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 Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 5:19 am
It had been years since Finn had seen the inside of a library. The bookstore he worked at was like a library in and of itself, so he'd never had a reason to visit the local public library as an adult. But Iris had suggested it'd be a good place to take Maya, so he'd taken her advice and strapped the kid into her carrier, and headed off. First, they'd have to get to Gaia, which was rather easy now that he knew which alleyway it was that took them there. Finding the Library from there would be a different story.
Maya was rather upbeat and happy, considering the long walk they were on. But she never had to walk anyway -- only ride -- so of course her mood was better than her father's. She squirmed a bit every now and then, but didn't throw any fits on the way there.
About an hour later, they arrived. Finn pushed the doors open and immediately, the smell was familiar to him. Old books gave off their own scent, and he was very aware of that particular scent.
"We're here Maya," he said, talking to the baby who didn't seem to care one way or the other. "Let's go check out the children's section."
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Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 2:03 pm
The children's section was surprisingly - maybe even a little eerily - empty, though it contained a couple of open picturebooks and a couple of books on the bright tables. The bean-bag chairs were all abandoned, except for one square in the middle, where a little girl was perched on one and reading How To Live Forever upside-down. She was also reading it the wrong way around, and had a copy of Milly-Molly-Mandy stories propped up against her thigh.
This was probably not the oddest thing, considering that the little girl also had gills along with her dear little pale curls and big red eyes. There were fins along her arms, disappearing up into her Cheer Bear t-shirt, and a little many-eyed beast-thing was curled up in a copy of If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. It was asleep.
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:30 am
As the pair arrived in the kid's section of the library, Finn took Maya out of her carrier and put her down on the floor, allowing her to crawl around as she picked out a few books to take home with them. He quickly became engrossed in Where the Sidewalk Ends, one of his favorite childhood books, and his lack of attention allowed Maya to do whatever she wanted.
The infant was slightly displeased that he'd put her down on the dirty floor, but she was happy he'd left her alone. She wanted to explore this place her father had called 'lie-brary.' It didn't sound too nice if it told lies!
As she crawled around a bookshelf, a strange pair came into view. Maya immediately noticed the many-eyed creature that slept beside the finned girl. She knew they were like her almost instantly, and though she was a bit hesitant about meeting them, she decided that so far, she'd liked the others she'd met. Surely this one wouldn't be too bad either. As long as she didn't invade Maya's personal space, it'd be all good.
She crawled up to the beanbag and sat back, looking at the finned toddler, cocking her head to one side as she did so while wondering what she was reading.
Mort had made his way down her arm, and had crawled onto the floor, following Maya as she made her way toward the odd-looking toddler, who seemed like she'd be more comfortable in the water than on land. He took special note of the daemon--a creature he was more than a little wary of.
Another one like you Maya, he said, emerald eye flashing. I wonder what they're like? They look a bit...scary.
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Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 4:59 pm
Annie looked up at the crawling little girl; she investigated Maya fairly thoroughly with her eyes, as her many-eyed daemon continued to slumber underneath a picture book, and she closed her own with a little difficulty (it was a fairly big book!) and stared Maya down.
She cocked her pale head to one side, and then - more than a little imperiously - she announced, "We's learning sekrits. I am the Decider."
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Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 10:36 am
It was at that very moment that Maya wished she could speak. But she didn't know how, and Finn had yet to teach her more than 'cat,' 'bat' and 'rat.' She couldn't help but think rhyming words were stupid.
Shifting her head to the other side, Maya returned the sharp glare of the strange girl, and as she spoke, a rather strange look came across her face.
What were these mysterious sekrits all about? And what was a Decider?
All she could do was nod at the other girl, and stare some more, not sure how to react.
Mort, on the other hand, laughed inwardly as he heard the toddler speak. Secrets and the Decider? He couldn't help but laugh, which confused Maya more.
Was she a comedian or something?
Mort wasn't sure how many secrets she could learn about living forever if she was reading backwards and upside down.
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 8:29 pm
Terror was awake now; his many red eyes were staring at both Mort and Maya, and Annie was still holding the book. It seemed like both creatures were just red eyes all over. "You scared?" said Anemone, and it was definitely a challenge.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:14 am
Maya could feel the deviousness of the toddler's question, and she did happen to know what the word 'scared' meant. But no, she wasn't scared. Not of a girl that looked like she'd just crawled out of the ocean!
Instead of cowering in fear as Anemone probably expected her to do, Maya giggled, and continued to stare, finally getting a glimpse of Terror's eyes as he too trained red, glittering orbs on the pair.
"No."
It was a simple word -- one she'd learned almost immediately and enjoyed using frequently on her father whenever the opportunity arose.
"No skrd," she said, trying her best to make out the word she'd never said before.
She sat up a little straighter as Mortality wound down her arm and inched his way into her lap, jeweled green eyes taking in the sight of the Forgotten and the very intriguing daemon.
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Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:41 pm
The toddler opposite Maya gave a wicked giggle. Apparently her answer had been the right one, and therefore she had earned Anemone's respect. Mort was also well received - he was slithery like Terror was, even if it wasn't quite the same sort of slithery. She turned the book over so that Maya could see the pictures. Apparently, the main secret that the book hid was that Anemone had hidden a crayon in her pocket and drawn a mustache on one of the characters. (Or maybe it wasn't a mustache. It was red.)
"Annymony," she said, enunciating An-e-mon-e carefully. Then she demanded, "You?"
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