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 Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:32 pm
A Forest (Alek, Archie, Kyocho, Oak)
April 11, 2007
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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:35 pm
Let's Keep it Clean! Now Come Out Boxing (Archie, Jedediah)
April 17, 2007 I doubt I'm ever actually going to write this solo, so here's a summary:
Archie's in the living room reading. He hears someone scuffling around on the porch. When he opens the door, he finds Jedediah trying to leave behind another envelope with Danon's picture in it.
When confronted, Jed says that he has been watching the house for a few months and leaving the pictures and stuff that Archie has found. Archie asks how he knows Danon; Jed says he knows nothing and is just his guardian Bhan's errand boy.
Archie, in a fit of bravery and anger over causing his paranoia and potentially endangering his family, punches Jed. Needless to say, the punch is a completely wussy one. Jed retaliates, and given that the boy's actually had some practice, he leaves Archie with a lovely black eye.
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Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:37 pm
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 3:03 pm
How many assholes we got on this ship, anyhow? (Catey, Madeline, Francine, Some old man)
July 3, 2007 Catey Campinski knew all about the alien criminal who called himself Archie Saturn. Until about two years ago, she had lived a short walk away from the house that served as ICRS headquarters, and if you had ever been within a 10-block radius during a landing, the first thing you went out of your way to find out was where the hell the noise had come from, which inevitably led you to Archie. Some of Catey's friends who still lived in Aekea said it wasn't so bad now that the ships had gotten quieter. A few people told her the ships had stopped coming altogether. That wasn't the whole truth, but at the time Catey hadn't cared to investigate further.
It had been an uncharacteristically warm day in January when Catey's very own ship had landed in the alley next to her apartment. The pod was black, and its nose was covered with tiny four-fingered handprints, each one in a different color of paint. Somewhere deep inside, Catey felt she should have been upset - she was only twenty after all, and these pods always contained babies, at least the rumors said they did. She was too young to be responsible for a child.
When the little ship's door hissed open, Catey was suddenly and surprisingly compelled to give motherhood a shot. Far less cute and seemingly helpless creatures had bent stronger wills than Catey's.
Nestled inside the pod were two baby girls, different enough to be easily distinguished from each other, but similar enough to be called twins. The feistier of the two immediately fixed Catey with wide, tear-filled brown eyes and lifted her chubby hands, opening and closing them jerkily. It was the first and last time the little girl, Madeline, had ever been frightened. Catey would come to find the other child's eyes were blue, and she greatly enjoyed spending much of her time watching things, a slobbery hand or piece of hair jutting out of her mouth. Catey named her Francine, after one of her mother's long-dead lap dogs. It seemed fitting.
The twins ate and slept and... expelled waste just like any other children their age. But where Francine liked to nap and watch Sesame Street in the afternoons, Madeline demanded paper with a shriek and pencils with a rat-a-tat of her fist on Catey's chest, and used these tools to practice forming numbers and letters she had never been taught.
One morning in mid-June, Catey awoke to the sensation of a tiny, grubby finger being pressed against her lips. Madeline sat next to her on the bed, nightgown folded under her legs and eyes boring into Catey's own.
"You've done a pretty good job taking care of me so far, but things would be better for all of us if you killed Francine. She's not what you think she is." The girl had a bit of trouble with her soft consonants, but Catey understood every word.
Two weeks later, she packed up the toddlers and drove them to Archie's house. She got lost along the way, but the old man she asked for help gave her some very meticulous and accurate directions. He seemed delighted by Catey's apparent exhaustion and the otherworldly glint in Francine's eyes as she stared at him from the passenger's seat of Catey's car. Madeline rode in the trunk, bound, gagged and locked in a wire cage that had last been used to transport Catey's landlord's seeing-eye dog on vacation overseas.
"Anything that brings that freaky family trouble is aces in my book," the man muttered, right before slamming his screen door in Catey's face.
She left the kids in Archie's yard, at the dead center of the faded bullseye. Francine stayed put with a simple, 'Don't move, honey,' but Madeline squirmed into a sitting position and kicked at the door of the cage, keeping slitted, hateful eyes on Catey as the woman hurried back to the safety of her car and drove away.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:09 pm
Secret (Archie, Dixie, Madeline, Francine)
July 16, 2007 "You can't leave her in there forever," Dixie said, holding up a quart of chocolate ice cream in one hand, strawberry in the other. Francine jabbed her finger at the strawberry, and Archie just managed to catch her as she went bouncing off the edge of the kitchen island. Dixie scooped some pink glop into a bowl and put the container back into the freezer.
"I can't? From what I've seen, we have been the ones leaving her in there. You can take her out whenever you'd like, but I'm not going to help." Archie grabbed the bowl from Dixie's hands and propped the squirming toddler back on the table.
"Madi! Ice kweem!" Francine screeched.
Down the hall, there was a hollow thunk as Madeline kicked at the door of her bathroom prison.
Dixie glared at Archie, but he ignored her. He scooped a bit of the ice cream onto a spoon and airplaned it toward Francine's mouth.
"Don't buy that stuff anymore," she reprimanded. "I doubt she'll care that she once had ice cream when she's starving to death."
Dixie strolled down the hall, pulled the makeshift lock... thing off of the knob, and opened the bathroom door. Madeline was sitting in the tub, her arms curled over the side, eyes trained on the door. Dixie was inside and had it shut again before the girl could react. Madeline sighed and sat back against the cool porcelain.
"Stupid reflexes," she muttered.
"It'll pass."
"What do you know about it?"
Dixie smiled a rare smile, mouthing the word 'ah' as she sank to the floor beside the child. "If you had been quiet and agreeable when you'd arrived instead of spending your first week here screaming and the past couple of days kicking a door, you might have learned why you were brought here at all."
There was a knock followed closely by Archie's voice. "What are you guys talking about in there?"
"You're one of us," Dixie whispered to Madeline as she rose to her feet. "I'm sure I'll tell you more some other time." She yanked open the door and Archie nearly fell into the room. "Are you going to behave?" Dixie asked the child.
Madeline's smile was sickly sweet as she strolled past Archie into the kitchen, to share some ice cream with her sister.
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Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:22 pm
Seeecreeettt! (Dixie, Madeline)
August 7, 2007 "What?"
"You promised."
Dixie and Madeline were home by themselves, Archie having taken the more well-behaved children out to the mall. The entire family had spent last night at Raven's, and in exchange for good behavior, Madeline had supposedly earned the story of Dixie's past. The trouble was, the woman now seemed reluctant to cough it up.
"Promised what?"
Madeline crossed her arms over her chest.
"Fine. Come on, let's to your room." Currently, they were standing in the kitchen, which was not at all conducive to storytelling. Dixie offered Madeline a hand, which the girl immediately shrugged off.
Once in the room the twins shared with Aleksandr, Dixie sat down on the floor, inviting Madi to sit near her. The toddler chose a spot on her bed, her legs hanging over the edge of the mattress.
"So," Dixie began. "You probably already know I used to be a guy. Archie likes to sneak it into conversation when he thinks I'm not paying attention and, hell, I might have even mentioned it at some point. After I was arrested..." At this, Madeline waved her hand wildly, like a nerd trying to give the first answer in class, "which I'll tell you about in a minute... I was put in a little ship and sent here, where I was suddenly, and disgustingly, turned into a woman. A baby girl, actually. But this all sounds familiar to you, doesn't it?"
Madeline played with the edge of her comforter. "This isn't my story," she said, the warning clear in her voice.
"Right. Anyway. My crime. I used to live on a planet called Osepha. It's similar to Gaia, except our nights take up most of the day instead of roughly half. Because of this, we have pretty good night vision. Some of us are also born with glowing eyeballs so we can see even more."
"Osephans pretty much know what they'll be doing for the rest of their lives at birth. If your family's full of lawyers, you'll be a lawyer. If they're farmers, you'll be a farmer too. The only way out really is to..." Dixie bent her fingers in the shape of a gun and mimed blowing her own head off. Madeline grinned. "Needless to say, we've got a lot of suicides," Dixie continued. "Not everybody's going to be happy being told what to do with their lives."
"I was an orphan. My father died in the war, my mother in childbirth a few months later. Orphans are another story altogether. We got jobs too, but they had nothing to do with what our parents had done. We got all the extra work that no other families would claim the last time any jobs were up for grabs. See, when the last child in a family line died with no heirs, other families got to trade their professions in if they were quick enough, even if they had no experience with the job they wanted. I'll never forget how hard it was to get around when the Murphys got their hands on the trains... Anyway."
"Were you a garbageman?" Madeline asked suddenly.
Dixie chuckled, a short, unpracticed sound. "No. We had a perfectly happy sanitation family. It's lucrative. Those aren't the kinds of jobs I'm talking about." Dixie looked down, refusing to meet Madeline's eyes. "I was - don't laugh - a rodeo clown."
Madeline laughed. She laughed so hard that she needed a glass of water and several pats on the back to stop her hiccups. It was a while before Dixie could continue.
"Entertainment was a big deal on Osepha," she said, pushing a dust mote around the floor with her fingers. "A lot of us got jobs in the movies and stuff. Plenty of families wanted to be actors, but the Key Grip Smiths or Best Boy Bakerfields just didn't sound the same. I was big, muscular, and fast for my size, so I got to play with the bulls."
Dixie's words quickened, as if the conversation suddenly bothered her. "We had two big bull-riding families at the time, the Zeidmans and the Costellos. The Costellos were great, the Zeidmans were not. A lot of them died. On top of chasing the bulls away from fallen riders, I had to clean up the bodies. I didn't make a lot; food was scarce, money was tight, and like I said, I was a big guy. The Zeidmans might not have known how to ride, but they tasted like tenderloin."
"You ate them?"
Dixie nodded. "I'd do it again too. Life back home was empty. Here, I have Archie. Alek too. And that purple kid we met yesterday. I have a sister. I'll never be used to this body, but I don't ever want to go home."
Madeline was quiet for a while, silently contemplating all she had just heard. Finally she looked up at the other alien and asked, "What'd Archie do? You said me and Fran belonged here, so that means he did something too." The girl's face betrayed her excitement. This was what she had been waiting to ask from the beginning.
"He burned down the place where he lived." Dixie cleared her throat. "He wasn't human, but he was around them a lot and was close to one. Danon. Archie doesn't talk about him."
"Oh." Madeline's voice was little more than just an exhalation of air. Her eyes momentarily flashed with manic glee, but it was gone so quickly that Dixie wasn't sure she had seen it in the first place. The toddler swallowed, and everything seemed back to normal. "Cool."
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Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:12 pm
I Know Something You Don't Know (Archie, Alek, Madeline)
September 6, 2007 Archie had been able to sleep peacefully through the quieter, calmer music emanating from the kids' room, as evidenced by the fact that he... hadn't woken up. The melody was gaining volume and intensity, however, and Archie's sleeping mind was wandering, darting in and out of strange, frantic visions as it raced to follow the piping piccolo.
The night was warm, made warmer still by the giant bonfire burning on the ground in front of him. Had Dixie left the heat on? He wouldn't have reacted to the flames - he was past all that, he was sure of it, almost back to being a good person again - but... the colors. He couldn't not look. Red, white, brown, orange. A gold brighter than the sun. Archie stared, unblinking, as his skin dampened with sweat, and fat salty droplets slid down his temples. Why had Dixie turned the heat on at all? It was still summer! Wild, careless figures danced around him, the darkness making it impossible for him to see who exactly they were. Out of the corner of his eye, their legs were hairy and tapered to hooves, but when he turned to look straight at them, they were just normal people, and their frenzied dancing brought a smile to Archie's face. Such joy. He hadn't felt unwavering happiness like that in a very long time.
A woman stepped into the flames, and as she did, the tips of her long hair caught and she shuddered in response, as if her hair was a living thing she could feel. Once she had crossed the fire and was clear of it she kept burning, her naked feet leaving a smoldering trail in the grass as she approached. Hungry fingers of flame traced her body and lit the black cavern of her mouth as she bent forward and pressed her lips to his...
It was a very flustered and still groggy Archie that found himself hovering in the doorway of the childrens' room a minute later, watching Alek's bent golden head as he played for Madeline. The girl who was not a girl just sat and watched, almost as if she saw something the rest of them didn't. It was probably not very far from the truth.
"Alek, stop," Archie said, the crude command all he could come up with at the moment. Both kids turned to the door, Alek's expression slightly miffed and Madeline's simply interested. Francine continued to sleep through everything. "What was that?" Archie asked, the heightened color in his cheeks beginning to fade.
"I don't know," Alek said, eyes wide. It seemed fairly obvious that the boy was fully aware of where he was, but he somehow seemed to be somewhere else all the same.
"We were talking about how me and you and Franny and Dixie had other lives and Alek started playing that," Madeline said softly, her expresson neutral.
Archie knew Alek had led another life, quite possibly full of hooves and horns and dancing, from what he had read on the subject. Maybe it was better to keep that to himself for now. "You guys should go back to sleep." Archie crossed the room to Alek's bed and gently pulled the piccolo from his grandson's lax fingers. The little boy was asleep before Archie had pulled the sheet around him.
"Is it true you lived somewhere else before this?" Madeline asked softly.
Archie yawned, and in doing so, he missed the smirk that flitted across the girl's face. "Yeah, it sucked. Go to sleep." He turned to leave the room, and was almost out the door when Madeline spoke.
"Danon. That's who you lived with, right?" Madeline rolled over on her side, her eyes fixed on Archie's back. His fingers were clasped around the doorframe, knuckles nearly devoid of color. "What kind of name is that, seriously?"
"Sleep. Now," Archie managed before he completely fled the room. He stood in the hallway for nearly half an hour, shaking. Dixie had better be able to explain herself.
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Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:14 pm
Tell Me Whatchu Want, Whatchu Really, Really Want (Archie, Dixie, Alek, Madeline, Francine)
September 8, 2007 "Have you ever gotten shitfaced?" Madeline asked, sliding one of her black checkers over onto an adjacent square with her pinky. Alek stared at the board, not actually seeing the game in front of him at all. "Alek!"
"What?"
"Shitfaced. You. Have you ever?"
"What... I dunno what you mean, Madi. And that's a bad word."
"Shitfaced!" Francine chirped. She took aim and launched a large yellow Lego block at her sister's head, that Madeline deflected with a bored wave of her hand.
"Shut up, Franny." Madeline leaned over the checkboard and whispered. "I bought a case of vodka on the internet with Dixie's credit card. Tonight, I'll teach you the meaning of the word shitfaced."
***
Archie stared out the window at the pair as they huddled together in the yard.
"It's nice that they're getting along," Dixie said. She was boiling ramen, and the smell was making Archie's stomach do flip-flops. He had never been able to smell ramen before. Archie wondered if he had gained a new superpower, or was just really, really hungry.
"I think she's a bad influence," Archie said softly. It was obvious Dixie was fond of the redheaded menace, but Archie couldn't keep quiet any longer. "What did you tell her about me?"
Dixie turned around, a small frown on her lips. "I think I said you burned something."
"Did you mention Danon?"
"I might have. What, did she ask you about him? She's probably just curious."
"I doubt it. She's not a real kid, Dixie. Did you ask innocent questions when you were her age?" He narrowed his eyes at the back of Madeline's head. "Are you sure that's all you said?"
Dixie nodded. "Puppet Planet. Wasn't happy. Danon. That's it."
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Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:16 pm
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Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:18 pm
Whittlin' Man (Archie, Gabriel, Ephesians, Autumnus)
September 9, 2007
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:15 pm
Welcome Home (Archie, Raven and assorted others)
September 30, 2007 Knock, knock, knock.
Archie stood outside of Raven's house, his hands clasped behind his back around a little stuffed dog. She had asked him to come over to meet her newest child, Bella's newest sister, and seeing how he couldn't refuse Raven anything - except, apparently, a proper declaration of love - Archie had come. Dixie had offered to watch the kids, only after Archie had promised to try to get a job again. He couldn't wait.
Raven smiled and smoothed out her skirt, leading Madeline by the hand down to the front door. She opened the door and her smile widened "Archie. I'm glad you came, this is Madeline."
Madeline stood slightly behind Raven fidgeting slightly, her spider legs folded close to her body, her guardian had told her that this man was important to her, and Madeline was worried that if he didn't like her she would be left alone again.
"Hey," Archie said, returning Raven's smile and adding a little wave. It had been... two months since the last time he had been here, and as he often did, he wondered why he had stayed away so long. His eyes dropped to the little girl half-hidden by Raven's skirt. "Hi to you too." He said it softly. She certainly looked nervous. He pulled the dog toy out from behind his back with the hand that had stayed there while he had waved and offered it to Madeline. "It's nice to meet you."
Madeline looked at his hand curiously. "For me?" She was confused, why was he giving her a gift? It wasn't a special occasion was it? Was she supposed to have something for him?
Raven smiled. "Yes Madeline sweetie it's for you, he brought it as a gift to welcome you into the family."
Madeline took the stuffed puppy from the man's fingers. "Thank you." She ran her fingers over the plush fur of the toy. "'s soft."
Raven smiled and kissed Archie on the cheek. "That was sweet of you Chie."
He nodded. "That's why I picked it," he said, still grinning slightly. He wrapped an arm around Raven's waist and gave her a quick sideways squeeze before loosening his grip. "And you're welcome." It was nice to see a child act like a child for once, instead of something that just looked like a child, but stared at you like it knew something about you that you didn't. Archie supposed that phase was coming, since all children on Gaia seemed to go through it, but for now Madeline seemed like she was just scared of him. Hopefully she wouldn't be for long.
"So, what were you guys doing before I got here... late? I'm sorry about that," he added, flattening the hem of his shirt.
Madeline didn't respond this time, simply looking down and rubbing at the soft fluff on the stuffed toy. It was very pretty, it was nice of the man to bring her a present.
Raven leaned onto Archie. "We were just about to eat dinner, you have amazing timing luv."Quote: ... and then they had dinner. The end.
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:17 pm
It's Moving Time (Archie, Gabriel, Dishellai, Paulette, Ephesians, Autumnus)
October 4, 2007
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:20 pm
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:23 pm
Old... friends (Archie, Alek, Dixie, Madeline, Francine)
October 16, 2007 Back when he had been younger, Archie had liked nothing more than to find a wide swath of clean carpet and spin, spin, spin until he fell on the floor laughing, his inner ear addled beyond repair for three mirth-packed minutes. The biggest problem with twirling until you couldn't stand was that it took so much effort to keep doing it. It was therefore convenient that Archie had managed to find and confiscate Madeline's incredibly illegal internet alcohol purchase mere weeks before. Spinning until he was giddy had never been easier or more stationary.
"Gran'chie, gimmie." Alek was perched in Archie's lap, holding out his hand for the little irregular piece his grandfather was holding. The puzzle they were trying to assemble was nearly the last thing in the house except for some spaghetti and eleven twelfths of a case of vodka, but that was only because no one would buy the musty old waste of cardboard. It wasn't like it particularly mattered now anyway. Now they could buy anything they wanted.
"We're richhhh," Archie said, elongating the last word until it was nothing more than a sibilant rush of air. His face was numb, and he blew a mouthful of air out from between his lips to feel them tingle.
"I know. You said like a million times." Alek took the puzzle piece from Archie's fingers and leaned forward to pop it into place.
The kid was really throwing a wet blanket on the fun. "What'srong with you?"
"You smell. Like a cow." The declaration was followed by more seemingly indifferent puzzle assembly, but Alek's lips were curved in an amused smirk.
"Do I?" Unsteady fingers went where they were told, tickling Alek's stomach and feet until the toddler howled with laughter. Tickler and ticklee were out of breath and lying on their backs in the empty living room when the front door swung open, revealing two Not Amused female faces. Francine, by contrast Very Amused, grinned widely and ran forward, leaning over Archie's prone form, her face right above his only upside down.
"Why you on foor!" she giggled.
Spin spin spin.
"'Cause I can't get up." Archie giggled too.
"Why not?" Dixie's tone was merely curious, but when Archie lazily gestured toward the somewhat less-than-full bottle at his feet, she rolled her eyes, slammed the front door behind her, and kneeled on the floor next to Francine. "Get up, you jackass." Without waiting for a response, she stepped over her father's body, grabbed his arms, and yanked him into a sitting position. "You're supposed to be watching my kid," she said as she continued pulling. She forced Archie to stand, but he only stayed upright for a moment, falling forward into her arms soon after.
"I'm fine, ma." Alek sat up and continued to watch his so-called parents.
"We won," Archie said into Dixie's tousled hair. He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed himself vertical, using her as a makeshift humanoid cane.
"Won what?"
"The lottery. See?" He pointed over Dixie's shoulder but she didn't look.
"We could have sold that bottle you just wasted."
"Phhhhhhht. You never listen. I am celebra... aatever." He pointed again, and this time Dixie turned. Madeline stood across the room, a crumpled lotto ticket in one hand and an official-looking document in the other. Four pairs of eyes followed the toddler as she came closer.
"Twenty-four million," Madeline said. "Looks like my little Jack finally did something right." The last was not much more than a whisper, but Archie heard it just fine.
"What?" The man's eyes spread wide as saucers, and he suddenly went a few shades greener than was natural. The fingers on his left hand dug into Dixie's right shoulder as he stared at Madeline and she stared back.
"Who?" Dixie looked between the two. "What's going on here?"
"Danon." Archie stepped back, his arms spreading behind him for balance. "She's... I don't feel..." His hand flew to his mouth and he stumbled to the bathroom, Dixie close behind.
Alek stomped over to Madeline, and the girl held her hands in front of her face in an attempt to ward off a potential slapfight. "Don't..." she said.
The satyr said nothing, he just reached out and took the ticket and certificate from Madeline's outstretched hands before jogging after his mother.
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:25 pm
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