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 Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:49 pm
"Wee!" Reese's crisp, joyous calls echoed through the hallway as Edge pushed him forward in the wheelchair. A towel slung over the child's shoulder, he happily clapped his hands, curling his tail around the useless foot rests that had yet to be removed from his mode of transportation.
Today, Reese got to go swimming. Really swimming...not just splashing around in the jacuzzi with Edge sitting beside him. And he couldn't be happier. Poor kid couldn't remember the last time he'd gone swimming in a pool.
"Thwimming now?" He pressed as Edge steered him next to a bunch of lounge chairs, setting down the extra towel he'd brought just in case.
Edge adjusted the glasses on his face, glancing around the room that housed the public indoor pool. It wasn't a tremendously busy day...just enough to give that pleasant background noise of children playing and parents talking without being obnoxious. Which was good; Edge had been halfway worried it would be either too crowded or dead, neither of which ever lead to a fun day.
And since it was Reese's first official outing since coming to live with him, Edge wanted it to be an enjoyable one.
"Almost Reese. Just let me get settled and I'll take you over to the water."
"Yay!" Reese exclaimed once again, bouncing and twisting in the wheelchair seat. Pale purple eyes wide as he looked about, he was eager to get out and make friends...and swimming! Couldn't forget the swimming!
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Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 9:22 pm
Peri was also rejoicing in the fact that the pool wasn't very crowded. Apparently people didn't feel up to swimming much in the colder weather, though it was slowly starting to turn warmer out. Though worried still about the chance of Nibal accidentally touching someone, Peri couldn't say no to the cute face Nibal had turned on him. The boy had loved the first trip here and had been begging for a second for a long time now.
The man was sitting on the edge of the pool at the shallow end, watching Nibal nervously. There were enough other children in the pool to give him some concern, though Nibal was doing well to stay to more vacant areas.
Nibal glanced up to locate his parent to make sure that Peri hadn't run off elsewhere on him and spotted a odd looking device. There was even a kid inside of the thing with big wheels that some man was pushing. Nibal slowly made his way over to that edge of the pool nearer Edge and Reese, peering with curiousity. It also happened to be the side where Peri was sitting and he turned to see what his charge was looking at. The sight reminded the man of his boss, the last time he'd seen the other man. Alan deserved it, sticking him with a poisonous kid...
Nibal was looking more at the kid than the wheelchair. "P'las, look!" Nibal said, excitedly pointing at Reese.
"It's not nice to point, Nibal..." The man muttered, hoping that they wouldn't draw the attention of the man pushing the kid in the wheelchair.
"He's got no legs! Like I did." Nibal eyed the other boy for a moment. "I bet that's better than being stuck in a stroller all of the time..." He muttered.
Peri decided to ignore the second comment. "It's also not nice to stare," he told his son, who ignored him to watch the other boy who was kinda like him when he was younger. Brown, no legs... It must be another frog kid! He'd better warn Reese about how no fun it was to grow legs and become poisonous and not be able to touch anyone and... Yeah, being a frog was no fun.
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Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 12:52 pm
"Woo!" Reese exclaimed as Edge carefully lowered him into the pool, perhaps only a dozen or so feet away from where Nibal also waded in the shallow end. Clinging to the lip, Reese wiggled his tail about in the water, making tiny whirlpools and rejoicing in the fact he wasn't hitting the side of a tub whenever he moved.
But something caught the corner of his eye, drawing Reese's attention away from the wonderfulness that was water. It was something blue. No, someone blue! And spotty! He was really cool looking and looking back at Reese!
"Hi!" the child called, letting go of the pool's edge to frantically wave the unoccupied hand in Nibal's direction. Sweet, a new friend! Man, ever since leaving DCorp Reese was meeting all kinds of people.
"Can I thay hi?" Reese finally asked, peering up at Edge with a hopeful glow in his eyes.
Edge saw Nibal and Peri before Reese did, and had been interested to see what he assumed was another Dcorp child hanging out at the pool at all. And older, it seemed, than little Reese. Just how long had they been doing this project? Edge wondered, taking side glances at the pair between making sure Reese wasn’t about to accidentally drown.
Not that the kid would have to worry. Reese was constantly ducking down into the water of the bathtub, blowing bubbles out his nose and laughing about how they tickled his face. Some more practice out here and he’d be swimming under the water like the little fish boy that he was.
“You just did,” Edge pointed out, getting a little eye roll from Reese. “Do you think you can swim over there?”
“Yea!” Reese exclaimed, almost indignant. “I’th a theahorth!” But here wasn’t much to Reese’s swimming that wasn’t like a normal human though. His tail was primarily for clinging to things, and just barely helped him steer. The rest of his “swimming” was partially paddling and partially holding onto the side of the pool as he carefully made his way over, Edge a step or two behind him.
“Hi!” Reese called again as he got closer to Nibal and Peri; his breathing a little heavier than when he first started out. “I’m Reeth!”
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Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:42 pm
Nibal was overjoyed to see that the other kid was waving at him. He waved back, watching the slow progress the seahorse kid made in coming their way. The frog boy moved a bit closer to make the distance shorter for the younger kid. Though part frog, Nibal wasn't the best at swimming either. He lacked the webbing between fingers and toes that most frogs had, though the type of frog that had contributed to his DNA also lacked the webbing. So Nibal had had to learn how to swim the hard way.
The boy clung to the side as well, though he could at least stand in the water. His own tail was practically gone. Nibal smiled at Reese. "I'm Nibal." He eyed the boy for a moment. "Are you a frog, too?" He hadn't heard of any other frog kids at D-corp (not that that was the only place on Gaia where strange kids came from, but the first to come to Nibal's mind), but maybe there were more.
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Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:52 pm
A frog? Why would he ask if Reese were a frog? Hadn't he ever seen a seahorse before? Reese looked down at himself, not really thinking he looked like a frog.
Wait, what does a frog look like? Was frog another word for a seahorse? Maybe he was a type of seahorse called a frog.
"I'th a theahorth," Reese finally answered, peering at his tail as he lifted it out of the water, letting it curl and uncurl in a sort of wave. "What'th a frog?" he asked suddenly, looking back at Nibal. Was Nibal a frog, is that why he asked?
Maybe that was why he looked so cool! Shiny, but not like a new penny or Edge's shoes after Wilbur had shined them. Soft shiny, like the silk sheets in the guest bedroom.
Edge, meanwhile, watched the two boys as he slowly walked past them. He stood near where Peri sat, giving a polite nod of his head.
"Poison dart frog, right?" he inquired, motioning to Nibal with a slight shift of his hand.
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Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:56 pm
"A seahorse?" Nibal frowned in thought for a moment. Was that a type of frog? It didn't really sound like it... At the boy's question, though, Nibal grinned and jabbed his thumb at his chest. "I'm a frog! Though when I was younger, I looked a lot like you. Brown and no legs." Nibal sighed. "Growing legs is no fun..."
Peri nodded a greeting back at the man, then eyed Edge, a bit startled. "Uh... yeah. He is." Not that he should be too startled, the frog's markings were rather unique. The man eyed the other boy. It was definately something aquatic. Probably some sort of fish or another. Sometimes he had no idea why D-corp picked some of the animals that they did. Seriously...
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Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 11:08 pm
Growing legs? No, that didn't sound like fun at all. It made Reese's little nose wrinkle up like he'd just smelled something bad. But hadn't that nice lady said something...about Reese never being able to walk?
He peered, ever so slightly, over at his wheelchair. Yeah, that's what Edge had said too. He'd never be able to walk.
"No legth fer me..." he said slowly, tumbling it around in his head. "I get wheelth!" he nearly cheered it, pointing excitedly to where Edge had left the chair.
Edge smirked, watching as Reese showed off the wheels. It was good that the child wasn't seeing it as a negative thing. He'd hate for Reese to pin himself as a freak or look down on himself for being different.
But then again, this was Reese. The little seahorse boy always saw the bright side of things.
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Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:43 pm
Nibal frowned. "No legs?" He'd hated not having legs for the time he'd been legless. Living an entire life like that would not be fun. "But... there's so many things you can't do without legs... Like walk. Or run. Or ride a bike... or..." The boy could go on and on, but he eyed the wheelchair. "Though... that might be funner than some of those other things..."
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Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:10 pm
Who cared about running when you could pull wheelies? Edge had said when Reese got stronger, he could ride on the back wheels and play basketball...and not wait in line for rides at amusement parks!!!
Whatever an amusement park was. Reese had yet to see one of those.
"Wanna thee?" Reese piped, his little eyes all aglow. "Come on!" And the child reached out, making a grab for Nibal's hand. Reese wanted to show him the wheelchair...maybe Nibal would like it better if he could see how cool it was to ride around in a wheelchair!
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Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:29 pm
Nibal was glancing over at the wheelchair. "Uh... sure..." Next thing he knew, the kid had grabbed his hand. Nibal panicked. "P'las!" The boy turned to look at his adoptive father. "P'LAS!!!"
Peri jerked his head up at Nibal's tone. The boy sounded worried... which could really only mean one thing. Panicking slightly himself, Peri tried not to run over to where he'd placed their bag. Running beside a pool was bad. So he held himself to a rather quick walk instead.
Peri was shortly returning with the anti-toxin in hand, preparing it, large needle exposed. "Ack! I knew pools were bad..." He muttered to himself as he headed right for Reese.
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Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:56 pm
Things happened way too quickly for Reese's liking. One moment he was talking with a new friend, then the next Nibal was shouting and this strange man who had been next to his poppa was coming at him with this...sharp thing...
Was that for him? Reese didn't like the looks of it. Not one bit. And what did he need that for? Would it hurt? It looked like it would hurt.
"Nibal?" the seahorse child whimpered...suddenly feeling betrayed.
Edge was just as confused...until he saw Peri heading Reese's way with needle drawn. Oh, there was no way that man was going anywhere near his son with that thing.
One...two...three steps and he was at Peri's side, a hand around the teacher's wrist and applying pressure. He'd catch the needle as it fell, a gentle toss sending it skittering harmlessly across the floor.
"Pardon me but I know you weren't planning on sticking that into my boy," Edge said darkly without releasing Peri's wrist. A simple twist was all it would take...Edge could dislocate his arm.
Meanwhile, Reese had yet to let go of Nibal's hand...and aside from being a little frightened and very confused, looked perfectly fine.
"What I do?" His little forehead was all wrinkled with worry as he turned to the only person available - Nibal - for an answer.
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:27 am
Hearing the panic and fear in Reese's voice, Nibal felt bad for the kid. So far Peri had been the only person to touch the boy other than Tyven and she was resist to poisons. So his parent had never had to actually use the anti-toxin on another kid or even another person. He knew how scary that needle looked and Reese had been the target. Poor kid.
"Uh..." Nibal was lost for a moment as he watched Reese's father make the needle fall out of Peri's hand. "Well..." His voice grew rather small. "My skin makes people sick... and that makes you feel better and not..." The boy started to say 'die', but felt that would scare poor Reese even more. "Not make you really sick." He lamely concluded.
Peri meanwhile, was rather startled to have been disarmed that easily. He stared levelly back at Edge. "Yes, actually, I was. That is, unless you would rather him die. Nibal's skin produces toxins. That was an antidote." He winced slightly at the pressure upon his wrist. "So... unless you'd rather him start getting sick fairly soon..." The man couldn't recall exactly how long it'd taken for the toxins to start taking effect on him, but it'd hadn't been longer than a couple of minutes before his arm had started to go numb. If it had gotten to his heart, it would not have been good... Now he was worried about the other kid. If only he could get away...
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 12:59 pm
"Thick?" Reese questioned out loud. But he'd been holding Nibal's hand for several moments now, and he felt fine! Just...worried. Edge looked everything but happy as he stood talking with (who Reese assumed was) Nibal's dad, who didn't look very happy either. Actually, they looked down right angry.
"But I dun feel thick." How was he supposed to show Nibal he was fine? What was it Edge did the other day...when Reese was complaining about a upset tummy? Poppa had said it was just from eating dinner too fast, but what had he done before that?
Oh yea!
"Here...thee?" And Reese plastered Nibal's hand to his forehead, peering up at him between fingers. "Not thick!"
Somewhere inside his head, Edge was beating himself with a stupid stick. Talk about overreacting...nice one, Self! And now you've probably killed your child. Ever better!
With a nervous cough, Edge's hand released Peri's wrist and the guardian took a step back. "I'll get my boy, you get the needle?" He'd properly apologize once Reese wasn't in mortal danger.
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:23 pm
Nibal blinked, not having realized that Reese was still holding onto his hand. "Not sick...?" But P'las had gotten sick rather quickly, hadn't he? His hand upon the boy's forehead, the frog boy realized that he didn't know how that was supposed to prove that Reese wasn't sick, though P'las did it with him a lot.
Peri gave a nod, glancing worriedly at Reese for a moment. Why was Nibal still touching him? What were they talking about? The man shoved it aside for the moment, turning to figure out where that needle had disappeared to. Ah, there it was. The man moved quickly, hoping that the kid didn't die on them. Then again, he could always blame the other man for stopping him... right?
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Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 9:29 pm
"I'm not thick," Reese continued to protest as Edge came over and scooped him up out of the pool, setting the little seahorse boy on his hip and heading at a steady pace back towards Peri.
"How you feeling, Buddy?" Edge asked as he lugged Reese away from the pool. It was hard to tell from the way the kid was pouting just how quickly those toxins were taking affect, but the way he was shifting unhappily must have been a sign.
"Not thick," Reese muttered. And that was when he did it...Edge reached up and placed his palm against Reese's forehead. He wasn't cold, and the wetness on his head definitely wasn't sweat, it was just pool water. Not that Edge knew what the symptoms were for poison dart frog poisoning or even how long they took to set in...
And Reese actually smiled again as the confusion crinkled Edge's brow. "Thee? I'm not thick." By then, Edge was close enough to Peri so he could question the reaction.
"How fast do the toxins work? He's not showing any signs of being poisoned."
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