Welcome to Gaia! ::

Delicious cake adventures begin
link:http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=18675881
summary: Piper ends up at Balcomes, insists on using Kay's full name and pics up an oddly appealing booklet.

Getting up on the wrong side of the bed.

Piper had been sound asleep, enjoying a particularly amusing dream when a sharp pain lanced through her body and the hiccup was forcefully awakened. In addition to the dull throbbing in one of her snake headed tails she could hear the trio of them hissing and the .. the wailing of a child? In pain irritated and confused the Chimera craned her head over her shoulder to see just what was going on. What her orange eyes saw was at first puzzling and then distressing.

Huddled against one wall of her tent was a crying humanoid boy. His wispy rainbow coloured hair, and blue and orange eyes seemed to indicate he was not the average homo sapien however. Pieper was less concerned by his looks than the fact that he was in her tent and bearing the tell tale pinprick marks of snakebites on his arms. The fact that her three tails were all risen up and hissing in his direction seemed to conform he was the source of the early pain and agitation. “ What did you do?” The Hiccup asked the toddler in a stern voice as she sat up, her tails were sentient in a way but could not speak and tell her what she wanted to know.

The giant goat head that consumed much of her right arm and replaced her hand eyed the boy warily as the golden skinned child sniffled and shifted a bit before pointing to the tail with the darkest pattern. “Hungry,” the tot whimpered and looked up pitifully at Piper “Bited me back.”

The kid had tried to eat one of her tails in hunger and was surprised he’d gotten bitten back. Surely even a three or four year old should know better than that , someone should have taught him better. Except , “ Where did you come from?” He wasn’t part of the army that she knew of and he had slipped into her tent unnoticed which was practically impossible.

All Piper got in response was shrugs , whimpers and more sad eyes. It was only when the boy moved away from his spot against the wall she found the booklet he’d been sitting on. The words on it were faded and it was completely devoid of colour. In that moment Piper figured out just where the strange little kid had come from and what he was.. sort of. The only thing the Hiccup knew for sure was that he was now her responsibility.

“Food isn’t free you know,” Piper informed her charge as she watched Graham devouring a slice of pizza. Graham crackers had been the boy’s first meal and he’d taken to them incredibly well and thus they became his name. Since then it seemed though that he was eating all the damned time and that was distressing for Piper. Sure toddlers, even magical ones from booklets, were growing and needed lots of food but how much was the right amount? Piper didn’t really remember her toddler years much and eating for her had always been easy as she could graze or eat rodents as well as regular food.


On top of that the children’s army encampment that Piper currently lived in had limited supplies and while they always took on new comers Graham was both unexpected and limited her own effectiveness and ability to bring in money and supplies since she had to watch him. At least until Graham’s trial learning period was over she was both parent and sponsor to him and that meant spending most of the day when he was not in ‘class’ watching over him and teaching him practical things like how the army ran and how to take care of himself. She didn’t expect someone so young to be independent but at the same time he would have to be much less clingy and more willing to trust the others they lived with than the average toddler.

Graham paused in his chewing for a moment and stared with blue and orange eyes solemnly at Piper. The toddler swallowed then and uttered sort of huffy sigh “I’m hungry.”

The darker of Piper’s snake tails, the one that had once been bitten due to the child’s hunger hissed warningly. The chimera herself just shook her head. “I know but food still isn’t limitless,” the dark haired woman looked thoughtful for a moment “Perhaps it’s time you start a new type of lesson” she mused. Graham was too small and uncoordinated to pickpocket or actually work but there were things kids his age could do, scams they could help certain teams run. Maybe it was time he started earning his keep. Only for a few hours a day of course but enough that it might offset the amount of resources he was consuming.

Graham pouted at that and whined softly, “Noooo, hate lessons”

Piper snorted and reached out her normal hand to ruffle her child's hair in something akin to affection. " They'll be fun lessons, I promise" she assured him. Fun and yet also vital.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=19654119
pd with kay

Growth prompt response.

“I lost my mom,” Graham sobbed softly in response to the old woman who was looking kindly down upon him. She had a nice smile and smelled pretty but that wasn’t why the young boy was trusting her. No the curio could see the golden rings on her fingers with gemstones embedded in them and the leather bag on her shoulder with gold initials stitched on it that meant it cost a lot. She was just the sort of person he was supposed to steal from.

His objective; lure rich people close, make them care about him and then take their stuff and run until His mom or one of the others picked him up and whisked him away.


His tools; charm and the fact that most grownups loves little kids and didn’t expect them to steal. Graham had found he could be slipping bracelets or watches over his wrists and no one would bat an eye because he was too small to be a thief or anything.

The challenges the boy faced were fairly small. Graham just needed not to be noticed when he started to slip away and he had to run fast enough on his chubby little legs to make it to safety before the person he’d stolen from caught up to him.

Lauren, the old lady didn’t seem like she could run very fast and the frizzy rainbow haired boy felt safe enough trying to take things from her. Graham would feel bad but morals were a grey area for the toddler. Right now he knew only that this lady had a lot of money and he had none and needed to take her things so his mom could buy food. Surely a rich person could afford to buy new things.

The child’s blue and orange eyes stared up through his glasses at Lauren. There was nothing but faked fear and innocence in them as he slipped his hand into hers and allowed her to lead him away. As they walked she asked Graham questions and he lied with each answer, about his name, his mother’s name and what she looked like. Lying was bad he knew but Lauren was an outsider and so he’d been taught it was less bad to lie to them.

“She was supposed to wait for me to come out of the bathrooms at the park” he explained. “but when I came out she was gone.” This wasn’t a complete lie, he had been dropped off at the park so that if he’d been dragged back there and people were asked they would recognize him. He hadn’t been there with his mother though and he definitely hadn’t really lost her.

“Don’t worry Toby we’ll get you back to your mom, she’s probably very worried.” There was something weird in Lauren’s voice. Something he heard in the voices of a lot of the people who tried to help him. Graham didn’t know what it was but it made his stomach knot up sometimes. Some part of him was trying to tell him something but the toddler was still too young to understand just what the message was.

A few blocks away from the local police station, a place Graham had been warned never to go into or else he was staying there forever, the tan skinned boy commented on how pretty Lauren’s rings were. Just like he’d expected she’d slipped one off and handed it to him, telling him to be careful with it. It felt heavy in his small hand but fit snugly on a thumb. The band was golden with little clear chips of diamond sprinkled all over it. It would probably be worth at least a week’s worth of food. As Graham thought about cakes and pasta and pizza he listened only halfheartedly to Lauren tell him about how her first husband had given her that as an engagement ring and she still wore it today because it reminded her of when he was a good person or something.

Graham didn’t particularly understand marriage beyond husbands being men and wives being woman. Love was pretty much a mystery too and sentiments related to them went right over his head. “ Oh” was all he could say but the boy tried to make it sound like he was interested.

As the passed by a small alley between two buildings a scaly hand reached out , grabbed Graham by his free hand and yanked him to the left. He stumbled, felt Lauren let go of him as she started to fall and her frightened scream was the last thing he heard before the world went dark. It was only for a moment and then everything was bright again and he was standing next to Sonya back at camp. The lizard like older girl grinned at him as she lifted his other hand and examined the ring on his thumb. “ Not bad Graham , though you cut it a bit close today.”

Graham nodded and slipped the ring off his thumb before he handed it to Sonya. “Can I go play now?” His friends were supposed to be having a water balloon fight once everyone got back from their jobs. Though Lauren’s scream still echoed in the back of his mind it was overridden by his innate desire to go and have fun like all children.
The lizard girl laughed and nodded “Sure I’ll take this to Jazz for evaluation, go have fun.”

Permission granted Graham grinned, hugged his sort of friend and work partner and toddled off towards the section of camp designated the play area.

( The prompt is stand alone but Lauren will be a recurring figure in Graham's life for a while)