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 Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:00 am
Discovery
Nikiana was enjoying one of those few moments of bliss. Alaqua was off at one of her classes at D-corp and wouldn't need to be picked up for quite some time. Bob was with her, of course. The two were hardly ever seperated since the brass wyrmling had been brought home. Her other daughter, Reign, was out and about town doing something or another. Probably shopping. That was the girl's favorite activity to do, though Reign claimed it was a sport. So Niki was kicked back on the couch of the living room, enjoying her few hours of rest that she'd been given for the day, idly flipping through TV channels and finding absolutely nothing on to watch.
Spirits whose job it was to give guardians their charges set out to their tasks as soon as they were told it was time to bond Niki and the god she'd be caring for. Pulling sharply on the strings of her reality the ones whose job it was to kill her did just that. Though they didnt' really want to cause her harm.
So wrapped up in finding something worth her time on the television, Niki didn't see the little (and very heavy) statue on the end table behind her wobble before it fell over. The woman's neck snapped in some unfortunate set of cirumstances that led to a rather quick demise for Nikiana.
The spirits, now onto their new task, quickly teleported the body to their realm and cleaned up the mess-repairing the body, cleaning up the blood and whatnot. They then broke off into groups. When the soul was removed from the body, half guided it to the realm of the Tison godly spirits and the other half took the body to the ship-the Samadueanna-and placed a magic chain around her neck. The relic for the god that chose to bond with her soul would appear upon it before the soul returned to her body. On the ship her body was taken to a bed where teh captain of the ship waited to explain things to the woken woman. While she waited she read the woman's info on a small PDA type thing which hooked to the ship's main comptuer. The info was sent by the spirits who'd been gathering it. Meanwhile there was an issue with Nikiana's spirit. Two gods wanted to bond with that particular soul. It had happened once before and the only way to solve it was for both to bond and for two relics to share the same necklace as a host till they gained bodies. When the two souls did bond with her's Niki's spirit returned to her body and she was allowed to wake up
Nikiana groaned as she came awake. Why oh why did her head ache? And her neck felt a bit sore, too. As the woman tried to puzzle these wierd bits of information out, her blue eyes flicked open for a moment before closing again. Then, the woman sat upright suddenly and her eyes flew open. Where the heck was she? Nikiana glanced about the cabin where she was now resting, not recognizing the place as anywhere she'd ever been before. Blinking, the woman's eyes focused on another woman, sitting calmly in a chair as if she was waiting for Niki to awaken or something. "Where am I?" She asked, then glanced around again with a feeling of panic. "And where are my girls?!"
"your girls are exactly where they were when you died. You'll be back at home shortly and they'll never have to know unless you tell them. But there is quite a lot you do need to know. Sadly you have been chosen by a strange means to be the guardian of apparently two gods from a realm you've never heard of."
Blink, blink. Niki tried to process that thought for a moment. "Do what?" While she was glad to hear that her girls were safe and okay and totally unaware of what was currently going on, the woman was a bit apprehensive about this whole becoming a guardian of two gods from some other realm. "Wait... so I just got landed with more kids?!" Poor woman, she already had a teenager and a preteen (plus dragon). She didn't really need more kids! And just where would she put them? "So... what do I need to know...?"
"Well one that the gods of this realm were killed long ago by an evil god from the same realm. He pretty much took over and will destroy that realm if he's not stopped. So the old gods have to be reborn and reraised to come destroy him. The only people who its really safe to give it to are people who pretty much live in gaia. I don't know who chose you or why they choose who they do. All I know is you've become a guardian and your soul has bonded with that of two deities from this other race. We can help you with affording them but as for housing them I haven't got a clue how to help ya there."
Niki reached up to rub her sore neck as she pondered over what the other woman had said. Her hand came into contact with a necklace and she blinked. She hardly ever wore jewlery, so just what was this? The woman put that thought aside for the moment. "So... I'm getting two kids who were killed by some evil god. And they were gods themselves and are now being reborn to kill the god that killed them?" The woman blinked. Odd, but it wasn't as if she hadn't ever heard anything odd before. After all, she lived on Gaia. Kids were poping out of pieces of paper and being designed to raise dragons just about everyday. So nothing too out of the ordinary, for her at least. "What else do I need to know?"
"well we recently found out something about how long it takes to get them in baby form and how that works from accounts of other guardians. Apparently it takes two days or somewhere around there's time and it involves dreaming, leaving your body, entering a place and seeing the dead bodies of your gods-dont' worry it's not gross -and then having to touch the body-or bodies in this case-to put the soul back in and turn it into the reborn baby. It's complicated and confusing and pretty much just be prepared to have twins in your house in two days or more and to have a weirdass dream."
O...kay. That was definately more on the odd side, even for Niki. That was something to be looking forward to.... not. "Great..." she muttered about having twins in her house. Just how were the two girls going to handle having siblings? And how would Bob handle having some kids running around the house? It was going to be interesting, that was for sure. But, at least it seemed that she got a bit of a warning, though it wasn't very long. Two days or so and she was going to have twins in the house. Great, just great.
"Yeah I know what you're feeling. I have to have one too. Which is my-nevermind. complicated. Anyway we do know that they won't have powers and will be like normal babies. At least at first. So you won't have them really running anywhere much so long as you keep them in a playpen or something."
Oh, that was even better. They were going to be babies. At least her kids were toddlers when she'd gotten them and already potty-trained and past the whole diapers and bottles stage. Great. Even better. "You've got one, too?" Niki wondered what her kid was like... or going to be like, since it sounded as if the woman didn't exactly have her kid yet.
The woman nodded. "Yes. Apparently my mother never told me my dad just HAPPENED to be one of those murdered gods and I'm going to have to raise his reborn self. It's disturbing enough knowing you're caring for a reborn god but the fact that it's your dad-thank god they don't have their previous memories or intelligences. Ugh." Rouge shuddered a bit.
Niki blinked. Okay, that was just weird. "Yeah.... that's got to be odd for you..." Luckily her parents weren't from this other realm... right? She was supposed to have twins... Oh god, hopefully that didn't mean she had both of her parents! The woman shuddered, then latched onto something Rouge had said. "They don't remember anything?" Which was just as well... it would be hard enough raising these kids without them remembering from the beginning that they were gods. That might cause a bit of trouble with their sisters...
"Nope. No memories, no powers. At least not at this stage. No one else has gotten farther then baby and we have exactly two of those."
Oh great, so they didn't know much about these kids. Joy. "So no idea on how quickly they'll grow up?" Both of her girls grew up rather quickly, Reign even more so than Alaqua. But both had grown much quicker than normal kids did.
"Nope." suddenly a voice went over a speaker system. "Destination reached." the voice was similar to Rouge's only older."Follow me." Rouge said calmly, leading Niki to the transporter room. "We'll check up on you guys and such. That way you can commeriserate with other guardians." and with that the woman sent Niki home and another guardian had received their charge
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:28 am
Musings
Nikiana was home again after that interesting adventure. She sat on the couch, having rehomed the statue to a place where it wouldn't be able to fall on anyone. Now the woman sat in the living room, pondering just what to tell the girls. She was going to have to tell them something. Especially since the two were going to be getting some siblings.
As the woman was thinking, Reign arrived home. "Hey, Mom." The teenager greeted her mother as she closed the front door.
"Reign, I've gotta go pick up Ala. Come along with me. I need to talk to you girls."
The chimp girl blinked, then shrugged. "Okay."
The woman and her daughter got into the jeep and started the long drive out to the D-corp building. "Whatcha gotta talk about, Mom?" Reign asked.
"Wait until we pick up your sister. I want to tell you both at the same time." Reign accepted that answer with a nod. The pair rode on in silence until they arrived at the D-corp building. As they pulled up, the doors opened and Alaqua and Bob strolled outside. They'd been waiting in the lobby for Niki to drive up. Now the girl opened the back hatch for Bob to hop in. The brass wyrmling was starting to get too big to be riding in the back any more, but he still could fit for now. Then Ala shut the hatch and hopped into the back seat, the lone seat left up as the other seats in the back were laid down to give Bob more room. And so he could see Ala better.
Niki started driving back home, silent for a moment. Reign glanced over at the woman, but didn't say anything. Finally, Niki spoke. "Girls... we need to talk about something." Both girls tried to think rather quickly of what they might've done that their mother might've found out about. Niki paused, trying to figure out a good way of saying what she needed to say. "Girls... you're getting siblings."
"WHAT?!?" Both girls cried out in response to that comment. Then both broke into a babble of questions that Niki couldn't make out.
"GIRLS! Calm down!" Niki glanced over at Reign, then in the rearview mirror at Ala. Then she sighed. "It's not like I exactly picked this. Apparently I was 'chosen'... or some nonsense like that. I don't have a choice. You're getting two siblings in a couple of days."
The two girls grumbled as they digested this information. Then, Reign piped up, "But, Mom? Where are they going to stay?"
Ala's eyes widened. "I'm not sharing my room with anyone but Bob!!"
Niki waved one hand at the girls. "I'll probably have to move my office down to the basement and put them in there... or something..." It hit the woman that Tara might be able to do something to help her out here. Like add an additional room to the house. Or maybe two while she was at it. Like another bathroom. It was bad enough with three females sharing one bathroom. The woman's thoughts came to a halt and she turned her attention back to the discussion at hand. "Another thing... these are going to be babies," Niki added as she turned the car into the driveway.
The girls groaned. "Babies?" Reign asked.
"Like the little spewing, crying, pooping machines??" Ala added.
Niki put the vechile into park, then glared at her two girls. "Babies. So you two are going to have to help me some, okay?"
All she got in response was some grunting and the opening of doors as the girls vacated the car and headed for the house, Ala pausing long enough to open the hatch for Bob. Niki shut off the engine and went into the house in time to hear two bedroom doors slam shut. Sighing, she flopped down onto the couch.
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:59 pm
HELP! I need somebody...
Niki paced the floor of her living room, torn between calling her old friend and actually having to beg for help from Tara. Was she actually that desperate. Unfortunatly, the answer was a resounding yes. With a groan, Niki picked up the phone and quickly punched in the phone number for one Tara S. ******.
Alaqua was excited and dancing about the edges of the room, hoping that Tara would bring Aysel over. She hadn't seen the moth girl in ages! The koala girl wondered if Aysel had gotten her own dragon yet. Then Bob could meet the dragon! That would be cool.
Reign was lurking in her room, still unsure of this whole getting a sibling thing. It was actually going to happen, though she was dreading it a bit.
RIIIIIIIIIIING
Tara jumped, nearly slicing her finger off with a jerk. Muttering a swear word under her breath, the mage moved to her new, barely used, telephone. Warily Tara picked up the reciever. "Hello?"
Hearing the phone ring from upstairs, Aysel dropped her book and skittered down to the stairs. With a thud thud thud thud, the luna moth clamered down the stairs to hover around the kitchen door.
Niki squirmed for a moment when Tara answered. "Hey, Tara. It's Niki." The woman paused for a moment., the the next few sentences just gushed right out. "Listen, I really need some help. Is there a way you can possibly come over?? Please?"
Ala grinned, whispering to her mother. "And make sure she brings Aysel!"
Niki waved a hand at her daughter, frowning. Ala darted back down the hallway and out of her mother's sight.
Tara blinked at the sudden gush of words. "It's possible," the woman replied slowly. "What exactly do you need?" Tara had been well trained. Never promise to help without knowing what you were in for. The last time she had forgotten the two of them had set out to get a sample of dragon DNA. What fun. It had gotten them sooty, injured and nearly thrown in jail for public indecency. Man had yet to develop flame resistant clothing.
While she waited for a reply, the mage waved Aysel over to the carrots she had been preparing for lunch. Without a word the luna moth followed her mom's directions. Slowly cutting the already peeled carrots in half, Aysel listened intently, curious as to whom had called.
Nikiana fidgeted for a moment. "Some... uh... magical assistance..." A small pause and then the rest was another gush of words. "You see, I got stuck with these twins and well... I don't have any more rooms to put them in or anything and my house is going to need another bathroom with five people in it and... and... yeah." She grimaced, wondering what Tara's reaction to that was going to be. The woman half expected her friend to burst out laughing and half expected her to just hang up the phone.
In truth Tara was torn between the two. Laughing because Niki just couldn't learn to say 'No' (look at Reign as an example) and torn between groaning and hanging up. The energy to rearrange it without disturbing Niki's lab was going to be horrible. And the resources. Argh.
There was one thought that stopped the woman. Niki had done her a favor when she brought Aysel home that first day. So other than a quickly strangled little giggle the woman nodded. When the silence streached on, Tara jumped. "Oh, yes. Of course... I'll be over in.. Half an hour?" Already she was starting a list in her head, of materials. Three of her crystals, there was no way she could do it with just her personal energy. She'd need a set spell for it, so her book would be a good thing to bring along. Maybe an amplifier? Tara shook her head, realizing she had zoned out of Niki's conversation.
Over? The luna moth was still curious as to who had called. Scooping up the carrot slices she bagged them. Hovering near the phone, the girl tried to hear the other preson's voice.
Niki was anxiously awaiting Tara's response on the other end of the line, worried if Tara was ever going to respond back. Finally, her friend agreed and Niki let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, thank you! Half an hour's fine! I'll see you then! Bye!" And she hung up before Tara could change her mind.
Ala poked her head back in. "Is Aysel coming too?"
Niki shrugged. "Probably, sweetie. I doubt Tara'll leave her home alone. I'm not sure how long it'll take Tara to finish the house." Nikiana was just glad that she wasn't going to have to move her office downstairs. First off, she had a lot of junk in there. And secondly, she'd prefer it to be upstairs, especially if she was going to have twins about. Speaking of the whole baby thing, she was going to have to go shopping at some point for baby items... The woman groaned.
For a moment she stared at the phone before hanging it up with a wince. Turning to Aysel, Tara smiled. "Thank you for getting the carrots done. You might want to get ready, we'll be going over Alaqua's house in a little bit."
'La! Aysel squealed and nearly tackled her mommy. "'Kay!" She dashed off to go change and put on her paint. It had been forever, or since Halloween, since the luna moth had seen her 'cousin' and Aysel wanted to look extra nice.
Soon her mom had everything packed and ready to go. As the luna moth reluctantly put down her paint, primped her hair and rushed down stairs, her mommy yelled for her. Skidding to a stop in front of her mommy, Aysel smoothed her dress and hair. A chalked circle on the ground caught her attention. "What's that?"
Tara sighed. "A teleportation circle. The florin would take too much energy. More energy over less time is less than less energy over more time." Reaching over Tara helped Aysel into the circle.
Aysel just blinked as her mom helped her step over the chalk lines. "Whatever," she replied trying out the new word. After a strange look from her mommy, to which she just shrugged, Aysel watched the spell. A few trigger words and the chalk suddenly blew upwards, obscuring their vision. Only a few seconds passed before a gust of wind disperssed the chalk leaving Niki's home in plain view.
Aysel gawked at her mom. For all that she knew the woman did magic, rarely was it this... simple and easy looking. One second there, the next here. "Cool...." she whispered, not noticing the beads of sweat on her mom's forehead. Alas, children have short attention spans and the next moment saw Aysel running towards the front door, her mom following a few heartbeats later.
Alaqua had been watching for Tara and Aysel to appear since her mom had said that Tara would be coming over. Of course, the girl figured that her friend's mother would be driving, so when they appeared out of nowhere in front of the house, the girl gave a start. That was so cool! Maybe Aysel's mom could help her with her magic homework some time. "Mom! They're here!" She yelled, opening the door to wave at Aysel.
Niki appeared from on down the hallway. Good. Tara was here. The woman paused. What did she need to do. She gave a shrug, turning to yell at Reign to come on out of her room. Then the woman walked over to the front door to greet Tara.
Tara waved at her old friend. Strange to think she had watched the other woman grow up, and would proably still be watching long after Niki died. What a rather morbid train of though. "Niki! Do you mind if we stay the night? I don't know if I'll have the energy to get Aysel and myself home after this."
"'LA!" Aysel screeched, running toward the other girl. Once she got over to her friend, the luna moth finally slowed down. Quickly she gave her cousin a hug. "'ann go play?" she aksed.
Niki waved at Tara. "Sure. You can stay in the room you make." She grinned. "It'll be no problem." Besides, Ala would probably love to have a friend stay over, even if that friend's mom was staying as well.
Ala grinned at Aysel. "Aye!" She modified the childish nickname she'd given the moth girl. Ala hugged the other girl back, then nodded. "Yeah! Outside?" She gestured over her shoulder to the kitchen door. Bob sniffed at Aysel, then wandered over towards the kitchen door to wait for the two girls to open it and go outside.
"'kay!" Aysel chirped. The luna moth let Alaqua go first, taking a moment to study her friend. She had grown so much faster and honestly, Aysel was envious. It must be so much fun being older. As they got near the door however, she ran to Bob. "Hi Bob!" she grinned giving him a hug. "Guess what, my dragon'll be hatching soon so you'll have someone to play with other than 'La."
Tara nodded. "Okay then. Show me where you want the new rooms and I'll get stared then."
Ala grinned and started for the back door. Bob gave a happy sound of greeting as Aysel hugged him, thumping his tail happily against the ground. Ala had guessed that Aysel's dragon hadn't hatched yet, since it wasn't with her. "Soon, eh? That's good." She opened the door and headed outside.
Reign followed along after the other two girls to sit outside and watch them. Besides, being with kids somewhat close to her own age was better than being stuck indoors with boring adults, right?
Niki watched the girls leave, then turned back to Tara. "Well, I guess at the end of the hallway, after the girls' rooms." She started down the hallway.
Aysel just kinda waved at Reign with one of her upper hands. It was kinda weird. They had met briefly at the Halloween event but the now older girl was even older than La.
Aysel looked around the backyard. "What do you want to do?"
Tara followed Niki down the hall. As the other woman gestured where she'd like the rooms to go, Tara dug out her chalk. Specially made for magical workings it was one of her prized possesions. Quickly Tara marked out the outline of two doors. Crammed in between the outlines were various markings. On the floor... more symbols and markings. Tara muttered a brief explanation to Niki, anticipating the curiousity. "It's to set up the spells path. Most spells are just...different paths energy takes. Like different atoms have different shapes."
She stood back with a nod. "Where would you like that bathroom?"
Ala thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno... What do you wanna do?" Oh boy, this sounded like it was going nowhere fast.
Reign waved back at the younger girl. Hadn't she been closer to Ala's age when they were younger? Oh well, this was one girl who would be hard to surprise about aging rapidly or slowly. Come on, she'd outgrown her 'older' sister.
Niki thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose somewhere down here as well. There's the one at the other end of the hallway, so one at this end would make sense as well." She eyed the chalk sketches, watching with something close to awe. She couldn't do magic for anything. Science was her field, but she had to admit that magic was handy from time to time. Like right now when she needed more space and fast.
Magic may be handy, but it always came with a price. What exactly that was, Tara never said but the least of it was energy exhaustion. The mage studied the hallway intently. Finally Tara found a space she could decide on. Instead of one bathroom, like Niki had merely asked for, Tara drew in two. Five people and only two bathrooms? And at least three of them girls. Right... Taking a deep breath Tara moved to the center of the hallway. Taking the three stones from her pocket she placed one at each new doorway, standing at the last one herself.
Aysel gestured at the trees, knowing how much Ala loved to climb. "We could make a tree house?" she suggested. Not that they had wood or anything to build with.
Niki watched silently from behind Tara. Hey, no complaints from her on any extras. Three bathrooms just might be a smart idea for this household. They would surely need all those!
Ala glanced at the trees. "Okay..." She wasn't sure how they'd make a tree house without any supplies, but maybe Aysel had an idea. Or, even better, maybe Aysel's mom had taught the girl some magic and Aysel was going to show her some and make a tree house!
Aysel didn't have an idea... at first. The luna moth stared at the tree's for a moment before remembering something she had read. "A fort!" she exclaimed. In one of Babysitter's books they had made a fort out pillows and blankets and stuff. "Maybe we can use sheets and pillows and stuff?" Aysel said excitedly. "We can streach them between branches and tied them down." The luna moth beamed at her friend.
Tara breathed deep, grounding herself. While she had waited on Aysel, the woman had memorized the verbal and physical components of the spell. "Erijte Riuhga Djaoi Oire Gha Skdg". The chalk suddenly began to glow, tracing patterns, first on flat walls then deeper into new spaces. Rooms began to take shape, mesh then skin. Furniture grew and window's opened up.
It was nearing the end of the spell when trouble started. The crystals, which had been glowing the same color, began to flicker and die. One by one the winked out. Then Tara began to waver. Locked into the spell as she was the mage barely noticed anything. Eventually the spell drained even her constant illusion of it's strength. Like the crystals, it too flickered and died. Stealing the last bit of energy it found, the spell finally ran it's course.
Blue-grey skinned, nearly glowing green eyes, pointed ears. Yup, the illusion of humanity was gone. But unlike the other times Tara removed her locket, the spell was completely gone. As the mage came out of her trance, she went to take a deep breath. And choked. Gasping Tara stumbled backwards, clutching her throat.
Nikiana watched as the rooms slowly began to appear before her eyes. Sighing, she glanced over at her friend, who seemed to be using quite a bit of energy in this spell. Maybe she should get some water for her friend to drink when she was finished? Niki turned and headed towards the kitchen, grabbing a glass and getting some ice water prepared for Tara. It was a rather large job, for sure, so she wouldn't be surprised if Tara needed something to eat as well. That was what mages did to restore their energy, right? Heck if she'd know!
Ala grinned. "Sure!" She darted into the doors that led to her room and grabbed up her blanket off her hammock and her pillow (she also stole a few from Bob's 'nest'). With her arms loaded, she went back outside. "Here we go!"
Tara gasped a final breath.. and then things went a little odd. The body dissapeared and then a few moments later.. She returned. Standing in the same hallway, the mage blinked. Other than a slight headache and a new necklace, everything seemed to be the same.
Rather uncertainly the mage moved to pick up the now empty stones, pocketing them. Turning around, Tara began to search for Nikiana.
Aysel grabbed a blanket in her lower hands, and began to climb up the tree, much harder to do with only one set of hands. Coming to the first set of branches, the luna moth took a break, waiting for 'La.
Niki was carrying the glass of ice water back into the hallway. She was a bit startled to almost run into Tara as she turned the corner from the kitchen into the hallway. She grinned at her friend. "Here, thought yo-" The woman paused, her eyes catching sight of the necklace Tara was wearing. That... was most definately new. As in, her friend had not been wearing that just a few seconds ago.
Nikiana felt that something was just a bit... familiar... with that necklace. She thought for a moment, then suddenly grinned from ear to ear before bursting out laughing. The woman started to laugh so hard, she was in danger of cracking a rib or two. "Th-th-they... g-got you t-too, eh?" Niki managed in her fit of laughter, gesturing with her free hand at Tara's necklace, then pulling out her own from under her tshirt.
Ala grinned, taking a moment to fashion a sort of belt with one of the blankets and try to tie the pillows and blankets to her midsection before climbing up after Aysel. She paused where the moth girl had stopped. "Will this work?" She asked, wondering if they'd have to go higher.
Bob gave a grunt as he recognized some of those pillows and blankets as his own, then plopped down to watch the two girls in the tree.
Reign played with one of her daggers, tossing it up into the air with enough of a twirl on it to catch it by the handle once again. It'd be neat if she could learn how to juggle these!
"Shut up. At least I don't have twins," the mage snapped covering her relic with a hand. "The rooms are done," she continued. Neatly she stole the glass from Niki, half expecting her friend to collapse from laughter.
With a frown Aysel shrugged. "I don't know... I've never done this 'efore." There did seem to be a few other branches nearby that they could tie the blankets to. Peering at the higher branches the luna moth considered it carefully. "We can't go too high.." She turned to her friend, lettting the climber be the expert.
That made Niki's laughter at least die down some. It sobered the woman up... a touch, at least. True, she was stuck with twins, but at least Tara had gotten a kid as well. That would make this a little better. She was glad that Tara had taken the glass as it took her a bit longer to recover. Finally, wiping tears away from her eyes, the woman straightened up. "Do you need anything else?"
Ala looked up as well. "True..." She knew that up higher, the branches weren't as strong. "This will be fine." She nodded, slapping the branch they were currently sitting on.
Aysel nodded and shook out the blanket she carried up. Leading forward she began to tie the the blanket around the branch, balancing herself with her lower pair of arms. With one (messy and very weak) knot tied the girl tried to toss the other end of the blanket towards Ala.
"Catch!" she called, swinging the blanket back and forth. The first throw landed far too short though. With a frown Aysel tried again, actually getting within catching reach this time.
Tara grumbled to herself for a few moments before nodding, "A good way to break it to Aysel? Oh.. and don't tell her what exactly happened before I got this child." The mage threw a warning look at her friend, despite the fact that she was sure Niki knew what she was talking about. Telling Aysel she had died...and then came back would probably freak the girl out, just a little.
Swallowing her painkillers, the mage slipped past Niki to put her glass in the sink.
Ala grabbed for the first swing that fell too short. She shifted herself back onto the branch and managed to catch the second attempt. "Got it!" She tied it to the branch she was sitting on. The knot was a bit tighter than Aysel's, but this wasn't a sailor's knot or anything.
Niki gulped and nodded. She hadn't told her own girls about the part of her dying to get the twins. There were some things that a child just didn't need to know. "Well, uh... I just told Ala and Reign. Considering I don't exactly get a lot of time to come up with a better way... They did tell you that the kid'll be arriving in two days, right?"
Scooting down along the branch, Aysel took the last corner on her side with her. It ended up streaching out to make an odd sort of unstable floor. The girl gestured for Ala to do the same. "Then maybe we take another one and make a roof?" the luna moth suggested. She pressed down a little on the blanket, testing it.
Tara shook her head, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "Just that it would be soon. And that it's the God of Illusions."
Ala scooted down her branch as well, stretching her end of the blanket out. She nodded at Aysel's suggestion as she worked on trying to tie her other corner to the branch. It was a bit harder to do than the first one, but she managed.
She waved one of the blankets she was holding. "We can use this one." And the koala girl then started to climb up a few branches, trying to gauge where the roof should be.
Niki sighed and took a seat as well. "God of Illusions, eh? At least you know what your kid'll be doing later. I don't know what my two are supposed to be." She pulled the black and white pendant out and sat, staring at it. What could it be? Whatever it was, she had a feeling it wouldn't be the Goddess of Little Pink Ponies or something easy like that.
After letting 'La climb up farther, Aysel slowly began to follow. She wasn't nearly as fast or as sure at climbing as her friend but the cacoon and extra pair of arms helped a lot. After she was equal with her 'cousin', Aysel wrapped her legs and lower arms around the tree tightly. "This high enough?" the girl queried.
Tara stared at the pendant and shrugged. "Light and Dark? Women and Men? Order and Chaos? Who knows. Maybe white stands for...Spring and black for Winter. It's not like their even from this universe." That was the hard thing. If they were from here then it would be so much easier to understand the children when they came. As a matter of fact, Tara didn't even know if they would remember anything or not. What an annoying situation.
Ala thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think this'll be high enough." The koala girl tied a corner to the branch, then lowered the blanket some, swinging it to get it over to her 'cousin'.
Meanwhile, Bob watched the two girls curiously. What were they doing with his blankets? They had better give them back...
Niki shrugged as well, letting the pendant drop. "It could be anything, really. Day and Night. Good and Evil. Peanut butter and jelly." The woman glanced at her friend to see if she'd gotten a grin out of the last one.
To be continued
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Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:40 pm
Arrival
It had been a hectic couple of days since Nikiana had recieved the relic. First, there had been the whole ordeal with the two girls, both upset over the fact that they were getting siblings. And soon. Then Tara had showed up to help her expand the house to include space for the twins that were coming soon. Niki sighed, grateful that the house was silent, as she climbed into her queen sized bed. She needed the sleep tonight, especially if these kids were supposed to be arriving soon. Niki clicked off the lamp and rolled over onto her side, asleep in a matter of seconds.
And it was good that she was prepared for it was this night that she recieved the twins. While she slept her dreaming soul seemed to leave her body-the twins souls which now took the shape of the relics went with her. A strange door appeared ahead of her beckoning the woman to enter it. She'd been warned of this by Rouge already. She knew what would happen.
Niki had briefly remembered something about an odd dream and this was certainly it. Her soul drifted over to the strange door and opened it, curious now as to what she was going to see on the other side.
Inside of the room was what appeared to be a bedroom. A big double bed that seemed separated down the middle. It was in the middle of the room against the wall and had a great canopy over it. Half of the room was elegant and perfectly clean while the other half-an utter mess. Double doors-separated on the line that split the room. And right infront of those doors, lay two bodies. The one was of a dark haired young man. Slightly muscular and tanned skinned. He wore dark blue clothing and silver jewelry. His lower body was on the dark side while his upper was on the light. The other in contrast was a rather feminine thin pale young man with long white hair-neatly combed as opposed to the messy short hair of the other-wearing reds and golds. His lower body was on the light side and his upper on the dark. Strangely both had lines going horizontally through the middle of their chest-on both sides front and back. And there was a matching line through the middle of the door. As the darker one was nearest to the wall and bed which Niki stood by it was obvious that the darker one had been behind the lighter haired one and the one had been stabbed through the other through the door. What a sad way to go.
Niki frowned at the sight before her. The poor boys, or rather men at this point of what had been their lives. So sad, to have gone this way. And it appeared to be their own bedroom. Wasn't your home supposed to be where you felt the safest? Oh well, Niki knelt by the two bodies, gently brushing both with a pang of sympothy.
A warm glow started from the necklace and worked its way to the bodies, causing both to glow brightly. Then the glowing pendant shot out as if made of light-spliting into two halfs and entering each body-intensifying the glow so it looked kind of like a pokemon evoling or something. But instead the glowing masses were shrinking and then the light faded, there were two small cuddly baby boys laying before her. One pale and thin looking somewhat like a girl and one darker skinned and thicker looking definately like a boy. The twins of chaos and order had been reborn. And when Nikiana picked up the children the door reappeared and opened behind her so she could take the two soul babies back to her room where her relics had become their bodies. And quite cute bodies they were too.
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:42 pm
Journal Entry: 01/17/07
Okay, so just as Reign, Ala, and I are getting used to being a family and getting adjusted with Bob and the mini-dragons and imps now running around the house as well, I suddenly get these twins dumped on me. Wonderful. Just what I needed... not.
The girls haven't been happy about this whole thing, but the boys have been pretty good babies. They do what all other babies do. They cry, poop, and sleep. Reign seems to be warming up to them a little faster than Ala. I think the koala girl's just going through a tough time. She's gone through this once before when Reign arrived and now she's having to deal with her 'little' sister being older than her now. I think she's also having a problem adjusting to the whole 'becoming-a-teenager' thing.
Reign wasn't a big problem when she became a teenager. In fact, she hardly changed. She still loves to shop and wear frilly dresses and ribbons. She didn't have attitude problems or anything. Ala's starting to get a temper and be hateful to everyone in the house. I'm having problems with her minding me as she's starting to try and be her own person now, though I'm afraid she's trying to grow up too fast and keep up with her sister.
-Nikiana Ledell
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:09 pm
Midnight awakening
A baby's scream pierced the silence of the Ledell home. Reign and Ala both groaned, shifting in their beds as the cry awoke them. It came from the room next to Reign; Aiden's room. Reign glanced at her alarm clock before groaning. It was just after midnight. She stumbled out into the hallway where Alaqua had poked her head out.
"Wonder what he wants..." Ala grumbled. Reign shrugged in response, then shuffled down the hallway, passing her mother's office to knock on Niki's door.
"Mom! Aiden's crying!" Reign called out as she pounded on Niki's bedroom door.
Some grumbling came from inside and a rather muffled call of '5 more minutes' made her daughter groan. She glanced down the hallway back at Ala, who shrugged and went back to her room to go back to sleep. "Just... shut him up."
Reign glared at her sister, then sighed as Aiden continued to cry. "Alright, alright..." she muttered, entering Aiden's room. The boy was standing up in his crib, grasping the railing and screaming. The chimp girl reached in and picked the boy up out of his crib, wondering if he had a dirty diaper.
Aiden's crying stopped as Reign picked him up, though she went ahead and sniffed at him. Nope, his diaper was clean. 'He must be hungry,' Reign thought and started to set Aiden down so she could go get a bottle for him. As soon as his feet touched his crib mattress, Aiden started screaming again.
Groaning, Reign picked him up again, holding him at arm's length for a moment before bringing him closer and starting out to the kitchen to grab a bottle out of the fridge. Along the way, she knocked on her mother's door again. The same grumbling and muffled call of '5 more minutes' came once again.
Reign glared at her mother's door for a moment, then turned and padded towards the kitchen. She dug a bottle out of the fridge. "Here, Aiden." She popped the bottle in the boy's mouth, who promptly spat it out onto the floor. Reign reached with her tail to pick it up and took it with her hand to pop it into his mouth again. The boy did the same thing and Reign tried again. When he did it again, Reign sighed. "Okay, so you're not hungry." She put the bottle back in the fridge.
"Mom!" She banged on Niki's door again. When she heard the same thing, she opened the door. "Mom, it's already been 5 minutes. Aiden's crying and he's not dirty or hungry."
Niki groaned, rolling over to glance at her daughter. She got up and took the infant from Reign, then started out the door. Reign, confused, followed along as Niki walked back to Aiden's room. She watched as her mother sat down in the rocking chair and slowly started to rock and sing a lullaby to the boy.
Within minutes, Aiden was back asleep and Niki was putting him in his crib. Reign blinked. Niki smiled and patted her daughter on the shoulder, then headed right back to her bed. Reign, shaking her head at the simplicity of the matter, headed back to her room as well.
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Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 1:28 pm
Don't mess with Order
Niki had had to install a lock on her office. Though it was cluttered, she knew exactly where everything was. Or, she did. That was until the two imps and three mini-dragons had decided to rearrange her stuff. Niki was now in the kitchen, trying to prepare dinner for her family while Mustard, both Rudys, and Li ran about under her feet, apparently playing some little game of theirs. Stripe was deciding to use Niki's hair as a perch at that moment.
Finally, as Li ran into Niki's leg for the thousandth time and almost made the woman cut herself instead of the carrot she was slicing, Niki snapped. "Out, out! All of you little monsters OUT OF MY KITCHEN!!!"
The five creatures gave startled squeaks and squawks and other noises and scampered rapidly out of the kitchen. They gave dejected sighs as they were robbed of their fun. Then, Stripe gave a chirp and scurried down the hallway. The other four looked at one another for a moment, then quickly followed. The red and white mini-dragon darted into a bedroom, deciding that this would now be where they would be playing.
Shito was happily playing in his crib with a teddy bear when the quintet entered his room. He gave a cooing sound to the group, who ignored the baby boy. Mustard gave a chirp and the other four started chasing after him. Shito watched as the yellow splotched dragonling led the others about his room. The boy pulled himself up on the crib to watch the game, giggling. They were so funny.
The game then took a sudden turn that Shi did not like. As Mustard darted just out of Stripe's reach, he bumped right into a toy box, causing it to fall over and the toys to spill out across the room. Shito stopped giggling, frowning at the mess that was now in his room. When the rowdy group of creatures caused the rocking chair to fall over with a loud noise, Shito started screaming.
Niki cursed under her breath as she almost cut herself once again at the sudden screaming. "Reign? Ala? Can one of you check on the boys?" She waited for a moment. No response. She sighed and glanced out the kitchen door. There was Ala and Bob, probably practicing something one of her teachers had told her.
The woman walked down the hallway, poking her head into Reign's room. The chimp girl was lying on her bed of pillows, headphones on and listening to her mp3 player. The girl spotted her mother and hit pause on the device. "Dinner ready?" Reign asked, taking off her headphones.
"Almost, Reign. Do you mind finishing up chopping the vegetables for me? One of the boys is crying." At Reign's nod, Niki turned and walked down the hall just a bit. The crying was coming from Shito's room, which surprised the woman a bit. Aiden was the crier of the two. She'd hardly ever heard the quieter twin cry. Even when he was hungry or dirty or tired, he just fussed. He didn't really scream like this.
The door to the boy's room was about half open, so Niki opened it the rest of the way. And what a sight it was that met her eyes. The room was a mess and there were five rather guilty looking creatures in the middle of the room and a screaming baby in the crib. Niki glared at the little monsters. "Outside with all of you, now!" She pointed out the bedroom door and the dragons and imps stumbled over one another on their way out. "Reign, open the door for those little monsters to get outside."
The woman then picked Shito up, soothing the boy. "It's okay, it's okay, Shi... Mommy's here. She'll make everything right again." Jiggling the baby, Niki picked up the rocking chair to set it up again. Shito's screaming calmed some, between the soothing and the chair being put back up. Niki sat down with the boy to rock him, but Shi just started fussing and squirming. The woman was confused for a moment, trying to rock him and keep him in her arms.
'Wait... that man had guessed them to be gods of... Chaos and... Order? If Aiden's Chaos,' Niki glanced about the room. That made sense. With a sigh, she stood and moved over to the toy box and set it up. She paused to put Shito back in his crib so she could clean the room up faster.
After a few minutes, Shi was grinning as his mother put the last thing back in its place. Niki sighed and picked up the boy. "I bet it's about dinner time now." She grabbed Aiden out of his room and started back to the kitchen. She put the twins in their high chairs, then smiled at Reign. "Thanks, sweetie."
She put some cereal on the high chairs for the boys, then finished up dinner. "Wash your hands, Reign, and then would you set the table, please?" Her daughter nodded and Niki opened up the kitchen door. "Ala! Dinner time!" She glared at the dejected mini-dragons and imps. "You don't get to come in yet." She added to Ala, "Wash your hands."
Niki closed the door behind Ala and Bob, then grabbed the brass wyrmling's dinner out of the fridge. She washed her own hands, then brought dinner to the table. With a twin on either side of her and the girls sitting at the table, Niki smiled at her family. "Dig in!"
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:26 pm
Growing Pains
Aiden and Shito have learned to crawl and needless to say Aiden's messing things up like crazy and Shito's neat freaking. What are the reactions of their sisters, of eachother, of themselves, and of Niki? What sort of things happen?
Niki's thoughts as she watched the two boys crawl about the living room were 'I have got to get some playpens!'. She didn't think the boys would like that too much, though, since they fussed when left in their cribs now. The woman was sitting on the couch, watching as Aiden crawled about, knocking over the pile of magazines at the end of the couch and then proceeding on to go reorganize the DVDs by the TV.
Shito quickly crawled over to where the magazines had toppled and Niki grinned at the cute scene of such a little guy trying to stack the slippery things back into a pile. Finally, he managed to get it to his satisfaction and moved on to clean up more of his brother's messes.
Meanwhile, the troublesome five had found out just how cool Aiden was. Now the three mini-dragons and two imps were following the little god of Chaos about the house, aiding him in making the entire place a mess.
Suddenly, there was a shriek from one of the bedrooms and Niki got up to see what was going on. "MOM!!" Reign yelled at her mother, pointing at the creatures and Aiden deciding to redecorate the older girl's room. Reign grabbed her little brother up and shoved him at her mother. "Make them stay out of my room!"
Niki took the boy, sighing. "Reign, he's just a baby. I can send Shi in to clean up, if you'd like."
Reign thought that her mother was being sarcastic. "Gee, thanks, Mom. I think I can manage it..." Her own voice dripped with sarcasm.
"No, really. Go peek into the living room while I chase these monsters out of the house again." At Niki's words, the five made a mad dash for the back door. They'd found several times already that the broom hurt when used to shoo them out of the house. Niki sighed and went to open the back door for them.
Reign padded down the hallway to where Shito was finishing up the DVDs and moving on to clean up a pile of books that had been on the coffee table. She glanced over at her mother as Niki stood by her daughter. "You weren't joking..." Reign whispered.
Niki glanced at the boy in her arms. "You know, I think I'll get you and Ala some locks for your rooms so these two can't get into them easily..."
The koala girl came in from outside, stomping over to Niki. "Why must you always put them outside? Bob and I were trying to practice, but we can't when they're out there."
"Because they were making a mess of my room," Reign told her sister. "With his help." She pointed at Aiden.
Ala groaned. "And where's the other one? Messing up my room?!"
Niki and Reign grinned and both pointed over to where Shito was finishing cleaning up (as much as babily possible) the stack of books.
"Oh." Alaqua commented.
"I was just telling Reign that I'm gonna get you two some locks, or you'll have this duo in there messing up and then cleaning up your rooms all of the time." Niki informed the D-corp child.
Ala nodded at the sense that that made. "Well, at least both of them aren't messing everything up..."
Niki and Reign nodded. Aiden squirmed in his mother's arms. Niki jiggled the boy, then looked at her daughters. "Okay, ready for a trip to the hardware store? Otherwise, this little guy's gonna mess your rooms up until then."
Ala and Reign nodded, the chimp girl adding, "I'll grab Shito." And the family headed off to get some locks for doors.
A few hours later, the five returned with several locks. "If you two can keep them occupied for a few moments, I'll get these put up," Niki told her daughters. The two girls nodded and each took a twin and headed to the living room to keep the boys busy.
Niki meanwhile put the locks on the inside and outside of her own bedroom door and the girls' bedroom doors. Her office door was already installed with locks (both inside and outside), so the three for the bedrooms had been all that were needed.
"I'm done, girls!" Niki shouted, picking up the tools and unlocking the stairway to the basement. Now, just about every room had locks on the doors. As she locked the door behind her and started down the stairs, she heard both girls go into their rooms and close the door.
The woman put the tools away, quietly so as to not disturb what lived in the basement, and headed back upstairs. She locked the door, hearing pattering feet behind her. Smiling, she turned, looking for either girl to be walking behind her. But, her eyes fell upon no one... until she looked lower and spotted Aiden walking on down the hallway, probably off to make another mess.
In shock, Niki then ran to the living room where Shito was walking about as well, still cleaning. The typical mother, Niki groaned. 'I missed their first steps?!?'
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Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:32 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 10:28 pm
Potty training
Niki sighed as Aiden spun a good portion of the roll of toilet paper onto the floor. "Aiden... you're supposed to be peepeeing in the potty. Not playing..." This was one thing that the woman had luckily missed with both of her kids. Diapers... and diapers eventually led to potty training. Though the boys were a bit old to be starting, for Niki hadn't done it before and didn't realize how soon she needed to start.
And it was a nightmare. Niki had heard that boys were harder to potty train than girls... and the woman was beginning to wonder how any male got potty trained. Even the bribe of candy for going in the potty wasn't motivating the boys very much.
"C'mon Aiden... you get candy if you peepee in the potty.." To prove that point, Niki fished out a candy from her pocket. "See?" She jerked it back quickly as Aiden grabbed for the treat. "No. Only if you go in the potty."
Figuring out that he wasn't getting the candy easily, Aiden bolted from the bathroom, somehow managing to run even with his pants and pull-up around his ankles. The mother sighed as she got up from where she was kneeling on the floor.
"Gotcha!" Reign cried as she grabbed the fleeing god of Chaos. The chimp girl pulled up his pants, glancing at her mother. "No luck?" She frowned when Niki shook her head and sighed. "Aiden... you need to learn how to use the potty..."
Aiden squirmed, definately unhappy with how this was going. His mother had bought all these books for kids about potty training. He didn't like it one bit. "No!" He managed to free himself from his older sister and ran off.
Niki sighed. "Shito... your turn..." She said, spotting the quieter boy peering down the hallway to see what his brother was yelling about. They'd had a bit more luck with Shito, though he was far from being potty trained.
The blond haired boy toddled down the hallway to where his mom was waiting. He took her hand as she led him into the bathroom and got him situated. At least Shito would just sit there calmly, even if he wasn't actually going. Aiden squirmed constantly.
The mother was rewarded with the sound of Shito successfully using the toilet. She smiled at the boy, who grinned back happily. "Yay, Shito!" She helped him down and gave him some help as he struggled to get his pants and pull-up back up.
"Flush." She reminded him, pointing at the handle. The boy toddled over and pulled on the shiny handle, watching as water swirled into the bowl. "Let's wash our hands." At his mother's statement, Shito looked up and hurried over to the little stepladder than had been put up in front of the sink to help the boys reach it to wash their hands afterwards.
Niki put soap on Shito's hands and turned on the water. She washed her own hands with the boy and dried them, handing the towel to the young child as she turned the water off. "And you get a piece of candy for peepeeing in the potty!" Niki happily stated, handing the boy his treat once he was down from the stepladder.
Shito grinned and happily shoved the candy into his mouth before toddling off down the hallway. Niki sighed and hung the towel back up. Reign was waiting just outside the door. "Well, at least one of them seems to be making some progress," Reign said, hoping to cheer her mother up some. Niki nodded, wishing that they had come potty trained like her girls.
At that moment, Aiden walked up to his mother. "Wet." He stated with a frown. Niki nearly smacked herself on the forehead. 'Oiy...'
"You're pull-up's wet?" Niki asked, getting a nod from the boy. She sighed. "Okay... let's get you a dry one. But you need to tell us so you can go in the potty instead of in your pull-up."
Aiden frowned. "Wet." He repeated.
Niki just sighed. This was not going to be easy....
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Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 1:05 pm
Journal Entry: 2/22/07
She dyed her hair! I can't believe Ala did that, even after I'd told her quite some time ago that I don't approve of dying your hair. And she got it cut so short! It's even spiked! Agh! I don't know what to do with her anymore. She's got such a temper. She talks back and doesn't do what I ask her to do. Reign was nowhere near this difficult when she was Ala's age.
And as if an angsty teen wasn't enough, the twins are potty training. Yeah, that's a nightmare and a half. Aiden hardly ever goes, though he knows when he's wet and needs to be changed. I think he might be doing it to spite me.... Shito's actually making some progress. I might have to find a different bribe other than candy. It's motivating some, but they need something more drastic, I feel.
At least Reign's helping out around the house a lot. She helps with the twins and fixing meals. I know she's growing up so fast and all. I'm afraid I'm just going to turn around and she'll be gone. Moved out and on her own. Maybe even married! I don't know what I'll do without her... This house will feel different when she does leave. Which I hope is not soon...
The troublesome five still haven't improved in behavior any. They get set outside almost every day. I'm thinking of making it permanent until they can behave themselves inside. It actually sounds very, very tempting...
And, oh man! Bob... or whatever he's requesting us to call him now (I think he's mad at us all because we won't call him anything other than Bob), is growing so big! He may have to start living outside as well soon. And his growing larger means he eats more. I'm gonna have to constantly buy out the meat section at the local grocery store at this rate.
-Nikiana Reia Ledell
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:18 pm
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring... Banana Cell phone!
After that incident with Alan, Niki finally gave in and announced to Ala and Reign that they were all going to go get cell phones. The girls had been thrilled. So, after getting the boys dressed and ready for a trip, they headed out, strapping the twins into their car seats. Bob had to stay behind due to the fact that he was getting too large to fit in the back of the jeep without the seats done now.
The family drove to a nearby cellular phone store. Niki carried one twin in while Reign carried in the other. Once inside, the group browsed about until (as was inevitable) a salesperson cheerfully greeted them. Niki handed Aiden off to Ala and told the girls to keep looking at the various phones before turning to the salesperson. "Yes, I'm looking to buy a plan and three phones..."
"Ah, okay then! Come right this way and I'll show you some of our excellent plans..."
Niki didn't budge. "I don't want texting. I don't want pictures. I don't want internet. I just want a simple plan with a lot of minutes." With two teenage girls on it, she'd need that many minutes. "And with the thing where it won't charge us minutes to talk to each other or our home line. And possibly that thing where you can have some friends that you can call without it charging minutes as well. And if we have that, we might not need that many minutes, though that thing where unused minutes are carried over would be nice as well..." Ever the scientist, the woman had done her research before coming to this decision.
The salesperson didn't seem to know what to say. They were taught to try and get the person to buy as many things as they could con them into. "Uh..."
"So how much would a plan like that cost me?" Niki demanded.
"I'll... go check in the computer." The salesperson meekly replied and went off to do just that.
"Hey, Mom!" Ala waved her mother over to the display she was looking at. The woman walked over to where her daughter was pointing to a green phone. "Look. It can play mp3s and it has a camera... Plus it's green!"
"Mom! Look here!" Reign was calling Niki over to another display. "It's pink! And it has a camera! Plus it's really thin."
Nikiana sighed. There were just all kinds of phones out there these days. She noticed the salesperson heading in her direction and walked over to shorten the walk. "So.. how much?"
"Well, you'll have to sign a two year contract, plus there's the cost of the phones, but the plan will only cost you $69.95 a month."
Niki stared at the salesrep. "You did leave out texting and messaging and pictures, right?" She got a nod. "And how many minutes do I get?"
"You get 750 minutes a month, but you've also got the-" The salesperson rambled on, listing the things that Niki had asked for to begin with.
"So how much are these phones gonna cost me?"
"Well, it depends on the phone..."
Niki pointed at Reign and then Ala. "They've got some picked out." She followed the salesperson as he looked at the phones the two girls had selected.
"Well, we're running a special on the pink one where you get it for free with a two year contract, but the green one will cost you $150."
Niki sighed. "Does the pink one come in any other color?" While she didn't care what her phone could do, she really didn't want a pink one. But, it was free...
"Yes, it comes in black and silver..."
"And they have the same deal on them?"
"Yes."
"Okay, then. Give me a pink one, a black one, that green one, and that deal we were talking about with all that stuff."
The salesman looked relieved and went to fetch boxes for the phones. "Just go over to that computer over there. I'll be with you in a moment." He told the group.
After rounding up everything, the man spent some time showing the girls and Niki how to use their phones and some of the features of each. He also told them how to put phone numbers into their phone book and how to change their ringtone. Then, he wrote down the numbers for the phones and handed Nikiana the paperwork to sign. With a sigh, she put her signature in the required places and handed over her credit card to get it all paid for. Well, she supposed it was worth it in the end. Especially since Ala and Reign were both thrilled to be getting phones and now she'd be able to contact them whenever she needed to and they could call her if their classes got out early. Or if she fell asleep at someone's house again.
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:04 pm
Journal Entry: 03/09/07
Though all of my kids grow much faster than is normal, I felt it appropriate to throw a birthday party for the twins. I knew better than to have it at home. There was no way I was going to do all of that work and have to clean up afterwards. There were places that you could pay to do all of that for you!
And so, that was how we ended up with a party at Rick E. Rat's. Reign and Ala were even excited. After all, there was cake and arcade games. Though the girls were a bit big for the large play tunnels and the ball pit. Aiden and Shito, however, could have all kinds of fun in there while the girls played the video games.
We sat at one of the tables, watching as the workers paraded over to put paper hats on the boys and place a cake on the table while singing the birthday song. Aiden spotted the cake and promptly slapped it with both hands, covering everyone nearby in cake and icing. I started to scold him, but was interrupted by the place's character dancing out in costume.
Which caused both twins to scream and hide under the table while 'Rick E. Rat' danced and sang songs. Ala was not impressed and was rather anxious to get going to the arcade section and play some games instead of watching a person in a dancing rat costume try to entertain her brothers. Reign stayed long enough to help me clean up Shito (who was starting to fuss at his clothes being messed up) and Aiden (who didn't want to be cleaned) before she joined her sister.
I dropped the boys off at the ball pen and tried to enjoy a few moments to myself, though I couldn't help but feel sorry for the workers who had to clean up after my kids. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.
All in all, it went okay. I'm just glad that the boys have improved drastically on potty training. Shito hardly ever has an accident anymore and has moved up to wearing underwear. And he's rather proud of that. Aiden is still in pull-ups, but he's making progress. At least he's trying now. Shito still wears a pull-up at night, but one step at a time, I say.
Reign's grown up so much now. I'm afraid that she's thinking of moving out soon. Not that I blame her. I sometimes want to move out of my own home...
Ala's still in trouble from dying her hair. Why must she be so difficult?
-Nikiana Reia Ledell
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:42 pm
Pets!
Nikiana was tired. She'd been searching toy stores and children's stores all day to find something that would be able to amuse the twins for more than ten minutes. They were so different in personality that finding anything proved difficult. She could think of a thousand things that could work for Shito, the calmer and quieter twin, but could never find anything for Aiden. And she wasn't even sure if most of the stuff she'd seen would even keep Shito occupied for long.
Now at home and before she had said she'd go pick the kids up from Tara's house, Niki had an idea. She had to search for a while to find the number of the ship she'd awoke upon, but find it she did. And she quickly punched in the numbers. Maybe they had some toys or something from the boys' home planet that could keep them occupied?
Rouge Remika picked up the phone. "Allo?"
"Yes, this is Nikiana Ledell. I'm the guardian of twins Aiden and Shito... And, well, I was wondering if perhaps you had some, or knew of some place where I could buy some toys that keep the boys a little more occupied? They get bored with everything I get them too easily..." Niki hoped she didn't sound too stupid. Or crazy. Or... well, anything.
Rouge thought for a moment. "Well I don't know. I don't think there were any specific TOYS that were popular with Tison godlets though there is one thing that may amuse Shito immensely that Aiden can't break. But it's kind of...complicated to explain. You'd have to see it."
Niki's hopes fell at the first part of Rouge's statement, then she wondered what this thing could be. "Would it amuse Aiden as well...?" That was her major problem right there. That boy had the attention span of a goldfish. And probably the memory of one as well.
"I don't know. We'llh ave to see. I can transport you up to show you the one thign and you can look around for stuff that would work. Maybe another staff member wouldk now"
A quick glance at her watch and then Niki was replying. "Okay, sure. Sounds good to me." She just hoped she wouldn't have to die again to end up on the ship like she had last time. She really hoped...
A quick flash and Niki was standing before Rouge on the ship. "yes this time you're getting transported not dumped here. Come with me and I'll show you them."
Niki blinked at the quick transfer. Well, it was definately better than having to die again. She gave a small smile to Rouge and started off after the woman, curious as to what this thing could be.
Rouge took her to a strange room. Inside of it was a strange sight. The room was a nusery of some kind but there were strange chibi like creatures. Every animal imaginable and they were chibified and cuted with tiny wings and they floated.
"These I call cuddlies. They'er weird as heck. They don't feel pain, they don't die, they don't produce waste-karyn says that's got something to do with how they are immune to pain-they're completely tidy and they bounce around and are snuggly. They eat and on occasion make sounds but that's about it. They don't grow and are like the perfect toy."
What wierd things. That was what was running through Niki's head as she glanced around the room. But Rouge had been right on one thing. Shito would love one of these. And if it didn't feel pain, then Aiden wouldn't be able to break it. And no messes to clean up after, though with Shito, she wouldn't have to worry about that so much. "Hmm... You're right. Shito would love these things..." But Aiden wouldn't want something like this and he'd be mad if his brother got something and he didn't.
"Well we can pick one out for him later. Let's go talk to the crew about something that'd be good for Shito. Steve is great with knowing what kind of stuff little chaotic boys like-mainly cause his was one."
"Okay." Niki had her doubts that this Steve was more chaotic than Aiden (the boy lived for chaos), but maybe he would've given the young god a run for his money. If Tisons even used money. Niki gave a soft sigh. How little of their culture she knew.
Steve was in the park area with a large wolf like creature. It had two tails and large ears and every time Steve tried to get away the wolf thing caught him. Turning he looked up at them. "Lo yall. What's up?"
Niki gave the man a smile, more at the fact that the creature with him wasn't allowing him to escape. She recognized the man from her adventure to the mall when the twins had been younger. "Hello. I was just trying to find something to keep Aiden amused..."
"He's the messy one right?"
Niki chuckled. "Understatement of the century... but yes. Aiden's the messy one."
"Well I can't think of any toys a chaos baby would do well with. Hell they couldn't find any for me when I was little. They had to get me shane here as a last resort. Fang Puppies can keep up with any kid and they sense danger and trouble and can keep you out of it." he said, leaning down to pat the large wolf.
Niki eyed the wolf for a long moment. Not exactly what would be at the top of her list for ideal thing to get Aiden. But... if it worked... and especially if it would keep him out of trouble.... "I... don't suppose you'd know if there were any more of these around, would you?"
"You are in luck cause I do. Shane is a daddy to a litter of pups. They were just recently weened and should be perfect for the taking now." he said, motioning with his hand. As he spoke the wolf walked towards a catacomb in the caves in the room. Out he brought a large pup by the scruff of it's neck-the pick of the litter obviously.
Very lucky, it seemed. She watched as the large wolf disappeared off into a cave, returning after a moment with a large pup in his jaws. Niki bent and gently picked up the pup, looking it over for a moment. "I don't suppose I'd be as lucky as with the cuddly thing and it not poop...?" Why did she have a feeling the answer was no?
"Not really but the pups were housetrained young."
Niki sighed. "An improvement upon the twins themselves, at least." So the population of her household was increasing once again, it seemed. "Hmm... well, if they work as well as you say... I suppose I'll take," she quickly peeked, "him." And now came the awkward part. Would the pup cost anything to her? Granted, she'd been expecting to have to buy some toys, but a pup could cost considerably more than any toy. She just hoped it'd be worth it in the long run.
"Probably not I don't believe. Tan Pan wants the pups gone soon anyway." Steve said. Rouge smiled. "Come on let's pick out a cuddly now."
The woman smiled at Steve. "Thank you." She nodded at Rouge. "Okay. Though I'm sure as long as it's not pink, Shito will love it." She grinned. The blond boy was amusing. It was his brother that could get onto her last nerve...
In the other room there were plenty of not pink cuddlies. Including a rather interestingly shaded blue pig. It was very shiny and about the size for Shito to cuddle and it was cool.
Niki held the Fang pup in her arms as she slowly walked about the room of cuddlies, wondering just which one Shito would love. There were so many interesting ones... and then, a really pretty blue colored pig caught her attention. Hey, she liked blue. And so, that was how she picked out the cuddly for Shito, making her way over to where the pig floated about. "This one looks interesting," she remarked to Rouge. "I think he'd like it."
"Okie then. You can take the two of them and we can send you right back home."
"Alright." Niki shifted the pup in her arms a bit and reached out to snag the pig from midair. Well, that brought a new definition to 'when pigs fly'. Now with both pets in her arms, Niki made her way over to the other woman, eager to get home and show the boys their pets.
Quickly as she was ported there she was home.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:20 pm
Power up!
The twins have grown older once again and now are gaining control over their powers. Aiden's power is the power to cause enclosed chaos on something to destroy it and Shito's power increases the order of something to handle a highly chaotic situation. What kind of mischief do they get into?
Nikiana sighed as she laid on the couch. The house was relatively silent. Reign and Ala were off at classes and the twins now had their pets to help keep them amused. She was glad that she had given in to getting the things. Shito loved his little pig-cuddly thing. And the wolf-like thing certainly kept Aiden amused. And with the weather nicer, she could shoo the boys outside to play quite a bit. It helped keep the house a bit cleaner.
But now, the boys were down for their naps. She was just sad that they'd soon be outgrowing the nap stage. The two had enough energy the way it was. She enjoyed these few hours of peace in the afternoons. In fact, Niki started to drift off to sleep as well...
Aiden, however, was not one for taking naps. He frowned upon discovering that Fang had drifted off to sleep and decided to go play without the wolf-like creature. Besides, now he could try to play in his sisters' rooms. Fang seemed to know that the boy wasn't supposed to be attempting to get into them, so he always messed things up.
The boy peeked out into the hallway to see if his mother was around. Nope, he didn't spot her. Aiden toddled over to Reign's door and slapped it with his hands. He frowned as nothing happened, other than a loud sound. And that sound might attract his mom's attention. With a frown upon his face, Aiden shoved at the door several times. One more shove... and the boy was falling into his sister's room as the door swung open abruptly.
Aiden blinked. He'd fallen into pink heaven. He glanced around the room for a few moments before giggling happily and racing off to find what Reign found too 'grown-up' to let him play with. The boy happily jumped into the pile of pillows and scattered all of the stuffed animals. He found a dress on the floor and looked it over before darting over to the closet to pull all of the clothes off their hangers and pretend to be dressing up in them like his sister.
He found one dress he liked and actually put it on before wandering over to Reign's dresser. He peered through the drawers, finding an odd thing that Reign had several of, but he'd never seen her wear. Maybe it was some odd hat? The boy put the bra on his head. And it even had a chin strap. So it was a hat! Glancing in the mirror, he giggled as he now had two bit cones poking up from the top of his head.
That was when the young god of chaos discovered the makeup. Grinning, the boy played around with the different things to make himself look "Bootiful!" as he declared himself to be upon looking into the mirror again. Now that he'd had fun in Reign's room, it was time to play in Ala's. The boy wandered over across the hall and pushed on the door, expecting it to open easily.
The door resisted and the youngster frowned and pushed again, grinning happily as it opened this time around. The boy looked around his other sister's room. It wasn't nearly as fun looking as Reign's had been. Aiden jumped into Bob's nest, picking up a stick to play around for a bit. Then his eyes fell upon an interesting bottle.
The god of chaos quickly darted across the room. Ah, this was the stuff that made his sister's hair turn funny colors! Grinning happily, the boy took off his 'hat' and squirted the bottle's contents into his hair. He replaced the bra upon his head and wandered off to look in his mother's room, seeing how that was the only thing worth any interest at all in Alaqua's room.
This time, the boy was lucky and the door opened the first time, which surprised him this time around. But, he was soon over that and browsing about Niki's room. He found some high heeled shoes buried deep in his mother's closet and put them on to match his dress. He saw that his mom had more of the hats that Reign had. But he didn't recall spotting any in Ala's room. Oh well, maybe she didn't like the hats. He wasn't even sure if his mom and Reign did. He still couldn't remember them ever wearing them.
Niki's jewelry box caught the boy's eye and Aiden scurried over to it. He put on some of the necklaces. Grinning at his reflection, the boy puzzled over the small thing he'd picked up. Oh, yes. He remembered seeing these in his mother's ear. He poked it at his own ear, then frowned. It wasn't easy to get it to stick. Maybe he had to push harder?
Nikiana suddenly awoke to a scream. "OOOOOWWIEEEE!!! MOOOOOOMMMMYYYY!!!" She recognized Aiden's voice and jumped, half-falling off the couch as she tried to run towards the boy. She ran past her room before realizing that the boy was in there. How had he-
Niki's questioning thought was interrupted at the sight that met her eyes. There, in the middle of her bedroom, stood Aiden with one of Reign's dresses on, with what appeared to be most of the chimp girl's makeup on his face, one of her daughter's bras upon his head, green hair dye in his hair, a pair of her old shoes on, some of her necklaces draped about his neck, and a bloody ear. The woman just stood there in shock.
Aroused by his brother's scream, Shito stumbled sleepily down the hallway. "Mommy?" He querried, spotting the woman standing in the doorway to her bedroom.
That seemed to spark Niki back to life. "Aiden! What happened?!" She knelt beside the boy. She spotted an earring in the boy's bloody fingers. "C'mon. Let's fix your ear before it ruins Reign's dress..." She sighed at the fact that the hair dye had ruined one of the chimp girl's bras. Well, it wasn't like Reign didn't have a lot of them...
The trio moved to the kitchen, where Aiden sat, holding an icepack to his ear while his mother removed the last of his sisters' items from him. She seperated the belongings into three piles, wondering how the boy'd gotten into all three locked rooms. She knew she'd locked her own room that morning. And for all three women, it was second nature to lock their rooms now. And the boy couldn't reach the locks; he was too short. Sighing, the woman knew she'd have to look at them later. She just hoped he hadn't broken them. Because then she'd have to get new locks. But she'd better instill it upon the boys that they weren't to enter anyone else's room...
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