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 Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:17 am
Jack was in exile. He hadn't meant to upset Mishka's latest experiment, he truly hadn't - but really, how was he supposed to know he wasn't to disturb the century egg while the girl was trying to hatch it? He'd only been trying to be tidy. And besides, who even tried to hatch a century egg? It completely missed the point.
"...I betther do thomthing nithe to make up for ith," Jack mumbled to himself, hands jammed into his pockets as he made his lonely way down the street. But what? Mishka flew off the handle every time he so much as breathed loudly. Hmm...
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Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:16 pm
Ranza wrapped a shimmery red and gold scarf around the lower half of her face and pushed her way out into the street, a heavy shopping bag gripped between her clenched fists. Her inability to wear jackets was inconvenient in cold weather such as this - Parrot Pirates were certainly meant for more tropical climes.
Anyone who knew Ranza and knew what store she was coming from could surely guess what was in the bag. The sign behind her said 'Abramson & Brown, Booksellers', and sure enough, Ranza's shopping bag contained at least a month's allowance worth of paperbacks.
She was not particularly paying attention to where she was going as she set off up the street - she had already worked a thick copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows out of the bag and had it propped open in front of her face so she could read as she walked.
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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:43 pm
So busy fretting over what to do with himself, Jack didn't notice Ranza until he had walked straight into her. He collided with her knees and fell back with a painful-sounding thud, dazedly blinking and looking around to see what had hit him.
"Thorry," he said pre-preemptively, hoping he hadn't just made someone ELSE mad at him.
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Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:39 am
Ranza looked abruptly up from her book, about to object loudly and foully that people out to watch where they were going and get out of her damn way, but didn't see anyone. She looked down to see a little boy about her sister's age.
"Well, I guess we're two of a kind," she said, helping him up and admiring his feathers. He had some blue ones, huh? And a sort of devilish glint in his eye. Usually she didn't like boys, but this one might prove to be okay.
"You okay?" she asked, almost genuinely concerned. Almost.
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Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:40 am
Jack's eyes widened as he stared at Ranza. Rainbow girl!
"Pretty," he said, beak hanging agape. After an awestruck moment he blinked, realizing Awesome Rainbow Girl had asked him a question. "Um. Yeth," he added, head bobbing up and down so fast he was in danger of giving himself whiplash. "Thorry for bumping into you, I didn't mean it."
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:04 pm
Ranza beamed triumphantly at the boy, grateful for the complement. She supposed she could forgive him. "Be more careful where you're going next time," she said, and gave the book a withering glance before sticking a cover flap in it to mark her place and closing it. She tucked it under her arm and held out a hand to shake.
"I'm Ranza," she declared. "What's your name?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:34 am
"Yeth ma'am," Jack said feebly, looking down at his bare toes with a penitent expression. He looked up, startled, when Ranza stuck out her hand. Was she going to smack him? ...hm, no, he didn't think he'd warranted a smack. Besides, she DID seem rather nice.
"Jack," he said proudly. He stuck his hand out too, not understanding what it meant to shake, and wiggled his fingers in the empty air for extra effect. "Very nithe to meet you."
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Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:52 pm
Ranza nodded and shook the boy's hand, demonstrating what she had wanted from him. "Alright, Jack," she said. She thought for a moment.
"Jack's a good name for a pirate," she said. "Calico Jack, Jack Sparrow, Jack Daniels."
She wasn't sure about the last one, but she'd heard the name somewhere.
"You know anything about Pirates?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips. She wanted to look tough.
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:00 am
Jack preened at the compliment. He'd liked his name before, but gosh golly, now he felt special.
"You very nithe," he said bashfully, looking up at Ranza with unmistakable affection. Very easy to please, Jack was. At the question, he paused and thought very, very hard. A little too hard, seeing has he went briefly cross-eyed.
"They have hookth for handth and peg legth," he said at length. "And, and....and they make people walk plankth!"
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 6:11 pm
Ranza laughed. It was a good start. She could work with this kid. "More than that," she said. "Pirates sail the seven seas and find treasure!"
She looked for somewhere on her person to stash her book, failed, and went back to balancing it on her hip. She grinned at the boy. "I'm gonna be a pirate," she said. It was quite possibly a delusion she had picked up from books and movies, only encouraged by Exi.
"I'm gonna have adventures. Do you like adventures, Jack?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:30 pm
Jack went wide-eyed.
"Treathur?" he asked. "Like thiny thingth? I like thiny thingth."
He did, too. The slowly growing horde of shiny junk and a few more valuable pieces under his bed stood testament to this. He'd had no idea pirates had the same hobby as he did. They must be an absolutely lovely bunch of people.
"Adventureth?"
Hm. He'd never been on one before, honestly.
"I bet I would," Jack said optimistically. "Can I come?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:55 am
"When I have them?" asked Ranza, "Sure!"
She held up the thick, orange book in her hand in demonstration. "Not right now, though," she said. "I'm gonna read this, first."
The kid was cute, but there was no way she was taking him to the garden. No. She'd go there on her own and chill in her treehouse and read.
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:18 am
Jack nodded eagerly, hanging off of Ranza's every word. He was terribly impressed that she could read - he was still working on Go Dog, Go.
"...I can read thtuff too," he said awkwardly. "Kind of. Who taught you?"
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Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:34 pm
"I go to school," said Ranza. "Sometimes." Sometimes she got to school and then ducked out of class to spend all day in the library. Moving on from that, it excited her to meet someone else who was embarking on the journey of learning how to read. Dalal couldn't, and it made Ranza rather sad for her.
"Well, when you're better at it," she said, "I'll give you lots of good stuff to read. You'll like it."
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