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 Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:42 pm
"Rook, I'm going to the lab. You need to watch Saint and Leviathan while I'm gone," Sable instructed his Nobody as he started to pull on his shoes.
"No," Rook replied sullenly, glaring at Sable over a stack of steaming pancakes. How many times was he going to fall for the same trick? At least before, the cabbage didn't actually do anything. Now it had spawned, and the creature that emerged was loud and talkative and it bit.
"Yes," Sable responded. "You will watch him, not Saint. Saint needs a babysitter, he can't be one."
"No!" Rook growled. "I do not sit babies! I was designed for-"
"Goddamnit Rook!" Sable snapped, whipping around. "Just watched him for a couple of hours and then I'm coming home and you can do anything you want, got it?" He wheeled out the door, not giving the youth much of a choice.
Rook eyed the colorful child toddling out of his room. "Huuuuuungry," it whined. Rook groaned. He could not do this.
"SAAAAAAINT. Make it cereal."
Saint complied. Rook was scary.
Three hours later, Saint took off for the park and Rook was left with a whining, slobbering toddler. What was he supposed to do with a bored baby? It wasn't even his...but he did know who it belonged to.
One quick walk later, Rook was knocking on a very familar door.
"Juno! Come get your spawn, it's drooling on me!"
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 6:43 pm
Juno hadn't been expecting anyone to knock, and it was only by chance that he was home, anyway. Mercury had rather fetchingly managed to light his lunch on fire this morning, and he had been forced to retreat home to make himself something. He was almost on his way out.
The voice that came from the other side of the door surprised him, but what the voice said surprised him even more. He opened the door, one arm in his labcoat, and blinked. "Did you say something about spawn, Rook?" he asked, frowning at the Nobody on his doorstep. His eyes traveled down from Rook's face to the colourful creature in Rook's arms, and his frown deepened.
"That's Leviathan, isn't it? Sable has forbidden me from seeing him." Juno looked coldly at Rook and then pulled his coat on the rest of the way. "I'm sorry, but what can I do?"
And then he looked at the boy and something inside him melted. The frown dissolved into a half-smile, and he looked at the child. "Hello there, little Leviathan." He looked up at Rook. "Come in, I guess."
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:05 pm
"Take it," Rook growled. He didn't give a damn if Sable 'forbade' Juno from seeing Leviathan. Frankly, Sable had tricked him into this whole 'watch Leviathan' business, Saint ran off, and he had no freaking clue what to do with the giggling ball of color. He couldn't shove him back on Sable if he wanted the video game being released next week, so he could only do the next best thing. Give Leviathan to his other parent, inept as that man might be. (Hah, like Sable was actually any better as a parent.)
He walked in as soon as the invitation was extended, shoving his 'brother' into the man's arms. "Watch out. It bites."
Leviathan seemed oblivious to the strife going on between the two. He extended his arms as soon as he realized he was being passed off, latching on to whatever piece of Juno's clothing he could hold. "Hi!" he cooed, staring up at the new man. "Who you?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:19 pm
Juno blinked as the child was thrust into his arms, looking down at Leviathan with evident surprise. He looked at Rook and half-smiled, the expression slightly ironic. This makes my son your stepbrother, yes? How odd this makes past situations.
But then he was focused on the small child now focusing on him. He smiled, almost warmly, when Leviathan greeted him without any of the disgust Sable was currently exercising. The question briefly threw him for a loop, and his brow furrowed as he debated whether or not to tell Levi the truth.
Well, Sable was going to be as royally pissed at him as he could get anyway, might as well go for the gold.
"I'm Juno," he said, gently ruffling Levi's hair. "Your father."
He looked up at Rook and extended the smile to him. "You're welcome to stay, Rook. We haven't spoken in so long." Rook was his favourite for many, many reasons, and it was a bit of a disappointment that Sable and therefore his charges had been so absent recently.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:40 pm
Rook could only his at the stepbrother remark. One 'brother' was enough. He didn't care for Saint that much, but it was quickly becoming clear to him that he'd take the Heartless over Sable's...child any day. Saint might have the brain of a six-year-old, but at least he knew his place in the general hierarchy of the house hold. Oh, how he missed Eden. Eden kept everything in line.
"I'm eating," he announced, not much in the mood to be told, 'no'.
Levi didn't mind his brother's foul mood. He'd learn to fear the wrath when he was old enough to actually understand what it meant. For the time being, he was more interested in the new man come to play with him. "Not daddy," he giggled. Sable was his daddy! "Can be mommy, though."
...it seemed Saint had been explaining this to the boy, via coloring books. You know, with ducks. The three baby ducks, mommy duck and daddy duck? Oh, they were all labeled with names, too.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 7:48 pm
Juno paused in whatever he was going to say to Leviathan and looked over at Rook. Rook, the most bloodthirsty, evil...attractive (NO! BAD JUNO) Nobody ever to walk the face of the earth, was treating Juno almost as poorly as he treated Sable. Juno wasn't sure how to take that. He and Rook had their peculiar relationship, which usually consisted of Juno favouring him over any other children in the area and Rook not violently attacking Juno. And now there was the kid to complicate things.
"There's salad in the fridge, and there might be some leftover lasagna if you want it," he answered Rook, offering him a smile, and then turned back to Levi.
Apparently someone had been teaching him things, and hadn't been teaching them properly. He could only assume it had been Saint. Poor, misguided Saint...who had always lived with Sable and therefore should know that not all families had both mommies and daddies. Whatever. Plenty of time to disillusion the child.
"Well, I'm not your mommy," he answered levelly. "I'm a man, not a woman. I guess, for now, you can just call me Juno, okay?" Another warmer-than-usual smile.
Sable was going to kill him when he got his child back.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 3:05 pm
Juno was still Rook's favorite adult. Well, he was probably Rook's favorite adult. Sable's friend always brought him new video games or new books when he came over. He also defended him when Sable was being unreasonable (given, it was usually Rook's fault Sable was being ornery, he wasn't naturally that way) and it was cool to have someone stick up for him.
...he missed Juno, though. Even if Juno was a jerk, Juno was probably the one who understood him best. Eden just spoiled him. (Not that he was complaining.)
"M'takin' the lasagna," he muttered, annoyed he was having such thoughts. "...do you want some."
Leviathan frowned, suddenly confused. "Duckies!" he exclaimed, referring the coloring (read: scribbling) he and Saint had done. The duckies had a family and there had been a Levi, a Saint, a Wook (Rook), a daddy duck and a mommy duck. Since everything else was taken, he -must- be the mommy duck! There was no Juno duck, that silly goose! Chewing on his lip, he reached up to grab the nearest thing...which happened to be Juno's ear.
"...why?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:09 pm
"I've already eaten, Rook," Juno answered, "but thanks." That was odd. Rook was never polite...Juno wondered briefly if Sable had finally succeeded in teaching Rook something. He decided that it was probably that...that other that Sable insisted on spending time with. Not that Juno cared anymore. After all, Sable was better off with that one anyway.
Because Juno was a royal a-hole.
Juno scowled at the thought, barely hearing what Leviathan said to him. Then he registered it and blinked. Duckies? What in the world was that boy talking about? He looked back at his biological son, just as confused as Levi was.
He tensed just a little bit when Levi grabbed his ear, but then realized that the boy just wanted to cling to something in that irritating way children had...he remembered vaguely when Rook and Angelique had been like that. The child certainly wasn't like either Sable or Juno. He didn't have Sable's terror of interaction or Juno's generally annoyed outlook on life.
Peculiar. Probably had something to do with the cabbage. Or the heart. No, it was surely the cabbage's, and not Juno's, fault.
"...why what?" he answered.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 5:22 pm
"...whatever," Rook grumbled, no longer in the mood to talk. If he were at home, he would have taken his lasagna and fled to his room, hooking up his video game and refusing to emerge for the rest of the afternoon. But not now. Now there was a baby involved. That was Juno's fault. Stupid Juno. He's the one that caused all the problems. He's the one that made them move in the first place.
Stupid, stupid Juno. Rook took his plate from the microwave and stalked over to the couch, arranging himself in a nice little ball before flicking on the TV so he didn't have to listen to all the baby talk.
He was going to be replaced, wasn't he?
Leviathan let go of his father's ear soon enough, quickly bored. The lab ID around his neck was far more interesting. He squealed with delight, snatching it with pudgy fingers before promptly sticking it in his mouth. Mhhhm. Plastic. How delicious. It hurt a little bit when it hit his gums, though. He pulled it out, letting the slobbery card fall on Juno's lab coat.
"Why not mom?" he asked again. Being a man wasn't a good enough reason. The duckies said, you see.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 5:40 pm
Juno watched Rook turn on the TV and frowned a little bit. He’d need to talk to Rook sometime soon, before he got it into his head that Juno was no longer worth his time and started treating him like the rest of the general population. Somehow he got the feeling that bribes would be involved. Juno disliked the concept, but sometimes things needed to be done. Having Rook homicidal at him would be detrimental to his health.
Levi’s snatching of his ID made Juno tense, and a look of intense dislike crossed his face when Levi put the plastic in his mouth. The look of distaste grew stronger as Levi grew bored with this new toy and let it drop damply back onto his clothing. Juno wasn’t opposed to chemical stains, legitimately earned in the lab, but to have someone dribbling down his shirt…
Ew. Juno readjusted his grip on Levi and set him down, crouching so he could look at the boy from eye level without actually having to touch him. Then he grimaced at Levi’s persistence, and looked for an answer.
“Because…” he frowned at the fact that an infant was forcing him to justify himself, and then made something up completely. “Because people are more highly evolved than duckies and have therefore developed similar but unidentical family systems.”
Hopefully that would satisfy the inane curiosity.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:22 pm
Leviathan squawked indignantly as he was put down, much happier when he was absolutely sure someone was paying attention to him. He toddled forward, latching onto the nearest part of Juno as the man spoke. He just stared mouth open a little as he tipped his head to the side. "...oh," he finally responded, hardly understanding a word the man just said. He nodded anyways.
"That stupid," he informed Juno. Ah yes, living with two foul-mouthed youths, it was only a matter of time before he started mimicking their bad language. He probably didn't know what he just said, he just knew that's what Rook told Sable when Sable said something Rook didn't seem to like very much. Because, you know, the answer wasn't very good.
"Play!" he commanded, clapping his hands.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:38 pm
Juno wrinkled his nose when Leviathan persisted in clinging to him. The novelty of a small child possessed of his DNA had worn off about one hundred percent as soon as Levi had drooled on him. For a moment, he smiled a little bit. It seemed he had perplexed the boy enough to get him to drop the subject.
...or not. Juno's mouth dropped open as Levi informed him that his answer was stupid. Blinking for a moment, he fixed the small child with his cold hazel gaze and said completely levelly, "That is absolutely true. It was a load of...garbage...but I was hoping you'd buy it."
He very carefully worked around the word he had been about to say, deciding that Levi could learn it in his own time, and from Rook. If Levi came home from a meeting with Juno and promptly swore at Sable, who knew what Sable would do? He might even grow a spine and actually confront Juno again. Juno's lips twitched at the idea.
"Play?" he asked, tilting his head and looking at Leviathan as if the demand had turned him into some curious microorganism and Juno was doing labwork. "What do you mean?"
It wasn't even that Juno was bad with kids. He just didn't seem to realize that they existed, and when he did notice, he treated them like the lab's white mice.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:28 pm
Leviathan giggled happily. He wasn't sure what he just won, or how he won, but he definitely beat mommy at something. He clapped, not recognizing the look as cold. He reached for Juno again, nearly tipping in his efforts. Oh well. At least Juno would play with him.
"...yes play!" he insisted, nodding. Why was Juno being so difficult? Saint always played with him when he asked. "Play game," he clarified, frowning at Juno. He didn't know how to play? Maybe he wasn't like the duckies after all. Duckies knew how to play. He was clearly not as awesome as duckies.
The boy quickly gave up on the idea of playing with the new man, but that was okay. He knew how to entertain himself! He leaned forward again reaching for Juno's clothes. This time, however, little Leviathan couldn't keep his balance. He toppled forward, hitting his chin on the tile floor and biting his tongue. A few tears began to well up in his big eyes before the child let out an ear-splitting wail. That hurt!
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:42 pm
Juno had already decided that kids were a lot less exciting than they seemed from afar, and he wondered what had possessed him to insist that his DNA be given to the child. He watched as Levi wobbled but made no move to stop him, mostly because it never occurred to him that people generally tried keep small children from falling over. They seemed to do it quite a bit; he assumed it was natural and just let nature take its course.
It seemed that he had rather confused and possibly upset Levi when he had asked about play. In theory, Juno understood the peculiar sort of games small children enjoyed, but he wasn’t entirely sure how to implement said theories. But it seemed Levi had given up on him and was about to…
Juno winced as the child fell over; he hadn’t expected the boy’s face to collide with his foyer. When Levi started to scream, Juno winced and looked helplessly down at the boy. “Don’t cry,” he said quickly, reaching down and picking Leviathan up, cradling him as gently as he could. “Shh…you’re okay.” Taking advantage of Levi’s wide-open mouth, he glanced inside, saw that nothing was bleeding, and nodded. “Nothing’s bleeding. I know it hurts, but it should stop soon. Please stop crying,” he said, resisting the urge to hold the boy at arm’s length—or better yet, set him down—and ignore him until he stopped screaming. Even he knew that was bad form.
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Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 8:13 am
Leviathan was not to be quieted easily. He continued to screech, big fat tears rolling down his cheeks as he flailed in Juno's arms. "H-huuuuuuurt!" he cried. Sure, he'd fallen down and bumped himself before, but it never hurt like this! He wanted his daddy. He gave another screech, rubbing his eyes and crying harder.
Rook glanced over as the baby began to cry. At first, he thought he'd ignore it. Sable usually got Leviathan to quiet down in few moments. The headache-inducing cries did not stop, however, and the Nobody was forced to get up and see what was going on. He couldn't even hear himself think, never mind the kung fu movie. He padded into the kitchen, quickly observing the squirming, crying mass in Juno's arms. "What did you do to it?" he scowled. "And why can't you make it stop crying?"
Levi did not seem to notice his brother's presence, or maybe he just didn't like him enough. The pain was starting to subside a little, but now the young boy was too worked up to notice. He whimpered, wiping his face again. His cries weren't ear-splitting anymore, but he was still plenty loud.
Rook sighed. How did Sable usually quiet the beast? "...try singing to it. About twinkling stars."
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