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 Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:56 pm
Baniru crossed her arms over her chest, and gave Chikara a look that said clearly: "Yes, you're on crack." That was before she noticed Gille's own expression, and decided to clearly ignore it.
"Yeah, you catch children with nets maybe if you're some sort of SOCIOPATH, YOU- mpgphtthhh..."
Suddenly, there was a stuffed monkey bum in her mouth. Bani was disoriented for a moment, before she got her bearings.
"Now what was that for?" she questioned, frowning.
"Karma's on the ferris wheel? How do you-"
She looked over, and lo and behold.
Oh.
Karma tried rolling his eyes, but he didn't have such coordination yet- so it kind of came out as a half assed chameleon effect. He kicked the ferris guy hard in one of the shins, forcing him to accidentally knock into the lever that made the thing go.
A few random people fell off, but they didn't fall far, as the ferris wheel went up and up. Karma was completely at the top, however, when the man finally regained what had happened and pushed the lever back to stop.
The toddler looked down, and suddenly became very frightened. The carriage he was on wasn't even closed up and secure.
He opted for the best option, and that was to huddle up as close to one of the seats as possible.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:04 pm
Chikara gave Baniru a look that clearly said, And you're lecturing me while that's happening to your kid? At least, that's what Gilles thought she said. Chikara was actually going for, You ruined my game of tag, you poopie head!
Well, the adults were just standing there. Gilles blinked up at them and slowly removed his hands. "Are we going to chase after him, now?" He asked hopefully, gesturing towards the carnival wheel. Were they gonna go? Yes? Please!? Gilles watched as the ferris wheel started...and then stopped. Oh dear. He tugged on Chikara's shirt. "...are they supposed to do that?"
"What? Blink with the pretty lights? Ya. It's their way of contributing to epileptic attacks and light pollution. Dontcha think it's pretty!?" Well, yes. It was pretty. But that was kind of missing the point. Gilles sighed, stroking Mr. Hoppo.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:12 pm
Bani, once again, found herself staring.
"I... don't think rides are supposed to start and stop like that, no," she said worriedly, answering the question Chikara had missed (damn her!!)
"C'mon!"
She walked- or rather, power walked- to the guy at the ferris wheel, not waiting for Gilles or Chikara to catch up.
"Hey, what's you're problem? My son is up there!" Bani cried, but resisted wringing the guy's skinny little neck.
He was some Italian, noteably poor, probably illegal. He nodded meekly, but then explained in broken english that a little boy had come running up and had kicked him in the shin, which forced this whole ordeal to happen.
Bani raised a brow, looking back at Chikara and Gilles if they were there.
"Well, bring him back down then."
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:24 pm
Gilles and Chikara looked at one another again and ran off behind Baniru. "Chikara, you have to stop jumping on people like that. It's bad to do that. You could have hurt Missus Ba-- CHIKARA, NO!" Chikara had launched herself at the ferris wheel operator with ferocity, her butterfly net high above her head. She swung the butterfly net onto the man's head and pulled down, both of them crashing to the ground. Chikara escaped unscathed, but the man looked...rather...unconscious.
Gilles just sighed. Again, and again, and again. Then he braced himself for the argument that was sure to come.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:01 pm
Bani watched in horror, until she whirled around at Chikara and screamed:
"Are you ******** CRAZY!? YOU JUST KNOCKED OUT THE GUY WHO WAS GOING TO START THIS THING!"
Great, and Karma was at the top, on some wheel of never-ending terror. God, no else knew how to work all those fancy levers (a total of 1) and shiny buttons, of which there were many!
Bani would have socked Chikara one right there, if the stupid net wasn't in the way of her progress of doing it correctly.
Karma inched forward, peering down from the carriage cautiously. It rocked a bit, which frightened him, and made him skitter back. There were, of course, other people on the ride, but they weren't so worried.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:11 pm
Chikara looked at Baniru, with a look of complete cluelessness in her eyes. What? Start the ride? It was stopped? What? "I'm...I'm sorry." She said, looking at the ground. "I...I didn't know. But, I can help, if you want. Do you have any elephan--" Gilles stuffed his hand back in Chikara's mouth with a look of resignation. He gave Baniru a look that asked her to please not interfere, then he turned to his guardian.
"Chikara. Why don't you go and get another carnival worker who can help us start the ride again?" He suggested firmly, and sent her on her way. Chikara nodded enthusiastically, happy to help (though she had no idea what she was helping with) and scuttered off. Then Gilles turned to Baniru. "I suppose you think it's nice to be mean to people who don't know any better. But she's gone now, since you don't seem to like her. Can you please focus on getting him down instead of yelling? Please?" Gilles asked, with sincere hopefulness in his eyes. It seemed all that this woman could do was scream.
...well, most people when they met Chikara could only scream. But she screamed a lot.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:24 pm
Baniru watched, silent, until Gilles began to scold her. Then, she just couldn't stay quiet.
"Don't lecture me. You think you're so above an average being? Look, kid, my baby is up there. He's my life in a nutshell, so don't tell me that my screaming wasn't justified at your brainless mother. I'm sure if you were in danger, you'd want someone screaming for you too."
Bani sighed, still worried, but glad something good was being done about the situation. She was not going to stand around and let some child order her on what to do, as she clearly did with his own parents.
She frowned. That was bad parenting, right there.
Not that she could talk, but at least Gilles was capable of rational thought. Unlike Karma, who would possibly do anything to make her feel uncomfortable- where he got this, she didn't know. But it certainly wasn't from her teachings.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 4:51 pm
Gilles shut up. Okay, okay. She had a point. After all, what he he know about raising children? He opened his mouth to apologize -- and then heard it.
Brainless mother?
Gilles looked up at the woman quite coolly, as if he were regarding a very small child who had forgotten her place. "She is not brainless. Chikara runs two businesses by herself and deals with crooks, mean people, and drunks all the time. She taught me my numbers and how to read, how to talk and she taught me about the sun and taking care of things," Gilles' voice swelled with pride as he recited this list. Sure, Chikara probably wasn't as smart as Baniru, and she certainly wasn't as clever, but Chikara had never yelled at a person just because the circumstances were inconvenient. "She's never let me get in trouble - ever. And she's always looking for new ways to make our life better. Just because she thinks differently than you and -- and --"
And what?
And she was crazy?
Gilles frowned and decided to change tactics. "Chikara just found me one day and told me that she was my momma, and that she would take care of me, and she has. I was alone and I couldn't do anything. I didn't have a name. She helped me. She's my momma and I love her. And if I was up there," Gilles said, fighting back sobs, "She wouldn't be screaming for me, she'd be doing something to get me back. Like climbing the ferris wheel."
Oh, that was a very nice, life-defining speech right there, Gilles. Now what? The kid's still up there and this woman is about as moveable as a rock? Where did Chikara get to with help again?
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:21 pm
And that was when Bani went into Sphinx mode, unable to contain it any longer. Her entire demeanor changed from unstable, worried parent to predator in a matter of moments.
"Impressive, very. Your mother knows how to scrape by in life, what an accomplishment. And where is your mother now? Probably tackling the guys who she went to go get help from. Face it, you're a child- you know nothing about life. You think you're mature, kid? Handling situations and all that," she hissed, baring her fangs, and then gazed up at the spot where Karma was, "but unlike Chikara, I'm not a suicide case waiting to happen."
Karma was peeking down from the carriage again, curious. Bani was at the end of her wit with these people- two minutes. If Chikara wasn't here in two minutes she would drag back a worker to this spot herself.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:40 pm
Gilles just shrugged and twirled his umbrella nonchalantly over one shoulder. So she had fangs. When you had a grandmother like Kiyrau, with twelve inch fingers and the ability to make things explode just by a little mental twist...well, you didn't get impressed that easily. Besides, he was still unreasonably cool and collected, though in some part of his mind he was screaming at the other woman because she was talking about things she didn't understand. The Hanged Man.
Wait...what?
"I FOUND HIM!" Chikara yelled, dragging a tall, dark haired man behind her as she ran up to the ferris wheel. "The first two guys I talked to screamed and ran away after a while, so the manager came. He says he'll give you a free ride and...and...and...something." The man was wearing an expression that said, Please don't sue me. Please don't sue me.
Good news for Baniru. Gilles reasoned. People in a panic were easy to manipulate.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:49 pm
Oh, hot damn. Chikara comes through after all.
Smoothing herself out, Bani smiled, letting all current predator in her fade away.
"You brought the manager, thank you! So, can he get my child down from the top of the ferris wheel?"
She looked hard at the man, wanting an answer. Hopefully Chikara wouldn't, as Gilles had said, climb the wheel herself. That would be stupid.
"He's stuck at the very top," Bani continued, "You can work the controls to get him down?"
Karma shrunk back in the carriage, as there was not much else to do. As soon as he got out of this, he swore to himself, he'd never go near carnival rides again.
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Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:02 pm
The manager grinned good naturedly, since he had no idea of what was going on apart from the fact that the ride had stopped. "Course I can, ma'am. Have your kid down in a jiffy."
Gilles couldn't contain a smug smile as the manager walked over to the controls, stepped over the man, and brought the lever down, pressing the green button as he did so. Gilles walked over to Chikara, the cool part of him because he was glad to see her, the angry part of him because that part felt like it was going to cry. He wrapped his hand around hers, settling Mr. Hoppo on his shoulder. Chikara smiled down at him and said in a voice that wasn't hers, "See? Everything turned out alright."
The wheel turned slowly clockwise, people got off once their carriage reached the ground, muttering to themselves.
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Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 9:27 pm
When the ride got to Karma's carriage, Bani quietly walked over to where the boy was huddled near the center bar. There were clear tears dribbling down his cheeks, and he looked as if he had been crying silently for quite awhile.
"C'mere," Bani said affectionately, and picked the toddler up in a gentle hug. She consoled him for the next few moments, relieved beyond words that her baby boy was safe, and had to wipe at the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.
She gave a quick glance in Chikara's direction, and decided to do something very humane and difficult- swallow her pride, and apologize. Walking over with Karma (now dozed off) against her shoulder, Bani said quietly:
"Thank you, Chikara. Thank you for rescuing my baby... and, well. I thank your son too," she added the last part on quickly, not wanting to admit it, "And I apologize for the way I acted... may we be friends?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:58 am
Chikara's head bobbed up and down empathetically. It was, after all, her fault that this all happened. "I'm sorry that I messed this all up, I just got a little too excited." She lowered her voice, and said, "Kiyrau - my mother - said I didn't realize the...severity of the situation." Of course, 'severity' and 'situation' were both Kiyrau's words, Chikara not being able to string such words together. Her version of the story was, she had been a poopie head. Chikara offered Baniru a small stuffed dog, a token of friendship.
Gilles smiled up at Baniru, still holding Chikara's hand. He had nothing to say, since he had said more than enough for one day, but he hoped that his smile would convey how he felt.
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