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 Posted: Sat May 19, 2007 6:28 pm
Orenda was named after a term heard in passing; she thought it fit because that was basically how she and Orenda had happened upon eachother, more so on her half than the child's, but, other than that, it seemed to be a nice name at the time, or, at least, as nice as it can get after someone discovers a child in front of their apartment door, because that's not weird at all. It wasn't like what she had seen in the movies, since, usually, if a child was abandoned, it came in a nice little basket with a note attached that said something like, "Please take care of my child."
Helen would have found some weird flattery within that, thinking that whoever it was had deemed her competent enough to care for the strange child with a mushroom cap on its head that was now in her possession, which wasn't something she was entirely sure she was happy about. Not that she was upset, either, because she loved kids in general, but this was completely unexpected. "Just because I take care of kids doesn't mean I want my own," she muttered to herself before reluctantly taking the child in; she wasn't about to leave a baby by itself, after all, no matter how troublesome things might've been from that moment onward.
She half wondered if whoever dropped her off, well, she assumed the baby was a girl, she was too tired to check at the moment, would come back and get her, but quickly dismissed that idea. Well, whatever the case, she was stuck now, whether she liked it or not, but the baby was starting to grow on her already.
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:35 am
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Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:07 am
It's not that she liked to hold grudges against children, but when her own child gets put in danger because of someone's kid, she just can't control what she does or what she says, or, at least, that was the rationale she put behind her rage at that godforsaken hellhole of an establishment, which, by the way, she was never returning to, so it was okay when she sat down and started writing angry letters about whatever came to mind.
Most of them consisted of the, "orange-haired menace," and, "her dim-witted father," or how much she hated children in general, which she didn't really, but it was just a spur of the moment thing and she had no idea what she was talking about anyway.
Regardless, she still had her worries; the child could develop a fear of heights later in life or something and she would never be able to go near planes or what have you, not that her guardian particularly wanted her to leave, but still, it could be a choice of hers, but she wouldn't have the option 'cause she'd be too afraid to get even two feet off of the ground, and when the worried woman called up a friend with her speculations, they stopped her mid-sentence saying, "Helen, you're being crazy, stop it."
"I'm not being crazy, I'm being a concerned parent," she whined, "which isn't something you would understand. I mean, really, all of these things could happen in the future and one day I'll have to recount the tale, 'cause she'll be afaid and won't know the reason for it; she won't remember all this when she's older."
"You know what," the voice on the other end of the line said, "I think you need some sleep, both of you, and maybe the traumatic events of today will be erased from your memories."
"Haha, very funny," she sneered, "you're a real riot, Nicholas, but, seriously," and off she went on another tangent, because she was going to list off all the possibilities she could think of before the night was over if she wanted to get her conscience clear, she said, but her friend would have nothing of it and promptly said, "G'night to you, too, Helen," before hanging up.
He was going to get an earful tomorrow.
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Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 3:47 pm
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 5:41 pm
"So, see, I was willing to ignore it at first, but then she just kept repeating it."
"Kinda makes me wonder what kind of person she's going to turn into; she's already a freak with a mushroom cap on her head, maybe that's the problem," Nicholas thought, having this notion so suddenly, holding the baby up and examining her, despite the protests of both her and her mother. "Some mushroom spores got lodged into her brain," though the suggestion earned him nothing but a remote being thrown at his head; he stared at the woman like she was insane and questioned why he was even here in the first place, because, surely, she had some female friends that actually cared about her many concerns.
"Douche, douche!"
Twitch.
"You should just be glad she didn't say more than that. It'd be pretty damn funny if one of the first things she said was what the ******** or something like that," he joked, staring back at the child that was staring at him. Said child opened her mouth in an attempt to say the phrase, which was quickly put to the end by another force.
"Damnit, no, see, this is why I shouldn't have let you come over here! You're making matters worse already, you horrible person," Helen cried, taking the child in her arms, shoving a pacifier in her mouth to boot. It was bad enough as it was with the incident at the pet shop and the weird meeting they had there, which she just chose to ignore altogether, but, no, he had to go and open his big mouth and give her ideas; the child wasn't a mushroom, she was a parrot.
Nicholas almost pouted, "Well, damn, next time just don't invite me over. You're not exactly the perfect role model yourself, y'know, else you wouldn't be saying such bad, influencing things around her," he muttered.
"I thought you could be understanding for once. If I ever need you to look after Ore, I'm not sure I could depend on you to keep your language in check," she retorted. "If you keep calling her a freak, I might just have to kick you out, too," looking down at the child, who was currently struggling to break free of the hold on her, which was, admittedly, an amusing sight.
"Fine, then."
"No, really, what can we do?"
"Teach her how to play scrabble."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, teaching a baby to play scrabble. You're such an idiot," Helen reprimanded him, figuring he was only fueling the stereotype that all men had no sense, gearing up to throw another something, whatever she could get, at him. Then again, teaching her how to spell would be beneficial in the future, though whether she had the capacity to remember the letters of the alphabet was questionable, but, if she could say the word douche, she could do that, definitely. "Actually, nevermind, that's probably the most sensible idea you've had since you've been here."
"Wonderful. Are you gonna feed me now?"
"Feed yourself, freeloader."
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:26 pm
Orenda liked to explore and wreak havoc, sometimes.
Those times usually came when her caretaker and that man, a friend of her caretaker, apparently, became involved in a conversation of some sort, or when her caretaker started throwing objects at the man, whichever came first. Since the man came over very often, for whatever reason, she found herself exploring a lot, whether it be in the closet or under her caretaker's bed, she always found something interesting, like that legion of dust bunnies; that was interesting.
So, once again, she continued her travels to the vast corners of the apartment while the two were distracted by some show on television, which really didn't seem all that good in her opinion. She crawled her way past the both of them in complete silence, or maybe the volume was up too loud for them to hear her, whichever, out of the bedroom and into the living room; it was one of her favorites for new discoveries. As she made her way towards the couch, her eyes caught sight of something, a book, maybe, but it was a really thin one, on the table. It had a vibrant color to it, which made her want to see it even more, of course, so she hastened her pace.
Coming to the table, her eyes widened as she looked up, attempting to use some sort of x-ray vision to see its contents, but to no avail, so she reached up to tug at the pages that fell over the edge with a pudgy arm, and success! It toppled over and landed upside down, but there were women on it, dressed in almost nothing, which vexed her, because her caretaker wore plenty of clothing. She grasped the magazine tightly with one hand, turning it over, looking at some of the pages with these people and their weird attire, or lack thereof, and in extremely awkward poses before, all of a sudden a shriek rang through the apartment.
"Damnit, Nick, how many times have I told you not to bring this kind of stuff into my apartment!"
No sooner had the baby heard that was she plucked from the ground, staring helplessly at her caretaker, wondering why her discovery was being interrupted so suddenly. "I swear to whatever being there is above, if I have to send Ore off to a nunnery, you won't live to see another day," though she sounded more frantic than threatening, and the baby was increasingly confused.
"Well, sorry, it's not my fault she's so curious."
"Don't you dare blame this on her, it's not like she was the one who brought pornography to an apartment with a small child in it, and you know how much it disgusts me," the woman went on to say, and all the while, through the argument, the mushroom child could do nothing but wonder just what had gone wrong.
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Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:33 pm
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:23 pm
Helen decided that maybe her child was acting out from lack of affection, though, whether or not that was the case was up to debate; she probably just didn't know any better, really, since she wasn't even a year old, though the woman wasn't much for reason. "That doesn't matter, since we're already out here," she pointed out. "You should get something for her, too, you know, since you probably scarred her for life." "Because, surely, if given some insignificant toy, she will forget all about that magazine incident and become a pure, innocent child," said Nicholas in a mocking tone. "Hell, she's probably going to forget either way, not to mention I already apologized for that, and you can't exactly blame me for her actions." "I can blame you for your actions that led up to her actions," she spat, though couldn't keep up the angry facade for too long. "So the only reason I'm here is to shower the mushroom kid with gifts and affection," he droned, figuring he had spent enough time with her during their previous outing. "No, actually, you're here to carry the bags and protect us from strangers that might want to harm us," Helen explained, before catching sight of a clothing store and running through its doors, leaving poor, poor Nicholas to trail behind. "So, I think she needs something cute." "Just get her some shorts and be on your way, there are little kids staring at me and it's really unnerving," he muttered, forgetting that it wasn't just Ore that stared at people, plenty of little kids did it and it was really, really freaking him out. "I mean, really, she doesn't look like the type to be put in a little, frilly dress, and she doesn't have the mouth for it," and, as if on cue, the girl shouted out the word she was infamous for saying, causing hysteria. Helen relented, muttering a, "You're right, this time," grabbing two pairs of shorts and running up to the cashier, face red with embarrassment, without a second thought; she was pretty sure she had some shirts she could give the baby, somewhere, she just didn't want to stay here any longer. "You have to admit, that was pretty damn funny." "You're not here to talk, you're here to carry bags." "Ffffuuuhn." "And she had fun doing it, apparently." "Obviously," Helen muttered, hoping that wouldn't happen again, but, seeing as there was no way of predicting when she would say it, decided that they needed to knock the rest of this little escapade out in one shot. "Let's go to that one place, you know, the really big one," she suggested and, before her slightly younger companion could make another comment, started running off again. "Hey, let's get her a beanbag chair." "Why?" "So, when the weight of that hugeass mushroom on her head is too much for her, she can fall back on it," Nick said, smiling, which only got a blank stare, well, two, sent in his direction. "While we're at it, why don't we just get her a staff so, when she's older, she can kick your a** for saying ridiculous things." Though meant as a joke, they ended up getting both things for her, in the rare chance that those things actually did occur in the future. "Kids still like marbles, right," Nicholas inquired, "unless they're too hooked on computers and other technology to enjoy the simpler things in life," nevermind that, for one, there was no way in hell a baby was going to know what to do with a computer, except drool on it, and the other points weren't even worth mentioning. "Well, since you're not answering, I'll get those, and that'll be my contribution." They ended up losing most of the marbles by the time they got back to the apartment, but, there were at least two left after it was all said and done. "What are you gonna do now?" "Teach her the letters of the alphabet; do you have a pen?" In response, Nicholas reached in the pocket of his hoodie and grabbed a fountain pen, and, when questioned, he just said it was because they wrote nicely. "Mah," Orenda said, wide eyed and reaching for the pen. "I think she wants it more than you do." "She can have it, then, I'll just go get another one," Helen said, smiling, and handed the pen over to the fascinated child, who stuck it in her mouth, happy. Items  two pairs of shorts.  two marbles.  staff.  beanbag chair.  fountain pen.
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:09 am
The morning after their little shopping trip was a frantic one, for a little while; it started with Helen's customary three in the morning snack, it was just something she did, you see, since she so happened to wake up at around that time every morning, along with her now customary check up on the baby routine, which was always taken care of first, in case she needed something, too. So, when she peered over at the little makeshift crib, she expected to see a baby, but what she saw was clearly not a baby, not at all, and it made her freak; it shouldn't have been a surprise when she picked up her phone and frantically dialed a number, all the while staring at the sleeping toddler.
Ignoring the complaints of being tired and whatever else, she went straight to the point, "I think she grew; no, seriously, she looks different than she did a few hours ago and I don't know what the hell is going on," the woman whined.
"Well, she's a mushroom, isn't she, those things grow overnight or something like that."
"You don't experience very many emotions, do you," Helen droned in response, "the least you could do is act surprised for my sake, you know, humor me. The fact of the matter is children do not grow overnight, even if they have mushroom caps on their head!"
"It isn't that I don't care, it's just that I tend not to care about things when I'm woken up at three in the goddamn morning," the person retorted, which caused a bit of an argument between the two of them, no surprise there, which consisted of them making jabs at the other and things that didn't even relate to what they were talking about before. This exchanged caused the toddler to stir and her caretaker to freeze up momentarily and, just when Helen thought it was safe, the toddler opened her eyes and stared directly at her.
"Muh," Orenda murmured, rubbing her eyes a little before sitting up and continuing to stare at her caretaker, tilting her head while doing so. Helen could only manage to stare back for a few minutes, before deciding to hang up the phone and actually do something.
"Um, hi," was her pathetic attempt.
"Hi, hi, hi," was the response, followed by a large smile; today was gonna be interesting, for sure.
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Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:18 pm
Apparently, it was time for another trip to the grocery store, between her friends' freeloading and feeding herself, along with a small child, and a few other places as well, none of which she wanted to bring said small child to. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy her company or anything, it was just that her company sometimes caused her problems in the places they went, especially with her expanded vocabulary. So, to not run into this problem again, she'd just kindly ask one of her friends to look after her, possibly guilt tripping them into doing so if she had to, which ended up being a lot harder than she thought.
It was like everyone crafted these excuses just because they knew she was going to come to them; they knew, those bastards. "We'll see what happens when they're out there broke and starving," she muttered after a while, staring at her phone blankly, then at the mushroom child that was staring at her so expectantly, which was unsettling, in a way. That being her motivation, she punched in a series of numbers, waiting for an answer before saying, "Hey, I know you're working today, but, could you do me a favor?"
Which somehow landed Dennis with a garbage truck and an odd looking kid, none of which he really wanted to be with in the first place, to be honest, but, for now, he would shut up and deal.
"Alright, kid, since you're cuttin' into my work time, I'm gonna be takin' you with me," he explained, driving to his downtown destination. "There are two conditions for you to stay here, 'less you wanna get dumped on the side of the street. One, don't touch anything, and two, try not to get crushed with the trash or somethin', I don't feel like dealin' with that today," and Orenda understood not one word of what he said, opting to kick her feet and attempt to stare outside the windows.
It wasn't very eventful, though; all she got to do was go outside and watch the person and his friends put trash into the truck-monster, and then she had to go back inside the truck after a while. She did see a few people, though, and even spoke to one of them, saying, "Hi, you smell fuuuunny!" Later, she learned that person was a hobo, and it was bad to say things like that to them, but he certainly didn't look offended, so it was okay.
Except the hobo might've been offended, now that she thought about it, and used some weird hobo magic to make her smell funny, too, even though Dennis said that happens when you hang around trash.
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:55 pm
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Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:49 pm
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