|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 8:36 pm
.|.Worksheet Assignment #6/7/8/9/10-
7/15/06 .|.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 8:34 pm
A child is expected to know certian things at certian ages. In order to obtain rights to their Dragon(egg), they must prove they can meet these requirements. The following sheet is for your child to fill out, with mild help from their guardian, then sent back to D-corp. (PM ot the mule) Also any changes, even minor such as haircuts, should be reported to the D-corp to be logged and filed.
Thankyou,
The Boss.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:45 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 2:24 pm
Squish!
Meeting Medusa Medusa was left to enjoy the pond by her lonesome self, not at all minding the quiet. Her feet splashed in the shallows as she glanced over to her guardian setting up the picnic table, the other residents of the house helping as well.
"Em r duks!" She exclaimed, mostly to herself as she pointed at the feathery fowl swimming and quacking just beyond the reeds. Idly, she wondered if she could swim with them, and comprehended on this, her finger resting on her lower lip as her eyes looked upwards.
Etain counted sloppily. He didn't have a very good head for numbers, with or without help from his fingers, and it didn't help that the fish he was trying to count kept swimming away and coming back and going about in circles... - made it pretty much impossible.
Not that he didn't try. Crouched at the edge of the pond, his little jellie sandals tucked under him, pale fingers gripping the rocks that lined the bank of the water, the little blonde boy frowned doggedly down at the koi fish flitting around.
"One, two, fou--aw, no movin'." No such luck. The fish, apparently, weren't interested in listening to a little boy with a horn growing out of his head (not that they would have listened even if he didn't have a horn).
Some distance away, the little boy's guardian had settled himself on a different picnic bench, and he seemed to be thumbing through a thick leather bound book.
"QUACK!!" Medusa called out, allowing a grin to cross her face as the feathery fowls took off into air, her own form leaning forward. The water felt very cool at this time of day, and Medusa was glad that she had spotted shade in such a place.
Tilting her head to the side, she spotted a very interesting other that intrigued her a bit, and stood up from the shallows, walking through the short reeds over to where he was crouching.
Apparently ducks didn't like loud noises like that. Two or three of them took swiftly to flight. So quickly, in fact, that it caused the little boy to start, rocking backwards and losing his balance until he sat, hard, on the grass and small stones lining the pond. For a few seconds, the blonde was absolutely silent as his little poof-ended tail wavered and twitched uncertainly this way and that, long ears flicking as if trying to determine what had just happened. Wordlessly, he craned his head back to watch the duck skitter up into the sky only to come back and land a few feet away in the grass.
"Duck," he noted darkly, frowning slightly. Now he'd lost count again. Lower lip poking out, Etain turned his attention back to the pond and to the fish - only to find someone wading through the shallow water in his direction. She was scaring all the fish away.
But! She was carrying a fish of her own; a goldfish, to be exact! And stomp stomp stomp she came through the water, before plopping down on the grass before the other, giving a small wave. "Hi!" She exclaimed cheerfully, trying out her smile again. It still needed work, but it was there.
Grey eyes widening, she looked him over and her mouth went into a small 'o' of awe, before she pointed at him. "Who're yew?"
Eyeing the little girl crookedly, Etain skittered away a little as she clambered out of the water and flopped down into the grass. Clearly curious, but a touch shy -- he'd had bad experiences meeting kids at ponds; the last one had poked him with a stick! -- the unicorn stuck the fingers of one hand into his mouth and began nibbling them in a compulsive, habitual fashion.
"Who're you?" he parroted back, clearly not prepared to answer her question unless she offered herself out first. Tovar said not to talk to strangers anyway, so unless she introduced herself he couldn't really talk to her, now could he?
--Did she have a fish in her tummy? Despite himself, Etain wiggled a bit closer in an attempt to get a better look at it.
"Medusa." She murmured softly, nodding for confirmation. "Dun haf a naym fer fshhh." The girl explained, poking her tummy as she stared at it. It seemed that she had an odd accent - either that, or a touch for pronouncing words the wrong way - but nonetheless, she wasn't really offended by anything.
Nodding slowly, Etain wiggled a bit closer. There, now he could properly examine that fish...in her tummy. Unconsciously, he touched his own stomach with his freehand through the cloth of his t-shirt. He couldn't see in his tummy...
How unfair!
"'M Etain," he offered at length, still clearly distracted by the fish. "How d'you feed it? -'Re you nekid? T'var says y'shouldn't go places nekid. Makes me put pants on alot. 'N shoes."
Naked? Medusa didn't really know the meaning of the word, whatever could he mean?
"I eet flayks," She grinned, pointing at the table where lots of food now sat. "Ka... Keenth... carries them." Gringrin. "But kan't steey owt of watyr far lawng." It had taken a while for Medusa to understand the concept that she couldn't stay from water for too-long periods of time, but it wasn't like she hated the water... she was, indeed, a jellyfish.
Etain glanced toward the picnic table that Medusa had indicated. Aaaah. Flakes. That made sense. "D'you live in th'bathtub?" That's the only place HE got wet - well, except when Tovar took him to the pool, but that was completely different. His hair and the end of his tail always turned green there and it took days and days to come out, even with Tovar scrubbing shampoo into his head (he didn't mind it, really; Tovar's nails felt nice on his scalp. He liked people tinkering with his hair).
"You should give 'im a name," the blonde noted, reaching out tentatively to motion to the fish wandering about Medusa's insides. "Sam 'er sumfink."
Medusa shook her head. "I tayk baaths oftyn." Glancing down at Etain's finger, she poked her stomach again. "Yoo kin touch et! Dosn't hert." Gosh, how she hated to pronounce words sometimes! It was really challenging to stumble over those last few, and she squinted an eye as she stuck out her tongue, shaking her head.
Cool. Features brightening visibly, he reached out and poked at the girl's stomach area, toward the fish swimming about the liquid-y substance that filled her. She sort of reminded him of a waterballoon. He wondered, suddenly worried, if she'd break if she flopped real hard against the ground. He decided not to worry about it, though. Not right now, anyway.
"Squishy." Like jelly or the ooze that had come out from under Michael's door on Tuesday. That stuff had been really, really gross... And had stained the bottoms of his socks. Tovar had been angry and said alot of mean things when he cleaned it up that he thought Etain couldn't hear.
"Yah." Medusa beamed, puffing her chest out proudly. The fish inside swam around, now interested in the boy's finger, its inner eyelids blinking. As it swam towards him, it didn't even seem to notice the barrier (Medusa's skin), and ran right into it.
... no one ever said fish were smart.
Etain pulled his finger back quickly, looking a little sheepish and guilt. "Oops." He hadn't meant to confuse the fish. Absently, he lifted a hand to rub his eyes. They sorta itched in a weird way. Etain didn't look back to the fish, instead casting his attention out across the surface of the pond.
"D'you have any cookies? At yer table." He could really go for some cookies. Tovar didn't usually let him eat too many, but... He glanced to the chestnut haired man at the other picnic table. Still had his nose in a book, it looked like.
"I spose we doo!" Standing up, the jellyfish girl took Etain's hand and steadied herself as if she was going to help him up. "M'shur Kant wuldn't miynd! Eet wit us?"
Hooray, cookies! Etain clasped her hand in his own, using the leverage of her weight to scrabble to his own feet. The little boy's tail flipped faintly back and forth, removing little bits of grass and dust that had settled in the blonde poof at the end. "'Lright," he chirped happily, leaving his hand settled comfortably in Medusa's before hopping toward the table that the little girl had pointed out earlier.
Upon approaching the table, Etain stopped so quickly his hand almost snapped out of Medusa's. For a few seconds, he stared at the woman near the table, and then quickly backpedalled, beginning to scratch compulsively at his arms. His eyes hit the ground with an almost audible thud.
"Ne'ermind," he muttered, chewing on his lower lip. "Don't really want any..."
"Not skary," Medusa murmured softly, glancing from Kanth to Etain, and then leaving Etain. "I go get yew wun!" And thus she marched to the table with purpose, climbing on the bench and eyeing over the plates. Vegetables, something gooey, something hot, something red... aha! Brown somethings, chocolate chip cookies. Kanth had forbid her from eating them due to her not knowing what would happen, but surely her getting them for someone else wouldn't harm anything! And, Kanth was so busy she wouldn't even notice! Inching towards the plate, Medusa smiled as she got one, then shimmied down to the ground again, running over to produce the cookie she had snagged.
"Fer yew!" She stated proudly, as if she had gotten some rare artifact in a tomb, such as Indiana Jones.
Etain watched Medusa nervously from the corner of his eye, keeping his attention plastered on the translucent girl and being extremely careful not to look at her guardian again. His skin still felt like little bugs were crawling under it. It made him sick to his stomach - almost enough so that he really din't want that cookie...
He found he was pretty much over it by the time Medusa got back with the sweet though; enough to eat the cookie, anyway (because what little kid in his right mind refused a cookie, crawly skin or no?). "Thankew," he said in a hushed tone, as if paranoid that if he spoke to loud Medusa's mom might see him and try to hug him. That happened alot and usually he didn't mind it, but when they were like that...
Etian shuddered and stuffed the cookie into his mouth.
"Yew okey?" Medusa asked, drawing by his side, her gray eyes wide with concern for the other. "Yew dun look weyll..." A frown covered her face as she peered close, her dreadlocks touching his shoulder. They were still very damp from the water.
"M'fine," he assured her around the mouthful of cookie. At least it tasted good; it would have been really unpleasant if he'd gone through all that only to have a foul tasting cookie.
"Yer all wet," he noted blankly, absently reaching up with one hand to brush along the damp splotches Medusa's hair had left on the fabric of his shirt. Absently, he stuffed the last of the cookie into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed hard to get it down. Despite himself, he shot a glance toward the picnic table. He immediately regretted it, turning his back quickly to the strange skin-crawling woman.
"Hafta bee." Medusa stated. "Get siyk if I'm noht." Reaching up, she ran her fingers over a dreadlock, staring crosseyed at it before concentrating on Etain again, the worried look returning. "Hay! Taaain, I werry." She tugged on his shirt, giving an almost pouty look.
Almost impatiently, the little boy brushed aside her hands. "M'fine," he insisted again, little tail flicking nervously back and forth. The boy's long ears twitched slightly. "C'n we go back there?" he asked, motioning quickly to the place on the pond's bank where they'd been before. "Or to T'var?"
Etain looked hopefully to his own guardian. The man's nose was still buried in whatever book he'd brought along with him.
"Ooooh," Medusa spoke, awed. She pointed at Etain's guardian. "Gow meeet!" He did look rather interesting, and she looked intrigued now. "We gow?"
Oh, what a relief! Nodding, Etain quickly took off in Tovar's direction, his little legs working hard to keep from tumbling and his tail held out at a slight angle to the ground to keep balance. He just managed to slow himself to a stop before knocking into Tovar's back.
"T'var..." Etain muttered, poking the man in the back.
He started, dropping the book and immediately losing his place. "Wha--oh. What do you want Etai--..." The young man fell silent as his attention fell on the little girl accompanying Etain. "Who's this?"
"M'dusa. Gave me a'cookie."
"Yee!" Medusa held out her hand, brightening at the chance to meet someone new. He really was intriguing; glancing him over almost expertly, she nodded before turning to look at the book he was holding, then spoke again. "Yew loze spot?"
It looked like Tovar was biting back some rather thorough amusement. Smiling sharply, he offered his hand out to catch Medusa's, shaking it lightly. She was...definitely some sort of jellyfish, by the looks of it -- and good God, was that a fish floating around in there? Chuckling slightly, Tovar released her hand and looked to his book. "Ah, seems I have...-- but it's not difficult to find again, I suppose."
Etain smiled brightly, apparently having forgotten his previous trauma concerning Medusa's guardian. By the looks of it, the unicorn was absolutely filled to bursting with pride in his own parents. "T'var's nice," he chirped proudly, fingers curling in the edge of the man's shirt, his little cheek pressed against his side.
"Payg... one-two... five." Medusa stated, peering over Etain's shoulder as she tried to get a better look. Books were rather intriguing...! Oh, how she wished she could read better.
Tovar blinked, glancing sharply in Medusa's direction. "One-twenty-five, huh?" He'd humor her. Pulling the book to him, he thumbed through the pages until--
Tovar set the book back down, features blank from surprise. "...Someone's certainly got a sharp pair of eyes."
Etain shifted, standing on tiptoe to peer into the book. He was somewhat shorter than his new friend, and had a bit of a hard time spying the page. "Right?"
Tovar nodded. "She's right."
Beaming, Medusa blushed for a moment before hearing Kanth call, then glanced to the woman over at the other table. "Be ryte bak!" She exclaimed, and hopped over to the picnic table to achieve a popsicle (blue, to be exact), and wander back over to the other two. Kanth didn't have a problem with Medusa wandering around, as long as she stayed in sight.
"Wan go pley wit duks 'gain?" The jellyfish girl asked around the popsicle, feeling a small bit better now that she had something to eat. The fish inside of her belly seemed to shiver for a moment, then spin around in circles as if it was on a sugar high.
Tovar and Etain both watched with some impassive interest as the little girl scuttled off only to return a few moments later. Immediately, Etain detached himself from his guardian's hip in favor of rejoining his friend. "Ducks," he parroted in agreement, forgoing Medusa's possibly stick hands (thank you, popsicle) in favor of simply leading the way on back to the edge of the pond.
A few of the ducks had settled themselves into the grass and the reeds, but they immediatly got up and waddled into the water as the two children approached. Darnit.
"Mum sez duks liek bred." She stated as if it were a simple matter, and bit off a piece of the popsicle as she walked, sucking on it thoughtfully. She stared at Etain with her grey eyes, waiting to see if he'd say anything.
Blinking, Etain cast a backward glance over his shoulder toward the picnic table and Tovar. They didn't have any bread, he thought - at least, not that he could remember. "Dun have any," he muttered with some dissapointment as he glanced back to the fleeing ducks.
And that was a crying shame.
"Awwwww." Medusa stated, frowning as she finished her popsicle and leaned forward to rinse her hands off in the water. "Yew wanna plae?" She pointed at the water.
After a moment's consideration, Etain nodded sharply. "'Lright." He'd been wanding to flounder around in that water anyway, and now was his chance. Trudging forward, his little purple jellie sandals squeaking slightly across the gross, he immediately waded into the water at the edge of the pond.
It was cold.
Tovar probably didn't want his shorts getting wet.
Getting in right after him, Medusa floated on her stomach for a short while before she stood up and waded over to him, pointing to a patch of kelp. "Geud tew eet?" She asked, curious. Kanth still hadn't found a 'balanced diet' for her, and she was pretty much open to eat anything she came across that suited her fancy.
After all, it wasn't like she could get in trouble for it, even if they could see in her stomach to study what she ate and how it affected her. So far, popsicles were good, but it made the fish kinda go crazy.
Etain waded until the water came up just below his knees, choosing to be rather safe than sorry when it came to his shorts. Besides, if he wanted to get wetter, he could just take 'em off right? He glanced crookedly at the pond scummy looking vegetation and immediately made a face.
"Ewwww," he croaked, the word sticking in his throat, smacking clearly of distate. "Ick. --I like those." He twisted, pointing back up onto the shore toward a patch of dandelions. They were good; not as tasty as the roses and sunflowers, but nice. Tovar didn't like him to eat the ones in parks though cuz' he thought they might have been sprayed with stuff that might eat him from the inside out.
Or something like that.
Not-water things? What fun was that? "Ooohhh." She said, nodding as if she understood. Which, in reality, she really didn't. Reaching under the water to pull a bit of the kelp up, she chewed on it experimentally before ripping off a piece and offering it to Etain.
She didn't really think he had tried it before. But then again, neither had she.
The unicorn made a face, backpeddling slightly. "S'okay," he said, shaking his head so quickly his tight little curls flipped and flopped. "'M full." That cookie...had filled him right up. Or something like that.
So long as he didn't have to eat that gross looking stuff. It smelled awfully funny.
Etain watched with mute horror as Medusa began chewing on her half of the stuff.
"S'not bad!!" Medusa smiled, finishing off his piece as well. It floated down her throat and swirled around in her stomach, almost as if she swallowed a pretty ribbon.
The fish didn't seem happy.
Etain made a rather interesting face in response. It was a sort of comical upper-lip twist, nose-scrunching, brow-furrowing look that in the end just made him look a little ridiculous (but still utterly disturbed by Medusa's choice of food). "N-no. S'okay."
Absently, he glanced back over his shoulder toward Tovar. From the looks of it, his guardian was starting to shift around where he sat - fiddle with the strap of his bag. If Etain knew anything about Tovar - which, he liked to think, he did -, that meant it was almost time to go home...
Blinking at him, Medusa tilted her head and shrugged, washing off her hands in the pond again before standing up, glancing at her own party. The picnic had dwelled down quite a bit, and they were starting to pick things up; had they really been out that long?
"Teim tew gow," Medusa said with a kind of twisted frown, before wringing her hands together and looking at Etain with a bit of sadness. "Weill eye seyu 'gain?"
Etain didn't look to Medusa's own party. Instead, he kept his eyes firmly trained out on the water and the ducks, gnawing absently at his lower lip as his new friend took stock of her own guardian situation. He glanced up when she spoke. "Mmhmm!" he assured her adamantly, brow furrowing with determination. "C'n come over!" he offered, swishing absently back in forth where he stood knee deep in the water.
"Etain!" Tovar's call drew his attention momentarily. The little boy frowned harder.
"Bye bye?" he chirped uncertainly, peering hard at Medusa.
"Naut bye, cee yew laytr." Medusa, careful of her hands (for she didn't want to hurt her new friend like she had hurt Kanth), leaned forward and gave him a big hug, her cheek pressing against his neck for a moment.
"Hart," She murmured happily, listening to his heartbeat. Hers sounded a bit different, but it couldn't have been that different! Pulling away, Medusa stared into his brown eyes with her own grey ones. "Cee yew laytr? I try tew koom ovar."
Etain flopped into the hug with fevor. He was good at hugs, and he liked them rather alot. Absolutely heedless of any danger, he wrapped his arms around her slightly squishy frame and returned the hug happily. Luckily, most of Medusa's exterior didn't seem remotely threatening so Etain was left perfectly oblivious to his new friend's biological abilities.
"See you," he chirped, untangling himself from her and offering a short, flapping wave before he waded from the water and started off at a wobbly run back to Tovar.
Medusa smiled as he left, waving happily, knowing for sure she could convince Kanth to let her visit him again, possibly in the near future.
"Ready to go?" Kanth asked softly, after a long moment of watching Medusa stare at the water, receiving a nod from the girl.
"Yah, yah. Redee." Putting out her hand, Medusa tugged on Kanth's pants, making a pouting face. Kanth mistook this entirely, and picked the little girl up, glancing at the now empty picnic table.
"Did you want more than a popsicle, my little jelly girl...?" Kanth murmured soothingly, reaching up to toy with a lock of medusa's hair. Medusa shook her head from side to side furiously, then glanced over to Etain to point him out...
But they were gone. Drat. She'd have to ask Kanth later. But right now, she was tired, and it was a long day. Medusa put her head on Kanth's shoulder and closed her eyes, feeling her body sag...
//the end.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 3:45 pm
.|.Tovar's Journal - Entry #3
8/07/06 .|. Tovar Etain's growing so fast. This is probably the ultimate cliche in all of parentdom (I'll probably look back at this and wince later), but it really does seem like it was just a few days ago that he was a tiny little boy just arrived here. It's almost unbelieveable how much he's grown in the few months he's been here. I don't really mean by height or anything - if anything, he seems to be shorter than most kids his age -, but he's definitely not a baby anymore. For one, he's finally started using, perish the thought!, full sentences. He still hates Michael though. Well, hate might be a strong word for it; he prefers to avoid Michael, and frankly I haven't quite figured out why yet. Michael seems to know, but he's so damn hard to pin down! I can never get a straight answer from him. I hope that man's not done anything to Etain. Probably scared the daylights out of him or something. b*****d...
Anyway, we went and got Etain some new clothes because of his growth spurt. We had to, uh...shop in the girl's half of the store. I feel a little irresponsible letting him do that, but he doesn't LIKE the other stuff (well, we got him some alright shorts in the boy's section, but otherwise, no such luck). This is probably going to have some horrible, traumatizing effect on his pysche that he'll need years and years of therapy to cure later in life. But he's happy for the meantime, right? At least now he's willing to wear shoes. He's really, really fond of those ridiculous sparkly purple jelly-ma-bobber things. He tried to sleep with them yesterday but I managed to convince him otherwise.
On that note, his room has stopped moving other furniture back into it. The house seems to have finally gotten the idea that it's no longer a storage room. Thank god - no more midnight paranoia about finding him under a wardrobe in the morning.
-T.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:02 pm
.|.Etain's Journal - Entry #1
8/07/06 .|. Etain Dear jornul,
Tovar sayz i'm shuld start riting in a journal becuse its good practise for my riting and spelling. he says he'll check it for stuff like Caps and punchooashun and try and help me with it Im excited. Tovar got me a good jornul for writing in, but maybe that iz obvius. i also got Lots of purpl pensils to go with it
Tovar sayz i shuld rite about thing i did in my day. today we went to get stuff for Michul in bartun. Michul always makes Tovar do things for him and sumtime it is unfair becus maybe he could do it with the pictur in the kitchin. going to town all the time makes Tovar grumpy sumtimes but this time he got my icecream sum of it dripped on my shooz but it was easy to clean off. toes sticky, thogh.
i gues that is it for now. my hand is tired.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 6:55 pm
The Goat and the Necromancer
Meeting Donat (if briefly) Rather than letting Donat sit around in the grass and eat it, Kumoru figured he would try to take the boy for a bit of a walk around the park. He himself had not seen much of it lately, and, truth be told, the same old grassy field where he usually brought the goat boy was getting a little dull.
Walking slowly to allow ample time for the boy to look around, Kumoru made his way down the park path, rather enjoying the slow pace himself.
Donat peered about in pure wonder at the tall trees on either side of the mulched path. He held onto his father's hand with one hand, while he sort of leaned down and tried to touch the ground with the other. He was not precisely dragging his feet, but it was clear he would much rather be walking on all-fours. At least Donat was not complaining about having to walk on two.
After a few minutes, though, he started to get bored with the trees, since they were all too tall to eat from. Maybe someone would walk by?
"And that's how you bury stuff."
The little voice, pitched slightly hair but definitely boyish in nature, cut through the quiet park air. For a few seconds it wasn't immediately apparent where the chatter was coming from, but once the two had continued on a few feet farther it was easy to see a rather short little boy sitting in the mulch under a tree. He'd dug a hole in the mulch and had dropped a pair of keys inside the hole. Currently, he was covering it over with dirt and wood chips and, apparently, talking to a stick at his knee.
On closer inspection, it wasn't actually a stick. Rather, something faintly mist-like floated at the top of it. There was the distinct feeling that it was at least listening to what the boy said, even if it couldn't see what Etain was doing.
The unicorn's ears twitched sharply and he stopped talking abruptly. Slowly, he peered over his shoulder toward the path and the two strangers approaching. With a screech, he lept to his feet and just about dive bombed the younger boy, pale arms catching the child around the middle in a tight hug. "ANOKI!" he squeaked, wiggling about in some semblance of a dance, his poof-ended tail whipping about happily.
Wait. Wasn't Anoke bigger than him? ...This person was definitely too small. And his horns were all wrong... Etain immediately released the other boy, skittering back a few steps.
"Oops."
Eyes widening in surprise, Donat could not do much of anything but giggle as he was hugged without warning. Had he met this other kid before? Oh well, hugs were good from anyone, right?
"Hiya," he said with a grin as the other boy backed away.
Kumoru was just about as surprised as the other child practically attacked Donat. But the other one seemed to realize his mistake soon enough and back off. Not that the mage was about to use any forceful methods to get the boy off of his son. But it was still admittedly a bit strange.
"Er, have we met yet?" he asked, brushing a lock of black hair out of his eyes and glancing down at Donat, in case the goat boy had somehow met the other without his knowledge.
Etain shook his head, looking momentarily worried. Compulsively, the boy began nibbling at the skin on the end of one finger. By the looks of it, it was a often-trod path of a nervous habit. "Naw, I thought he was somebody else," he explain, peering curiously at Donat. Weird something was making him feel...
Etain glanced briefly to the boy's guardian and immediately glanced in the other direction, backpeddling hastily. "'Msorry'msorry," he squeaked, waving his hands slightly and skittering off a safe distance, back to the disturbed mulch under the tree and the wisp-ended stick he'd left there. "I should go," he yammered nervously, eyes still firmly Elsewhere as he groped around for the stick.
Apparently something had him creeped out.
Donat looked at Kumoru, then after the other boy, his bottom lip sticking out a little in a pout. Then he started to toddle after Etain, calling, "Wait, where are you going?"
The mage stood where he was, watching after Donat and wondering what might be wrong. Hopefully Donat would not think he had done anything wrong. After a moment, he took a few steps towards the two boys, wondering what was going on.
"J-just," Etain started, finally manage to catch hold of the stick. He clutched it nervously to himself, risking a glance to the little boy. At least he didn't make him feel like little bugs were crawling under his skin. Uugh this is miserable. "Just need to take Leith b-back to Tovar," he managed, shifting nervously from one foot to the other, looking utterly prepared to break through the line of bushes and street off across the park, so long as it was away from the mage.
In fact, the moment the man took a few steps closer, the unicorn nearly did just that: skittering nervously halfway through the hedges, his little legs getting all scratched up and scuffed because of it. Still, it seemed to bother him less than whatever it was about Kumoru that was bothering him so badly.
Donat plopped down on the mulch by the hole the other boy had been digging, and started sniffling a little. What had he done wrong? He even got a hug before, and now the other kid was acting like that? It wasn't fair!
Frowning a little in confusion as well, Kumoru watched the boy scamper off through the bushes, then walked over to Donat.
"It's alright," he assured the goat boy, reaching down to ruffle his hair a little. Donat had to be the least intimidating child the mage had ever seen. He only hoped the poor boy would not be too upset by all this.
Wiping his nose a little, Donat glanced at the ground and saw something shiny partially burried in the mulch. He gently reached down into the hole and picked up the keys between two fingers. Did these belong to the other boy? Would he come back for them?
"H-hey!" he shouted towards the bushes, then stuck a finger in his mouth to suck on it.
Etain edged farther back into the hedge at the mage drew nearer yet, nearly dissapearing into the plant (or popping out on the other side, whichever came first). He was on the verge of simply scampering away through the hudge, turning and running, when he realized, belatedly, that he'd left Tovar's keys half buried in the dirt.
Uh-oh.
--And now the little not-Anoki had them! Better than his guardian getting a hold of them, at least. Etain peered shyly at the goat boy from where he stood, half hidden in the midst of the hedge. He needed those keys... He didn't move back out to claim them though. Maybe the litle boy would bring them to him if he didn't go out... so long as he didn't have to get closer to that scary, weird smelling man. His ears twitched nervously.
"C-could you...bring those here?" He asked, chewing on his thumb uncertainly.
Donat chewed on his own fingers in response, glancing between the keys in his other hand and the bush where the other boy was hiding.
"Donat, you should give those back," Kumoru told the boy.
Or was the other child afraid of him?
The goat boy looked up at his father again, then sniffled a little and climbed to his feet. "You gonna run away again?" he asked, taking a step towards the shrubs.
The unicorn shifted nervously, though looked eagerly to the keys. It looked like he wouldn't have to get close to the weird-smelling man; that was good. "So long as your person stays far away," he said, clearly without knowing that the statement was probably a little rude, nevermind a little silly sounding.
He did finally move closer to the edge of the bush, though by no means did he leave it. Rather, gripping the stick in one hand (the little wisp undulated dully near his shoulder, apparently bored with this whole situation), he held the other just slightly out past the branches in anticipation for the younger boy to hand over Tovar's keys. He'd just...grab them and run off or something.
"My person?" Donat repeated, then stole a quick glance over his shoulder at Kumoru. "You mean Daddy? He's not scary. He has magic, but that's pretty and not scary. Why is Daddy scary?"
While he waited for a response, the goat boy stood where he was, still holding the keys. He did not intend at all to force a response out of the unicorn, and he did not think his actions were in any way coersive. Donat was just afraid that the boy would run away as soon as he had the keys and not say anything.
At the indirect accusation, Kumoru took a few steps back, but did not turn away from the bush. Did the child somehow sense his magic or something?
No, impossible. He may be a necromancer, but never had he used his spells for evil ends. On the contrary, it was his magic that had allowed him to get the DNA for little Donat in the first place. Necromancy was necromancy, but Kumoru knew his intentions were different.
Etain fidgeted. Why did they always want to know why. It was hard, impossible!, for him to explain right. It was just... "Just a feeling," he managed, shifting nverously in his bush. "'C'n...feel people...that aren't really there anymore. Still around him, like they should be or...or s-something." It made no sense, but he could. It made his head hurt - like he knew he should be seeing more than just the mage standing there: like he had a spot in his vision but everytime he turned his head the people he knew to be there skittered to keep up with the place he couldn't see.
It made the hair at the back of his neck stand straight on end.
"C-can I have them?" he asked again, staring hard at the keys rather than on Donat's daddy. "The keys. Please."
That was strange. Normally, when Donat asked questions, he got answers and everything was "clear as day" like Daddy would always say, and that was that. But this time, the boy in the bushes had answered a question and it seemed to make things even muddier in Donat's mind. People that were not there? How silly.
At the mention of the keys, though, the goat slipped out of his pondering and glanced at them in his hand as though he had forgotten he was holding them. "Sorry," he said with a small, faintly hopeful smile as he closed the rest of the distance between himself and the bushes, holding the keys out in front of him as far as his arm would stretch.
"My name's Donat," he offered along with the keys, his tone rising at the end as though it were almost a question. Maybe at least the other boy would be less scared if he knew his name?
He took the keys quickly, the bits and bobs of metal clinking as he pressed them to his chest alongside the stick. Time to go, his brain, skin, instinct, wailed at him and for a moment he almost did. But...but that would be bad. Especially since the little boy seemed so hopeful and-and it wasn't his fault that his daddy was...
Etain shivered and glanced pointedly at his own two feet rather than back to the mage. He didn't go anywhere at least, but he didn't look up to Donat either. "Thank you," he croaked out uncertainly. "It's n-nice to meet you. 'M Etain. And this is Leith." He twitched the stick in his grip slightly and the little misty apparation at the top drifted absently back and forth. "H-he's just a baby now, but Tovar says he's gonna come out...in a little bit. Maybe. T-then he'll be a little brother fer me t-to poke an' stuff."
And, oh he was rmabling but he couldn't make himself stop; didn't even register that he might be talking too much.
Donat could not help but smile just a little. At least he had gotten the other boy's name. And already in the back of his mind, some bit of mischief was cooking that involved getting away from Kumoru just long enough to visit this boy again.
"Nice to meet you," he said, remembering his manners since Daddy was still right behind him. "I don't have a little brother, but I have a big brother who's nice. I hope your little brother is nice, too."
"Maybe..." Etain responded shiftily, fingers gripping the stick and the keys tighter. "Maybe he will be."
Tovar seemed nervous about Leith, and that's really Etain knew on the subject matter. It had taken some seriously corraling for his guardian to let him take Leith to the trees, and Etain had to wonder if it would be the same when his little brother was a proper baby rather than just some floaty thing that didn't say or do anything particularly interesting.
"I...I should go," he said finally, fidgetting nervously. "It was...n-nice meeting you, er, Donat." He hesitated, fumbling with the keys. They jingled, the sound far to pleasant for the situation at hand. "Can I g-go now?"
Though Donat looked a bit disappointed, he nodded a little and waved to Etain. "I wanna see you again sometime," Donat told him. "But yeah, if you have to go home. Bye-bye." He pouted slightly and waved a four-fingered hand.
Etain nodded. "Donat," he repeated, shoving the name and the boy's appearance into his memory. "I-I'll see you again," he assured. After all, the little boy himself seemed nice and friendly - determined, Etain liked that - and it really wasn't his fault that his daddy made his skin crawl and his eyes hurt and his nose feel all itchy like something smelled wrong. Usually he would have tolerated it, if only to play with the little boy, but...
He'd been so close and this adult seemed... - there was something intensely off about him, like the man had been playing in odd smelling mud that no one else could see or smell. Etain wrinkled his nose unconsciously, glancing up from the ground to Donat.
"B-bye," he managed before, with a rustle and crackle of leaves, he shoved through the back of the hedge and took off at a run toward the place where he'd left Tovar.
//the end.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:14 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:53 pm
Lemonade, with a side of Anguish
A Visit from Paxton and Naito It was early on in his youth that Paxton had decided to make things right with everyone. Let's face it, as a child...he was perhaps a tad angry, not to mention rude. Being older now, Paxton had grown up to see the error of his ways. Instead of an insecure little fledgling, he was turning into a joyous, bubbly...love happy bird brain. Yes, no longer irate he was filled with love...perhaps a little too much love. You see, the child was still struggling with the concept of what love truly meant, needless to say he didn't quite have the full picture being raised in a household of heathens.
Obscure picture or not, Paxton knew one thing, he did want people to love him. That meant everyone, especially those whom he had hurt in the past. This included Etain. So far he had made peace with everyone else, Keanu, Mr. Orpehous, Gabby...the unicorn was the only one left now to consul. But what to do?
Paxton was already standing upon the front door step of the little fellows house, and it was just now he realized...he didn't know how to apologize. He had baked a cake for Orpehous....but somehow he didn't think Etain would like cake. Keanu had been all to willing to forgive, and Gabby well...she was just Gabby, that didn't count! But what was he going to do?! The lovebird had already knocked on the door. With a panicked chirp Paxton ran back a few steps until he found a small little flower on the ground. With a fierce tug he had pulled it out and was speeding towards the front door 'Please don't open the door until I get there...please don't open the door until I get there...' he panted in his mind. Just thank god that D-corp kept address listings of all the parents...other wise he might have never rain into Etain again.
"Aughkdoorknockingsomeone!" Bang. Trip. Crash.
Etain watched with a sort of impassive lack of worry as his guardian went heads of heels, crashing through a stack of books that had been left at the bottom of the stairs and immediately becoming tangled in the rug they'd been sitting precariously on. Etain picked at his fingernails and swung his feet slightly back and forth from where he sat in a ladder backed chair shoved up against the hall's right wall.
"Etain?" Tovar croaked from the floor, fingers and toes wiggling slightly. Checking to make sure he wasn't mostly dead, Etain recognized cheerfully.
"Tovar?" he mimicked, not meaning anything bad by it. He quirked his head slightly to the side and shifted in his chair in an attempt to get a better look at his guardian on the floor.
"Could you...get the door?"
"I'm in time out fer throwin' paint on Mich'l."
"Yes, but -- here, you're officially out of time out."
"Y'sure?"
"Yes."
Etain hesitated moment before, shrugging, he launched himself off the chair and floundered off to the front door. He wasn't really worried about Tovar. Tripping and falling through stuff seemed to happen alot around here - which, considering the state of the house (despite Tovar's best efforts) wasn't really surprising. By the time Etain got to the door, it had been nearly a full minute since it had been knocked on first. He fumbled with the latch for a few seconds before, hooray!, the door popped open.
"Hellooo--aughk!"
Etain slammed the door shut, hair practically standing on end and eyes wide.
From where he was untangling his limbs, Tovar glanced up. "Who was it?"
"No one."
One, two...Paxton managed to scramble up the third and last step to the front door just as it swung back on his hinges. Yes! He had done it...damn, running was hard work. He just wasn't meant for it. Considering all, Paxton lacked all major muscle and bone structure for things required on land. He was built for grace, for style, for poise! ...Just in the air of coarse.
Sitting up, Paxton straitened out his hair, and pulled up his shorts which were slipping down again. Looking good was a good 80% of getting people to like you, or at least it was what he had been told, and well...after all his experiences he didn't doubt it. Changing his expression from exhausted, Paxton straitened up and put on a beaming smile. "Etain!" Came his excited voice. Good! It was the little unicorn whom had answered the door...or erm briefly opened it.
Suddenly the smile melted away as the hinges swung shut. "NO---WAI-- ETAIN!" Paxton dropped the flower he was holding, as he tried to stop the massive thing from shutting on him, yet that only succeeded on getting a trapped finger. For a moment it was simply stunned silence which held the love bird...then came the pain. "AAAH! SHI--" He brought his other hand up to his mouth. As much as this hurt he wasn't about to ruin things and scare the child on the other side of the door even more. With a heart thumping slam, Paxton's wrist hit the door, eyes watering up "Etain! Please...open the door!.." Getting closer to tears now. It didn't help at all that his mother showed up moments latter behind him, hideous necklace resting around her throat and Marigold standing at her side.
"Paxton! What are you doing? You said five minutes...FIVE! I WANT TO GO SHOPPING!" The dragon too seemed annoyed.
"Y-yes..m'am.." Whimpered Paxton. Oooh, it was becoming tingly now.
Tovar was almost entirely untangled by then, clearly suspicious. "Are you sure it was no one?" Considering the muffled screeching happening on the other side of the door... "Etain," he said slowly. "I think you've shut no one's fingers in the door."
Etain, still holding onto the doorknob firmly and looking utterly panicked, glanced so quickly to the doorjam it was a wonder he didn't give himself whiplash. He didn't see any fingers, but...well, the door had been a little hard to close all the way for some reason. This really didn't help matters, he decided. That boy already hated him - poked him with a stick! -, and shutting his fingers in the door definitely wasn't going to help.
"Tovar, I dun wanna--" he began. If it wasn't for the fact that Etain's face was naturally white as a sheet, Tovar would have remarked along those lines. Instead, the young man just moved to the door and carefully pulled Etain's hands away from the doorknob.
"You should apologize, Etain," he said, lips pursed. He clicked the latch and easer the door open, nudging the little boy into the opening.
The first thing Paxton did when the door opened was remove his hand. "Aaaah...." with that stupefied but horror filled twinge, Paxton examined his poor fingers. Fragile bones...yes, he had fragile bones. Placing the pain to the back of his mind best he could he now looked at the little Unicorn whom stumbled before him. "Etaiiin---" the lovebird flinched and side stepped hiding his hand behind him.
He couldn't tell if he was hurt more from his fingers getting caught, or more at the idea that Etain was terrified of him. Cause the little fellow was, it was plain enough to see. So now where to begin? The brown eyes of the wary adolescent filkered from Etain's golden hair to the ground, and then back again. "I um--" a direct approach, don't doddle. "Came to say sorry." Paxton looked over hopefully, "I even brought you a flower but..." his voice drifted as he looked down to the squashed thing at his feet.
"Paxton!" The sharp female voice made the young teen flinch. "How many time--Eeee!" The blonde girl squealed as she caught sight of Etain. So it was this house they were visiting.
"Hey cutie!" She wasted no time in leaning down to pet at his soft head. "Have you gotten even more adorable since I last saw you?" She smiled sweetly and with that left Paxton standing uncomfortably in silence. Defeated.
Etain's eyes remained settled on the ground, even if he was halfway on the doorstep with Tovar lurking in the shadows behind him, waiting for him to apologize. The blonde was clearly nervous: biting at his lip and fidgeting nervously, picking at his hands in a compulsive, uneasy fashion. B-but wait, was...was Paxton apologizing? Etain's ears twitched slightly, large brown eyes flickering up briefly to, for the first time, look the other boy in the face.
He recoiled immediately, heart leaping up into his throat, tail thrashing. He was so startled by the sudden, keen awareness of...of that, that he very nearly turned and pushed right past Tovar in an attempt to get back inside and away from the feeling. Far, far away. Come to think of it, he should have realized before hand. Something had felt wrong about the whole situation - or at least, keenly different - and now that he'd actually looked Paxton in the eye it was swiftly obvious just what it was.
Luckily (or unluckily), Etain's attention was caught by a familiar female voice and, oh, that felt nice. It didn't take much for him to forget, momentarily, about the discomfort the other boy's presence was causing in light of a nice pet. "H-hi," he managed, the stiffness sliding out of his shoulders and eyes going immediately half-hooded, much like a rather content puppy.
Was that...was that a look of forgiveness Paxton had seen flutter across Etain's face? The boys feathers ruffled hopefully...oh wait, no, that was just disgust. His mistake, he should have known this wouldn't be easy. Etain was still as mad as ever at him.
Wings dropped slightly as Paxton began to see how hopeless this was going to all be. It wouldn't be so hard to take the disappointment except for the fact that here was mom in front of him succeeding where he was failing. A ripple of sour resentment pricked at Paxton. What was she doing here? All Ma' was doing was complicating things!
Paxton may have grown up into a sweetie, but the lovebird still had an angry streak. Things should be a certain way. He had made plans to make up with Etain and now they were going aerie. Pushing Naito to the side, he leaned down to rub behind one of the little boys ears. "I think your right Ma'...he has gotten cutter." The ebb of hostility rose in his voice as jostled his mother for the position of who would get to pet Etain.
Not to be outdone as always, Naito pushed her son back. "Yes...I'm always right---ops! Sorry little fella." The blonde had accidentally bumped her overly large heart-shaped necklace into Etain's nose. With a quick pat she then let go, relinquishing the role of touch over to Paxton. How embarrassing. "An how are you, daddy?" Noting Tovar now standing a few feet away from the door she smiled at her fellow parent. That was Etain's parent...right?
With a sort of horrified panic, Etain reached out sharply as Naito pulled away, trying in vain to catch her hand or something before she, she -- oh no. Getting brushed on the ear was bad enough, but this... With something akin to 'deer in the headlights' or 'watching a train wreck,' Etain stared up at Paxton with an expression so utterly cut out of fear, anxiety and utter discomfort, that it was totally clue the unicorn boy had absolutely no idea what to do with himself other than to stand there, staring, going progressively redder in the face (which looked mild interesting, considering his usual pale features).
Tovar started slightly at being addressed, gaze snapping sharply away from Etain -- so quickly, in fact, that he didn't have time to really register any difference in the way the boy was acting. Despite himself, his attention was momentarily drawn to the clunky heart shaped necklace hanging around the woman's neck. It was sort of hard not to notice...
It looks like you're staring at her chest, his brain pointing out merrily.
Making a strangled sound in the back of his throat, Tovar relocated the direction of his gaze to Naito's face. "Er, ah - fine, thank you. I-it's Tovar. And yourself? - How're you doing, I mean. Er."
Crash and burn? Quite. Still, he couldn't help cast a last glance to the necklace. It reminded him oddly of the sillouette pendant he'd found earlier in the week. In fact, he'd taken to wearing it (though, stuffed down the front of his shirt to avoid questions from Michael).
And then there was suddenly significantly less time for awkward small talk. Etain, with all the speed panic could breed, lashed out suddenly with both hands, shoving Paxton as hard as he could manage. The boy was bigger than him, but adrenaline and fear bred interesting behavior. Interesting enough that, immediately following that, Etain swung his head around and aimed. That long silver horn was quickly turned into an effective weapon -- or would have been had Tovar not caught the little boy and shoved him thoughtlessly back into the door. Etain's back thumped against the brightly painted wood, but if it had hurt he definitely didn't seem to notice.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Far from Tovar's immediate angry, confused and paranoid reaction, Naito simply turned to her son now splayed out on the ground. "Paxton, what did you do now?" She sighed and folded her arms across her chest, cocking out her hip. It was a classic annoyed teenage look, except the child giving it to their parent, it was her the parent giving it to her child.
Paxton was with Tovar on this one. What the hell! What the hell indeed! The lovebird was panting as he tried to regain his bearings. One minute he had been lovingly stroking Etain and then---it was such a sudden shift. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt such an agressive and hate filled attack. It brought back memories of Laial, except that was just...well, now that he was older recalling the thing had just been gross. Oh, not to get the lovebird wrong, he had been told that tentacles could be highly...erotic things, but getting strangled by them had not been pleasant.
"I--" he faltered, "--I didn't do anything, Ma'" rubbing his butt where he had promptly fallen (Etain may have looked small but he was pretty strong, strong enough to catch Paxton off balance) the lovebird looked over to the small unicorn. Why? Why Etain, why? He knew Etain didn't like him but...an overwhelming feeling of failure and sadness filled the boy. It had been ages since Paxton had cried, but the tears badly wanted to come now.
Naito rolled her eyes. "Yeah right..." sweetly the blonde reached out a hand and squeezed caressed the trembling unicorns cheek, "...poor thing. You probably scared him with the way you dress. " Paxton gave a look that could shoot daggers, "...Take a look at yourself Ma', if anything he should be running from you." It was true...if Etain hadn't liked the way Paxton looked with all his skin showing off, well then he should have been terrified of Naito. Like her son, the Naito had a passion for clothing, or lack there of. Any passerby on the street could have easily mistook her for a hooker, with her short skirt knee high black lace up boots...visible mid-drift. "Besides I'm not the one with someone starring at my chest..." ironically enough it was the lovebird who had mistook Tovar’s staring, not Naito.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means pull down your skirt Ma'!"
"Pull up your shorts!"
"Besides," Naito huffed and brightly smiled at the man who by now was either thoroughly confused or perplexed, "He was just admiring my necklace. Who wouldn't?!" She grinned cheekily, "It's so cute!"
Etain immediately took refuge against Tovar's hip, pressing his face against the scratchy material of the man's t-shirt. Within a few seconds the little boy's sniffle nose and watery eyes had gotten the best of him, and he was turning Tovar's shirt hem into a soggy mess - despite the comforting little pat from the woman (though - that did make him sniffle a bit less, and fill a bit better). Tovar, meanwhile, gawped like a trout, clearly at a loss as to what to say or do. At the time being, he was running Etain and Paxton's back over in his brain in an attempt to puzzle out what the hell had just gone on. He'd seen Etain's nervous around certain people before - didn't like them touching him, didn't look at them, didn't want to talk to them - but he'd never seen Etain attack anyone.
"Ah, er - I'm sorry about this," he managed finally, peeling Etain away from his shirt a few inches. The boy writhed, fingers finding purchase on the soggy fabric and clinging to it, clearly not wanting to be pulled away. "He's never done anything like that before. --Etain?"
The little boy wheezed emphatically, brown eyes focused stubbornly on his hands.
"Etain, you need to apologize. --And explain why you got angry."
The little boy squirmed. He didn't look at either Naito or Paxton when he spoke. "I'm sorry," he said at his hands. "H-he...was touching me. I don't like it when they do that." Something about the boy's tone seemed to indicate he wasn't talking about Paxton and Naito, but rather Paxton and the General Populous of People Who Made Him Nervous.
Tovar glanced briefly to Naito and then Paxton in turn. "Uh." Maybe...maybe a topic shift was in order, eh? "Would you two...like to come inside for lemonade. Or. Something? Maybe, er, we can get a better apology or explination figured out or something..." Besides, whether he wanted to admit it or not, Tovar was curious about that necklace.
It? Just who was Etain talking about? Paxton wasn't an it he wasn't even in the populous of it! (As far as he knew.) Even though Etain was looking away while he mumbled out a half hearted apology, Paxton turned his head to the side in utter defiance. Etain had wounded the lovebird to the quick. Paxton sure was growing up fast, but when it came to many things he still acted like a child. He couldn't see that Etain was scared and hurt, all he could imagine was that the little boy was being a complete jerk. If he had been a bit more mature he would have realized that something...didn't quite add up.
"Oh please don't worry." Naito waved her hand, "You don't have to make him apologize, it was probably Paxton's fault. "
"I didn't do anything!" The lovebird hastily turned around a few tears splashing from his cheek. He wiped those up quickly and then returned to scowling. "All I did was say I was sorry for something that--well it happened along time ago. Then he suddenly gets up and tries to shank me like a sis kabob, I--" Paxton stopped and buried his head into his lap. What was the point of trying to argue?
The mother sighed, ears perking up at the mention of Tovar's offer. Shifting, Naito looked over at her watch, "Welll~ I was planning on going shopping. Shoe sale going on in Durem and all, but lemonade does sound lovely! Doesn't it Paxton? " Not really waiting for a reply she grabbed her son by the back of his shirt and began to promptly invite herself into Tovar's home. "Oh my, I really love what you've done with the place--"
"Erk," said Tovar as he recalled the state of the house. Too late now though. "It uh. A little messy."
Messy was an understatement. The two, Tovar and Etain, navigated the piles of junk (and books - books were never] considered junk in this household, thankyouverymuch) like expert seamen in shallow water. "The kitchen's back this way," Tovar motioned down the hall, nudging Etain in that direction as he self consciously snapped up a few things off the floor, muttering under his breath about 'damned houses,' and 'always moving things.'
The kitchen was, surprisingly enough, fairly clean. At least, all the knick knacks were stuffed into one corner rather than overflowing into the whole room. Etain, eager to get away from Paxton, scrambled up into a chair at the far side of the table and hoped explicitely that the other boy would sit as far away as possible. There was a large, ugly looking - HUGE - painting hanging on the wall opposite of the stove, but otherwise the room was fairly pleasant in comparison to the utter clutter of the rest of the house.
Tovar was already elbow deep in the small refridgerator box as Etain seated himself, looking at the top of the table and chewing his lower lip nervously. Ugh. The unicorn shuddered, rubbing his goosefleshed arms anxiously.
Naito had been dead serious when she said she loved the place. Unlike most woman who craved the clean, Naito craved the clutter. Unfortunately her house most of the time was spick and span due to the several other members whom lived there. Ugh. So sterile...so clean...so lifeless...but not this place.
Oh--Ah! Oh gods! Paxton side stepped a pile of books that seemingly appeared out of thin air. This place was a death trap waiting to happen. Brown eyes darted side to side looking for all the exists, cause truth be told, he didn't think he would be able to make it to the front door in time if there were a fire. Gah, fack! The lovebird side tripped over a big mound of stuff and...omg, did something just move in the corner? He shuffled quickening his pace.
In the kitchen it was a bit better. On the way over Paxton had hoped that the unicorn might have calmed down a bit, but with the way he distanced himself Paxton just decided a seat at the end of the table would be best.
Ebbing her way along Naito found a comfortable spot somewhere in-between the two and sat her self down. "Aaah, so nice, " she closed her eyes smiling happily. "I love my shoes...but they kill me sometimes, yaknow? " Leaning over the table she rested her elbows on top and cradled her chin in her hands. Then with a small smile on her face she passed the time by watching Tovar busy himself.
The start of Tovar's reply was muffled by the refridgerator, only becoming apparent when he straightened up bearing a chilled pitcher of lemonade in one hand. "--unfortunately, not so much. I'm afraid my experience with heels hasn't exactly been extensive. Etain," he said, glancing to the little boy. "Where'd you put your cup from earlier?"
The little boy's answer was little more than a mumble, but in the way of most parents Tovar seemed the decipher it reasonably well, fishing into the sink and pulling out the brightly decorated plastic cup. He snagged a towel off the rack, cleaning it out absently before setting it on the counter and moving to dig through the cabinets in search of another round of glasses.
Etain, meanwhile, kicked his feet absently back and forth: head down and fingers picking uneasily at the surface of the rough wooden table. Clearly, he wasn't too keen on conversing, with either Tovar (who he seemed to have made angry) or Paxton (for obvious reasons). He did after a stretch of silence - filled only by the clink of glass and the 'bwoopbwoop' of pouring Lemonade - glance to Naito though, examing her necklace shyly.
"I like your necklace," he said shyly, tinkering with the charm bracelet he wore on his wrist. It too had a pink heart pendant, though it was alot smaller. "Tovar got a new necklace when he was walking. It's got a deer on it."
Lovely pink lips turned down slightly, it was sad that men couldn't share in the joys of shoe shopping. It was times like these she wished she had magical shoe shopping fairy powers. You know, use a little magic--BAM! Put a nice pair of stilettos on Tovar's feet, then he would see how cute his toes looked in the fetching pair of sandals. ...Sigh.
If Paxton had known what was going through his mothers mind, he probably would have blurted out, 'See! This is why you aren't married yet.' The boy probably wouldn't have been pushy about this issue either except for the fact that he really wanted a father. Still a little wish from childhood of his. He had Yahto, but--but, it wasn't the same.
Yet, the lovebird was too gloomy to care or pay attention to anything at the moment. Sitting at the table was giving him time to think about the previous events. He kept running the situation over and over again in his head, but he couldn't figure it out. Why had Etain tried to stab him? Ah--Paxton sighed and flopped his head against the table dropping his arms. So stupid, he would probably be brooding over this for days.
In the meantime, Naito had perked right up with the compliment. "Thanks!" She waved one hand while placing the other on her cheek in a 'Oh really, this old thing?' gesture. "The lady I got it from said it was really special or something, spouting off nonsence about dreams and changes--but I don't really believe all that." Silly woman, she had just liked it so she bought it. When it came to magical artifacts, Naito was not a beliver. Yes, she knew magic existed, and she knew that Paxton someday would be learning it. But really now, how did a necklace change into a child?
" You wanna try it on?" She smiled as she undid the clasp and handed to Etain. "I bet it would look cute on you--and really your dad has a necklace? " Naito turned her beaming gaze to Tovar. "Really now Tovar, I didn't take you as the type of guy to find an interest in jewelry, may I see? "
Etain wiggled slightly in his chair, glancing briefly to Tovar for approval before reaching out to accept the necklace from Naito. He liked hearing stories like that - it was good to listen to and made him think of the little books that Tovar had found for him in the library and put on his shelves. Sometimes, the books dissapeared and it took lots of hunting upstairs to find them again, but most of the time Tovar said they were 'stacked just inside the library door.' The house liked to put things where they thought they belonged, rather than were the people in the house did. Except for nearly getting squashed by a wardrobe that had thought it belonged on top of his bed for the first week in the house, Etain rather liked the way of the house.
Fumbling with the clasp, Etain strung the necklace awkwardly around his thin neck, just managing to get it clicked into place. It was heavy and hung too far down his chest but... Absently, he tinkered with the pendant, taking it thoughtfully up in his hands. "It's sorta warm," he said, smiling shyly, his head ducked slightly. He shouldn't be so happy, he reminded himself sharply. He'd made Tovar angry and had almost stabbed someone and Paxton was still right there, making his skin crawl a little when he thought about it. Sobering, Etain reached back to unclasp the necklace and hand it back to Naito.
"Er," said Tovar as he set down the glasses of lemonade in front of their respective places. "I found it near the creek bed." he explained as he fished it out from down his shirt. The pendant was quite a bit smaller than on Naito's, strung up on a thin string rather than on a chain. He pulled it up over his head (it didn't have a clasp) and offered it across the table to the young woman before sitting down.
"Ah, just as I thought, it does look cute on you," the woman beamed and then laughed lightly in that way that girls do when they find something to be truly adorable. "Yes, I suppose body heat will do that. I've been wearing it all day, much to someone's great displeasure." She cast Paxton a cunning look and then took back her necklace while she also reached out for Tovar's.
Paxton shook his head, perking up his eyes over the side of the table, "That thing is hideo--" he abruptly shut his mouth as he caught sight of Etian's face. The little boy looked like he felt horrible. Wow, maybe...maybe he had done something after all? No, no he had already gone over this! Something was missing here, it just had to be. If he thought about things logically, there had been no trouble with the others he had made amends with, what made Etain reject him to the point that he had wanted to shank him?
Was it seriously the whole stick thing all those years ago? He didn't think so, then again, it was possible that unicorns were the type of creature that couldn't let a grudge go. Perhaps, some research was in order before he made his next attempt.
"Woaw..." Naito slowed down as she shoved the conservative yet beautiful trinket around her neck and let it drop down to comfortable rest on her chest, n"Etian's right...these things do get warm...So, how do I look?" She nearly had to cover her mouth in a fit of giggles while she watched the expression of the man in front of her. So unused to all this jewelry talk, "It's very beautiful..."
A severe prodding, or at least a kick under the table, probably would have been in order between the two children under different circumstances. Etain rather liked the necklace that Tovar had found. Fortunately - for Paxton anyway, and probably only in this particular situation considering - Etain kept his toes and his jabs to himself, instead burying his attention in the cup Tovar had set down before him, sipping uneasily at the lemonade. He didn't like this, even with Paxton sitting all the way across the length of the table. It was...it was awkward, and as much as he liked Naito, he found himself wishing she and Tavor would stop talking about necklaces and finish their lemonade so she could take Paxton away. Maybe if he got in trouble Tovar would send him away.
-No, he decided quickly. He was already in enough trouble, for sure. Etain was positive once Naito and Paxton left, Tovar would ask him all sorts of horrible questions.
Maybe it was better if they stayed after all.
Tovar flushed, turning his cup absently between his hand. "Thank you; it look good on you." Laaame, spouted some masochistic corner of his mind. "Though, I think yours suits you a bit better. As pretty as this one is, it's a little...conservative." Which was definitely something Naito didn't seem to be. Not that he was looking. Or anything.
"Eh--caugh--" The lovebird sputtered and almost choked on his lemonade as he watched Naito and Tovar interact. Were they seriously? You know it was one thing for him to do it, but when he actually watched his Ma' doing it...meekly Paxton shivered and set his glass down. Ah yes, it was at times like these that children must conspire together, either to stop the madness...or yes, god forbid, help it continue. Sure, Tovar was a nice guy and all, but did he really just respond with such a casual line. Had circumstances been more free and at ease, he might have ventured up to give Tovar tips. He wasn't exactly sure, but with the way the man was acting he was still probably a virgin, and well Paxton...a dreamy smug grin crossed his face, well someday they would call him "The Pro".
Naito eyed her son worriedly, just what exactly was he day dreaming about? Inching over towards Paxton she reached out and gave him a jab to the ribs, "Wake up, tis ruuude to fall alseep while in company--an you really think so? " The blonde was delighted to get a compliment. Hell, it wouldn't have mattered if it came from a six foot tall talking rabbit, she still would have been tickled pink. She pulled off Tovars necklace and examined the back, "Huh...can't tell if they are done by the same maker or not, I don't think they are, but you never know." She brushed a strand of loose hair out of her eyes and flashed a grin, "Like you said, yours is less gaudy than mine. " With that she leaned over the table and gently placed the pendant back in the hands of the right owner.
"Eh-hem, " Paxton cleared his throat as he suddenly realized that maybe there was a reason God had created shirts that weren't low cut...it was because mothers and other adults shouldn't be dressing the way his Ma' was. Puzzled Naito turned her head back to Paxton, "Eh? Hmmn, something the--Oh yeah...shopping." She placed her index finger in her mouth, a bad habit she had picked up over the years. No she didn't bite her nails...just gnawed and sucked at them. "Nah, say Tovar I think we should be going but--" she stopped and gave a cutesy grin to Etain. " Why don't you bring your family and the little guy over for dinner sometime, a thank you for the lemonade...." --"Uh, uh, uh I insist"
Naito was a pro at these things, she cut the man off before either Etain or himself could make some excuse as to why the couldn't come. "I insist! Really, besides," she threw the pair a wink, "I throw a pretty good dinner party, " Then with a cheerful hum she wrestled the lovebird into a hammer lock and began dragging him out the door. "Thank you again...Paxton," Naito looked down shocked, "Where are your manners?"
"Thank you..." Grumbled an unhappy feathered boy. Today had been a mess, first Etain--then his mother dragging this out. Yet, not to worry. Paxton wasn't going to give up so easily...no, not yet. And while his mother had been talking, he had been formulating a plan.
Tovar opened and closed his mouth, gawping awkwardly like a fish as he took the necklace back. Finally, with a sort of resigned sigh -- he hadn't meant that the heart pendant was gaudy --, he put his own necklace's band over his head and tucked it quietly down his shirt.
Etain peered blankly between the two adults over the edge of his glass. Something weird was goin' on. Tovar's face was getting all red and flustered looking, and that usually only happened when he was shouting at Michael. Or at the stove. Or at the bugs on the tomato plants... The point was, Tovar was definitely Not Shouting, so why on earth did he look so out of sorts. Brow furrowing, he took another sip of his lemonade. It was a puzzle...
Etain just caught Naito's grin, returning it shyly. They were leaving, hooray! Paxton was going to be gone and he wouldn't be itchy and it would be very, very nice and - what? Going to their house?! Etain looked sharply to Tovar, brown eyes wide with panic. No, no. Nonononono. Tovar seemed to be opening his mouth to express some sort of similar, or at least uncertain sentiment before he was, effectively, cut off and shut up as the two scraped up from their chairs and headed toward the door.
"Oh, uh. Alright then? Your...welcome." Clearly, Etain thought desperately, Tovar had no idea what he was saying. If Tovar tried to make him go, Etain promised himself, he'd hide in the wardrobe.
//the end.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:07 pm
Don't Touch the Glass
Meeting Raisa and Pika "Woooaaaah."
That, in and of itself, seemed to sum up a majority of Etain's thoughts concerning the aquarium. Fish. Everywhere. Up the ceiling with 'em! Nevermind the fact that the water went up, up, up - unnaturally, ming bogglingly high. Without realizing, he'd repeated his first sentiment at least twice before Tovar had purchased them tickets and they'd each gotten a brightly colored wrist band for admittence.
Once they were actually inside the aquarium, rather than simply the brightly decorated lobby, Etain floundered forward to the shallow pool immediately opposite of the entrance. He was easily tall enough to see over the faux rock wall down into the wide, but shallow, tank, and could definitely see what was swimming around in there. Odd, flat creatures with thin elongated tails and --
"Stringrays," Tovar explained, without waiting for the question that would inevitably pour out of Etain's mouth.
"Ooooh. Wooooah."
"Fish one, fish two, fish three...what's after three?" Raisa asked as she looked back at Pika.
"Four. One, two, three, four," she smiled down at the ladybug girl as they passed through the ticketed entrance. Teaching Raisa to count wasn't as direct as Pika thought it would be. The child seemed to enjoy saying the numbers in random order before trying the basic sequence over and over.
"What's in that pool over there?" Pika asked her, spying an interestingly pale looking boy watching the stingrays.
"Fish I bet," Raisa said surely. She ran over to the edge of the faux-rock tank. "Lift me! I can't see!" she said, grabbing the edge of the pool.
After a copious amount of ooo-ing and aaah-ing, Etain did the next thing any little boy would logically attempt to do given a tank full of living stuff that was low enough to reach into: he stuck his hand inside and attempted to touch one of the string rays as it came sweeping by. Tovar squaked indignantly, managing to haul Etain back a half second after he'd come in contact with the string ray: the creature sweeping lightly under his fingertips, seemingly without being remotely phased by the brush with the unicorn. Etain, however...
"Squishy!" he squeaked happily, shaking his hand out and rubbing it on the leg of his shorts to dry it off. "Like Medusa!"
Tovar grimaced slightly, glancing quickly around for any aquarium staff. "Etain, you're not supposed to put your hands in the tank. It's not, er, good for them?"
Etain blinked, cocking his head backward to peer up at Tovar. "Oops."
Pika sighed and lifted her little ladybug girl till she could see over the edge of the tank. "What are those?" Raisa asked as she pointed at the dark kite-like shapes gliding through the water.
"Stingrays," Pika said just as the boy nearby stuck his hand in the water. "Ok you're getting heavy!" Pika exclaimed and put her down. Hopefully Raisa hadn't noticed what he'd done and try it herself. "Now remember what I said on the bus Raisa?"
Raisa rolled her eyes and scuffed one foot, "Yeah I do." She knew mama wanted her to repeat it but Raisa didn't feel like it. Catching sight of the pale boy she noticed he had a... tail? Running over she energetically said, "HI," right behind the child.
Having been set down only a few seconds prior, Etain hadn't really been expecting to be addressed. He jumped slightly, spinning around to face whoever had spoken out. He blinked slightly at the brightly colored little girl, long ears flicking forward in a motion not unlike a horse's. "Hi," he chirped back. That fine features face quirked slightly to one side, the boy's large brown eyes blinking curiously.
She was definitely...different lookin'. He'd never seen someone with that many arms. "You've got four arms," he remarked, rather needlessly. As if to illustrate the point, he flapped the both of his up and down. "Does your mom gotta make your clothes to fit over them?" Alright weird question, but to him it seemed like the logical thing to ask!
Tovar watched with mild amusement, a slow smile twitching across his face. Etain seemed to have a knack at meeting people everywhere - not that he was complaining; that was a good thing, right?
She giggled as the boy whipped around, startled. "You're pretty!" she said. Shyly she reached out one hand to touch his hair. "Curly," Raisa said surprised, "You have doll hair!"
She eyed him quizically as flapped his arms. "She cuts holes in dem," Raisa nodded, as if this were the most logical thing. "Some come in the mail that I wear," Raisa said again as if clothes always got mailed to your house on a regular basis. "They come from D but I don't know how cause D is a letter. Want to sing the alphabet?" Raisa said smiling.
Pika came over as she heard her ladybug babe talking up a storm. "Uh, hello," she said the the man accompaning the pale boy. "My name is Pika and this is Raisa," she said, resting a hand on Raisa's head.
Doll hair? Etain wasn't sure what he thought of that. He didn't have dolls, but he knew what they were. He was under the impression that mostly just girls played with them; though, he wouldn't have minded having one to throw around or send down the side of hills in a wagon... In the end, he decided not to comment on that particular point - he didn't exactly have time, anyway. The girl talked fast enough for the both of them, and it was easy to get swept away under her chatter. Like dust under the rug or right out the front door onto the porch.
"Alphabet?" He repeated. "You can sing it?" Tovar, for all his good points, wasn't really a singer. He'd avoided it like one avoids catching a cold by wearing sweaters outdoors, and muddy streets after it's rained (which was to say, he did it occasionally but not enough to bother anyone or cause dogs to howl on a regular basis).
Speaking of, Tovar glanced up to peer at the little girl's guardian. Smiling slightly, he offered out a hand out to shake. Formal, maybe, but habit. "Tovar," he said in some semblance of an introduction. "And this is Etain."
Taking the grownup's question as an invitation, Raisa began to sing in a sweet high voice, "Aay, bee, see, dee, ee, ef, gee -! Aich, ay, jay, kay, el-em-en-oh-P ~! Kyu, ar, ess, tea, yoo, vee, dubbl-yoo, eks, wai and zed! Now you know your A~B~Cs, Next time won't you sing with me~!" She grins and grabs Etain's hand, "You will sing it too, right?"
"Come on Raisa, we have to look at more of the aquarium if we want to be done before it closes! Er, would you like to come with us?" she said looking at Tovar and Etain.
She wondered exactly what it was this messy-haired man did. His clothes were hard to place employment-wise, but the man must have been quite cold to wear that number of sweaters! "So have you been looking after Etain often?" she asked. This man couldn't be his parent could he? Babysitter perhaps. Crazed uncle more then likely.
Etain nodded, linking arms almost immediately with the little girl (it took some doing and a little sloucher considering their differences in height, but it was accomplished). "Yeah, I can sing it too!" he chirped happily. Apparently, Etain had already decided to take up the woman's offer of accompanying them through the aquarium, seeing as he was already tugging Raisa cheerfully on to the next giant tank filled with brightly colored fish.
Tovar smiled brightly, apparently happily unaware that he looked like The Crazy Uncle. After all, Etain's real crazy relatives were probably far more eccentric and off balanced, so why should Tovar ever suspect he was being pinpointed for the role? "Apparently we will - I hope you don't mind."
Wait, how long had he been...looking after Etain? Tovar blinked, glancing after the unicorn who currently had his face pressed up against the glass of the fishtank. There were probably rules against that sort of thing. "A few months, I suppose?" he offered, beginning to gravitate in the direction of the two children with the intent of peeling Etain's face from the tank.
"Oooh rainbow fishies," Raisa observed through the glass. She pressed her two lower set of hands against the glass as the other pair clasped Etain's tightly. Turning to see how he liked the fish, she was delighted to see the boy pressing his face to the glass. Well, as much as he could with the horn protruding from his forehead. "Hey, what is that?" Raisa asked.
Pika smiled as the kids discovered a floor-to-ceiling sized tank filled with fish. "That's good of you to take him in for that long. By the way, my name is Pika," she said, starting after him as he took a step towards the children. "Raisa, don't put your mouth on the glass!"
"Hey, Tovar, my hands leave fingerprints; coo--"
"Etain, if you fingerprint the glass you won't be able to see the fish."
The unicorn promptly dropped his hands, rubbing the oils self consciously on the front of his striped shirt, rather than all over the front of the tank. After a bit more ooing and aahing, Etain roped Raisa's arm with his and set off to the next tank.
Jellyfish.
"HEY IT'S MEDUSA!" Etain screeched, loosing Raisa immediately so he could run over to the tank. "Tovar, Tovar! Look!" Waving his arms excitedly, bouncing slightly up and down, Etain waved at the two adults excitedly, beckonging them over. Smiling, he looked to Raisa and pointed at the tank full of hypnotizing, wiggling jellyfish. "Have you met Medusa? She looks like that."
Tovar snickered slightly, rubbing the back of his neck absently. "It's nice to meet you," he said, glancing to Pika. "Sorry; he gets a little excited. Ah ha..."
Raisa pouted as soon as Etain took off towards the next tank. Running up after him she stopped as soon as she saw the...floating bubble things. They has trailing dangly bits like ribbons spilling off a present. "What's a medusa?" she said, not taking her eyes off the jellies. "What are those?" she said stepping forward to the glass. The soft, round forms were semi-translucent and pulsated gently through the water.
Pika smirked as the horned boy started yelling over the jellyfish tank. "Ah. I love jellyfish. I always wondered if I could get some for a tank in my home, but not this big of course." Turning to look at Tovar she asked, "Who is Medusa?"
"She's my friend," Etain exclaimed, explaining to Raise rather than to Pika (who he had, in fact, not even heard). "She's a jelly like these. She has a gold fish in her tummy," - he poked his to illustrate the point - "That you can see. She let me poke at it, and her tummy is all squishy and weird and slippery. An' she has to stay in water alot or she'll shrivel up like a raisin, y'know, like how I get when I sit in the water too long. Jellyfish shock people with their tentacles."
Clearly, Etain had been doing some research (or at least, pestering Tovar incessantly) since meeting the other little girl.
Tovar bit his lip to stifle his laughter. "There you go," he managed after a moment in answer to Pika's question. "She's his friend. He talks about her...quite a bit, actually."
Raisa's eyes widened as Etain went on about jellies. She pictured a giant, kid-sized jelly named Medusa floating through the air, sucking up little fish as she passed open tanks, plunking herself in when she started to feel dry. "Who mops up all the water?" Raisa asked, confused. "How does she talk to you?" she asked as well. Her forehead was furrowing again.
Pika stiffled her laughter as she heard Raisa speak to the boy. "Medusa is a jellyfish like Etain is a unicorn right? Not actually a giant jelly," she said to Tovar, biting her tongue. Pika knew that one of the worst feelings for a kid was that of feeling stupid and embarassed and there was no way Pika was going to cause those feelings for Raisa.
"Raisa has a friend she talks about alot too. A girl who's part lobster. She's mainly blue and has claws for hands too. Those are what Raisa goes on about. She has really good empathy and seems to relate everything she's doing to whether or not Azoc can even though she hasn't seen her for a week or so."
Etain blinked at Raisa, clearly a little confused. Water? Well, Medusa probably did track some water around, huh? Even so, he hadn't noticed it too much. As for talking... "With her mouth?" he suggested, tipping his head slightly to the side. Was there another way to talk?
Tovar smiled faintly, his hands quickly finding their way into his pant pockets. "Yes, that's right. She's not like...dragging herself across the floor and leaving a trail of ooze or anything like that," he said, voice pitched similarily low - though whether Tovar had percieved the reason for their half-whispering or not wasn't completely obvious. "Etain chatters quite a lot about a little boy, Anoki...I think..., he met some time ago too. I think it's because they both have horns." Nevermind that Anoki and Etain's horns actually differed quite a bit from one another. Etain hadn't seemed to notice at the time.
"Etain," Tovar called lightly, the little boy's attention flicking around. "Maybe you should go to the next tank, hmm? You can't spend all day putitng your fingerprints all over the jellyfish's glass."
"Oh," said Etain, pulling his hands away. "Right." Beaming, he looked back to Raisa. "Wanna go to the next one?"
Raisa still looked confused as Etain led her over to the next tank. This one appeared to be a coral reef. Filled with amazing colours and creatures she wanted to get a good look. Raisa put her hands on the glass again and stuck her tongue out between her teeth a little. "I see a Nemo fishie!" she said whipping her head around to find Pika's face. "Clown fish!" she declared happily.
"Raisa has a friend she talks about alot too. A girl who's part lobster. She's mainly blue and has claws for hands too. Those are what Raisa goes on about," Pika nodded as she walked with them over to the next tank. "She has really good empathy for her age and seems to relate everything she's doing to whether or not Azoc can - even though she hasn't seen her for a week or so." Pika paused as Raisa started talking excitedly. "My, my, what a beautiful little reef!"
Scampering to the next tank alongside Raisa, Etain looked more excited about the general number of fish, oo-ing and aah-ing over the colors. Sharply, his head swung around and he blinked at the younger girl. "What's a nemo fish?" he asked, a clear flash of confusion criss-crossing his features. "W-wait, and clown fishes too?" Startled, he squint back into the tank. He didn't see any fish dressed as clowns...
Chuckling, Tovar drew closer to the tank, peering over the heads of the kids (a relatively simple task, considering their differences in height) and into the tank. "I think if we go around a ways we'll come to another glass," he said, standing on slight tip-toes. "This tank is really big, we just can't see alot of it..." He could swear he saw a turtle in there somewhere...
//to be continued?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:11 pm
Mud
Meeting Altessa "Fufufu..." Altessa muttered as she glared up at her uncle whom held the leash that was tied around her neck, reaching up to attempt to pull it off. She yelped when he jerked the leash, making her nearly trip over herself, but having to quicken her pace. Kanth would never have done that!
"Behave," Came the stern order, and the man reached up to run his fingers through his brown hair, feathers fluttering at his neck as his hawklike wings stretched, already stiff from under-use.
Huffing and glancing around in the park, Altessa crossed her arms and looked for her next 'victim', or rather... someone who she could beat on.
She wasn't the resident bully, really. She just had... pent up anger. Yes. That was it. Anger.
Etain liked the park. Then again, what healthy, non-weird kid didn't like the park? There was something about being able to run about free as a bird in the lawn-mowed, sprinkler'd habitat that was simultaneously utterly exciting and totally relaxing all at once. -Which, considering the boy lived in the middle of practically nowhere with a whole bunch of trees and a few handfuls of wodded paths, the fact that he enjoyed the park so much was probably a little weird.
Maybe he just liked meeting new people or something. It was easier to make friends at the park than in was in the middle of the woods. Well, people friends, rather than trying to make friends with rabbits or lizards (those were a lot harder to befriend anyway).
Oh, if only he'd known what he was getting himself into...
Etain was currently entertaining himself by running back and forth between two trees. He'd gotten tired of going down the slide eighty billion times, and had apparently divisied some game with weaving around the trunks that was so complicated, so genius that...it looked like he was just running in irregular circles to anyone who happened to catch sight of him.
Oh well - boys will be boys... or something.
Who knows what the man had in mind as he bent over and unleashed the collar on Altessa, but one knew he'd be hearing it well over a week from Kanth later.
Feeling the collar slacken, Altessa glanced up at the man, giving him a quizzical look. This was some kind of test, she knew it. But, as she heard his words which sounded a lot like 'Have fun', she took off running towards the first blur she saw, which was a white... spastic... thing. Of course, she didn't hear the last part of 'not at others' expenses'. Not that she would have cared either way, really.
Waiting until he rounded the corner, she tried to pick the precise moment before launching herself out, arms raised in a rather predatory manner. "BWUGAMAH!"
"Eight, nine, ten, ele--AUGH."
Etain didn't really have time to do much else other than flail stupidly and then hit the ground as the Unidentified Flying Object slammed into him, shoving him down into the grass. Alright, this definitely hadn't been in his plans for the afternoon.
He decided abruptly, quite definitely, that he didn't particularly like getting smashed into the ground.
"Augk," he said, into the grass.
Snickering, Altessa smirked as she reached out to help him up... just so she could do it again. It was fun repeating things.
"You look fun. Funny, that issss." She hissed, her sharp teeth showing as she grinned.
Etain made a forgiving sort of noise as he accepted the hand up. Clearly, she'd knocked him into the ground on accident. He felt a bit better about it then. Still grass stained, but better. He dusted out his shorts and the front fo his shirt before he was sent sprawling onto the ground again. That definitely wasn't an accident, he thought a little bitterly.
"H-hey!" he squawked, squirming. Maybe it would be better to stay on the ground after all. "Why're you shovin' me?!"
"'coz. I can." Alt muttered darkly, crouching down beside him and poking his horn. "Nuthin' better t'do." Poke, poke poke.
Etain winced. Poke, poke, poke. He couldn't really feel the poking, except it made his head wobble a little back and forth in a distinctly irritating manner. "C-can you please stop then? We could...play a different game." Maybe then she'd be less bored and stop poking him and shoving him, right? "That way, you've have something better to do," Etain elaborated.
He stayed belly down on the grass though, just in case.
"A different game...?" Altessa stopped, now sitting down in front of him, intrigued. Something new... always interested her, and she wanted to find out just what it was he had in mind. "Spill." She ordered, finger out just hovering in front of his nose.
Etain tucked his nose safely behind the protective wall of his hands. "Yeah, a different game," he repeated, a little hopefully. Maybe this would work after all. "We could, uh...race? Or, uhm, play leap frog?" On second thought, that second one probably wasn't a great idea. The girl'd probably take the opportunity to shove him again...
Oh, those didn't sound interesting. Altessa gave him a glowering look, a low sound made in her throat.
"Anything else...?" She muttered dully, her tail thumping on the ground as her feet stretched out, her clawed-toes wiggling. Her head lulled to the side, and she spotted a small bit of mud... and that was when she had the idea.
"Do ya like mud?"
Did he like...mud?
Come on, what sort of question was that? What reasonable, relatively normal, healthy little boy didn't like mud? As long as it wasn't getting into his eyes or stuffed up his nostrils, Etain was all for mud.
"Uh, yes?" he answered, casting a glance to the mud puddle in question. "Do, er, you?"
"Good." Came her muffled mutter, and she stood up to walk over to it, bending over to get a good scoop... before throwing at him.
Altessa wasn't really mad, so to speak, but she did want to show Etain that she wasn't for granted, and she certainly wasn't going to be outshown by a boy of all things.
Oh no. She was -- augh.
Etain felt the mud thump soundly against the back of his head, sliding through the pale locks, onto his neck, and finally dribbling off down his shirt or on to the ground. He grimaced, scrubbing a hand through his hair.
"Oh..." he murmured slightly, wiping his hands off on the grass. Ooooh. Large brown eyes narrowing slightly, he cast a sidelong glance at the girl. OH.
He scrambled to his feet, wiggling over to the large puddle of mud, scooping up two full handfuls of it into his hands and flinging it in the other girl's direction. Ha!
Not expecting this turn of events, Altessa growled and ducked as best she could, though ended up having mud slide down her pudgy body... and into her shorts.
She didn't like that.
Letting out a small sound, Alt growled and grabbed a big handful, walking over and letting it drop into Etain's hair. She then began to scrub it in, not taking care to make it gentle.
Two could play at this game.
Etain floundered about awkwardly, trying to duck out of the way of the mud0grinding fingers of doooom. He didn't do too well, unfortunately, and his pale colored hair was turning an increasingly deep shade of mud brown. Screeching, though not entirely out of either annoyance or agitation - this was, even if the girl maybe threw the mud a little hard, not entirely lacking in fun. If nothing else, revenge was sweet; a point he tried hard to get to by stooping down and slinging an armful of the gunk up at Altessa before hurridly slip-sliding his way a few feet away so she couldn't immediately do the same right back at him.
With a frenzied, desperate sort of movement, Etain began grabbing handfuls of mud in preparation for the next attack.
He would soon find that Altessa would be nowhere in sight.
However, if he looked, he would see a pair of eyes staring at him from the mud, if he stared hard enough. She was hoping that the other would get close enough to the puddle, close enough to scare...
Armed and ready for a second assault, Etain shot a glance quickly over his shoulder back to where the girl was--
Or, er, had been. Blinking, the little boy let his hands fall away from the mud and he turned in a slow circle. What the heck? Had she run away? Witlessly, Etain lifted one of his muddy hands to scratch the back of his head. Fortunately, his hair was already grimy to the point where a little more mud didn't make a significant difference in his appeared.
"Where'd she go?" he asked, to no one in particular. Maybe...maybe she was invisible! "It's cheating if you're invisible!" he piped out. Just in case.
//to be continued?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:24 pm
Paint Buckets, brushes, tape and plastic.
Etain shifted slightly back on forth, heel to toe and back again, from where he squat close to the plastic covered floor. The paintbrush in his hands had rather soft bristles and he was, for the time being, using it to tickle his own chin as he watched Tovar from where his guardian stood on a short step stool, reaching high to press the last bits of painter's tape along the edge of the ceiling. Apparently he didn't want to paint the wood there. Finally, Etain's room was getting the makeover it deserved. Tovar had been in a redecorating mood lately - at least, now that he'd set up the room for baby stick (as Etain had cheerfully come to know his soon-to-be baby brother as), Tovar seemed intent on getting all the other things done that needed to get done: one of which happened to be painting Etain's walls. He'd procrastinated a little more than he should have, but... -- well, up until a few weeks ago, the house had still been moving old furniture and doodads into the had-been store room. It would have been silly to paint if pictures were going to rehang themselves without warning, and wardrobed were going to plunk down against the wet walls.
Etain wiggled slightly, giggling as the bristles got up his nose. He shook his head out, sneezed, and sniffled, immediately bring a hand up to rub at the end of his nose. "Tovar're you almost done?" he squeaked. He was looking forward to painting. Tovar had let him pick the color and everything! Getting it from the store had been exciting... so many cans and cans to choose from, and then the giant magic paint mixer that put all sorts of colors inside... Etain nibbled at the brush bristles.
Sighing, Tovar dropped his arms away from the low ceiling and clambered down off his step stool. He chucked the roll of tape into their makeshift supply bucket and lugged over a can of paint to the tray he'd set out earlier. "Yup, all done."
Etain flailed to his feet, gripping the brush tightly. "Time to paint?!"
"Time to paint," the brunette said, grinning slightly despite himself. "Here, do you want to use this roller instead of that bru--"
"There are easier ways to do that, you know," Michael remarked from the doorway. Tovar started, dropping the roller he'd been offering to Etain. The unicorn didn't seem interested anyway - the roller wasn't as soft as the brush was. Etain glanced briefly to the other man and them looked away immediately, gaze dropping to the ground and fingers fumbling awkwardly with the paintbrush. He chewed his lower lip nervously.
Tovar grimaced, stooping to pick up the dry paint roller and jamming it firmly back in place where it had slipped slightly from the handle aparatus. "Etain wants to paint his own room," he pointed out, tone short and clipped. Etain nodded, fumbling over the paintbrush and looking hard the the can near Tovar's feet, wishing that he'd just crack it open and spill it over the edge and be done with it. They'd already taped everything off, just like Tovar said they'd need to - what else could they possibly be waiting for.
Michael hesitated, opening his mouth slightly before shutting it and frowning. He kept his hands to himself, standing there in the doorway and blocking out the hall almost effectively if it wasn't for the way that he waffled slightly from one foot to the other. "Alright then," he answered, just as clipped and terse as Tovar before pushing off from the doorway and skittering down the hall.
A moment later, Etain could hear him going up the stairs. He kept his eyes on the paint can.
It took him a moment, but Tovar's smile came back toothy and bright as he stooped over, snatching the screwdriver from off the floor and jamming it under the lip of the can's top, levering it open. He tipped the can over and let the paint spill out into the pan, deep purple - soft and smooth, the way a color should be. Etain watched it pool in the pan and took the bristles out of his mouth, looking to Tovar expectantly.
Tovar motioned dully to the paint. "Have a blast."
With a flare of excitement, Etain fell on the paint like a ravished man, slathering it all over the brush in his hands and taking it to the wall. Tovar came him a moment, watched as the little boy spread it in all directions over the dull white plaster walls, before he stepped in and took Etain by both hands, guiding the motions of the paintbrush in an easy up-and-down motion. It took a few moments before he felt Etain had the general idea down enough that Tovar could abandon him in favor of dipping the paint roller into the pan, spreading the lilac color over the tops of the walls.
Tovar expected there to be great obscene paint drops where Etain slathered it over the walls far too thick. He also expected himself not to care half as much as he probably should have.
Etain smiled, broad and bright and beaming more than any little boy should really have license to do. "I'm sorry," he said, even if his face or his demeanor reflected nothing of the sort as he degenerated back into haphazard strokes of the paintbrush across the wall. "For not liking Michael."
Tovar looked at him, features narrow. He pursed his lips. "I don't think it's your fault," he answered, trying to sound sincere with the thin reedy uncertainty creeping into his tone of voice. "We'll work on it," Tovar said after a moment, far more confident.
Etain nodded, lapsing into silence. The brush rasped, up and down, side to side, and Tovar grimaced only slightly when he looked back to his section of the wall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 10:53 pm
.|.Etain's Journal - Entry #2
12/05/06 .|. Etain Dear jornul,
Today Tovar and me went to the pet storr. michul did not want us to go becuz he sade that we did not need more pets becuz we already have a horse. i don't no where he is keeping a horse but I have never seen it!
aneway, it was very exciting at the storr. Tovar and me looked at lots of diffrent animahls. fish birds hamsters lizards there was a bloo lizard but i am already getting a dragun and donot need a lizard too. So we go a fish that is like the one that my friend Medoosuh has in side her tummi. We also got a bole for it. not like a food bole but like a tank but smal.
I named her goldy and tovar gave he food flakes and then showd me how to do it. Yu pinch it with my fingers and then put it in the water and then goldy eats it. goldy has plants at the bottom of her bole to hide in and she likes to eat the rocks at the bottum.
the bole is on my table.
Bye!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:10 pm
Thankyou for all your hard work with us here at D-corp. Your child's dragon egg is near hatching, and we'd like to have you file another report on the progress of your child.
Enclosed is a sheet for them to fill out, you may help them. Also please include any and all changes in your child. Even the smallest detail may become of importance later on.
Sincerely
D-corp
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:40 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
