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 Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:41 pm
Jack ran a fidgety hand through his hair, standing it up even more on end. He was still determined not to smoke around Evie but her recent changes were putting that resolution to the test. At least she seemed calmer now. The promise of seeing Kai again cheered her up and she was testing out new ways of sitting in her cup as she waited for the treat.
"There. I think this works."
Looking down, Jack decided that a cigarette was allowable after all. He dug out the packet and shook one out, his eyes locked on the allegedly comfortable position. Evie had someone managed to get the seed under her backside like a floatation device and was sitting on it while draping her arms along the rim behind her and heaving her much longer legs over the other side of the rim. The peel wound around her brightly, apparantly just as pleased with the arrangement. "'Course it does, lil bit," Jack murmured as he tucked the cigarette between his lips.
He just wouldn't light it. Not yet. He looked around the bar. It was quiet, none of the punters liking the midday sun. Quiet, private, and easy to find. So where the hell was Tsu and Kai?
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:54 pm
"Do we hafta see them?" Kai asked again. He was nonplussed after the beach trip was cut short by another attack from the pink dust. Not as nonplussed about it as Zavier was, but at least he was able to wander around the beach alone for a little. In his mind, Kai made sure to call this the melty hands fiasco of 2007 to every new drinkable he met. Gave him a conversation piece.
"Yes, we already promised them." Tsu looked at Kai grimly. Both were starting to show wearing around the edges from all that had been happening recently and quite frankly... the opportunity to share a pint with someone seemed very welcome to Tsu. Even if he had no bloomin' idea what was going on with the kids lately.
To set the story straight, Tsu had noticed a call shortly after they returned from the beach. Kai had been complaining that his hands felt all melty and nothing seemed to be working. Once the two realized it was Jack and Evie calling, they set up a meeting at a local bar to get some drinks and get the stories aligned. So here they were, middle of the week in the early afternoon, going to a bar. Hardly the normal situation for any self respecting doctor, but Tsu wasn't a self respecting doctor to say the least. Besides, when you can say "So my drink - which happens to be a kid - claims to have melty hands, and how are you today?" the simple times of not drinking before 5 pm get thrown out the window.
Spotting Jack and his drink in the bar, Tsu moved over placing Kai on the table before sliding into an empty seat and saying, "Sorry for being late, had some things to take care of before I could head over. What be your poison today?"
Kai on the other hand seemed to be noticing girls as something different from him altogether for the first time, and he couldn't stop looking and enjoying. "Nice legs..." He finally managed to get out. Trying to break his gaze as not to seem awkward. He failed. Miserably.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 5:56 pm
"Thank you." Evie beamed and wiggled her toes for her friend's benefit; apparantly, the storm of tears the change had brought was past and she was on her way towards excepting things. "They just kind of... Happened." Shifting, she dropped her lower half back into her cup with a splash and then turned to hang on the rim closest to Kai. "And I got this extra big peel and a seed and..." She lifted herself up on straight arms, braced, and leaned dangerously across the gap to whisper to him, "And Daddy's worried about what next. I'm getting so big but, well, he said I could still be his little girl and..." Suddenly, she stopped and tilted her head, brown eyes taking in Kai's appearance. Her nose wrinkled. "You look different, too!"
"Evie," Jack said tiredly, warningly.
"I didn't mean -bad- different!" she protested. "Just different. Kai's still Kai and I still like him."
Jack shook his head and toyed with his unlit cigarette. "I've already ordered two pints," he answered Tsu. "You look like you need it 'bout as much as me, mate. Has Kai been... Doin' strange things lately?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 6:42 pm
"We had a situation." Kai said matter-of-factly, ignoring the warning glare Tsu shot him not to talk too much before they could figure out what was wrong. "My hands got all melty." Well if THAT wasn't classified as something strange, then Tsu was unsure what would be.
"Thanks for ordering the first round, but it sounds like we still have a lot to talk about, so I'll get the next one." Tsu sighed, listening to his big mouth brat. "It sort of started not too long after we first met that night. Kai's had a lot of strange changes, including glowing a bright pink, being a milky chalk substance, having a lot of carbonation, and being a watered down version of himself. Now the 'Melty hand fiasco of 2007' as he so brilliantly calls it. Have you noticed any other changes about your drink Jack?"
"It's true though!" Kai huffed, "My hands first all gross and sticky, then they started melting!" He was looking at Evie's eyes to gauge how well this story would go over with others. Not to mention the indication of a new peel made him look at her more closely. Tsu made a note to teach his kid tact and subtlety.
Nodding in approval at something Kai said "The new peel and seed look good. They suit you well." What he meant was still a mystery. The alcohol could not get here any faster.
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:01 pm
Whatever he meant, it didn't seem to matter because Evie beamed and stood straight, doing a little turn. "It was stupid before but it's okay now," she explained. Then she held out a hand to him. "Lemme see your hands? Please? I've never felt melty hands before. They -look- okay." Then she suddenly went wide-eyed. "Oh, Kai! It didn't hurt you, did it? If it did, we need to fix it right now."
Jack gratefully relieved the waitress of two frosty glasses before he sighed and nodded in response to Tsu's question. He handed one glass over. "Pretty much like she said, mate," he replied. "First, it was that bl-... That seed. Then she acted like her peel was gonna strangle her an' then push her right out o' the cup. Now look at her." He indicated his little princess with a tilt of his head before drinking deeply. "She's growin' up or somethin'. Got legs on her. She's still kinda pink, too."
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:05 pm
"Nah... sn't hurt a bit." Kai said with this odd jaunt that Tsu recognized as the tough guy act he tried to use to impress people. It was somewhat gross he had to do these in front of everyone. "Besides... not like it was all THAT scary."
What was he trying to prove?! "So the fact that you were on the verge of crying and your lip was quivering had nothing to do with the fact that you were scared your hands were going to melt right off?" Tsu shot at his kid before taking a quaff of mead.
"Was not gonna cry. Wasn't scared!!" Kai stammered a little indignant. "Wasn't scared..." He turned to Evie again to try and convince her something he wasn't too convinced on. "Okay... maybe a little scared...." He finally finished.
"You done there?" Tsu laughed. As he was about to take another drink from the pint, he stopped and looked thoughtfully at the head for a second before looking over at Jack and asking, "What drink did you say your Evie was?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:34 pm
"Apple juice." Jack cast a wry look at the already half-empty glass in his hand. "Not cider, more's the pity. Though God knows what she'd be like if she were alcohol. She's already too friendly by half... What's Kai? Reckon that's got somethin' t' do with what's happenin'?"
Evie tilted her head before propping her elbow on the rim and resting her cheek against the upraised hand. She still smiled, though, and her brown eyes were warm as she watched Kai fidgeting a bit under his guardian's teasing. Finally, she giggled and shifted again to lean over close to Kai. "It's okay," she whispered. "I was scared, too. I cried. A bunch."
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:18 pm
"Actually... you hit the nail right on the head with where I was going. Kai is from a drink I used to have as a kid... Calpico Water or Soda. A mixture of yogurt and soda water. The carbonation, and a lot of the changes have been with how well mixed together it seems. The first big difference is the hands thing. I'm not sure if that's a sign of what's to come or not. What are your thoughts on it?" Tsu finished as he reached for his beer again.
Kai looked down again, relieved to hear the words of affirmation from Evie. "It wasn't so much that I was crying at all." he finally offered, "I probably would have if there was any air left to breathe. There was a lot of screaming... and a lot of fast breathing by me. Not to mention a good amount of curses from Tsu over there." Tsu reddened a little at the fact that Kai remembered him cursing and using a lot of foul language. Too easily we forget how quick the kids pick up these things.
"There are words that one shouldn't ever repeat Kai..." Tsu was getting ready to start his speech, thought better of it, finished his beer in one downer and signaled to the waitress that they were ready for another round. Yep... they were going to need a whole lot more alcohol....
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:52 pm
Jack couldn't quite help it. Despite the gravity of the situation, he laughed, amused at how Tsu was going through the same issues with parroting. "It's rough, yeah," he agreed. "I'm not used t' watchin' my tongue an' here she is. All too ready t' repeat every filthy word outta my mouth." He pushed his empty glass toward the edge of the table for the waitress to retrieve. "An' I can't smoke in the house anymore but that's nothin'." He tilted his head back a bit to look at the ceiling. "An' I don't know what's goin' on. I've tried the shop an' no one's home. I've looked through every bleedin' book I own an' nothin'. If it's magic, it's not a kind I know." Jack licked his lips and dropped his head again to meet Tsu's eyes. He looked solemn and older suddenly. "An' that's sayin' a lot, let me tell you."
Evie giggled. "Daddy curses sometimes, too, when he thinks I can't hear," she told Kai in her best Quiet Voice. Then she sobered a bit. "I don't like worrying him but I can't help that I'm getting bigger. Just like you can't help melty hands. I guess."
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 12:37 pm
"I can understand where you're coming from." Tsu comforted Jack as best he could. "It's just so damn frustrating that any of the books I own... even ones on rare alchem-- diseases and their cures have failed to let me know what is going and what I can do for Kai." There was something in the eyes that betrayed he wasn't saying all that was on his mind, but it passed quickly. "As for not being able to smoke in your own house, it gets easier. Trust me, I used to be a lot worse than this."
Kai looked thoughtful for a minute before speaking to Evie. "It's odd, but the pink stuff really got me when I was emotional a lot of times. I guess one way we can try to help our parents if we didn't act like it was a big deal. I mentioned how I was screaming and breathing fast, you mentioned crying. If we didn't make it such a big thing, maybe then they won't panic as much?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:19 pm
"Maybe." Evie rested her chin on an upraised hand again and half-closed her eyes, thinking. "Except I only cried recently 'cause the seed didn't bother me and the peel was just annoying but..." She fell back against the opposite rim of the cup and squirmed until she could raise one leg out of the liquid and wiggle her toes at him. "These are kinda more scary 'cause we have to stay in our cups but I don't know what happens if we can't even fit in our cups anymore. So I had to cry."
Jack looked down at his cigarette, staring at it as if he had never seen it before in his life. "I'd give up anythin' just t' know what's goin' on with the kids," he murmured. "I'm thinkin' o' last resorts now. Evie's not likely t' be dyin' on me with what's happened t' her but your lad there... It sounds more serious. If the others are gettin' it, too..." He sighed, giving up and lighting the cigarette. "I'd like t' know an' help."
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:59 pm
Tsu smiled grimly into the second pint. "Of course we would give anything to know what was going on, and how to stop it, knowledge is power afterall. In a sense that's just running away to me as well. It's like a puzzle that we weren't given all the pieces to. However, if I go about telling other parents how to fight back this pink mist, it's also like I'm telling them there's an easy escape route. I mean there is going to be no easy way about it... but we'll manage I think if we also put faith in our child. These are all tied together, but not exactly, right?" Tsu finished. He didn't mean to ramble, but he felt strongly that he didn't want to give someone the wrong advice instead of something helpful.
Kai looked at Evie and said "Sometimes the rules of the game are bent, moved around a little. Take Tsu, I had a hard time fitting in my bottle, so he actually made it into a makeshift cup for me. Now I don't look so different from all the other kids, and I can breathe easier. Maybe your Jack can help you figure out a way to make a taller glass? Something you fit into comfortably?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:00 pm
Evie looked thoughtful at his suggestion and then nodded with a bright smile. "I bet he could," she declared. Then she looked at Kai with admiration clear in her big brown eyes. "You're smart, you know that? I'm glad we met."
Jack nodded and picked up his pint with his free hand. "They've gotta be," he agreed. "After all, they came from the same shop. Plus how many kinds o' kids outta cups can there be in the world? I'm thinkin'... Well, it can't go on forever. Even instability is unstable, like. You're right, too. The kids are tough." He smiled in the direction of his little girl. "She's only really cried once the whole time, bless. Poor Brunswick had t' field that one, though. I was out o' the room."
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:02 am
Kai blushed a little deeper at the praise and attention Evie was giving him. Not that he was complaining. Heck it was nicer than the way Zavier had been treating him lately. What did he ever do to his brother anyway? "Y'know, I'm glad we met as well." Kai finally managed. It felt like there was peanut butter in the roof of his mouth. "You're really nice and a cool person to know."
Tsu grinned a little at his charges awkward flirting. It looked like puberty was starting to set in a little sooner than expected. Who knew? Moving back to the conversation at hand.
"Well... stability in the instability is a good way to put it. The only thing that connects all of us is this insanity sprung upon us." Tsu started up again, "I know what you mean about tough kids. Kai has been quite fine with it - although he's the one going through all the random changes - and most of the time he's been relatively quiet about things. And who or what is Brunswick?"
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:45 pm
Jack deliberately kept his attention on Tsu as he reached for his beer. He was not yet ready to have That Talk with Evie and he suddenly decided that, for now, if he didn't see it, it wasn't happening. "Brunswick is... Well, I reckon you could call him Evie's big brother 'cept he's no son o' mine." He took a long swallow of beer and then shrugged. "An' he doesn't think o' her as his sister, proper, but I reckon he likes protectin' her. You know how it goes. Too manly t' go gooey over her. Does Kai have any siblings?"
Evie graciously blushed at the compliment even as she shook her head. "Am not but thank you!" she giggled. Then she clapped her hands together before bracing them on the rim of her glass and bracing her arms, lifting herself out of the liquid in her cup a bit. Her face was bright with a sudden idea. "Let's make a pact! Let's promise we'll both be brave, no matter what. Then we can tell each other all about it because I'm sure Daddy will let me visit you whenever I want."
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