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 Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 6:28 pm
"Hmmm…. We need summa this and summa of that~"
Beatz idly tossed a package of apples into the cart, pausing a moment to glance down at her list. Ever since Bantu had implemented a cafeteria system at the guild – and thus, given her a job – more and more of the thieves had begun eating "at home" so to speak. The Boss had said that it was easier on all of them if they stopped their younger thieves from stealing food, and the badger clan cook had to agree with her logic. Still, it meant she was shopping every week, and almost always preparing food. But the benefits outweighed the downsides, so Beatz wouldn't complain. Besides, who would complain when she got to go shopping with an adorable rat baby?
Said rat baby was content to lie in his carrier, brown eyes watching everything move by him with a sort of wide-eyed curiousity. This was so fun! With Gyp he had only got to see one person, but now there were a whole lot of people! Clearly, it was an amazing place.
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Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:04 pm
Aurrek wheeled his shopping cart along, making his way up and down every single aisle as was his habit when he went to the store. The basket was currently filled with about twenty little glass containers of baby food, a large pack of disposable diapers, a feather cat toy with a bell, and a twelve-inch German chocolate cake. Exactly one of the items was for him.
One of the ones for whom the former God of Hourglasses was doing this shopping sat with the food in the basket of the cart. Kelreid turned the cat toy over and over in his chubby translucent blue hands, peering in wonder at the feathers as he constantly wondered what was on the back of them.
The other child, a younger girl, sat in the baby seat where she gnawed dutifully on her makeshift teething ring - a rawhide bone her adopted father had bought her on the previous week's trip to the store. Her bright green eyes wandered as the odd family moved down the aisles, and she occasionally made a small noise, but seemed content for the moment just chewing on her toy.
They came to the end of the household cleaners aisle and close to the frozen desserts, so Aurrek swerved the cart over to see what flavors of ice cream were available. If he did not get himself more than about twenty dollars of delicious foods to try, there was really no point for him to even come. As a god, he did not technically need to eat... but it made for a good hobby. And it made the blue-haired man feel less embarrassed about the other contents of his cart. Babies included.
"Come on, the shipment should have just come in yesterday, so there should be some double-fudge brownie pints left...." he murmured as he tried to see the selection through a particularly fogged pane of glass. That much fog meant that it had been opened recently, Aurrek thought; with any luck, whomever had just been here had not bought all of his favorite flavor.
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Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 7:19 pm
Aaah, just a few more things on her list and then she could get out of here. She never liked leaving her kitchen for very long, even with the dogs there to guard it. It was always a pain to come back to someone bleeding on the floor because they had tried to steal food while she was away. Blood left all sorts of stains and was such a pain to get off the granite floors. Sigh.
The cook turned down the frozen food aisle, humming under her breath as she mentally checked off things from her list. Just ice cream and cake, and then she was finished! Unfortunately, her way appeared to be blocked by a strange man and two children in a cart. While Beatz did not want the double-fudge brownie ice cream, she did want the Reese peanut butter cup one that was right next to it, and Aurrek was blocking her way. Hmmm.... well, she wasn't in a rush, so she supposed she would wait. Beatz pulled up her cart near Aurrek's and pretended to study the contents of the freezer.
Kiba, upon spotting movement beside him, gave an inquisitive squeak. Whoever had arrived now?
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:15 am
At the squeak sound, the girl in the baby seat turned to look for whatever had made the sound, fixing her green gaze on the young rat after a moment. She kept gnawing on her bone, and tried to smile a little around it, showing off the number of little pointed teeth she had already developed. Then Tahirah pulled the bone out of her mouth - ignoring the drool running down her chin - and waved it at the boy in what she intended as a friendly gesture. It was someone else little like her, who was not her brother!
Kelreid looked over at the newcomers as well, and shoved a finger in his mouth to chew on it a little. He glanced between the baby and its guardian, and wondered why they were just waiting there.
Though Aurrek himself did not notice the others waiting on him right away, the large white crab who sat on his shoulder noticed, and waved its claws at both the woman and the rat baby.
The hourglass god, in the meantime, had encountered a small dilemma - the ice cream was on sale, but he had to get five pints. There were three pints of double-fudge brownie, so that was easy, but it took him a few moments to decide which other two to get. He selected one of the Reeses peanut butter cup pints, and then some cherry-vanilla one that he thought the kids might like. As he turned to put them in the cart, he saw the other woman waiting and grinned sheepishly as he shoved his cart over to the side.
"Excuse me, sorry about that. There are just too many flavors." Hopefully she would not think that all of the sweets were for the kids; once before, an overprotective mother had given Aurrek a hard time about his shopping lists. Although here she was, apparently interested in ice cream, and she had a kid in the cart, too. A little rat thing, looked like. Mortal children on Gaia were so strange, he thought as he put the ice cream containers into the cart next to his transparent and slightly blue-toned son.
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:10 am
Ooooh, now here was something he had never seen! Kiba was clearly quite fascinated by Tahirah, brown eyes watching her gnaw on the bone. How come he didn't have a bone to chew on like that? Beatz had only given him some little plastic baby toys to chew on, and while he did enjoy them, that bone looked so much cooler. What did it even taste like? He squeaked back at the girl when the bone was waved at him, waving both his little pink hands back at her. Hullo!
Beatz looked up when Aurrek spoke to her, flashing the man a bright grin. "Oh don't worry none sir, I don't mind waiting. Picking ice cream can be a big deal. Besides, this littlun don't mind waiting none." She gave Kiba a small pat on the head, before beginning to pick out several flavours of ice cream and drop them into her cart. "Interesting thing you got on your shoulder there," she said as she dropped in two pints of vanilla – the only flavour of ice cream Gyp would eat – into the cart. "Never seen a white crab before."
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:46 am
The crab strained towards Beatz, snapping one of its claws at her as it held onto the high fur collar of Aurrek's robes with the other.
Aurrek shrugged a little, turning his head to glance cross-eyed at the crab briefly. "He's the only one of his kind I've seen, myself," he said a bit distractedly. "He's sort of my familiar, though, guess you could say. So he's a bit special in a way."
The hourglass god waved his fingers at the rat baby. "I can't say I've seen too many young ones like yours, either," he added. "My own are far from normal, though, obviously." He knit his fingers together a moment, then reached down to take hold of the hourglass that hung from his waist sash. "Do you know if mortal kids here on Gaia tend to look like my two, or yours? Or are these ones something special, too? Seems no two kids I've ever met are much alike."
As the hourglass ran out of sand in the top, Aurrek flipped the twin glass bulbs over inside the silver frame they were set in, setting the sand flowing back the other way. Then he looked back up at the woman and hastily added, "Oh, my name is Aurrek, by the way. The little girl is Tahirah, and the boy is Kelreid. And the crab's name is Nordri." It felt better this way, introducing himself and the family, since he was asking so many questions.
Giggling a little at the little noise the rat-boy made, Tahirah waved her bone in the air, banging it against the metal edge of the baby seat. After bonking it a couple times, though, it slipped from her hand and fell to the floor. Peering downwards at it, she heaved a disappointed sigh, then started wailing.
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:41 pm
Beatz tilted her head at the crab, unsure if she could touch it. It seemed interested in her, but the snapping claw seemed a bit dangerous. "Good day to you, white crab," she said, grinning before returning her attention to Aurrek. "Familiar? You some sort of wizard or something?" She had heard about familiars from Gyp. The fortune teller was well-versed in the field of magic, something that both Beatz and Bantu were definitely unfamiliar with. Magic was supposed to help people solve problems, or so the vixen said. The two of them seemed to deal with problems the same way: hit it or hit it again.
"Like mine?" The cook turned her attention to Kiba, tilting her head. Nope, she couldn't say she had ever seen a kid quite like him. "I'm just babysitting this one for a bit while his real mama's out, but she said something about him being from a stick. She went to some HQ or something and met a guy there who called them zombie children." Beatz gave a small shrug. "I dunno what he was talking about. Seems like a fairly normal kid to me, just with some extra bits. Between you and me, I think there isn't any normal kids here on Gaia. They all seem to be a bit strange in some way."
Beatz nodded at the introduction. "Nice to meet all of yah. I'm Beatz, and this here is Fluffy. Kibarango's his real name, but since he don't know it I figure there's no harm in nicknaming him."
Oooh she giggled too! Kiba churred softly, wiggling his ears at her when she banged the bone against the cart. The moment she started wailing he started squeaking, not sure what to do about her distress. What was wrong?
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:02 pm
Whether he felt like being a good big brother or whether he just wanted to stop the noise was unclear, but regardless, Kelreid stood up and reached over the edge of the cart with one arm, as though he could somehow reach the bone on the floor. Then, failing that, he started trying to get one knee up onto the edge of the cart so he could climb out, failing to notice that it was a long way to the floor, and that the cart was threatening to tip over.
Aurrek intervened quickly, picking Kelreid up under the arms with both hands and setting him gently on his feet on the linoleum, and then bent to grab the bone off of the floor.
"Fluffy, that's cute," he said with a forced smile, clearly bothered by the screaming as he hurriedly returned Tahirah's bone. "I could call this girl Jaws, with the way her teeth have been coming in. That's not normal. But then she has scales, too." He shrugged a bit, then gave the girl a pleading glance.
"And yeah, I guess you could say I'm a wizard," he added, sounding by his tone like he did not really care to elaborate much.
Tahirah's eyes were squeezed shut in what was threatening to be a full-on tantrum, and did not even notice that the bone was back within arms' reach. The crying stopped abruptly, though, as Aurrek stuck the end of the thing directly into her little wailing mouth.
She chomped down on the end of it again and awkwardly took it from her father in her chubby little hands, and continued to sniffle. After a moment, though, she cooed around the end of it at Kiba.
Released from the prison of the cart, Kelreid figured he could practice walking, even if the problem that had originally caused him to want out had already been solved. He immediately walked up to the other cart and peered up at the rat-baby.
"Hiya," he said.
"It speaks!" Aurrek commented with a slight laugh. "He's done it before, but usually he doesn't want to talk to people. Or, you know, actually say real words. I await the day his sister can do more than scream, though. Is little Fluffy much of a handful for his mama?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 1:19 pm
Beatz had moved to grab for the toddler as well, and nearly collided with Aurrek when he got there first. Phew. She had thought that cart was going over for sure! That wouldn't have ended well. Idly she wondered if these two kids actually belonged to Aurrek, or if he was just watching them for someone else. His wife perhaps. Though the badger cook was curious, she wasn't particularly nosy. People did whatever they wanted with their lives, and so long as they weren't hurting anyone else, Beatz didn't really care too much. Thus, she didn't pursue the wizard topic, and instead kept the focus on the babies.
"I thought it was pretty cute too. And Jaws seems rather fitting for her. Nice bone she's chomping on there." Beatz's eyes followed Kelreid as he moved towards Kibarango, smiling at him. "He doesn't like to talk?" The woman glanced back at Aurrek, head tilted. "Might just not be the talkative type. I'm thinking this one won't stop the moment he learns words. He likes to do his own little talking all the time. A handful? Naw, he's a pretty easy kid. Just don't bark at him and he's good as gold."
To emphasize the point Kibarango clicked his teeth together in a brux, brown eyes staring down at the toddler who was speaking to him. Why hullo! He gave a curious peep, pink ears perking. Who was this now?
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:20 pm
In reply, Kelreid held up his hand and waved, then peered at Kiba through it. The other boy was a little furry in places like his sister, but seemed far less dangerous.
"What's your name?" Aurrek encouraged the boy in a sugary-sweet voice like he had heard some other mothers use on their own youngsters. "Can you tell him your name? Can you say 'Kelreid'?"
The water elemental turned to give his father a look, then laughed a little. Since Aurrek was bending over towards him, Kelreid picked the crab off of his shoulder carefully in two hands, and showed Nordri to Kiba.
The crab wiggled his legs in the air, but relaxed when he saw that he was being held and not dropped. He clicked a claw at the rat-boy, intending to be playful. For all that he was generally belligerent, Nordri had gotten used to entertaining children. If he was interesting, then he got chewed on less.
Aurrek straightened again, giving up for the moment on getting Kelreid to talk. "Yeah, the plastic ones didn't last long with her," he told Beatz, glancing again at Tahirah working on her bone. "And I figure if they're okay for dogs, they're okay for babies, right? I think they're supposed to be able to eat pieces of them, anyway. Rawhide seemed better for her than plastic."
He sighed and watched Kelreid. "I think he'll talk more when he has more to talk about, at least. He chatters to his toys sometimes."
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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:19 pm
Woaaah! See-through hand! Kiba gave a curious squeak, staring rather googly eyed at Kelreid through his hand. That was nifty! Why couldn't he do that?
Beatz quietly watched the interaction between Aurrek and his boy, unable to help a small smile. Wherever had he learned to speak to the boy like that? Mind you, she had heard Bantu get a little sugary around the rat baby. Still, the cook didn't think she'd heard her boss ever talk to him quite like that. It was funny to hear it coming from a man. Maybe these were his children after all.
She nodded along with what Aurrek was saying, not having a problem with the kid gnawing on the bone. Perhaps other mothers would have had a bit of an issue seeing a baby as young as Tahirah with a bone, but Beatz thought it appropriate. After all, if she had really strong teeth now, bone was better than plastic. And it didn't look like it was chipping her teeth down any, so why worry?
"I wouldn't worry 'bout him talking. As long as he does it he should be fine. Some kids just don't like being prompted, and talk when they want to. Others don't ever stop talking."
Kiba's eyes widened at the sight of the crab, reaching up a little pink hand fearlessly towards it. Oooooh, so pretty! He churred softly, eyes focused intently on the white crab.
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Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:45 pm
With all of the coordination that could be expected of a crab, the creature reached out towards Kiba's hand, and closed his claw gently on the tot's fingers. Then he moved his own claw up and down a little, like a handshake. He was not trying to hurt the boy, but his shell was still a bit rough in places. At least if he did pinch the kid by mistake, someone else was holding him, so he was a little less likely to be thrown onto the floor for it.
"Crab," Kelreid said quietly with a small smile. "Name Nordri."
Aurrek watched his son introduce the crustacean to the other little boy, and glanced nervously between Kiba, Nordri, and Kiba's guardian. Hopefully the crab would not decide to hurt the kid. Although Nordri generally seemed pretty relaxed with the kids, surprisingly enough.
"The crab is nice," Aurrek tried to assure Beatz. He figured he did not need to intervene just yet, though.
Seeing that she was no longer the center of attention at the moment, Tahirah twisted to the side and leaned over so she could see what was. She giggled a little and waved her bone at the new kid and the crab, then quieted down to see if Kiba would like Nordri as much as she did.
Tahirah thought Nordri was a lot of fun to chew on.
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Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:41 pm
Kiba clicked his teeth together at the feeling of the claws around his fingers, but did pull his hand away. It felt weird, but it didn't seem to hurt him. He simply blinked at the crab, watching his hand go up and down in a handshake. Whee! This was cool! The rat baby giggled, reaching out to pat the claw holding his fingers with his spare hand. "Brrrrrrrr!" He announced, grinning up at Kelreid. Nordi the crab!
Beatz watched the crab quietly, but when Kiba didn't seem to be agitated by it she relaxed. The crab didn't look irritated or angry, and it wasn't squirming away in Kelreid's hand. Aurrek seemed to a little nervous about the crustacean, and the cook offered him a small smile. "I'm sure he is. Kiba likes everyone, so I don't think they'll be any problems." Indeed, the rat baby hadn't squeaked or hissed at the crab, and seemed to be quite talkative about the whole thing. That was a good sign.
"Chrrrrrrrrrt!" The ratling replied to Tahriah, waving his hand at her. The crab was good! It was very nice. No pinching!
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Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:19 pm
Tahirah giggled and rapped her bone on the metal edge of the cart. Any friend of Nordri's and of Kelreid's was a friend of hers, as far as she was concerned. Well, and she was Daddy's friend, too, even if Nordri seemed to rather dislike the white-skinned man.
As soon as the greetings were over with, Aurrek carefully took the crab back from Kelreid. Nordri would probably refrain from attacking the children, because really, he never had before, but the crab was belligerent enough towards the hourglass god himself that he always worried about the creature's behavior.
As soon as Nordri was back in Aurrek's hands, the crab started wiggling his legs around, trying futilely to grab one of his fingers or something.
Relieved of the interesting creature, Kelreid stepped back towards Aurrek's cart and held onto the woven wires by his sister. Not really sure what else to say, and feeling a bit shy at the moment, he glanced between the rat-boy and Tahirah.
After a moment, he pointed up at the Devourer girl and declared, "Sister," with a small grin. Then he pointed at Kira and repeated the word as a question: "Sister?" Then to clarify, "Have sister?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:26 pm
Kiba had nothing to bang on the side of his cart, so settled for simply clicking his teeth together. She made such cool sounds with her bone! Then again, he could always make sounds with his mouth. They made a great team! It was a miniature rhythm band, made up of bone-on-cart clanks and ratling-teeth-clicks. Guaranteed to drive any normal caretaker mad.
"Feisty little critter. Not sure I'd want one as my pet, but to each his own." Beatz gave a small shrug and a smile, watching the crab's little legs flail about. Yup, she was definitely only interested in eating those. Though keeping them as pets would be rather interesting. People wouldn't try and take stuff from her kitchen then (not that they did, what with her dog around). But at least her kitchen dog was a little more friendly.
The rat baby's ears perked when Kelreid spoke, watching his mouth move intently. Words were beyond him, but he loved imitating sounds. "Seeeee?" He replied, before clicking his teeth again happily.
Beatz decided to answer for her charge. "No sisters or brothers. Not at the moment, at least."
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