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 Posted: Fri May 19, 2017 8:17 am
  spots n' dotsxxx
A Raevan is born.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 12:58 pm
 your room, my room
"This is nice," he declared about a minute later, slowly meeting his guardian's gaze. It would be one of the few times he would do anything at less than a zip all day.
"If you think this is good, wait until I take you to a real park," Fisher said with a chuckle. "Come on. Let's get you in the car."
The Car turned out to be far less impressive than the Outside, though it did have one redeeming factor. It went very fast. Faster than he could ever float. And Fisher seemed to like spinning the odd wheel that controlled the Car in tight arcs that left Pohl leaning hard into the door, an excited flutter in his chest that might have sent butterflies through his stomach had he had one.
The Apartment was as nice as the Outside in its own way, mostly because Pohl was sure he had been here before. When he pressed his fingers to the walls, the counters, the furniture, it all felt familiar, like he was coming back to a place where he belonged.
"That's 'cause it's home," Fisher explained when Pohl asked what the feeling was. "You were here for a long time before you were born. It makes sense that you'd recognize it."
Home. Fisher felt even more like it, so much so that he wanted to wrap his arms around the human and bury his face in his sweater. Pohl did it once, turning his head to listen to his guardian's heartbeat and the rumble of his surprised laughter as the man squeezed him back.
"You're hard to hug," Fish said with a smile in his voice. "Barely any back."
Hug. Such a strange word.
They spent most of the rest of the day playing dictionary, Pohl sharply holding up random household items and Fisher naming them. The words were already there, on the tip of the raevan's tongue, but he didn't fully make the connections between the letters and the things they represented until he heard his guardian say them. It was frustrating and exhausting, though Pohl didn't equate the listless, cranky feeling he was experiencing with sleepiness until Fisher told him that too.
"Bed," Pohl said, recalling the wide, flat, motionless animal he had met earlier.
"Yes, bed." Fisher seemed to have confused himself with his own suggestion, but it didn't take long for him to usher Pohl into the other room and lay out a few t-shirts for him. "Pick one."
Pohl felt his eyebrows make a confused shape.
"For sleeping in. I can cut some holes for your wings so you're more comfortable."
Pohl nodded, still not really understanding why he needed a different shirt for sleeping, and pointed at a bright orange eyesore with a cartoon cheeseburger on the front.
"I like that one too," Fisher said with a grin. "Now just sit here," he waved at the bed. "I'll be right back."
Even though he had every intention of wearing the cheeseburger shirt since Fish really wanted him to, it seemed that whether his guardian came back right away or took his time was something the raevan would never know. As soon as he rested his full weight on the bed and his head on the pillow, Pohl's ribbon went slack as he fell deeply into the first sleep of his life.
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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:03 pm
grandpa "Where is he?"
Shawn looked harried when Fisher opened the door, kind of like he had run all the way here. For all Fisher knew, he might have. The easy confidence his father usually displayed—so much quieter than Fisher's flashy bravado—had been chased away by nerves, a sharp eagerness he hadn't truly displayed since his sons were born. Fisher had certainly never seen it before, and it brought a smile to his face before he could consider whether or not that might be condescending.
"He's fine, dad. He's asleep."
It had taken an hour or so after Pohl had exhausted himself for Fish to clean up, and between that and the time they'd actually spent learning the ins and outs of the apartment, Fisher had neglected to call his father until well after dark. In hindsight, he'd probably made it seem like more of an emergency than it was, seeing as how it wasn't an emergency at all.
"Oh. Good. He's... good?"
Fisher chuckled. "Yeah, he's good. Ten fingers, a ribbon... thing, a rune, he's all there. Come in. I'm sure you can peek at him without getting him up."
Shawn entered the apartment with a nod, and together father and son tread quietly from the front hall to the bedroom, but all they could see without going inside was a heap of blankets and a single, violet antenna, twitching in time with Pohl's dreams. Fisher didn't linger, ushering Shawn over to a stool between the living room and the kitchen.
"You didn't mention antennae."
"I thought they'd be implied in the whole ladybug package."
They grinned, giddy mirrors of one another, but their shared excitement wasn't destined to last long. Fish's face fell first as a thin, panicked voice issued from the room they'd just left."Help. Heellllllp. Fisher."They hurried back to the bedroom to find a wriggling raevan trapped in his own bedding. Fisher smirked as he moved to help Pohl extract himself. What little chest the boy possessed billowed in and out as he reached for his guardian's face."Where did you go?""Just in the other room. I can't stay and watch you sleep all the time, but I'll always be nearby, okay?"
"Okay." His eyes darted between Fish and his father, taking them in. A small smile broke through Pohl's fading panic, though it seemed almost involuntary, like he wasn't aware of what his face was up to at all. "You are my Fisher's guardian," he said, retracting his delicate touch from Fisher's face and reaching for the older human's.
"Here, here," Fisher said, gently catching Pohl's wrist and shifting his hand until it gripped Shawn's. They shook. "This is my father. Your... grandpa." Fish's lingering smirk grew once more as Shawn visibly held back a wince. It served him right. Two years ago, Shawn had made a habit of mercilessly teasing his son over his lack of children. Watching him squirm due to the direct result of his pestering was an unexpected treat.
"Grandpa," Pohl said. He waved their handshake around a bit more vigorously, giggling at his own noodly arm.
Fisher grinned. Eventually, following a sigh and a self-deprecating shake of his head, Shawn smiled too.
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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:04 pm
my ursula They sat together on the couch, or rather one sat and the other hovered at a height that suggested he would be sitting too, had he possessed the necessary parts with which to do so. Pohl had been introduced to the joys of pencils that morning, and Fisher was doing his best not to get caught spying on the boy's doodles. From what he could see they were already quite good, though he had to concede that he might have been ever so slightly biased.
The raevan's quiet running monologue—car car boy tiny man sofa car—was silenced by the knock at the door. Pohl dropped his writing implement in surprise, sitting up straight at first then continuing to rise, floating higher and higher until his antennae brushed the ceiling. The end of his ribbon still touched the sofa, and its impressive spiraling spread coupled with Pohl's wide eyes presented an odd mix of terror and posturing.
Fisher stood slowly, holding out his hand and repeating the boy's name until he looked down.
"Everything's okay, Pohl. It's just the door. Urs and Moeth are here to meet you."
His wings buzzed once in response, the resulting breeze rustling the paper he'd left behind when he'd let go of his pencil, but he didn't otherwise move.
"Yeah, c'mon down. It'll be fun."
Pohl looked between Fish's hand and his face once, twice, three times, four, before nodding, sharp and shallow. "Okay." He reached out and took his guardian's hand, allowing Fisher to pull him back closer to the floor.
"Follow me."
They made their way over to the door in far less time than it had taken to coax the raevan down, and when Fish opened it, Pohl peered out from behind him, blinking curiously at the newcomers.
"Oh, hey Pohl!" The woman smiled like Fisher did, all friendly, happy teeth, and Pohl found himself shakily smiling back, reaching over Fish's shoulder to shake her hand. Both of hers were occupied by an odd burrito blob with a scrunchy human face, and Pohl might have shrank away from the sight had he not felt a chuckle reverberate through Fisher's back.
"Slow down, kid. Let them come inside before we make all the juicy introductions."
"Yes," Pohl said, retracting his hand. "Come in." He backed away from the door and down the hall at an eerily speedy glide, twining his hands together at his sternum as he went. He waited for everyone to get settled, watching the burrito all the while. After almost everyone was on the couch, the woman held out her hand in a mirror of Pohl's earlier gesture.
"Pohl," Fisher said. "This is my... Ursula."
Fisher's Ursula laughed, and it seemed to come from somewhere deep inside her, maybe this infamous stomach that he lacked.
"Your Ursula, huh?" she said, jostling her burrito in a way that seemed instinctual. Her hand was still extended, and Pohl took the opportunity to grab it, wiggling his fingers a little as she squeezed.
Roses. Sunshine. A... dust... that made him almost want to sneeze even though this sort of smelling had nothing to do with his nose.
"I am my own Ursula and I am very happy to meet you, dear."
"I didn't mean..."
"I know what you meant. Look at you, getting all red like I just walked in on you in your underwear."
"I'm not—"
Ursula turned away from Fisher's sputtering and shifted her burrito so that the raevan might see it better. Its mostly toothless maw split in a yawn before it opened its eyes and stared at Pohl. Pohl, who hadn't had a problem staring when the thing hadn't been looking back, averted his eyes.
"This is Moeth, my son."
"Your Moeth."
She glanced at Fisher. "Yes. My Moeth."
"Hello." He said it to the air around the child, still not looking directly at it.
"Don't be scared." Ursula's voice was warm, amused. She didn't seem at all upset that her spawn was a dawn-eyed worm. "Here, look." She pulled the baby out of his wrapper and rested him on her knee, motioning Pohl closer. He obeyed, already quite fond of this Ursula, even if Moeth was still a mystery. At least the grub had limbs now.
The raevan reached out, pressing a finger to that back of the child's hand. More of that sneeze dust, but strangely nothing else. Potential came to mind, though it was more of a feeling than a word.
"Bu bu bu bu bu," Moeth said, smiling as well as he could with hardly any teeth.
"It's very nice to meet you both."
The baby was still weird, but the least Pohl could do was be polite.
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Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:04 am
you asked for it "An' it... died?"
Fish had wanted to return to this spot ever since Lina had restored his memory, but life and Pohl had happened and he was only finding time for it now. It was fitting that he come back with the raevan anyway, to show him where his soul had come from and see if the place evoked any memories. He hadn't anticipated the sheer number of aphids that would be gathered here, nor Pohl's immediate reaction to the tiny pests. To be fair, he should have seen it coming. He had been the one who had made the boy this way, after all. Pohl had seen absolutely nothing wrong with slurping at the undersides of as many leaves as he could get his hands on, lips peppered with pale, panicking dots as he spoke. Fisher ignored their wiggling rather admirably, he thought. It was a good thing he had baby wipes in the car.
"Well, kind of? It's you now, even if you don't remember any of its life." Fish raised his hand, smirking at the pair of little brown spotted bugs already crawling there. To think he'd been unknowingly obsessing over the things for so long when they'd been right here the whole time. "Hold out your hand."
Pohl did as he asked right away, waiting expectantly for something extraordinary to happen. Fisher briefly wondered when that blind trust would fade and what he would do to accidentally break it. He passed Pohl a ladybug, watching the raevan's blank expression shift to guileless wonder.
"Friendly," he said softly, but matter-of-factly. "What are you doing today?"
"Probably eating, just like you." Oddly enough, the aphids Pohl had spread so haphazardly across his face were gone, almost as if they had never been there at all. "Can you show me how you do that?"
Pohl was eerily still as he thought, then he shrugged and reached for another leaf. He didn't jam it into his mouth this time, he simply ran his finger across its surface and scooped up the bugs like they were icing. Then he jammed that into his mouth. The digit still had bugs on it when he was done, but half a minute or so later they were gone.
"That part. They just... disappear?"
He shrugged again, a smaller bob of his shoulders. "Eating."
"Did you feel hungry before this?"
Shrug number three.
"I gurgled. It was okay."
Gurgled. Like a stomach growling? But how could he do that without... one? It wasn't really a question he could ask the kid, but it was worth remembering long enough to ask someone else.
"Okay. Be sure to let me know if the gurgling ever gets bad. And whenever you see something you think would be good to eat, let me know that too." Fish had an idea of the items that list might eventually contain, but he didn't want to force anything by making suggestions. Exploration was a good thing.
"Mmhm." At least ten more ladybugs had joined the first, crawling up and down Pohl's forearms like they were having a family reunion. Fisher supposed, in a way, they were. The raevan brought them close to his face, trying to boop them with his nose but nearly inhaling them instead.
"So, yeah. This is where you were made. It was a weird day."
"Why?"
"Well, Ursula was sick and Lina—you'll meet her tomorrow—Lina stirred my brain around..."
"Ooo."
"...so when I found you, I was kind of sick too."
"Do you have his body?"
Fisher paused, his eyebrows climbing slightly higher as he pondered how to reply without making things weird. He knew exactly what Pohl was asking, despite his slight but sharp change of course, but understanding the raevan's meaning shed no light on why he wanted to know in the first place. Fish supposed death was an integral and familiar part of both plant and insect life, but asking if he had kept the corpse of the creature whose life had ended so Pohl's could begin was still a little needlessly morbid.
"I... um... I do. At home."
Also morbid? Hanging onto said body in the first place. Maybe Fisher didn't have a right to judge after all.
Pohl nodded, apparently satisfied enough with that answer to leave it alone for a while. He breathed in, deep and slow, and exhaled at the same pace.
"This is nice. I'm glad I was born here."
Conceived, more like. But close enough. Fisher wasn't sure he wanted to explain the difference right now.
"Same, kid. I feel the same way."
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Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 2:53 pm
me He had caught glimpses of his face and form in rear view mirrors and the shiny sides of toasters, but today was the first day Pohl approached his reflection with any sort of intent. Curiosity had him darting around the corner into the bathroom when Fisher got up to make lunch, and as he pushed the door closed inch by inch, he realized there was another mirror on its back, an even larger one than was over the sink. Interesting. Better.
"Pohl?"
"Mm?"
"What are you doing?"
"Looking."
A pause. "Okay, just be careful."
Pohl smiled, very small, then touched his lips to see how it felt, the familiar leafy smell that was him lingering on his fingertips. He straightened, floating slightly higher, and looked himself over. Really looked. The clothing he had been wearing when he left the lab had been temporarily replaced by a t-shirt and makeshift suspenders, as well as a promise that Fish would take him shopping for a whole new wardrobe as soon as he was able. It was quite a compelling promise. Whether it was because his essence had spent so much time in Fisher's fashionable presence or simply because he had been born this way, Pohl shared his guardian's love of a well-matched outfit. An entire closet full of them was worth the wait, even if he had to do so in a getup as imperfect as this one.
He leaned in closer, pushing at his cheeks and pulling at his eyelids to gauge how well his face could smoosh. His hair and eyes were a secondary consideration, purpler and greener than any he'd seen so far. He'd have to ask Fisher Why?, a question that had so far prompted an equal number of smirks and fondly furrowed brows from his guardian. Answers too, but Pohl was stuck on the faces at the moment, so it was no surprise he thought of Fisher's first.
The raevan furrowed as well as he could without a reason, taking in the way his forehead bunched and stretched. He looked nothing like his guardian, not in the way that Moeth looked like Ursula or Fisher looked like Shawn, but he had been told that was because he had been made instead of born, from some unseen piece of a bug in the woods. Another Why? that needed clarification. Or maybe a How? instead. He filed it away for later.
Gliding away from his reflection and broadening his view, Pohl went back to examining his clothing. He had already watched enough television to know that the legless community was not very well represented, which either meant the people in charge of entertainment hated him on principle or he was a part of a very small minority. Either way, he had a feeling he would be hard pressed to find nice looking clothing without having someone make it for him.
Pohl squared his shoulders, a challenge in his eyes. He was definitely ready for Extreme Tailoring.
He spent another minute or two idly fanning and flaring his wings before floating back into the living room and returning Fisher's welcoming smile.
"You all right?" he asked.
"Mmhm. I saw."
"What did you see?"
Pohl picked up his notebook and started to sketch a very green eye. "Me."
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:43 pm
the crystal forest The strange new world that stretched before him was kind of scary.
Pretty.
Hm.
Sparkly. No. Scary.
Pohl couldn't decide what it was, to be honest. All he knew for sure was that he wanted to lick it.
"All right?" Fisher was using that soft, even tone that Pohl already recognized was meant to soothe him, and it worked as it always had. He still wanted to lick the architecture, but he would do so calmly.
Pohl nodded. It wasn't really scary, he concluded. Just new.
"Good. It'll be fun, I promise." Fish held out his hand and Pohl took it, curling his fingers into his guardian's vanilla, orange, and salt. Fun. Fisher had yet to promise fun when it wasn't eventually delivered, so for now, Pohl trusted him implicitly.
They stepped (and glided) closer to the front gate, the raevan never taking his eyes off of the sparkling trees ahead. The Crystal Forest was what was known as a theme park, and it was reportedly the place where Fisher went on the rare occasions when they weren't together. His job. Now that the raevan had been alive for nearly a month, Fish was going to have to come here even more often. Today was a test to see if Pohl might behave well enough and long enough to come along too. He already knew a lot about holding still and keeping quiet when required, so he hadn't quite understood what these rides and shows might awaken in him that would keep him from controlling himself. Now, on the final approach to the park, he was beginning to get an inkling.
Sparkling, shimmering, splintering, bright beautiful bursts of creamy chaotic ravaging rainbow shattered sugar spires.
Pohl was still staring at the crystalline trunks in the distance when he heard an unfamiliar voice close by. They had stopped. He looked down.
"Is this him?" A short, dark-haired girl with laughing eyes wiggled her fingers as he glanced at her then looked back at the trees.
"It is. Pohl..."
Fisher. The girl. Trees. His focus darted between them like he was watching tennis.
"This is Lindy."
The raevan held out his hand, pressing his lips together as she shook it. Soap. Sun. Glue.
"I am very glad to meet you," he told the Crystal Forest.
"Adorable, Fisher!" Lindy didn't seem to mind that he wasn't addressing her directly. Being confronted by a floating third of a person was probably a little distracting.
Recognizing her words as complimentary, Pohl finally smiled back, steering his attention away from the landscape entirely. He examined Lindy, her overalls, her colorful shirt, her nametag, and tipped his head an inch or two to the left.
"You too."
The humans laughed, even little Moeth in Ursula's arms, and Pohl felt warm and light, not due to embarrassment, but because he had brought them joy. He breathed in the cotton-candy-popcorn-chlorine air as they kept moving past the gate, and when he finally got within range of the synthetic, leafless trunks, Pohl reached out a reverent hand and rested it on the nearest one. Though he could feel the plastic and metal that had gone into making this place, the result was still as awe-inspiring and strange as if it had been natural. He would have said he loved it, had he known what love was, almost as much as he loved Fisher and Urs and Grandpa. Pohl pulled himself closer and pressed his cheek to the tree.
"I'm glad you like it," Fisher said, pride in his voice. "My favorite part's the fountain coming up."
The raevan lifted his head, curiosity lighting his eyes. "What's a fountain?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:44 pm
squeezing the peaches "Oh."
Fisher grinned, carefully keeping his smile on the safe side of teasing. "Oh? What's wrong?" They were standing in the produce aisle at Galloway Grocery, Pohl's fingers resting against the skin of an overripe peach.
"It's different."
Fish nodded. "That one does look pretty squishy."
"Squishy?"
"Yeah, when fruit goes bad, it gets mushy. You don't want to do that though," he countered when Pohl deliberately started to squeeze. "It's not ours, so we aren't allowed to ruin it."
The raevan pulled his hand away reluctantly. "What happens to the bad ones if nobody takes them?"
"I think they get thrown away."
Pohl considered his guardian's words, watching the peach as he thought.
"We have to save them all."
"I admire and respect your humanitarianism, but no."
It was clear that Pohl had only understood about a third of that sentence, but he pressed on anyway, attempting to negotiate through persistent vagueness.
"Some?"
"Sure. Some. Sometimes. We could use them for pie. I hear that's a thing." Fisher smirked as he sidled over to grab a plastic bag, popping Pohl's slightly squooshy peach inside. "I've never made a pie, but we can learn together, right?"
"Yes." Pohl smiled, pleased to be saving innocent fruit, pleased by the prospect of baking, pleased with... everything, really.
"Pick out a couple more. Five all together would be good, I think." Fisher held up his fingers to indicate how many that was as he smiled back.
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:46 pm
and you may find yourselfxxx
Aadi and Pohl go for a ride.
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:46 pm
summer beach bbqxxx
Fisher and Pohl attend a beach barbecue hosted by the Lab!
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:48 pm
beautiful dayxxx
Lorin and Pohl hang out in the park.
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:50 pm
thirty-one The cake felt like coughing. Like a desert looked. It was sweet too, sugary suffocation that made the corners of his mouth turn up despite his discomfort.
"Do you think it's ready?" Fisher was wearing the expression Pohl had come to recognize as the one meant to hide his amusement, but Pohl wasn't quite sure what was amusing him.
"I hope not," said the raevan. "It's all dusty." Maybe he was the amusing one. The thought made Pohl's rune glow a little brighter, though his face stayed the same.
"Eggs. Milk. Butter. Bake." Fish gestured at each in turn. "It'll be good when it's done. At least that's the plan."
Pohl nodded. It wasn't like he could eat it anyway.
They got to mixing then, scooping and pouring the batter into a pan with minimal chatter, both too focused on doing things right to converse. When everything was finally in the oven, Fisher turned to the raevan with a satisfied lift of his brows.
"Do you want to go outside and sit with Mo for a while until—"
Pohl's former nod turned sideways. The last place he wanted to be was out sitting with Moeth.
"I'm okay in here."
Fish paused. He smiled. "Yeah. That's cool. We'll just stay right here until it's done."
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:51 pm
back to school "Hey, Pohl?"
Something in Ursula's voice made him want to turn to face her, so he did, even though she was holding Mo. The toddler let out a cheerful squeal and spread his fingers in a wave. Pohl rolled his eyes.
"Yes?"
"How would you feel about staying at home to learn, like we've been doing? Instead of going to school with other kids?"
He had already puzzled out the gist of what Urs was going to ask from the mostly hushed conversation she and Lina had been having for the last half an hour, but Pohl still paused before he replied. Just because he had figured out her question before she had asked it didn't mean he'd thought of an answer.
"Fine?" He looked back down at the ride plans he was working on, penciling in several long, thin lines before he spoke again. "Is there a difference?"
Urs shook her head. Pohl saw it out of the corner of his eye. "You'd be learning all the same things eventually, we'd just start out in a different spot. It's just... If you went to school you'd be put in with other kids who've been going their entire lives, and we don't want you to feel any pressure to know what they do right away."
For a second, Pohl considered mentioning that he had been going to school of a sort for his entire life as well, but he knew that wasn't what she meant. The lives of those other students had been far lengthier than his own, and their skills were probably exponentially greater because of it. Pohl didn't mind. He had been making excellent progress with geometry lately.
"You and Moeth could even learn magic together!"
Pohl scowled, ducking his head closer to his notes. Now that, he did mind. The less he was forced to hang out with Mo, the better. And magic? Peh.
"Or maybe we could not do that!" His exuberance was desperate and false, sour where he was usually saccharine. Thankfully, Ursula let it drop. She even sounded amused, though that was probably because Moeth was squealing again.
"Maybe not. Maybe we'll just stick to fun things, like math."
"Can we?"
"I was talking to Fisher last week about Legos too." Lina had been fairly quiet thus far, but her plastic brick suggestion attracted Pohl's immediate attention.
"Yes. Good." He tried to sound like this whole Lego thing was expected and earned, but his antennae betrayed him. They twitched with excitement, and it wasn't long before he was grinning over at Lina and her revelation. Legos. Legos! "I think that is a very good idea."
"So, you don't mind not going to school? I know you like meeting new people, but I think this is for the best, at least for now."
He looked at Lina, then Ursula, then back to Lina. They seemed like they wanted him to be okay with this, and he couldn't think of a reason not to be, so he said, "No. I don't mind. It will be fun. If I want to meet people, we can go to the park!"
Ursula nodded. "We can!"
"Or we can just stay inside and play with Legos."
Lina chuckled. "Maybe we can even do both."
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:53 pm
story time Pohl didn't want to be angry at learning, but this stupid... fraction had him placing his pencil on the desk with a bit more force than he meant to. It might have cracked. Moeth might have been startled out of a near nap. He might have begun to whimper. No... no, there was no might involved. Mo was whimpering. Pohl glared at his notes with a mix of agitation and shame.
"It's okay," Lina said, brushing the raevan's shoulder with feather-light fingers. She extracted the baby from the room with a bouncing flourish and his cries burbled away shortly after they were out of sight. By the time she returned, Pohl had disposed of the broken pencil and was listlessly running a finger around the lip of his mug of sugar water. He looked up at her, his face halfway to miserable.
"Sorry. Math is dumb."
"It can be. But there is no need to worry about that right now. In a day or two you'll try that same problem again and the solution will be clear as crystal."
"I guess."
"It will, I promise. But enough about that. I think it's time for a story."
"A story for Moeth's nap?" Pohl's green-eyed gaze flicked toward the bedroom door.
"Just for you, dear."
The raevan sat a little taller, his interest clearly piqued. Fisher used to tell him stories on the regular, but when Moeth became a more frequent member of the audience, Pohl started feigning disinterest out of spite. He sighed softly.
"I miss stories."
Lina's expression slid subtly from thoughtful to sympathetic, and after watching him for a moment more she waved Pohl over to the sofa, patting the cushion beside her as she got comfortable. He felt guilty abandoning his schoolwork in the middle of the day, and as he followed, Pohl looked back at the kitchen table as if he expected the books and papers there to scold him for leaving them. He settled in next to Lina, all of his attention focusing sharply on her as she began to speak.
"What sort of story would you like?"
Pohl's head pitched to one side, just barely. He had heard plenty of tales starring brave, upstanding heroes with legs, conquering monsters and saving innocents, but today he was in a different mood.
"Something about someone bad?" He smiled a small smile.
Lina paused, then reached out and tapped the back of Pohl's hand. "I know just the one."
He straightened.
"Once upon a time..."
"The best beginning."
Lina chuckled. "It is, isn't it." She nudged his hand again, Pohl's antennae twitching curiously as she continued.
"Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived five very powerful sisters. They were known as sages, healers, enchanters, adept at anything involving magic. They were respected and feared, but they were never doubted, for they could not lie. Elaef, the youngest, was every mortal's favorite, and none of her sisters could find it in their hearts to mind, for she was their favorite too."
"There were also five rulers of this land, and as the Valuu—that's what the sisters were called—as the Valuu continued to assist and serve the people, the rulers came to realize that allying themselves with these beloved sisters would greatly increase their own popularity. They proposed that each of the Valuu choose a leader to champion. In exchange, the sisters would be granted a great boon, to be decided on and rewarded in time. The Valuu agreed, despite this uneven trade, but instead of simply choosing who they would stand with, they called for a tournament, pitting the rulers against each other in five seemingly frivolous games of skill."
"Games?"
"Yes. There was a festival and everything. But that's a story for another time."
Disappointment dimmed Pohl's expression, but it was gone as soon as it had settled long enough to be noticed. He didn't need another story when Lina was already in the middle of telling one. He grinned.
"Another time! Yeah!"
She nodded. "Once the games were completed, the Valuu chose their kingdoms:
Sabrikith went to the city,
Kumuluun to the deep forest,
Shehh'norre picked the oceans of Giim,
Auuokulan the desert,
and sunny little Elaef chose the catacombs, to everyone's surprise."
"There's a story there too. But before you get too excited, I don't know it." Lina smiled. "Things went well for a long while after that. The serpent sisters advised their rulers, took care of their people, and their lands thrived. But somewhere along the way, the city king began to drip poison into Elae's mind. Over time, he persuaded her to murder her sovereign and frame another sister for the crime."
"Like a picture?"
"In this case, 'frame' means making it look like someone else is guilty of a crime they didn't commit."
"Oh. That's not very nice."
"Not at all. Elaef convinced everyone that her sister had killed Tremde, and Kumuluun was stripped of her immortality. They say she haunts the forest to this very day."
"She's dead?"
"Nobody knows."
Pohl wiggled his shoulders in a mock shudder. "Ooo."
"Good story?"
"Yes! Very good! No one was a hero! The next one should definitely be longer though."
"Oh, should it?" Lina smiled. "I'll keep that in mind. Do you think you're ready to try math again? If it's still dumb, we can go for a walk?"
Pohl glanced back at his temporarily abandoned schoolwork. "Yeah. Let's try again." He sat up with a toothy grin. "Maybe the fractions liked the story too."
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Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:54 pm
roommates At precisely 10am on the first of October, Ursula received a call from her mother. It lasted four minutes and the fervor with which Urs jabbed at the [END CALL] button suggested that she yearned for the days when you could properly slam a phone receiver onto its base. It was probably for the best that those days were long gone, considering that she was in the break room at The Crystal Forest.
"Is everything okay?"
"No."
"Is there anything I can do?"
Ursula pushed the irritation from her face with a bristly, customer service smile. "Have you ever considered murder?"
"I mean, no, but I could. Would you like me to?"
"I appreciate the offer, but I won't hold you to it." She sipped her tepid coffee and sighed softly through her nose. "I've been dealing with this for years. One more's not going to kill me."
"Oh. Your mother?"
"Yeah. She's home for the season. I should have let her go to voicemail."
Fisher sipped too. His coffee was equally chilly. He barely noticed.
"Urs? Can I ask you something?"
She didn't reply, but her eyes said duh.
"It's something that you might not want to answer."
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't ask. You can ask me anything."
He sipped again. "How attached are you to your apartment these days?"
Ursula's brows dipped, then rose once more as a grin spread across her lips. "Are you asking me and Mo to move in with you to spare us from my mother's company? That's sweet, but you barely have room for Pohl."
"I'm not asking you to move in to my apartment, I'm asking if you would like to find a nice, entirely new place where we can all have our own rooms and can carpool to work and play Rock Band in our own living room. Pohl and Mo can have a yard, and when your mom calls to piss you off twice a year, you can take comfort in the fact that you don't have to share a bathroom with her."
"You've thought about this a lot."
"It really only came to me after your dramatic hangup, I swear. I realized that you might be as fed up with your living situation as I am. I also realized that together, we might be able to afford a house."
"A whole house? Hmm, I wasn't expecting those chills."
"I know, right? It sounds... really nice. Adult. I'm up for looking if you are?"
Urs reached for the trash and dropped in her empty cup. She sat still and silent for the length of three breaths, her eyes closing during the last. "Yeah."
"Yeah?"
Her eyes snapped open. "Yeah! Let's buy a frickin' house!" a frickin' house
 Pohl had never really given much thought to how other people lived.
He and Fisher lived in an apartment.
Grandpa lived in an apartment.
Lina lived in an apartment.
Obviously, everyone lived in an apartment. Except for the people who didn't have a place to live at all. They sometimes got coins, sometimes got dollars, and sometimes got nothing but a muttered 'sorry' if they were acting weird.
None of the living situations he was familiar with had prepared Pohl for this house. He had his own room—not just Fisher's room hastily transformed—and, more importantly, his very own closet. There was a door that led from the kitchen directly outside... and another one from the living room that did the same thing! There was even an entire yard in the back that he could change to suit his whims, unlike the park where he always had to put things back the way he'd found them.
The only problem was Moeth, and after a bit of reflection, Pohl decided that the baby's presence was a small annoyance to bear in exchange for living in such a cool new place. merry There had been gifts: a pile of soft, fake animals for Mo, clothing for Fisher, smells for Urs, and seeds for grandpa. Pohl had received lots and lots of things to write on, with, and near, including a panda-shaped desk lamp that he couldn't stop switching on and off. The click it made was decisive and satisfying, and unlike many of the other actions he had insisted on repeating incessantly, no one had told him to stop this one yet. Pohl was liking Christmas more and more every minute.
Things had quieted down over the last hour or three, everyone sleepy from dinner and the slow approach of eleven o'clock, when grandpa abruptly stood, brushing his palms across his pants. He softly cleared his throat, drawing the family's attention away from cell phones and televisions and clicking lamps.
"Shawn?"
"A... as most of you know, Fisher has been my only family for a very long time. But over the past few years, that family has grown to include my grandson Pohl, Ursula and Moeth, and, of course, Lina Kimura. Lina... who I would like to ask to be my wife."
Fish laughed with sharp delight, letting out a whoop as he bounced forward to perch on the edge of the sofa. "Yes. Yes! She says yes!" He looked at Lina, his enthusiasm only faintly dimming at her silence. "Don't you?"
"Fisher!"
"Don't shush him, he's right." Lina stood as well, her broad grin and laughing eyes only for Shawn. "I do say yes. I would be honored to become an official part of this family."
Pohl didn't spend any more time with his lamp that night. There was far too much dancing and cheering and caroling and joy to keep him distracted. He was going to have a new grandmother, and even though everyone said that nothing would really change, it felt like something already had. mistletoe "How many of those have you had?" Ursula flicked a chipped candycane nail at Fisher's beer, snorting when he scowled and raised it out of her reach.
"Three."
"Five." Pohl had been diligently counting the bitter glass bottles, silently noting the subtle shift in his guardian's personality that came with each one. "That is the fifth beer and it is almost gone."
"Traitor."
"Thank you, Pohl."
The raevan grinned, warmed by Ursula's approval. He might have been more worried had traitor actually meant traitor, but he knew Fisher's face better than his own, and he could tell his guardian wasn't mad at all.
"I mean... what does it matter anyway? This is what tonight's for, right?"
"It wouldn't matter for anyone else. But you made me swear to keep you sober for the rest of your life. 'On pain of death,' you said."
"I'm not drunk."
"Well aware. But your Jenga skills are way past ********, and it's all downhill from—" Her eyes widened as they cut over to where Moeth sat on Lina's lap, her palms already firmly shielding his ears from any wayward language. "s**t. Thank you."
"It takes a village," the woman said, features lit with amusement. She'd been positively incandescent since the proposal, not that anyone would fault her for it.
"How much longer 'til the ball?"
"Four minutes or so?"
"'Kay, I'll be right back. I have to take a... go to the bathroom. I'llbeback." He left the little that remained of his beer on the coffee table with a chuckle, turning to Urs once he was almost out of sight. "Didn't stumble once, see?"
"Very good!"
Moeth—whose faintly pointed ears had once again been exposed to the air—giggled at his mother's mocking, sing-song reply, prompting an eyeroll and faint sigh from Pohl. Babies. The raevan folded his arms and tried to ignore Mo's happy chattering, looking to Grandpa and Lina instead.
"So, what are your restitutions?" Fish had told him that the new year was for making promises to better yourself, but he hadn't yet figured out how he was meant to accomplish that. He was already close to doing eighth grade math, and getting that far had taken a lot of work. How much better did he have to be?
"Resolutions?"
Pohl nodded. Whatever.
"To get married," Shawn said, smiling warmly at Lina. "Finally."
"Oh! That reminds me!" Ursula shot to her feet. "I have something for you guys!" She darted from the room, leaving Shawn and Lina to stare at each other with hearts in their eyes while Pohl glanced at the television to see how much time they had left. Two minutes.
"My resolution is to get back into drawing," Lina said, bouncing Mo a little. "You've inspired me with your sketches, Pohl." She chuckled as Shawn pulled a face, reaching out to jab him in the thigh. "And getting married, of course. I didn't think I had to say so."
"You don't. I'm teasing." He smiled at the raevan. "Go find out what happened to your father. He's going to miss midnight."
Pohl perked up at the dismissal. The only thing more tiresome than magical toddlers were old people in love. "Okay!"
"Don't barge into the bathroom if the door is closed!"He zipped from the living room, holding his wings very still though he longed to flutter. It was dangerous to flap around too much in the house. He'd learned that the hard way. The last thing he wanted to do tonight was wreck everything, not when everyone was so happy and people were vowing to make themselves better and—
Pohl rounded the corner at what would have been a jog, had he had legs, and jerked to a stop just as quickly, backing up until the darkness hid him once again. Ursula and Fisher stood face to face at the end of the hall, an odd little plant suspended above them. Pohl had been very curious about it a few weeks ago, but its plastic leaves had since faded from his thoughts.
"It's mistletoe," Ursula explained. "When people stand under it together, tradition says they have to kiss. We'll just hang it... here, above the closet."
"Why?"
"Because it's funnier that way. Who's going to think about smooching while they're scrounging around for towels?"
Despite what she had said, Ursula seemed to be having no problem with it. Smooching in front of the closet, not scrounging for towels. Her back was to Pohl, fingers tracing Fisher's jaw as they kissed beneath the mistletoe. He was loosely sandwiched between her and the door, and while all Pohl could think about was how squooshed his wings would feel were he in the same position, Fish didn't seem to mind at all. At least not until the countdown began. Lina and Shawn led the chant, Mo's little voice echoing after.
TEN!
Fisher pulled away, softly knocking his head against the door behind him. He looked shocked and sleepy all at once, like he had awoken from a dream that had taken a wrong turn.
NINE!
He swallowed, surprise turning to sadness as he slid his hands up from the small of her back to her shoulders and gently pushed her from him.
EIGHT!
"I think I might be drunk after all. I'm... sorry."
SEVEN!
Fish practically lunged in his haste to close the short distance to his room, slipping inside and quietly shutting the door as the countdown continued.
Ursula remained frozen in place for a breath or two before she turned, the pain in her eyes pinning Pohl like a specimen to a slide. She smiled when she saw him, though she didn't mean it, and she reached to take his hand.
"C'mon honey."
THREE!
TWO!
ONE!HAPPY NEW YEAR!
They rejoined the others just in time for the cheering and the hugging, Pohl thoroughly enjoying both even while half of his thoughts remained elsewhere. Ursula held tightly to his hand as Auld Lang Syne blared from the TV, her fingers still dusted with traces of Fisher.
mushroomsxxx
Pohl has an experience with Ryder that he'll never forget.
Never.
Like, it was pretty bad.
idiot
In all his years of rubbing people the wrong way, Fisher couldn't recall ever receiving such a chilly reception from someone he'd rubbed. Pohl and Ursula immediately cut their whispered discussion short when he entered the house, her warm but wounded smile cooling in the second that followed.
"Don't stop having fun on my account." He was surprised by how worn he sounded. How defeated. He hid it easily enough at work, but he couldn't manage the same level of cheerful deceit when the source of his misery was sitting right in front of him. Or rather standing, turning woodenly, and walking away from him, her face a careful blank.
He sighed as she closed her bedroom door with a bit too much force. "I've never seen her so mad."
Pohl shook his head. "Not mad." He kept up the slow sway, enjoying the swish of his hair against his cheeks. It had grown longer in the months since he had arrived, and while he was reluctantly warming to the idea of getting a trim, the raevan still balked at the thought of allowing scissors anywhere near his antennae. "Sad. She's sad."
Fisher finally entered the house completely, locking the door behind him and dropping into the chair Urs had vacated. The strap of his messenger bag tugged a curl or two out of place as he pulled it over his head, but he didn't notice.
"Sad." It wasn't a question, but he still sounded confused.
Pohl paused his rhythmic head shaking to inject a single nod. "She thinks you're being an idiot and she's sad."
Fish smiled at that, the barest hint of his usual amusement squeezing past his current discomfort. It didn't linger, and he pressed his knuckles to his sternum as the emotion fled, as if he might fill the hollow there with his fist. "I went too far. And even if... I can't just ignore what she is."
"A human?"
"No, it's... I need to talk to her."
They both went silent after he trailed off, Fisher lost in thought and Pohl... waiting. He'd learned enough tact to know that it would be rude to just float away and do something else, so he examined his guardian for as long as he could before the ants inside got the better of him. Pohl's hand shot forward, resting on Fisher's. Vanilla, orange, salt, salt, salt. More than usual.
"It's going to be okay." He said it just like those movies Lina liked, with lots of leaning in and prolonged staring. Pohl didn't expect Fish's eyes to crinkle at the corners. He didn't expect the man to smile.
"You're right. It is." He pulled one hand free and flipped the other one over, sandwiching Pohl's hands in his palms. "Everything's okay with you?"
They hadn't talked about what had happened with Ryder directly, but Pohl had a feeling Fisher knew all about it anyway. He would have been flipping out way harder had the details of Pohl's little excursion remained a mystery.
"Mmhmm. Everything's fine." And it was. Pohl hadn't developed any particular aversion to touch following the incident—unless you introduced yourself as a hallucinogenic mushroom man right out of the gate—and the effects of Ryder's Magical Skin had faded soon after Pohl had stopped touching him. Nothing to worry about.
"It's fixed. It won't happen again."
Fish nodded. "I'm not mad either."
"I know."
"I want you to be careful."
"You too."
"Of what?"
The raevan shrugged. "Not being so sad, I guess."
There was a pause, then Fisher's hand went pat-pat again. "I promise I'll try to be careful of sadness, Pohl. And I'll talk to Ursula as soon as I can."
"Good."
afraid
True to his word, Fisher waited less than a day to approach Ursula, stationing himself between her room and the front door the very next morning. He didn't plan on forcing her to speak with him, but he also refused to continue his half of their childish little games of silence either. Fish wished that he had the power to take back the last two weeks and stop all of this before it began, but that wasn't how things worked if you weren't some magical king.
When Ursula finally slipped out of her room, she made barely any sound at all, prompting Fisher to leap to his feet in surprise when he looked up from his cuticles. It was the first time she had directly acknowledged him since New Year's Eve, and he wasn't sure how to respond to her scrutiny now that he had it. He cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry that I haven't said... sorry. So I am. Sorry. Unbelievably."
"Mm. Well, that's nice, I guess. You've done so many dumbass things since I've met you that it's good you're finally apologizing for a few of them."
"I... um..."
"Not what you meant, I know. Are you even aware of what you're sorry for?"
"I started something I shouldn't have."
"You were the one who pushed me away, Fisher."
"After starting something I shouldn't have."
"Did it feel like I was complaining? About this thing you supposedly started."
Fish failed to stifle a chuckle, though it wasn't a happy one. "No. It didn't."
"Then why have you been avoiding me? Unless you're the one regretting what we did."
"Urs..."
"Urs what?"
A brief stretch of silence followed, their breathing the only sound.
"I don't know how to say this without pissing you off."
[ wip ]
foolishxxx
Pohl and Fisher meet Sven while hunting some eggs!
earth day
coming soon
science!xxx
S C I E N C E S T O R E W I T H D I O R ! ! !
a new bead
coming soon
three and up
coming soon
man and wife
There was no indication that today was Halloween beyond the fancy bowl of fancy candy at the center of the fancy table nearby. Instead of pumpkins and bats, the room was festooned with flowers and shiny fabric, some of which was echoed in Pohl's half tuxedo. It was purple too, more the color of the night sky than his cheery violet hair. A basket of pansy and crocus petals dangled from his wrist, though the dangle was very deliberate. Pohl was the flower boy around here, and he was not about to mess it up.
Fisher stopped twitching over his phone, turning it off and tucking it into his pocket. His tuxedo was mostly traditional black, its lapels a deep purple that matched Pohl's.
"They're ready." He slid closer with a broad smile and clapped the raevan on his back. "You good?"
"Mmhmm." They had gone over this a ton. Float down the aisle, throw five handfuls of petals as he went, sit. "I'm ready." Pohl moved forward with determination, stopping when Fish chuckled.
"Not yet, kid. Urs will let us know when. Dad and I will go first, then you'll follow."
Pohl nodded as the door across the room swung open and Shawn pushed past the starry curtain in front of it. His eyes were wide, but he showed no other sign of nerves until he spoke. The man's voice was quick and breathy, its staccato peaks like a heartbeat.
"Thanks for coming. Love you all. Fisher?" He spun on the heel of a shiny shoe and departed as speedily as he'd come.
"Is grandpa mad?"
Ursula chuckled as Fish gave her cheek a peck and followed his father.
"Nah. He's just very nervous."
"Oh. Why?" His grandfather had never been scared a day in his life, at least not as far as Pohl was concerned.
"It would take a while to explain. But we will. Just not today."
Pohl nodded. As long as he was told eventually. Music began to play a couple of rooms over and Pohl's antennae twitched with interest. "Is that me?" He faced Ursula, sending a crocus petal fluttering to the ground.
"It is!" She gave him a one-armed hug and turned him toward the door. "Remember to smile."
Pohl peered out into the hall with curious eyes, his face otherwise impassive until he saw Fisher and Shawn upfront. The raevan smiled cheekily and emerged, his hand already deep in his basket of flowers. They tasted like... flowers, but layered on top of that was a manufactured flavor he usually found on his internet aphids and that one time he'd touched lunchmeat. Never again.
He made it all the way to the front aisle in exactly five tosses, lowering into his seat when he got there. This was fascinating. There were nine people present beyond Pohl's immediate family, and the raevan wanted to meet them all.
The music slowed and changed as Ursula stepped into view, Moeth methodically plodding along at her feet. The boy carried a small, satiny pillow, a pair of shiny rings loosely sewn to it. They had asked Pohl if he'd wanted to bear the rings, but he had chosen the flowers instead. Urs and Mo kept walking until they were just past the guy to grandpa's left that he didn't know, and Ursula lifted her son into her arms as they stopped opposite Fisher. The music changed again, this time to a familiar tune.
"Here comes the bride!"
Several of the attendees chuckled, including Shawn, but they went silent again as Lina appeared. Her dress was simple and pale, the true spectacle a translucent shimmering cape that extended across her back and down to the floor. Its edges were dotted with uniquely embroidered dragonflies, and as she advanced, they appeared to lift the fabric several inches off of the ground for her, like a gaggle of tiny, iridescent footmen. Grandpa was smiling wider than Pohl had ever seen.
Unfortunately, when she reached the front of the room, everything got terribly boring. There were speeches and vows and ecstatic nerves, but through it all, Lina's bugs kept him company. Pohl named them all. And when he was done, there was a party.
(The two were entirely unrelated, but Pohl didn't know that.)
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