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 Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:11 pm
Morgan stood at the top of a slide looking down at the long shiny metal slope that lead back to the ground. There was a gleam in the boy's bluish grey eyes before he launched himself head first down the slide and landed landed softly in a mini snowbank that had built up at the base. This was fun and way better than being stuck in the house or watching his father work. Almost as fun as going to the fun daycare place.
Hidden inside a long red plastic tube Skylar was watching his brother with amusement. The young Nu Mou boy would go play soon himself but for right now he was finding the series of plastic tubes interesting to explore, you could see the hold park if you went through all of them,see it all and never even have to go back outside.
Nearby on a bench Caleb watched over the playground, his son and nephew needed the fresh air and he had to admit it was a a rather nice day outside.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:37 pm
Bal was no great fan of snow. It got into his boots and wetted the bottoms of his jeans, and unless he paid very close attention to his tail it always dragged and got the tuft on the end of it sopping wet too.
Still, he also did not like being cooped up inside, and after a few days he was always forced outdoors by the itchy feeling in his legs. Ants in his pants was what Laura called it. Bal wasn't sure about that, but he wanted to run, and the park had lots of space.
There was already a boy there, on the slide, which was too bad because the slide was Bal's favorite part and he didn't like waiting. It was important to be polite, though.
"Is it your turn?" he asked, approaching the boy.
Laura strolled over to the bench Caleb was on and smiled at him, sitting down on the other side of it. "Is that your kid?" she asked pleasantly, leaning back to watch the children.
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:43 pm
Morgan who was once again at the top of the slide, looked down at the strange boy and nodded " Be right down" he said flinging himself down the slide and into the snow again. " It's fun you gonna try?" he asked taking in the stranger's appearance, he looked pretty cool.
From withing the tube Skylar could hear other voices , he was going to listen more before coming out though, maybe even surprise whoever was there.
" My nephew Morgan actually, my kid Skylar is somewhere inside the plastic jungle gym thing " Caleb said and nodded to the last place he'd seen the boy. " Is that boy yours ?" he asked
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:21 pm
"Yeah, I like slides," Bal said, smiling and swishing his tail in the snow. He liked the look of the other boy, too; he wasn't like anyone else he had ever seen.
He climbed the slide's ladder carefully, watching the rungs for ice or puddles of melted snow. It was all safe -- which made sense, since the other boy had just been up it -- and he got to the top without slipping. He looked down the slide, and reflected again on how much he liked it. Being up high, and coming down so fast, was deeply satisfying.
He sat and enjoyed it for a moment, then shoved off and shot down the slick metal of the slide, tumbling ungracefully off into the snowbank. He grinned and shook the snow out of his hair. "You wanna go now?" he asked, standing up and dusting his jacket off. His pants were wet and cold from his landing and stuck to him, but he hardly minded.
"He is!" Laura said, and followed Caleb's gaze to the plastic tunnels. "I think I'd go in there too, probably much drier."
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:04 pm
Morgan shook his head " No you can go again, I have snow in my hat" The Nu Mou child said with a sigh, he had to get it out before it melted and became water, then he wouldn't be able to wear it. Flipping the cap inside out he ban to pick at bits of snow and ice that clung to it.
At the far end of the plastic jungle gym , the side closest to the the slide there came strange chirruping noise coming from one of the hollow tubes and then suddenly out from inside it popped Skylar grinning brightly, tail sweeping the snow behind him from side to side clearing a path for anyone to follow. Not that there was anything or anyone behind him.
" Hi, M' Skylar" He announced as he reached up to adjust his own purpley blue hat
Caleb laughed at that " If it was a matter of dryness they wouldn't be here at all they have a sort of genetic hydrophobia" he explained. " and looks like Skylar's gotten curious about your boy, what is his name by the way?
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Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:43 pm
"Okay," Bal said, watching Morgan pick snow out of his hat with only mild curiosity. It was odd, but then people did odd things all the time, and that was all right.
He tromped over to the slide's ladder, and was just about to scale it when another boy popped out of the maze of slides. Bal's eyes widened in a startled sort of way, but he did not consider himself easy to startle and he recovered quickly. He stepped away from the ladder and grinned at the new boy, his tail swishing along the top of the snow.
"M'Bal," he said, looking from one boy to the other, "You look kinda the same." This was true, and interesting because it was not a very common way to look. They might be brothers, maybe, but he had a sister and they didn't look anything alike.
"That'd be Bal," Laura said, watching the children intently, "I wish he was a bit hydrophobic, myself; looks like he's gotten his clothing soaked again." She glanced over at Caleb, suddenly curious. "Genetic hydrophobia?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:36 pm
" His hat's purple blue" Morgan said from behind Bal, " Mine's green" he continued putting said green hat back on now that it was free of snow and ice. though he still didn't understand it himself Morgan was aware now that he and Skylar were similar in practically every way except the hats they wore and dark birth marks on their feet that were always covered.
" We're twins" Skylar explained " So we look the same" At least that was how he understood it from hearing his father talk about it. His eyes flicked between the slide , his twin and Bal " We should all go" he said suddenly pointing at the slide curious as to what that might be like. Without even waiting for an answer he began to trek through the snow towards the desired object.
Caleb nodded " Yeah something to do with their species, Nu Mou and having like this deep utter hated and fear of water" The man shrugged " I don't really get it myself but i can tell you I'd rather a kid who liked getting wet than one who didn't , I imagine Bal is at least easy to bath?" Still, the man didn't pity her trying to keep the boy from getting sick or having to wash and dry those clothes later
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:32 pm
Bal tilted his head and listened to the explanation carefully, a solemnly attentive expression on his face. That made sense: that they were twins, and that they had differently colored hats. He suddenly liked their hats, which seemed like a very practical idea to him.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the slide appraisingly. That was a good idea too. He liked the slide, and going down it all at once with the two other boys would be fun, even if they might fall all over each other. "Okay," he said absently, nodding, and clambered up the ladder behind his new friend.
"Ha, well, usually," Laura said. "As easy as any little boy can be, I suppose. Must be tricky with your kid." She glanced over at the children, chewing the corner of her lip thoughtfully. "Who're the Nu Mou, by the way? I don't think I've ever heard of them."
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Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:52 pm
All three boys made their way up the slide, with Morgan bringing up the rear. One really wasn't supposed to play like that but the slide was built sturdy enough to hold three small children. Once they were all lined up and there was a limited amount of everyone sitting on someone else's tail Morgan pushed them off and away they slid, Morgan and Skylar cheering.
" Weird race out of this place called Ivalice apparently there's video game based on the place but it also seems to really exist you know so it's hard to say for sure. wherever the place is it's not on Gaia and the information about Nu mou my brother and I have found is sketchy at best. mostly we just know they don't like water and their hats are actually indicators of jobs which is weird."
Caleb found the whole thing amusing but rather strange truth be told. he also found he hated taking the kids to game stores to get information becuase there was always someone there who wanted to buy his kids or some of their blood and that was just wrong.
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 8:55 pm
Bal let out a whoop with the other boys as they rushed down the slide, tumbling out at the bottom in an awkward tangle of arms and legs. He burst out laughing and wiped the snow off his shirt again, staggering unsteadily to his feet.
"We should play a game!" he said. "What's your favorite game?"
"Really?" asked Laura, listening with clear interest. "Ivalice...never heard of them, either. That's interesting, though; I bet your boys'll get a lot of use out of that game when they're older." She smiled. "What jobs do their hats stand for, anyway?"
It was a curious thing -- Bal and Naida had always had fairly obvious origins, and it had never occurred to her that a child's race might have to be puzzled out.
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 11:08 pm
" Tag" they said together. It was always a short game becuase being Nu mou the twins bodies just weren't meant for a lot of physical activity. Still it was fun and exciting becuase you never knew who was gonna go where and what might happen.
" Well Morgan, the one with the green hat , his stands for beast master, the sort of personal who can like telepathically control animals." Caleb said " though he's never done it as far as we know although it could be becuase he's too young." The man wasn't sure if he wanted his Nephew to ever have such an ability or not, all creatures should have free will.
" Skylar well his hat is that of the morphers who actually turn into animals and he's definitely never done that, I sort of hope he doesn't either becuase that could just get awkward." Like what if the boy got stuck in an animals body or got stuck halfway.
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Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 11:57 pm
Bal lit up at their answer, as tag was easily the best game in the world. Their legs seemed like they would be tricky to run on, but Bal did not mention this or think about it too hard. They were their legs, after all, and they probably knew how they worked better than he did.
"Okay!" he said, a wide grin on his face. "We should eeny meeny miny moe for who's it."
"Ah, yeah, I can see how that'd be awkward," Laura said, watching the kids with new curiosity. They would be able to control and transform into animals someday? Really? It was funny to think about; they seemed so little. She wondered if Bal had any latent powers like theirs.
"That's quite a gift, though. If they can control it, and use it responsibly, and all that, that is." Laura fell into a thoughtful silence for a moment. "Are there any classes somewhere that they could take? I know the Liberty Center's got a daycare, at least."
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Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:39 pm
Both boys looked confused at Bal when he said this, whatever it was they'd never done that before still they nodded. " You do it" Morgan said, not willing to admit out loud anyways that he wasn't sure what eeny meeny miny moe even was?
Caleb shook his head " We haven't found anyone yet who could teach them if they do show the abilities, we do have them at the liberty center daycare and we;ll enroll them in school there but there aren't any other Nu Mou there especially not older ones. we're searching Gaia for those at the moment actually." Hopefully they'd find some too, it'd be pretty frustrating for the kids if they grew up the only ones of their kind here.
" It is a gift if they have the abilities" the man admitted" It's just, they seem so dangerous, but I suppose if they knew that they were doing it wouldn't be too bad." Caleb suddenly smiled " somehow I can see Sky turning in a chewed up essay and saying a dog ate his homework and not telling the teacher he is the dog."
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:08 pm
"Okay," Bal said agreeably. It never occurred to them that they wouldn't have heard of it; like a number of things at his house, eeny meeny miny moe had been imported from Earth and was rather foreign to everyone else, although he had not quite discovered this yet. He wiped the snow off of his gloves, and then pointed to Morgan, Skylar, and himself in turn, mumbling the nursery rhyme as he went. The final moe landed on Morgan. "You're it!" he cried, grinning and skipping back a step.
"Ah, really?" asked Laura, her forehead wrinkling with concern. That would be a sad way to grow up, knowing nobody else like you, although she supposed they had each other. "I'm sure you'll find them somewhere. Gaia's a big place."
The second bit made her laugh in spite of herself. "Ha! I know that's something I would have loved to be able to do when I was in school."
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Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:28 pm
Morgan frowned for just a second before darting left to chase Skylar first.
The other Nu Mou child being slower than his generally more active brother he only made it a few feet from where he'd originally been before he was tagged. Bluish grey eyes centered on Bal and the chase was on. tail dragging in the snow as he went Skylar held onto his hat with one hand and charged at Bal arm outstretched with the other.
" Yeah it's a huge place with lots of strange people" the man agreed. " To be honest if I was still in school and he was my brother I'd get him to change and chew up my work just so it looked authentic" Caleb had never been much of a man for schoolwork until high school when he had a bigger choice in what he was learning.
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