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 Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:10 pm
Most of the time when Archie's "radar" went off these days, it led him somewhere open and public, perfect places for unsuspecting masses to gather and ooh and aah at the new arrival, sparking jealousy and parental tendencies in the most unsuspecting people. This time, he was all alone. The last time he was all alone during a landing, something very strange had emerged from the pod. He hoped that wouldn't happen again.
This place wasn't quite a park, but it was close enough. At its center sat a large pond, teeming with some sort of slow-moving fish Archie didn't recognize. He hoped that in addition to someone showing up soon to claim the kid, that this was not a water landing. There had only been one pseudo-water landing that he could recall, but it too had been in winter, and although this day was warmer than that one had been, Archie still didn't like the idea of spending it stomping around in a pond.
He walked around for quite a while before finding a bench and taking a seat. It was nice to be calm and admire the view once and a while.
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 7:17 pm
Of course, she wasn't meant to be there. She wasn't meant to be anywhere without an appropriate escort. But Taima had been particularly fussy since morning, and a snappish angry scorpion wasn't pleasant for anyone. She would teach the girl to be pleasant. It just... hadn't been very successful yet.
So she'd taken her daughter, hand in claw, to a place of peace. It would be meditative. Taima would surely relax under it's influence, find herself lulled by the peace. And to her surprise, it seemed to work.
The darkling toddler settled at her side, not tugging or screaming but instead running claws lightly against trees and bushes. She wasn't destroying anything, and that very fact lifted Satika's heart and had her almost singing the ladies praises.
She didn't notice the man, she was caught in the bright sounds of her toddler's laughter. And that was it, the two of them beside the water, Satika in a black silk sari edged in gold, and Taima in red, the small child's outfit simple and showing some signs of frequent patching.
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:20 pm
Archie noticed the child first, partly because of her red clothing, but mostly because she had claws for hands. He wasn't that far away from where the two were, but he didn't want to startle them and he wasn't sure if they minded an interruption. As it was, they were going to get a rather large one soon if they stuck around. He got up from his bench and strolled closer, trying to make it look like he was just passing by.
"Hello," he said softly. "Nice day." At least for the moment.
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Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:27 pm
Satika seemed, for a moment, to consider the man. This place of peace and silence was not a place for men to be found. At least, she had not thought to find a man in a place such of this. No men of her own world would have looked for respite in such a location. But, she decided after some pause for study, this really was a man. In Gaia, it could be difficult to tell. But she was fairly certain.
It was then that she fell to her knees, a thing of grace and beauty, of swirly silk and simple elegant movement. At her side, Taima curtsied as well, but with little of her mother's grace, and with an irritated snapping of claws as well. Satika held her daughter in place with a subtle, firm hand.
"Sir." Soft throaty voice, almost edging on a seductive tone, if only because that was how Satika had been trained to speak. "I am sorry. I did not think to find this park thus occupied. I will... retire to a more appropriate location, with your permission."
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Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:49 am
"N...no, it's okay," Archie said. "You don't have to go anywhere, really. I was just waiting for someone." Well, he hadn't been expecting that. Having been surrounded by women all his life who would never prostrate themselves on the ground in front of him, nor use sexyvoice on people they had only just met, Archie was at a bit of a loss. "Please, get up," he said, slightly afraid to reach out to help her in case she took it the wrong way. "I didn't mean to disturb you."
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:49 pm
"I am not disturbed, sir. It was foolish of me to expect to find the gardens empty." She stood at his words, taking it as an order he had doubtless not intended to give. Her skirts swept around her with the hopeless flutterings of clipped winged birds, and her smile, and she did smile, was soft and sorrowful.
Taima was quicker to rise to her feet all scuttering and waving appendages. "Wanna go in da water." She pronounced.
"My apologies. She is young." For a moment she let her heavily kohled eyes fall to her daughter. "Go then. Bathe yourself in the lady's peace."
And the child was giggling and running, this small dangerous thing, a voice to shatter the serenity.
But Satika spoke with the serenity, as part of it. "Would you have me linger with you then, sir, until your visitor arrives?"
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 7:45 am
"Yeah, sure," he said, refraining from adding 'knock yourself out' in jest for fear that she might actually do so. Archie hoped that whatever sort of person this new criminal was appreciated this demure woman. He almost felt guilty about the whole thing, but then again, she could always 'return' the child if it proved to be too overwhelming.
"I'm Archie," he offered, inner sensor snapping almost painfully toward the sky. He knew that if he looked up, he might see a faint dot of a ship in the clear blue, but there was still plenty of time before it got here, considering where they were. No people to corral away from the landing site, no prying eyes. This pod had done him a service picking someplace so out of the way, and if he hadn't known it had no way of doing so consciously, he might have thanked it.
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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:45 am
"I am called Satika Mertuldan, Sir." Satika replied. It was the thing, in Gaia, to give men one's first name. It was inappropriate, of course, but what could one do? It would make him uncomfortable if she did otherwise, and surely that would be the larger sin.
Her eyes trailed over to where Taima was throwing rocks into the water, disturbing the placid pools with great splashes. She appeared to be trying to skip said rocks, but given her unfortunate hands, she was lucky to even manage to grasp some of them. Poor, precious child.
"Do you come often to this place?" Surely not. But it was a way to talk. "It is one of the more lovely locations I have found in Gaia."
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