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 Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2012 11:55 pm
In Which Mandi Gets a Brother Part 1
It was a typical day in the Harris household. Daniel was in the basement tinkering away at whatever his latest creation happened to be humming to himself as he did so. Mandi was upstairs doodling with crayons on a large piece of construction paper. She was drawing her family, Daddy in grey and herself in bright blue. She paused once she finished and frowned very hard at the paper. It seemed awfully empty still. That set Mandi's wheels turning in her head.
Suddenly she was on her feet and hurrying down the stairs to the basement as fast as her three year old legs would carry her without falling.
"Daddy! Daddy! I have an idea!" She ran over to him and hugged his leg. Daniel put down his tools and looked down at Mandi with a smile.
"Oh what idea is that?" He reached down to pet her hair affectionately.
"Daddy our family is too small. I can't even fill up the whole paper. Even if I added the kitty stuffed animal you gave me." Daniel was a bit shocked by that statement, he thought that Mandi was completely content with her life. His brow creased a little as he began to worry that maybe she was going to ask for a mother.
"Oh you think so? I was thinking our family was fine just the two of us." Mandi gave her father a bright smile.
"Well it's FINE but it could be even better! Can one of the kids that come here sometime come live with us?" Daniel was visibly relieved that Mandi wanted a sibling rather then a mother. A sibling he could do.
"No Sweetie. They already have homes. But..." Daniel paused and thought while Mandi looked a bit disappointed. She could tell he was thinking though so she just continued to look up at him earnestly while he finished his thought. He had been thinking eventually he would want another kid or two, but originally he was going to wait until Mandi was a bit older. Perhaps now was as good a time as any. "Maybe we can get a sister or brother for you from the same place you're from. Would you like that?"
Mandi flung herself off of Daniel's leg so she could jump up and down happily.
"Yes yes yes yes yes!" Daniel's head bobbed up and down as he watched her jump high into the air, aided by her balloon abilities.
"So Mandi...." He paused waiting for her to listen. "Mandi my darling daughter." She paused long enough to listen to what he'd be telling her. "Do you think you'd want a sibling your age or older? And do you want a brother or a sister?"
"Ummm...."
"Or do you not care and we can just find a kid that needs a home and give them a nice one?"
"Ummm....that one Daddy! We will make them not lonely, and then will make our family less empty and.... I can play with them and they can play with me and can we go now and bring someone home?"
"No we can't go right now. But I can go call the academy now and talk to them about it. What do you think?"
"Yes." She began dragging him towards the phone while he laughed heartily and affectionately.
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Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2012 11:27 pm
A Talk With "Mister Felis"
It was just after dinner and Mandi had run back into her room to play the last few hours she had before it was time to get into her pjs, brush her teeth and get a story read to her before being tucked into bed. She peered around her room making a loud pleased sounding humming noise while she tried to decide what she wanted to do. It was annoying since she KNEW what she wanted to do. What she wanted was to play with her new big brother. The only trouble was she didn't have one just yet. It was a few days before her and her father were going to go to school to bring him home. She remembered her Daddy had told her his name was Seth and she was looking very much forward to playing with him. But he wasn't here now, so by comparison everything else seemed like boring old news.
"Uggggggh" A groan of boredom was heard as well as a soft thumping noise as the little girl belly flopped onto her bed. Her little legs went swinging up into the air as she brought her head up to stare at the wall with a sigh. She rolled over a few times like a log until she hit her pillows. Wrigging a bit she pulled the stuffed kitty her dad had given her the day he'd come to get her, after he'd given her the balloon that was to be her item of course. She held it up and stared at him.
"Mister Felis you should tell me what to do because I can't think of annnnnything I want to do right now." Then a thing she never could have predicted happened. Mister Felis spoke back."Well you could always talk to me little girl." The voice was masculine though not overly deep. Pleasant to listen to as well. Mandi's eyes just about popped right out of her head and she opened her mouth wide for a loud gasp before breaking out into the biggest grin and sitting bolt upright.
"MISTER FELIS YOU CAN TALK?!" Just about screaming in excitement Mandi moved to stand up onto the bed and start jumping up and down with her favorite stuffed toy."Can we please not jump up and down we're going to get a headache...." The voice sounded a tad exasperated. Mandi decided to obey and landed on the bed on her butt with another thumping noise. She was peering at Mister Felis with all eagerness for him to speak some more."Yes... thank you that's much better. Well... first of all I'm not Mister Felis I'm act-""You ARE. I asked him a question and YOU spoke so you've gotta be him. This is so exciting we are gonna go everywhere and talk all the time and have adventures and it's going to be the best. Also soon I'm going to have a big brother, his name is Seth and he's a lot older then me like 20 or something or wait I guess Daddy said he was a teenager however old that is, and we're going to go on adventures all three of us. And...""Mandi....""We can also play all sorts of games. I know you don't have any fingers but you can TELL me what you want to do and then I can do it for you and I promise I won't cheat and if you win I'll just be really happy for you, or even if Seth wins it'll just be a lot of fun and I can't wait. Also..""Mandi please....." The voice started to get a desperate edge to it.
"Daddy can play with us and then all FOUR of us can play it'll be a big happy family. I'm sure he won't mind that you're a kitty cat stuffed animal at all he's very nice. I bet I could even take you to school with me when I start soon and you can meet lots of other kids and make all these new friends you and me!"'MANDI please I have been waiting a very long time to speak... would it be ok if you just listened for a minute...please?" The voice started out a little harsh but then edged out into sounding just kind of tired.
"Oh... ok I'm sorry Mister Felis. I was being very rude. Daddy told me that I need to not talk too much and let other people have a turn but sometimes it's hard when I get really excited. You can have a big talking turn now ok?" With that she gave the stuffed cat a big kiss on the nose. "Mwah!""...Yes thank you. Now he just sounded amused. "Well as I was saying I am not actually Mister Felis. My name is actually Calix. I am not that stuffed cat right there, I actually live.... well how do I put this simply? I live inside of you Mandi, we share the same body. I've been here some time actually, I just haven't been strong enough to speak. Mandi frowned a little and went over to her mirror. She leaned in as close as she could, peering deeply into her own eyes.
"Well I don't see you in there. Are you sure you're not just a talking stuffed animal? That make more sense to me." The voice chuckled delightedly in her mind and she couldn't help but giggle too. His laugh was a bit infectious it seemed."I suppose that makes sense at your age yes. I promise you I'm in here though. You'll see, you will be able to hear me anywhere at all, even when Mister Felis is very far away. You can talk to me any time you want though, it doesn't have to be out loud either, you can just think things to me and I'll hear them and talk back to you. No one else will hear it. Though.... right now I'm still weak so I might not always answer even if I'm always listening.
"OH WOW are you talking IN MY MIND?!" Mandi pulled back from the mirror making a delighted face, then giggling at her own reflection. "That is amazing. I think if you don't mind I'll talk to you out loud I think... well I don't see why I need to talk to you in my mind I guess. But how did you start living here?" She pointed to her own chest."Well you may want to in case people think it's a bit odd...regardless though I'm not really sure how I got here. My memories...they're very scattered I'm afraid. Maybe as I get stronger I'll remember more and I can tell you how that happened." Calix sounded a bit tired now and gave a sigh.
"Mmm ok." Mandi wasn't one to question things too deeply. "Well even if you don't it doesn't matter because we will make new memories Calix." She smiled a bit at finally saying his name. "Calix, Calix Calix, Calix. That's a funny name, Calix." More giggled escaped her mouth."I beg your pardon, there is nothing wrong with my name. If you want to know it was a name that was thought to be quite beautiful. It means 'very handsome'." Calix was sounding very miffed and huffy now. Mandi got a very distinct image of a disgruntled cat and giggled even more.
"Well it sounds weird to me but ok. Anyway Calix I guess I don't mind sharing a body with you cause that means I always have a friend with me right? We're gonna be friends ok?" She thought that Calix had been pretty lonely just living in her head and not being able to actually talk to anyone. She was going to talk to him all the time now, she had her mind made up."Yes Mandi I think it would be nice to have friends...Even one in the form of a ridiculously hyper 5 year old who thinks my name is weird. I think perhaps.... you shouldn't talk to me all the time in front of other people for now though ok? How about for right now we can talk and it'll be our little secret? Hm?" His voice sounded like a hushed purry whisper in her mind.
"Mmmm..." Mandi made a thinking noise. "Well ok but just for a little while ok? I want to tell everyone about you so you can make more friends even if I have to talk for you.""Ok... perhaps one day we can do that." Calix sounded a little touched and just a bit wistful. "I've gotten very tired now though. I think I will need to rest a bit. I have enjoyed talking with you Mandi...." It sounded like there was a little pause there, maybe containing the word 'mostly'. "How about while I rest, you make something nice for your new brother to give him when you get home. A picture or something out of that brightly colored squishy clay...or maybe even a nice fort the two of you can talk in when he gets here. I'm going now though so.... goodnight Mandi." Calix's voice sounded more and more worn out as he spoke, voice getting progressively softer.
"Ok goodnight Calix. Those are really good ideas... I think I will do all of them, or at least all the ones I have time for before bed and... I guess maybe I can do the rest tomorrow." Mandi smiled happily and kissed the mirror. "Mwah that was a goodnight kiss for you!" Then off she went into the other room to grab her coloring things, a soft contented purr echoing in her mind before it went as silent as it ever had been before.
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Posted: Sun Dec 30, 2012 11:09 pm
In Which Mandi Gets a Brother Part 2 (Seth Prompt Reply)
Two figures approached the academy, one a man who looked to be in his later twenties with dark messy hair, and the other a young girl who looked to be no older then three who was holding the mans hand. The little girl also had dark hair, though hers was drawn up into pigtails which bounced softly up and down as the girl just about skipped along. The man seemed to try to get the girl to slow down but was unsuccessful and ended up just being dragged along into the building.
Seth watched them disappear into the building wondering if they were the family he was supposed to be going to. Pulling back he'd noticed he'd left a light layer of frost where his hand had been on the window and cursed to himself quietly. He needed to calm down, but the idea of joining a new family had him all jumbled up and nervous. Running his fingers through his hair, Seth began to pace around the room a little restlessly as he tried not to get himself all worked up or think about his former family. He failed miserably at that as his thoughts began to turn back to the previous winter.
A nice young couple had adopted him, well to be more specific, his former father had picked him up as something of a present for his wife for Christmas. They'd recently found out they would not be able to have children and it had put a definite damper on their Christmas spirit. They hadn't even realized they wanted kids so bad until they knew they couldn't, Seth remembered his father saying that. Now he'd come to the conclusion they never really had wanted them at all, it was a case of the grass being greener on the other side. He had been given a sparkly plastic snowflake as an item, apparently because his new mother ADORED snow, and then hidden away until Christmas morning where he was instructed to wait under the tree for his new mother.
Seth could remember sitting there brimming with hope, looking forward to the moment he could finally meet his mother to be. He wasn't disappointed, at least at first, she was overjoyed and cooed over him, petted him, and held him close. His life began off in the direction he had hoped, he was the light of his parent's life and the spoiled him terribly, showering him with gifts and praise.
Then they had to send him off to school and things seemed to shift a bit. Seth struggled in school, partially due to the fact he was having trouble making friends, and partially due to the fact he didn't know how to react when suddenly put in a situation where he was tested and measured by so many people. All he'd had before was constant coddling and being told he was amazing. After his grades came back that started to change though. Suddenly his parents seemed less enthused by Seth's existence. They didn't seem to want to fix the problem either, it was just too much trouble. They began to mostly ignore him, sending him off on his own with a little pat on the head. This had confused him at first, upset him deeply even. His grades slipped further and he retreated further away from his classmates who began to turn on him as well. He was different, he was a meta, and hadn't their parents told them something that was on the news how metas were bad and should be kept away from?
The final straw for Seth's parents had been when he suddenly changed over night into a teen. His mother had been horrified. She gasped when she saw him before going off to find his father. Seth had followed her in his new ungainly body hoping for some kind of explanation, instead she slammed the door in his face. He'd pressed his ear to the door wanting to hear what they were saying.
"He's not even CUTE anymore now! I can't stand it. This is getting to be so much work and now he's... he's a teen. Do you know how much work it is to raise teens?" His father wasn't sure how much work it was, but Seth wasn't going to stick around to hear the rest of the discussion. He'd ran back to his room and sobbed his eyes out, crying hot and cold tears of frustration into his pillow. He wondered what he'd even done to make everyone dislike him so much. The only answer he could come up with is that he'd been himself. There was something flawed in him and he was going to have to do his best to cover it up. When they came into his room hours later to explain to him that he was going to be going back to the academy he wasn't shocked and after all his tears all he felt was numb, nothing they could say could hurt him more then he'd already been hurt by these people.
So by the time they'd packed up all his things and drove him to the school he was ready. Ready to get away from his former "loving" parents, for a new start, new people, new self, new everything. He'd already figured out what he wanted this time around. This time he was going to be popular, he was going to be cool, special, just like he'd felt the first time his mother had seen him. He was going to do it by being aloof and apathetic as anything too, in direct contrast to his playful, sparkling, and sometimes child like personality underneath. Nope, no one was going to crack him, and no one was going to get close enough to hurt him again.
So here he paced in this office, awaiting his fate. What kind of family would he be stuck with this time? Just when he thought he couldn't stand the suspense anymore the door swung open. There stood Nova, the angel Elder of the school, as well was the man and little girl he'd see through the window earlier. The silence seemed to stretch on forever to Seth as the teen and the pair stared at each other.
"Seth? This is your new father and sister. Daniel and M-" Nova finally broke the silence gently but was cut off by what seemed like an explosion from the little girl. Flinging her father's hand aside the girl charged forward to Seth.
'Mandi! Mandi! My name is Mandi!" She cried as she threw her arms around Seth's leg. She had been good and quiet long enough and now it was time to greet her new big brother. Seth's eyes widened at this sudden burst of energy.
"Er...." He glance down at her and then back up at the two adults, pleading with his eyes for some kind of lifeline for what he should be doing or saying to this little girl. Daniel smiled softly and a bit sympathetically at Seth.
"She's been excited to meet you all week. I don't think she could contain herself anymore. I've been looking forward to meeting you too Seth." Seth was feeling a little overwhelmed by both Mandi's gusto and Daniel's gentle smiles. He didn't get long to think about it though because Mandi was tugging at his pants leg and looking up at him soulfully, waiting to be acknowledged.
"Um... hey there Mandi. Nice to meet you? Guess we're siblings now..." He tried to stay aloof and kicked himself, he needed to be more collected and smooth.
"We are. We're going to play all the time and have so much fun. We're gonna be the BEST siblings." She seemed to have made her mind up on the subject already. Suddenly she was rubbing her face against his leg and attempting making purring noises. Seth tried not to look panicked at Daniel. What was he supposed to do? The little girl was cute but he had no idea how to interact with this little girl or what she was even doing. She was going to blow his chance at making a cool impression on his new dad. Daniel chuckled a bit.
"Don't worry I don't know what to do with her half the time either Seth. You'll get used to it I'm sure. I did after a while."
"Oh ok. What is she doing though?"
"I suspect she's pretending to be a cat. I'd say she's trying to be affectionate and show you how much she loves you already. As much as a handful she can be, she's the sweetest girl. You'll see." Seth gazed at Daniel as he spoke. He couldn't help but wonder if this guy would still want her even if she wasn't cute anymore. Reaching down he to pet Mandi's hair a bit he narrowed his eyes a little at Daniel. His instinct to protect the affectionate little girl who was melting his heart already against his better judgement overriding his desire to seem distant.
"And what about you?" Seth wanted to know what kind of man Daniel was.
"Oh me?" Daniel chuckled. "I'm just..." he gestured oddly in the air. "Well imagine a scatter brained off beat inventor and I think you've got a good picture. Oh also I love kids, it's not uncommon for the neighbors to drop their kids off for a few hours for me to watch so... be aware of that. Hopefully that doesn't cramp you style too much.... oh I won't be expecting you to watch them at all. But you can if you want!"
"We can play? You'll play right Seth, right? Right?" Mandi broke in, tired of hearing the boring grown up talk about what kind of people they were.
"Hmm yeah sure I think I can find some time to play with you a bit sometime." Seth looked down at her, cracking just a bit of a smile, his eyes sparkling a little with the beginnings of hope. He looked back up and Daniel and Nova. "Ok I think I'm ready." At this Mandi sprung off his leg and took his hand to pull him towards Daniel so she could take his hand with her free one. The three of them left hand in hand with the little girl in the middle. Two of them overjoyed, and the third just beginning to dream that his new life was going to be more then he could have ever hoped for.
Nova shut the door to her office and leaned against it, softly letting her head rest against the wood. She was filled with a sense of satisfaction that this time.... this time they'd gotten it right for Seth.
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:23 pm
Entry 3 (Child)
Diary,
Today my new brodur came home. His name is Seth and he has snow powers. He sat with me in the fort I built for us and he read me some stories. I like him a lot. Tomorrow I'm gonna try to get him to play with me more.
Also I have a friend that lives inside my head. His name is Calix. He told me how to spell it right. He used to live a long time ago, but I can't know much about it until I'm older he says. I like him living in my head and talking to me but I wish he could be outside my head so he could have lots of friends and I could tell more people about him. He says right now he should be a secret.
Secrets aren't fun. Friends are.
Love,
Mandi
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