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 Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 8:45 pm
Pretty little golden eyes. Pretty little eyes.
He'd been blackmailed into taking this girl home, plain and simple. Well. Someone. Didn't have to be her, but as soon as he'd seen her...
Well. Slippery bastards, those... what did they call themselves. D-Corp? D for "dragon", he supposed. The tall, dark-skinned man shifted just barely even as he glanced down at his side, at the little girl who stood as if the cold had numbed her into silence. He had no car, so they had to walk to his excuse of an apartment down the block. It was cold out, but she'd had a coat, and the broad-shouldered, newly appointed guardian was keeping a careful eye on the girl as she toddled at his side. Don't touch her, they'd said. She didn't like to be touched. One of the side-effects to her condition, her autism.
Exhaling a gusty sigh, Darren made sure she didn't stumble over her own feet, though she hadn't lifted her eyes from them once since she'd been so haphazardly thrust into his care. It didn't seem right, somehow, trusting such a valuable child into his arms without hesitation.
Then again, they knew he wouldn't dare harm her or get rid of her unless he wanted his entire life exposed. Though considered a monster, he certainly retained control over himself, both in and out of transformation. Still, the last thing he needed was a mob of angry people attempting to figure out how to forge bullets out of silver so they could try and hunt him down. They couldn't, of course, but it would be way more hassle than he wanted to deal with.
Was that why they'd brought him this little wolf-pup of a girl? Dark eyes cast themselves down at her yet again, tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth in instinctive warning when she stumbled clumsily, his hand reaching out to grab her shoulder without thinking.
She squalled so loud that his ears were ringing by the time he let go. Tiana dropped to her knees with a wail, tiny limbs thrashing and her head snapping back in forth as though in outraged denial of what he'd just done. The man found himself just staring for a moment, warily glancing at the people on the streets who were beginning to notice something was going on.
Not knowing what else to do, he defiantly reached out to pluck the girl up, ignoring the way she squirmed against his chest and howled even louder. They couldn't stay here, not with her on the cold street, and he grit his teeth against the sound until he finally trudged up the grimy steps and shouldered open the door to the building. Then he slipped up the steps, fumbled in his jeans' pocket for the key, and hurled himself inside. Tiana, after a moment, was set on the couch, where she continued to throw her fit. Autism, he kept having to tell himself, slightly shaken by the sight despite all the things he'd seen and done already in his relatively young life.
They'd called him out to the back alley, those people, threatened to reveal who he was to people in high places so he could be... well, taken care of. When he'd found out they'd wanted him to watch over some special kid in order for him to hold his silence, he'd met the demand with both anger and disbelief. Coming to that alley, seeing the half-wolf, half-girl they wanted him to watch over... Darren had found he really didn't have it in him to resent her, blackmail or not.
"Hey." He said gruffly, scraping a calloused palm over his stubble-flecked chin even as he eased himself into a chair. "Hey, you're okay. It's okay..." The growled timber of his voice softened some, but it fell on deaf ears; the girl was still screaming. They sat there for thirty minutes, his gaze hollow and agitated, her eyes screwed shut.
Then she'd stopped. Hiccuping, sobbing, trembling, but she'd stopped. Not even daring to breathe too loudly, he leaned forward in his chair a little, watching. They sat in silence for some time more before he realized she'd slipped off to sleep, having exhausted herself. It'd been a big day for her, lots of changes. He'd been warned about her condition... but now, glumly, he was realizing just how big of a task it was really going to be.
Tomorrow. He'd worry about it tomorrow. Right now, he needed to find a blanket for her or something... and figure out where the hell he could get some clothes for her so she didn't have to live in the ones she currently had on.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:05 pm
Log Type Thing,
Whatever. Noting progress, as "recommended" by those lovely bastards who got me into this whole mess. Dunno if they'll ever really keep track if I keep up with it or not, but that's one risk I don't wanna take. Mess or not, I can't help but sort of like the little runt. She... reminds me of myself, basically. Shy, awkward, uncertain. 'Course, she has way more normal problems than mine, when I was her age.
I thought that, anyway. Then I had to try to give her a bath, and s**t just hit the fan. Hell, I dunno if it was the water, the temperature... I don't know, but she screamed for a solid two hours. Two. Hours. Thought she was gonna burst an artery or something. Whatever. She's clean now, and I'm not bathing her again for a week if I can help it.
That's not child abuse, is it?
Anyway. Ran over to that place where I guess I'm supposed to take her for class and stuff. D-Corp. Dragons. She's supposed to get a dragon one day, I know that much... but I have to wonder; will her mental issues allow it? Will she grow out of them when she gets older? I'll be the first to admit that I know s**t-nothing about autism. Guess I'm just gonna have to try and work with her. If I can figure out how to work with her.
Got some money and stuff, to get clothing and other child-friendly supplies from her. Borrowed some from the people there, picked up a few extra jobs doing less then legal things... Hey, gotta make a living somehow, don't start with me. Anyway, the kid's doing good. Made progress: she lets me hold her hand now without flinching. Well. Fingers. But it's a start!
What else. Eh. Food. She's not too much of a picky eater, but she really, really doesn't like squishy foods. Like... uh, Lucky Charms, those marshmallows. Can't stand 'em.
I think that's about it, for now. Oh. When I dragged Tiana to meet her Kindergarten teacher, Miss Kat, I think it was, she gave us some worksheets to do. ABC's, numbers, all that junk. Will be trying that out soon, see how she does. Hopefully she doesn't have a thing against markers and crayons, or we'll never get anywhere...
~Darren
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:19 pm
When he'd presented the markers and the paper to the little girl seated at the kitchen table (perched precariously on a phone book or two), he didn't exactly know what to expect. He'd had to run out and buy some markers, then scrounge about the apartment to find the sheets the teacher had given him... And now, here they were. The girl was staring mutely at the table, at the sheets, but hadn't moved to touch the markers he'd carefully laid out for her.
"Look." Darren said finally, reaching out to grab the red one so he could pop off the cap and trail the tip against the corner of the paper. "See? We're learning the ABC's today."
The wolf girl was mute, and did nothing. Her eyes flickered to watch the marker for a moment, but there was no response.
Not knowing what else to do, he decided to start just singing the song itself. A B C D E F G...
For twenty minutes, he wearily repeated the sing-song letters, using the marker to dot each one on the sheet as they went by. Tiana only watched intently, though he could see her lips moving very slightly as though muttering her own version of the song.
One of the blue markers was snatched, and she was soon scribbling on the paper with a ferocity he'd never seen. It was unceremoniously dropped, and the next was grabbed up, and soon she'd colored A through C.
"Aey... Beee... Ceeeee." The girl repeated slowly and with some difficulty, still not looking at Darren. It was just as well; he was starting to beam like a moron.
"A, B, C, that's right! That's good! And after A, B, C..."
"Dee... Eff... Gee." The girl seemed wholly transfixed. Not so much on the letters, he noticed--she didn't even seem even remotely concerned about even trying to stay in the lines. The little letter for almost all the letters was swallowed up by color. That was what she seemed to be excited about.
He'd admit to watching with fascination as she scribbled here and there, and though she made sure to cover most of the black lines with color, and by the time she was done, he could gently prompt her to say the song again. She would, even if the syllables were a little rough, and they'd sing it several more times before he felt satisfied. That was good--that was promising, and next were the numbers.
From the get-go, he knew numbers were going to be more tricky. Hell, he had to repeat himself over and over, counting through them before she'd even touch the markers. "One," He started, holding up one finger and waggling it. "Two," The second finger popped up, so on and so forth.
She was noticeably more diligent this time, as far as staying in the lines went. Then she got to number five, and stopped dead. "Flower." The girl muttered under her breath, and to his surprise, used a different color on each little flower cluster so they could all be different. "Five... flower."
"You like flowers, huh?" Darren mused outloud, watching as she colored the rest of the numbers. He wasn't sure if she actually understood the stuff, or was just repeating what he was saying, so he made a note to bring her back to them and point them out again sometime later.
Still. Flowers... Well, maybe he'd take her to the grocery store or something someday soon, see if she liked that little section in the front where they offered the bouquets and stuff. "Good job, little lady. ABC's and numbers. Not too bad, right?" He hoped so, anyway.
Tiana just rolled the markers mindlessly around on the table, not even bothering to glance at him despite how her ears twitched.
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