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 Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:08 am
BrendaAnn53: Hello again.
ShaleBridge001: What do you need this time?
BrendaAnn53: Your cooperation would be nice.
ShaleBridge001: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been giving you that for nearly a year now.
BrendaAnn53: And its appreciated.
BrendaAnn53: We'll need to see you and Ajhira tomorrow at nine. Eight if you can.
ShaleBridge001: About what? Alex had his vaccinations earlier today after you mailed us the reminder.
BrendaAnn53: That's on-record and accounted for. This is another matter.
ShaleBridge001: ...and I am I allowed to inquire as to what that other matter is?
BrendaAnn53: You are always allowed to inquire. There is something here of importance that requires your attention.
ShaleBridge001: This sounds familiar. In fact, I think that's what you said to me the day Alex ended up coming home with us.
BrendaAnn53: You learn quickly, Mr. Lumbar!
ShaleBridge001: Look, we don't have any room. And even if we did, we've got two older kids, TWO dragons, and a baby to look after. Why would we want another one?
BrendaAnn53: You seem to forget that this isn't a matter of wanting. Felix. If we homed our children only to those who wanted them instead of those we knew could handle them, we'd have failed long ago.
ShaleBridge001: Can I ask you something?
BrendaAnn53: As I said, you're always allowed to inquire.
ShaleBridge001: Why do you keep coming back to us? You've apparantly got all of these connections and all of Gaia to pick from and yet here we sit with two of your kids and now you're wanting us to pick up a third? Just how many are you cranking out and you still expect to go unnoticed?
BrendaAnn53: Are you able to take a phone call?
ShaleBridge001: I guess...
BrendaAnn53 has signed off
Felix had no sooner X'ed out the window than the office phone began to ring shrilly on its cradle. Plucking it up before it could rouse the entire household, he lifted it to his ear.
"I'm listening." he said curtly. After months of dealing with Dcorp, he'd slowly learned that the best way to get anywhere with them when you wanted a straight answer was to take on a business-like tone. That, and being curt came easily tonight given the nature of the previous conversation.
He and Ajhira didn't need nor did they WANT another child.
"As I'm sure you know," the random tech that had been assigned to speak with him said "we are quite a large operation. In the last year we have homed nearly seventy children and as I speak to you, there are many more incubating."
"That's nice. But its not answering my question." the hybrid replied.
"Its a delicate process, Mister Lumbar, the marrying of human DNA with an animal's. Too little, and the dragon's bond won't take. Too much, and...well, as I'm sure I don't need to tell you, they can be quite a handful."
Felix flexed his grip on the phone, knowing that the disembodied voice was referring to Sharika and drew a deep breath. "Right..." he allowed himself.
"Like any sort of manufacturer, and I use the term loosely, we have our own sort of quality control here. There are the few failures, of course, which are put out of their misery long before they're of an age to be given away." Felix felt his stomach lurch at both the thought of what some of Dcorp's "failures" must look like and at the idea of them having to go through and terminate them. "Then we have the children that exhibit milder strains of their animal DNA, sometimes barely resembling their animal at all. Those children are best-off placed in a normal growing environment with mundane parents."
"And I guess this is the part where you tell me that Ajhira and I are freakshow parents for freakshow kids, right?"
"I wouldn't use those words, no." the voice drawled. "But some children are much more animalistic than others. These are the ones that require a special hand and so we pick our parents carefully. And when we find a couple that seems to manage well, we like to return to them from time to time with our special cases."
"I don't know that you'd call this managing well." Felix grumbled, getting up to peer out of his study window at the backyard, or rather what was left of it. What had once been a lawn and a garden were now furrows of barren dirt and sand.
"Some people don't manage at all." the voice countered patiently. "The first time the curtains are clawed, the first vase that breaks, the relationship is as good as over."
"I thought you said your parents didn't get a choice." he sighed, leaning heavily against the wall. Why did they always spring this crap on him when he just wanted to go to bed and try to pretend he had a normal life?
"THEY don't. But occasionally we must decide for them when its time to part ways. We are not negligant of our children, Mr. Lumbar, and we do not leave them in potentially-harmful situations. Would you like me to go into detail about the nature of your visit tomorrow?"
"What I'd like is for you to tell me how you keep expecting me to find room for these kids. We don't have any." he tried to explain yet again. "Sharika took our spare room, Gavin took up our guest room, and we had to clean out our storage room to have somewhere to put Alex and--"
"Then it would seem to me you need to find a home with more space..."
"What??" Felix squawked, outraged and blindsided all at once. "I--y-you--how the hell are we supposed to afford that??" he demanded. So much for his business-like cool. Whatever leverage he'd held in the conversation was as good as gone the moment he'd started spluttering.
He didn't care though....as far as he was concerned, Dcorp was really overstepping their bounds. The kids had been a big enough upheaval. The later knowledge that they'd be bringing home their damned dragons was even worse. NOW they were expected to pack up everything move to continue being convenient brood hens for this--PLACE??
"We will be offering you assistance, of course." the agent continued. "When you arrive tomorrow, we'll have some paperwork for you. We've already located some larger houses that would fall within your income range along with the names of some loan establishments we've dealt with before that would help to get you settled."
"We can't just pack up and move. I--no. We're NOT moving." he said, trying to assert authority in his usual stammering Felix manner.
"Felix...." the voice was gentle and not without a helping of condescending edge. "You and your family don't want to stay in a one-level flat forever, do you? You need the space, quite obviously. You know as well as we do that this was becoming inevitable."
"Yeah, but..." he faltered, feeling the rug being slowly but surely pulled from beneath him. "...but we've got a lot of history in this house. And we've just gotten Alex to stop believing that there's monsters in the closets and ghosts under the rugs, besides," he paused then. "And for the record, did you KNOW he was strange like that when you gave him to us?"
"We were aware he was a bit skittish but his....interesting....beliefs were as much a surprise to us as they were to you, I'm sure. But back to the matter at hand, why look at an opportunity like a burden? Its really quite simple: you and your wife select the house you want, fill out the loan paperwork, the moving will be done in a day, and everyone is better off."
Nearly thirty seconds of silence ticked by as Felix tried to scrounge up a good argument for this and continually came up blank. A bigger house was something he and Ajhira had talked about in a passing "wouldn't it be nice if we could afford it" way, and he couldn't think of a reason she would protest the idea much, if at all....
"Mister Lumbar...?"
"I'll talk to her." he replied automatically, somewhat snappishly.
"Good. In that case, let me tell you a little more about your new son..."
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 9:55 pm
"We've been calling him Pablo." the tech that had greeted them at the door explained, both hands clutching the clipboard at his chest as the three of them stood on the other side of the two-way mirror. The situation had been the same the other two times Dcorp had made them parents and had become somewhat of a tradition.
In a way, it felt perversely like window-shopping.
'Pablo', oblivious to their presense, was seated reclined in a beanbag and eagerly munching the bowl of dried squid they'd left with him. He was not much to look at in a very literal sense, being much smaller than Felix and Ajhira could recall either Alex or Sharika being. His hands were large awkward flippers, and his feet were much too small for him to walk steadily. Where his mouth belonged was a broad beak that smacked and clacked as the squid vanished inside of it.
It was as though the animal DNA had staged a hosile takeover of the human portion entirely until it was nearly nonexistant. Even Sharika had exhibited more developed traits than this kid.
"We had started to wonder if we'd forgotten to mesh the human DNA with the penguin zygote when he first hatched..." the tech continued. "But he's capable of attempting speech and his flippers are opposable.
In the room, the bowl of squid appeared to be empty. Pablo gave it an annoyed look and then flung it aside, springing to his feet and waddling to the nearby toybox to wrestle a ball out of it.
"But what sort of environment is he going to need?" Ajhira inquired, concerned. "I mean...it only snows once a year..."
"He'll be comfortable in cooler areas, but they won't be a necessity for him" the tech explained. "He's been getting along just fine at room temperatures. I would, however, advise that you don't allow him to become overheated as it could be dangerous."
"What do you think, Fel?" the feline inquired, turning to look at her husband who was still staring at the diminuative penguin as he attempted to kick the ball and instead plumped flat on his back.
"At least he won't take up much room...." the hybrid ventured, recieving an elbow in the ribs.
"Felix! He can't help it!" she hissed, embarrassed.
"I assure you, even if he doesn't take up much room, he'll make sure you know that he's there in every way possible." the tech sighed, watching as Pablo got a running start and gave the ball a kick. His foot made a sharp slapping noise against the latex of its surface and sent it kareening off of the wall and against the mirror. The tech fixed them with a look as though this had proven his point. "He's a bit loud...he can be demonstrative sometimes...I won't lie to you, Pablo is quite a handful when he wants to be."
"But will he get along with Alex and Sharika?" Felix inquired, still eyeing the penguin doubtfully.
"Well, I suppose that's for them to hash out amongst themselves. You say Sharika and Alex didn't have much static between them..."
"That's also because they barely see one another..." Felix said, shaking his head faintly as he pushed his glasses up on his muzzle. "Shar's always running around outside and Alex is always hiding in the closet somewhere with a tape recorder trying to catch ghost voices or something."
"Alexander is just very dedicated in his interests, that's all." Ajhira corrected him. "And if he wants to believe that the house is haunted, what's the harm in it?"
"I didn't say there was any harm in it..." Felix groaned, trying to avoid a fight.
"Well you talk about him all the time like there's something wrong with him." the feline pressed.
"Aj, the kid used to think that the guy on the oatmeal box was going to steal his soul...and he threw out all of his socks because he said one of them was possessed by an evil spirit but he didn't know which. I'm sorry, but there's not a lot of people who'd call it normal."
As they spoke, Pablo approached the mirror, eyeing his reflection a moment before beginning to pose and preen in front of it. His physical shortcomings, as far as he was concerned, were in the eye of the beholder because to him, he was a DAMN fine bird.
The tech's eyes shifted from the bickering couple to the diminuative child before sighing, taking his clipboard in hand and scribbling a few things. Well, if nothing else, it would be interesting...
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:51 pm
D-Corp Activity Log
___________________________________________________ Page 001 Please use the provided journal to document your child's progress at home for this week. Include such things as meals, television programs watched, extracurricular activities, bedtimes, and subjects studied. When complete, please return to D-Corp.___________________________________________________ Pablo did not sleep last night. Due to my previous greivance with having no room, we had to set up the kids' old crib in our room and he would not stop squawking or trying to get out. At about three AM, he discovered he could slip through the bars and performed this feat twice, escaping to go get into trouble.
The third time he got stuck and screamed until we got him loose. For breakfast this morning he ate half of a trout and threw cheerios all over the floor. Alexander will not come out of his room because he believes we've brought a reincarnated elder god into the house.
I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that this was not the best idea DCorp has ever had...
--Felix
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:13 pm
"Well, this is it, guys..." Ajhira said, dropping the suitcase she was carrying with a thud that seemed enormous in the front hall of the currently-empty house.
"Oh, keen gear!!" Sharika cried, hearing her voice reverberate back at her. "This place is GINORMOUS!"
"Its evil!!" Alex declared from the front porch, pointing into the recesses of the house. "EVIL!!"
"Well, you're going to have to decide which is MORE evil....the new house, or dying of frostbite on the front step." Felix told him, nudging past him into the house with Pablo in his arms.
The macaroni penguin looked about himself in disinterest and then stuck out his tongue, blowing a loud raspberry. Yech, what a dump.
"It'll look fine once all of the furniture is in it." Ajhira assured Alex and Pablo both while looking at neither. "Kids, why don't you go upstairs and pick out your rooms? The big one with the bathroom in it is spoken for, though, so don't even try."
Sharika didn't need to be told twice as she pounded up the stairs and Alexander, after lingering on the front porch suspiciously for a few more minutes, carefully edged his way into the house. His hand was clutching his evil eye pendant and his thumb rubbed it obsessively as he quietly went up the stairs, looking spastically over his shoulder every once in awhile as though something was going to follow him.
"How about you, kiddo? Wanna go pick out your room?" Ajhira smiled, reaching out to take Pablo from Felix.
"No!" the penguin told her matter-of-factly.
"Oh come on, it'll be fun." she goaded.
"NO!" he said again with a kick of his stubby little legs. He didn't want a room in this hovel, he wanted to go back to the house! It was smaller there and he was less likely to get stuck under a dresser and forgotten about.
Ajhira, not to be deterred began to carry him up the stairs.
"But having your own room will be NICE!" she insisted. "We can paint the walls,"
"NO!"
"Pick out wallpaper,"
"NO!"
"Get some carpeting,"
"NO!"
And so on, and so forth all the way up the stairs.
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Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 1:14 pm
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:37 pm
D-Corp Activity Log
___________________________________________________ Page 004 Please use the provided journal to document your child's progress at home for this week. Include such things as meals, television programs watched, extracurricular activities, bedtimes, and subjects studied. When complete, please return to D-Corp.___________________________________________________ Thank you for providing us with the replacement letter and number sheets via mail. The ones we retrieved from the classroom seem to have gotten lost or are, most likely, wedged in the car seat.
Pablo has just finished the worksheets, at the expense of our tablecloth. It was unfortunate to learn that washable markers are falsely advertised. He can now sing the song with ease and does so frequently whenever we are in public.
Without further ado, for your perusal, here are the completed sheets.
--Felix
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 1:06 am
D-Corp Activity Log
___________________________________________________ Page 005 Please use the provided journal to document your child's progress at home for this week. Include such things as meals, television programs watched, extracurricular activities, bedtimes, and subjects studied. When complete, please return to D-Corp.___________________________________________________ I am writing on behalf of my family to apologize for Pablo, Sharika, and Alex missing their latest classes. Getting settled in a new home has not been easy. We appreciate the fact you've sent DCorp representatives to check up on us, however, and to ask if we need any help.
Pablo, as it turns out, is finally learning to adjust to our family and is quite excited about winter finally arriving, especially with how miserable he seemed during the summer and early fall.
We can actually get him to sleep in his bed at night now, instead of setting up habitat in the bathtub. It didn't really bother any of us that he chose to sleep there, but it became problematic some mornings when we'd forget he was there and one of the kids would go to shower for school.
As per your request, we will try and socialize him some more outside of the household as he is getting to be about the right age and is not shy at all about letting us know when he's bored with us.
I am curious, however. Can you recommend a good substitute for squid in his diet? He turned his nose up at herring, and its the wrong time of the year for trout.
Thank you again for the concern, we'll be returning him to school shortly.
Regards,
Ajhira
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Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 9:22 pm
An Unexpected Call
It seems D-Corp has contacted you and told you to bring your child in for a check up immediately. Very little information was given to you over the phone other than the fact that it was critical that they be brought in as soon as possible.
Once at D-Corp you are directed to Dr. Acklin's office. He's running about writing things down and clicking away at some keyboards. Once he notices you he seats you and your child down immediately to take a blood sample.
The sample is run right away in the back of the office the doctors face in the computer screen the whole while. After almost an hour of being told to wait patiently the test results are finally done and you are told you are free to leave. No information is given as to why you were so urgently called in however you were assured that your child is perfectly healthy and that there is no reason for alarm.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:33 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:55 am
Quote: Dear Dcorp, Thank you for your continued patience with us as foster parents through your program. I apologize for our lack of correspondence as of late regarding Pablo. I would like to be perfectly honest for a moment in saying that he has provided us with more than a challenge in upbringing him. As he gets older, his appetite has increased noticeably, as has his reluctance to listen to my wife and I. Ajhira is quick to point out that both Sharika and Alex went through their "terrible two's", but Pablo is far more unruly than I recall either of them being. Attempts to get him to eat a healthy diet have failed. Putting the sweets out of his reach results only in him climbing on furniture as soon as our back is turned or throwing loud tantrums. Not buying sweets entirely results in him raiding his older sister's room looking for snacks and sodas (Even with as easygoing as Sharika is, she's still a teenaged girl, and you can imagine the outbursts about her little brother going through her things). I feel the methods that have succeeded for our previous two children are failing this little one. While I am embarrassed to ask if you will take time out of your schedule to address this, if possible, may we arrange a conference with the appropriate staff for ideas on how to get Pablo on the right track? Thank you for your time. As always, find the form enclosed. --Felix
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