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 Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:31 pm
Looking around all of the tired, sad little faces, Evan Luck felt his overly-tender heart ache. He remembered the chicken pox. He remembered all too clearly the itching and the heat and the miserable boredom. Therefore, he was forever grateful to the Liberty Center for allowing him the chance to open up a separate little area for the suffering munchkins. Especially the ones who had parents unable to stay at home and lavish attention on them.
A knock at the door drew his attention and he sauntered over to answer it. On his way there, he paused to run his fingers through the damp, turquoise hair of the little flower-girl who languished on a pile of pillows and blankets. She turned a baleful look on him and he attempted a bracing smile. When he opened the door, however, the smile turned to a good-natured grimace. "Ignacio, I told you before. You can't come in here if you're not sick."
The young boy looked up woefully, golden eyes pleading. "But I tried to get sick," he insisted. "I had the others cough on me and I sat close to 'em and I even kissed Jace. But it won't work! I'm not sick yet!"
Evan sighed. "Look, trust me. You don't want to be sick. Just ask anyone here." He turned to look for some backing. "Someone tell him, huh?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:41 pm
The room beyond was filled with child indignation and the smell of calamine lotion. Wisp Darnell had stripped down to her petticoats and - whenever Xi wasn't looking - was playing Connect-The-Dots with her chickenpox and a Magic Marker. Beatrix had had to abandon both her children to the tender mercies of the daycare center as she taught the remnants of her classes, which were dwindling quickly: everyone had the chicken pox.
"'Even kissed Jace'," her redheaded sister shouted out: she had mittens on her hands, sellotaped to her wrists. Obviously, nothing had stopped her scratching except that. "You're lucky it was just on the cheek or I would've smacked you one for bein' gay - "
"I've never been kissed," Wisp said despondently. "That's so not fair."
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Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 9:21 pm
Ignacio's face lit up. "I'll kiss you, Wisp!" he offered eagerly.
Only Evan's suddenly outstretched arm prevented the boy's headlong rush into the room and Iggy bounced back out into the hallway. "No, you won't."
Delilah barely turned her head, too tired to move, and looked at the duo under half-closed lids. Clearly, glaring at Evan had taken it all out of her. "She's too little," she added. "Don't go flirting with the little ones. Plus she's Chris' girl."
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:24 am
Kisala was grouchy. Well, really, grouchy was an understatement. She was itchy and miserable and worst of all-- NOT allowed to go outside. At all. Shiori had been worried about her transferring the disease to the younger members of the Temple-- especially the small ones that came in for martial arts training only-- and so had gratefully taken advantage of the opportunity to drop off the angry little thing with someone else.
"Ajii doesn't have to go!" the girl complained, "She can go outside!"
The little dark-skinned purple-clad girl in Shiori's arms squirmed for a second, then stuck her tongue out at her sister.
"Ajiiel does not have the chicken pox yet. She can stay around the other children. You cannot."
Kisala stalked into the room and flopped onto the floor, looking up at the ceiling angrily,
"It's not FAIR," she protested.
Shiori shook her head and gave Evan an apologetic look,
"I'm sorry. She is not taking it very well. But, she will behave herself." The last seemed more directed at the girl than the man, and Kisala turned over on her side to make sure her adoptive mother couldn't even look at her face.
...then scratched furiously at her back for a moment.
"And stop scratching, Kisala. It'll only make it worse." At least, that's what the monks had told her. Shiori had never had the chicken pox before, though she'd been assured that her alien biology was immune to the virus anyways, and so wasn't worried about catching it from the child.
As if in protest, Kisala scratched even more furiously, but then just sort've gave up and her arm flopped dejectedly onto the floor once more.
"This sucks."
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:19 pm
Asher was beside himself with worry once Irelia succumbed to the pox. Thinking it was the plague, and believing that she was going to die, Asher tried phoning anyone he knew and trying to make funeral arrangements.
Irelia had been playing with other children the day before and had seen the spots on others. She was fairly certain that she wasn't about to die, but Asher was flapping around in a panic, wailing that she was talking nonsense. With a groan, Irelia sat up, and pulled on her dress.
"I'm going to the liberty centre." Irelia said, pulling on her red jacket, wincing at the feel of the scratchy fabric on her tender spots.
Asher stopped, wringing his hands.
"To die?"
Irelia rolled her eyes.
"Jeez, times have changed, Dad. I'm not going to die from a few spots. Pick me up at 5, ok? I'll be fine."
Asher wasn't allowed getting a driver's license, so Irelia had to make due riding her bike. In exquisite pain, Irelia rode to the Liberty centre, feeling so despondent and scratchy that she nearly got run over by a wayward car.
Leaving her bike outside of the daycare, Irelia staggered inside, itching like crazy.
"Ughhhhh, make me better." Irelia flopped down beside the other girls trying not to scratch.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:43 pm
"Okay," Tyler said, "I know, kiddo, I know it itches, but you know the rules." He brought the little boy riding on his back up a little higher, grunting at the weight.
"But itchyyyy!!" Chris moaned pathetically. "I scratch!"
"No you don't," Tyler said.
"I get Wisp scratch?"
"Not that either."
"I get scratching post!!"
"Definitely not," Tyler said. The boy had pulled the metal pole of the fence out of the ground, concrete and all, then twirled it so that the fencing was wrapped around it. Like a freakin' cotton candy, Tyler thought, trying not to laugh. THAT was Chris's definition of a scratching post. And THAT was why they were at school right now. "And remember," he said. "No taking the earring off, got it?"
"Yeah yeah," Chris said, pouting. "No earring bad boy," he agreed. "But earring mean no scratching post. Too heavy."
"Exactly," Tyler said, stopping at the daycare door. "I have a not so little boy with chickenpox here. And I need to tell you about his earring, too," he added to Evan.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:34 pm
Xi appeared, with a tray laden with the odd mixture of juice boxes and calamine lotion. No well kids were at the daycare center; it was too contagious. Frankly, there were really no well kids left. The juice boxes he distributed liberally: he stopped beside Irelia and Kisala, both sadly pock-marked, and gave them the lotion. "Meds time," he said. "This'll help with the itching. Drink the juice even if you don't feel like it; it'll be oatmeal bath in half an hour. No, it's not a co-ed bath. Kis, Rel, all I can tell you is that if you scratch you are so gonna regret it as a teenager."
Jacoba dragged herself over to Irelia to flop poutily beside her: she opened the bottle of lotion. "This is like the suckiest thing that has ever happened to me, ever," she announced.
Wisp, on the other hand, was trailing along behind Xi to meet with Tyler and Christian, having given a briefly pouty look to the little hibiscus girl. She wasn't little any more; she was all grown up! She gave the eyebrows to Iggy behind Xi's hip: then she moved over to him, which was probably a good thing, as she loved Chris too much and would be distressed to not be able to scratch him. Even if it was super gross.
"I can draw the stuff on you," she hissed to Iggy surrepticiously. "Then they'll let you in, right?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 5:48 pm
Directly upon being dropped off, Carlisle had thrown himself into a corner and stared at the wall junction despondently. He was hot and his mama had made him wear all these clothes and he itched but couldn't scratch! It was so unfair! Even seeing people he knew- which was limited to just about Kisala- didn't rouse him from his corner. This had to be some kind of punishment from someone for something he'd done, only he couldn't remember doing anything so bad that he deserved this.
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:23 pm
Nataya, currently, was sleeping on a large pillow, as she had been since her mother had brought her, careful not to wake her. The little fairy girl was still in the purple pajamas she'd slept in the night before, her arms locked around the giant plum she seemed to hold so dear to her. She smiled in her sleep, curling around the huge fruit a bit. As far as Nataya knew, she was still at home in her bed, asleep.
The toddler shifted, starting to wake up. She sat up, yawning and rubbing her eyes. SHe then blinked, looking around. Where was she? And where was Mommy? She saw a growed-up, but she didn't recognize him. She began looking around a bit quicker, becoming a bit frantic. Where was Mommy?
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:42 pm
Kisala groaned, ignoring both the calamine lotion and the juice,
"Not hungry," she sulked. She was less miserable from the chicken pox, and more miserable from the lack of being able to go outside and do fun things because she was sick.
She saw little Carlisle come in, and the rest, and made a half-hearted wave towards Iggy (who was really too energetic for her to be willing to go over to him) and then a half-hearted smile towards Carlisle, then turned to the two girls nearest her,
"This is retarded. I say we make a break for it."
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Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:11 pm
Evan sighed as he once more tried to field a very determined Ignacio. "I said no, Nacho," he repeated. "Trust me, you don't want to get sick. Just look at all the boredom in here, okay?" He glanced over his shoulder to regard his charges solemnly before shooting Wisp a warning glance. "Even if Wisp draws on you, it'll just wash off and we'll boot you again."
"But..."
"No." With a final shove, he pushed the recalcitrant boy back out the door and slammed it. Turning, he leaned wearily against it as he once more surveyed the children inside. "Okey dokey," he sighed. "Raise your hand if you think Ignacio's nuts?"
Despite the opening, Delilah did not comment but merely rolled over more on her side listlessly. She brought one hand up to tuck under her cheek; her nails were cut very, very short by her mother to prevent scratching. Ironically, if not for the malaise and the profusion of spots, no one would have known she was ill. She tried for a little smile at the other children she knew.
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:35 am
Carlisle raised his hand over his head. "Me," he said forlornly. "Peanuts 'n pistachios nuts 'n... cashew nuts." He put his hand back at his side and leaned against one side of the wall. Certainly Mama would realize he was not feeling good and come back for him. "I can please have juice too?"
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Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:49 am
Letting his daddy explain that Chris was now doubly weakened--more than that, actually, Chris dropped down from his back, swaying slightly under the impact of his own weight before looking around.
He wasn't looking for a friend, though, he was looking for someplace that looked as if it would be scratchy. He didn't see anything, unfortunately, at least not anything he could rip apart with the earring on, so he clumsily walked in, rolling onto his back like a dog on the carpet and squirming to make it stop itching.
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:42 pm
Irelia turned towards the other girl, listlessly brushing her sweaty hair away from her face.
"I'm always up for an adventure but... We'd have to steal that lotion first. Works wonders." Irelia slathered on the lotion, leaving her spots pink and chalky. Wincing as the lotion was very cool on her skin, Irelia breathed a sigh of relief as the itchiness faded to a dull throb.
"I used up all my energy biking here. Ugh. At least I'm away from my daddy, who was brewing me disgusting tea and trying to read scriptures over me, determined to rid me from the devil inside. Oddly, that part seemed to sort of help, but probably not for the reason my dad thought."
Turning back to Jace, Irelia smiled briefly.
"Your sisters waaay too happy to be full of the pox,"
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 6:11 pm
After a moment of looking for Mommy, Nataya had begun to calm down a bit. She noticed that there were other kids who had the funny bumps like she did. She hugged her plum a bit tighter; what was this place? She looked at the big boy who had just been dropped off, recognizing him from the mall. She would have waved hi, but he seemed to be busy at the moment. She rested her chin on her plum, still feeling really tired.
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