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 Posted: Sun May 10, 2009 3:57 pm
It was, Jack reflected, a very long walk to make on a good day and a good day did not involve carrying a small child in one's arms as you fought your way through the almost hip-high grasses that surrounded the distant cottage. Regina squirmed a bit and he paused in his journey to readjust her positioning. She blinked up at him with huge amber eyes and he tried a gentle smile on her. Pink came to her cheeks and she made a small, squeaking noise before burying her face against his shoulder again. He sighed and started walking once more.
"I know, princess," he muttered. "It's a bl-, a pretty far walk. This guy might know somethin', though, so..." He trailed off and adjusted his hold again on the little girl as he skirted a rabbit hole. She weighed a ton. How could something so tiny and delicate be giving him back strain?
Slowly, the cottage came into better focus with its wood behind and, riding in the sky above like an ancient behemoth, the airship which Jack had learned was used for making deliveries. The paper in his pocket referenced this place as the courier for his books. He had a few questions that needed answers.
Regina lifted her head from his shoulder as they entered would could probably be considered the yard and stared with round eyes at the litter of scrap metal and furniture scattered around in the sweet-smelling grass. She made an inquiring noise and craned her neck to watch a dented boiler pass as they made their way to the door. Jack smiled at her interest. "I dunno," he admitted. "The girl at the post office said he's a bit o' a mad inventor type, too. Maybe he's makin' somethin' now." Shifting her to better rest in the crook of one arm, Jack raised the other to knock loudly. "Chin up, princess," he added. "We won't let him invent you into somethin' else."
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 1:58 pm
The response to Jack's knocking didn't come from inside the cottage, however, but from behind it. "Papa Max Papa Max!" A child's voice floated above the tall grass as it was parted by an unseen force heading toward the front. The voice's owner burst through the grass forest into the shorter "yard" section, revealing itself to be a little chestnut-haired girl, grass and dirt stains on her sky-blue shirt and white pants. As she stopped and looked up at the tall visitor, a loud crash could be heard from the back of the cottage, followed by a slightly plaintive male voice. "Noë, wait!"
Noë -- evidently the child's name -- focused with great interest on Regina before returning her gaze to Jack. "Hello." Her wide brown eyes were curious and completely unafraid, shifting her attention between the man and the girl he held. "Papa Max inna back," she pointed in the direction she'd come.
As if on cue, "Papa Max" half-ran, half-staggered into view, his expression that of a man who was trying to juggle several potentially-hazardous things at once and failing, bits of grass and straw caught in his disheveled ginger-blond hair. "Oh, hello!" he called as a friendly (if befuddled) smile took over his face. "Sorry, tidying up, can't be too careful, dangerous work this... Can I help you?"
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 9:04 pm
"Uh, yeah." The appearance of the tiny girl had derailed Jack's plans of a righteous calling-out. Not that he would have cursed in front of Regina, anyway, but how was he supposed to use strongly worded displeasure in front of the man's daughter? Awkwardly, he shifted Regina to his other arm. The procedure proved difficult as she had clung immediately to his shirt upon the appearance of new faces. She stared at Noe for a long moment before turning her nervous gaze on the so-called Papa Max.
Jack cleared his throat and blanked his face as he looked at the other man. "I ordered books," he stated flatly. "They haven't shown up."
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 11:38 am
"Books?" Max waded through the grass toward them, brow furrowing in thought as Noë scampered to meet him. "I don't believe we've gotten a shipment of books for delivery. I've been a bit, um... distracted the past day or so, though. I'll have to check wi-"
His eyes widened as he finally noticed the child the taller man was holding. "Oh, my." Cautiously Max studied her with a roboticist's eye, not wanting to alarm either of them as she seemed somewhat shy and fearful and he seemed somewhat cross. "Extraordinary. I've never seen her equal. She's exquisite. Hello, sweetling," he offered her as non-threatening a smile as he could.
"Pwetty," Noë agreed, hugging Max's leg and watching the other toddler. "Come inna box too?"
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 8:35 pm
At the mention of the dreaded Box, Regina paled and her fingers tightened further in Jack's shirt to the faint sound of tearing fabric. Jack grimaced a bit and used his free hand to smooth line down her backbone in an attempt to soothe her. His brown eyes flicked to study Noe and he offered her a faint smile. "Yeah, pet," he admitted. Then he frowned and looked back to Max. "Wait, now. Her, too?"
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Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 11:06 pm
Max stared at him. "You mean she- " he started almost at the same time. He looked at the frightened little cyborg girl again, then down at Noë, who beamed happily up at him. "Yeah, she... Yeah." A sense of near-relief washed over him -- he wasn't the only one who'd found a child in a mysterious metal crate. But the thought that, if there was one more, there were certainly others, sent an uncomfortable chill through him, even as it sparked about a million more questions than he already had. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed heavily. "I... don't know about you," he smiled wryly at the tall visitor, "but I could use a nice cuppa tea."
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Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 8:37 pm
Tea. It was as if the other man knew the secret British secret and Jack relented a bit more, bending enough to nod. "I reckon a cuppa would be just about right," he agreed. Regina twisted a bit in his hold to peer down at Noe more closely, her eyes almost crossing as she took in the other little girl. Jack absently chucked her beneath the chin. "C'mon, princess," he murmured. "Let's see what the bloke has t' say. You can play with little Noe there." Then he looked expectantly at Max.
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Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 2:13 pm
"Tea it is then!" Max chirped. He turned and started toward the the airship, with some small effort because Noë was still attached to his leg like a giggling remora. "Oof," Max groaned after a couple of steps. "Why don't you go ahead and wake Sam up, sweets?"
"Sam!" Noë immediately detached herself and bounced in front of him, holding her arms up in the universal toddler sign for hugs tiem nao plz. Max obliged, scooping her up and squeezing her tightly before setting her back down. She gave the other little girl a wave, then disappeared into the tall grass, carving a path for the others to follow.
Max watched her go with a smile. "She's irrepressible," he shook his head, then turned to his visitors. "Good heavens, where are my manners?" He offered the other man his hand. "I'm Max Wilson-Quant."
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Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 7:48 pm
"Jack Bierce." Jack clasped Max's hand and his grip was firm but friendly. "Nice t' meet you, Max." He paused as he released the shake and suddenly laughed. "More or less," he ammended. "You're lucky we're in the same boat, I reckon. Otherwise, there'd be some words." He shook his head, following the other man obediently. "I dunno how we got stuck into this. It's a mess but, if someone's puttin' these lil angels in crates, I'm glad they didn't get 'em. Right, princess?"
Regina looked up at being addressed and smiled shyly. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and cuddled in with a sigh.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 1:24 pm
"Yeah, I'm glad too. I can't even imagine..." Max's voice trailed off, lost in thought as he looked at the little girl Jack was carrying. "I mean," he continued, smiling, "it's been a bit of an upheaval -- I build robots and things, and I've had to really be aware of hazards -- well, more aware, which is to say I haven't really given it much thought before," he laughed. "But I wouldn't trade it -- or her -- for anything."
They approached the airship, which resembled little more than an old sailing ship with tailfins suspended below a huge gas bag, resting on two struts webbed with sailcloth and tethered to the earth by anchors. A gangway on the underside was open, acting as a ramp into the interior; there was just enough room for someone as tall as Jack to duck under the ship's belly without banging their head. "Welcome to my home." Max stopped at the foot of the gangway and gestured toward the opening. "After you, sir," he smiled with a nod.
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Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 6:40 pm
"Ah, cheers." Even as Jack walked up the gangway, Regina's head tilted back and her mouth opened in a soundless "o" of awe. She stared with huge eyes that tracked over every inch of the surface. Seeing this, Jack slowed his walk so she could have more time to absorb the airship. He could only dawdle so long, though, and they were inside soon enough. Jack waited just inside the entrance for their host.
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 3:33 pm
"It's not much," Max said as he strode up the gangway after them, "but there's more interesting stuff topside. This is the hold -- over there's my shipping assistant, Manny Fest." He pointed toward the rear of the hold, where a humanoid-ish robot was busily poking at a console at a workstation, on which was stencilled "Hatta's Delivery Service" and a sillouette of Tenniel's Mad Hatter from Alice In Wonderland riding an airship. "He- oh right, books," he smacked his forehead. "Let me g-"
"Papa Max!" Noë's voice echoed in the hold; she stood at the top of a set of stairs leading up to a room suspended out over the floor from the rear wall, one hand on the railing as she bounced and waived. "Sam has tea!"
Max looked at Noë, then back at Manny, then at Jack and Regina. "Um ah," he stammered, trying to prioritize amongst all this new craziness. "I think tea wins," he finally grinned with a shrug. "I'll get Manny to research your book shipment after tea, if that's alright?"
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 8:37 pm
"It'll do," Jack agreed. He was looking around with nearly as much interest as Regina who was again wide-eyed and gaping. Turning his attention back to Max, he grinned. "I'm feelin' loads more charitable towards you since I know it wasn't you puttin' sprogs in boxes. Let's have tea. Books, at least those ones, won't just walk off on us."
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 11:59 am
"No, they wo-" Max looked at Jack, green eyes wide. "Wait, you thought I- Oh, good heavens no!" He gave a relieved laugh and clapped Jack on the arm as they started up the stairs. "It makes a bit more sense now -- I can certainly understand why you might have thought that I- But no, no." He looked up Noë, bouncing on the landing. "Never in a million years. And I can't understand why anyone would do such a thing."
Giggling, Noë ran inside the door and was halfway up the next set of stairs by the time they topped the first set. "Kitchen," Max nodded -- though the room looked more like a mad engineer's lab, with pipes and pulleys and crazy-looking contraptions amongst the more typical accoutrements. "And up again!"
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Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 7:20 pm
Regina obligingly pointed in the direction that Max indicated and smiled. She seemed to be enjoying herself thoroughly and her death-grip on his shirt-front had eased considerably. Jack doubted that she would consent to being put down yet but it was an improvement. "If I found 'em," he said lowly to Max as they walked, "the cops'd be the least o' their worries."
His new daughter turned at his words and she blinked owlishly. Then she pointed again, insistent. Jack laughed. "Right. The princess wants up an' up we go. Please tell me we're almost there, though. I used t' smoke a fair bit before becomin' a da."
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