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 Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:14 pm
Pukio poked the unicorn in the middle of the forehead -- or as close to it as she could manage. It was a little difficult what with Etain's horn taking up all the prime real estate there. She frowned slightly.
He blinked back at her, going slightly cross-eyed as he tried to look at where her finger was poking him.
"Man," Pukio muttered, straightening. "You're sure...sparkly. Don't know how Tovar stands to take care of you."
"Tovar scratches my head."
"Well, there won't be any of that in this house, got it kiddo? I don't give head rubs, so you're just gonna have to go without since your daddy's out of town. --Why aren't you staying with that low life slacker Michael, anyway?"
"Makes me itchy."
"Yeah, me too. What a weirdo."
"..."
"Whatever. Let's get you inside and introduce you to The Clan. Cover your ears."
Shouldering Etain's little pink suitcase (What the hell was Tovar doing with this kid? He was just asking to turn the kid gay.), Pukio led him toward Noyama's house, shouldering open the door. The little blonde haired, brown eyed boy moved quickly after her, glancing around the entry way of the hall somewhat warily.
"Stay here," Pukio instructed plainly. "I'm gonna go find somewhere to stuff your stuff."
"'kay," Etain squeaked, scratching absently under his chin, watching as his guardian's cousin took his little suitcase off down the hall into another room. He fiddled with the edge of his shirt.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:22 pm
"I know you said the yellow wire. I just forgot, okay? I told you I was book smart, not...mecha smart. Yeah. ...Okay. Yeah."
Harper rounded the corner with the cellphone held up to her ear. Judging by it's odd appearence, it was a creation of Karoko's. Between Pukio and Noyama's families, Noharu had expanded the house to be quite large. There were plenty of naive, clueless men who willingly worked for free.
But because the house was so big, yelling from the garage no longer reached Harper. And Karoko so rarely left said garage, she just built a phone for the sake of communicating. It was like socializing face-to-face, but not.
The hawk caught sight of the stranger and froze. "I'll call you back," she told her best friend and cousin, then hung up the phone and turned slightly to the right. "YAMA! THERE'S A BIG WHITE RAT IN THE HOUSE!"
....
"YAMA!"
.... Damn. Where the hell had she gone?
With a cold look in her eyes, Harper turned back towards the toddler. "Who brought you here, whitey?"
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:27 pm
Etain watched the girl round the corner with mild alarm at first. Was she talking to herself? Maybe that thing in her hand was her friend or something... Etain had to wonder briefly if it talked back, and was almost going to ask when the stranger turned her attention on him.
He lapsed quickly into silence, and started to fiddle more pointedly with the hem of his shirt. Tovar didn't like him to run around 'half nekkid' (his words), but Etain didn't really like being forced to wear a shirt. It was sort scratchy on his tummy. He pulled uncomfortably at the fabric.
"'m not a rat," he protested, lower lip poking out dejectedly. Rats didn't have horns! Well, not the rats he'd seen...Maybe he was missing something.
"Pukio brought me. Fr'm Tovar's." Fiddle, fiddle. He gnawed on his lower lip and watched the girl uncertainly.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:36 pm
"Ew. God, it talks," the girl sneered, still glaring at him.
The situation would surely lead an observer to assume things. But Harper really wasn't such a mean girl. She didn't even hate unicorns, and was well aware they weren't any sort of rodent.
Maybe Akilah was to blame. The negative reaction of having another bird had perhaps formed a similar feeling in Harper to having another kid from D-Corp in general.
It wasn't just that. She didn't like that Karoko was always asking Noyama if he was coming, because she was just sooo excited to see something so adorable (how would she even know beforehand?!).
Plus, she'd heard the runt was a freak. Got all squirmy around some people. When she'd brought it up with Noharu, she'd laughed and left the room. Huh...
"Whatever," Harper added curtly. Pukio had brought him? "What's your name, Snowflake?"
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:47 pm
Etain blinked at her, apparently perfectly oblivious to the fact that the girl didn't particularly like him. --Or rather, he felt somewhat awkward and useless around her, but he wasn't quite sure why, much less what some of the condescending things she was saying actually meant. Her tone of voice was a little disheartening and made him sort of want to waddle of Pukio and maybe hide in his own suitcase, but...
"Etain," he squeaked out, tug tug tugging on the hem of his shirt. He was squirming now, and rather desperately wanted Pukio to come back and show him where she'd put his stuff, and maybe ask for a snack because this girl was making his tummy feel all hungry -- but in that way that he might throw whatever he ate right back up.
She didn't make him itchy, but he wasn't sure he really liked her either.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:52 pm
"Oh, how lovely. I'll call you Snowflake."
It was good for Harper that Karoko did stay in the garage, and wasn't with her. Because she'd undoubtedly be cooing over this white fluffball, and get mad at her for being so mean.
... 'Vicious' might have been a more suitable word.
Speaking of vicious, the most violent, feared member of the family entered the room with her sword held at her side. Akilah never went anywhere without out these days.
Feeling around for a (braille) book she'd placed on one of the chairs, she smirked upon it's discovery and plopped down. "Get the hell out of here before I take your ******** heads off."
Harper glared at her, snatching 'Snowflake's' hand and dragging him into the other room.
He'd have definately wanted to get away from her, anyway...
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 5:56 pm
Etain could feel the itchiness coming. He took the stranger (but not itchy-inducing) girl's hand and thankfully allowed himself to be led away. Without the older girl's guidance, he probably would have stood there and fidgetted and itched until Pukio came back and saved him -- becuas Pukio had said to stay. Right. There.
But if this girl was dragging him off, he didn't really see the problem. He was even considering allowed her to call him Snowflake or whatever, so long as she took him far, far away from that other girl.
"Where're we goin'?" he asked, trotting along behind her. Her grip on his hand sorta hurt...
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:08 pm
Harper's answer came in a strict, "Shut up."
The room led to a hall, which led to many doors leading to many other rooms. One such room had a single table, chairs, and then a shelves of books.
Harper led the toddler to one chair, forced him to sit it in, then threw some random children's book infront of him. She snatched a large, brown-covered one for herself and sat as far from him as she could. "Read until Pukio gets back."
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:12 pm
Etain scuttled out of the way of the flying books -- or at least threw up his arms and made sure they didn't catch him in the face or anything like that. Once he was sure he wasn't going to get scarred up by the pointy corners, he pulled the topmost book to him and opened it up. Pictures! He liked pictures. But...
Uncertainly, Etain chewed on his lip as he peered in the girl's direction. "I don't read," he said uncertainly, turning the pages of the book somewhat carelessly, his little fingers crinkling the pages slightly.
Tovar would have had a fit if he'd seen the unicorn treating books that way.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:15 pm
Harper stared at the words below her and didn't actually read them. This was a book she almost knew by heart, both because she had an amazing memory with text and because she'd read the entire thing five times before.
Ugh, hadn't she told him to shut up? "I told you not to tal--" The sentence died out earlier and the girl didn't so much as blink for a solid ten seconds. When she did move, her eyes narrowed on the unicorn like he was the most evil thing on the planet.
"What do you mean you don't read?"
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:19 pm
Etain stared back at her. Uh oh. Maybe he had said something bad? His hands immediately stopped crinkling the pages of the book, quickly endeavoring to smooth them back out. "Um..."
He closed the book. Maybe she wouldn't notice the crinkly pages then.
"Can't?" he supplied uncertainly, watching the girl warily. She was sort of scary...
He wondered if Pukio was going to come rescue him soon.
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:29 pm
Harper's dark look lightened a noticeable amount. Oh, can't. Can't and don't were two very different things in her book. She seriously did keep a book. It contained the names of anyone she met, including family members, information about them and feelings toward them.
The hawk kept up with 'the word'. On everyone.
"Oh," she said. "How old are you? I guess you wouldn't be old enough to read. Unless you were some super-intelligent being like myself." Or Karoko. "You better learn. It's important."
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Posted: Mon May 22, 2006 6:39 pm
Etain lifted up two fisted hands, thinking hard for a moment or two before he uncrooked four fingers and frowned heavily at them. "This many," he responded seriously in answer to her question. That's what Tovar said, anyway. He thought. Sometimes it was hard to remember everything Tovar told him. 'Don't run in the house, because you might trip and break your neck,' or 'Don't touch Michael because it's dangerous.'
Etain didn't want to touch Michael anyway. The frowning man made him itchy, and it was easier to look and run away than want to get anyway near him, much less touch him.
"Tovar's teachin' me; sorta. Lettters n' stuff."
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:05 am
"Oh. Well, good," Harper said approvingly. She hated him slightly less now. Which, of course, still didn't mean she wanted him here. What was taking Pukio so long? "You must get a lot of attention, hm? Being a unicorn and all. That's a relatively special animal."
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:17 am
The little boy shrugged, squirming slightly where he stood. Despite himself, his gaze wandered back over his shoulder toward the place they'd come from. He hoped Pukio wouldn't be mad for him wandering off... What if she couldn't find him again? He turned his attention warily back to the older girl and grimaced slightly. He'd be stuck with her, that's what. Etain nibbled on his lower lip slightly.
"Iunno," he squeaked, shrugging quickly. He hestitated further a moment, looking the girl over with a sort of reserved curiosity. "What're...--are you?"
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