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 Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:17 am
__Part 1
"Leo, let's GO."
"But-"
"No buts. Move it. Or I swear, I'm going to tie you up with twine, stuff you in a garbage bag and bury you beside the interstate."
"You always say that, Nati. You're mean."
It was a typical morning. Natalia was rushing around like a madwoman, trying to get ready. Leonora was sitting, reading a well-aged comic book and eating her cereal at a painfully leisurely pace.
"Leo, if you're not out of that chair and into your uniform in three seconds-"
"I know, I know. Interstate. Gawd."
Nat flicked her tail in annoyance as her little sister ambled up the stairs to her room, and flinched at the crashing sounds that resulted. The child couldn't do anything quietly. Not even dressing.
"Why is my window glued shut?" the horrified cry came from upstairs. Nat smiled in vindication.
"To prevent any more escapes like the one you were certainly just planning," she called back. There was no response besides a muffled angry shriek.
---
By the time the siblings had finally left the house and were on their way to work and school, both were in a temper. For Natalia to be moody was hardly something new, but it still managed to put a damper on the walk.
"Nati," Leo said eventually, dragging her headphones off her ears. She hated the awkward silences that so often spawned between her and her sister. She grasped at straws for something to say as Natalia looked down at her.
"What?"
"If a frog and a toad had babies, what would it be called?"
Nat arched a brow.
"Um....hmm. Trogs?"
"I think that's a bad word."
"Oh. Uh....sorry, Leo. I dunno."
Leonora gave an overdramatic sigh, secretly pleased she'd gotten her sister to stop scowling like she was trying to kill bystanders with her eyes. The mood remained cautiously light as they arrived at Genevieve's.
"Can't I stay and help in the kitchen, Nati?" Leo asked plaintively, expression begging. She even wagged her tail for extra effect.
"No, Leo."
"But I'm good at cooking!"
"You can't even boil water without getting distracted, running off and leaving something to explode."
"Only that one time."
"The lady, she makes her point. Go to school, Leo. I'll pick you up this afternoon."
Leo gave a low whine like a wounded puppy, tail drooping and ears lying flat against her head. Natalia gave her an impatient look, nudging her in the rump with her boot and making her sister squeak.
"School. Now."
"Fine, m'going, m'going...."
Natalia waved her sister off, hefting her bag back onto her shoulder as she kicked the restaurant door open and went inside, shoving a too-slow busboy out of the way as she entered.
Leonora went five minutes into walking towards school before turning abruptly on her heel and heading back towards Genevieve's, whistling innocently. School technically didn't start for another hour. And what fun was there to be found in a school playground she'd long ago explored every inch of? After all, the kitchen at Genevieve's was much more interesting, especially with the delicious risk of getting caught. She sneaked into the restaurant stealthily, tail wagging as she ducked into the kitchen and towards the vegetable garden out back.
"Allie, get me the eggs. Allie. ALLIE. EGGS. NOW."
Leo froze, throwing herself behind an oversized mixer in a panic. Natalia. Anyone but Natalia. If she caught Leo skulking around here....Leo became very conscious of the number of sharp objects her sister had access to.
Don't find me don't find me don't find me, she repeated, mantra-like, as she spotted her sister moodily donning an apron and washing her hands in the large steel sink. Natalia, in some swoop of universal mercy, was too busy scowling at the bar of splintery yellow soap in her hands like it had spit in her eye to notice a skinny girl squatting behind a mixer, and soon disappeared still shouting for eggs. Leo gave a quick sigh of relief and edged out from behind the thing, retaking her route to the garden. It wasn't a favored spot, but there was an excellent old gnarled pear tree that provided a ladder to the roof of Genevieve's, and opened a pathway to entire boardwalk rooftops.
Slinking past the creaky screen door in utter stealth, Leo allowed herself a moment's pride in her sneakiness before wandering through the large garden. Plants, bushes and trim little trees lined the cracked brick walkways, and more than once Leo stopped to sniff investigatively at a flower or poke at a tender sprout. She'd nearly made it to the pear tree by taking a shortcut through the spice garden when she heard a tiny squalling sound.
"Huh?"
At first thinking it was an injured animal, Leo looked around, ears swiveling to find the source of the soft noise. It came again, and Leo trudged unthinking through the plants, crushing them underfoot and causing scents, sweet, pungent and sharp, to rise into the air.
"Somebody there?" she called. The little sound came again, its tone just as curious as Leo's. "Hell-oooooo...."
Leo, head swiveling left to right but not looking down, stepped on something soft and definitively squishy. It yelped, and so did she, losing her footing and falling face-first into a wildly tangled lavender bush. The scent filled her nostrils and she coughed at the strength of it, pinching her nostrils shut and trying valiantly not to sneeze.
"What did I just step in?" she muttered to herself, looking around, rubbing her watering eyes. A moment later she spotted it, and her jaw dropped.
An infant blinked serenely, fingers in its mouth and drooling slightly. It bore a muddy footprint on its belly but didn't seem to mind it too much.
"Bdah?" it asked quietly.
Leo blanched.
"NAAAAAAAAAATIIIIIIIIII!"
The screen door flew open, and Natalia stumbled out, tripping and falling and rolling through the dirt to get up again. She looked terrified at the scream she knew was her sister's, and furious at the same time for the exact same reason.
"Leonora Allegra, what in the flying ******** are you doing here!" she shrieked, ignoring the other kitchen employees spilling into the garden to gawk.
Leo clumsily lifted up the baby and exhibited it to her sister.
"I found a baby."
Natalia's eyes widened.
"Vuh!" the baby said.
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Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:25 am
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:16 am
__Part 3
It seemed to Natalia that the universe was hellbent on annoying her today. Her sister and the new......infant....aside, it seemed to her that everyone and everything was going out of their way to be beastly to her in their own special way.
The latest annoyance happened to be an overcrowded sidewalk packed with people she would have loved to shove into traffic.
"Move, you ******** imbeciles," she muttered, elbowing and weaving in a growing state of pure nasty irritation.
Dorian was one of the crowd, moving at its pleasantly leisurely pace and keeping his eyes trained to the pavement. There was nothing particularly depressing about today, but Hell, since when did he need a reason? The man shuffled along, trying to ignore the dull ache in his twisted right ankle.
Having successfully dodged a pregnant woman, a panhandler, and what she assumed was some kind of roving Jehova's Witness spreading the word, Natalia swallowed a growl as she found herself stuck behind a cripple. ******** perfect. She didn't have the patience for this. She pushed a girl clear off the sidewalk to make room for herself, and shoved the cripple aside.
"Get a ******** wheelchair and go roll off a cliff," she said, tail lashing as she strode ahead.
Dorian had the sudden fear that something was going to break.
Mercifully, nothing did.
It was because he was not painfully cracked and/or bleeding that the man grabbed the rude young woman by the shoulder and spun her about.
"What the ******** do you think you're doing?! You could have killed me!"
Natalia made an audible sound of digust at being touched, and grabbed the man's wrist harshly.
"You seem to be laboring under the impression that I give a flying ********," she said, ears laying flat against her skull. "Let me assure you to the contrary."
Releasing the man's wrist and snorting loudly, she hocked a wad of spit onto the ground between them and turned around again, tail wagging ********!" Dorian nearly shrieked and grabbed his now-broken wrist. He rushed to the girl again and stuck a foot out in front of her. People gasped in shock.
"You little b***h. What do you think you're doing?!"
Women were ******** now, weren't they?
Natalia stumbled, paused to collect herself, and grinned at the man. Her teeth were all disturbingly pointed and serrated.
"My my my, you almost offended my delicate constitution," she said in a feigned sweet voice, grabbing him by the collar. Her other arm drew back and her hand idly curled into a fist. "My stars, if just a silly lil' pluck at the wrist snapped you, I wonder what punching your face in would do!"
Well, clearly it'd shatter like glass. Not that he'd mind much. A cynical grin crawled up his lips.
"You know very well," he said simply, "but all these fine people watching would know you as the chick that beat the crip. That wouldn't go over so well in court." His eyes slowly began to grow brown. Strange...
"Like I even give a ********," Natalia said spitefully. "Walking meat. Give me a break."
Pushing him away and wishing he would trip and smash his head open, she noticed the shift in eye color and arched a brow.
"Oh, wow. You're gonna shift into a big scary monster and teach the big bad barghest a lesson," she said in a deadly bored monotone. "Oh. I'm scared. Someone hold me."
She turned away, yawning.
"When I think you're a threat I'll consider being worried."
Between the time the girl had to look away and yawn, there was no longer some poor cripple in her arms. Instead, a large, fluffy thing.
A bear, even.
On two feet.
Dorian often forgot about this ability. When his life was being threatened, however, he thanked his dear Daddy for being such a freak of nature. He raised a paw approximately the size of a human head as if to smack this little wench across the face.
Natalia heard someone gasp and turned in vague curiosity.
"Hey. A bear."
A thin smile curled on Nat's lips and her eyes shone with delight at the man's transformation.
Mmm. Bear meat.
Lips pulled back to reveal a mouthful of sharp teeth, and Natalia leaned into the blow, barely caring if she got hurt as she clamped down on the first bit of flesh she could reach.
Dorian's lips curled back into what would probably be a smile, had he still had lips. He smacked the woman hard with the raised paw and bodyslammed her, liable to send anyone in their immediate area sprawling to the ground. He barely even noticed the teeth in his flesh.
People started screaming then.
Even as she felt pain rip through her body and she gave a yelp of pain, Natalia sprang back and clamped back on, teeth widening the hole she'd made and fingers awkwardly rooting through flesh and hunting for bone. Bear marrow tasted delicious, and damn it all she wanted to get a snack out of this irritating ordeal.
Now this b***h was just getting irritating. Dorian gave another frustrated roar and threw himself to the ground, toppling atop the girl and snorting from the impact. He rose to all fours, then, and forcefully pressed his front paws down onto the b***h's shoulders.
He leaned in and bit down hard on a shoulder, grinning all the while.
The air was crushed out of Natalia's lungs and she realized with flighty panic she couldn't inhale to replenish it. This stupid cockfaced glassboned cripple was going to kill her.
Well, ******** that.
She gave an overdramatic scream as she felt teeth digging into her shoulder, thrashing wildly and causing her body to skid under the bear's jaws, making the wound deeper and longer. Just a little closer....
"Nnnngh!"
Tears ran over Nat's face as she thrashed again, getting her face closer to the bear's jaws. Huh. b*****d really needed a damn breath mint. Stretching her jaws as far as they would open, Natalia crashed her head against the bear's and clamped down onto his slavering lip, biting down and yanking her head back. She gave a whine like a disappointed puppy as flesh stretched out horridly but didn't break off.
Dorian gave a deep, rumbling growl and shook his head, ears folding back.
That's it. Game over. No more of this s**t.
He reared back as far as possible and seemed to hover there for a moment before he came crashing down, front paws aimed rather directly at the little whore's chest. He grinned at the resounding cracking and suddenly was humanoid once more, hands still pressed against flesh.
"Welcome to my world, b***h," he grinned through bloodied lips.
Natalia gave a shriek, teeth clenching and hands clawing at the ground. Hurt. Hurt. Ribs broken. All of them? No...no...more than enough, though. She could barely breathe. And the guy was on her still....oh, c'mon. Delivering snappy one liners. Good lord.
"That's....really....pathetic," she panted, cradling her mashed chest with arm. "You could....go in...for the perfect...kill....and you're...nngh...acting...like you're the big hero. How....cockminded of you."
She reached up and grabbed at the side of his head, hands twisting in his pretty blonde wavy hair and pulling his head down closer.
"Woof," she said then, smiling with effort. Her face shifted into something horrible and with a scream of pain she hoisted herself up and buried her teeth into flesh, chewing and tearing like a dog worrying a favorite bone.
Dorian laughed.
"I'm no murderer. I don't believe in murder," he said simply and yanked away, quickly clapping his hand to his spurting, destroyed neck and ignoring the pain in his scalp.
"You should probably go to the hospital. Who knows how much is broken." He spat out a bit of blood, pulled a cellphone from his pocket, and idly called speed dial 1.
Oh, yes. They knew him by name.
He spoke briefly and hung up.
"You gonna live?" He perched on a guard rail, pulling his hand away as various flesh wounds slowly began to close.
Natalia swallowed a bit of flesh, smacking her lips. At least the blood tasted pleasant.
"Too stringy...you'd taste better...cooked," she said, voice disappointed. She coughed, ignoring a terrible sharp pain in her abdomen. "Hospital? Heh....too....crowded. Dead...everywhere. They never...stop....bitching."
Despite the pain racking her body, Natalia was smiling. It had been a while since she'd been in a good fight, even if she had lost it to the little bitchcock.
"I had worse...than you," she said. "He almost...choked me to death. Left me...for dead. I...liked him..."
Dorian blinked. He? The little wench had a boy toy at some point. Dorian laughed harder.
"Fine, fine. Die on the street, darling. Lose a lung. See if I care." He perked slightly at the sound of sirens in the distance.
"You sure, though? I mean, hey, they'll be pretty disappointed if all they find is me."
No matter how much of a ******** this chick was, he felt some kind of compassion. Granted, it was only because he didn't want to have to live with the fact that he'd killed someone.
Natalia heaved herself up, clutching at the wall for support.
"Darling...I never needed....help...from fightmates," she said pleasantly as blood ran in a rope from her lip. "Especially...not one...who's got....a kid hanging 'round him....not a nice...example for the tot..."
She could smell the scent of (ucch) child around him. Hmm. Must have a kid back home, since it wasn't toddling around in view cheering its daddy on.
"I got....my own ways of....patching up," she said, grinning with bloodstained teeth. "I hope...I get to run into you...again. That was...heh...fun."
Dorian's brow furrowed. His reasonably pleasant attitude suddenly turned sour again. He glared.
"You will not speak of my child, whore," he said suddenly, English awkwardly proper. He stood and jammed a foot into the girl's wounded ribs, pinning her against the wall again. He dropped it soon after, though, knowing full well she could easily break it.
Unable to stifle a distinctly loud 'OUCH', Natalia swallowed a bit of blood that had been forced into her mouth. She was briefly tempted to grab onto his arm and wrench it out of its socket - it was always funny to watch them wave around like overcooked noodles - but nixed the idea. Meh.
"Mm," she replied, spitting out a good splatter of blood and running her tongue over her lips. "Well...then."
Obviously a sore spot. She didn't exactly see the big deal with her mentioning it, but hey. Whatever.
"You...could come up with...a better curse than...'whore', though," she said, mouth twisting. "Try...to actually...offend me. Jeez."
In a rather uncharacteristic gesture, Dorian reeled back, made a rather disgusting grunting sound, and hocked a wad of phlegm into the girl's ******** you."
Awkwardly wiping the spit off, the blooming loathing on Natalia's face marked her approval.
"I suppose...that'll have...to do," she said, straightening as much as possible and striking an arm out, violently twisting his ear in cold curiosity to see if she could make it part company with his head.
"NNGH!" Dorian mumbled in surprise. It was only a momentary emotion, however, that quickly morphed back into utter loathing. That's it. THAT'S IT.
He opened his mouth unnaturally wide and screamed shrilly. No, not screamed...shrieked...and rather inhumamly at that. After all, what were Sirens for? Seduction and deafening. A few people clamped hands over their ears. The smart ones, them.
The rest gasped in horror when they found themselves temporarily deaf and bleeding cranially.
Nat's ears flattened against her skull in futility, and she marveled grudgingly at the blood starting to pour out of them. It hurt. Terribly.
She pulled on his ear harder, wondering what his cartilage would taste like.
Well, at least she was bleeding.
In moments, various paramedics were upon Dorian and the b***h, tearing them apart from each other as carefully as possible, one cupping a hand over Dorian's ear and scolding him on how desperately he needed to not fight people for...something about brittle bones. Who knew?
At the moment, he was simply glaring as he was torn away.
Panting, swooning from the pain and grinning like a skull, Natalia snapped her teeth at the nearest ********," she said. "You think...I'll let....food....help me? Ha..."
She turned her back on the lot of them, a tuft of wavy hair entwined in her fingers. She glanced over her shoulder, the skull-grin widening.
Dorian huffed and allowed the men to pile him into the ambulance, as if he was the one that had just been mauled by a bear. Such was the life of a crip, but hey.
A paramedic approached, eyed the hair in the woman's hand. Sweet Jesus...
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:31 am
___Part 4
By the time she made it to Cyrus's doorstep, Natalia was certain she was close to death. The little ******** had really done a number on her ribs...
She knocked on the aged wooden door, bent over and resisting the urge to vomit.
"Cy..."
Her voice was very thin, and Nat doubted Cyrus would even hear her. She leaned against the doorframe and pounded on the door with what little strength she had left.
"CY."
The door opened, and Natalia pitched forward. All she heard was a quick curse, and suddenly something caught her as she plummeted. After that, she slipped into blackness.
---
"You're an idiot."
Natalia shifted in itchy blankets, one hand reaching to touch equally itchy banadages that swathed her chest.
"It was a good fight."
An elderly chair creaked somewhere in the recesses of the sparsely lit room, and Natalia heard footsteps approaching. She could smell the sickly sweet odor of cheap tobacco smoke.
"You shouldn't smoke, Cy."
"It's only a cigar. And I think I'm entitled to it."
"How so?"
"Because if I didn't have smoking, I know you'd drive me to drink."
Natalia cracked an eye open. Cyrus looked over his dark-tinted glasses at her, lips twisting into a grimace. Nat grinned up at him.
"You know you look like an idiot in that Victorian get-up."
Cyrus blew a plume of smoke in her face.
"Five broken ribs. Split kidney. Lacerations in your shoulder. Cracked collar bone. Hairline fractures in your jaw. Broken blood vessels in places that don't even exist. Not to mention the hair I had to dig out of your damn teeth."
"Careful, Cyrus. You're skirting innuendo."
Cyrus leaned against the crumbling concrete-and-brick wall, shaking his head and running a hand over his unruly hair.
"Natalia, why do you do this to me," he said, voice weary.
"I told you. It was a fight. A good fight."
"That you lost. Horridly, if I may remind you."
Nat's tail flicked in annoyance.
"Minor setback."
"Oh?"
"He turned into a bear."
Cyrus took a lengthy pull from his cigar.
"Nat....one of these days you're going to come here and I'm not going to help you. I'm going to let you die on my damned doorstep and I'm going to cut off your tail and use it as a duster."
Natalia laughed hoarsely.
"Love you too, Cyrus."
Shaking his head, Cyrus clenched his cigar in his teeth and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Getting yourself in these fights isn't going to do anything for Caul if he's not here to see them, Nat," he said quietly. "You'd make due to remember that next time someone's taking a swing at that pretty face of yours."
Natalia's ears flattened and she turned her head, staring at the cracks in the wall. She heard Cyrus sigh, and there was a bit of shuffling and creaking as he left the room, the smoke of his cigar lingering behind.
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Posted: Mon Apr 02, 2007 8:12 am
__Part 5
Leonora was in a one-sided staring contest. The infant looked at her serenely, eyelashes fluttering once in a while.
"You're too cute," she said, mildly disgusted.
"Bvuh?" Fiore said.
"And you smell. Kinda flowery."
"Bvuh."
"Can't you say anything 'sides 'bvuh'?"
"Bnah."
Leo sighed. Well, it was at least half an improvement. Natalia entered the living room, pinning her hair back and tail flicking in annoyance at the sight of the two children - her version of a morning greeting.
"I heard you come in late last night," Leo said conversationally. "And I saw the bandages. You get into 'nother fight?"
"You should know what's what by now," Nat said dryly, heading into the kitchen. Leo picked up Fiore and slung him over her shoulder, ears flicking as he laughed.
"Didja win?"
Natalia, attempting to make an omelette, crushed the egg in her hand.
"It was a draw."
Leo snorted.
"You got your butt kicked."
A throaty growl escaped from Natalia as she washed broken eggshell and yolk from her hands.
"It was a draw."
Putting Fiore down on the floor and watching him crawl around, Leo took a seat at the breakfast bar and stared at her sister with blatant interest.
"What happened?"
"None of your business."
"I didn't have dinner last night."
"You know how to order out."
"Yeah, but it's not your food. That's like eating rotten frogs when you could have ice cream."
Nat looked over her shoulder.
"That doesn't make any sense."
Leo waggled her eyebrows in sagely eleven year old wisdom.
"Yeah it does."
Natalia sighed, returning her attentions to a fresh egg.
"Y'know what Bobby Ricks said to me yesterday?"
"I can assure you I don't care."
"He said, he said...he said that you're a stereo."
Natalia looked over her shoulder again.
"What?"
Leo nodded hard.
"Yeah! He said cause we're Italian, and you're really mean, and you're a cook, so you're a stereo."
Natalia's lips twisted.
"Stereo-type, you dip. And no I'm not."
"What'll you do to him?"
"Throw him down a flight of stairs."
"Cool!"
"BVAAAAH."
Natalia jerked, startled, and dropped the second egg. It landed on Fiore with a wet splatter.
"Dammit! Leo, get your damn pet out of - ugh, let go of me!"
Natalia tried to wrench her leg away, but the child was hugging it as though clinging for dear life, heedless t the egg yolk sliding down his head.
"N'buh," he cooed at the irate woman, smiling toothlessly and spitting a little as egg got into his mouth. The scent of lavender filled the kitchen and he snuggled against Natalia, giggling.
Natalia, ears drooping slightly, sighed and picked the infant up, turning off the stove as she left the kitchen.
"Let's get you cleaned up, critter," she said, exasperated. Leo watched the pair leave and disappear upstairs before vaulting over the breakfast bar and approaching the stove.
"Leonora, don't you go NEAR that stove!" came the call from upstairs.
Leo sighed. Spoilsport.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 12:57 pm
__Part 6
Natalia knew she was very fortunate to have a baby like Fiore, in regards to the fact that he rarely ever cried or screamed. He was well-tempered in the best way.
But damn it all if he was impossible to get to sleep.
"Fio, for goodness sake..." she muttered, hefting the straps of the baby-carrier slung over her shoulders as she looked 'round at him. "Go to sleep. It's late."
Of course, it had been earlier when she'd left her house. She'd walked for so long that late night had sneaked up on her. She cursed whoever had said that walking with a child made them sleepy - what a load of bullshit.
Wide awake and chewing on his hair, Fiore burbled.
Jesse had heard the same myth, as built of bullcrap as it was, and was also attempting it. He did not, however, have any kind of spiffy baby carrier. Instead, Sy was laying in a "sling" (actually on old bit of cargo net) over his shoulder.
"Naaanananananananana..." Silas sang.
The infant was not tired in the least.
Fiore perked up at the sound of singing. What a pretty sound!
"Vuh-vuh-vaaaaaah," he added, looking around for the source.
Natalia's ears drooped wearily, and she kept walking with eyes resting on the ground.
"Fio...noooo. Bad baby. Shush."
Sy attempted to sit up, nearly toppling headfirst toward the pavement.
"NNGH!" Jesse exclaimed and picked the baby up from the sling, holding him as he groped outward toward a large, lumpy shadow.
"NAAAANANANANANANA!"
Eyes still cast downward, Natalia walked directly into something very, very solid. She stumbled back and looked up, too tired to even try to pick a fight.
"Hm?"
Fiore gave a delighted shriek. The singing thing! There it was!
"VUH-VAAAAAAH!"
Silas giggled and reached out, groping for the other singing baby. Such beautiful music! He must see this master or mistress of song!
"OH! Christ, I'm sorry, miss," Jesse apologized quickly, although it was certainly none of his fault that she had slammed into him, "I didn' mean it."
Nat tried to stifle a yawn.
"My fault," she said uninterestedly. "Sorry."
She made as though to weave past the man but Fiore gave a sudden protesting squall, and yanked hard on one of her ears for effect.
"OW! FIO, THAT HURTS!"
Fiore hadn't meant to hurt his Mummy, but he absolutely did not want to leave. He could see the singing thing!
"Bvuhhhh..."
Tail curling, Natalia looked at the stranger again.
"Want a kid? I hear they make excellent roast," she said, head bent back as she tried to rescue her ear.
"I found my own, thanks," Jesse said almost sadly.
"NAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Mine, however, appears to want yours."
"NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Knew I shoulda just left him where I found him," Nat said bitterly as she pried her twisted ear loose, setting Fiore onto the ground. "Ow...damn him..."
Fiore sat quietly, head craned back and arms raised,
"Baabaabaaavuh!"
Leaning against the convenient wall of a small coffee shop long since closed, Natalia glanced at her companion in mild interest.
"So."
Jesse moved to a moderately more convenient position, allowing his kid to see the other infant and to, as Butch so lovingly put it "shut the little crotchloaf the hell up".
"Naaaaaa..." Silas cooed, reaching for the new boy's pretty hair.
"Name's Jesse," the man nodded after a moment, "You?"
Fiore gave an excited burble at being noticed, trying to stand and failing dismally. Uncaring about the heavy fall he'd just suffered, he pushed himself up again and reached upward with one hand.
Natalia, who'd winced despite herself as the baby had plowed headfirst into the ground, glanced up at Jesse.
"Natalia," she said. "So, how long've you had yours?"
Jesse gently placed Silas on the ground, watching in something like fear as the infant wobbled on his behind. Once he was sure the kid wasn't going to smack his head open on the concrete, he turned back to Natalia.
"A couple of days," Jesse shrugged in reply and reached up to itch beneath his eyepatch, "I'm not so sure where he came from."
Sy burbled happily and reached forward, finally able to gently tug at a strand of the boy's lavender hair.
"Mm, that makes two of us," Nat said wearily. "My sister found it....found him. In the garden out back where I work..."
She trailed off, swallowing a yawn.
"I suppose it could just be a bad practical joke."
Fiore sat placidly, head tilting in the direction it was tugged. It was a bit uncomfortable but the new kid seemed happy, so he didn't mind at all.
"Vuh," he said, dribbling a little and trying to wipe it away clumsily.
"He was left at my...thoretical doorstep," Jesse shrugged and yawned himself. He then mumbled something completely unintelligible (even to himself) and yawned a second time. Kids were hard word, damnit. He wasnt sure he liked it.
Silas released the clump of hair and half-fell forward before wriggling his butt up to meet his top end.
"Nuuuu..."
"Theoretical?" Nat asked, arching an eyebrow. Well, her front door fell off the hinges all the time. She supposed she couldn't really one-up him. Stretching and cringing at the sound of bones cracking back in place, she yawned again.
Somewhat relieved to have his hair back, Fio stuck the tendril into his mouth and sucked on it meditatively. A flower bud snapped off from the abuse and tumbled to the ground. Fio looked at it, then the new boy, and picked it up.
"V'sen?" he said, proffering the bud. Presents!
"I live in a tent," Jesse answered with a shrug, and yawned again.
"Stop that."
Silas clumsily took the bud, nearly crushing it in his clumsy hands and then unfurling his palm to look at it.
"Ooooooh..."
He looked around again, hoping to see something to give in return.
"That's interesting," Nat said, biting her tongue a moment later to resist yawning again. Biting when you had serrated teeth wasn't at all a smart idea, but whatever. "Hmm...so."
She realized she had no idea how to hold a conversation. Usually her experience with other people involved trying to kick their teeth down their throats.
Hmm. Well, he was missing an eye....good conversation piece, she supposed.
"What's with the patch?"
Pleased simply that the boy had liked the gift, Fiore sucked on his hair.
"Foh," he said, pointing to himself.
Jesse arched a brow, as if asking the girl if she was, in fact, serious. He lifted the patch to reveal a gaping hole and no eyelid to speak of while replying:
"Oh, it's just a fashioned statement."
He lowered the patch again and snorted slightly. If the chick didn't run away, she was worth talking to.
Silas, still looking around, snatched a shiny rock from the pavement and held it out to the other boy.
"Tai," he replied, thumping a hand to his chest.
Nat's ears flicked a bit, but otherwise she gave little reaction. Huh, neat....she wondered if it had been torn loose of the socket, or maybe scratched out...she doubted Jesse was the type to whine and cry after getting losing a piece of himself, and so was rather impressed.
"Nice," she said simply, nodding slightly.
Fiore's eyes widened in shock. A gift? For him? Wow... he took it gratefully, smiling wide and toothless.
"Tai," he parroted, nodding as he stowed the rock in the bumble bee shaped pocket on his onesie. "Taaaaaaii."
"I dunno what I'd do with two of 'em, really," Jesse said absentmindedly and shrugged, leaning against the wall himself.
Silas smiled broadly, drooling on himself a bit. He wiped the saliva away with a tiny fist and burbled incoherently.
"Foh!"
"Two could be seen as excess, yeah," Nat said, sliding down against the wall to squat, tail tucked between her legs. She gave the man a longer once-over, investigating everything the flickering halogen streetlight would allow her to see. ...hey, was he missing a finger, too?
By now excited fit to burst, Fiore gave a high pitched laugh at the recognition and launched himself at Silas on a whim, hugging him. Hopefully he would yell and try to run away like Mummy did when he hugged - though he had to admit, it was fun while he tried to hold on.
Jesse syaed facing forward for a moment, but when his eyes trailed down to Nat he noticed her glace at his hand.
"What?"
Silas let out a surprised, excited squeal of his own and squeezed the other infant, giggling insanely and trying to not topple over.
"Nothing, just looking for the missing piece," Nat said. "What happened?"
Fiore could have shrieked with joy. Not only did he have a shiny present, he was in the company of someone who liked hugs. In his short life he'd mostly figured every time he'd ever attempt it he'd be met with nothing but cries of disgust. He hugged Silas and cuddled against him, laughing.
"I was in a bar in Durem once. Bad place, that," Jesse started, "Anyways. This man said I was cheatin' him outta money 'cos he sucks hard at poker, right? Says a man can no way get four aces. 'Course I had cheated, but thass' not the point. I flip the guy off, and he says 'put that down or I'm gonna bite it off'. So he did." Jesse lifted his hand then, examining the nub that had once been his middle finger.
"Lucky I'm left-handed."
"EEEE!" Silas squealed and squeezed, snuggling the other boy. He didn't know what this arms-around-the-other-person-thing was, but he liked it!
Natalia laughed.
"That's the best story I've ever heard," she said. "Sorry you got it bit off and all. But good s**t, that makes a good story."
Letting go after a bit, Fiore investigated his companion more closely.Spiky hair, orangey skin, weird little marky-thing under his eye...he was foggily reminded of a mark Mummy had had the other day, a dark ring under her eye that turned all purple and green. She'd come home with her teeth all red and drippy and in a good mood, but the mark had discomforted him.
"Booboo?" he asked Silas, poking the mark slightly.
"Eh, whatever," Jesse shrugged, "Didn't hurt none, an' I still have the other do do my good work with."
He liked this chick. He really did.
Silas shook his head gently, not knowing how else to react. It was certainly not a boobo. It was his magical birthmark!
...he just hadn't figured out what was magical about it yet.
"Didn't hurt?" Nat asked skeptically. "Why, he bite it off so fast you didn't have time to miss it or what?"
Looking unconvinced, Fiore poked at it again, hoping it wouldn't suddenly spurt the red stuff Mummy was so often splattered with. When it failed to spurt, Fio gave a sigh and flkopped against Silas again. chewing on his hair habitually.
"Ah, no," Jesse replied, laughing, "I have me Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with...sum'm what starts wit' an 'a'. I can't feel pain. Really. Try." He looked down at the woman as if challenging her.
"Mmm," Silas said simply and pressed his forehead against the boy's shoulder, snuffling up his hair.
Insentivity to pain? Nat was instantly envious and deeply relieved she hadn't sought out a fight. At the invitation her ears laid back and she eyed him as though certain he was joking, then shrugged.
"Eh, okay."
Quite casually, she leaned over, sniffed briefly at his arm, and bit him.
Fio giggled, his vine-like hair wriggling.
As promised, there was no reaction aside from a look of mild interest. Jesse'd originally intended to flip out on her before revealing teh truth, but foudn that he was far, far too tired.
"Not a thing," he shrugged.
Sy gave a surprised little squeak and nearly fell back, clinging hard to Fio. Tentacle hair?! His eyebrows raised in surprise.
Leaning back and licking her teeth contemplatively, Nat made an interested sound.
"You taste good," she said idly. Realizing a beat later what she'd just said, she licked her lips clean unconcernedly. "That absolutely could be taken as innuendo, too."
Fio gave a yip of surprise as he was pulled forward. Couldn't Sy's hair do that? ...well, his didn't have growing plantlife, so maybe not...
Jesse's jaw dropped slightly, but he quickly regained his composure and clicked his mouth shut.
"...what?"
Silas stuck his tongue out in concentration and rubbed his hair forward rather violently until it all stuck up on its end.
"Nah!" he giggled.
Natalia laughed again, wiping her mouth on the back ofher hand.
"Nothin', nothin'..." she said patiently. "Innocent remark. Your blood happens to taste good, I'm paying you a compliment."
Fiore burst into giggles again, and ruffled his own hair until it resembled a nest of flowering serpents.
"Oh," Jesse nodded, "Thanks. I'm glad my bodily fluids please you." Bad choice of words. Again.
Silas giggled insanely and opted for falling onto Fio as opposed to the rock-hard pavement.
"Bllllllllr..."
With a distinctly unfeminine snort of laughter, Natalia leaned back against the wall and grinned up at Jesse.
"If I was any sort of lady I might've thought that was just a slip of the tongue," she said wryly. "I don't mind if you're implying, though."
Finding he was being used as a pillow, Fio yawned a bit and stretched out. All this excitement had effectively worn him out.
"I wasn't," Jesse replied with a little chuckle, "But if you'd like me to b--look." He nodded to the infants just as Sy gave a huge, toothless yawn of his own.
"Given a choice I'd certainly li-hm? Oh. OH."
Miracle of miracles. The plant-baby was falling asleep....Nat looked skyward, mouthing thanks to any god that was listening.
Not just falling, really. Fiore closed his eyes and with a final yawn, he was asleep.
Silas followed suit. If his new friend could sleep on him, he could sleep on his new friend. He closed his eyes, snuggled close, and rather quickly dipped into dreamland.
"I'll keep that in mind," Jesse said, suddenly whispering. He crouched beside the boys and picked the redhead up, catching the other before he fell with a free hand.
"I look forward to it," Nat murmured wryly, reclaiming Fiore carefully and terrified he'd wake up and start the vicious cycle of trying to force sleep all over again.
Jesse grinned, swallowing a laugh, and stood to full height with the limp baby in his arms. He was about to walk away, but turned slowly and whispered:
"See you again some other time, then?"
Hefting the sleeping infant into the carrier again indelicately, Nat grinned over her shoulder.
"I s'pose so," she said. "See you 'round."
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:43 pm
___Part 7
"I should dump you at preschool. You're not to young for preschool, are you? That's why they call it preschool. You're too much of a slavering idiot to be useful in child society."
Natalia sat on the waterfront sidewalk's bench, giving Fiore an accusatory look. The lack of response was irking her, even though she realized it was no fault of the infant's.
"Wuh."
"See? Too thick to even attempt real words."
Jesse had found very recently that children made amazing accessories. Pretty girls talked to him more (and occasionally pretty guys, but that was a new and disturbing thing all on its own), people didn't try to kill him so much, and, hey, nobody ever suspected him of doing any wrong (except maybe kidnapping an infant).
"Oh, sorry!" he apologized with faux enthusiasm as he rather randomly bumped into a significantly smaller man on the street. The man looked as if he was going to say something, but the woman on his arm tugged at him and smiled to Jesse. Jesse smiled back and waited until they were out of sight before examining his prize.
Leather. Huh. Swanky.
He perched atop the edge of a nearby bench and began to rifle through the contents of the man's ex-wallet. Sy, slung over the man's shoulder, burbled happily to himself and sucked on an enormous silver coin, far too large to actually get into his mouth.
"I heard once that children are just parrots. Does that mean that if I keep talking to you, you'll start talking like an actual person and not just spurt horrible odors and exhibit your incontinence?"
"Uvuuuuwah."
Nat sighed, flopping on the bench and flinging her body around in dramatics, slinging one leg over it and knocking an innocent bystander in the head as they walked by.
"Hey! Watch ******** off!"
"You kicked me, you b***h!"
Nat sat up and gave a perfectly canine bark. The man she'd kicked swore at her again, but slunk off, distinctly weirded out. Nat snorted and laid back down on the bench, regarding her flowery-headed problem with a sidelong look.
"See that? THAT is how you deal with people. Not by hugging."
"Shuh!"
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETH!"
"GOOD GOD, LITTLE MAN! HAVE YOU LUNGS OF STEEL?!"
Sy had gone back to his coin and supplied no answer, simply making little grabby fists at the psycho b***h who had--oh, wait.
What was her name? Something like...Brittney. Or...Melissa. Natalie? ********, he didn't remember. All he knew was that she had been moderately coherent and far more attractive than the armcandy he had just seen.
And so he moved to the end of her bench.
"Yo."
"Abbah."
Jesse laughed a bit eerily and pocketed the sixty-three dollars he'd found in the man's wallet.
"Hey, it's you."
Nat sat up, though only to settle herself more comfortably upside down on the bench. Her head hung over the edge of it, splinters digging into her neck if she moved.
"So. Lose any other important bits since I seen you last?"
Fiore screeched and bounced in his carrier, hands stretching out towards a familiar spiky orangey thing that made very loud noises.
"TAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEE."
"I was castrated by a dolphin," Jesse said absentmindedly before tossing the wallet out into the street once more, "No. I got me a badass splinter, though." He waved a bandaged left hand.
'Splinter' was maybe an understatement. 'Shard of glass from a bottle I broke over someone's head' was maybe more appropriate.
Silas grunted and groaned, trying to reach the thing with the pretty hair.
"Nnnnnah. Nah. MMMMMMPH-AH!"
"I gush utter relief," Nat said, shaking her head slowly from side to side so that her hair trailed over the dusty ground. "Women everywhere would have wept to hear such news."
She picked her teeth with a nail, looking up at him and ignoring the uncomfortable pounding of blood as it rushed to her head, leaving her dangling legs starting to go numb.
"Gonna get creative with your perfectly legal earnings later, I'm guessing?"
Fiore, face scrunching up in distress, clumsily tugged at the strap keeping him firmly in place in the carrier. Drat the thing!
Jesse laughed, but made no verbal remark. Really, what were you supposed to say to that? 'You're a b***h. I like it.'?
"Oh, I'm gonna go find me some'a those women you're talkin' about."
It was a blatant lie. Silas needed food. There was no excitement in Jesse's immediate future. Speaking of Silas, he had easily navigated his way out of his netting-sling and flopped to the bench headfirst, laying like a lump of meat or a beached seal. That was it. The best he could do.
"Fo."
"Daaahling," Nat drawled, "I can set you up. I moonlight as a heartless and devious brothel madam. I'll give you one on the house."
Fiore squealed.
"Tai Tai Tai," he chirped, sitting up and grabbing at any bit of Silas he could reach.
"Do you mean...literally on the house?" Jesse asked, arching a brow and holding his hand up horizontally, as if you somehow replicate a coupling on a roof somewhere.
Sy giggled, even as his hair was tugged.
"Fo!"
"If you choose to be a blatant exhibitionist," Nat said with a snort. "All I ask is that you keep the noise level down. I've had complaints in the past, evidently the family next door with the four little brats doesn't quite care for the live-action porno soundtrack."
Biting at his own hair, Fiore burbled and tugged at the safety strap. He wanted to hug and play. This stupid thing was cramping his style.
"Oh, c'mon!" Jesse whined lustily, "That's the best part!" Why, oh, why were they having this conversation?
Well, it didn't seem that Fo was going to be able to go anywhere. His mother clearly believed in those straps of enslavement, the damnable devices. he pulled himself forward, using the edge of the horrible contraption to drag himself half into Fo's personal bubble.
And then he collapsed, trembling.
"Pbbblllllth."
"I fully agree, but you just can't reason with some people," Nat said with a mournful sigh. "Damn uptight ******** on the bench, unable to bear the growing headache any longer, she sat up and spun in her seat, tail curling over one leg. She ignored the way her shirt had twisted, riding up and exposing a few inches of her belly.
Glad for the company, Fiore moved on instinct and hugged Silas with a happy gurgle. It almost took his mind off the stupid evil restraints that kept him from escaping Mummy.
Jesse clicked his tongue.
"See, we don't have that problem back at home," he said, and found his eyes wandering to the newly-exposed skin. Sweet mother of God, you knew you were far too deprived of womankind when a bit of naval and some stomach got you all curious.
Silas sighed and hugged Fo back, trying to ignore the burny kinda pain in his chest from working so hard.
And then he noticed something interesting.
He leaned over far, smooshing Fo's head into his chest, and patted one of Nat's breasts, happily giggling.
"SY!"
Natalia was halfway through a smirk and catty response when she felt a very unwelcome touch on something very personal. Her ears set back and she growled, lips curling over teeth on instinct. When she saw it was Silas, she shuddered slightly.
"Hnn. I'm guessing he takes after you," she said to Jesse, flinging an arm over her chest and edging away from the perverted-infant creature. Blecch. Yet another reason to dislike children.
Fio, face effectively smothered, gave a small burble and waited patiently for Silas to get off. He kinda needed to breathe.
Silas did not so much moved as he was removed from his squishy bed of infant flesh.
"NAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
"Thank'yehno," Jesse replied, as if it was all one word, "I think 'e just hasn't...yenno. Seen 'em enough. Livin' wit' thirty-someodd men n' alls." And then Silas began wailing, desperately wanting his hug machine back.
"Lovely," Nat said dryly, arms still wrapped protectively over her small but still highly personal bits of anatomy. "If you pull that move on me I'm sure you'll provide a better excuse."
Deprived of companionship, Fiore made a curious kind of sniffling sound, eyes welling up. He was a quiet crier, not resorting to whining screams but reaching out and grabbing with blatant distress.
"I prolly wouldn'," Jesse said honestly, and then added, "Real sorry 'bout that." He was going to address the woman by name, but then remembered that, hey, he couldn't recall it.
And then he saw the sniffling baby. God damn infants and their cuteness. They were the real masterminds. Who could resist such a thing?
Sy burbled happily as he was once more placed atop his Fo.
"Not much to grab hold of anyway," Nat said, dismissing the issue, though she maintained her healthy distance. "No big deal."
With a screech that clearly indicated how much he'd missed Sy in the past sixty seconds, Fiore clung to him firmly and glared reproachfully at the one-eyed man who'd so unkindly taken him away.
"Mm," Jesse said, which was neither an affirmative nor a negative. Or even a word, really. He relaxed again and laced his arms around the back of the bench.
Silas hugged his Fo back, rubbing his round cheeks against the other infant's chest.
Nat resorted to picking her teeth again, trying hard to get what she theorized was a piece of skin out from between serrated edges.
Giggling again, Fiore blew happy spit bubbles, dribbling over himself again.
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 6:49 am
Reserved - Fio/Parvana RP
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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 4:34 pm
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Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:35 pm
__Part 10
It had been a few months since Natalia had first found Fiore.
She still wasn't sure if she liked him or not.
Leonora, of course, was over the moon about having a little brother, plant-based mutant or not. She found him cute. And apparently loved the smell of lavender, which Natalia had personally found a bit too strong as both perfume and spice. It didn't quite help her indecision about the boy when her nose wrinkled from being hit over the head with the scent of lavender every time she got near him. Looking at the little boy that rainy, dull evening, half-listening to the news and swatting Leonora with a rolled-up newspaper now and again to force her attention back to her homework, Natalia chewed at her lip pensively. He was cute enough, she guessed. Even the purple hair was nice, once you got used to the unconventional color. And he was perfectly sweet and amiable. Almost too sweet. Nothing, Natalia was certain, could have such an unburdened and devoted certainty that everything in the world was made of fairy dust and sunshine without being pure evil.
Well. Maybe she had to rethink it, but Nati was sure Fiore had at least some diabolical master plan in mind every time he giggled as butterflies landed in his hair or he mysteriously attracted baby bunnies.
With a long, weary sigh, Natalia slid off her armchair and sat next to the boy on the floor. He looked up at her with crystal clear eyes, smiling cheerily. The nubs of his first teeth made his smile even sweeter than usual. With a grumpy growl, ears set flat against her skull, Nati picked the baby up and cuddled him.
"b*****d," she muttered grudgingly to the boy. Fiore laughed, clumsily clapping pudgy hands as a fresh wave of lavender scent made Nati sneeze.
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Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:36 am
__Part 11
It was a sunny, pleasant, warm afternoon as afternoons went. Life on an island was pretty predictable - summer it was overrun with fat, irritating tourists from the mainland, fall and winter it was quiet and homey again. Leonora loved the fall and winter. No stupid tourists to deal with. But she also disliked it, for the sole reason that Caul would probably drop in and visit.
"It's not that I don't like him," she said reasonably to Fiore under the shade of the gnarled and unlikely chestnut tree in the backyard. "I just hate his guts on principle."
"Pithable," Fiore parroted seriously.
"Yeah! See, you get it. Nati just thinks I don't like him 'cause he beat her up firs' time they met."
She paused, reflecting and picking at the gloriously unwashed fur on one of her pointed ears.
"She did get a bite out of his arm, after all. Served him right."
Pondering what her sister could ever see in an unthankful, nasty, obviously scheming little creature like Caul, she didn't even realize he was behind her until she started talking badly about him again.
"He might be the same as us," Leo was saying, face scrunched up in distaste, "But it's only on the outside. Mum can't stand 'im. He's...he's mean, an' selfish, an'-"
"-and your sister's boyfriend."
"Maaaam!"
Caul flicked his ears in annoyance and glared down at the joyfully squealing Fiore.
"Little insect. Can't you tell me from your own mother?"
He paused then, looking slightly bewildered.
"Gods, Leonora. That mite isn't Nati's, is it?"
Leonora stood, glared, and punched Caul soundly below the belt.
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Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 4:39 am
__Part 12
"GET OUT!"
Caul ducked, a heavy tumbler glass narrowly missing his head and crashing into the wall behind him.
"Nati-"
"Don't you give me that 'Nati' s**t, I said get OUT!"
Another glass. Another crash. Caul yelped and ducked as a dish frisbeed out and struck him in the shoulder.
"GNNGH! Nati, c'mon, I wasn't gone that long-"
Natalia growled so viciously it stopped Caul's excuse dead in its tracks.
"It's the fact that you go at all that pisses me off," she hissed, snatching up another plate and throwing it at him. This time it glanced off his hip, making him cringe.
Leonora and Fiore sat in the sunroom, watching the spectacle with wide eyes.
"Eesa bah mah?" Fiore asked curiously, gnawing in his fingers.
"Yeah," Leo said dryly. "I'd say he is a bad man, Fio."
"Mam mah?"
"Oh yeah. She's mad."
"Iss sah. Mam no be mah."
"It ain't sad! He keeps takin' off, his fault for walking right back into the lion's jaws, so to speak."
Fiore digested this thoughtfully. Mam was a lion? He had always thought she was a doggy. He looked up at Mam and Bad Man and gasped.
"Mam eething Bah Mah!"
Leo jolted and looked up, then made a repulsed noise. Into the lion's jaws..
"No, Fio. They're just being gross."
Nati, who had gone from murderous rage to fourteen year old girl in a matter of five minutes, broke off the heavy kiss with Caul and growled at her little sister.
"Go out and play, Leo. Shoo."
Leo stood and sighed, cradling Fiore and shielding his eyes from the horrible sight of adults making out.
"Mm. Have nice sex," she said dryly. Caul gave a yelp of laughter and Nati punched him in the stomach to shut him up.
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Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:23 am
__Part 13
Leonora loved her sister. Sure, Nati could be mean-spirited, and cruel, and cold. But she could also be surprisingly fun, funny, and when she was happy, oh, it was wonderful. So it was with patience, compassion and a good deal of restraint on not singing "I told you so" from the rooftops that Leo consoled her brokenhearted sister when Caul had disappeared yet again.
"I hate him, I hate him," Nati sobbed into her pillow, roiling with self-disgust for her weakness and longing for Caul. Leo shushed and gentled her, stroking her hair patiently.
"I know, Nati," the girl said soothingly. "I know."
Fiore nibbled at his fingers in distress, a powerful scent of lavender wafting from the flowerbuds in his hair.
"Maaam," he cooed, eyes tearing in empathy.
"I don't understand, Leo," Natalia croaked miserably. "I don't understand. He...we....he said..."
"I know," Leo repeated, hating Caul and biting savagely at her lips with serrated teeth. "I know."
Natalia gave a groan of misery and curled into a ball, ears flat against her skull and tail between her legs.
Leonora sighed, picked up Fiore, and went downstairs to make herself dinner.
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Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:35 pm
__Part 14
"You're really growin', buddy," Leonora said to Fiore.
"Fio ith weeeeeed," the boy burbled joyfully.
"For lack of a better pun to make, yeah, I'd say yer growin' like a weed. We need to get you some damn pants."
"Panth!"
"Right! NATI!"
Leo waited for a response, then sighed. Knocking on her sister's door, she pushed it open a beat later and stood awkwardly just inside the threshold.
"What, Leo," Nati croaked, curled up on her bed and looking positively miserable.
"Fiore needs pants," Leo said decisively. "You have money and a car, and also haven't been out of the house in two weeks."
"He's your ******** pet, you go do it."
"Nati-"
Natalia rolled over and pulled the blanket over her head. Leo gave a fierce growl that would have scared a great deal of cats out of their skin, and stalked back out into the room she shared with Fiore.
"C'mon, bud, we're ********' out of here."
"PANTH!"
---
"Welcome to Little Hummingbird, can I he-er."
The saleswoman's rehearsed cheer faltered as she got a good look at the dog-girl and flower-boy entering her store. Leonora, armed with Natalia's pilfered wallet and a charming serrated-tooth grin, hoisted her baby brother up on her shoulder.
"My brother's growing big and needs pants," she said clearly. The saleswoman nodded.
"Wouldn't you like shirts as well? We have-"
"No. Just pants, we're good."
"Why just pants?"
"Because he's a boy," Leo said patiently. "Boys don't have tits to cover up like women do, see? And he likes not having to wear shirts sometimes, he likes to get all warm in the sun."
The saleswoman, who had turned a fascinating parchment color, gave a nod and pointed towards a section of the store laden with clothing.
"C'mon Fio," Leo said cheerily, brushing past the saleswoman. "Pick out anythin' you like. Nati's treat."
Fiore nibbled at his fingers, pulling at various articles of clothing and burbling thoughtfully to himself. He pointed to one pair of pants, then another, then another. And then, just to be daring, another. Sister took them dutifully.
"Goo' panth?" he asked, seeking Sister's approval.
"Damn fine pants," Leo said, nodding. "You have fine taste. Let's pay up and get the hell outta here, yeah? We got more s**t to buy."
"Shith!"
"That's the spirit!"
---
Wandering without Natalia glowering and yanking her along by the ear was pleasantly refreshing for Leonora. Fiore, slung on her shoulder like a baby-shawl, nibbled patiently at his hair and burbled happy little songs on occasion. So when he gave a sudden delighted shriek that made Leo's ears feel like they were going to bleed, she knew something was up.
"What, you banshee?"
"TOOOOOOOY!"
It was a street vendor with a wooden cart full of gloriously cheap toys and merchandise. The proprietor waved and smiled at the children with a kind smile that was missing teeth, and he beckoned them over.
"Something for your brother?" he asked cheerfully. "All kids like toys, yeah? I got the best, very good, very cheap."
He had a fascinating accent that Leonora couldn't place, but delighted in listening to. She nodded eagerly, and let Fiore grab at the toys.
"Oooh, model planes..."
"OoooooOOooooooh..."
"Alright Fio, pick what you like."
And pick Fiore did. His chubby hands grasped eagerly at two stuffed animals and a cute toy magic wand no doubt intended for little girls who liked to play Sailor Moon Saves All the Fuzzy Woodland Animals of Unicorn Land.
"Jeez Fio, way to not be masculine."
"Maggih Wah!"
---
It was early evening when Leonora and Fiore discovered the pet shop on the way home. The pair exchanged one knowing glance and smiled, and burst in.
"WE WISH TO PURVEY YOUR PETS OF FLUFF AND FUZZ," Leonora shouted, upsetting the aged cockatiel on the perch by the door and setting the hamster to fleeing frantically on their little wheels. The woman behind the counter was not amused.
"Buh-buh," Fiore said, tugging at a thatch of Leo's hair.
"Aw, Fio, not rabbits..."
"BUH-BUH!"
"Fine, fine..."
And so they stayed in the shop for over two hours, looking at the rabbits until Fiore had picked the two friendliest, fuzziest, gentlest bunnies. Leo felt a growing sense that she was going to be saving Fiore from a lot of bullying and punching kids who picked on her little flower-boy.
"You're an odd duck," she said to the boy. Fiore burbled.
"Fithee."
"You already got two rabbits-"
"FITHEE."
"FINE. GOD."
And so a goldfish was added to the bill. The woman was still giving them dirty looks, even after they'd bought seventy dollars worth of merchandise. Leonora, loaded down with rabbits, fish, a cage, toys, pants and a baby, sighed as she walked home.
"We're gonna be in so much trouble."
"Shith," Fiore said seriously, cuddling his new bunnies.
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Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:21 pm
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