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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:04 pm
Swaddled in kneepads, elbow pads, and wrist pads, and haphazardly topped with a makeshift "horn-friendly" bike helmet, Donat stood proudly on his skateboard and enjoyed the feel of the wind past his face. The wheels thud-thuded rhythmically down the pavement as he rolled along, with one hand out in front and one hand behind, for balance.
Kumoru walked ahead of Donat, holding the goat-boy's forward-stretched hand and patiently pulling him along, dearly hoping that he would learn the finer points of using his own foot to propel the skateboard along. The mage's shoulder cramped - he had been doing this all the way here from home - so he stopped a moment at a street corner and let go of Donat's hand.
"Crossing signal is red our way, anyway," he murmured to Donat as an excuse for stopping as he rubbed his shoulder. Then, a bit louder, he asked the boy, "You'll help carry the groceries home on your skateboard, right?"
"Of course!" Donat agreed with a grin as he stepped off the skateboard, wobbling a bit, and stomped down on one end of it in an attempt to get it to flip upwards. He tried to catch the opposite end so he could pick it up and carry it across the street when the crossing signal said "WALK", but he missed his hold and the board bounced off of his thigh before falling back down onto its wheels and rolling off the curb.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:28 pm
Alex felt as though she was always dressed for work and precious little else. Even when she had to go shopping, or pick up a tool, or even visit the company building, she always felt like she'd crawled out of a hole and decided it was fashionable. It didn't bother her, she just didn't care to explain why she looked that way when she was in a city. Quite simply, it was somewhat unusual for anyone - let alone a woman - to be toting a utility belt around torn and dirtied cargos every day. Although, possibly, the curious stares were more for the small Gwee that was perched on her shoulder, clutching the Vyn plushie as though any one of the passerbys might steal it.
A plastic bag dangled off her arm, branded with the insignia of the local fruit market, bouncing off her hip and belt as she walked. Zoe was being still and good for once, his little face smeared with the remains of his chocolate covered strawberry. Alex had given in to the Gwee's demands when he had huffed and puffed and nearly fell into the middle of the sweets on display. The woman didn't think she'd ever need children, not with Lorenzo afoot.
Something clacked in front of her, bringing her out of her reverie. The woman's green eyes fell on a man and a boy of some sort, although she was relatively certain that most boys she'd seen didn't grow horns. The noise had apparently been his skateboard, which was now traveling over the curb. Alex carefully walked off the curb and stopped the escapee skateboard with her boot, smiling kindly at the young one. "Careful, they have a tendancy to have a mind of their own."
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:58 pm
Donat had been about to bound out into the street after the board, since getting it would be better than letting it get hit by a car, right? His father's hand on his shoulder had stopped him from doing so, but fortunately for the skateboard, a passing woman had managed to catch it.
"Thank you," he said, peering up at her with a relieved grin. "I'm still not very good at it yet, but I'm practicing."
Then he took notice of the little Gwee on the woman's shoulder. His smile widening, he pointed at the creature and asked, "What's that? What's his name?"
"Don't point, it's not polite," Kumoru scolded Donat softly. At least he had had the manners to thank her for fetching the skateboard, since it had also likely spared the necromancer a heart attack or two.
Traffic safety, even now, seemed quite a foreign concept to Donat.
"Thank you for your help," Kumoru added, looking up at the woman and scanning over her strange garb as he bowed slightly. Not that he was dressed much more normally, himself, in long navy blue robes that clearly marked him as either a mage or some sort of transvestite cosplayer.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:54 pm
"Practice makes perfect, y'know," she remarked affably, smiling at the curious boy.
Lorenzo chirruped when the boy pointed at him, looking at the young one with mild curiosity. He'd never seen those types of horns before, and he mightily wanted some for himself. The little dragon reached up and scratched at his own horns, before returning his clutches to the plushie.
Alex laughed, shaking her head slightly at the gentleman in blue. "It's okay, I'm used it." To the boy, she said, "He is a Gwee, a dragonette, and his name is Lorenzo." She extended her arm towards the boy, and Zoe almost immediately darted down the length of it, red eyes fixed on the other. Alex dropped her other hand, catching the suddenly discarded plushie as if she'd done it a thousand times. "He doesn't bite, unless you keep a sweet from him. He's quite a character."
While the dragon and the horned boy examined each other, Alex flicked her gaze back to the older man. He looked like he had stepped in from a different era, but his garb suited him nicely. She'd only come across magic users twice, so she wasn't certain how to distinguish them from cosplaying transvestites. The woman inclined her head politely to him, smiling warmly. "You're welcome." Her eyes moved to the boy, then back to the man. Quirking an eyebrow, she asked, "He is your son?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:25 pm
"More or less," Kumoru replied with a slight sigh as he looked down at Donat. "Not biologically, I mean, but I do take care of him."
"Hello, Lorenzo," Donat greeted the dragonette cheerfully, waving all four of his fingers at him. "I like sweets, too, but I can't really say I bite for them. My teeth aren't really good for it." He smiled, showing off his teeth, and wondered how the dragon would reply. Did he talk?
Kumoru crossed his arms, tucking his hands away in the opposite sleeves of his robes. He also peered at the dragon with curiosity, and wondered not for the first time about getting some sort of small companion for himself. More like a familiar than a pet, really, but really, he would be in the market for anything smaller and easier to take care of than his children. And preferably even more helpful.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:06 pm
Alex grinned at the man's wayward explanation. She understood what he meant, what with Lorenzo and all. While Zoe wasn't quite a humanoid, he was still a handful, and then some!
The Gwee blinked his large eyes at the boy. He chittered at the horned child when greeted, tilting his head curiously at the bared teeth. Well, that was interesting! All the sharpness of his teeth had gone to his horns! Maybe Zoe didn't want those horns after all. To show the boy what he was missing, Lorenzo grinned back. Granted, he thought he was grinning, but it looked kind of silly on the dragon's little face. His muscles weren't quite suited for such movements.
"Zoe can't speak English," she told the young man, smiling apologetically. "He can mimic a few words, but he doesn't have the right vocal chords for our language." Alex lifted her hand, and thus the dragon, making him look at her. "All right?" she said sternly to the Gwee.
"Ah rut!" Lorenzo agreed.
Alex grinned, pleased. "He can understand, but that's it. The Gwee talk with vibrations. He--oh! The light," she motioned towards the crosswalk. "Are you going this way?" She smiled at the blue-clad man, while Zoe continued to try and grin and chitter at the boy.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:29 pm
"Oh, yes, we were," the necromancer said. He took his hands out of his sleeves long enough to motion for the woman and her little dragon to go first, then tucked them away again to follow across the street.
Donat laughed good-naturedly at the dragon's expression. He gathered up his skateboard in his arms and held onto it as he stepped out onto the asphalt, so that he would not drop it or lose it again. As he walked, he kept watching Zoe, then crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out for a moment.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:56 pm
"Thank you," Alex murmured, somewhat surprised by the man's genlteman-like demeanor. Zoe sqwaked a protest, climbing back up his master's arm to peer at the boy over her shoulder. Once across the street, she waited for the two to catch up, so they could at least walk side by side to talk.
Lorenzo was utterly mystified by the boy's face. What was he DOING? He blinked his eyes a few times, managing to cross them a little, like when Alex touched his nose and he tried to look at her fingers. His forked tongue worked against the roof of his mouth, unable to coordinate crossing eyes and sticking out his tongue; as such, he looked quite foolish, blinking rapidly with his eyes only slightly crossed, his tongue working as if to remove peanut butter from his pallet.
"Uhm, I'm Alexandria," the woman said belatedly, almost shyly. "Call me Alex, though. We're heading to the next market, then down to the park. If you're going in the same direction, I think Zoe would love to keep your son company." She tucked the Vyn plushie under her arm, lifting her hand just in time to catch the crazy little dragon from falling off her shoulder. The little Gwee was obviously disorientating himself with his efforts, although he seemed quite delighted to be engaged in such play.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:08 pm
"Very pleased to meet you." Once he had stepped up onto the opposite curb, the mage bowed slightly to Alex and told her, "My name is Kumoru."
He glanced at Donat, then reached over to prod him lightly in the shoulder.
Trying to control his giggles at the dragon's antics long enough to be polite, Donat bent down to set his skateboard down on the sidewalk again and tried to appear somewhat composed again when he rose.
"I'm Donat. Nice to meet you." He glanced between Lorenzo and Alex, then bowed to them both.
Once that was over with, the goat stepped carefully up onto his skateboard again and reached out for his father's hand. "I think we're going to the same market, but we have to get home and make lunch after that, so no park for us. I guess we can do the shopping together, though, right?" Donat glanced at Alex, then over at his father, seeking permission from both.
Zoe was really cool, and really funny. Donat hoped that his dragon would be just as awesome. Well, just as awesome, but a little bigger.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:46 pm
Alex inclined her head respectfully to Kumoru, unable to do much more with a dragon clinging to her neck and shoulders. "A pleasure, Kumoru. Thank you for taking the time to chat." She smiled at him, finding that it wasn't so bad to talk with someone else. Usually, she disliked talking to people because of their selfish nature, but Kumoru seemed quite nice. And normal, if she were to compare him to all the people she had met recently...
"And nice to meet you, Donat." She used Zoe to stiffle her grin at the way Donat chose to skateboard. The little dragon looked at her quizically, then back to the boy called Donat. She chose not to comment about the shopping, leaving that in Kumoru's hands. The woman decided she'd already scared enough people in the past few months. Composing herself, Alex said, "Can you say Donat, Zoe? Donat?" The dragon blinked at her. "D o n a t ," she said, much slower.
Zoe watched her lips, his own moving with an unspoken noise, before he chirruped, "Auought!"
Alex laughed and brushed the dragon's cheeks, amused. He was getting a better grasp of following her general tone of voice. Maybe he was maturing, after all. "I'll have to pick up a sweet for him at the market. He's being quite behaved today."
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:41 pm
Kumoru took the boy's hand and started to walk again, pulling him along on his skateboard. It was nice to have an adult with whom to converse, and so far, at least, this Alex did not even look like she planned to hand him another child. That the necromancer tolerated allowing himself to be seen towing Donat down the sidewalk on a skateboard like this was enough by itself to indicate that he had too many children already.
He knew they were going to be passing by the facilities that Lab 305 shared with Project X, and that alone was enough of a reminder that Kumoru had yet another charge on the way. At least the one Raevan he had actually met before seemed to be beyond the infant stage. Judging from that one, they matured in different ways than the rest of his children.
... And judging from that one Raevan, Kumoru would also have to make the leap of logic that his own Raevan would spend its days either looking sullen, threatening to poison other people, or treading the fine line between flirting and sexual harassment.
And suddenly the necromancer was thankful that all he had to do was physically pull a boy on a skateboard down the sidewalk in public.
"Look, isn't that the place Serif is from?" Donat asked, pointing at the labs across the street with his unoccupied hand. "Is it true she really came from a glowy tank thing like a monster from the movies, or was Arlyn making that up?"
Donat's experiences with his sister Serif were enough to tell him that it was entirely possible that she was a monster, in part or in whole. But he also took into account the fact that his older brother Arlyn tolerated the rambunctious toddler girl far less than he himself did; the goat would not put it past him to make something like that up.
"Yes, that's the place," Kumoru replied trying not to sound too hurried about it. Part of him - a part that comprised about ninety-eight percent of his being - preferred to avoid the place for today, as though if he got anywhere near it, he would be handed a Raevan. There was, however, the distinct, if small, possibility that he might be able to gather more information about the strange soul bottles, though, and how they worked....
"And yes, Serif really did come from a tank there," the mage went on after a moment, as he realized that Donat had asked a second question. "But she isn't a monster." As he spoke the second part, Kumoru shot Alex a quick glance to indicate to her, at least, that he was lying through his teeth.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:35 pm
Alex glanced curiously to where Donat was indicating, and found, with a huge lack of surprise, that they were passing the Lab. She hadn't even realized she'd come this far, but she was often in a daze when running errands. Her mind moved too fast for her to keep up with most of the time.
She quirked a brow at the talk of tanks and monsters. Did he mean the Raevans? She looked to Kumoru just in time to catch his glance, which was enough to make her grin and shake her head. These two were quite a curious duo. She wondered how Kumoru had ended up with someone like Donat, but decided that wasn't an appropriate question to ask.
She was clueless that the building housed another Lab; to her, they were talking about the place run by the enigmatic Dr. Kyou. "So," she asked quietly, "you're an owner?" Alex withdrew the plushie of Vyn from under her arm, showing it to the older man. She didn't want him to think that she was a stalker or otherwise trying to garner information; she was simply curious. Since he knew about the Lab, she didn't think she was doing anything wrong; that aside, she rather liked the man's company. Part of her wanted to be surprised that she ran into someone else who could potentially be an owner, but another part of her was laughing. Maybe she should march into there and ask for one herself!
Lorenzo also looked to where the boy indicated. Having been here twice within recent memory - which wasn't that long of a span for a Gwee - he chirruped, "Roe!" at the building. That was where the pink-haired woman was! Anxious at the thought of the pretty lady, he climbed down Alex's back, clinging to her utility belt to better look at the boy and his wheels. It didn't quite look as comfortable or practical as Alex's shoulders, but that was his means of transportation. Humans were such strange creatures. His large red eyes kept moving between the wheels and the boy, trying to piece together the interaction of the two.
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:04 pm
Kumoru shrugged and looked straight ahead. "I guess I am. They gave me a bottle and I filled it up with a soul, and gave it back to them. So far, though, they have not called me back to retrieve any newly-created creatures." He glanced over at the plush she held, his brow wrinkling for a moment before his expression became calm and somewhat blank. So all of these things from this lab looked like that? Well, if presumably not in plush form.
"Are you one as well, then?" the necromancer inquired after a moment.
"Oh, cool, can I see that?" Donat asked, reaching out for the plush with his free hand. He had never seen anything like it before. "Why is there only half of it?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:33 pm
Alex observed Kumoru's disinterest of having a Raevan with curiosity. How could one not be excited to open their home to these fantastic beings? Not everyone can be a zoologist, she reminded herself, smiling at her self-chastizing. She extended the plushie back towards Donat, explaining, "Be careful with her, a good friend made it." She smiled at the boy before addressing his other question, "I'm not sure. I suppose that's the way they are, a product of what they're made of. Like some critters are born from eggs, these simply exist this way." What had Kumoru said, they were going to call him to pick it up? "Perhaps you can ask the Doctor when you're there."
She turned her attention back to Kumoru, shaking her head slightly. "I am not an owner, although I admit my interest." Alex smiled shyly, watching the man out of the corner of her eye. Ah, some habits die hard. "They're remarkable beings. I happened to meet the plushie - the real one, that is - amongst a few others. Gorgeous beings. I about had a heart attack." She laughed a little sheepishly; she must sound like a fangirl to someone who has already known about the Raevans. "If I might ask, what is yours composed of?" Alex smiled pleasantly, unable to bury her unsatiable curiosity.
Lorenzo immediately climbed back up to Alex's shoulders as she handed over the plush toy, scolding his master with fast chittering. That was HIS plushie. Why was she handing it to someone else? The little dragon wrapped himself around her shoulders and neck, casting sullen glances towards the boy and plushie, sulking.
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Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:10 pm
Donat wobbled a little on the skateboard as he turned his attention to the plush in his hand. He turned it over carefully, looking over the soft body.
"Do these come out of tanks like Serif, too, then?" he asked. "I guess a Raevan is different from Serif, though, because she's not all ribbony at the bottom like this."
When Lorenzo made a noise, though, he looked up at the dragon. Did he want the plush back?
"Here you go. Thanks for letting me see," the goat said with a smile to both Alex and Zoe as he offered the plush to the dragon.
Kumoru kept his attention on not running Donat and the skateboard into things like other people or light poles. "Are there very many of them that you know of?" he inquired, sparing a quick glance back at Alex. "I have met one so far, and he was... interesting, to say the least. I only hope if I must take care of one that it will be a little less threatening."
The necromancer laughed a little as Alex asked him about the components he had received from the lab. "The one they gave me was a flower made of ice. The only plant I have ever had in my home that did not die under my care. That alone is something special." He paused a moment, looking over at her a bit more directly before adding, "And the soul I captured in the bottle was from a ghost. I caught the ghost of an owl out in the forest one night, and I was keeping it around my home for something useful like that."
He grinned and turned to look back down the sidewalk again. "I think it will be good for whatever they were going to use it to do. It really put up quite a fight when I let the bottle suck it in, so I figure it must be pretty strong, even in death."
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