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 Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:38 am
Musings
Nikiana was home again after that interesting adventure. She sat on the couch, having rehomed the statue to a place where it wouldn't be able to fall on anyone. Now the woman sat in the living room, pondering just what to tell the girls. She was going to have to tell them something. Especially since the two were going to be getting some siblings.
As the woman was thinking, Reign arrived home. "Hey, Mom." The teenager greeted her mother as she closed the front door.
"Reign, I've gotta go pick up Ala. Come along with me. I need to talk to you girls."
The chimp girl blinked, then shrugged. "Okay."
The woman and her daughter got into the jeep and started the long drive out to the D-corp building. "Whatcha gotta talk about, Mom?" Reign asked.
"Wait until we pick up your sister. I want to tell you both at the same time." Reign accepted that answer with a nod. The pair rode on in silence until they arrived at the D-corp building. As they pulled up, the doors opened and Alaqua and Bob strolled outside. They'd been waiting in the lobby for Niki to drive up. Now the girl opened the back hatch for Bob to hop in. The brass wyrmling was starting to get too big to be riding in the back any more, but he still could fit for now. Then Ala shut the hatch and hopped into the back seat, the lone seat left up as the other seats in the back were laid down to give Bob more room. And so he could see Ala better.
Niki started driving back home, silent for a moment. Reign glanced over at the woman, but didn't say anything. Finally, Niki spoke. "Girls... we need to talk about something." Both girls tried to think rather quickly of what they might've done that their mother might've found out about. Niki paused, trying to figure out a good way of saying what she needed to say. "Girls... you're getting siblings."
"WHAT?!?" Both girls cried out in response to that comment. Then both broke into a babble of questions that Niki couldn't make out.
"GIRLS! Calm down!" Niki glanced over at Reign, then in the rearview mirror at Ala. Then she sighed. "It's not like I exactly picked this. Apparently I was 'chosen'... or some nonsense like that. I don't have a choice. You're getting two siblings in a couple of days."
The two girls grumbled as they digested this information. Then, Reign piped up, "But, Mom? Where are they going to stay?"
Ala's eyes widened. "I'm not sharing my room with anyone but Bob!!"
Niki waved one hand at the girls. "I'll probably have to move my office down to the basement and put them in there... or something..." It hit the woman that Tara might be able to do something to help her out here. Like add an additional room to the house. Or maybe two while she was at it. Like another bathroom. It was bad enough with three females sharing one bathroom. The woman's thoughts came to a halt and she turned her attention back to the discussion at hand. "Another thing... these are going to be babies," Niki added as she turned the car into the driveway.
The girls groaned. "Babies?" Reign asked.
"Like the little spewing, crying, pooping machines??" Ala added.
Niki put the vechile into park, then glared at her two girls. "Babies. So you two are going to have to help me some, okay?"
All she got in response was some grunting and the opening of doors as the girls vacated the car and headed for the house, Ala pausing long enough to open the hatch for Bob. Niki shut off the engine and went into the house in time to hear two bedroom doors slam shut. Sighing, she flopped down onto the couch.
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:44 pm
Journal Entry: 01/17/07
Okay, so just as Reign, Ala, and I are getting used to being a family and getting adjusted with Bob and the mini-dragons and imps now running around the house as well, I suddenly get these twins dumped on me. Wonderful. Just what I needed... not.
The girls haven't been happy about this whole thing, but the boys have been pretty good babies. They do what all other babies do. They cry, poop, and sleep. Reign seems to be warming up to them a little faster than Ala. I think the koala girl's just going through a tough time. She's gone through this once before when Reign arrived and now she's having to deal with her 'little' sister being older than her now. I think she's also having a problem adjusting to the whole 'becoming-a-teenager' thing.
Reign wasn't a big problem when she became a teenager. In fact, she hardly changed. She still loves to shop and wear frilly dresses and ribbons. She didn't have attitude problems or anything. Ala's starting to get a temper and be hateful to everyone in the house. I'm having problems with her minding me as she's starting to try and be her own person now, though I'm afraid she's trying to grow up too fast and keep up with her sister.
-Nikiana Ledell
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:12 pm
Midnight awakening
A baby's scream pierced the silence of the Ledell home. Reign and Ala both groaned, shifting in their beds as the cry awoke them. It came from the room next to Reign; Aiden's room. Reign glanced at her alarm clock before groaning. It was just after midnight. She stumbled out into the hallway where Alaqua had poked her head out.
"Wonder what he wants..." Ala grumbled. Reign shrugged in response, then shuffled down the hallway, passing her mother's office to knock on Niki's door.
"Mom! Aiden's crying!" Reign called out as she pounded on Niki's bedroom door.
Some grumbling came from inside and a rather muffled call of '5 more minutes' made her daughter groan. She glanced down the hallway back at Ala, who shrugged and went back to her room to go back to sleep. "Just... shut him up."
Reign glared at her sister, then sighed as Aiden continued to cry. "Alright, alright..." she muttered, entering Aiden's room. The boy was standing up in his crib, grasping the railing and screaming. The chimp girl reached in and picked the boy up out of his crib, wondering if he had a dirty diaper.
Aiden's crying stopped as Reign picked him up, though she went ahead and sniffed at him. Nope, his diaper was clean. 'He must be hungry,' Reign thought and started to set Aiden down so she could go get a bottle for him. As soon as his feet touched his crib mattress, Aiden started screaming again.
Groaning, Reign picked him up again, holding him at arm's length for a moment before bringing him closer and starting out to the kitchen to grab a bottle out of the fridge. Along the way, she knocked on her mother's door again. The same grumbling and muffled call of '5 more minutes' came once again.
Reign glared at her mother's door for a moment, then turned and padded towards the kitchen. She dug a bottle out of the fridge. "Here, Aiden." She popped the bottle in the boy's mouth, who promptly spat it out onto the floor. Reign reached with her tail to pick it up and took it with her hand to pop it into his mouth again. The boy did the same thing and Reign tried again. When he did it again, Reign sighed. "Okay, so you're not hungry." She put the bottle back in the fridge.
"Mom!" She banged on Niki's door again. When she heard the same thing, she opened the door. "Mom, it's already been 5 minutes. Aiden's crying and he's not dirty or hungry."
Niki groaned, rolling over to glance at her daughter. She got up and took the infant from Reign, then started out the door. Reign, confused, followed along as Niki walked back to Aiden's room. She watched as her mother sat down in the rocking chair and slowly started to rock and sing a lullaby to the boy.
Within minutes, Aiden was back asleep and Niki was putting him in his crib. Reign blinked. Niki smiled and patted her daughter on the shoulder, then headed right back to her bed. Reign, shaking her head at the simplicity of the matter, headed back to her room as well.
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Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 1:29 pm
Don't mess with Order
Niki had had to install a lock on her office. Though it was cluttered, she knew exactly where everything was. Or, she did. That was until the two imps and three mini-dragons had decided to rearrange her stuff. Niki was now in the kitchen, trying to prepare dinner for her family while Mustard, both Rudys, and Li ran about under her feet, apparently playing some little game of theirs. Stripe was deciding to use Niki's hair as a perch at that moment.
Finally, as Li ran into Niki's leg for the thousandth time and almost made the woman cut herself instead of the carrot she was slicing, Niki snapped. "Out, out! All of you little monsters OUT OF MY KITCHEN!!!"
The five creatures gave startled squeaks and squawks and other noises and scampered rapidly out of the kitchen. They gave dejected sighs as they were robbed of their fun. Then, Stripe gave a chirp and scurried down the hallway. The other four looked at one another for a moment, then quickly followed. The red and white mini-dragon darted into a bedroom, deciding that this would now be where they would be playing.
Shito was happily playing in his crib with a teddy bear when the quintet entered his room. He gave a cooing sound to the group, who ignored the baby boy. Mustard gave a chirp and the other four started chasing after him. Shito watched as the yellow splotched dragonling led the others about his room. The boy pulled himself up on the crib to watch the game, giggling. They were so funny.
The game then took a sudden turn that Shi did not like. As Mustard darted just out of Stripe's reach, he bumped right into a toy box, causing it to fall over and the toys to spill out across the room. Shito stopped giggling, frowning at the mess that was now in his room. When the rowdy group of creatures caused the rocking chair to fall over with a loud noise, Shito started screaming.
Niki cursed under her breath as she almost cut herself once again at the sudden screaming. "Reign? Ala? Can one of you check on the boys?" She waited for a moment. No response. She sighed and glanced out the kitchen door. There was Ala and Bob, probably practicing something one of her teachers had told her.
The woman walked down the hallway, poking her head into Reign's room. The chimp girl was lying on her bed of pillows, headphones on and listening to her mp3 player. The girl spotted her mother and hit pause on the device. "Dinner ready?" Reign asked, taking off her headphones.
"Almost, Reign. Do you mind finishing up chopping the vegetables for me? One of the boys is crying." At Reign's nod, Niki turned and walked down the hall just a bit. The crying was coming from Shito's room, which surprised the woman a bit. Aiden was the crier of the two. She'd hardly ever heard the quieter twin cry. Even when he was hungry or dirty or tired, he just fussed. He didn't really scream like this.
The door to the boy's room was about half open, so Niki opened it the rest of the way. And what a sight it was that met her eyes. The room was a mess and there were five rather guilty looking creatures in the middle of the room and a screaming baby in the crib. Niki glared at the little monsters. "Outside with all of you, now!" She pointed out the bedroom door and the dragons and imps stumbled over one another on their way out. "Reign, open the door for those little monsters to get outside."
The woman then picked Shito up, soothing the boy. "It's okay, it's okay, Shi... Mommy's here. She'll make everything right again." Jiggling the baby, Niki picked up the rocking chair to set it up again. Shito's screaming calmed some, between the soothing and the chair being put back up. Niki sat down with the boy to rock him, but Shi just started fussing and squirming. The woman was confused for a moment, trying to rock him and keep him in her arms.
'Wait... that man had guessed them to be gods of... Chaos and... Order? If Aiden's Chaos,' Niki glanced about the room. That made sense. With a sigh, she stood and moved over to the toy box and set it up. She paused to put Shito back in his crib so she could clean the room up faster.
After a few minutes, Shi was grinning as his mother put the last thing back in its place. Niki sighed and picked up the boy. "I bet it's about dinner time now." She grabbed Aiden out of his room and started back to the kitchen. She put the twins in their high chairs, then smiled at Reign. "Thanks, sweetie."
She put some cereal on the high chairs for the boys, then finished up dinner. "Wash your hands, Reign, and then would you set the table, please?" Her daughter nodded and Niki opened up the kitchen door. "Ala! Dinner time!" She glared at the dejected mini-dragons and imps. "You don't get to come in yet." She added to Ala, "Wash your hands."
Niki closed the door behind Ala and Bob, then grabbed the brass wyrmling's dinner out of the fridge. She washed her own hands, then brought dinner to the table. With a twin on either side of her and the girls sitting at the table, Niki smiled at her family. "Dig in!"
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Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:55 pm
Growing Pains
Aiden and Shito have learned to crawl and needless to say Aiden's messing things up like crazy and Shito's neat freaking. What are the reactions of their sisters, of eachother, of themselves, and of Niki? What sort of things happen?
Niki's thoughts as she watched the two boys crawl about the living room were 'I have got to get some playpens!'. She didn't think the boys would like that too much, though, since they fussed when left in their cribs now. The woman was sitting on the couch, watching as Aiden crawled about, knocking over the pile of magazines at the end of the couch and then proceeding on to go reorganize the DVDs by the TV.
Shito quickly crawled over to where the magazines had toppled and Niki grinned at the cute scene of such a little guy trying to stack the slippery things back into a pile. Finally, he managed to get it to his satisfaction and moved on to clean up more of his brother's messes.
Meanwhile, the troublesome five had found out just how cool Aiden was. Now the three mini-dragons and two imps were following the little god of Chaos about the house, aiding him in making the entire place a mess.
Suddenly, there was a shriek from one of the bedrooms and Niki got up to see what was going on. "MOM!!" Reign yelled at her mother, pointing at the creatures and Aiden deciding to redecorate the older girl's room. Reign grabbed her little brother up and shoved him at her mother. "Make them stay out of my room!"
Niki took the boy, sighing. "Reign, he's just a baby. I can send Shi in to clean up, if you'd like."
Reign thought that her mother was being sarcastic. "Gee, thanks, Mom. I think I can manage it..." Her own voice dripped with sarcasm.
"No, really. Go peek into the living room while I chase these monsters out of the house again." At Niki's words, the five made a mad dash for the back door. They'd found several times already that the broom hurt when used to shoo them out of the house. Niki sighed and went to open the back door for them.
Reign padded down the hallway to where Shito was finishing up the DVDs and moving on to clean up a pile of books that had been on the coffee table. She glanced over at her mother as Niki stood by her daughter. "You weren't joking..." Reign whispered.
Niki glanced at the boy in her arms. "You know, I think I'll get you and Ala some locks for your rooms so these two can't get into them easily..."
The koala girl came in from outside, stomping over to Niki. "Why must you always put them outside? Bob and I were trying to practice, but we can't when they're out there."
"Because they were making a mess of my room," Reign told her sister. "With his help." She pointed at Aiden.
Ala groaned. "And where's the other one? Messing up my room?!"
Niki and Reign grinned and both pointed over to where Shito was finishing cleaning up (as much as babily possible) the stack of books.
"Oh." Alaqua commented.
"I was just telling Reign that I'm gonna get you two some locks, or you'll have this duo in there messing up and then cleaning up your rooms all of the time." Niki informed the D-corp child.
Ala nodded at the sense that that made. "Well, at least both of them aren't messing everything up..."
Niki and Reign nodded. Aiden squirmed in his mother's arms. Niki jiggled the boy, then looked at her daughters. "Okay, ready for a trip to the hardware store? Otherwise, this little guy's gonna mess your rooms up until then."
Ala and Reign nodded, the chimp girl adding, "I'll grab Shito." And the family headed off to get some locks for doors.
A few hours later, the five returned with several locks. "If you two can keep them occupied for a few moments, I'll get these put up," Niki told her daughters. The two girls nodded and each took a twin and headed to the living room to keep the boys busy.
Niki meanwhile put the locks on the inside and outside of her own bedroom door and the girls' bedroom doors. Her office door was already installed with locks (both inside and outside), so the three for the bedrooms had been all that were needed.
"I'm done, girls!" Niki shouted, picking up the tools and unlocking the stairway to the basement. Now, just about every room had locks on the doors. As she locked the door behind her and started down the stairs, she heard both girls go into their rooms and close the door.
The woman put the tools away, quietly so as to not disturb what lived in the basement, and headed back upstairs. She locked the door, hearing pattering feet behind her. Smiling, she turned, looking for either girl to be walking behind her. But, her eyes fell upon no one... until she looked lower and spotted Aiden walking on down the hallway, probably off to make another mess.
In shock, Niki then ran to the living room where Shito was walking about as well, still cleaning. The typical mother, Niki groaned. 'I missed their first steps?!?'
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:43 pm
Journal Entry: 02/19/07
I hate this house! Mom's always treating me like a little kid, though she lets Reign do whatever she wants. It's not fair! Shito and Aiden are always in the way and Mom's always wanting me or Reign to take care of them. Ugh, she was the one that got stuck with them, why can't she take care of them?!
And those little monsters... Ugh! I almost wish we hadn't gotten them for each other for Christmas! Or at least not that many. The five of them are always getting into trouble and Mom's constantly shooing them outside. Thing is, Bob and I like to play outside, or practice fighting or just climb trees. But with the demons out there, that's impossible.
I wish I was older, like Reign. Then I could start planning on moving out, though Reign doesn't seem to be planning that yet... I don't know why... She's practically an adult now and she seems quite content to live here in this crazy place.
Even though Reign and I are older, Mom still keeps things from us. Like whatever it is she's got in the basement. I've never been let in there and neither has Reign (as far as I know...). What is Mom hiding from us? She's treating us like such little kids! Me more so than Reign... Reign gets to stay up later and she gets nice stuff. Like Mom bought her a new mp3 player a while ago... I want one, but do I get one? No.
-Alaqua
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:13 pm
My name is not Bob!
Alaqua had began to wonder about Bob. The dragon teacher had said that they'd start speaking English early compared to several other dragon types, but she'd heard some of her classmates' dragons speak English while never hearing even a word of it from Bob. The koala girl was a bit worried that something was wrong with her dragon, but what happened that day changed her mind.
It was a rather normal day. They'd been in classes most of the day, which put Bob into a foul mood as usual. He hated not being able to talk. The teachers got to talk (a lot). The kids got to talk, too. But he didn't get to talk at all. Not. Fun.
Ala was eager to try some of the stuff she'd been learning in class and the girl raced to the gate in the fence. "C'mon Bob," she called to the slow dragon.
The brass wyrmling grumbled, making his way over to where the girl was and looking up at her. Ala was about to dart off, but stopped in surprise at Bob's statement. "My name is not Bob," the dragon carefully stated. Alaqua stared at the creature in shock for a while. She'd never heard Bob say even one word in English before. Apparently, he'd been practicing in private so that he could be proficient when he started speaking.
"It's not....? But..." Ala managed.
"My name is Jormungandr."
Ala frowned in confusion. "But... the techs said I got to pick your name...."
"Me not like that name. Me choosed Jormungandr for my name." Bob, er... Jormungandr, stated. "Not called Bob no more."
"Uh.... okay, Bob..." That drew a glare from the brass dragon and he stalked towards the house. "What?! You're Bob to me! And that name's too long..." Ala cried as she chased Bob towards the house and into the kitchen.
Niki looked up. "What's wrong, Ala?"
"Bob renamed himself and he's mad because I won't call him by that name."
"Me is Jormungandr!" Bob hissed at the two, then left to go to Ala's bedroom and curl up with his sticks and blanket.
Niki blinked. "He.... can speak English?"
Ala nodded. "Yeah, the teacher said he'd be able to learn it eventually...."
Niki groaned. "Great......."
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 3:34 pm
Shopping trip!
Nikiana sat with her two daughters in the living room while the twins napped. The three were sorting laundry, a task that was growing more and more difficult as the three grew closer and closer to the same size. "Here, Ala..." Niki handed a shirt over to her daughter.
Ala started to fold the shirt, but her mother reached over and stopped her. "That shirt looks like it's getting a bit small for you..."
Reign grinned. "Does that mean I can take Ala shopping? I want to get some new dresses too. I'm outgrowing mine and Ala's outgrown most of her clothes... and the twins could use some new clothes as well. We can just go so we don't have to worry about the twins. You can stay home with them."
Niki eyed the chimp girl for a moment, folding some of Aiden's shirts and a towel before finally answering. "Yes... But let's finish the laundry first. You can both ride the bus over to the mall and get some clothes for yourselves and for the boys as well."
Reign nearly danced with joy and quickly folded the laundry and took her own stack to her room to put away. Ala followed along and Niki took the towels and her own clothing. She'd put away the twins' clothes later, once they were awake.
Bob looked up from his nest on the floor as Ala entered, then laid his head back down. "We're going to the mall," the girl informed him.
"Why?" Bob asked, raising his head again to look at the koala child.
"Shopping for clothes."
"Oh." The brass wyrmling slowly got up and padded after Ala as the two headed down the hallway. Ala noticed that the dragon was starting to have difficulties making it out of the door and down the hall. He was growing.
Reign gave a slight frown as she spotted Bob tagging along. "Can he fit on the bus?" She asked her sister.
Ala gave a sort of shrug. "He's coming, so it doesn't matter, now does it?"
Nikiana, sensing a storm brewing between the two, halted it by handing Reign a keyring. "Here." Both girls blinked as they realized it was the keys to the jeep.
"But... Mom...." Reign started. "I can't drive..."
Niki smiled at her daughter. "It's not that hard and you've been bugging me lately about it. You know the basics already, just take it slow and be careful."
Ala watched, wide-eyed. "You're not serious!" At her mother's gaze, she glanced over at Bob. "Fine, he can stay home and we'll take the bus..."
Grinning, Niki took back her car keys and handed Reign her credit card. "Just... don't spend too much... We do have to eat."
Reign grinned, taking the piece of plastic. "Thanks, Mom!" She grabbed her little handbag and put the card inside, then glanced at her sister. "C'mon, Ala!"
The koala girl turned to say bye to Bob, but the dragon had disappeared. She caught sight of the tip of his tail disappearing into her room and sighed. "Bye, Mom..."
"Bye girls!"
The two walked to the bus stop not too far from the house. Reign remembered what happened when they were both younger and heading to this very same stop. Ala had told her they were going to get ice cream, but they instead went to the Musaeum and Ala tried to give her back to Nara. Luckily, their mother had found them and stopped anything bad from happening.
The bus arrived, its brakes squeaking as it slowed to a stop. The girls got on, paid, and found seats. Reign picked an empty bench so her sister could join her, but Ala continued on all the way to the back of the bus and took a seat back there. Reign sighed and peered out the window to wait until their stop came.
Ala was not happy about having to leave Bob at the house. They were almost always together. But not Bob wasn't very happy with her because she refused to call him by that rediculous name. The koala girl sighed, hoping that the trip to the mall wouldn't take too long. But, knowing Reign, she'd probably have to drag her sister out of the stores...
Finally the bus came to a squeaking halt at the mall. The two girls got off and joined the crowds walking from store to store. Reign glanced at Ala. "Let's get the twins' stuff first, as it'll be easiest. Then we can go look for stuff for ourselves." Alaqua nodded and the two headed to a children's store.
"Awww! So cute!" Reign spotted a few frilly dresses in miniture at the front of the store. Ala rolled her eyes and headed to the boys section, flipping through the racks. If only the twins had been girls, Reign would've been thrilled. Finally, she joined Ala and the two picked out some shirts and pants for the boys. "Boys clothing is so boring..." Reign remarked as they bought the clothes and headed towards the next store.
Along the way, their nostrils detected a rather distinct smell. That of a hair salon. The two girls eyed it for a moment. "Hmm... But Mom didn't say anything about haircuts," Reign remarked. "C'mon, Ala, I know a store where they've got some of the prettiest things!" And she dragged her sister over to Hot Topic, which caused Alaqua to groan.
"Reign... I don't like this kind of stuff..." She remarked as Reign fussed over some of the dresses. Ala always felt rather uncomfortable within the store. Some of the oddest people shopped here...
"Okay, okay..." Reign finally remarked and the two left the store. "Where do you want to go, then?" Ala pointed at the department store at the end of the section. Reign sighed, "But their clothes are so boring...." At her sister's gaze, the chimp girl gave in. "Alright, alright. You're the one wearing it..."
Alaqua smiled and headed towards the store. Reign immediately found the sections with dresses, trying to get Ala to hold still long enough to hold them up against her. "You'd look so pretty in some of these!"
"I'm gonna go look elsewhere..." Ala muttered, leaving her sister to shop among the dresses. "Heh, yeah. Boring clothes, eh?" The koala girl muttered to herself as she saw Reign holding a dress up to herself to see how it'd look.
Ala was heading for the teen's section of jeans and t-shirts. The boys section was first and a green shirt caught her attention. The girl picked it up and eyed it. It didn't really look very boyish... And there was this plaid shirt next to it in green and blue that went very well with it. Grinning, she picked up several different colored plaid shirts and matching t-shirts. She didn't really need too many new jeans; she'd gotten some not all that long ago and she liked them now because the hem was fraying, but she'd probably better pick up some jeans as well.
Finally, her arms loaded with boys clothing (she liked how their jeans fit much better than girls'), Ala found a cart and then Reign. Knowing that her sister would have a fit at her choices, Ala ventured alone to her sister, leaving the cart behind a nearby rack of dresses. "Reign, I'm done here. Can I have the credit card? I wanna look for something for Bob at a different store..."
Reign eyed her sister for a moment. "Okay... Here." She opened her purse and handed the card to Ala. "Just try to be back soon. I'm almost done..." She was tempted to ask her sister's opinion on which dress looked better, but the koala girl snatched the card and quickly escaped.
Ala grinned and checked out. She headed out of the store, bags in hand, to find a store where she could find a gift for Bob (to try and make him feel a bit better) when she passed the salon again. She fingered the long braids by her face. She was really getting tired of them and her hair needed to be cut again anyways.... She quickly detoured on into the store.
"Sheesh! What is taking Ala so long?" Reign muttered to herself a good twenty minutes later. "I'm already done, but I need the credit card to buy this stuff and-" The chimp girl's muttering halted as she caught sight of her sister. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR?!?!?!" Reign shrieked, rushing over to Ala and wincing. "Mom's gonna kill me... I can't believe you did this!"
Alaqua grinned. She figured her sister would flip out over this new haircut. "Like it?"
Reign's jaw dropped. "Like it?! You look like a boy!!"
And indeed, Ala did. Still rather flatchested, with her now spiked hair (the tips were dyed green!), the koala girl looked more boy than girl. And she wasn't even wearing her new clothes yet!
Reign groaned as she headed towards the register to buy her own clothes. "I'm so dead... Mom's gonna hate this, you know."
"I know." Ala stated, with a slight grin.
"Don't tell me that's why you did it..." Reign glared at her sister.
"No. I just think it looks cool."
Reign sighed and didn't speak another word to her sister as they left the mall, got onto the bus, and then got off at the stop close to their house. Reign stomped on ahead of Ala and got in the house with enough time to tell her mother "I had nothing to do with it!" before Ala entered.
Niki blinked at Reign's rather odd statement, then spazzed as Ala walked in the front door. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR?!?!?!"
"I didn't do anything. A hairdresser...." Ala was cut off by her mother.
"DON'T YOU BE SARCASTIC WITH ME, YOUNG LADY! I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO DYE YOUR HAIR!" Nikiana probably would've kept screaming something at her daughter, but the twins started fussing. They'd been awake for a while now, but the yelling was scaring them. Niki glared at Ala. "You're grounded."
"What!?" Ala glared back at her mother. "You're grounding me for getting my hair cut?!"
"I'm grounding you for dying your hair when you knew I disapproved of it." Niki explained. "Keep your attitude up and you'll be grounded forever."
Ala frowned, then stomped down the hallway to her room and slammed the door shut. Bob glanced up. "What wrong, 'La?" It seemed he'd picked up on Aysel's nickname for her 'cousin'.
"Mom's so unfair..." Alaqua commented as she put away her new clothes. "And now she's grounded me. Just because of my haircut..."
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Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:12 pm
Journal Entry: 2/22/07
She dyed her hair! I can't believe Ala did that, even after I'd told her quite some time ago that I don't approve of dying your hair. And she got it cut so short! It's even spiked! Agh! I don't know what to do with her anymore. She's got such a temper. She talks back and doesn't do what I ask her to do. Reign was nowhere near this difficult when she was Ala's age.
And as if an angsty teen wasn't enough, the twins are potty training. Yeah, that's a nightmare and a half. Aiden hardly ever goes, though he knows when he's wet and needs to be changed. I think he might be doing it to spite me.... Shito's actually making some progress. I might have to find a different bribe other than candy. It's motivating some, but they need something more drastic, I feel.
At least Reign's helping out around the house a lot. She helps with the twins and fixing meals. I know she's growing up so fast and all. I'm afraid I'm just going to turn around and she'll be gone. Moved out and on her own. Maybe even married! I don't know what I'll do without her... This house will feel different when she does leave. Which I hope is not soon...
The troublesome five still haven't improved in behavior any. They get set outside almost every day. I'm thinking of making it permanent until they can behave themselves inside. It actually sounds very, very tempting...
And, oh man! Bob... or whatever he's requesting us to call him now (I think he's mad at us all because we won't call him anything other than Bob), is growing so big! He may have to start living outside as well soon. And his growing larger means he eats more. I'm gonna have to constantly buy out the meat section at the local grocery store at this rate.
-Nikiana Reia Ledell
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:27 pm
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring... Banana Cell phone!
After that incident with Alan, Niki finally gave in and announced to Ala and Reign that they were all going to go get cell phones. The girls had been thrilled. So, after getting the boys dressed and ready for a trip, they headed out, strapping the twins into their car seats. Bob had to stay behind due to the fact that he was getting too large to fit in the back of the jeep without the seats done now.
The family drove to a nearby cellular phone store. Niki carried one twin in while Reign carried in the other. Once inside, the group browsed about until (as was inevitable) a salesperson cheerfully greeted them. Niki handed Aiden off to Ala and told the girls to keep looking at the various phones before turning to the salesperson. "Yes, I'm looking to buy a plan and three phones..."
"Ah, okay then! Come right this way and I'll show you some of our excellent plans..."
Niki didn't budge. "I don't want texting. I don't want pictures. I don't want internet. I just want a simple plan with a lot of minutes." With two teenage girls on it, she'd need that many minutes. "And with the thing where it won't charge us minutes to talk to each other or our home line. And possibly that thing where you can have some friends that you can call without it charging minutes as well. And if we have that, we might not need that many minutes, though that thing where unused minutes are carried over would be nice as well..." Ever the scientist, the woman had done her research before coming to this decision.
The salesperson didn't seem to know what to say. They were taught to try and get the person to buy as many things as they could con them into. "Uh..."
"So how much would a plan like that cost me?" Niki demanded.
"I'll... go check in the computer." The salesperson meekly replied and went off to do just that.
"Hey, Mom!" Ala waved her mother over to the display she was looking at. The woman walked over to where her daughter was pointing to a green phone. "Look. It can play mp3s and it has a camera... Plus it's green!"
"Mom! Look here!" Reign was calling Niki over to another display. "It's pink! And it has a camera! Plus it's really thin."
Nikiana sighed. There were just all kinds of phones out there these days. She noticed the salesperson heading in her direction and walked over to shorten the walk. "So.. how much?"
"Well, you'll have to sign a two year contract, plus there's the cost of the phones, but the plan will only cost you $69.95 a month."
Niki stared at the salesrep. "You did leave out texting and messaging and pictures, right?" She got a nod. "And how many minutes do I get?"
"You get 750 minutes a month, but you've also got the-" The salesperson rambled on, listing the things that Niki had asked for to begin with.
"So how much are these phones gonna cost me?"
"Well, it depends on the phone..."
Niki pointed at Reign and then Ala. "They've got some picked out." She followed the salesperson as he looked at the phones the two girls had selected.
"Well, we're running a special on the pink one where you get it for free with a two year contract, but the green one will cost you $150."
Niki sighed. "Does the pink one come in any other color?" While she didn't care what her phone could do, she really didn't want a pink one. But, it was free...
"Yes, it comes in black and silver..."
"And they have the same deal on them?"
"Yes."
"Okay, then. Give me a pink one, a black one, that green one, and that deal we were talking about with all that stuff."
The salesman looked relieved and went to fetch boxes for the phones. "Just go over to that computer over there. I'll be with you in a moment." He told the group.
After rounding up everything, the man spent some time showing the girls and Niki how to use their phones and some of the features of each. He also told them how to put phone numbers into their phone book and how to change their ringtone. Then, he wrote down the numbers for the phones and handed Nikiana the paperwork to sign. With a sigh, she put her signature in the required places and handed over her credit card to get it all paid for. Well, she supposed it was worth it in the end. Especially since Ala and Reign were both thrilled to be getting phones and now she'd be able to contact them whenever she needed to and they could call her if their classes got out early. Or if she fell asleep at someone's house again.
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:05 pm
Journal Entry: 03/09/07
Though all of my kids grow much faster than is normal, I felt it appropriate to throw a birthday party for the twins. I knew better than to have it at home. There was no way I was going to do all of that work and have to clean up afterwards. There were places that you could pay to do all of that for you!
And so, that was how we ended up with a party at Rick E. Rat's. Reign and Ala were even excited. After all, there was cake and arcade games. Though the girls were a bit big for the large play tunnels and the ball pit. Aiden and Shito, however, could have all kinds of fun in there while the girls played the video games.
We sat at one of the tables, watching as the workers paraded over to put paper hats on the boys and place a cake on the table while singing the birthday song. Aiden spotted the cake and promptly slapped it with both hands, covering everyone nearby in cake and icing. I started to scold him, but was interrupted by the place's character dancing out in costume.
Which caused both twins to scream and hide under the table while 'Rick E. Rat' danced and sang songs. Ala was not impressed and was rather anxious to get going to the arcade section and play some games instead of watching a person in a dancing rat costume try to entertain her brothers. Reign stayed long enough to help me clean up Shito (who was starting to fuss at his clothes being messed up) and Aiden (who didn't want to be cleaned) before she joined her sister.
I dropped the boys off at the ball pen and tried to enjoy a few moments to myself, though I couldn't help but feel sorry for the workers who had to clean up after my kids. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.
All in all, it went okay. I'm just glad that the boys have improved drastically on potty training. Shito hardly ever has an accident anymore and has moved up to wearing underwear. And he's rather proud of that. Aiden is still in pull-ups, but he's making progress. At least he's trying now. Shito still wears a pull-up at night, but one step at a time, I say.
Reign's grown up so much now. I'm afraid that she's thinking of moving out soon. Not that I blame her. I sometimes want to move out of my own home...
Ala's still in trouble from dying her hair. Why must she be so difficult?
-Nikiana Reia Ledell
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Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:41 pm
Flowers?
The doorbell rang throughout the Ledell home. Niki raced to the door, hoping to answer it before whoever was at it rang the bell again. The twins had just gone down for their nap and Niki really didn't want to have to fight with them again. Luckily, she made it and opened the door just as the delivery boy was about to buzz again.
"Ms. Ledell?" The young man asked, glancing at his clipboard.
"Yes, that would be me."
"Sign here, please." He pointed to a place on the form his clipboard held, then handed over a large bouquet of flowers upon her signature. "Have a nice day, ma'am."
Niki blinked, wondering who on Gaia would be sending her flowers. And they were addressed to her, from the little envelope that was stuck in with the white carnations. The woman shut the door and carried the vase over to the kitchen table. They'd look pretty there, as long as no one destroyed them. She pulled out the little envelope and opened it, reading the note inside. Nikiana smiled and tucked the note and envelope into her pocket.
Later that day, as the family was getting ready to sit down for dinner, the bouquet brought forth several questions.
"Mom?" Reign asked, eyeing the flowers in the middle of the table.
"Yes?" Niki asked, innocently.
Ala caught onto the fact that her mom was trying to hide something. "Who sent them?"
"Who said they were sent?"
Reign's eyes lit up. "Someone has a crush on Mom!!" Which caused the boys at the table to gag.
Ala shrugged. "Probably some scary wierdo..." she muttered.
Niki glared at the koala girl. "What? You don't think a decent guy would like me?"
Reign giggled and danced about. "You like him back!! Oh, who is it, Mom? Is he cute? Rich? Tall? Dark? Handsome?"
Aiden rolled his eyes at the conversation and Shito decided to ignore his silly sister. "I'm hungry." The blond boy complained. Reign was causing dinner to be delayed.
Niki took the opportunity that her son gave her. "Reign, set the table."
Reign frowned. "But it's Ala's night."
"Set the table, Reign."
Ala grinned, happy to have gotten out of her chore. Until her mother ordered her to help the boys wash their hands, that was. She sighed and hauled Aiden off to the sink. Shito was already heading that way. Niki smiled, happy to have kept her little secret to herself. It was none of their business anyways.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:24 pm
The Talk
Niki had come to realize after some of her more vivid daydreams concerning herself and a certain member of the opposite sex that she had failed in one aspect of her girls' lives. She hadn't given either one of them the Talk. So now she was pacing in the living room, trying to think of how she was going to do this. The girls needed to know, especially since they were old enough to be doing that sort of thing... Not that she really wanted to think about that.
Finally, Niki had it mostly figured out, but had to think of a good time to do it, since she really didn't want the boys to overhear. So, after she got Aiden and Shito bathed and asleep, she went to each girl's room and knocked on their doors, starting with Reign.
Reign opened her door, a bit surprised to see her mom. The woman usually went to bed shortly after the twins did since they wore her out. "What's up?"
"Can you go sit on the couch? I need to talk with you and Ala about something important."
Reign gave a shrug. "Sure." She walked past Niki and headed down the hallway to the living room while her mother walked across the hall and knocked on Ala's door.
Ala opened it. "What?" When her mother told her the same thing, she gave a shrug. "Alright, I guess..." Bob raised his head up. "What about Bob?"
Niki grimaced. "Eh, it doesn't really concern him..."
Ala gave a shrug. "Okay." The dragon settled back on the floor while the koala girl headed to the living room and sat on the couch next to her sister.
Nikiana walked in shortly after Ala, a bit nervous about this whole thing. Finally, she took a deep breath and started. "Girls... I want to talk with you about where babies come from."
Reign stopped her mother. "We already know that, Mom. I came from a scroll, Ala was created in a tube, Bob came from an egg, and the boys came from a necklace."
Niki winced. "Well... yes.... but I meant babies that come from their mom."
Ala thought for a moment. "You mean like how it got into her stomach?"
"Yes. Because some babies come from inside their mom's stomach, but the mom and dad have to do something to make the baby." And so Niki went on to describe the action required to make a baby.
Both girls looked rather disgusted by the end of it. "Eeew." Reign stated, giving a shiver. "Why would anyone want to do that?!"
"Well, besides the fact that it makes a baby, it also feels good. Lots of people do it even if they don't want to make a baby." Niki then went into detail on a few things that helped prevent babies from being made.
"Gross, gross, gross!" Reign declared after her mother's descriptions, her face showing her utter disgust.
Niki tried hard not to smile at Reign's reaction. "Well, you've changed the boys' diapers and helped me with potty training them... so you know that boys are different."
"Yeah, but... I didn't realize they did that with... that."
The woman looked over at her other daughter to see how Ala was taking all of this in. "Ala?"
The koala girl looked up at her mom. "Hmm?"
Niki raised an eyebrow. "You don't find this gross?"
Ala shrugged. "Well, obviously it's not as gross as it sounds or people wouldn't exist."
That answer rather scared Niki. "Well, I'm gonna go to bed. If you two have any questions for me later, don't be afraid to ask... but don't ask around the twins, okay?"
Both girls nodded and headed for their own rooms, leaving Niki to turn off the lights and head to her own bed, which was unfortunately empty.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 9:07 pm
Journal Entry: 4/18/07
Ew, ew, ew, ewwwwww! So gross! I could hardly keep from shouting that while Mom was talking. I know that it scared her that I didn't react that way. Which is what I wanted. Let her be scared. Maybe she'll learn to relax...
Anyways, I'm gonna look up some more stuff about sex. Because even though Mom said we could ask her questions.... I really don't wanna. Besides, surely there's a book or something on the internet about it, right?
-Alaqua
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Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:39 pm
The Internet is for... PORN!
Okay, so it'd been a while since Niki had given Ala the Talk, but the girl had finally secured some time on her mother's computer without people being around constantly. So she could finally look up some more information on this sex stuff that her mom was talking about. "It can't be that gross, right Bob?" She asked the brass dragon who was standing guard at the doorway to her mother's office, which she'd secured by telling her mom that she needed the internet to look up some stuff for school. That excuse could probably let her get away with murder, considering her mother.
Bob gave a snort and settled himself in front of the door, taking up most of the hallway. Ala opened up the internet browser and went to a search site. She typed 'sex' in the search field and clicked the button. As the results appeared on the screen, she nearly shrieked at some of the more graphic pictures that appear. "Ewewewewewewewew...." she muttered as she quickly scanned the sites listed. Most of them seemed to just contain pictures of the acts, which caused her to shudder. "So gross... ewewew..." she continued on down the list, finally finding a site that seemed to be about the actual process and not just pictures. Relieved, she quickly clicked on it. The girl sighed with relief as she saw that the site was, indeed, more informative than graphic. So she settled in to scan through the site.
Ala's head darted up as her mother knocked softly on the door, quickly shutting the page, even though some of the stuff was actually a bit interesting. "Yes, Mom?" She asked, noticing that Bob was ducking his head rather sheepishly. Apparently, he'd fallen asleep.
"Dinner's almost ready." Niki said, eying her daughter for a moment.
"I'll be there in just a minute. Almost done," Ala told the woman, sighing as Niki went on down the hallway to gather the other family members for dinner.
"That was close... Good job on falling asleep, Bob..." She muttered as she shut the computer down and headed out of the office and towards the kitchen.
"Sorry, 'La..." Bob muttered as he fell in behind her.
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