...
"...um..."
"Yeah, they do," Isaiah said, glancing over at Opec. "Um what?"
He followed the other man's gaze, eyes flicking over the contents of the box.
"...uh..."
Uziri laughed, a high-pitched sound bordering on a shriek. Awfully excitable, this one...
"They can't be. I mean...I don't even know where she...rock."
Isaiah was fully aware the sentence that had just come out of his mouth made little sense. He decided he didn't care. This whole situation made no sense.
Irizu gave Uziri a loving rasberry and giggled, clumsily clapping her hands together.
"Rock?" Opec questioned, looking to the man for a moment, "Yeah...a rock! It hit me in the head and then..." He made a frantic arm movement toward the box.
"And then this."
Abruptly tuckered out, Uziri flopped against Irizu, clinging.
Isaiah made a face, patting Opec on the shoulder sympathetically.
"Jeez, that sucks. The head-hitting, I mean...my rock kinda...followed me home," he said. "And smashed through my front door."
He paused, looking thoughtful.
"I really should get to fixing that hole..."
Irizu patted her sister's back happily, the toothless grin still playing at her lips.
"Eh. I healed," Opec shrugged, and then got down on one knee. Only then could he discern in the darkness which child was effectively his.
And she was being clung-to.
"Baby?" he asked, poking her shoulder, "Baby Zu-zu? Wanna go home?"
Irizu giggled and grabbed a handful of Opec's hair, tugging hard.
"NNGH..."
Uziri looked up at the new fuzzy thing in interest, eyes wide.
Pretty.
She reached up, grabbing at hair and trying to pull the fuzzy's head down to her level.
"Uziri! No! Bad baby!" Isaiah said, grabbing at the girl's hands and trying to pry them loose. "Jeez, I'm really sorry about this, she loves pulling hair..."
"It's pretty hair, what can I say? The ladies can't resist me," Opec said, giggling and smiling and disallowing himself to be pulled further.
"C'mon, Zu-zu. We're gonna go home now." With those words he brought the freckled baby up into his arms and pried the other's hands from his hair.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEIEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEK!"
"JESUS CHRIST!"
Uziri made a distressed gurgling noise as both the fuzzy and the sister-thing were taken from her reach. Her face screwed up into an angry expression, and she shrieked her protest.
"Uziri, please, shh, shh, I'll get you...um...ice cream. Candy? Pony? God, what do you want?" Isaiah said, the desperate note creeping back into his voice. He looked up at the man despairingly.
"I don't think they want to be separated," he said, stating the obvious.
"I realize that," Opec shrugged, "but there's nothin' we can do. Unless you want another baby." With those words, he began off, Irizu still shrieking bloody murder in his arms.
He disliked Humans, and having to spend too much time around one would certainly drive him insane. The child would grow out of it, he was sure.
"AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIEEIIIIIE!"
Isaiah, temper already short due to the baby and all her accompanying noises (and smells....oh good heavens), stood with a screaming and now crying Uziri in his arms, teeth bared.
"Yeah, well, fine. Big whoop, I'm probably just gonna...um...eat her or something later. I like baby blood," he said to the man's retreating back. "Yeah...I uh...I kill kids all the time. You better keep...ah, whatever."
He sat back down, Uziri still in his arms. He glanced down at her.
"I didn't mean that," he said to her in an undertone. "Really. I wouldn't. I don't eat small children."
Far from consoled, Uziri let out another wail, tears and snot running down her face.
Opec caught the statement, but also the undertone, and therefore resisted the maternal urge to rend the young man's flesh and steal his baby.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Baby! You're gonna make me deaf. We'll find them again, kay? I promise!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDTHHHHPBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Irizu shrieked in reponse, still reaching backward over Opec's shoulder, mucus and saline dirpping from various orifaces and the glowing skull on her necklace trembling slightly.
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Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2006 6:59 pm
__Part 3
Another slow night.
Isaiah wasn't bothering to do much of anything tonight anyway, so he supposed it didn't matter. Uziri was pacified in the truest sense, gnawing at the gaudily-colored thing Isaiah had stuck like a cork into her mouth sometime earlier. So Isaiah sat, with his baby-in-a-box, waiting for prey to walk by but in no hurry to chase after them.
He wondered briefly where Oliver was...
Opec stood aboard the interstellar ship, waiting for the force field to drop so he could be on his way. Irizu lay in the fabric cradle around his shoulder, bunched up all cute-like and sucking on a gold-coloured dummy.
Master had not seen the child; a very good thing.
The Viishnu continued down the street one the field dropped, feet bare and in his shimmery red robe, not caring what he looked like and just wanting to get the Hell home. He idly reached back and tied his hair up in a strip of fabric.
Isaiah yawned, picking half-dead dandelion flowers out of the cracks of the sidewalk and braiding the stems together idly.
"Wow...boring night, huh Zee?" he asked the baby, twirling the dandelion flowers around.
Uziri made a muffled kind of "zzzzlrgh" noise, and kept gnawing on her pacifier.
"You're a stunning conversationalist," Iz said dryly.
"You're talking to a larva."
Isaiah looked up.
"You've been scarce," he said to Oliver, eyebrows raised. Oliver shrugged, taking a seat on the curb beside him.
"I got busy. Any perspective meals about?"
Isaiah snorted, waving a hand around. The street was pretty much deserted.
"Someone'll show up," Oliver said, shrugging. He glanced at Uziri.
"You realize she has a glowing tentacle-shadow."
"Yup."
"Okay then."
"Prrbllrp..." Irizu gurgled and attempted to turn over in her sleep, only succeeding in swinging her sling to one side and settling into her previous position.
Opec smiled fondly and ran a finger over the infant's smooth forehead. This whole fathering business was ending up a lot more satisfying than he'd thought. Sure, he had to take Irizu to work, and yes, he had to hide her.
And then there was the smells.
But even then, he liked it.
"Don't poke her."
"I'm not poking."
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not."
"Oliver."
"Fine, fine."
Isaiah pushed Uziri's box a good distance away from Oliver, frowning. Sure, he didn't know what the hell do to with a baby. He'd had to bring her hunting with him every night, and had to stay awake all day while she made ungodly noises and odors.
Still. He had to admit, she was kinda cute.
"So," Oliver said, taking Isaiah's dandelion braid and playing with it now that his baby-poking had been interrupted. "What's the little larva's name?"
"Uziri," Iz said, grabbing for his mutilated plantlife and sighing as Oliver held it toying above his head. "Aren't you a little old for 'keep-away'?"
"Nope."
"Jerk."
"Wuss."
Isaiah sniffed, returning his attention to the street. Someone was bound to walk by sooner or later...
And someone did.
Unfortunately, that someone was Opec and his baby-package.
He didn't notice the Vampires on the street, it being much darker now than it had been the first time he'd met one of them. He simply continued past silently, almost seeming to float above the ground.
"C'mon. Reach for it."
"No."
"C'mooon."
Isaiah sighed again, and halfheartedly reached an arm straight up, blindly grasping for the dandelions.
"Oh no, whatever will I do," he said in a monotone, still scanning the street for movement. "Please. Not my precious street-weeds."
Oliver, mildly entertained by now, spotted the fresh meat before Isaiah. He dropped the dandelions and stood, grinning slightly.
"Dibs."
"Huh? Oh, there's...wait! You can't call dibs!"
Oliver looked down at Isaiah, shrugging.
"Yes I can. Dibs. See? Did it again."
Isaiah growled.
"c**k."
"Hey, watch your language. Delicate ears are listening," Oliver chided. Iz snorted and ******** you, and ******** your dibs," he said (though he kept his voice low so Uziri wouldn't hear). "I'm hungry."
He pushed Oliver out of the way, eyes fixed on the new arrival. A woman, he supposed. Great. Fine. As long as it could bleed, he didn't care what it was.
Oliver sighed, picking up the forgotten Uziri and trailing after.
Opec heard footsteps behind him, and he paused briefly, ears swiveling.
Ah well, he figured, maybe they'd go away if he kept walking.
And so that's precisely what he did, hips swinging lazily from side to side. He pulled his robe a bit tighter around him against the cold as he gladly spotted his apartment building in the distance.
Isaiah's attempts at stealth were effectively ruined by an ill-timed growl of his stomach. He sighed, prodding his abdomen in irritation.
"Fine," he muttered. "Swoop in and bite. Jeez."
He crept closer, mouth watering by now. A guttural growl rattled in his throat and he slunk out of the shadows, reaching for the woman's shoulder.
"Iz, are you gonna pull the Dracula bullshit or are you gonna ******** eat already?" Oliver called, unnecessarily loud. Uziri burbled in his arms and he shushed her. "Hush, larva. I'm busy antagonizing your father."
Isaiah took a deep breath and counted to ten.
"Maybe if you hadn't just interrupted, Oliver- oh, for the love of Pete. Great. Cover's blown. Thanks. This is just a ******** bust," Isaiah snapped, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "Now she's probably gonna run."
"Then catch her, dipshit."
"Then catch her, dipshit," Isaiah parroted snarkily, grabbing the woman by the shoulder. "Cripes. I can't stand him sometimes...hey, you. Hold still."
Opec smiled and turned to face the young man...who he now knew to be either a Vampire or an absolute freak.
"I thought I recognized your voice."
The fact that they had called him a 'she' and planned to eat him didn't bother him in the least.
"Ohmygodit'syouI'msorry."
The words came out jumbled together and Isaiah let go of Opec quickly, blushing.
"So, I'm guessing this means you're not eating. Fine. Dibs," Oliver said, striding forward and making a beeline for Opec. Isaiah made a startled noise and swung an arm out, catching him in the stomach.
"No!"
"Ow."
"Sorry."
"I'm going to push you down stairs for that," Oliver said, wheezing slightly. "Here. Take your larva."
He shunted Uziri into Isaiah's arms, looking annoyed and rubbing his stomach ruefully.
"b*****d," he snapped. Isaiah blushed deeper.
Opec smiled to the blue-eyed man and flipped his hair to one side, craning his neck into a rather vulnerable position.
"By all means, don't let him stop you."
Isaiah blanched, shaking his head and gesturing wildly in warning.
"Wait - don't - Oliver, waitasecond-"
Oliver wasn't listening. Pushing past Isaiah, with an air of cool indifference he bit into Opec's neck hard. After a rather self-indulgent amount of time, he stepped back and idly wiped a bit of blood off his chin.
"You want a turn?" he asked, turning 'round to look at Isaiah. He took one look at Iz's expression and laughed. "I'll take that as a no."
Isaiah glared at Oliver, shaking his head.
"I just...you don't....what the....never mind," he said, reigning his temper into check. It took a minute. "How many times have I asked you not to eat my acquaintances."
"You're taking this a little out of context."
"Shut. Up."
"It's alright," Opec smiled reassuringly, "It doesn't hurt me none." He wagged his head and his hair fell back into place, the seeping blood visibly climbing individual strands.
"You sure you don't want any?"
"No," Isaiah said firmly, glaring at Oliver. "I'm fine."
He glanced at the injury Oliver had inflicted, meaning to apologize, but trailed off into silence as he saw the blood moving on its own. Huh. Just a tad bit weird, right there.
Uziri, who up to this point had been happily gnawing away at her pacifier, suddenly decided she didn't like it anymore and spit it out. The spitty thing rolled clumsily off her chest, onto Isaiah's arm, and plummeted to the ground.
"Ugh, Zee...I just got that for you..."
"You can wash it with hot water," Opec shrugged, "I mean, at least I think. It's what Master used to do."
"Bllltph?"
Opec looked to the wriggling thing in the sling around his shoulder.
"Precisely."
"Plth," Irizu agreed and maneuvered her way to a sitting position, swaying uneasily and staring at the Vampires.
"PWEEEEEE!"
"I guess," Isaiah said, wrinkling his nose as he picked up the drool-covered pacifier. "Bleh..."
He wiped it off on the tail of his shirt and pocketed it, looking at Uziri in puzzlement.
"You liked it a minute ago," he said, trying to be reasonable.
"Nrrf," Uziri reasonably replied. At the sudden 'pwee', she wiggled and struggled, trying to shift herself around. Sister-thing? She thought she heard Sister-thing!
"Easy, easy," Iz said, shifting his hold on the baby. "Look. There she is."
"NYAAAAAHAAA!"
Oliver winced at the sudden influx of baby noise.
"Jeez....can't you...I dunno...mute her or something?"
Isaiah glared at him again.
"Plug it, Oliver."
"NEEEEE!"
"Ah, jeez..."
Irizu wiggled, almost falling headlong out of the sling and yelping in dismay as she was stopped. That was most definitely her sister-thing.
Opec twisted and pulled the wriggling infant from the sling, having quite a time trying to keep her from careening to the pavement.
"EEEE!"
"Mind if she borrows your box again?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure."
Realizing the box was still sitting lonely on the curb, Iz shunted Uziri back into Oliver's arms and jogged back to go get it. Oliver watched him go, then turned back to Opec.
"Pleased to meet you," he said. "If I'm right by guessing, he didn't introduce himself the first time. He's Isaiah. I'm Oliver."
He paused, looking down at Uziri. The baby looked back up at him, blinking like an owl.
"This is Larva."
Irizu made angry constipated baby noises and reached for Sister-thing, brow furrowed in the deepest concentration.
"No, he didn't," Opec nodded, smiling down at Uziri, "I'm Opec. 'Dinner', if you prefer. And this is Larva Two."
Oliver nodded, nearly interested in the conversation.
"Heh. Thanks for that, by the way. I was starved," he said. Isaiah jogged back, interrupting.
"Got it," he said, setting the box down on the sidewalk. "Gimme Uziri."
The big thing set Uziri in her box, and the baby fidgeted. Discontent, and reached up blindly towards Sister-thing.
"Nyeeeeeh," she said, face screwing up and reddening.
"No problem. Feel free to ask any t--"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEI!"
"Alright, alright!" Opec stopped mid-sentence to place Irizu in the box beside Uziri.
Irizu's emotions did a full three-sixty as she sat up in the box, wobbling before falling onto and snuggling her Sister-thing.
Opec clicked his tongue.
"Yanno, they look a lot alike."
Uziri, extraordinarily happy to see Sister-thing again, did the only logical thing possible. She went limp as a rag and fell onto her sister, clinging.
Isaiah watched the little reunion, smiling despite himself. God, but that was cute.
"They do...too much to just be coincidence," he said. "If yours didn't have the freckles I wouldn't be able to tell them apart..."
Oliver snorted.
"You could always ID them by smell," he said dryly. Iz graced him with a sigh and an eyeroll.
"Mine hit me in the head with a rock," Opec laughed slightly, watching the infants fondly, "If I hadn't bled on her, I don't think she'd HAVE freckles." He paused.
"But that's just me."
Irizu made a muffled noise and wriggled slightly before submitting to the Sister-thing and patting her belly.
Iz blinked.
"Rock? Like...floaty-stalker rock?" he asked. "I mean...'cause that's kinda what happened to me. I never realized being followed home by a rock could actually be creepy..."
He sighed.
"And she mashed a hole in my door."
Uziri, impossibly amused with any and all goings-on, settled against her Sister-thing pillow and gave a high pitched giggle at Isaiah's words. She'd heard him say the word 'door' enough times to tie it to his funny way of turning red and shouting and banging against a thing with a hole and shouting again when what he banged against the thing banged against his fingers instead.
"Kinda. More like...spasming exploding rock. Close enough," Opec nodded, and then peered toward the girls in the box, "Yah think maybe they're related?"
Irizu didn't understand the joke, but giggled anyway. If Sister-thing was laughing, something funny must have happened.
"Related...?"
Oliver heaved a sigh.
"Good Christ, but you're slow," he said to Isaiah in a deeply belittling tone. Iz bristled.
"What the ******** that supposed to mean?"
"You see 'em side by side and you're just now dawning on the possibility they're related."
"You didn't even know either of 'em existed until five minutes ago!"
"Details, details."
"Huh!" Opec grinned and lifted Irizu from the box, giving her and the other baby a good once-over, "Maybe she's the other half of the rock!"
Irizu burbled in complete confusion and mashed her hand into Opec's eye socket.
Realizing not only was her pillow gone, but it was gone without so much as a by-your-leave, Uziri glared up at the collection of Taller Things and loosed an angry shriek.
"Yeesh! Alright, hold on, hold on..."
Isaiah picked up the baby cautiously, creeping over towards Opec and turning the girl in his arms so she could keep her companion in view.
"I guess they could be," he said, trying to maintain his grip as Uziri squirmed. "It's either that or the most unlikely set of coincidences I've ever heard of."
Oliver gave a derisive snort.
Opec looked to Isaiah and felt an odd kind of smile creep up onto his face.
"Quite," he nodded, and then forced a yawn, "Well. It's been a long night. I should probably go home." He shifted Irizu's weight before placing her back in her sling.
Irizu shrieked in anger, reaching out toward Sister-thing.
Opec pretended to ignore the cries and shrugged. Now they'd have to see each other again. These Vampires barely seemed the type to be able to deal with loud babies.
"See you again some time?"
Uziri realized, in her limited capacity to reason, that screaming wasn't going to get her what she wanted. She let out a despairing gurgling and reached out towards Sister-thing, face crumpling and tears welling in her eyes. Her shadow-like...attachment, it could be called... writhed in misery behind her.
Isaiah nodded, shouldering Uziri and trying to ignore the scratching whack she delivered to his face.
"Yeah, see you around," he said, grinning slightly. Oliver, expression impassive, gave a nod.
"Bye," he said. After a beat he added, "Nice to meet you."
To Isaiah's slight surprise, the words weren't nearly as apathetic as he'd expected them to be.
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Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 1:16 am
The wind bit into Larainne's cheeks as she walked down the qiet lane. The sun was somewhat low to the horizon so it must have been about four of five o'clock. Reaching into her pocket the blonde girl pulled out a semi-crumpled piece of lined paper with a small list written on the back. Checking what she had written down previously, confirmed that Larainne was in the right place and dead ahead was the house number she needed.
Walking up to the mail box belonging to the home, she placed a small package and card neatly inside.The Letter 'Dear Mr. Isaiah Wayland and Uziri
Let me start off by wishing you a merry Christmas and a joyous holiday to you and your charming new child. I Hope that this season a blessing of miracles and love will be resident in your home.
In the spirit of this fabulous time I have sent you a small gift, please keep it safe and in good hands.
Happy holidays
Larainne Kardon '
The Note Onyx- A stone said to Fortifies self confidence and responsibility, Sharpen your senses, Encourages a healthy egotism and deflect negative energy. I hope it does all this and more for you. 
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Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:23 pm
__Part 4
"Hey, look at this..."
Isaiah shook the box speculatively and put it up to his ear. Satisfied that there was no ticking from the box's innards, he ripped the thing open and arched a brow in surprise.
"Jewelry?"
Uziri, catching sight of the bracelet, loosed a shriek that plainly stated:
"I see something shiny. Give me the shiny. The SHINY, man! Give it here!"
Or, at least, that's how Uziri was trying to convey it.
"Alright, alright, here, chew on it. But it's not my fault if you choke on it," Iz said, tossing the infant the bracelet. Grinning slightly despite himself at the delighted squeal the baby emitted as she received The Shiny, Isaiah scanned the note in interest.
"Huh, that was nice of them..." he said, rereading the note. He then blinked, and frowned. "Even though I have no idea who this person is. You?"
Uziri, busy gnawing on the bracelet and marking it as her own, gave a burbling reply.
"Hmm."
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:38 am
__Part 5
It was the kind of day when doing nothing basically constituted doing something, and Isaiah was happily Doing Nothing. Uziri was in her makeshift carrier at his side, happily nestled into a nest of blankets in her beat-up old cardboard box. The sun was beginning to set, but gave enough light to the world to point out the paradox of a vampire wandering freely in sunlight.
It was times like this Isaiah dwelled on the amusing notion that evidently he was supposed to burst into flames or something if sunlight touched him.
"And that's just silly, ain't it, Zee?" he asked the baby.
"Frrrt," Uziri sagely replied, her purplish, wriggly shadow-aura wiggling in grave amusement.
"Right. That's what I say."
Risika and Elazu were walking down the street, hand in hand. The pair was usualy found around this, mainly due to the fact that Elazu hated being out in the sun, and because hiw gaurdian hated it aswell, for reasons he didnt understand.
Nevertheless, he skipped happily at her side, singing a tune that only he knew while all his gaurdian could do was smile and make sure she had a good hold of his hand.
Uziri heard the singing and gave a toothless grin at the sound of it. Pretty! Sure, she didn't understand a word of it, but she liked it.
"Bnah," she burbled urgently at Isaiah. She wanted to see the singing thing, but it was getting Big Thing to understand her desires that was the hard part. "Bnah!"
"What is it, Zee?" Isaiah asked warily. He was never sure what the baby wanted, and this occasion was no exception.
"BNAH!"
As the pair made their way past the burbling child and other vampire, Elazu stopped, his humming becoming slower as he caught sight of the box. With baby noises coming from, his young mind could only think of one thing.
" Mister mister! Are you giving away puppies?!" Elazu broke free or Risika's hand, making his way hurriedly towards the box, peering in. His large smile curled into a confused one as he saw that it was a child before him, not a litter of puppies.
Risika frowned, calling after Elazu as he ran towards the stranger. She sighed, chasing after him at a small jog. As she came closer to the man, however, she frowned slightly becoming very wary.
" Elazu don't bother strangers please, its very rude." She smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry, he's very curious."
"Bwuh?"
Isaiah's response was hardly the most intelligent, and he was perfectly aware of this. He cleared his throat and hoped the kid's companion hadn't heard him, and shook his head.
"Puppies? Heh, no...that's Uziri."
He noted the woman's expression and grinned slightly, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. Given his demeanor, this wasn't too hard.
"It's not a big deal," he said. "No harm done."
Uziri's eyes widened and she stared at the new creature. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small. It didn't look pleased to see her, but she was greatly pleased to see it- it was new, and fluffy (that hair! Oh, she wanted to pull it!), and it had come to visit her.
"Bnaaaaah!"
Elazu watched the baby for a moment then grinned widely, holding out a hand toward the baby, waggling his fingers.
" Hellooo there Uzzy!"
Risika smirked, a hand on her hip as she watched her social butterfly play with the baby.
" Uziri? Thats a really interesting name. His name is Elazu, while I'm Risika. Sorry to barge in on your quiet time."
Uziri's shadow-aura wiggled in joy as she basked in the attention, grabbing up towards Elazu and smiling wide.
"Bnah!" she repeated, enthralled. Fluffy Thing liked her!
"It suits her, I think," Isaiah said, looking down at the baby. "I'm Isaiah. Nice to meet you."
At the words 'quiet time', Iz couldn't resist a laugh.
"No no, nothing of the sort. Zee doesn't know the meaning of the word 'quiet', I'm afraid."
He glanced down at Elazu and noticed the tail for the first time. Not wanting to seem like he was giving Risika a once-over, he nodded casually at the appendage and resisted the urge to check if the woman had one too.
"Nifty tail."
Elazu stared at the child, his eyes growing slightly wider with excitement. He liked how babies always seemed to be thrilled by the littlest things. His own mother always told him that he was the same way, but it was different when he could entertain babies. He let the baby take hold of his hand, his eyes glancing at the shadowy form that wiggled around her.
" I agree. Not that I know the child much, but it's a lovely name." She laughed softly, remembering how fussy and talkative Elazu was when he was a baby. She knew exactly what Isaiah was talking about. A smirk crossed her lips as her own tail flicked out from behind her, the splitting image of Elazu's.
" It is indeed. Odd that of all things we would have a similar tail." She shrugged, choosing to sit down since Elazu seemed to be in no mood to leave any time soon. " So how did you happen to become caretaker of your little one?"
With an utterly contented burble, Uziri yanked Elazu's arm down and commenced to gnawing on his fingers. Her expression was delighted - Fluffy Thing was nice, very nice indeed.
Isaiah eyed Risika's unexpected limb with interest, then took a seat on the opposite side. He looked down into the box, sighing and poking Uziri.
"Zee. Let go of the poor kid."
He sighed again and rolled his eyes, grinning ruefully.
"Honestly? I was followed home one night. By a...floating rock. I went home, fell asleep and woke to a giant hole in my door, and there she was sitting on my bed," he said. "Interesting to say the least...how 'bout you?"
A surprised squeak escaped Elazu's lips as Uziri began gnawing on his fingers. He had forgotten that most babies don't have teeth, and had expected many of them to pierce his fingers.
He smiled in response, starting to make funny faces at the babe, utterly thrilled that she liked him so much.
" A floating....rock? Well that is interesting..." She thought back upon the day she had recieved Elazu, smiling fondly at the memory. " A spirit gave him to me. He said 'Take care of me', so I think ELazu is his reincarnation..." She shrugged not truly understanding what Elazu quite was yet. Reincarnation? Or a sort of shadow clone?
Uziri giggled at the faces, relinquishing her hold on Elazu's arm to clumsily clap her hands.
"Bfft!" she said, giggling louder. Beneath her, the shadow-aura wiggled, its"tentacles" writhing and twisting.
"Wow...that's really something."
Isaiah glanced at Elazu curiously. For all anyone knew, maybe he was the reincarnation of some big, mysterious and all-powerful spirit creature. Or, maybe he was just a kid with a tail that had a knack for making babies laugh. Either or. Laughing a bit belatedly, Isaiah ran a hand over his hair and sighed again.
"It was stranger to see than you'd think," he said. "The floating rock, I mean. Almost kinda creepy...but yeah."
Elazu grinned as he took his hand back, clapping his own hands together quickly. He instantly stopped, however, once he felt Uziri's drool dripping down his hands.
" Eewww," he muttered, wiping both of his hands on his pant legs. His emerald eyes flicked toward the aura thing that seemed to be attached to the baby. He arched a brow, reaching to touch it, if he would be allowed.
" Yea, really weird. But I trust him." She smiled again, looking over at Isaiah as he spoke about the floating rock experience. " I personally would have just freaked out." She laughed, then added, " Especially if it was following me."
"Ewwuuuwa," Uziri attempted to parrot, looking up at Elazu adoringly. As he reached for the aura, the baby giggled and shifted slightly. A smoky, transparent tentacle reached out and wrapped loosely 'round Elazu's wrist, but it didn't maintain its hold for long. It was a bit of an effort, and to her it felt exactly like muscles straining from reaching too far.
"Gnrrf," Uziri said solemnly.
"I ran away from it," Isaiah said, laughing a little self-consciously. " 'Course, the guy that got her twin...sister, I'm guessing, he got knocked in the head with a rock instead, so I guess being chased wasn't so bad in the long run."
Elazu watched the tenacle, moving his fingers slightly as he watched the tenacle slide over his skin.
" Oooh thats cool!" He grinned, moving his hand to pet the child's curly head. " You're cute!" He was deffiantely liking this baby, he hoped that after meeting her he would see her again.
" I don't blame you, I would have ran too." She winced at the thought of being hit in the head with a rock. " Is her 'twin' a bit more aggressive?" She laughed softly. " Because that would for sure be a good sign to it."
Uziri puffed up in babyish pride, preening. Her visitor was impressed, this was good! Maybe he'd want to visit her again if he thought she was cool.
"Gnaah," she said, reaching up for Elazu and making grabby hands. "Uppie!"
Isaiah thought on it, then shook his head.
"I dunno, really," he said. "Irizu seemed calm enough...though I didn't get to look her over too close, so you never know. She could be the evil twin."
He glanced down at Uziri.
"Though with my kind of luck, Zee might be the one that grows up to be a nutcase," he said fondly.
" Uppie? Maaamaaa! Zee wants uppie." He looked back towards his mother, not really knowing what to do.
Risika looked back at Elazu, " Thats up to her dad, hunny." She turned to Isaiah, shrugging slightly. " Things do have a way to turn out totaly different from what they seem don't they?"
Elazu huffed then got up, walking over to the man. " Uhm Zee's dad. She wants uppie?"
"Uppie? Oh yeah, alright. C'mere, Zee."
Isaiah lifted Uziri out of the box, but almost simultaneously the baby started squirming and wiggling, trying to get out of his grasp.
"Dowwie! Dowwie!"
"Put you down? But I just...oooh, I get it," Iz said, and gently set the baby on the ground beside Elazu. "You don't wanna hang out with me anymore, huh?"
Uziri grinned and crawled unsteadily to Elazu, sitting down on top of his feet and craning her head back to look at him.
"Zu!" she said.
Risika smiled softly, ruffling Elazu's hair.
" Be gentle with her."
Elazu giggled at the babe in his lap before turning to his mother, " You know I will Mama." He turned his eyes back onto Uziri, smiling widely at her before reaching out to pick her up. As he lifted her up, with a bit of an effort, he kept his legs on her belly, so that if he lost his grip she would be caught by his legs. Content that he hand a good hold of her, his hands holding her up by her armpits, he helped her stand, her feet dancing on his lap.
" Looky! You're walking!" He snickered, moving her a little, as if she were dancing.
Uziri burbled in astonishment as Elazu lifted her up, kicking her legs experimentally. Was this walking, then?
"Walwa!" she chirped, laughing aloud. Huh! Walking wasn't so hard, then. She didn't think about what would happen should Elazu let go, however.
Elazu snickered, bouncing Uziri a little before sitting her in his lap, his arms unable to take the strain for much longer. He beamed down at the babe, she was a lot more fun than he expected babies to be.
Delighted she'd made such a lovely new friend, Uziri cuddled like a kitten against Elazu and burbled, pulling at his arms and hair when she could reach it. She poked and prodded experimentally, and noticed at last the strange transparency that seemed to afflict one of Elazu's hands. Her expression grew dramatically shocked and she poked at the hand, wondering if it was injured.
Elazu smiled, his eyes narrowing as he took a moment to concentrate and make his hand not solid. He watched with amusement as Uziri's hand went through his hand. He seriously hoped that this wouldn't frighten the child, but he figured that if the fact that his hands were see-through didn't scare her, then maybe the fact that he could make them solid and then not solid upon cue, wouldn't faze her at all.
Uziri gave a delighted shriek, clapping her hands awkwardly and positively bouncing. What a wonderful trick! How amazing! What wonderful uses it could have, what with cookie jar raiding or stealing small animals out of cages or dozens and dozens of other things....
"Ag'in! Ag'in! Mo'!" she commanded blithely, eyes wide.
Elazu beamed. She liked it! This made him happy, and with her demands for him to do it again, he tapped his chin in thought. His finger passed in and out of his chin, leaving a ghostly trail, or an after image as it did, thats when he remembered something else he could do.
With a swift clap of his hands, he began to draw in the air in front of Uziri. His hand movements were very careful, and his brow was fixed in concentration as he drew. With every stroke a shadowy image floated in mid-air. His hands waved through the air swiftly and he pulled his hands back, looking at the image before him with a nod.
The image he had created was a stick figure drawing of what could be figured as Uziri. It wasn't anything amazing, but perhaps that he had created it out of thin air would be to her.
Uziri gave an exaggerated gasp, jaw dropping and eyes widened painfully.
So. Neat.
"Zu eth....eth...Zu eth beth," she burbled. Elazu was the best! In reaction to a sudden onset of utter admiration, Uziri threw herself onto the boy and hugged him clumsily, accidentally drooling on him a bit but nonetheless highly affectionate. Almost like a puppy, really.
Elazu gasped as Uziri threw herself at him, but he was soon returning her hug gently, a huge grin playing across his face. He liked Uziri and he liked how his powers didn't scare her.
He pulled back form Uziri and laid her back against his propped up knees.
" How about Uziri? What can you do?" He wasn't sure she could do anything, or that she could understand what he asked, but it never hurt to try. What especially caught his attention, was that aura that hung around her that seemed to have a life of its own.
Gnawing toothlessly on the glowing skull-pendant 'round her neck, Uziri thought hard. What could she do? Other than emit horrid odors and sounds, as Isaiah liked to point out....
Oh.
"Uthiwi ca' do thih," she said, pushing away from Elazu and throwing herself forcefully backwards. It she had been a normal child, the impact no doubt would've caused a crack to her skull, but Uziri squeezed her eyes shut and her shadow-aura stiffened, tendrils going stick-straight, and caught her fall like a multitude of arms. With terrible effort that showed on her face, Uziri laboriously pushed herself back up and onto Elazu's lap again.
"Uthiwi go' shawoe-t'ings," she said proudly. "Uthiwi go' es-tra arms."
Elazu gasped, trying to catch Uziri before she hit the ground. What was she doing?! But before he could even react he watched her aura come to life and catch her. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as Uziri returned to his lap. He placed his hands on his knees, making his arms like bars on a bed in case she fell again.
" Thats awesome Uziri!" He couldn't help it, curiosity got the best of him, so he poked the aura yet again, watching it in awe. " But don't do that again! You scared me. Gimme a warning next time."
Pleased at the response, Uziri simple gave a gurgling giggle and looked up at Elazu innocently. A moment later she gave a yawn that nearly split her head, and awkwardly knuckled her eyes. All this excitement was beginning to wear her out...
Isaiah, who'd been watching and had had a heart attack of his own when Uziri had pulled her little trick, noted this.
"We should probably get going soon..."
Elazu snickered and patted Uziri's head. He watched yawn with a small frown. " Uh oh. You'se tired now huh?"
Risika nodded, smiling friendly. " Alright then, we should probably get home before they send a search party for us anyway. Elazu, Uziri needs to go back to her daddy now."
Elazu frowned, he had figured she would just nap and they can play again, but apparently not. He looked back at Uziri and gave her a quick peck on the forehead. " Bye, bye Uziri. I sees you later." He hefted her up and wobbled over toward her father, holding her out with a smile. " He' go."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:48 am
__Part 6
"Pooosh Lo poosh!," Ryder yelled happily as he sat on the swings, his wings flapping quickly creating little waves of sand.
"Okay, okay I'm coming," Logan said as he attempted to stifle a laugh.
"Just stop flapping your wings, you're blowing sand everywhere!"
"Why am I in a park. Parks are for normal people."
Isaiah was wandering around per usual, Uziri cradled in his arms. He'd decided to skip carrying her in her box - not only was it clumsy to carry, but he'd gotten more than one dirty look for carrying a baby in a cardboard box, regardless of how many blankets he'd stuffed it with.
Uziri, having neither the ability nor the desire to respond, yawned widely and cast an eye around the park. There had to be something interesting around here....
Her eyes caught sight of something with wings, something very pretty, and she gave a shriek.
"NGAA!" she said urgently, pointing clumsily at the winged thing. She wanted to see it, she did!
"Looook Lo look!" Ryder said as he was happily swinging on the swingset in the park. He stuck his feet out to stop the motion of the swing.
"Baaaaay-bee!"
"Huh?" Logan followed Ryder's pointed finger to an odd person carrying a baby. A very loud baby for that matter.
Logan grabbed Ryder's hand and said, 'Let's go say hi."
Logan approached the odd figure, Ryder walking wobbly behind and said,"Cute baby you've got there, I'm Logan and this is Ryder"
Isaiah, not expecting such a quick introduction to people he hadn't even seen, regardless of Logan's friendliness, was flustered.
"Oh! Um. Uh. Thanks," he said quickly, trying to regain himself and hide his obvious surprise. "I'm Isaiah. This is-"
"BAAFT!"
"-very loud. And named Uziri. Nice to meet you."
"Well, uh nice to meet you too," Logan said, a loss of words to say because there was something about this guy, Isaiah, something different about him.
"Hey Uziri, I'd like you to meet Ryder..."
Logan picked Ryder up and held him right in front of Uziri.
Ryder was intrigued by this new person especially the strange necklace around her neck. But, alas, curiosity got the best of him as he reached out to touch the necklace of skulls.
Uziri watched in curiosity as the Shiny reached out towards her, but then started wiggling back. No no, he couldn't have her shiny. She frowned, and the glowing eyes of the skull flared uncomfortably.
"Sffrt," she informed the Shiny, and to further dissuade him, stuck out a hand and planted it firmly in his face. She giggled then, discomfort forgotten.
"Waaah," yelled Ryder as the hand squished his nose. Apparently the necklace was untouchable as it moved away every time he attempted to touch it. He'd have to make due with not being able to touch it for now.
It giggled at Ryder's discomfort and, well, giggling was contagious. Ryder also started to giggle which led to his wings gently flapping causing whisps of fire to fly out towards Uziri.
Uziri clapped her hands clumsily, full-out laughing now. She liked this thing, yes she did. Her eyes widened at the sight of the fire, and she burbled in curiosity.
Isaiah, who'd been keeping a close eye on the exchange, arched an eyebrow.
"Your baby's on fire," he said casually to Logan.
"Yeah, that's kind of his thing.. I just have to make sure that nothing ELSE catches on fire and that's when it becomes a hassle. That's why I'm never taking him to the mall again after what happened at the music store..." Logan said shaking his head as he reminisced (sp?)
Ryder's eyes widened. So it liked fire did it? Well, let's give her some more...
Ryder flapped his wings even more and the fire got closer and closer to Uziri, yet heat was not felt. Ryder liked this thing, he didn't want to hurt it..
Isaiah winced sympathetically.
"Lemme guess...melted CDs and screaming bystanders everywhere, right?" he said, smiling slightly.
Uziri watched in awe as the fire came closer, and on a whim reached out to it. It wasn't hot, and oh goodness gracious was it pretty. She laughed again, a high-pitched and excited sound.
Isaiah heard the laugh and looked down again, and bit back a yelp as he saw Uziri in such close quarters with the fire.
"Zee!"
He bent down as though to drag her away, and inadvertently touched a lick of flame. He jerked his hand back, but realized he hadn't been burned.
"...huh?"
"Hehe, um yeah something like that. More like guitars and violins flaming on their stands but yeah they were melted CDs and screaming bystanders too."
Logan glanced down as Isaiah stared transfixedly (Oooh big word XD) switching from his hand to Ryder's flame licks.
"Oh yeah, did I mention he can turn down the heat of his fire? It doesn't really burn unless he wants it to..."
Ryder laughed as the bigger it tried to save the smaller it but took his hand back really fast after touching his flames.
"Flaymee no boo-boo," Ryder said with a smile, staring back at the confused guardian.
Still checking his hand just to make sure there was no damage, Isaiah nodded slightly.
"Huh...that's pretty nifty, actually," he said. He glanced down at Uziri, who was perfectly happy (and surrounded by flames). "Not quite sure what Zee can do. She has that weird kinda tentacle-shadow, and that necklace..."
Giggling and burbling to herself, Uziri gnawed on her fingers and watched the flames in delight. She wanted to share something with this nice Shiny, but what did she have? Hmm...
Her shadow-aura wiggled behind her, forgotten to Uziri herself but plainly in sight of Ryder.
"Well, I'm sure you'll find something special about her... Especially that necklace, is it supposed to glow like that?"
Ryder stopped flapping his wings for a second so he could stare at the odd black thingy behind it. It seemed to wiggle on it's own and without Uziri's immediate motion and it was looking pretty scary to Ryder.
"Shaaaaa-dow scawy," said Ryder as he pointed it out to Uziri.
"I suppose so. She bit me the first time I tried to take it off her...er, well, gummed me, actually. It's like a part of her. The eyes glow brighter when she's moody."
"Saaaawooe?" Uziri parroted, trying to force her babblings into something comprehensible. "Saaaa...saaaa....woe."
She looked behind her, trying to see what Shiny was looking at. She brushed a waving tentacle of her shadow-aura away, trying to see. She turned back to Shiny and frowned. Was he seeing something she wasn't? Whatever it was it seemed to scare him a bit.
"See, there's something special about her already! I don't know though maybe you should try studying it while she's sleeping? I mean, I've never seen a baby where skulls before..."
"Shaaawoe! Shaawoe! Shaawoe! "
At this time, Ryder was fed up with trying to point it out so he started screaming at the top of his lungs.
"SHAWOE SHAWOE SHAWOE!"
"I suppose I could...but I dunno. She can't bite me, so it may try for her."
Isaiah snorted at his own joke, but then frowned and glanced at the glowing necklace. Maybe it was better to let well enough alone.
"Sawoe?"
Uziri mumbled in confusion. Shiny was mad now, wasn't he? Her face crumpled and tears welled into her eyes. She'd made him upset by not understanding... and suddenly it clicked. Shawoe. Shadow.
"Naaah! Sawoe sawoe!"
No longer upset, Uziri turned and showed off the shadow-aura, preening like a peacock. The aura's tentacle-like extensions wiggled at the boy, and she gave Shiny a toothless smile.
"Yeah, it's kind of creepy for my tastes..."
Ryder stared at the mysterious shadow thing as Uziri showed it off. It seemed as if she was proud of it and she was introducing it to him. Well, it looked like the shadow was under control and it looked like fun.
"Pwetty Weens," Ryder said as he stodd up and turned around to show Uziri the full view of his wings. He flapped them and jiggled them which sent little pieces of ash and fire into the air
"Weens. Pwe.. pweet-ee...nnf. Weens!"
Uziri made grabbing hands at the floating ashes, her shadow-aura's 'tentacles' stretching out from behind her to try and grab in all directions. She kept missing, but it was a fun game. Uziri looked at the aura, then back at the boy's wings. Her aura wasn't even half as pretty, in her own mind. Her face crumpled again.
"Wan' weens," she said mournfully.
"Weens pretty," Logan said as he tried to glance at his own shadow, "but yo shadow is humongo! And look! My shadoe is weaal weally small but shadoe has weens too! Maybe you can chanje shadow to weens?"
In an effort to change Uziri's shadow, Ryder got closer to see if he could merge both his and Uziri's shadows together so she could have a winged shadow too
Still looking upset, Uziri tried to make the shadow-aura shift into wings. The thing wiggled, and tentacles curled, but nothing more. The baby sighed.
"Naw weens," she said. She looked down at the ground then, and brightened. Her real shadow had wings! Her expression cleared instantly and Uziri laughed, clapping her hands again.
Ryder smiled. Making people happy was fun! He started flapping his wings again to see if he could acheive lift off. As he flapped his wings, little pits of ash and wisps of flame began to surround him and Uziri. He slowly got one inch off the ground, then two, then higher and higher.
He was flying! He was flying! He giggled as he hovered near Isaiah's head.
"Um, Isaiah?" Logan couldn't help but smirk as he tried to suppress a laugh.
Isaiah stared at Ryder in utter surprise.
"He's like a really small angel or a really big, really friggin' shiny pigeon," he said, grinning incredulously.
Uziri's eyes turned coin-round and widened almost painfully far, her expression comical for such awe to be on a baby's face.
"Weens! Weens!"
"I'm going with like really really shiny pigeon," Logan said as he chuckled, "after all, I did find him from following a bird."
Ryder was practically screaming in joy as he landed next to Uziri.
"You fwy! Shawoe wings fwy! Fwy!"
Ryder was excited. This could be another person who could fly with him! He was already fantasizing about how much fun they would have together...
Isaiah nodded vaguely, still watching Ryder.
"Bird, huh? What, like a...god, what're they called...y'know, those firebird things....um...ah! Like a phoenix or something?" he said eventually.
Uziri giggled and shrieked, Ryder's infectious enthusiasm wholly overwhelming. She wanted to fly like he did, oh, she did! Shifting into a n unsteady kneel, Uziri looked over her shoulder at the writhing shadow-aura and tried to make it change shape. She wanted wings, darn it.
"Nnnnghph..."
The shadow-aura stayed stubbornly the same shape, though the curling tendrils waved around more energetically. Uziri sighed. Maybe she'd just have to be content to watch Ryder fly.
"I think your right... A Phoenix huh? And I thought there were like Mythical or something..."
Ryder felt bad. Everyone should be able to enjoy flying! He landed near Uziri and grabbed her hand.
"FWY! FWY WID ME!"
He flapped his wings while he waited for Uziri to answer.
Isaiah shrugged.
"So're vampires, so that means I must be defying some rationale of logic somewhere," he said, watching Ryder with utter thoughtful fascination.
Uziri knelt, watching Ryder enviously as she tried to make her shadow-aura become something more useful. Oh, how she wanted to fly with him!
"See naw fwy," she said, looking despondent. "Naw weens li'e Ry-er..."
"So... you're a vampire? That's cool! I thought there was something about you that was different..."
"Fwy Uri! Fwy!"
Ryder grabbed Uziri's hand and started to flap. Much to his dismay, he started to fly but Uziri was going no where. So, what else could he do? He flapped harder. He was flying lopsided now, all his strength going into trying to get Uziri off the ground. Then it happened. Uziri was off the ground! But just as quickly she had gotten off the ground, she came back down. Gently, that is.
Ryder huffed and puffed as he asked Uziri, "You wike?"
"Yup," Isaiah said, preening a little bit. "It's pretty much a normal life, really. 'Cept you're a bit paler and you live on a liquid diet."
He snorted slightly as though he'd cracked a joke only he thought was funny, and when he caught himself doing this he cleared his throat and grinned sheepishly.
Uziri gave a shriek, utterly delighted. For one glorious moment she'd been airborne! Amazing! Incredible!
"SEE FWY!"
"Oh haha, well that's cool.."
What a thrill it was making someone else happy! Uziri's smile made all of the stress and strain on his wings worth it. He smiled a small grin and yawned. He glanced at his surroundings and saw that the sun had set a long time ago and the light of the moon had set in.
"Ryderrr tired!"
He waved bye-bye to Uziri as he pulled on Logan's pant leg.
"Logan, Ryder tirrred! We go bye-bye home?"
"Okay.. Well, Isaiah, it was nice meeting you and I, uh, hope we meet again too.."
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Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:14 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:12 pm
__Part 8
"Know what I was thinking?"
"No. What?"
"Someone must've been pretty ******** desperate for food when they first made maple syrup."
Oliver looked up from his newspaper, gracing Isaiah with a look bordering incredulous.
"What?"
Iz looked back at him with a deadpan.
"You heard me."
Oliver sighed.
"You're an idiot, and I fear for the IQ of the larva."
Uziri, busy with a bottle, belched.
"Oh yeah. Family of geniuses right here," Oliver remarked dryly, returning to his paper. Iz snorted and leaned back, pillowing his head on his arms. The trio were sitting out on a sidewalk, enjoying the evening under a streetlight and looking deeply suspicious to passerby, who gave them wide berth. A pleasant enough way to spend the time, really.
Opec was in a very, very good mood. He couldn't quite explain why, but he was. It was because of this that he was currently twirling down the street, laughing and holding Irizu out in front of him.
Irizu burbled happily, clinging to Opec's hair for dear life. She skreeked in glee, her toothless mouth twisted into an adorable, drooly grin.
Neither the young man nor the infant noticed the trio on the sidewalk.
"Where do you even come out with stuff like that?"
Iz shrugged.
"Y'know, I'm not really sure. Might be brain damage."
"I won't argue that."
Still involved with her bottle, Uziri fidgeted in Isaiah's lap and lost her grip on it. She gave a horrified cry and kicked at Isaiah, hands stretching out for the thing as it rolled down the street.
"Baabaa! BAABAA!"
"Ouch! Jeez, Zee, that's my kidney, quit it- alright alright, give me a sec- aw. Damn."
The bottle, having rolled slightly down hill, had rolled directly into a storm drain. Isaiah heard a splash as it landed.
"Darn."
Opec and Irizu's head both snapped rather abruptly toward the new voice.
"EEEEEEEEEEEETHA!"
Opec looked to his wriggling daughter for a moment. Had she just said--? He shook his head. 'Course not.
Irizu wriggled, her aura-tendrils glowing absurdly bright. The skull on her necklace rattled ominously.
"Hi," Opec said quietly as he approached the Vampires, hoping he wasn't interrupting anything.
"EETHA!"
"Huh? Oh! Hey!" Isaiah looked up at Opec, smiling. "How've you been?"
Oliver glanced up and gave a nod, a thin half-smile on his face.
" 'Lo," he said.
"BAAABA-ugft. SEEESEE. SEESEE!" Uziri shrieked, switching midword and reaching upward frantically. Her own shadow-aura writhed like mad, a tendril striking Isaiah across the face.
How've you been? What kind of question was that to ask a--
"Awesome," Opec smiled and sat down beside Isaiah, placing Irizu in his lap so she could get to her sister, "I didn't have any appointments today. And you?"
He gave Oliver a smile of questionable intent before turning back to Isaiah.
Irizu burbled and happily placed a hand on the side of the sister-thing's face.
"Eetha!"
"Okay," Isaiah said. "Been...pretty much on this curb all day. I'm livin' it up."
Oliver, giving Opec a sidelong look that indicated a slowly-rising interest in his existence, gave a snort.
"Yeah," he said dryly. "And I've been out here all day with you. It's a miracle someone hasn't called the cops complaining we're loitering."
"It's a public curb, there's nothing they can do. We're the public. It's our curb to use."
Uziri made a gurgling kind of sound, hiccuped, and burped again - all the sudden excitement made her feel urpy.
"Nghfaaaa," she said importantly, dribbling slightly and awkwardly wiping her mouth on Isaiah's arm.
"Wonderful," Opec laughed slightly and absently ruffled Irizu's hair, "and just because it's not illegal doesn't mean people won't complain." He'd accidentally let an awkward silence grow and so picked at one of the many deliberate tears in his jeans.
Irizu giggled and miniced the sister-thing's motions, rubbing her face oddly against Opec's arm.
"You know you want to join us in our law-breaking," Iz said mildly, trailing off into silence. The lack of conversation grew to awkward proportions before Oliver finally finished his paper and discarded it off to the side.
"No appointments, huh?" he said to Opec. "That mean you got time available, or are you on some kind of vacation?"
"Oliver!"
"What? It's a legitimate question. Get your mind out of the gutter."
Isaiah growled, shaking his head slightly.
Uziri watched the copying in interest, and hiccuped again. She looked mournfully towards the storm drain and sighed, and then shifted uncomfortably as another hiccup made her jump.
"I don't get vacations," Opec smiled, "I just...didn't have any appointments. So I guess...yes. I have time available." He sort of liked where this was going.
Irizu gasped. Sister-thing was clearly dying! She wriggled to lean forward a bit better and grabbed at sister-thing's clothes.
Oliver gave a lean smile.
"Well, isn't that convenient," he said smoothly. "I happen to have an open schedule..."
"And no money," Isaiah interjected tartly.
"Sure I do."
"You do?"
"Yes. You have some squirreled away, don't you?"
Isaiah blushed so violently at the thought of what Oliver would use his money to pay for that his face looked instantly badly sunburned. Oliver caught sight of the reaction he triggered and laughed aloud.
"Stupid virgin."
"Shut up!"
Uziri hiccuped louder, then stuffed her fingers into her mouth in an attempt to quell the sound. Her eyes were wide and her skull necklace glowed balefully in distress.
"Hic! Naaaahvb...hic!" she sputtered, biting down harder on her fingers and grabbing at Irizu with her free hand.
Irizu flopped forward onto Isaiah's legs, clinging to her sister-thing's midsection and attempting to hug the Bad out of her.
"I'd be glad to oblige, but I don't know if you ha--what?" Opec changed subject mid-sentence, completely taken aback by what he'd heard, "Virgin?" His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped in a rather comical expression one would expect to see on a small child.
Isaiah squeezed his eyes shut and hunched his shoulders, face burning.
"Is this the kind of conversation to have around infants?" he said. Oliver snorted again.
"It's too late. I've called you out."
"I'm going to take a power drill to your head. To your head."
Wrestling free of Isaiah's loosened hold, Uziri stumbled and crawled to Sister-Thing and latched onto her, still hiccuping. This was bad, very bad. What if she exploded? She remembered the potato in the microwave Iz-Man had tried to make her for dinner. It had made a funny sound too, and then it went kaboom.
"Naw wan' boovm," Zee said frantically, biting harder on her fingers.
Opec clicked his tongue and placed two finger beneath Isaiah's chin, lifting it for a moment.
"Awwh...how cute!" he cried, not at all attempting to be spiteful. It was honestly the cutest thing he'd ever heard. He then gave Oliver a rather questionable glance and stood, sauntering past the babies and Isaiah to get to him.
And he perched in Oliver's lap.
"Really, is this the kind of conversation we should be having around larvae that barely understand English?"
Irizu gasped again.
"Nah goo boovm!" she yelped and clung harder.
It was the unexpected touch more than anything else that made Isaiah jerk back and slip off the curb.
"Ow! Dammit!"
Oliver grinned slightly, throwing an arm around his unexpected visitor and drawing him closer.
"Smooth. No wonder you're still a vir-"
"Oliver Dunn I swear to God if you say that word again I'm going to rip your heart out and shove it down your throat to choke on."
Unphased, Oliver looked to Opec in feigned exasperation.
"See what I have to deal with?"
Uziri nodded clumsily, face crumpling.
"No! No no no no no!" she said, releasing her fingers from her mouth and grabbing at her hair in anxiety. "Hic!"
Opec pressed easily against Oliver and smiled to Isaiah.
"Oh, it's nothing to be ashamed of," he siad, and couldn't help but giggle. Hell, how old had he been? Ten? "You just haven't found the right girl...or do you not swing that way, hm?" He wriggled a bit against Oliver, if for no other reason than to taunt Isaiah.
Well, of course.
The Bad was coming from her sister-thing's mouth.
This stunning epiphany was what caused Irizu to press her hand against the sister-thing's mouth.
Isaiah bristled.
"That's none of your concern," he said hotly. Oliver nudged Opec slightly.
"I believe you've hit a nerve," he said easily. Isaiah growled like an animal and glared at the pair, shoulders still hunched.
Now, why hadn't she thought of this? Uziri put her own spittle-dampened hands over Irizu's further clamping her mouth shut. She hiccuped, but the sound was muffled. She dared to look relieved - maybe she wouldn't blow up!
"Closeted, huh?" Opec asked innocently enough and reached over, running a finger down the side of Isaiah's face, "I don't have a problem with that."
Irizu couldn't help but giggle at the sound. She had saved Sister-thing's life! Yes!
Isaiah ground his teeth and said nothing, looking away with a venomous expression on his face....and a decidedly panicked stream of thoughts rushing through his head, mostly consisting of variants of "am I THAT blatantly obvious?"
One hiccup, then another, and then nothing. Uziri gave a muffled shriek and threw her hands up into the air in celebration. No explosions! No messy slimy Uziri-bits flung everywhere like a microwaved potato!
"Don't be angry," Opec said suddenly, feeling guilty at making Isaiah unhappy. Normally something such as this wouldn't bother him. It was a mystery as to why it did now, "I didn't mean to." He once again caressed Isaiah's cheek with the back of his hand.
Irizu followed suit and hrew her arms into the air.
"EeeeeeeeeeDEEEEEE!" she shrieked and clapped her hands together.
"NO BOOVM!"
Isaiah glanced over at Opec, ashamed of his own attitude and trying to ignore the miserably vivid blush that was rekindling.
"It's alright," he said awkwardly. "Oliver's the one being a d**k, anyway."
"Hey. I resent that."
"Bite me."
Oliver laughed slightly, and for once didn't offer a countering remark. This was fun enough to watch without his input.
Uziri cackled like a hyena. She was alive! There was nothing to worry about now-
"BRAAAAAAP."
Uziri clamped a hand t her mouth again, eyes wide. Oops.
"I think it's in his character," Opec laughed slightly and ruffled Oliver's hair...and then smoothed it back into place...before switching to Isaiah's lap in one fluid motion. He simply sat there and smiled, arms laced 'round Isaiah's neck.
Irizu stopped for a moment, lips pursed and eyes wide, and then broke out into a hysterical fit of giggles. Sister-thing made a funny noise!
Isaiah went rigid, face burning brighter than ever and eyes fixed downward.
"Gnnk."
Giving a huffy sigh and poking her belly experimentally, Uziri nodded resolutely when no more funny sounds decided to come out unexpectedly. She looked up at Sister-thing and smiled on instinct at the happy reaction she'd caused.
Opec once again raised Isaiah's chin, smiling slightly.
"What's wrong? Am I not good enough for you?"
Irizu calmed slowly, face absurdly red.
"Blllthp," she smiled and poked sister-thing's belly too.
"N-no," Isaiah said quickly. "I-I just-gnnk."
Oliver picked up his paper, rolled it up, and hit Iz upside the head with it.
"OW! What the- what the ******** was that- Oliver, you-"
"Shut up. Cripes, you're such a wuss."
"Am not!"
"Uh huh. You're blushing like a wuss."
Isaiah yanked the hood of his sweatshirt up and over his head, hiding his face.
"No I'm not, you can't even tell," he said lamely. Oliver sighed and rolled his eyes in mock-pity.
Uziri giggled at the poke, and struck with sudden inspiration gave an over-dramatic gurgle and flopped to one side. Ha! Since she wasn't dead-for-real, that made playing dead completely within reason.
"N'awwww..." Opec cooed, voice lowering to something barely above a whisper, "It's okay~" He slid hid hand beneath Isaiah's hood and pushed it back.
"Don't hide your face~"
Irizu gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. SISTER-THING! She flopped atop the other girl, desperate for any kind of cure.
Flopping was, of course, the first attempt.
Isaiah couldn't manage to lift his eyes, so resorted to squeezing them shut.
"Who's hiding?" he said, voice thready.
Uziri gave a Dead Thing Gargle and stuck her tongue out, eyes staring vacantly upwards. She was excellent at playing 'possum, much to Isaiah's continuing chagrin.
"You are," Opec giggled slightly and leaned forward, brushing his cheek gently against Isaiah's and breathing in his ear as he spoke, "Open your eyes."
Irizu then realized what was going on. She laughed and prodded sister-thing's tongue.
Isaiah bit his lip suddenly and hard, mindless of his fangs and the damage they inflicted. This was just too much!
"I'm not," he protested, though he forced his eyes open obediently. He glanced up at Opec and hunched his shoulders again, looking like exactly what he was; a deeply embarrassed kid who didn't know what the hell he was doing.
Uziri gave a giggly growl and grabbed at Irizu switching over from Dead Thing to Monster Thing. Amid hysterical giggles she tried to pretend ferocity, with mixed results.
Opec giggled again.
"Alright," he nodded, "I'll leave you alone." He glanced toward the infants, smiled, and then flopped backward to his upper half was atop Oliver and his lower on Isaiah. He folded his arms behind his head.
"He's cute."
Irizu gave a hysterical guffaw and giggled insanely, crossing her arms awkwardly over herself to try and keep sister-thing from tickling her.
Relieved and disappointed that Opec had withdrawn his attentions, Isaiah breathed a sigh. Jeez. Though he was now being used as a leg-rest, it wasn't quite so bad.
"He can be, once you get used to him," Oliver said, nodding slightly. For once his tone was (nearly) scorn-free, and his expression not as stubbornly apathetic as usual.
Uziri tumbled into her sister, poking and prodding and determinedly trying to break through Irizu's defenses to tickle.
"Bnaah!"
Opec nodded.
"He is, however, a bit...cold," he smiled and raised a hand, placing it against Oliver's cheek, "You're not, now, are you?"
Irizu laughed harder, the sounds emanating from her seeming more like shrieks and gasps than giggles. She let her defenses break and began poking desperately at Uziri, trying to tickle her back.
Oliver smirked.
"Not at all, since you seem worth the time," he said. Isaiah coughed slightly, earning a sidelong look from Oliver that plainly said 'you had your chance.'
Uziri toppled back again and lay against the curb, laughing so hysterically tears were streaking down her face. Sister-thing was more interesting than Iz-Man by a long shot, that was for sure.
"Oh, it's not the time I'm worried about," Opec said, expression turning distinctly smarmy, "It's the money. Not that I really want to charge but...you know. A guy's gotta make his living."
Irizu followed suit, flopping half-atop Sister-thing and flail-wriggling in hysteria. Oh, she loves Sister-thing! Sister-thing needed to be around more often...
Oliver's smirk turned wolfish as he twined a hand idly in Opec's hair.
"Oh, I know, I know," he said silkily. "I'm sure I can swing for it."
Isaiah gave a (very quiet) derisive snort of his own, but said nothing. Listening to this, he had decided, had to be about as brain-damaging as a soap opera seduction scene.
Hugging Sister-thing, Uziri tried to regain her breath and failed, still giggling now and again. One hand grabbed possessively on Sister-thing's shoulder, and Zee glanced up at Iz-Man. Sooner or later he'd split them up again, and who even knew when the sisters would get to see each other again? She sighed, some of her cheerfulness fading.
Opec heard the noise Isaiah had produced and rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on. If he can swing for ten-k an hour, he can certainly swing for twenty," he said, holding his head up so as to look at Isaiah, "I mean, you know you want to." He lay back down and heaved a sigh.
"And imagine. I thought I'd get a day away from people like you, Oliver." He Blew on his fingernails and studied them as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.
He knew full well that most people would have beaten him senseless by now.
"Baah?" Irizu asked, noticing Sister-thing's sudden change in attitude. What was wrong?
"It's not so much a matter of my wanting to," Isaiah said, trying to gain some scrap of composure, "as much as it is trying to figure out if I can maintain my dignity by admitting it, as well as knowing I'll be in debt for most likely the rest of my unnaturally long life."
Oliver arched an eyebrow.
"You know you turn really eloquent when you're nervous?"
"Yes."
"Just checkin'."
Oliver glanced down at Opec then, looking pleased.
"You flatter me," he said. "Tell you what, maybe I'll just pitch in for Iz this time."
"Oliver!"
"Don't argue, kid. It's for your own good."
Uziri made no reply, just glanced up at Iz-Man again and her face crumpling. He was always in such a hurry to go no where and do nothing!
"Unghf," Zee said finally, and fell against her sister's shoulder. She didn't want to be split apart again!
"Oooh. Sounds like fun," Opec laughed, "I'll even give you the family discount." He dragged his feet up then and sat fully in Oliver's lap, facing Isaiah.
"Unless you're serious?"
Irizu understood and hugged her sister, aura-tendrils twirling about the other infant's.
Isaiah made a spluttering sound and ducked his head, giving a shrug. Oliver poked Opec in the back and nodded.
"That means yes," he said, looking inappropriately amused at his friend's expense. "Trust me. He's seriously contemplating thinking of asking."
Isaiah made a noncommittal noise and glanced over at Opec, face burning again.
Uziri sighed, gripping her sister in a tight hug and sniffling slightly. She liked Iz-Man well enough, but he just wasn't her sister.
"Well then...I've gotta say no," Opec said suddenly and surprisingly, "If you agree to pay, then you don't truly want it. That's desperation. Once you're not desperate, then we can talk."
He then turned back to Oliver, grinning.
"You, however..."
Irizu heaved a sigh and wriggled.
"Abba eeeetha..."
Isaiah balked at this sudden turn in mood, and sucked in a breath. This was beyond any embarrassment Oliver had ever put him through...
...but that smug look on his face that said plainly he'd known all along Iz didn't have the spine to take what he wanted was galling.
"Hey! Waitasecond!"
"Seesee gwan," Uziri replied mournfully. "Naw seesee, onye Iss. Naw wan Iss."
She glanced at Sister-thing's fuzzy creature that seemed to follow her everywhere and huffed. It would just be so much easier if they could live together, but of course the big ones were much too simple to understand that. Zee shook her head and looked back to Irizu.
"Ngafah," she said.
"Hm?" Opec turned back to Isaiah, eyebrows raised innocently. He truly saw nothing wrong with what he'd said.
"Eetha tay," Irizu said solidly, "Eetha tay n nah gwan."
Isaiah gulped, fidgeted, and resisted the urge to look away again.
"Who says I'm desperate?" he said, voice cracking at first. He coughed, sat up a little straighter and gave Oliver a defiant look. "I'm not. I'm interested."
His tone was firmer than Oliver thought was within his capacity to reach. He arched a brow slightly.
"Wow, you actually have spine, don't you?" he said. Isaiah ignored him.
"Iss gwan, an See g'wit Iss," Uziri said regretfully. She looked down at the ground balefully. If only she could hide, then Iz wouldn't take her away again...wait. Wait a minute. Uziri's eyes flicked to the storm drain where her bottle had rolled, an idea forming.
"See gwan," she said, tugging at Irizu's arm and pointing clumsily to the drain. "See ahn' Seesee gwan! Hibe!"
Isaiah's brittle sense of steely-nerved resolve disintegrated.
"Oh. Okay," he said, feeling bizarrely satisfied that by this rejection he was off the hook and Oliver would let him alone. Oliver, on the other hand, didn't look smug this time around, merely speculative. He shrugged it off, deciding it didn't matter.
Uziri toddled after as best she could on hands and knees, joining Irizu on the side. She peered down....ah ha! There was her bottle, along with myriad other bits of debris littering the bottom.
"Baabaa!"
Opec turned back to Oliver.
"However...if you have a serious business propisiton I'm willing to--EEH!"
"Nnngh..." Irizu groaned as she tried to reach down for Sister-thing's bottle. She then found herself and Sister-thing scopped up into the air by her fuzzy living pillow. She gave a dramatic huff and a squawk and beat at Fuzzy Man's hands.
"You almost got yourself killed, honey," Opec said calmly, "Trust me, you wouldn't like death." He returned to Oliver, both babies in his lap. He realized how strange it would have seemed while making a deal, but he didn't quite care.
Awkwardly-appearing babies were better than dead ones.
"Jeez! Uziri! You're a frigging lemming, aren't you," Isaiah scolded, taking Uziri out of Opec's arms and holding her at arm's length. The baby struggled and squirmed, kicking at him. "Good Christ, I need to put you in a plastic bubble."
Oliver shook his head despairingly, looked annoyed.
"For God's sake, Iz, why can't you just stow her in a crib or something?"
"She'd escape."
"Then put her in one of those child-leashes they have!"
Isaiah made as though to retort, but then trailed off into thought. Hmm...that idea might have merit.
"I could definitely put her on a leash."
"Naaah! Baabaa! BAABAA!" Uziri screeched, pulling at Isaiah's hair defiantly.
Opec, curious, handed Irizu to Oliver and crawled to the storm drain, peering down.
"She dropped her--"
Well, no s**t. Obviously.
"Will one of your hold my feet, please?" Without waiting, he bent his arm adn head at an odd angle, ducking low into the storm drain. With a bit more wriggling he had his upper torso into the watery pit. He coughed.
Not appreciating just being handed a baby, Oliver slowly arched a brow as he watched Opec.
"Huh."
Isaiah shunted Uziri into Oliver's arms over his protests and obliged Opec's request, holding onto his ankles with a bemused expression.
"If someone walked by and saw us, this could turn really, really awkward," he remarked. Oliver said something most likely in bad taste, but Isaiah ignored it.
"Probably," Opec said, voice echoing in the hollow space. He reached down and found that he still couldn't reach the damnable bottle, "Moving!"
That served as enough of a warning in his mind and he wriggled forward, showing an absurd amount of upper body strength. He arched and grabbed the bottle from the bottom of the drain, laughing in triumph.
"Mmkay," he said, "...now...help?" He attempted to claw and wriggle his way backward out of the hole, not to much avail.
"Oh! Right, right, gimme a sec..."
Isaiah took firmer hold and dragged Opec up and out of the hole as carefully as possible, ignoring another barely-audible murmuring from Oliver. He glanced over, expression tart.
"Would you like to help, or just provide commentary?" he said. Oliver shrugged, exhibiting his burden impassively.
"I'm good with sitting this one out."
"Hmph. I thought so."
Dragging Opec successfully from the mouth of the drain, Isaiah laughed and let go, dusting off his hands.
"Well, that was fun," he said dryly.
"Oh, most definitely," Opec said and coughed, picking something invisible off his hand.
Irizu clapped and giggled gleefully.
"Look," Opec said to Uziri, waving her bottle in the air and backing up a few paces away, "I'm gonna clean it for you."
"Baabaa...gnnnh!" Uziri sputtered, ignoring Opec completely and staring at her bottle. It was hers, what did he think he was doing with it?
"Opec, you don't have to," Isaiah said. "I'll just wash it out when I get home."
Oliver nudged him in the ribs painfully with his elbow, making Iz squeak.
"Hey!"
"Shut up. He's doing something."
"I'm aware of that. Offering to clean-"
"Shut up."
Iz sighed.
"Fine. Shutting."
Opec then passed the bottle behind his back, causing some kind of...odd splashing sound, and then brought the other hand out with a completely clean and partially-filled bottle. He grinned and kneeled, handing it down to Uziri.
Irizu gasped curiously. It had been icky! Now it was...not icky! HOW?!
Oliver raised a brow again.
"Well. That's peculiar."
Isaiah nodded, eyes widened.
"Quite."
Uziri gave a delighted shriek and stretched her hands out, single-minded in her attentions as always. Bottle! Full bottle!
Opec placed the bottle in the infant's arms and pointedly walked past Oliver and Isaiah, a disgustingly murky (and empty) bottle shoved through one of the tears beneath his jeans' pockets. He removed it, waved it slightly, and tossed it back down the drain.
Irizu goggled at Sister-thing's bottle, reaching out to touch it.
Isaiah spotted it first and snerked, grinning at Opec.
"Smooth," he said wryly. Oliver watched it fall back into the drain, hearing it land with a disgusting-sounding "splorcht".
Uziri rarely liked to share things, and she was deeply possessive of her bottle.
"Nyeh!" she said to Irizu, jerking it out of reach. She hesitated then - she was hungry, but Sister-thing might've wanted it more....with a relenting sigh she passed it over to Irizu.
"Well, what else are yah gonna do?" he asked, sliding easily back into Oliver's lap, "It was far beyond repair." He shifted, attempting to get comfortable.
Irizu simply studied the bottle for a moment, holding it awkwardly above her head. She then thrust it back at Sister-thing. She certainly hadn't wanted to give it up in the first place.
"Beh."
"I dunno. Probably thrown it at Oliver," Isaiah said offhandedly, biting at a fingernail. Oliver shoved his shoulder hard, pushing him off the curb again.
"Brat."
"Nfft."
Uziri immediately stuck the bottle in her mouth, oblivious to everything. She was hungry, and until she wasn't hungry absolutely nothing else mattered. So there.
"Look," Opec said, pressing his finger against Oliver's forehead, "You aren't any help, and my kid hasn't eaten yet. I'm going." He stood and removed Irizu from her perch.
Irizu shrieked and flailed, trying to free herself from the Fuzzy Man's grip.
"And Isaiah. I'd like to see you again some time. Dinner maybe?" He smiled sweetly and flicked his tail.
Oliver smiled sweetly, which made the expression all the more out of place.
"I'm a vestigial existence. I don't help anything, I'm just here," he said sensibly. Isaiah, busy pushing himself back up onto the curb, looked up at Opec and found he couldn't respond for a second.
"Um. Dinner. Uh. Yes," he said, forcing the words out quickly, trying to wrap his thoughts around the words 'like', 'see' and 'you' with minor success. "Yeah, I'd love to. Like to. I'd like to."
Uziri glanced over and gave a spraying shriek of protest, bottle dropping into her lap as she reached up frantically. Darn it, not again!
"We'll see you around sometime, then," Oliver said.
Opec laughed.
"Maybe next time," he said to Oliver and turned to Isaiah, blushing slightly, "Good. I'm sure I'll find you again." He knew quite well what dinner meant for a vampire.
Irizu shrieked.
Opec looked her straight in the eyes and mumbled something as he disappeared down the road. She shut up.
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 2:31 pm
 Irizu and Uziri. Spirits with very deep roots. They appear very similar in form and spirit, but as we all know, appearances are only skin deep. Find out where their origins truely lay, either through ritual or experimentation. And let us hope no one gets hurt. (Note: This growth quest can either be done together or seperately, whichever way you are comfortable with.) 
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Incantation Esprit Captain
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:29 pm
__Part 9
{toddler growth quest}
Isaiah and Uziri had started out on this venture outdoors to see if they could find either pleasant company, entertainment, or in a worse-case scenario Oliver, but found that all three did not want to make themselves available. So, Iz was currently wandering around with Uziri's box in his arms, trying to coax a real word out of the baby.
"C'mon, Zee. Say 'dada."
"Vlud."
"No. Not 'vlud.' Dada."
"Vlud."
Isaiah sighed, shaking his head despairingly.
"Fine. Be that way."
Opec's presence was preceded by the sound of plastic wheels over loose asphalt. It was really a very particular sound when you got down to it.
"Bweh."
"Oh, I agree completely."
"Mrrrgh, bah."
"Mm-hm! That t--ISAIAH!" the Viishani waved from where he most likely could not be seen and began sprinting, a twin-sized stroller containing only a single child and a diaper bag rolling before him.
"EEEEEEEEEEEE!" Irizu shouted gleefully.
Isaiah jumped nearly out of his skin and wheeled around, certain he was either going to be rushed, mugged or beaten senseless. It took a minute to process what he was seeing - the stroller he noticed first, then the one pushing it.
"Oh! Hey!"
Uziri jolted, wrestling with her blankets to turn around and stand in the box.
"BYAAA!"
Opec giggled and only stopped running when the front wheel of the stroller was about to ram into Isaiah's shins, and even then his breaking system was sketchy at best.
One could tell he had been working. He hadn't changed out of his robes yet.
Irizu squawked and held her arms up to Sister-thing, clenching and unclenching her fists.
"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"
Opec removed Irizu's bag from the other seat and slung it over his shoulder, offering the other for Uziri-placement.
An oddly sweet smile remained plastered on his face.
Isaiah grinned widely, shifting Uziri's box in his arms and setting it down.
"Jeez, scare me half to death," he said easily. He briefly wondered why Opec was dressed as he was, but a vague reasonable guess surfaced a beat later and he decided to let it drop. They were nifty robes, anyway.
"BYAAYAYAAAYA!"
"Yeesh! Alright, Zee, gimme a second..."
Iz lifted the baby out of her box and set her carefully into the stroller with a grateful glance at Opec.
"Thanks. I need to stop carryin' her in that box..." he said, grinning still as he hefted the thing back into his arms.
"You really do," Opec laughed slightly and checked the buckles holding the infants in place, just in case.
"So," he said as he began walking in the way he'd come, "How about that dinner, huh?"
"PTTTTTTTLBTH!" Irizu blew an affectionate raspberry and placed one hand on either side of Sister-thing's face.
Isaiah laughed.
"Hey, it's what my mom did," he said, tucking the box under one arm. "Improvisation is an excellent way to cover up being cheap."
Walking in stride beside Opec, he blinked in surprise until the memory from another night surfaced, and he nodded. The beginnings of a familiar embarrassed blush were fighting to surface, but he covered it with aplomb.
"Sure!" he said. "I could do with some good company for a change of pace. 'Sides, Zee'd kill me if we ditched you guys."
Uziri laughed in delight at the sound Sister-thing made and tried to copy it, though all that came out were a couple spit bubbles.
"Vlud!" she said, bouncing in the stroller seat.
Opec giggled again.
"So," he asked innocently enough, turning coyly to look at Isaiah over his shoulder, "Would you prefer a hunt, or me, hm?"
Irizu gasped! Uziri...she had just...spoken words of paramount wisdom!
"VLUD!"
Isaiah made a small choked sound but quickly recovered.
"Um. Uh," he said intelligently, head ducking down. He forced himself to look up again, playing nonchalant.
"...You, I...I guess. I mean, I don't guess. You'd be fine. I mean. Um," he said, voice at least audible but his response on the unsteady side.
Uziri nodded hard, rejoicing that someone else understood her at last.
"VLUD!" she said importantly, nodding again.
Opec thusly stopped the stroller in a sweeping, dramatic fashion and moved beside Isaiah, flipping his hair off of one side of his neck.
"Bon appetit!"
Irizu nodded, completely un-phased by the sudden end of movement.
"Na-ah eetha HE-uh"
Not ready for this, Isaiah stumbled and nearly tripped. He had the gift of making a fool of himself almost every time he ventured outdoors, but Opec seemed to have the ability to make this gift go into overdrive.
"Um..."
Giving a quick look around to make sure no one was looking, Isaiah relented and nodded, pretending he wasn't growing strangely more embarrassed by the second.
"Okay..."
Forcing himself to calm down, Isaiah took a deep breath before edging closer and tentatively biting into Opec's neck. At the first taste of blood everything else in his mind was forcibly shunted away, and Isaiah started to feed.
Uziri threaded her fingers together and scrunched up her face as though trying to ward of a sneeze as she listened thoughtfully.
"Seesee bweh," she said. "Iss awn' Foofoo, awn' Seesee."
Opec smiled and made a small noise, biting his lower lip to keep from doing anything stupid. His fists clenched and unclenched, simply for something to do.
It was odd to enjoy the manual removal of random bodily fluids, he knew, but that didn't matter.
Irizu blinked at Sister-thing, and then blinked up at Fluffy Man. Oh no! What was Sister-thing-caretaker doing to him?!
"EEEEEEEEE!" she shrieked, pointing.
Effectively dead to the world as he fed, Isaiah's eyes closed slowly and he bit down harder, relishing the taste of unfamiliar blood. It was always hard for him to think and eat at the same time, so he'd long since learned not to bother struggling with both at once. He kept the vague notion in mind that he wasn't supposed to take too much from this one...but the notion soon abandoned him.
Uziri blinked, confused, and twisted 'round in her seat to look up. Iz-Man was doing his thing, the thing she'd seen dozens of times.
"Bneh," she said reassuringly, unimpressed by the display.
Opec's breathing soon became labored and a newfound weakness in his limbs caused him to do what else but clamp two fingers down on Isaiah's nose.
Hey, it worked with puppies.
Irizu seemed close to tears. She burbled unhappily as a little dark line ran down Fuzzy Man's neck.
"Gnnk!"
Isaiah came back to himself at once and jerked away, blushing worse than ever.
"OhjeezI'msorryIdidn'tmeanto," he said, words run together in panic. His growing distress didn't keep him from licking his lips, however. Whatever the price had just been, he freely admitted it had been worth it.
Uziri made cooing sounds in response, trying to console her poor Sister-thing.
"Nbaah," she said insistently.
Opec rolled his neck as his blood visibly climbed back into the wound from which it had been removed, refusing to exit any longer.
"No, it's fine," he smiled and nodded, "My people don't need their blood. Not really, anyway." He itched a bit at the puncture wounds, and then stopped abruptly. Crap. Lips had touched skin...
"Plllllth," Irizu said, attention suddenly diverted, as she pointed to a cemetery the group was now passing.
Home!
"If you say so," Iz said uncertainly, looking at him worriedly at the abrupt halt. "What, what is it?"
Uziri glanced 'round, and loosed a shriek. She pointed alongside Irizu, bouncing again. She knew that place!
"Nothing," Opec said, attempting to smile with a hand raised self-consciously to his neck, "Just...broke a little rule is all...huh?" He turned down to the shrieking infants.
Following their tiny fingers, he spotted the one place he'd really rather not revisit.
"Remember how I told you about that flying rock?"
"NYAAAAH!"
"It was in there."
Isaiah shifted uncomfortably, wondering if he'd done something he wasn't supposed to. He didn't want to get Opec in trouble...
"Flying...oh. Oh yeah," he said, glad for the subject change as he looked at the cemetery. "Huh... looks kinda neat, truth be told."
"VLUD! VLUUUD!"
Opec's usual sly grin replanted itself and he grabbed Isaiah's hand.
"C'mon. Let's go see it."
Without awaiting a response, he bolted through the slightly-opened front gates, expertly steering the stroller before him.
"YEEEEEEEEEE!" Irizu giggled, clinging to her sister, "YEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
It didn't take long to reach the spot where the rock had exploded in two.
"It was right here," Opec explained, pointing to a high-raised headstone, "I swear. It was." He looked about them, though. Just in case.
Irizu leaned forward with a grunting sound, straining against her belly strap, and grabbed the stone with both hands.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" she skreeked, attempting to wiggle it out.
"What the...?"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Doesn't look like much," Isaiah said, giving the place a curious glance. "I wonder why...hmm? Zee, jeez, what's wrong?"
What's wrong? What's wrong, he had the nerve to ask! Uziri gave a loud hmph and kept struggling against with one hand on the belt that kept her strapped into the stroller, reaching out towards the stone with the other.
"NYAAAYA!"
Opec squatted to get a better look at the stone, more to sate his own curiosity than anything else.
"Charlise Na Danon," he read aloud and shrugged, "Never heard of it. Her. Him."
"Beloved Daughter"
"Her."
"BWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Sounds kind of French," Isaiah noted, kneeling down beside Opec and squinting at the inscription. "Huh....doesn't say anything about anyone else in the grave with her...maybe she was pregnant when she died or something."
Isaiah frowned at the morbidity of the thought, glancing at the still-struggling twins.
"BYAAAAAAAA!"
Opec was, needless to say, deeply disturbed by the twins' reaction to the stone. They'd most definitely come from a blank stone from this very pl--
"Isaiah?" he asked, pointing to the blank footstone.
It was cracked in half.
And the right side was smattered with something dark.
Irizu's attention was averted to the ground-imbedded stone.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"What the...huh."
Isaiah knelt closer to the stone, eyeing the dark substance and glancing back at the twins.
"That yours, or someone else's, y'think?" he said to Opec, pointing at it. "I can't tell."
Uziri, yanking more fiercely then ever at the belt-strap, gave a frustrated howl. She wanted out of this stupid stroller now!
"Bnnnngh! BAAAA!"
Opec poked a dark stain.
It wiggled away.
"Mine."
Irizu wasn't sure what, exactly, she planned to do when she got out of the stroller, but she wanted OUT!
Opec peered back at the headstone.
"Do you have a computer?"
Since he'd very recently made a meal of it, and had never quite gotten used to what Opec's blood did, Iz gave a slight shiver when he saw it move away. He also decided not to comment on it. At Opec's question, he shook his head at first but then hesitated, thinking.
"I...might, somewhere. I think I was using it as a doorstop at one point," he said. "It probably still works."
"Good," Opec said, standing and smiling as he shifted the bag on his shoulder, "Kindly lead the way home, hm?"
He wasn't quite sure why he was so intent on Googling the name on the stone, but he felt he somehow had to.
With one last lingering look at the stone, Isaiah beckoned for Opec to follow and started on the path leading out of the cemetery. Where had he put that ancient thing...ah well. Worse came to worst he could just break into one of the other apartments in his building and see if they had one. That tactic had worked before.
"Just be careful when you come in," Iz said. "There's like this...mountain of junk that'll topple over if you breathe on it."
Of course, it had never occurred to Isaiah to remove the junk. Just avoid it.
"Alright," Opec nodded and smiled, beginning after Isaiah. Sure, pile of junk. Whatever. He'd had one of those once.
Irizu broke out into hysterically, bawling and gasping for air as if she were dying.
They were LEAVING!
Opec gave the infants a worried look.
Uziri gave a raging squall, face crumpling. She didn't want to leave! They couldn't make her! Well....if she escaped this dratted stroller, they couldn't make her, anyway. Seeing as she was strapped in good and tight, the only option Uziri could see was to scream bloody murder in protest.
So she did.
Isaiah glanced back, hearing the racket and looking concerned.
"Jeez...."
Opec cringed in agony and folded his ears back against his head. He was liable to go deaf if they kept up, although he had all intentions to making them stop.
Irizu's face had turned a rather violent shade of crimson.
Putting his hands to his ears and wincing, Isaiah jerked his head forward, indicating Opec to follow.
"My house's like fifteen minutes from here," he half-shouted over the racket. "Maybe they'll quiet down once we're away from here."
Uziri had no intention of quieting, and she made her displeasure known with another earsplitting shriek.
Opec couldn't hear Isaiah at all, and so concentrated rather hard on his lips.
He'd either said 'fifteen' or 'fifty'. The Viishani hoped it was the former.
"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Fifteen (excruciatingly loud) minutes later
"I think my ears are bleeding."
Kicking open his door - which still had a hole in it - Isaiah waved a hand around halfheartedly.
"Make yourself comfortable where ever it looks safe to sit," he said. "I'll go find the dinosaur and hook it up."
The house looked cheerfully unorganized in the extreme, and where moonlight filtered down from a slit-like window a thick stream of dust came into view, floating at random in and out of the light. Isaiah backtracked and flicked on the lights, and harsh halogen brightness filled the tiny space.
Not exactly a mansion, but Isaiah liked it well enough.
"NYAAAAAAAAGH!"
Opec placed the infants on the ground, ears still ringing, and peered about Isaiah's home. This wouldn't do, oh no, not at all...not for a baby, and not for Isaiah.
"Meh...meh...NYEEEEEEEEEEH!"
There was a lengthy wait as Isaiah rummaged and scavenged for the computer, and ten minutes, an unnerving crashing sound, and several curses later Iz stumbled back into the main room and set the elderly machine onto the kitchen island. He disappeared for five more minutes and retrieved the monitor and keyboard, and after struggling with a mess of tangled wires got the thing up and running at last.
"It's not too fast, but it'll work," he said, nodding in satisfaction as the computer booted up.
Opec approached the ancient machine with massive hesitation. He wasn't used to such outdated machines, no matter how few he'd seen in his life. Without removing his eyes from the screen, he gracefully sank to his knees on a chair in front of it.
It only took a half-minute of searching to find a web browser, and significantly longer to get a window to show up. He attempted numerous "g-o-l-e" names until he reached his goal arrangement of "google" and pressed Enter, once again waiting.
"So. Have you ever thought about moving out of here?"
Irizu had stopped sobbing and now saw with her hands over her eyes, sniffling.
Scrounging in the fridge for Uziri's formula, Isaiah gave the furious child a bottle and gave a sigh of relief as she took it, though she still glared up at him reproachfully.
"Huh? Oh...well," he said uncertainly, looking around the apartment. "I guess once in a while, yeah. It's the first place I ever had on my own, though. Never really crossed my mind, aside from the times the mice get in."
"Because you can move in with me," Opec said, beginning to scroll through the various results his search of 'Charlise Na Danon' brought up, "I mean, you wouldn't even know I was there. And the babies could be together. And I think it'd be healthier." He clicked on a link, found it to be entirely in Korean, and pressed Back. While he waited, he followed Isaiah's gesture and handed Irizu her bottle.
It was oddly orange-ish.
The infant took it greedily, rubbing her eye with a tiny fist.
Isaiah looked over at Opec, expression rather astounded.
"Really?" he said before he could stifle himself. "That'd...hell, that'd be great. But is your place big enough? I mean, Oliver's sure to invite himself over and it's impossible to make him leave..."
Uziri glanced at her sister's bottle, nose wrinkling at the orange color. Was Foofoo feeding her something funny? Still feeling rather sour with both of the taller things, Uziri had the grace to take her bottle out of her mouth before making a milky-mouthed gargle at both of them, expression dangerously sulky.
"Zee...don't taunt with your mouth full."
"Gnaaaarbleh.
"Yeah," Opec nodded, "It's...okay-sized. You could take my room and I could take the gallery. Oliver could take the couch when he decided to drop by." A thin smile then played on his lips.
"Or the gallery."
He then gave a snort of satisfaction as he found what may or may not haven been what he was looking for.
"Isaiah. Lookit this*."
Irizu looked to Sister-thing curiously, not removing her lips from the bottle. A Bit of viscous white-orange fluid flowed from one corner of her mouth.
She had never claimed to be a clean baby.
*'Voodoo Community Suffers Loss
Priestess Adelle Na Danon died earlier this afternoon under suspicious circumstances...
...survived by daughter Charlise Na Danon'
"That's really generous of you, Opec, thanks..." Isaiah began, trailing off as he read over Opec's shoulder. "...huh."
In his current state of struggling to comprehend what this scrap of discovery meant, Isaiah missed the smile when Oliver was mentioned.
Uziri looked at the dribble in interest, ignoring the fact it had just spilled spitty from her sister's mouth. Her own bottle seemed to pale in comparison now, it was only one color. Zee was instantly envious of the superior bottle.
"I don't mind," Opec smiled, beginning to blush slightly and not noticing it.
"Now lookit this. The stone we saw said that it was...that daughter's there," he pointed to the name, and then scrolled up to point at the publication date of the article, "and it was published a while ago, so I assume that the daughter could have died, but then there's this." He pointed to a picture of a little girl in the bottom lefthand corner.
"She was...what...six?"
He then noticed something unnerving.
"Oh...she did disappear. Two days later," he peered at the date, "That's when Irizu found me."
Irizu went a little cross-eyed as she attempted to peer down the bottle, beginning to inhale only air. She toppled backward in an attempt to bring the fluid to the n****e and ended up landing on something mooshy. Maybe a wet cardboard box? Either way, it was comfy.
"Weird," Isaiah said, leaning on Opec's shoulder and looking at the picture fixedly. "Maybe the girls are some kind of...guh. I have no idea. They're mixed up in it, that much I know. Not to good at guessing."
Uziri gave a yelp as Irizu fell over, and slid out of her seat. She felt something furry scuttle past her with a frantic squeak and she watched the little mouse scurry away into one of the bigger cracks in the wall.
"Bdaaah," she said, focusing her attentions on Irizu again. She gave an experimental poke.
"Maybe they're her," Opec said, shrugging. He looked from the picture of the daughter to the infants repeatedly, "I mean...they kinda look alike. And don't voodoo people get...possessed by spirits and stuff? Maybe the rock did."
It sounded progressively more insane as he spoke it.
Irizu's belly wiggled and she snorted a bit of her drink out her nose. She struggled to sit up and had to roll over before pulling herself onto her bum.
Her bottle dangled from her mouth.
"Bwoo," she said around the rubber n****e and poked Uziri back.
Isaiah shrugged.
"I'm not really familiar with it," he said. "I think that's what goes on. Maybe there was some angry god-thing that just decided, um, 'hey, innocent bystanders, I'll throw rocks at 'em and see what happens'."
He glanced over at the twins.
"Cripes."
Finishing off her bottle and giving a completely overdramatic belch, Uziri abandoned the empty thing and fiddled with a bit of ancient refuse on the floor - it looked as though it had once been an apple, though it had long since somehow mummified.
"Btah," she said, rolling the mummy-apple to Irizu.
"Also quite possible," Opec nodded, and then turned to the twins also. He smiled.
Irizu kicked her feet as the mummified apple rolled toward her until contact was made.
The bit of ex-apple rolled back to Uziri.
"Btttth."
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:32 pm
__Part 10-1
Opec stood at the top of the staircase in his apartment building, staring rather melevolently at his front door.
The goddamn thing wouldn't open.
He'd tried turning the knob, punching it, kicking it, and even (near the end), simply begging it to open.
Now he was just standing there, a baby in his arms.
"Pllllrth?" Irizu inquired, perplexed.
"Yes. Plerth."
"Run this by me again. You're following me...why?"
"I'm following you because I think this is a rotten idea and that you're a moral cesspit, okay?"
"Your tone indicates this surprises you on both counts."
"Shut. Up."
Isaiah fumed, walking briskly after Oliver with Uziri in his arms (the box had mysteriously disappeared - Iz blamed the mice), determined to stop his, well, couldn't exactly call him a friend - alright, his continual companion's- loathsome plans.
"It's his job."
"He's a friend of the family!"
Oliver snorted derisively.
"I offer no comment," he said tartly, poking Isaiah sharply in the face. Iz yelped and fell back a step.
"Ow," he said, looking momentarily put-out. Who poked people, for goodness sake?
"I don't care what you say. It's between me and hi- hey, there he is. Opec. HEY! OPEC!"
"Don't you dare!"
"Hm?" Opec turned and smiled, recognizing the voices echoing through the prematurely empty stairwell.
"Hi," he replied, smile growing wider and his cheeks flushing slightly pink, "Oliver, Isaiah. Fancy seeing you here." He arched a brow.
Really, why were they here?
"Can I help you?" The question was rather obviously directed toward Oliver.
"NEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"
Isaiah noted the question's direction and pointedly jabbed Oliver in the ribs with an elbow, which earned him a hard smack upside the head.
"b*****d!" Iz hissed.
"Wuss," Oliver whispered back. Hands in his pockets and looking as apathetic as always, he took a seat on the bottom step and looked up at Opec. "So. Busy?"
"BTHAAAA!"
Opec laughed slightly.
"Actually," he said hesitantly, "I just got off of shift...BUT...I can't actually get...into my house." He motioned toward the door.
"It's locked. I don't know why."
"Mnnnnn.....MNNNNNN!"
Opec absently moved closer to Isaiah.
"Meh," Irizu smiled toothlessly.
"I could kick it in if you want," Oliver said, getting up and nudging the door with a shoe experimentally. "Looks like it'd break down pretty easy."
"As much as your gung-ho approach seems like a good idea," Iz said wryly, "Yeah. I can't even add a sarcastic remark to that."
"Go on, keep talking...I'll gladly make you eat a lightbulb later."
"Make me eat a...cripes, you're such an idiot."
"Must be contagious."
"Anyway," Iz said, forcing his attention away from bickering and back to Opec. "You could stay over my place or something. Or we could call a locksmith, either or."
"Who's propositioning now?"
"QUIET!"
"Thithaaa," Uziri said, waving back awkwardly.
"If you do that, it'll just be a...big empty room," Opec said, his mouth smooshing over to one side. He then blinked and peered at the vampirea curiously. Propositio--? Ooooh.
He grinned.
"And I appreciate the offer, but I can't really go elsewhere at night. Master forbids it." He shrugged.
"...although... Either of you have the time?"
"Eeeeethaaaa," Irizu cooed and waved excitedly with both hands. She adored these visits.
"Ah. Okay," Oliver said, not quite understanding what Opec meant but not curious enough to ask further. Isaiah on the other hand looked rather riled.
"What does he expect you to do if you're stuck, sleep on the sidewalk?" he said, more to himself than to Opec. At the question he checked his watch. "Yeah, it's seven thirty. Why?"
Uziri reached out, but Isaiah was of course standing at a distance so Sister-thing was just out of reach. Drat!
Opec gave an odd half-squeak half-bark.
"I can make it if I run."
With that vague statement, he began racing down the stairs, his hair billowing out like a deranged white river behind him.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Feel free to follow!" he called without turning around, "I'd love to show you my home!"
Master did not allow visitors.
Master also didn't have to know there were any.
Iz blinked, watching as Opec sped past him. He blinked again and launched into a run, following Opec close behind.
"Make it? Wait, make what?" he said, puffing for breath as he tried to keep up.
"BaaaHAAAA!"
Oliver, who'd remained standing on the stoop, slowly allowed a brow to arch before taking off after the pair, silently griping to himself and rolling his eyes.
Irizu, realizing that Sister-thing and her fuzzy man were following, began to squeal with glee every time Fuzzy Man's feet touched the road.
Opec ignored the infant's cries and focused on making himself more aerodynamic. He folded his ears back and leaned forward against the wind.
It wasn't working, but it kind of felt like it was, and that was all that mattered.
He then saw the ship on the horizon, appearing to be a large, hovering pirate ship.
Who'd'a thunk.
"That!" he called back to Isaiah and pointed, still running.
"That? That wha- oh. Um. Right."
Isaiah wasn't one for logical rationalism, finding it tedious and often more trouble than it was worth. Upon catching sight of this....what ever it was... he was at a bit of a loss of what to say.
"I have the feeling I should ask, and yet at the same time I just don't think I should," Oliver said, expression bordering on something like incredulity.
Opec giggled and, upon reaching the rope ladder leading up to the ship, flicked a little bell near its end. It took a moment for a glaringly white head to appear from far up on deck.
"Opec!" the head seemed to exude, "Didn't you just get off?"
"Yessuh!" Opec called up, breaking into his public accent, "I's locked out, suh!"
"Ah, alright. Climb on up!"
Opec began up the ladder, motioning for Isaiah and Oliver to follow.
"Who're they?!"
"Friends of duh Massah, suh. He called fuh 'dem."
"...alright. They can come too."
Irizu was staring at the ladder as each rung passed, bundled in Fuzzy Man's robes.
"Oooooooo~"
Isaiah and Oliver both hesitated, exchanging 'what the hell' looks. This was something neither had expected, of the kind of weirdness they only read about and wondered how it could possibly happen.
"So," Iz said.
"Uh," Oliver replied.
"Thitha," Uziri snapped.
"Well....why not," Isaiah said finally, climbing up after Opec.
"I can only wonder how far my suspension of disbelief is going to go," Oliver said tartly as he started to climb up. Isaiah stepped down a rung and gave him a kick to the head.
"Quit bitching. This is strange and unusual and beats the hell out of watching television until two in the morning."
"....you stepped in gum, and now there's gum on my head."
"Yup."
Opec heard the comment, looked down, and cringed before continuing up. He was surrounded by a group of happily gibbering passengers upon reaching the top and was forced to bow politely and go to help Isaiah and Oliver up onto deck.
The wooden structure creaked in all of its hovering windy weirdness.
Despite the now constant stream of muttered insults and bickering, Oliver and Isaiah stuck close together and looked around uncertainly. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea. But then again...well, whatever was going to happen was going to happen, no use wondering about it until then.
"So what happens?" Oliver said finally in an undertone as he picked the bit of gum out of his hair. "We hoist the jolly roger and go out to sea to plunder and pillage?"
Isaiah's reply was a second kick aimed at Oliver's shins.
"Stop being such a rotten b*****d for once!"
"Make me."
Opec gave Oliver a look of "if you don't shut up, they're going to kill you". Not that he needed to. The other passengers were doing that already.
"Is that...all?" one of the nearly identical bleached-white men asked.
Opec nodded.
An odd orb of what looked like a stereotypical sci-fi portal texture surrounded the ship.
Opec casually went to sit down on a crate with Irizu while first the land passed them by, then the atmosphere, and then white-yellow streaks that must have been stars.
He did this every day of his life.
Oliver looked around, unimpressed, but for the sake of sparing himself another injury to be sustained from the increasingly irritated-looking Isaiah, kept his mouth shut.
Isaiah, by turn anxious and dumbstruck, simply watched at the changing scenery, unable to fully comprehend what was going on.
"Wha..."
It was less then two minutes later when the ship "docked". It had, in fact, simply stopped floating at the edge of a thousands-of-feet-high rock that just so happened to have a flat top.
This was Opec's homeland.
"Do you believe in aliens?" he asked Oliver and Isaiah rather quietly as he passed them to head for the land.
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Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:28 am
__Part 10-2
"Jee-sus...."
"What was that?"
Oliver heard the question first, and stood stock still for a moment trying to reason it out. Isaiah's face took on an expression both confused and surprised, and tried to think of a decent answer.
"....pardon?" he said finally.
Opec winked and then pointed backward in the direction they had come. There was a large blue-and-green planet hovering some distance off.
"That's Gaia," he smiled, and then turned to begin his short trek to Master's house.
Irizu was just short of abysmally bored.
"Eetha?" she asked quietly.
The world they had come to did not look all that inviting. Aside from the fact that walking too far would send you hurtling to your doom on the stones below, the town itself was dark and dry. There was no water content on the planet, and so the sparse plants lying between the small houses and shops were oddly-shaped and rather creepy. There was not a lamp or lightbulb in sight, only the occasional candle-lit window holding the starkly contrastic writhing of shadows.
You could see one border from the other (or nearly), and it seemed for all the world like a third world country's thriving metropolis.
And, in a way, it was.
Oliver's eyes widened to a point where it looked painful. Isaiah made a small 'oh' sound, leaning against Oliver for support.
"We're..." Isaiah began.
"....not on the planet," Oliver supplied.
The duo looked at each other, unsure how to react. What kind of reaction could they even have?
"Dude! Vampires in space!"
Oliver gave a bark of laughter before he could contain himself. The pair walked side-by-side in an unusual display of normal relationship, looking around the barren-looking surroundings and pointing back to the planet from time to time.
Uziri, who'd begun dozing soon after they'd gone onto the ship, yawned and glanced around for Sister-thing.
"Bnah," she called back.
Opec giggled as an oddly chill wind blew past.
"It's like some horrible, horrible horror movie," he commented, still smiling, although he'd never seen one and only heard about them.
Irizu had somehow wriggled her way up Fuzzy Man's chest and wrapped her arms awkwardly around his neck. She now waved happily to Sister-thing.
"Muh-WAAH."
Opec stopped walking before a hulking structure, an enormous mansion made of something that looked like marble. Every window was unlit, and it looked essentially abandoned.
He paused, thinking hard.
"Definitely B-grade, at least," Oliver agreed, nodding slightly. "So...are we...on the moon or something?"
"Looks like," Iz said as he tripped and fell into Oliver, who promptly shoved him off again.
"Watch where you're going."
"Sorry...busy looking at the giant planet."
"...an adequate excuse."
Leaving Isaiah to his planet-gawking, Oliver noticed the mansion and gave it an uninterested look, arms crossing.
"Who's house?"
"Bishshah yaaaaab," Uziri burbled, wriggling and writhing and trying to reach Sister-thing again.
"Master's," Opec said suddenly, although he turned to face his companions and a smile broke out on his lips.
"We'll have to be very quiet. If they find you here, I'm liable to get beaten. C'mon."
He simply pushed the heavy wooden door open with his back and held it there for the other two to enter.
"Thhhhhhhh," Irizu assured them, placing a finger to her lips. Fuzzy Man always told her she had to be quiet when she came here.
And she usually got ice cream later too.
At the word 'beaten' a curious thing happened to both vampires' expressions - Isaiah's tightened and Oliver's turned momentarily, though notably, displeased. The moment passed and the pair shrugged it off, trying to regain some semblance of good behavior.
"We won't make a sound," Iz said, giving Oliver a pointed look. Oliver bristled slightly, but gave an affirming nod with a shrug.
Uziri nodded, sticking her fingers into her mouth and gnawing so to keep herself quiet. They tasted vaguely of the applesauce she'd had for dinner - and later used as finger paints - so had no problem keeping silent.
The mansion was vast, the ceilings tall. Opec led the group down various hallways, even his leather sandals echoing throughout the halls. When he reached the slaves' quarters, he gave Oliver and Isaiah a quick glance.
Oh well. They were big boys. They could take care of themselves.
As the group approached one door, though, it slowly creaked open. An unnatural light shone through and began to creep into the hallway.
Damn.
"Careful," was all Opec whispered before once again beginning the careful trek through the hall.
Where Isaiah was absurdly impressed, Oliver was indifferent, and both followed Opec through the place careful not to touch anything or make a sound. It was like a big museum to them, really. They exchanged glances yet again at the sudden light, but kept silent.
The peace didn't last for long. Opec gave a strangled gasp as a form hurtled from the room, oddly translucent and billowy, and grabbed the Vampires by the inward shoulders. The Viishani whirled to watch the form shriek, ethereal blood pouring from its mouth and eyes.
The entire mishap took only a few seconds.
Irizu's head was buried deeply in Fuzzy's Man's chest. She didn't liek See-Through Man, and she was pretty sure he didn't like her either.
Isaiah gave a badly-muffled cry and whirled around, hissing. Oliver, who'd been badly startled despite himself, growled and struck out on instinct before spinning away, trying to keep his balance.
Uziri was simply watching speculatively, eyes wide and staring. It wasn't that scary, she decided with a huff.
Another form appeared in the now-darkened doorway, but this one was entirely solid. Another slave appeared, a Viishani with one violet eye and an odd birthmark on his neck. He held his white robe close to him.
"That Opec?"
"Yuh, Frea. Opec."
"Who's them?"
"Friends uh Massah."
"Opec lying. Tiss not 'tack friends uh Massah."
"Biz-nih partnuh," Opec tried to explain, "New."
"Opec lying."
Opec simply stood there for a moment, staring.
"Frea not tell Massuh 'til mornin?"
"For Opec," the Viishani heaved a sigh and disappeared back into his room, closing the door behind him.
Opec looked troubled for a moment, and then shrugged, continuing down the hall.
"You'll have to pardon them," he whispered back over his shoulder, "Both of them. They're very old-fashioned. You're not supposed to be here."
Irizu unclamped her hands from over her ears and paused a moment. Good. See-Through Man was gone.
"Buh?"
"Shhhhh."
"Thhhhhhh..."
Oliver gave no reply outside a low rattling growl, irritated to have been startled so easily. Isaiah noted the man's bruised pride and grinned with slight maliciousness.
"Maybe this wasn't a good idea," he whispered back to Opec. "Me and Oliver can wait outside, we don't want to get you in trouble..."
"Thhhhh," Uziri parroted, just to do something.
"Wait outside and get pummeled," Opec smiled to Isaiah and placed a hand to the side of his face, "but no matter. We're here." He opened the nearest door to reveal a very paradoxical room. It was a wide ballroom with checkboard floor tile and the occasional smattering of antique furniture. A doorway to the left led to the kitchen and dining room, and a door to the right to a bathroom. Two staircases went up to a hallway and three door, what one could assume was bedrooms and possibly a bathroom.
The entire thing was lit with candles.
"Mah!" Irizu exclaimed happily.
Opec glowered at the nearby coffee table.
"THERE it is."
He picked a key up from it, considered what to do with it, and put it back down.
"Well. Welcome," he grinned.
Isaiah gave a whistle, impressed, then whistled again to see if it would echo.
"Nice place," he said. Oliver, fascinated with the floor pattern, gave Opec a careless nod.
"Beats the hell out of Isaiah's house."
"Hey, at least I have one."
Uziri was thrilled with the new surroundings. It was big, it was pretty, and though there seemed to be an unfortunate lack of mice it was quite a pleasant place.
Opec placed Irizu on the ground and the infant crawled awkwardly across the floor to sit on a round persian rug by the fireplace.
"EEEEEETHAAAAA!"
"If you remember correctly," Opec said, touching the tip of Isaiah's nose, "You agreed to move in here." He then looked deeply concerned.
"Unless it's not nice enough."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Iz said, so jolted that he'd forgotten he didn't even blush at Opec's casual touch. He looked around the place again and his expression brightened. "I'd really like that..."
Oliver, noting Irizu's noise, took Uziri from Isaiah and put her next to the other child.
"Shh," he said.
"Thh!"
"Good!" Opec grinned and clapped his hands together, then closing the door soundly.
"Now, Oliver...you asked me if I was busy?" His grin changed to a small smile.
Irizu giggled and butt-scooted a little closer to Sister-thing, another toothless grin cracking her face in half.
"Bwoooooooooooooo~"
Isaiah, now in too much of a good mood to try and injure Oliver into recanting his words, sat down on an old and expensive-looking chair and stretched out, looking up to the ceiling.
Uziri picked at the material of the carpet, burbling, then flopped down and rolled on it.
"Bshaaaa!"
Oliver grinned slightly.
"I believe I did. So, now that we've got everything all sorted out what with being locked out and all..."
Irizu giggled and joined in the rolling, squealing happily. It was a soft rug. She hadn't really noticed before.
"Yes, I think I know what you're getting at," Opec grinned, "but it all comes down to one thing. How much money yah got?" Regardless of the fact that the answer was probably going to be 'none', Opec approached Oliver and laced his arms around his neck.
Oliver shrugged slightly, twirling a thatch of Opec's hair between his fingers.
"Ah, details," he said, maintaining the grin though his eyes flicked over to Isaiah, who was determinedly ignoring both of them. It was a mean game when one got down to it, but baiting Isaiah was still something Oliver loved to do.
Half-rolling, half-crawling along the rug, Uziri started a caterwauling song, most likely some mutation of a lullaby Isaiah had alread butchered beyond recognition.
"Faa laaaasna baaaa!"
Opec laughed.
"Yes, details! I have to earn a living you know, and if you don't have the cash, you don't get the action!" He giggled and, contrary to his words, ran his cheek against Oliver's.
Irizu stopped moving suddenly, eyes wide and mouth hanging open.
"PEE-EE EETHA!" she yelled maybe a bit too excitedly. What beautiful music!
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Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:32 am
__Part 10-3
"Cruel," Oliver scolded mildly, grin fading into a cool half-smile.
Isaiah made a dissenting noise that was choked back, and determinedly kept his gaze glued to the ceiling.
"Ennnnthaaa nii, taaaay maw haaaan, b'dee offa nebah laaawhn!"
"Isaiah...what is she singing," Oliver said, momentarily distracted.
Iz looked down at the screeching infants.
"Lullaby."
"Uh...huh. Yeah."
Irizu giggled and clapped, trying to keep beat with Sister-thing's singing and failing miserably.
"Nonono," Opec said, "THIS is cruel." He let go of Oliver and walked off with a quick flick of his hair...
...and immediately sat atop Isaiah, straddling his waist.
"You have money, though...dontcha?" His smile was anything but benevolent.
"Hmm? Oh...heh."
Iz had only enough time to register someone looming over him and a sudden weight on his lap before he found himself face to face with Opec. At that moment, Isaiah's brain snapped cleanly in two.
"AAGK!"
Oliver started laughing again.
"Smooth."
Having forgotten the rest of the words, Uziri contented herself to blow a spit bubble or two and start rolling on the carpet again.
Opec giggled, holding a hand over is mouth to stifle it. He had that funny feeling in his chest again, the one he couldn't explain, and he felt heat rise to his face.
"Am I really that frightening?" he asked after a while, still grinning.
Irizu, looking slightly put-out, barked. That's right, barked...just like she heard Fuzzy Man do once or twice.
"AURT."
Blushing a vivid shade of red, Isaiah snapped his head to the left and squeezed his eyes shut, unable to get a proper response out.
"Don't....don't sneak up on me- you- he- why're you sitting - did he put you up to this-" was all he could manage.
Uziri sat up straight, eyes wide. What an interesting noise! She poked Sister-thing, wanting to hear it again.
"Bvah! Bvah!" she demanded.
Opec's smile turned innocent and his face tilted downward for a moment.
"No, he didn't put me up to anything. I'm sorry," he apologize, but didn't move away. Instead, he rested his head on Isaiah's shoulder, looking up to him.
Irizu giggled at the poke, not understanding for the first moment or two, and then...
"AUUUURT!"
Opec's smile turned innocent and his face tilted downward for a moment.
"No, he didn't put me up to anything. I'm sorry," he apologized, but didn't move away. Instead, he rested his head on Isaiah's shoulder, looking up to him.
Irizu giggled at the poke, not understanding for the first moment or two, and then...
"AUUUURT!"
Isaiah's eyes opened slightly, and he forced himself to look over at Opec, though he instantly looked away again.
"No big deal," he said quickly. "Don't be sorry. Not a big deal."
Oliver, deeply and maliciously amused, watched the scene play out. Genius, pure genius...
Utterly delighted, Uziri loosed a shriek and clapped, unbalancing briefly and toppling backwards.
Irizu gasped and flopped atop Sister-thing, attempting to somehow cushion her fall. It clearly hadn't worked.
"Bwaah?!"
Opec sighed. He thought he knew what was goin on. So Iz thought Oliver had put him up to it, right? And Oliver clearly thought he was fooling with Iz.
Ah well.
Although the last time he'd done something similar he'd been beaten until both eyes swelled shut, and he had no idea why he had the urge to do it in the first place, he craned his neck upward and lightly touched his lips to Isaiah's jawbone. He then returned to his previous position, eyes closed.
He was already in for it for the morning, so making it worse wasn't going to help or hurt much more.
Oliver raised a brow, expression losing its vicious amusement and turning thoughtful.
Isaiah looked at Opec full in the face, no longer painfully embarrassed, but slightly astonished.
Uziri, still giggling like a fool, tried to copy the sound.
"URT!"
Opec noticed he was being looked-at and opened his eyes, smiling to Isaiah and placing a hand on the side of his face. He said nothing.
He was pretty sure he didn't need to.
Irizu laughed and clapped, pushing herself back up.
"Eetha goo'!"
Realizing this is how deer caught in headlights must feel, Isaiah looked back and made an effort to ignore the burning in his face. Well, this was an unexpected turn of events...
Head thrown back in pride, Uziri accepted the praise graciously.
"Anno, anno," she said imperiously, coughing to clear her throat and garner more attention. "URT! URT!"
Oliver gave Uziri what could only be described as a Look, lips thinning.
"Shh."
"URRRT!"
"Cripes. Shut it, larva."
"Fssssshhhhhhhh," Irizu said, pressing a finger to her lips again. She wasn't sure what was going on, but it seemed serious. It made sense to have to be quiet. Her aura wriggled curiously.
"Eetha wan' go wee-zoo woom?"
Opec simply blinked.
"Something wrong?" he asked, not quite sure why Isaiah's face was so pink or why he wasn't speaking. He'd never been stared at like this before.
Giving Oliver as scathing a look as she could manage (which really wasn't much), Uziri nodded at Irizu's question.
"Lethgo, Oyivver eth thupit," she said, nose wrinkling. "Awwa's Uthiwi kwy-yit oh Uthiwi sthuth up oh Uthiwi fnuck woff."
She wasn't sure what the last word meant, but by the way Isaiah had yelled and thrown things at Oliver's head when he'd said it made her curious.
Isaiah shook his head, trying to remind himself it was rude to stare, though he couldn't help it.
"No. Nothing," he said, looking down.
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Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:34 am
__Part 10-4
Irizu began to carefully slimb the stairs. She learned from a rather nasty near-tumble that one had to pay attention to the stairs and strictly the stairs.
"Fnuck?" she asked, "Wass fnuck?"
Opec's brow furrowed and he brushed a bit of Isaiah's hair out of his eyes. He was thinking damn hard, and it was a rather obvious upon his face. He inhaled, opened his mouth to say something, but closed it abruptly.
He weighed the consequences of what he'd been about to say, and said it anyway.
"I love you."
"Dawnno," Uziri said, following Irizu. She'd become proficient crawling through the obstacle course that was Isaiah's house, but stairs were something new. It took a bit of effort.
"Oyivver thay, 'Uthiri fnuk woff', an' Ithy thay 'Oyivver, I's kee you', an' then Ithy hih' Oyivver wi' a pot," she added solemnly. "An' Oyivver thay 'fnuck' ag'in an' chase Ithy."
Isaiah waited and watched, curious over Opec's expression and wondering what was making him look, what, worried? Angry? No, that wasn't it. Hmm...
He snapped back to attention as Opec spoke, and as he spoke Isaiah felt the blood drain out of his face, leaving him looking rather gray.
"You....what..."
Had he just heard that right?
No.
Impossible.
Irizu nodded solemnly and continued up the stairs, then beating on the door in the middle.
"Fnuck muh' nah be uh goo' wor'," she stated matter-of-factly, glaring at the doorknob. She continued beating the door with her tiny palms.
Opec nodded.
"Love you," Opec repeated, not understanding Isaiah's reaction. His eyes flickered back and forth across the Vampire's face.
He looked pale...-er than usual.
The confused Viishani looked to Oliver questioningly. Had he done something wrong?
Uziri sat and watched the door abuse, chewing on her fingers.
"Nah a goo' wor'?" she said. "Oyivver ne'er thay goo' wor's. Alwahs thayin' sfuff tha' geth Ithy an'gy. Ithy shoul'n li' Oyivver. Uthiri nah li' Oyivver."
Isaiah couldn't help but start staring again. Was he lying? Was this some nasty joke between Opec and Oliver? How he could say love, when they'd only met up together a handful of times?
"You...but....you...why?" he said finally, looking shell-shocked and painfully repressing a surge of disbelieving, ecstatic shock.
"Weezu li' Owivuh," Irizu said simply. The man, although a bit scary, had never done anything to wrong her. Not yet, anyway.
There was a snick and the door opened.
"Dewe."
The room behind the door was small compared to the rest, probably having been a closet or bathroom at some time, but contained a crib, changing table, and toychest and was decorated purple and black.
"Weezo woom."
Opec turned back to Isaiah.
"I don't know," he shrugged, looking rather thoughtful again, "but it seems right. And feel." He grabbed one of Isaiah's hands and pressed it to his chest.
"It doesn't usually go that fast."
"Weezu on'y wun li' Oyivver," Uziri said plainly, nodding. She looked around the room in delight, cooing over the toy chest. "Whussat?"
Hand splayed over Opec's chest, Isaiah felt a heartbeat going at a pretty good rate under his touch. It didn't make sense at all, and what was more it made him happy, and so Isaiah was immediately saddled with suspicion that he just as immediately forced away. He glanced up at Opec, completely unsure what to say.
Oliver, who'd been unusually unobtrusive, stood in the flicker shadows, idly passing his hand through a candleflame. It had burned when he didn't do it fast enough, but when he'd finally recalled the trick of it his hand passed through the little fire painlessly. He'd have to remember to teach it to Uziri one day, he thought to himself, just to give Isaiah a good scare.
"Dah Weezo toy-shethst," Irizu smiled proudly, "Eetha wan thee? Weezo hab bid baw." The infant crawled for her toychest, rummaging through until she found the proper boy.
"Wook."
She rolled the ball, easily one-and-a-half times her size, to her sister. It was shiny. Very, very shiny.
Opec's ears folded back.
"You still don't believe me," he said sadly.
"Ooooooh," Uziri said, giving the ball her usual inspection of pokes and prods before rolling it back to Irizu. "S'ineeee!"
Isaiah swallowed with difficulty, hand still on Opec's chest. His expression was so torn it was nearly pitiful.
"I...I don't know," he said, bewildered. "I...I liked you the moment we met, I just didn't think you would ever bother with me...I mean, you always seem to like Oliver more, and...and I'm me! No one likes me, ever."
Oliver heard his name, and half-glanced over his shoulder. Poor kid. Utterly useless when it came to practical life - no matter what, he could never handle it well.
Irizu giggled and rolled it back.
"Fuddy Mah say Weezoo don' pop baw o' spaw-kwees go ebee-wew."
Opec smiled.
"You see, that's the thing," he tried to explain, "This happens when I see you." He patted Isaiah's hand.
"I feel Oliver up here." He tapped his temple. Yes, he loved Oliver too, but it wasn't in the same way. He could be certain of that now.
"And I like you."
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