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 Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:29 am
15. The Choice
"No. <********> no, JT."
"You're leavin' us fer some broad?!"
"She's not a 'broad', Frank. She's a woman."
"Oi! Y'can't go! Mutineer!"
"I'm not a mutineer, Howie. I can't be. We don't have a captain."
Jesse had left Sy with Evie to go break the news to the boys. Frankly, they hadn't seemed to notice he'd been packing until the tent came down. And now? Now he was getting bitched-out.
"We kain't let you go! Stay 'ere! No piece'a a** is werth leavin' us!"
"Hey. Everyone, shut up," Butch said, emerging from the stolen beach chair he'd been lounging in, "I'm sure we all remember Danica."
All heads bowed, some hands crossed their bodies.
"An' if Jess says he's in love again, I saw we support him."
"...but--!"
Butch held up a hand.
"No. No 'but's. It's not like we're never gonna see him again. Right, JT?"
"Right," Jesse said, smiling slightly, "You're still m'boys."
There were some hesitant thanks and a few tentative hugs, and Jesse bid his old home goodbye. He couldn't help but wonder if this was the right choice, and yet he still kept walking.
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Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:32 pm
16. Ah, Teens...
Urg. This sucked.
Maelon lounged on a bench outside a gadgets stop, hanging around until his laptop was fixed. When Paragon had come over yesterday he had decided that he wanted to play one of the dark chocolate boy's games. That had been fine with Mae – at least it kept him quiet – but what his "friend" didn't tell him was that he had wanted to play internet chess with a cup of fruit juice in his hand. Needless to say, the fruit juice had ended up all over the keyboard when Paragon had won a game, and the laptop had short circuited.
Thus, here Maelon was, grumbling under his breath on a bench. He couldn't believe Paragon had dumped fruit juice on his laptop. Honestly, that kid was more trouble than his company was worth.
Jesse wasn't worried about laptops, but fruit juice was much closer to his line of reasoning. The man wandered fairly aimlessly down the sidewalk, holding the hand of a red-haired boy that was inhaling a fruit slushie. It seemed as if Maelon wasn't going to be noticed at all until the boy's head suddenly perked. He stared at the older boy for a moment, eyes wide, and then smiled and waved. He would have said something...but hey. Straw-in-mouth.
The teen absently watched the people walk past the bench, ignoring most of them. It was lucky that none of them seemed interested in him. That was part of the reason for the many holes in his face. Piercings worked wonders for keeping the talkative people away. Though, it did attract some rather strange people, but at least Maelon knew how to get away from them. God forbid he would attract another Becky. Urg.
Maelon had just reached to pull his headphones up onto his ears when a particularly colourful toddler caught his attention. He had never seen someone with orange skin before. The teen attempt to watch the toddler without actually looking at him, thus looking at him out of the corner of his eye. It was only when he turned and waved did Maelon actually looked at him. Had the kid... waved at him? He blinked at the kid, and raised an eyebrow. Since when did he attract the attention of toddlers?
Silas tugged at Jesse's arm and pointed back to Maelon.
"Dada!"
"What?" Jesse asked, glancing back. Huh. Some weird punk kid, "Leave him alone."
"Dada! Say hi!" Sy yelped, pulling enough to irritate the large man into following. With a roll of the eyes, Jesse led his son to this other redhead.
"Sorry about that."
"Hi!"
Ooooh no, know he was talking to his dad. Normally Maelon was okay with guardians. Adults were fairly easy to talk to, so long as they weren't associated with Akilah. That being said, the guardians he was used to weren't large men with eye patches and huge-a** scars on their face. Maelon had every right to hunker down on the bench. How he wished he had his hat with him right now. That would have at least covered his face.
"'s fine," Maelon mumbled, lifting his eyes to stare at the strange orange child. Every now and then his eyes would dart to Jesse, not entirely sure what to do with him. He couldn't possibly be worse than Lilly. But if he started making suggestions about him being a gay stripper, this conversation was so over. "Um... hi kid. How's it going?"
"Otay!" Silas giggled, "I Sy. Wan' sush-ee?" He held out the strange pink, icy concoction to his new friend and hopped to the bench beside him. Jesse just rolled his eyes and smiled, falling to a crouch beside the bench. Well, there were worse peole his kid could be trying to make friends with.
"Hi Sy then..." Maelon honestly didn't have the slightest clue what to do with the kid. Even when he was that age he hadn't had that many friends, and all of his meetings with them had been arranged. After that he had decided he wasn't going to see anyone, and all results to get him out in the world had been met by biting and cursing. Thus, the dark chocolate Sin really didn't know how to act around Silas. But winging it was good, right?
"Do I want what? Oh, that. Um, no thanks. Too cold for me." Truth be told, the teen didn't like the idea of sharing a drink with a toddler. They had slobbery mouths, and who knew where that straw had been? Ew. He could purify toxins, not get rid of germs. "So whut uh, flavour is your slushie?" Maelon has great conversation skills, if you haven't noticed.
Silas, however, knew how to act around anyone...or so he liked to think. Why not make friends with just everyone you met?! Who knew when you'd need a favor?
"Ummmm..." Sy replied, nibbling on a finger in thought.
"Wuh...wuh..." Jesse sounded out, trying to cue his son in.
"...wuh..." and then the child gasped, "Wuh-ah-mewon!" Silas looked deeply proud of himself for using such a large word in normal conversation. Jesse just shook his head and fell down to sit on the pavement.
Huh, perhaps that question was a bit too hard for the toddler. It could have been some ridiculous fruit flavour that he couldn't pronounce. You never knew what kinds of stuff you could find in the Gaian open market. Maelon had been there once; however the hustle and bustle of people had been enough for him to never go back. He never liked being crammed against people to get what he wanted.
Mae glanced over to Jesse when he repeated the same sound twice, resisting the urge to raise an eyebrow. Luckily, Silas came up with the right word, and the teen returned his gaze to the toddler. Oh. Watermelon. No wonder it was pink. "Watermelon. Gotcha. You like watermelon flavoured stuff?"
Sy nodded as he sucked on his straw, and then swallowed and pulled away, grinning.
"Mmhm! I like tockolat too..." Oh, little did he know of the brutal irony in that statement. The toddler simply returned to his slurpee, finishing it off in a matter of seconds. Awww...no more!
Good question Mae. If he didn't like watermelon flavoured stuff he wouldn't be drinking a watermelon flavoured slushie. He really needed to work on his communication skills. One day his boss would make him host a birthday party for kids, and then he would be royally screwed. Holding the animals he could do. Actually talking to the kids? No thank you.
"You like chocolate? Me too. 's my uh.... nevermind." He didn't need to go into any great detail about his species. Besides, it was sort of embarrassing to say you were inspired by a food. At least he didn't have to say his element was a chicken. Not that he felt sorry for Akilah. He just felt sorry for the person would be punched after they laughed at her. "You like all kinds of chocolate? White, medium, dark, you know..."
Good question Mae. If he didn't like watermelon flavoured stuff he wouldn't be drinking a watermelon flavoured slushie. He really needed to work on his communication skills. One day his boss would make him host a birthday party for kids, and then he would be royally screwed. Holding the animals he could do. Actually talking to the kids? No thank you.
"You like chocolate? Me too. 's my uh.... nevermind." He didn't need to go into any great detail about his species. Besides, it was sort of embarrassing to say you were inspired by a food. At least he didn't have to say his element was a chicken. Not that he felt sorry for Akilah. He just felt sorry for the person would be punched after they laughed at her. "You like all kinds of chocolate? White, medium, dark, you know..."
Silas nodded and giggled, bouncing, as he reached over Maelon to hand his father his sticky slurpee cup. Being as to how there was no garbage pail nearby, the man simply held it.
"I liet all," Sy said seriously, "I...I...teww...tewwy...I tockolat!" Hey, weirder things had happened.
Well, this kid definitely looked like he could (and did) like everything. He probably hadn't reached the stage where he started saying he hated things just to piss people off. Perhaps this kid would never actually reach that stage though. He was much too happy. Then again, Maelon had been sort of like this when he was younger. You really never knew how kids would turn out in the end.
"All of them? I see. And you're what?" The teen didn't have a clue what the toddler was saying, and so looked over to his guardian for some assistance. What was a tewwy?
Jesse gave a noncommittal shrug.
"All I know is he's a Sin'...well, Sin-something-or-other. Cherry cordial. Not exactly sure what that means." He popped the slurpee lid off, used the straw to move the remaining liquid around, and shook the cup to claim those last drops for himself.
Clearly, toddler germs didn't bother him.
"Mmhm!" Sy bounced, "Tewwy cow-dee-yew."
"Sin'aeis," Maelon supplied easily, quite surprised that he had managed to run into a Sin'aeis here. What were the chances? This must have been one of the newer ones then. Not that the teen actually had met many Sin, but he at least knew some by name or by reference. Plus this one was young. That had to mean he was new.
"Children inspired by food, pretty much. Get dumped on your front lawn. Pretty standard procedure." The teen shrugged, not entirely bothered by the fact that he had been left in the care of Pryderi. He at least knew that someone had requested he be given to Pryderi, so it wasn't like it was entirely random. "I'm dark chocolate. I guess they started using more complicated stuff. What is a cherry cordial anyways?"
Jesse stood, picked Sy up, placed him back in his lap, and covered the boy's ears.
"Those chocolate things with the cherries and icing inside you give to people when you wanna get laid." Way to be blunt! The hands were removed and Sy acted as if nothing had happened, grinning as his father bounced his knee.
Oops.
Maelon had never exactly learned any tact, and didn't know a thing about what to say around children. He had just been stating the truth, however that seemed to be something the man didn't want Sy to hear. Were toddlers touchy about being adopted? The teen didn't know. Maybe it was just the guardians were touchy about it.
The teen nearly blanched when Jesse said that they were candies given to people to get laid, making an odd noise between a sputter and a cough. Ew. Mental note to never buy those ever ever ever. "I... see... I don't even want to know why he's one of those."
Jesse gave a little laugh at Maelon's expense, and then Sy slid from his lap, tugging on his new friend's pant leg.
"Come pway!" he begged, "Pway wif Sy!"
Maelon scowled momentarily at Jesse's laugh. Jesse had no idea how much stress the topic of sex caused him. If he had been traumatized as much as the dark chocolate Sin had been, he wouldn't be laughing. Perhaps he should just point Becky in this man's direction the next time she phoned his house. See how he liked that.
He was forced to turn away from Jesse when his pant leg was pulled, blinking down at Silas. Come... play? "Uh... okay? What do you wanna play?" What was there to play around here? Maelon hadn't brought his travel chess board, and he most certainly didn't care around Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit. What else was there to play?
Jesse just shrugged at the dirty look. Hey, he got those often. Under different circumstances, but often.
"Uhhhhh..." Silas thought deeply. Hm. He hadn't brought his ball or his plushie.
"Wan' pway tag?"
Under different circumstances. Yeah sure.
Maelon watched Silas quietly as he thought about what to play, hoping that he hadn't got himself into something he'd regret later. It wouldn't be too hard for the toddler to think up something that the teen didn't like. Then again, Silas was incredibly friendly, and the dark chocolate Sin knew he would have a hard time just blowing him off. Not to mention his guardian looked like he'd beat up Mae if he tried to get rid of the kid.
"Play tag? What's that?"
Jesse, now no longer paying attention to Maelon, laced his arms around the back of the bench and crossed his knees. Any break was welcome.
"...uh..." Sy began. My was tag a complicated game!
"...you 'it'. Come chase Sy! Catch Sy, Sy it! Sy catch..." Wait a second...new friend had no name!
"...fwend!"
Maelon listened quietly while Silas hummed and hawed, and then finally explained. He had seen kids play this game, but he was sure there needed to be more than two people. The teen was also sure that all the kids had to be the same age. He clearly had a huge height advantage over Silas. Catching him would be easy.
The teen blinked when he was referred to as friend, a part of his strangely touched. Of course, said part was smothered by the other part who said that the kid probably called everybody that. Still, it was sort of nice to make friends with so little effort on his part. "Maelon. That's my name. And can we really play tag with two people?"
"May-lo'," Sy tried, face screwing up. Oh well. He'd get it sooner or later.
"May! May, come play! Can do two fine! Just go fas'!"
Jesse looked toward his son and winked to Maelon. 'Let him win' he mouthed.
Maelon gave a small, defeated sigh, deciding it wasn't worth his time to teach this kid to talk. Even so, it was rather distressing to hear his name butchered. So long as he didn't start saying Maelong, the teen would be okay. Damn Becky. He wasn't Chinese okay! Jeeze. If this Sy kid ran into him again, he would for sure fix it. But he could stand Maylo for now.
... Okay maybe he did need to fix that. There was no way in hell this kid was calling him May. "Maelon. Two syllables. Mae then a lon. Pretty easy name." With another sigh he got up after the kid, trying to decide if this was really worth it. Since when did he run? He caught the wink from Jesse and frowned at what he mouthed. "Like hell," he mouthed back, making a face. "Right Sy, I'm ready. You... um, whatever, it?"
Jesse just threw his head back and laughed. Ah, a*****e teenagers.
"Otay!" Sy gigled and clapped, "I it! Gogogo! Run!"
Maelon rolled his eyes at Jesse. Stupid men. If he didn't have an eye patch and so many scars, the teen wouldn't have cared so much. He just didn't want to be grabbed while he wasn’t looking and dragged off to who knows where strange men with scars and eye patches go. It was a totally legitimate concern. Pryderi would applaud his caution if he was here.
"Right, kay, you're it. I'm gonna run this way...." The teen lifted a foot to pull the laces on his trainers tighter, before starting off in the opposite direction at a slow jog. Screw running. Who ran these days anyways?
Sy reacted with absolute glee. He squealed and ran after Mae, pretty much wobbling like a penguin with his arms outstretched.
"AH MUNA GETCHOO! GUNNA GETCHOO!"
He was being followed by a squealing toddler. Oh god why had he done this? Why why why? Was he crazy? Was the orange of the toddler's skin making him see things or act weird? If Kilah showed up he would die. She would never let him live this down. Ever. It would be even worse than the time he had gotten stuck in the tree trying to save her cat.
Maelon slowed his pace down to his usual slink, decided that if he got caught he could at least end the game earlier. Or chase Silas. That would be easier. He only had to walk to do that.
And then Sy grabbed for one of Maelon's legs, clinging and giggling.
"I gotchoo! I gotchoo, May!" He nuzzled the teen's knee, eyes closed.
Ohgod it was clinging to him now.
Maelon offered Silas some sort of bizarre smile that looked like he was torn between feeling dismayed and unsure. There might have been some tiny bit of "aaw" in there too. You never knew. "Yeah, you got me. So, do I have to get you back now?" This game was really slow. It was probably more fun when you played with not only more people, but people your own age.
Yes. Yes it was.
"Ya!" Silas yelped, grinning and giggling as he dodged lethargically through groups of people. Okay, so...losing a kid in the city.
Probably not a good idea.
Right, there he went. Maelon shoved his hands in his pockets, tapping his toes as he started counting. One... two... three... four... five... okay this was a good enough head start. Besides, he was only walking after the kid. It was only when he noticed that Silas was making his way through a crowd of people did the dark chocolate Sin'aeis speed up his walk a little. He didn't want to lose Silas in the city. Jesse would kill him. Twice at least.
"Sy~ I'm coming to get you!" He was hoping that toddler would at least make a sound so he could find him easier. Otherwise, he would be in deep, deep trouble.
Oh, of course. Sy was a wild, loud little thing. He yelped and giggled, turning to look back at his pursuer.
"NUH-UH! I GONNA WI--" And then he hit something solid. A tall man, not his daddy. Sy stared up at the man, finger going in his mouth, looking terrified...and then, out of nowhere:
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Yes! He responded to the bait! Maelon picked up his pace to a quick shuffle, violet eyes on the look out for an orange toddler. How hard could it be to find him, really? Unfortunately for the teen, the city was full of people with brightly coloured accessories today. Within in time, he was stuck in the middle of the crowd, trying to locate a runaway toddler. Oh s**t.
It was Silas' cry that alerted him first, and he darted off in that direction. "Oy! Sy! Come back this way!"
There came no patter of toddler's feet as the man Sy had run into tried to comfort him.
It obviously wasn't working.
Wailing and terrified, Sy ran in the direction of Maelon's voice. Upon actually catching sight of the teen, he rushed to him and clung to his legs.
"MAY! MAY! HE SKURR ME!"
For a moment Maelon through the toddler had been kidnapped. It was a very frightening moment, especially since he was sure that Jesse would kill him. He was also slightly – just slightly, no more – worried for the little orange boy. Getting kidnapped was a good way to ruin a nice personality like his. He needed to keep his happy-go-lucky attitude for at least a few more years. But he didn't really care about the kid. He was just worried about his life. Yeah, his life. Right.
Luckily for the teen, the wailing got louder as Silas came running through the crowd towards him. Phew! He was saved! Maelon reached down to awkwardly pat Silas on the head when he clung, still not used to being around people this small. "You're okay kid. Prolly didn't mean to scare you or anything. Don't need to cry...." How did you comfort an upset toddler?
Silas sniffled and removed himself from Maelon's leg, holding his arms straight up above his head. He wanted to be picked up, to be held, to be cuddled. It would make him feel better!
.....
Maelon stared down at Silas, not entirely sure what the boy was doing. Why was he holding his arms up over his head? Was this some sort of gesture? Was he supposed to know what this meant? The teen glanced around, looking for something to cue him in, however nothing around him seemed to be providing any hints. "Uh... you need something squirt?"
And so Sy made grabby hands, lower lip wibbling, big round tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Up?" he begged, "Up!"
Oh s**t he was crying again. Maelon flailed mentally, resisting the urge to shove his hands in his pocket and get the hell out of there. He needed to at least get this kid back to Jesse. Alive. And preferably not crying, because he knew the kid's guardian would totally blame it on him.
"Up?" Mae repeated, blinking as it set in. Oh. He wanted to be help. "Tell you what, how about a piggy back instead?" There was noooo way he was carrying this toddler. Piggy backs were at least a little more dignified. He crouched down to allow Sy to hop on, hoping the toddler would take the option. Otherwise he would be in big trouble. Again.
Silas' screaming just got worse. No! No piggy-back-rides! He wanted to be held!
Luckily for Mae, Jesse emerged from the crowd, not looking so much angry as irritated. He picked the child up himself, cradling Silas in his arms as he pressed his damp face into his father's chest.
"...I'm...not gonna ask."
How come this kid didn't like piggy backs? What the heck kind of kid was this? Maelon stood up with a scowl, inwardly debating if he actually wanted to pick Silas up. The kid was wet and disgusting, and as soon as he picked him up he would cling. Ew. That was just... ew. No thanks.
Luckily for Maelon, Jesse decided to show up at that moment, and the teen took it as he cue to leave. At the man's comment, the dark chocolate Sin simply shrugged his shoulders. "Then don't. I'm gonna go now. Gotta go get my laptop." It wouldn't be done for at least another hour, but Maelon was not staying here anymore. Toddlers. Bleh.
Thus, the teen shoved his hands in his pockets and slouched off in the direction of the gadget store. Jeeze. The things he did.
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 5:28 pm
17. Vermin Are Useful...Quest Well well well, it's just about time for the little pirate boy to grow! He's made quite a few friends so far, maybe a little extra height will gain him some more? In order to grow, Silas will need to collect a few things: Five pictures of his rat friends, some glue, and a photo album. It's about time he starts documenting his life, isn't it?
Sy raised the camera and stalked up to the can, eyes peering over the bulky frame. A rat stared up from a broken Styrofoam cup. Click! Yay! A little piece of paper came out, and Silas shook it, as his father had told.
WOAH! There was another one in the grass! Click!
...a bum.
Click!
Yay! A face!
The rat by the wall and the other peering up at a flopping fish bone were also captured almost immediately.
...hmm...
"DADA! DADA!"
Jesse emerged from the house a few minutes later, looking quite miffed at being interrupted during a cuddle-session.
"What, Sy?"
"I wan' book!"
"Book?"
"Book! Fo' pit'chas!"
Jesse heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes, hefting Sy onto a hip and bringing him up to his room where he was left with a non-toxic glue stick, his stuffed bunny, and an old, empty photo album. He was told to not come out until Daddy and Evie came to get him for group snuggles. That was good enough for him! Scrapbooking was a very precise science.  
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:57 pm
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