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 Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:28 pm
Archie's Journal I have come to the conclusion that Dixie is insane.
Let the record show that we used to have a spare room. It was cluttered and it had no lamps, but it was also spare and it was a room. A room that none of us slept in.
Today Dixie spent all day 'fixing' our spare room. She really didn't do anything but buy a crib and clear out one corner for it, but she's started going on and on with "Alek's room" this and "Alek's room" that. THAT IS NOT ALEK'S ROOM. It is the spare room.
She says he needs his own space, but I think she's just trying to get him as far away from her as she can, so when he gets vocal chords, she can sleep through his crying.
That room is not the place for a kid.
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:29 pm
More Toys (Archie, Alek)
September 8, 2006 Archie looked at Alek's crib, decorated with two of his most recent purchases.
"Cool, huh?" he said to the ghostly baby hovering over his shoulder.
Alek hummed his approval.
"I know you can't talk yet, but I thought we could name that one Fredo and that one Sonny."
Alek nodded.
"I also got you some diapers and bottles and powdered formula and a little shirt that says, 'I'm With Stupid,' but you don't need to see any of those. You'll see enough of them when you're a real kid." Archie winced and tugged at the wand that was resting on his shoulder. "Not that you're not a real kid now, of course," he added. "You just float and don't eat."
Alek tapped Archie on the arm and giggled, even though the man couldn't hear it.
"Let's go find your mother, 'kay?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:30 pm
Being A Real Boy Sucks (Alek)
September 10, 2006 Aleksandr had been feeling tired all day. It wasn't his usual exhaustion - just a fake sort of energy sap before his second wind, and third wind, and fourth wind - he genuinely felt completely wrung out. He envisioned closing his misty eyes and lying down on a soft bed, like the ones Dixie and Archie had, or even in his own crib. Alek had never felt softness before, but he could suddenly imagine it. His guitar toy was soft, he just knew it.
He drooped near the floor of his room, skidding his wand across the carpet and watching the end bounce as it slid around past his eyes. The grapes trailing after the stick, like a dog chasing a car, would have made him giggle on any other day, but not tonight. It was late, not late enough to be the next day, but late enough so that everyone had gone to bed. Alek wanted to hum. The Glowy Girl Song, The Sandwich Song, anything. He couldn't. He wondered if he was dying. In truth, he didn't even know what that meant.
One time, a couple of weeks ago when he had been a stupid, little wisp, Alek had been out in the yard with Archie and a squirrel had grabbed his wand and tried to run away with it. Archie had chased after the animal, his tail whipping around like a crazy monkey's. Alek had found it all to be great fun, but when the squirrel had dropped him again and Archie had lifted him quickly off of the ground and whispered, "You could have died," it didn't feel fun anymore. Something inside Alek curled up and hid from the concept of death, and he still wasn't sure why. He didn't want to die.
Alek forced himself up off of the floor and floated back to his crib. He ran his wand over his guitar and his new chicky and octopus plushies. He thought of Ryvan and the fire that she could make with her wand. Why wasn't his the same? Too-ya-la-kekt was clearly going to be someone great. And what was Alek? A goat. Maybe he was meant to just go away. No powers, no humming, what else did he have to stick around for? Well, there was always Dixie, but she didn't seem to like him all that much.
Dixie. The door to his room was closed as it was every night "to keep him safe," she said. Alek hovered over to its base and fisted his transparent hands. He took a deep breath - since when could he breathe? - and plunged forward through the thick wood, his wand slipping under the crack at the bottom. It hurt a bit and he cried out, surprised at the noise that ripped from his throat. He had been able to hum since the last time he had grown, of course, but only certain people could hear that. This was a real noise that echoed through the narrow hall and received an answering grunt from Archie, asleep in his room.
Alek picked up his wand and floated down the hall, trusting his memory of the house to guide him. His vision was hazy and a bit fisheyed, and he was feeling heavier by the second. This breathing thing was hard work. He stopped when he smacked into the foot of Dixie’s bed. This was where he had meant to go, and he was glad that at least his sense of direction hadn't left him.
Now, how to go about doing this? Alek eyed the thin sheet covering his mother's legs before sticking his wand underneath and lifting just enough so that he could fit beneath it. He crawled up the mattress, under the covers, not noticing that the sheet wasn't sinking through him. He was so tired. Laying his wand down next to him, he nestled into his mother's side and stuck a thumb in his mouth.
Dixie shifted and wrapped an arm around her son. She was asleep and so didn't notice that he was noticeably more solid than he had been. In fact, his weight dimpled the bed and his tiny coos broke through the silence of the room.
Aleksandr had grown.
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:50 pm
What. The. ********. (Alek, Archie, Dixie)
September 11, 2006 Dixie dreamed often, almost every night in fact. She didn't like to admit it, mainly because the things she dreamed of were clowns and bulls mostly, but also because often, her dreams were filled with meat, which really wouldn't have gone over well with her father.
On this night in particular, she was dreaming of her old costume, a mess of tassles and bright colors that clashed horribly with her... his navy skin. He wasn't one of the clowns, not really, but he often performed as one to be closer to the action when things went wrong. It was his job to drag the bleeding and broken rodeo clowns out of harm's way when the bulls got too rough. Often, the men were so badly trampled that nobody missed a bit of thigh or chest or even a hand...
Something soft brushed against the back of Dixie's neck and she gasped herself awake. She grumbled something about progress and stupid dreams before rolling over to see what kind of woodland creature she was going to have to eject from her bed.
Several seconds later she was in her father's room, whiplashing him awake and jibbering incomprehensively.
"What?" he asked.
In response she grabbed his arm and hauled him to her bedside to view the little person sleeping there, a fist jammed in its mouth.
"It's Alek," Archie muttered. He yawned hugely, and Dixie resisted the urge to sock him in the face.
"How do you know?" she asked.
Archie shuffled up to the bed and scooped the baby up with barely any effort. Alek nuzzled into Archie's t-shirt, but he didn't wake up. Archie pointed. Alek's wand rested in the hollow he had left behind. It was smaller, but clearly the same wand. Dixie stared.
"Well... put him back in his room," she said. Her eyes were still wide and staring, but she didn't flinch away when Archie smirked and jabbed the baby at her face-first, like he was initiating some strange game of baby tag.
Alek cooed and opened his black-rimmed eyes.
"He creeps me out," Dixie said.
"You'll get used to it."
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Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:57 pm
"Ba ba ba ba BA BA BA BA BA!"
Dixie had only had about eight hours of silence since Alek had grown, and those eight hours had been while the baby was sleeping. Right now, Alek was using his wand as a drumstick, beating his mother's shoulder and singing a truly dischordant song. His ear for music had temporarily left him since he had gained a body, but he was using all of his free time to get back up to par.
"We're going into the li-brare-ee now," she explained. "You can't sing here. Everyone in the library is quiet."
Alek stopped singing at his mother's serious tone and stared at her moving lips.
"Shhhh."
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."
Dixie hoped that this stretch of silence would last as she pulled open the door and stepped inside.
Books began to slam on the ground as the young elf began to search and search over again. It had to be here... somewhere right? The book that was strictly about Treants. Kyo had a feeling the book would be here... so that’s why he was searching.
Looking down at the protruding wand beneath his shirt. The elf sighed in disappointment at how long this was taking. Shaking his head back and forth, his hair began to mess up. From a distance it would look like the elf was actually at home here. It was true, the place reminded him much of his past home.
"Come out come out... where ever you are!" Kyo whispered from atop of the latter on the first floor. Yet had the elf explored out onto the second floor of books.
Once they were inside, Alek had a clear view of the manic elf that was throwing books around. If this guy could make this much noise, surely a couple of songs wouldn't make anyone mad. He rested his head on his mother's shoulder and began humming softly.
"Hey... uh... do you need help with anything?" Dixie asked, looking up at Kyo. She was far from a librarian, but if he was looking for something in particular, two sets of eyes were probably better than one.
Startled, Kyo practically fell backwards off the latter and right on to his bottom. Jumping up the elf quickly rubbed at his sore spot.
"Ooowie.."
Quickly dusting himself off. Kyo slowly straightened himself out and stared at the woman blankly.
"Oh um... It's nothing," Kyo nodded, lying basically. Trying to keep this book finding strictly to be done by himself. More of a pride and determination thing really.
"My name is Kyo by the way!" The elf managed to stutter beneath his labored breathing.
"I'm sorry if I was causing to much noise!"
Dixie jumped back and winced as the man fell and landed in front of her. She might have tried to catch him, but she was holding a baby and she couldn't bring herself to drop him, no matter how annoying he was.
"I'm Dixie," she said after the elf had composed himself. "And this is Aleksandr."
Alek looked at Dixie when she said his name and then back at Kyo. "B b b," he said.
"So umm... why are you all the way out here?" Kyo tilted his head, remembering the walk he had just to get here. Well to him it took a while since he got lost the first time, but he seemed to have some natural way navigating around now. Kyo began to start picking up the book he had dropped... most of them on accident... some because he was frustrated.
"I was looking for some kids' books," Dixie said. "We've got a lot at home, but I read them all when I was small and they were pretty bad. Maybe they're all like that." She looked around at the titles on nearby spines and shrugged. "This section doesn't look like it's going to help me at all."
She watched Kyo pick up a couple of books before saying, "Do you need a hand with that?" Dixie leaned over to put Alek on the floor, but he grabbed her shirt in his fist and appeared to not want to let go. Well, at least she had offered.
"Oh umm.. no I caused this mess so I should take care of it my self, but thanks for offering!" The elf nodded, then suddenly he realized the wand was still in his shirt pocket, but he truly never forgot about it. Reaching into his shirt Kyo retrieved his prized possession and grasped it in his frail elf hand.
"I'll take care of it before I leave!" The elf nodded.
"So umm.. I noticed there are a lot of people here with wands. What is Aleksandr?" Kyo nodded, not knowing much other than Elvin legends.
Upon seeing Kyo's wand, Alek stuck his fist out, proudly displaying his own. It was thinner than it had appeared when he had been tethered to it, but the always-ripe grapes still dangled from the end. He figured this was all he needed to say on the matter, so he kept silent.
"He's a ljeschi," Dixie said, mangling the slavic word. "A satyr basically." She would have turned him around to show Kyo his tail, but Alek was being so well behaved and she didn't want to ruin it. "Do you know what yours is?" she asked.
"A Satyr? How interesting!" The elf rubbed at his chin. "My wand is going to be a Treant, I'm already starting to think of a name that would fit for it perfectly!" Kyo said proudly.
"The type of wood this wand is made of is from an Oak tree, so I'm thinking the Treant was that of Oak. I believe Oak would be a very befitting name!" Kyo nodded with a half smile.
Dixie didn't know what a Treant was, but she nodded anyway. "Oak's nice," she said.
"Kuh kuh," Alek agreed.
"Do you know if it'll be a boy or a girl?" Dixie asked. She was curious if there was some way to tell, since she really hadn't been sure what Alek would be until he arrived.
The elf lifted the wand into the air and stared at it. "Nope... I don't think you can tell by just looking at it's bottom!" Kyo chuckled slightly, trying to be a little humorous.
Staring at the little boy, Kyo seemed to chuckle warmly. "He uses his voice a lot, if I'm correct on Satyr folklore. They are pretty well known to play music very good!" Kyo nodded and smiled. "That’s at least what I heard, not sure if it's really true."
The girl nodded. "He needs a muzzle. His... music was so much prettier when he was a ghost." It was a good thing Alek couldn't understand her, or he might have taken offense.
It was nice to know that at least one person who had one of these wands didn't seem to know everything about it. Dixie smiled back at Kyo and said, "Have you met any other guardians?"
"I've met a few, but it's been a while since I have seen them...." Kyo began to drone out and spacey stare around. "I don't know why... I guess I kind of got lost wandering around this place and eventually bumped into Ianna just a few hours ago, that’s when I got Oak.." Kyo tapped at his chin. Then shook his head.
"Sorry I spaced it there for a second. Well you know the more he practices the better and more wonderful his voice will be!" The elf nodded.
This guy sure seemed zoned out. But it was understandable. This place was a maze, and much larger than it appeared from the outside. Wait, did he just say he had only received his wand a couple of hours ago?
"Wow," Dixie said. "Can you find your way out again?" She was a little frightened about her own prospects now. If Kyo had been in here for hours, what kind of luck would she have getting back outside?
She nodded at the elf's assessment of Alek's now-horrible songs. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just wish he didn't have to practice out loud."
"I think I got a handle of this place now, I can probably find my way out again!" The elf nodded. Knowing that he most likely remembered the way back out, but he wasn't planning on leaving any time really soon. Not until he finishes the research on his wand.
"You could always put him in his own room... or you could get ear muffs." Kyo grinned and chuckled lightly.
"Okay good." Dixie thought she remembered the way out as well, but she still wasn't sure whether or not this place was magical. She could handle children that came out of inanimate objects, but magic houses were still a little more than she was willing to admit existed. "I thought we weren't going to be able to find our way out of here," she said with a slight grin.
Dixie nodded. "He's got his own room, but he doesn't like it much. He won't cry unless he's hurt, but he knows how to scream when he's locked in. My father usually lets him out. Archie's a pushover like that." If she sounded callous, Dixie didn't seem to notice.
Alek lifted his head at the mention of his grandfather's name, but when he didn't see the puppet-man anywhere, he leaned back into Dixie's shoulder.
"That’s kind of funny..." The elf let out a rolling chuckle. "I still have a ton of books to be going through.." Kyo shrugged his shoulders and scan down the many book cases filled with knowledge.
"It's going to take me hours to get through them all, but then maybe I'll be more familiarized with all of them!" The elf nodded.
"How long have you had Alex?" The elf turned his back away from the woman and towards the book case he was recently tearing apart, but yet kept his head tilted so she was in the corner of his eye.
Dixie looked over at the shelves as Kyo did. "Yeah, hours," she said. She certainly hoped to not be there that long.
"I got his wand in May, but he just turned into this." She bounced Alek higher on her hip and he let out a surprised 'oof.' That was kind of fun!
"Hmm interesting. Hey I still have a lot of books to be going through." The elf once again scanned up and down the shelves. "I should probably get back to them before it gets to late." Kyo nodded, turning his head back toward Dixie and Alex.
"I hope I get to see you guys around here more often, I enjoyed making your acquaintance!" Kyo smiled and bowed in the normal Elvin way.
Dixie nodded. "We should be going too." She supposed she could make do with one of the least stupid Curious George books for Alek's first storytime.
"We'll be seeing you around," she said with a smile, before turning back to where they had come in. "It was nice to meet you." Dixie gave Kyo a short wave and Alek mimicked her before she pushed open the door and headed back to headquarters and outside.
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Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 2:54 pm
GotP HQ (Danny, Vanaja, Raven, Yui, Dixie, Alek)
September 13, 2006 Life... sucks.
It probably wasn't the most auspicious of observations for the future mother to be making in the presence of her ghostling- even unspoken, the brown-haired woman had found that her mood rubbed off too often on Green, and too often of late her mood was a sour one to have to share. But frankly, it was true. Life was a big sucky pile of sucky suck, at least if your name happened Danny.
Of course, when "life" consisted of little more than school, work, and the commute inbetween one and the other, maybe such a poor outlook was just to be expected. The beginning of the school term meant that most of her friends were just as busy as she was, thus leaving her with nothing to do in the little free time she had. The only real company she'd had for a few weeks was Vana, and as much as she cared for the wand child... well, one really needed more than a wispy visage to fulfill that social urge.
So, Danny found herself in the HQ at the Wand Shoppe, milling about aimlessly and wondering if anyone would show up at this time of day. It seemed pretty empty for the moment... maybe she was just wasting her afternoon off by hanging around here? Glancing at the green form that drifted around behind her knees, she addressed it with a sheepish grin and a suggestion of- "Maybe we ought to just head home?"
Green didn't seem to be enthralled by this idea- floating a few steps away from her guardian, the ghost made a show of drifting away and poking around the HQ, as if very interested in exploring these surroundings. "Guess not," Danny forced a chuckle, tagging along after the ghost.
She hadn't ventured back to the strange place she received Yui from since getting the wand-- though a nagging voice in the back of her head demanded that she at least attempt to associate with others who might have the same type of child. Especially since now there was the wisp. Yui. Right. Names were important.
It had been so... frustrating though. Nothing seemed to be going right and-- person. Person with another floaty. But a bigger one. A green one. "Ah... hello?" Raven wished-- not for the first time-- that she had better social skills. Unfortunately, Arch had gotten most of those genes.
Alek had only been a real flesh-and-blood baby for a whopping three days, and Dixie had kept him all to herself for most of that time. That was the excuse Archie used to make himself feel better when he had grabbed the sleeping satyr-boy out of his crib and taken him on an impromptu walk this afternoon. It had taken Alek several hours to fully awaken, but now he was pointing at every other thing he saw and screeching at it, like that somehow made it better.
"Eeeeee bah!" he said, pointing at the most interesting building Archie had seen all day.
The former criminal tilted his head to one side and squinted at the building. "Yeah, okay," he said. That place looked sedate enough.
Oh, hey! Someone was here! It wasn't anyone Danny knew, but she was people-starved enough that right now, that didn't bother her all that much. Just having someone to talk with....
"Uh, hi!" Warmly, Danny smiled to the newcomer, taking little notice as the ever-shy Green sought refuge behind her from this unfamiliar stranger. Eyes locking in on the brightly colored wisp of Yui's wand, Danny brightened up even further- "Oh, you've got one of the ghost kids too, right? Very nice to meet you! My name's Danny, and hiding behind me somewhere is Green- uh, that's just what I call her, I'm holding off on giving her a real name until I know enough about her to make a good choice... anyway. What's your name?" She was coming off as awfully forward, she was sure... but just now, she couldn't bring herself to tone it down. I mean, dear Lord! She finally had someone to talk to!
Raven blinked once, twice-- then switch. The girl smiled genially back, fingering Yui's wand, taking it out of her purse. "Yes, I've managed to get one of them too. I'm Raven-- and this is Yui. At least, I think that's her name. It's... kind of a long story," the girl shook her head slightly. "I'm not really sure about these kids-- they're a little confusing to me, truth be told. I'm not used to object-kids. Mainly just... kid-kids."
Talking was good, theraputic for Raven. Usually. Hopefully? Maybe she'd make some friends. "You're the first person I've met, excepting that... Ianna?... who has one of these kids."
"Oh, so she's a girl?" Somehow, out of all that about kid-kids and object-kids, that tidbit seemed to be the bit that Danny really clinged to. This was great! So far, all of the other ghost children Danny and Green had met were male (with the exception of that pretty raven-haired girl, but Kishi hadn't really "met" them so much as "been in the same room as them"); and while Green seemed to do well around all her guy friends, she really did need to make a few friends her own gender, Danny expected.
The next comment, though, got Danny a little more attentive. "Oh... Ianna. Yeah." The name seemed to make Danny uncomfortable, to say in the least. "She's, uh, pretty nice, I guess. I haven't really seen hide or hair of her since she decided I ought to take care of Green, so I don't really know all that much about her."
Raven nodded. "That much I'm pretty sure about-- I was looking up some information on vampires-- she's a vampire, you see... and it said that her kind of vampire is called a 'Daughter of Cacophony' and only females can be a member of that group..." ...she was talking too much again. "What about Green? What's she like?"
Better to stray off the topic of Ianna, perhaps-- that woman had been... strange... and it seemed to make Danny uncomfortable as well.
"... Vampire?" Danny was too polite to say it aloud, but her frozen expression said it all- yikes. Weren't vampires like, superevil creepy things that burned up in the sun and... did she really want Green around something that lived off of drinking human blood?!
You can't believe everything you see in the movies, she told herself sternly, trying to dissuade herself of the knee-jerk reaction of horror. Could she really help it if all she really knew about this magic stuff was from Hollywood, though?
It was much easier to talk about Green than to worry about Yui's hidden nature, however. "Oh, I don't really know that much about Green, actually," Danny admitted, only mildly embarrassed. She'd been mortified once to have to confess to the fact that she hadn't been listening when Ianna had told her what her wand was supposed to be- especially since it seemed such an important thing to know- but, after having to divulge her ignorance on so many occasions, it had lost a fair bit of its difficulty to speak. "She's probably somethng very nature-related; you should see how she gets around my little garden, she practically lives in the dirt whenever I let her."
Well, that was something you didn't hear everyday! "That's interesting-- I've never heard of anything like that before," Raven smiled slightly. "Nature is good though-- gentler than most. And gardens are gorgeous usually."
And of course... "And... I think I know what you're thinking about vampires. Yeah... it's kind of weird. But if she was wronged in another life, that means that there has to be something good about her to have been wronged, right? I... I'm not sure. Working it out in my head still."
I...I'm not sure. Working it out in my head still.
That had been hesitation, and Danny knew that hesitation all too well. Right up until Green had come into her own as a baby ghost, Danny's life had been filled with that hesitation. It was destructive, terrible, and risky- and for once, Danny was surprised to find, she was above it and able to try and steer someone else free of it.
"Uhm... Raven? If you'd... put Yui down over there. I need to chat with you over here." Jerking a thumb in the appropriate direction, Danny seemed to be quite serious- almost too much so, given her prior joviality. "Green, can you please keep Yui company while we talk?"
The little ghost bounced in surprise, almost as if she'd expected she'd been forgotten. She was going to be a babysitter? (Or, uh, wisp-sitter?) Even if just for a few seconds while the keepers spoke on the other side of the room, this offer of responsibility was... interesting. Intriguing, even. Even if, as a ghost, she couldn't really do anything other than entertain her fellow wispling... this could be fun!
Strange request, but Raven wasn't averse to it. She nodded and did so, moving with Danny. "Okie...?"
Archie crossed the street and pulled open the door to the Wand Shoppe with one hand before quickly reaching back to support the now frantically bouncing Alek.
"What? What is it?" Archie asked, thinking that perhaps this was the signal for another Tail Emergency of the sort that they had encountered on the changing table at the mall.
"Ee eees," Alek replied softly. He pointed at a closed door across the room. There were ee eees in there.
Archie followed Alek's stubby little finger, giving the door the tiniest of shoves in case there was someone behind it. The first things he saw were the wisp and ghost, and apparently, Alek saw them too from the way he pointed at the pair, brow furrowed. "Oh hey, ee eees," Archie said. He started to approach the two kids, not immediately noticing the women in the corner.
Leading Raven a few paces away from where the ghosts could interact, Danny was picking through her words very carefully in the short time that she had to think them over. She was probably just going to come off as weird saying this, but... well, it had to be said. For Yui's sake, right? "... So, you know how these kids aren't like normal kids." It wasn't really a question- it would have been a rather stupid one to expect an answer out of, given that anyone could tell that the ghost children weren't precisely "normal". No need to rub it in. "Well, a lot because of that, I think what they need is... a little more difficult than just a normal kid. At least, with Vana, there was some very specific stuff that came up."
Opening one of her hands helplessly, Danny was still struggling to put what she'd just barely learned into words. It wasn't a concept fully understood, and it certainly wasn't one easy to express. There was a word for it, sure, but it felt so wholly inadequete... but she'd paused to try and think of the right word too long already, Raven would be wondering what was taking her so long by now. Without any stalling mechanism to resort to, Danny unhappily turned to the trick of many fools that lived throughout time- she just blurted out what she thought. "They need your faith, and if you're going to raise Yui, you can't be doubting her over the vampire thing!"
Green, in the meantime, had chosen to take her babysitting duties quite seriously; drifting curiously around her vividly-colored charge, the ghostling circled her in a lazy patrol, watching Yui closely to make sure the other ghost didn't get into any mischief (though what mischief Green expected Yui might find, still so young, was a mystery). So intent was she on guarding Yui, in fact, that she somehow failed to get the idea that she ought to pay attention for intruders from the outside; Archie and Alek went all but unnoticed by the bigger of the two ghosts.
Raven sighed-- she'd kind of expected someone to call her on this. "...I know. It's just... it's hard. There are certain conceptions about certain types of creatures. And... part of me was raised to think of vampires in certain ways. I know there are good parts about her. There are good parts about everyone, everything. It's just... I don't think it's right to say that everyone is all good. If you don't acknowledge that there's another side to everything, you're denying part of it. And without accepting all of her, the good and bad, isn't that a lie too?"
Questions Raven had been sitting on for quite some time. She cared about the little wisp too much to not recognize the possibility of bad. She didn't... damn. She was bad at this.
Yui curled around the statue on her wand, only vaguely aware of Green's presence. She was tired-- Raven's exploits all over the place had taken a toll on the wish. But-- wait. Something. Perking up her 'head' at the sound of people coming in, Yui wrapped tighter around her wand for safekeeping.
Archie got within a couple of feet of the other kids before opening his mouth to speak. Alek beat him to it.
"B b b!" he said proudly, pulling his wand out of Archie's shirt pocket and holding it out in front of him.
"Well don't startle them," Archie teased. He looked over at the other two guardians in the room. They looked like they were having a serious discussion. Archie was pretty sure he was better off where he was.
"Well... absolutely, yes! It's no more fair to ignore the troubles that Yui might face to try and force her into an angel mold," Danny replied reasonably, trying to smooth over her prior abruptness with easy agreements. "Even so...." She hesitated. Maybe she was being too pushy... was it really all right for her to be criticizing someone else on how they handled their wand? She wasn't exactly parent of the year, herself.... But on this thing, it's important enough to justify, she decided firmly. She'd learned this lesson hard enough, there was no reason to force someone else to go through the same thing. "It's one thing to accept that a child might have flaws, and another thing entirely to try and search for ones you haven't seen based on a possibility, you know? You can be cautious and prepared for what Yui might run into, but you have to have enough faith to believe that she'd be able to overcome it. That's... that's just what I think, though."
B b b? What was a b b b, and why was it encroaching on her personal babysitting space?!
Imposing her wavering form between Alek and Yui, Green seemed distinctly unsettled by the big, solid form that was waving a wand around like a backstage pass at a concert. It was another ghost-thing like her, she supposed he was trying to communicate; but she'd never come across a ghost-thing that was quite so obnoxious as to barge into the middle of things like that!
There weren't so many ways for her to communicate her displeasure, though, so she merely hung in the air pointedly, making sure that Alek understood that she was the babysitter, and therefore, she was in charge.
...but Danny didn't seem to understand what Raven was saying. She wasn't... agh. Raven should learn to keep her mouth shut. Should she bother to explain the train of thought? Danny seemed to be taking the 'moral higher ground' without really hearing Raven's side of the story, going off of a mere... damnit. Why did Raven bother?
The girl just shrugged, closing in on herself. She barely knew this girl, and already there were judgements being thrown about on both sides. Raven hadn't said that she was looking for flaws. Raven hadn't said that she was-- damnit. Why bother?
Yui shrunk back, now that Green was in between the stranger and herself. Green seemed safe enough. Back to trying to rest. Or something. Strange noises...
Alek frowned and hugged his wand to his body. Well... well! That green ghost sure was bossy! He was just trying to be friendly. He looked up at Archie, and muttered something about ee eees before turning his head into his grandfather's chest.
"Um..." Archie began. "Sorry," he whispered to the ghost and wisp. It was the first time he'd seen Alek moody, and truthfully, it was kind of funny. But it wouldn't do to piss off any territorial green ghosts either. He kept an eye on the two children as he took the three steps over to one of the squishy couches and plopped down on it, turning a still-grumbling Alek away from his chest and propping him up on his lap.
"... But, y'know, I've probably overstepped my bounds on this, so sorry." As if it had taken much in the way of insight to interpret Raven's silence as a clear sign that Danny had offended. Straightening her sleeves sheepishly, she spotted at last the newcomer to the room. "I'll leave you alone now... just remember what I said, okay?" Flashing an apologetic grin to Raven, Danny took a few steps back, signalling that she was done grilling the other guardian on the subject, before heading over to join back up with Green.
Well, at least the man was nice, if the boy was hardly tolerable. Drifting upwards to better address Archie, a faint bird chirp answered his kind apology as he settled himself onto the couch, no doubt meant to be some sort of acceptance or explanation or otherwise sociably acceptable gesture.
You couldn't just get mad at a person when you just met them, couldn't pass judgement without first hearing their side of the story. Raven knew herself to be doing both of those, but at the same time... the other girl had made her judgements first, as petty as that sounded.
Why did she bother talking to people? Damnit, this wasn't what she'd hoped for in coming to this HQ. Best to revert to the silence, the stillness she'd once carried. Damnit. Damn, damn, and damn.
Just gather Yui and be done with this for now.
Yui glanced at the man at the apology, mildly confused before taking in Green again. Everyone made so much noise. It wasn't as if Yui could do anything about it. Nudging Green, Yui indicated the noisier ghosts questioningly.
Archie smiled at the approaching girl before turning back toward the disgruntled baby in his lap. "We've got to teach you some manners," he said softly. Alek ignored him, sticking his lower lip out in a pout.
"You're welcome," Archie told Green. "He's sorry too." He was fairly sure that the ghost wouldn't accept a second-hand apology, but he was willing to give it a shot. He noticed the little wisp's confusion, but didn't read it as anything more than shyness. Between these two and Too-ya, Archie was gaining a real appreciation of how different these kids were, in appearance as well as personality.
On the contrary; Green seemed very satisfied with this apology, at least insofar as she was willing to dismiss the matter and return to tending to Yui. It wouldn't do, after all, to spend so much time holding a grudge based on first impressions that she didn't take care of her responsibilities.
At the wisp's questioning gestures in the direction of the older ghost and his guardian, the ghost simply flitted a little closer and rippled a shrug. Solid people tended to be very strange, Green had found, and made little in the way of sense. But they weren't dangerous or anything, so why worry?
"I see you've met Green," commented Danny casually, no doubt thinking that she'd be best off trying to start up a conversation with this new fellow than to try and talk to Raven again so soon. Given that the other woman still seemed like she was being untalkative after the whole thing, it was probably a safe call. "I'm Danny, Green's mom. Is this guy yours?" She was referring to Alek now- a good deal more friendly than her ghost child this time around, she stooped down to get the boy more at eye-level as she smiled at him. "Hi there... what's your name?"
Yui seemed to accept Green's shrug, curling back around the wand before perking up at Raven's movement towards her. Ah. Time to go? So it seemed.
Raven gently picked up the wand and replaced it in her purse where it normally stayed, close to her body where she could keep an eye on Yui. "Say good-bye, Yui-- we're heading home for right now." Maybe they'd try again some other day. After Raven learned to keep her mouth shut.
"Yeah, he's interesting. Serious," Archie said. "Or is it a she? I couldn't tell what he was until my daughter insisted another baby had told her," he said, indicating Alek. Archie tried to get Alek to look up at Danny, but the baby kept his eyes fixed on his lap where he picked at his wand's handle and made soft noises at it every so often.
"Sorry about Alek," Archie said. It seemed he was just apologizing left and right today. "I'm Archie. It's nice to meet you."
What's this? Yui had to leave?... well, that was a downer. Chirping a quiet farewell to the other wisp, Green found herself abruptly without purpose in the room- in other words, same old, same old. Slowly floating a short distance from where she had been watching after the vampire ghost, the little thing seemed to be scouting the room for anything else of interest. Naturally, there wasn't anything overly exciting to the ghost; just Danny, Archie, and Alek to keep her attention.
"Very nice to meet you, Archie!" She was perhaps a touch overenthusiastic; she wasn't overlooking Raven's departure, after all, and there was no small amount of self-directed cursing shaking around in her head right around now. With all those worries, it was more than a little relieving to have an easy distraction on which to be hyperattentive and cheery. "And I don't mind, really; I'm sure he's just a little tired or something." That was the standard excuse for babies to cop an attitude, right?
They had been out nearly all day. Maybe he was tired. "You're probably right," Archie said. Should he take Alek home? Archie felt sort of guilty, seeing as how the other woman had just left as well. Danny and Green would have no one to talk to! But maybe it was for the best.
Archie swiveled Alek around so he could more easily pick the baby up and received a halfhearted punch to the chest for his trouble. "I think it's time to go," Archie said, a touch of disappointment in his tone. "It was really great meeting you and Green though, and I'm sure Alek will think so too once we get home." Archie rose from the couch and headed for the door, giving Danny and Green a wave as he went.
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Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:40 pm
Dixie disliked autumn. Random seasonal illness, fall jackets, raking leaves, these were all things that she could do without. Her only previous fall season on this planet had been spent indoors, thinking of daily something-or-others to get out of the chores her father had desperately wanted her to do and the "fun" her father had desperately wanted her to have. Now that she had a kid of her own, however, autumn was apparently a time to be outside, acting like a parent.
Dixie obliged, but that didn't mean she liked it.
She was currently standing in line for tickets to the Durem Corn Maze, a fact that intrigued her because first of all, she had never known that Durem even had corn, and secondly, walking through a maze of corn was just plain stupid. Alek bobbed in her arms, oohing and aahing at the faintest tinges of fall colors on the leaves and at, of course, the corn.
In the spirit of Halloween and all things that are spooky. Kyo decided to take Oak on his first adventure and trip to a corn maze. Why he did... not even he could tell you. Not really dressing up for the season, Oak was hoisted and held tightly against his guardian. In an attempt to try and spread some warmth, but it wasn't likely for a child of the trees to really need it.
The two arrived at the Durem Corn maze. A slightly darkening sky shrouded the heavens. Following the mass of people at the faux corn maze. Kyo rubbed his hand through the child’s fall colored hair and smiled.
"I hope your going to enjoy this, I don't even know why we are here." Kyo shook his head, but ignored it.
The elf tilted his head. Looking further into the line he saw the form of two very familiar people.
"Dixie, Alek?" Kyo cocked his head.
Dixie turned as she heard her name. "Oh hey!" she said, relief evident on her face. She wouldn't have to go through this weirdness by herself after all. As she backed through the line, giving people 'excuse mes' left and right, she noticed that Kyo was holding a very colorful baby. When did that happen?
"Is that Oak?" she asked.
Alek reached out a hand and grabbed at the air in the other baby's general direction. The too-long sweatshirt sleeve dangling over his hand masked his intent, making his arm look like some sort of undulating worm.
"Yeah this is Oak." Kyo nodded and smiled. Watching as the baby Alex reached out for the boy with colorful hair.
Oak instantly shot a glance up at his guardian upon hearing his name, followed by twisting his tiny form around to see who the weird elf was talking to.
Kyo turned Oak around the rest of the way. So he would feel more included in the group.
"He just appeared I guess.. not to long ago."
Dixie turned Alek around as well, before addressing Oak directly. "You were a stick the last time I saw you," she said with a slight grin. Her attention turned to Kyo again. "So, what brings you two here?" Dixie craned her neck, trying to see how much longer they had to wait. "The ad promised fun and games, not a line," she muttered. As if some unseen force had heard her complaint, they began moving much faster, reaching the front of the line in no time.
"I just thought we would need to attend one corn maze at least this year. I heard good things about this one, although I hope they are true." The elf nodded.
Oak eyed the child with hair like no other. Just sitting there.... staring, then all of a sudden this weird look just fell onto the tree babies face. Sticking his tongue out like a dog, then the corner of his mouth drooped followed by a cocked eye.
Oak began to giggle.
Alek watched the colorful baby, concern flitting across his face briefly as Oak stuck out his tongue. Was this going to turn out like his encounter with that other tree? When Oak began to giggle, it took quite a bit of squirm control on Dixie's part to keep Alek from dropping rudely to the floor.
"Aaaaa ha ha hahahaaaaaa!" Alek said, before dissolving into real laughter. He too stuck out his tongue, blowing a messy raspberry at Oak before laughing and squirming some more.
"Two please," Dixie told the frazzled and spit-upon ticket counter woman. She looked back at Kyo and Oak. "You know what? Make that four." The tickets were only three bucks anyway.
"Babies're free," the woman said.
"Even better." Dixie smiled, but it probably looked a little feral. Being nice to people she didn't find the least bit interesting wasn't easy in her old age.
She handed a ticket to Kyo and motioned toward the opening in the field. "After you," she said.
Oak's mouth dropped open in shock. Some how and some way he had to beat that raspberry, but how?
"Oh thanks. That was really nice of you." The elf nodded with a warm smile across his face. Heading off into the corn maze, the elf awaited for Dixie.
Oak turned his head and was followed by his body as the two wandered on by the others. Keeping a close eye on hairy baby. Waiting for the two to get closer, Oak pulled at his eye and blew a raspberry right back and giggled once again.
"Ahhaha.." Adding a mimicked laughter. "A booa biaag" was all that followed after.
Kyo scratched at his scalp some what confused, but shook his head.
Alek laughed and clapped appreciatively as Dixie caught up with Kyo. There was a fork in the corn up ahead, and Dixie looked at it with disdain.
"Which way should we go?" she asked.
Alek, making the most of his relative closeness to Oak, jerked out his arm, intending to grab the other baby before he could get away again. How were they supposed to have fun when these stupid adults kept moving around? "Eeeaaaaaa!" he said.
"Umm... I don't know." The elf tapped at his chin then suddenly a light bulb went off. Closing his eyes, the elf began to spin around slowly. Oak still being held closely to his chest. Which of who was beginning to giggle and laugh at the motion.
Losing his sense of direction the elf suddenly stopped and pointed off into a random direction, but this direction was right back at the start of the maze.
"Hmm... well that didn't work. You pick a direction" Kyo turned back around and sighed.
Oak began to rock in his arms trying to regain some consciousness. Looking over to Alek, Oak watched as he reached out. Tilting his head slightly and cocking and eyebrow. The tree baby began to giggle and a snort left his nose.
Dixie couldn't help but smile at the elf's random spinning. When he stopped and just ended up pointing back at the entrance, she almost suggested they follow the hand of fate and head to McDonalds or something, but she held her tongue.
"Left looks good," she said with a shrug.
Alek grabbed his hand back as Dixie began to walk, happily babbling to himself.
"A wise choice I guess." The elf nodded and smiled. Following in suit as they followed along behind the Dixie and Alek.
Oak gave a grunt and a whine. Looking up at his guardian every so often. Not liking this game not one bit. The tree boy wanted to get closer and play with the other hairy child, but that’s something that can't happen while your walking.
"Someone's being loud." Kyo smirked looking down at Oak. Resting between his arms.
"Strange, I thought Alek would be more vocal. At least that's what I gathered from the first time we met back at the HQ." Kyo tapped at his chin.
"He has his moments," Dixie said, as she continued down her chosen path. "I made a point of not bringing anything he could make into an instrument, and I think he's noticed how... annoying his voice is since he got a body," she explained. "He only sings at home now," she said with a smile.
After a couple more twists and turns, the small group broke into a good-sized clearing, strewn with empty corn husks and tightly packed bales of hay. Catching sight of a stick figure made of lashed together ears of corn, Alek squealed and wiggled around, anxious to be put down.
"Okay, okay," Dixie said, setting the baby on one of the boxy hay bales. "But only for a minute." She looked apologetically at Kyo. "I'm always afraid I'm going to drop him when he gets like that."
Kyo found a bale of hay across from Dixie and took a seat.
Oak too was acting more unusual than normal as he squirmed for freedom.
"I get like that too sometimes, but Oak doesn't really act crazy like this unless he's outside." The elf nodded. Setting down Oak on the dirt floor and the few strewn pieces of hay.
Green eyes quickly averting and watching the Alek carefully from the dirt below. Oak quickly buried his hands into the dirt and a soft giggle and a sigh left his lips. Something about being on the dirt floor just gave him chills up his spine. Gripping his right hand around a stalk of hay, Oak lifted the fiber up to his mouth and began to nibble.
Kyo seeing his actions didn't do anything about it at all, but patted the tree baby on the top of his head.
"At least I don't have to worry to much on what he eats. Oaks seems to really like eating plants..." The elf shrugged.
Alek's eyes widened at the other baby's strange behavior before he leaned over and grabbed his own handful of hay, jamming it into his toothless mouth.
"Alek..." Dixie began before deciding it was useless. If Oak could eat hay, so could Alek. Someone in this maze probably knew the heimlich anyhow.
The baby laughed and threw his arms out wide, flinging the remaining, spitty hay onto every available surface within a two foot radius.
Oak stopped nibbling on his piece of hay just as soon as Alek stuffed some into his own mouth. Cocking an eye. Oak was slightly confused, but as soon as Alek started to laugh and throw things. Oak simply smiled and laughed as well. Throwing some of his own hay into the sky.
"Sometimes... I don't get babies." The elf shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Dixie said, brushing hay off of her sleeves.
Alek laughed some more, and picked up more hay to throw. He pulled his arm back to fling it, hard, at the other baby, but his swing was stopped by Dixie's hand. "Don't do that," she scolded. "It's mean."
Mean? Whatever that was, Alek didn't want to be it. Slowly, he lowered his hand and dejectedly sprinkled the hay in his lap. He sniffed.
"Oh crap, I didn't mean it like that," Dixie said. She lifted the baby into her arms and bounced him on her knee. Ever since her father had taken the kid out, he had been suffering from some sort of complex.
"Sorry," she said to Oak, not expecting him to understand.
Oak watched the boy with curious eyes. Was he about to throw something at me? Well... why did she stop him... it was only hay. Oak let out a soft grunt then took a handful of hay himself and smoothed it on the top of his head.
"Oak your making a mess of yourself." Kyo sighed then followed quickly by a yawn.
Oak soon let out a yawn of his own.
"I think we better get finding our way out of here soon. Oak here looks like he needs to hit the hay." Chuckling, Kyo quickly let out a sigh.
Oaks eyes began to droop and hang over his deep green eyes.
"What do you say Dixie. Shall we?" Kyo stood up and pointed his hand out towards the continuing maze and bowed slightly. Trying to be polite. Then he bent his frail figure and snatched up the yawner.
Alek watched Oak hay-ify himself and laughed softly. See, it was fun! Adults were lame.
Dixie nodded. "Near tantrums are a sure sign we should be getting home too," she said. "How about we just go back the way we came? I'm sure it would be faster than trying to find our way through the whole maze."
She stood and braced Alek's back against her chest so he could look out at the corn.
"That would most likely work out a lot better than trying to find our way out. Although we must try again next year and hope that these little guys can handle a corn maze maybe... on there own?" The elf nodded with a smile. Waiting for Dixie to head out first then he would soon follow... since that was the polite way, right?
Oak soon drifted off to rest. Resting his head on Kyo's right shoulder. A spot of drool dribbling from his mouth.
"Eck... drool."
It took Dixie a little while to get her bearings, but she eventually made it back out of the maze without getting lost.
Alek waved his arms and whined until she turned him around to rest on her shoulder as well. Hay didn't seem to agree with him after all.
Dixie patted the muttering baby on the back and said to Kyo, "Until next year, then? At least for the maze." She grinned.
"Yeah until next year, although I think Oak here would like to visit with Alek here and there." Kyo nodded.
They where finally out of the torturing maze, but until next year... that would be another story. Hopefully the two would be much older and ready for something like this. Maybe even go on there own.
"Maybe they'll be old enough to do this on there own. I would rather be sitting at a cafe drinking coffee then getting lost amongst some corn stocks." Kyo chuckled.
"Sounds good." Dixie didn't comment on how much Alek and Oak might grow within the next year. She had felt, first hand, how it was to grow so rapidly, and she didn't want her kid to have any part of it. Not that it hurt or anything, but... if Alek was bringing home girls in her lifetime, she might have to move to another dimension.
"See you guys around," she added with a tired smile, sure that she would soon. Kyo was certainly one of the few people she could stand on this planet. She raised Alek's clenched fist in a puppeted wave and the baby muttered darkly.
"Of course, we'll see you two around." Kyo nodded and smiled.
"What about you Oak?" The elf added. Staring down on his charges head.
Oak looked up at his guardian and sighed. Looking back over towards the two. Oak mimicked the two and raised his own hand. "Ahh.."
The elf raised his own hand and waved towards the two. "Bye Dixie... Alek."
The elf gave a nod of his head.
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Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:44 pm
Halloween (Alek, Archie, Dixie)
October 31, 2006 Alek screeched and shoved his foam claws into his mouth for what seemed like the hundreth time.
"No, Alek," Dixie scolded. The baby looked up when he heard his name, but since the reprimand didn't come with a removal of the claws like it had every other time, Alek kept gumming.
"Where are you guys going?" Archie yelled from down the hall.
"Around," Dixie answered, positioning a plastic headband on her son's wiggling head.
Archie shuffled into the room, dusty rented wizard's robes dragging behind him. "What's he supposed to be?" he asked.
"A chupacabra," Dixie replied. "I thought it would be funny."
"Mmm. Irony."
"Shut up."
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Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:51 pm
Mail Call (Archie)
October 31, 2006 To say that Archie was excited would have been an understatement. An acquaintance from one of his very first successful placements as owner and operator of the ICRS had invited him to a party. An actual party! It was over now, but that didn't stop him from being excited. He had a creepily noticeable bounce in his step as he made his way down the block from the bus toward his house, and his tail swung in time with the tuneless melody he was whistling.
His pace quickened as he neared the house. He had so much to tell Dixie! These guys he knew were from way before her time, but Archie was sure she would at least like their stories. Dixie had always seemed to enjoy tales from other worlds, worlds that she deemed less stupid than Gaia.
Up ahead, Archie could just make out a large, white envelope on the doorstep of his house, held in place by the cheery blue welcome mat. He kept walking. The words 'Mr. Saturn' floated into focus, printed in neat black block lettering. Archie smirked as he finally got close enough to grab it. He bent over quickly and stood up again, this time holding the strange parcel. He ran a finger under the edge of the sealed flap before tilting the contents into his hand. The first thing that slid out made him almost drop the rest.
A used match lay cupped in Archie's palm for a brief moment before he flung it to the grass and began wiping his hand on his jeans. The faintest whiff of charred cardboard floated through the air. Archie doubted anyone else would have noticed.
The next thing that dropped out of the envelope was almost as harrowing as the first.
Danon Aphis Shaw, Archie's former master, stared back at his bond from a well-worn Polaroid. Scrawled on the back of the picture were the words, 'I'm coming home.' The handwriting didn't match the neat, ordered shapes that decorated the envelope, but Archie didn't even notice. He slid closer to the house and fumbled for his key. The quiet block looked empty, but Archie felt eyes on him as he managed to get the door open and stumble inside.
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Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:53 pm
Kazoo (Alek, Archie, Dixie)
November 8, 2006 It was raining. Archie was restless.
"Sit. The ********. Down," Dixie said, turning the page of her dogeared copy of Lemony Snicket's first book. She had bought it at a discount for Alek, when he got old enough to read of course, but it had proven to be pretty damn funny. The baby satyr sat next to her, leaning against her side, playing a novelty-sized kazoo that Archie had found in his cereal. The kid didn't sound half bad.
"But..." Archie didn't have a response, so he sat the ******** down. "Isn't this boring? Aren't you bored?" he asked, leaning over and poking Alek on a hairy leg. The baby stopped playing and looked up, a tiny crease furrowing his baby brow. He obviously wasn't bored at all.
Ever since Halloween, Archie had been anxious about something, and it was really starting to damage Dixie's calm. She was ashamed to admit it, but she had even gone so far as to contemplate completely moving out and taking her semi-tuneless spawn with her. But she couldn't do that. Archie had been her life for over a year, and she didn't think she could make it on her own.
So she stayed, and so did Aleksandr. But if whatever was wrong with Archie didn't come to the surface soon, Dixie wasn't sure what would happen. Darcy was beginning to get restless.
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Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:27 pm
Scared (Alek, Archie, Dixie, Carrie)
November 23, 2006 Aleksandr peered over the side of the table at the stack of turkey on his mother's plate. His wand was on him, for a change, so he quickly poked the ever-ripe grapes into the heap of meat.
"Alek..."
He wanted to ask why they were doing this - why it was necessary for them to gather around this big, wooden rectangle and heap pale bird flesh on plates instead of sitting on the sofa with the stuff, but he didn't have the words. Besides, Alek didn't really think they knew why either.
Archie looked perpetually distressed. "Why are we doing this again?" he asked. "I mean, Halloween is one thing. At least it's fun..."
"It's what they do here," Dixie interrupted.
There was a knock at the door. It seemed melodic to Alek, even though it was just the simple rap-tap-tap of knuckles on wood. He was lifted and set down by himself on the hard kitchen chair, his wand forgotten in its turkey prison.
A shrill voice cut through the house. "Hellllooooooo!" Archie winced and stood up quickly, almost as if he couldn't control himself. Alek turned toward the sound. Whatever was making that noise was still hidden by the door. Suddenly, he was in the air, clutched close to his grandfather's Hawaiian shirt.
"Archie." Dixie's voice was calm and a little bit smug. "Where are you going?"
"Alek needs to be changed," Archie said softly. He didn't turn around.
The satyr squirmed. He wanted to see who was invading the house. There was a rustle, and something came up fast around Archie's side.
"Why HELLLOOOOOO!" the monster said. In addition to it begin the largest, most horrifying thing Alek had seen in his short life, it seemed that its beastly powers caused earthquakes too.
"Dixie, your kid!" Archie squeaked as he fumbled with an Alek that was suddenly half its normal size. The baby began to whimper. "What the hell is going on?"
The monster backed off as Alek began full-on bawling. "What did you do?" Dixie asked.
"Nothing! Look, Carrie, I think you should go."
"Of course." Over his own cries, Alek thought the monster sounded a little bit sad. Served her right.
"Shhhh. She's gone now," Archie said. "I know how you feel." Soothing warmth and gentle rocking soon had Alek quiet again, and Dixie returned from showing their neighbor out to find her father cradling her very normal-sized son.
"You did that on purpose," she accused quietly.
Archie rolled his eyes and continued bouncing. A few minutes later, Alek was asleep.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:11 pm
Itchy (Alek, Dixie)
December 3, 2006 Alek twitched in his sleep. He was running over some soft, green grass, not with his current legs, of course, and he was laughing. He felt heavier than he did on a normal day, and somehow his baby brain knew that meant he was big like grandfather or mama. There was something up ahead, but just as he was getting there, mere feet away from seeing what it was he was heading toward, he felt a soft nudge and he opened his eyes.
Dixie looked down at him, sporting the same sort of constipated smile she always did when she was trying to be comforting. "Come on, we have to go."
Alek looked around. Weren't they at home? Where did they have to go? The baby's eyes skimmed over a decrepit-looking rabbit and squirrel pair trying and failing to make some nearby kids laugh. Okay, he was wrong. Obviously they weren't at home. He held his arms up and was lifted into the air and settled on his mother's hip.
Dixie hurried toward the door, but a glance off at the brightly colored ball pit slowed her steps and started the pair on what would prove to be a path full of misery and scratching. The squirrel hurried over to Dixie's side and planted itself between her and the exit.
"Excuse me."
"The fun is just gettin' started, hyuk hyuk," the smelly squirrel head said.
"My... son... has had a long day. I think we'd better just get home, no matter how much fun we're about to have."
Before Dixie could reach out a hand to stop him or move away, Smelly Squirrel had extended a mangy paw and started patting Alek on the head. The baby made a face before reaching his own hand up to rub at his scalp. Earlier this morning, Alek's head had been throbbing, not in pain, but with a strange, uncomfortable pulse that made his skin crawl. He had forgotten about it during his nap, but now the itching was back in full force.
"Thanks," Dixie said, the sarcasm a sharp bite in her monotonous voice. Alek continued to scratch as his mother pushed past the giant rodent and left the building.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:12 pm
Death (Metaplot)
December 15, 2006Dixie and Alek appear very briefly on pages five, seven, and twenty-three.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:13 pm
Christmas (Alek, Dixie, Archie)
December 25, 2006 "Where is he?" Back and forth and back and forth Dixie went, pacing their large living room, the first indoor area most newly landed criminals saw on Gaia. "Is he sleeping?" she muttered. "It's almost noon."
If Alek had been able to speak coherently, he might have told his mother that no, grandpa wasn't sleeping at all. Last night he had found some sort of pretty white letter and had become so upset over it that Alek had needed to hum a little in order to get him to calm down. Archie was probably sitting in his room like the last time, just staring at the wall and muttering things every once and a while. If mama wanted him out here for Christmas, she was going to have to get him herself.
"I'm just going to go get him myself," Dixie said. Alek burbled in agreement.
Dixie approached her father's closed door and knocked. "Archie? Christmas!"
It took a few minutes, but when Archie opened the door, his appearance confirmed what Alek had thought. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy and his hair was a mess, even more so than usual. He carried two small gifts in one hand and scratched at his cheek with the other.
"They're not even wrapped," Dixie complained.
"What the hell does he know from wrapping paper?" Archie gestured at Alek with the gifts and the baby squealed with delight. "See?"
"Fine," Dixie said. She took the presents from her father and set them on the couch next to Alek. The satyr squealed again and promptly began to gum the plush angel's halo. "Merry Christmas," Archie said. He patted Alek on the back in lieu of a hug and headed back into his room.
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:15 pm
A Coffee Shop... Again (Raven, Ryvan, Archie, Alek)
January 7, 2007 Finally. A week without mysterious notes and the feeling that someone was watching him. And what did Archie get as a reward? A day with his... grandson? Ew. He really hated thinking of Alek that way. He hoisted the baby higher on his hip and slowed his stroll to a creeping shuffle. He might have been watching Alek, but that didn't mean he had anything in mind to do with him.
Alek shoved a fist in his mouth.
"Are you hungry?" Archie asked. Fists in mouths were as much of a sign as anything else, he supposed.
Archie crossed the street and pushed open the door of a cozy-looking coffee shop.
Raven was curled up in a plush armchair Ryvan sitting in her lap. It wasn't that she didn't love the club she just needed to get out every once and a while. At the sound of the door opening the little redheaded child looked over her guardians shoulder and giggled when she saw who it was, She knew him! At least she thought she knew him, there was something familiar about him.
Alek swiveled his head toward Ryvan immediately. It wasn't that he recognized the voice, since she hadn't really had much of one the last time they'd met, he just wanted to know what was so much fun.
He scratched his seemingly always itchy head and bounced, temporarily diverting Archie's attention from the counter, down to his temporary charge.
"Hm?"
Alek pointed and Archie scuffled over in the direction of the baby's finger, his eyes still on the confusing array of coffee and tea names behind the counter.
Still a few feet away, Alek nonetheless took the opportunity to blow a raspberry in Ryvan's direction before bursting into peals of laughter.
Ryvan giggled even more and blew kisses at the other baby. He was silly, and he looked soft too!
Raven looked over at what her daughter so very amused and smiled when she saw the other child interacting with her. Perhaps the boy's guardian would come sit with them so that the children could play.
Ryvan smiled again and waved her wand at the litttle boy.
That wand. It reminded Alek of something. Why wasn't Archie moving faster?
Instead of simply bouncing this time, Alek jabbed his heel into Archie's stomach, right above his left hipbone.
Archie grimaced, but certainly paid Alek more attention this time. The woman and baby seemed friendly enough, so he finished making his way over to them.
"Um, hi," he said. "Sorry to bother you. Alek's not... normal." It was a strange introduction, but there it was.
Alek waved back and smiled, happy to have gotten his way.
Ryvan giggled and waved at the boy urging her mother to place her near him.
Raven complied setting her daughter near the male child and looked up at the man accomianing the boy "few children are normal I'm afraid. You aren't bothering us though, if you were I would have told you." And she would have, she was not the type to let an annoyance go on unchecked.
Ryvan grinned at being set near the boy she reached out with her wand and poked him in the nose "ho"
Stick flying toward face! Alek squeezed his eyes shut and wrinkled his nose, but when Ryvan's wand touched him, his eyes snapped open again and he grinned. "Aho!" he said, reaching out for her arm. He might have been super-good-awesome-cool friends with Leaf Boy, but they had never really played many fun poking games. This girl was certainly interesting.
"Well, I'm glad," Archie said to Raven. "I never have any idea if he thinks he knows these kids or he's just creepily curious. Archie took a seat nearby, more subdued than usual. "What do people order in these places? There's so much stuff."
Raven laughed "well it depends on what types of things you like, do you like coffee or tea?"
Ryvan smiled and toddled a little bit closer before poking him on the nose with her finger, and then again on his lips. He was soft and squishy!
Alek poofed a puff of air out of his mouth before reaching his own hand up to touch his face. Yup, still there. He hummed a somewhat dischordant little tune.
"Coffee's fine," Archie said. "I just didn't know there were so many different kinds. I came in here for food, so I guess it doesn't really matter that much." He looked over at Alek, who didn't look so hungry anymore.
Ohh a hand Ryvan liked hands, and into her mouth it went. He tasted good. Like salt. Her fingers were still on his lips and she poked them again she wondered if maybe it was hands that tasted good or if it was the whole person.
Normal coffee or a different type. Raven hated weird coffees, just give her a black coffee with a bit of cream and she was happy. "If you wanted food you are really in the wrong place, cookies are really about all they sell here"
Alek squealed with delight and gummed Ryvan's hand in return. Hands hands hands.
"Normal? I think," Archie said. "The kind that comes from a pot. This stuff..." he waved his hand at the board with the prices. "Cookies would have been okay," he continued. "I came in here for him, but it looks like he's found something else to do."
Raven laughed "Yes he seems to be enjoying eating my daughter."
Ryvan giggled louder around his hand and released it before licking his face "yup it tasted good too, yummy!"
Archie's brows knitted together. Wasn't it cold and flu season or something? Dixie would most likely kill him if Alek came home sick. Archie quickly smoothed his expression. He supposed a little cold wouldn't matter if whoever was leaving him threatening notes just killed them all in their beds. "Mmm hmm," he responded. "I guess he wasn't really hungry."
Alek stopped chewing when Ryvan's wet tongue licked across his face. "Eeee!" he said. He began to laugh, full guffaws quickly turning into mildly hysterical, hitching baby giggles. This was way more fun than just walking around outside. He examined his own damp fingers, wiggling them experimentally.
Raven smirked a little at the mans worry. "She's been to the doctors recently and a few of her uncles are doctors as well, I doubt very much he will catch ill from her." Something about the way the man held his reactions in check reminded Raven of something, of a released convict almost, watching his back.
Ryvan laughed too when Alek did, of course her laughter ended up with her flopping on the boy and slobbering all over him before planting a baby kiss right on his eye.
Archie smiled, not surprised that he was easy to read. Maybe that was part of his problem. "I'm sure everything's fine. I didn't mean to..." He waved his hand at the babies. "I'm sure everything's fine," he said, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that he wasn't making much sense.
Alek oofed out a breath of air and closed his eyes against the impromptu shower and kiss. Then he squealed again and clasped his arms around the other baby. He remembered dancing lights and the soft laughing sounds he used to be able to make, back when he didn't have a body. "Ba ba ba," he said, smiling.
Raven smiled lightly at the man "Interesting."
Ryvan wrapped her arms around the boy in return closing her eyes a moment before opening them and jumping a bit "BOO!"
What was? Archie shifted in his chair, feeling a lot like some sort of strange specimen.
Alek jumped in surprise, his eyes wide. Boo, indeed. He looked over at Archie with a quizzical expression on his face.
Archie looked at Alek and Ryvan again, then back at Raven. "Did your baby come from a wand?" He looked again at Ryvan and the wand in her little hand. "Is that too personal? I'm sorry."
"I'm told she came from a wand yes I didn't know her back then, found her next to a corpse. Turns out the corpse was her mother." Raven smirked looking at the man like she was analysing him, it was fun to play with people.
Ryvan giggled and kissed Alek on the face as if to say sorry for scaring him.
"Oh." Well, that was unpleasant. But, at least it explained Alek's reaction to this girl. "Alek did too. Come from a wand, that is."
Alek lowered his head and hummed a short tune. "Meebado," he said seriously. He pursed his lips and bopped the front of his face against Ryvan's cheek. There obviously wasn't much kissing going on in the Saturn household.
Raven nodded "It was odd, I hadn't been expecting a child any time soon but I now have two, well one and a necklace to become one."
"Meebado" She nodded and tickled Alek slightly "Mah Meebado!"
"I guess I've got two too," Archie said with a grin, feeling much less scrutinized all of a sudden. "Actually, Alek is my daughter's son." He almost managed to stop himself from saying it, but there it was. He hid a wince.
Alek giggled. He had been tickled before, believe it or not. He kicked his feet and laughed some more.
Raven smiled "so you are a granddad then?" She could tell it was a sore spot but it was too much fun to play a bit. She resumed her scruitiny of the man trying to figure out if her instincts were right and if this man was indeed an ex con.
Ryvan smiled at her new friend and kissed him on the lips quickly like she had seen mommy do with her friends.
"Yeah," Archie muttered. He hoped he didn't look grandfatherly. "Um." He coughed into his hand. "Dixie's like the same age as I am. Almost." There was really no getting past this, was there? "We're not from around here," he finished lamely.
A face flying straight towards Alek's was almost as surprising as a stick, so he closed his eyes and blew another spitty raspberry as Ryvan kissed him. He laughed. Now that she wasn't a ball of gas, he wasn't likely to forget her again.
Raven smirked and looked at the man "where did you do time?" There no point in pussyfooting around it, just blunt and to the point, so very Raven.
Ryvan blinked as her face was sprayed with saliva, she hadn't seen her mommy and her friends do that before maybe it was a weird boy thing. She hugged her new friend again and giggled.
Archie had drawn in a breath to answer Raven, whatever she was going to ask next, but he hadn't expected that. At all. His mouth dropped open and he paled a couple of shades. He started to speak, but it came out as a tiny, hissing shriek. Nice. "I... I'm doing it now," he said. "I'm done, really." His eyes darted to Alek, and he wondered if this woman was going to grab her baby and run, like criminal behavior was contagious. He didn't mind when people knew, in fact, he had told tons of them. He just found it creepy that she had figured it out on her own. Was she the one who had been leaving the notes? Archie clasped his hands in his lap. They were cold, very unlike his memories of the fire.
Alek opened his eyes, saw his fine, spitty handiwork, and laughed some more. He sat back, resting his body on his hands as best as he could manage, and started humming.
Raven nodded "Interesting place to serve time, I've managed to escape that for the most part." Raven had nothing against criminals, hell she'd been a criminal a few times okay a lot of the time. She laughed a little bit "can you stop looking at me like I am going to grab the children and run? I assume your 'daughter' is doing much the same then, lucky kid gets to grow up with strong people around him."
Ryvan smiled at Alek and curled up next to him ignoring the spit and just listening to the sounds of her friend humming.
Archie found that he hadn't been blinking. Or breathing. He realized this when he attempted to do both at the same time and degenerated into a rapidly blinking, panting mess. He swiped his sleeve across his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, Dixie's strong all right." He laughed, but it came out more like a wheeze with sound. "I'm... glad you don't mind. The whole... thing." He ran a fuzzy forefinger over the thin fabric of the knees of his pants.
Alek sat happily humming for quite a while, at least in baby-time. It wasn't long, however, before the drying spit that covered his face and hands began to dry and his skin began to itch. His itchy face reminded him of his itchy scalp, and he started in on that, whipping his hair around in a head-scratching fury. He stopped humming abruptly and his face squinched up in annoyance.
Raven looked at the man, actually looked at him. "Relax and breathe, I'm not going to lynch you I promise, not even a little lynching, though maybe a bit of spanking if you ask really nicely." She smirked and awaited the mans reaction to that.
Ryvan looked up at her friend and sulked a bit she moved her wand up a little and moved the fire over his face and hair as if trying to sooth it, whether it would work she had no idea but the fire was nice and cool so you never no it might just. "beh?"
Archie continued to look down at his knees, but a genuine, unafraid smile crept across his face. Carrie, Archie's neighbor, was the master of creepy innuendo, so Archie was fairly confident Raven was only kidding. At least he hoped so. "Yeah, sure," he said, more like a kid accepting a lollipop than a grown man engaging in witty pseudo-sexual banter. You could shove the puppet into a new body, but you couldn't make the puppet stop being... a puppet. Or something.
Alek stopped scratching, but his hand remained on the top of his head as he watched the fire move across his face. He made one last annoyed little sound before he settled down and sat back. He didn't really feel like humming anymore, but he did it anyway. It made him feel better sometimes too.
"Now was that a yes to the breathing, or the spanking? Because really I don't think that a coffee shop is the place for spanking, and especially not with children here. Bondage and babies don't mix." He'd never know if she was serious or not. hell she never knew if she was or not, yeah if he offered she'd most likley take him up on it because she was just like that.
Ryvan poked his nose and looked at her friend "seep?"
He hadn't thought it would have been possible to get more uncomfortable, but there it was. "I... no. No, they don't." A flush creeped into Archie's cheeks and he seemed to sink into his chair a bit.
Alek rolled back onto his back and curled closer to Ryvan. Stupid itchy head. He closed his eyes and balled his fist into the long sleeve of his shirt.
She smirked some more moving closer to him and placing a hand on his knee leaning foreward so that just enough of her cleavage was showing to be considered teasing. "am I bothering you?"
Ryvan curled into Alek and pet his hair her fingers rubbing his scalp.
"Oh, h-no," Archie said, his eyes skimming away from... really any part of Raven at all. He looked around the coffee shop semi-frantically, but no one seemed to notice the fact that there were... things going on. At least Carrie stayed on her side of the fence most of the time. He looked over at where the babies were and his eyes widened even further at the sight. "Is he dead?" Archie asked. "Alek?" He tried to squirm out from under Raven's hand, but eventually gave up and began to move it with his own. "I think we'd better go."
Alek's tail twitched slightly at the sound of his name, but he was otherwise still, his forced humming turning happier at Ryvan's baby massage.
Raven smirked and stood walking over to the man and moved to sit on his lap a moment pulling a pen from her bag and taking his hand, writing her number on it. "you should give me a call some time hun."
Ryvan sighed at the loss of her friend, she liked it when they were hugging it was warm and he made pretty sounds.
Archie held his breath again, this time for a completely different reason. He had heard all about strange human urges on TV, but having a woman on your lap was certainly an extremely personal rude awakening. He felt every move the pen made on the flesh-parts of his hand, and every scrape reminded him of the flick of a match. But then it was over, and Archie was scrambling to his feet, trying to keep from dumping Raven on the floor in his haste. "Mmm hmm," he said in response to her suggestion.
Alek made a small disappointed sound as he was lifted into the air and his covered fist waved in Ryvan's direction in a sort of goodbye.
Archie waved the hand that wasn't gripping baby, afraid that if he said anything, this whole day might end differently than he had planned when he left the house. He inched toward the door, cradling Alek in front of him like a baby-shield.
Raven smirked and gathered Ryvan up in her arms. "Well that was interesting. Wonder if he actually calls me, or if he runs home and washes his hand."
Ryvan waved at her friend she didn't want him to go and she hoped that the man did call her mommy.
Archie hoisted Alek onto his hip and flexed the hand decorated with Raven's number before using it to pull open the door. After one last, fairly frightened look at the woman and her baby, he slipped outside and hurried down the block, Alek still waving at the shop over his grandfather's shoulder.
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