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 Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:00 am
::Home-Sweet-Vacant Lot::
White Oak Street was one of those streets named after a tree that had probably actually been there until the sprawl of Aekea had swallowed up the area. The 2300-block had an open lot with a tree in it that had grown to reasonable size, as the lot had been empty for quite some time, but the tree that grew there was a weeping willow. There were a few little scraggly things that had been put in to decorate the gas station next door, but they had been recent additions, and looked neither large nor lively enough to be considered trees.
The weeds that grew in the vacant lot were definitely dwarfed by the tree that loomed over them, though, and also by a large white sign that stood closer to the street. The sign read, "FOR LEASE" and had a phone number underneath it; somewhere, someone owned it, but apparently had no immediate use for it, and similarly did not much care what the place looked like.
On the side opposite the gas station was the end of a parking lot that belonged to a bunch of flats. A high wooden fence separated it from the vacant lot, but by the beer bottles and other assorted bits of garbage that had accumulated towards that end of the open space, it did nothing to keep out undesirables. A pair of thoroughly beaten-up sneakers, laces tied together, dangled from a nearby powerline, subtly marking the area as territory of some gang or another.
When Tlanextli found the place not long after coming to Gaia, he deemed it perfect - empty, and just needing a little work to get the soil ready to grow real plants. The tree provided nice shade over about half of the lot, and he figured he could gather materials slowly to build himself a home beneath it. And once he could fence off the other three sides of it, it would be his property to control for sure.
The man who owned the vacant lot, however - one Mister Marshall - did not take well to the Aztec warrior moving onto his property and not paying for it. Though he obviously did not care enough about how the lot looked, his route to work took him by it every morning. For some days, he did not pay whomever was weeding the place much mind, as it saved him the work. However, about two weeks after the unwanted tenant had moved in, a shack started to go up towards the back of the place, away from the street, and it was the corrugated tin roof that caught Mister Marshall's eye.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:49 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:53 pm
: biggrin iscovery:: Shiori Tonbo Viza's head had been bothering her all day-- a sure sign that another criminal had landed. She and Archie had worked out a way for her to direct her abilities towards finding them, knowing when they'd gotten there Unfortunately, she'd been in the middle of a rather important discussion when the child had landed, and it had taken her nearly half the day to get out of it and head out to this ramshackle hut, where somebody was obviously living, though why here she couldn't imagine. "Is anybody here?" she asked, not knocking for fear she'd send the whole place crashing to the ground. Perhaps it was him this time? Ioor...he must end up here at some point! Then they could be together again, he could once again guide her path. Asahi Kumoru "Tiaquin?" called a deep male voice from inside. A moment later the shack's door opened, and a huge black-haired man wrapped up in a heavy woven blanket ducked slightly to peer through the doorway at the visitor.
He started to say something else in his native language, then yawned, covering his mouth with a hand for a moment, before trying again in common: "Who are you?"
Tlanextli had been somewhere between dozing and napping, as he had not really been able to sleep the night before. The strange boy who had crashed into his yard was not exactly noisy, fortunately; the warrior had instead been awake wringing his brains for ideas for just what to do with the child. Still, he was no less in the mood for visitors than he usually was, and attempted to force a smile for the stranger standing outside. Shiori Tonbo Viza was a rather strange sight herself-- what with the starlike marking on her head, her gently glowing skin, and pale colouration. Still, she had a feeling this man would barely even notice. "Have you...seen a child about?" she knew that the criminal was in there, but she wasn't about to go barging in looking for it. If only it were Ioor... Asahi Kumoru Tlanextli's eyes narrowed suspiciously - how could this stranger know about the little boy when he had hardly been here a day? Perhaps it was because she, too, looked unusual, and the stranger-looking inhabitants of Gaia could somehow communicate over long distances? Or perhaps the tiny child had somehow sent out a message from his strange ship; the thing had certainly sent up a cloud of smoke like a signal fire right after it landed.
Still, maybe the woman knew more about the boy, and what to do with him. Maybe she could take him off his hands. Or at the very least tell him what to do with him.
"Child like, white with empty eyes, a tail, and not enough fingers?" he asked finally, hoping the boy was the right one. Shiori Tonbo Viza shook her head, "I do not know what he looks like. Only that he would have come in a ship, and that he is here." She motioned towards the shack, "Can I come in and see him? He has traveled a long way, and it is my job to make sure that he is here safe and sound, and to ask that you continue guardianship of him." Asahi Kumoru The man considered for a moment, then nodded, stepping aside to allow the woman in.
The shack consisted of a single room, with wood planks for a floor and furniture that looked like it had all been taken from curbsides before the trashmen could get to it. There was a makeshift fireplace at one end for the winter, with a small fire going in it, but the house did not seem to have anything electrical.
The boy in question sat on a battered sofa, holding a small console about the size of a portable video game machine; the light of the screen reflected off of his shiny black eyes, indicating that the device was on. He seemed to be reading it, or at least studying it, but he looked up as he caught the glow coming off of the woman who had just entered.
Tlanextli gestured at the child, then glanced back at the woman to see what she would do.
... Wait, did she say-
"You said I must 'continue guardianship'. You mean keep child, right?" (( ** in progress ** ))
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