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 Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:45 am
The cool air from the store fans washed over Victor as he stepped through the automatic doors. He paused for a moment once inside, glancing over his should to wait for his brother Kai who was following not far behind. Once would think that when one was looking to adopt a child you wouldn't go to...the grocery store. And Vic would agree that it was completely idotic do so. However, he didn't expect to find children here. Instead he was doing his best to be...resourceful. To gain information.
Most large grocery stores had community notice boards. And that was where Victor planned on going. He had hopes to find a few good adoption agencies listed there. With any luck, he'd find a suitable place.
"Kai, if there is anything you want to get while you're here I suggest you do so," Victor told his brother absently before moving off to walk behind the check-out lines to where the notice board was hanging firmly upon the wall.
Kai nodded as his brother left, peering thoughtfully at the rows upon rows of isles before him. Well...if they were going to adopt...they really should get some information on parenting. Kai liked children far more then the rest of his brothers, though Victor wasn't far behind, and even he hadn't spent a whole lot of time with them. So, perhaps some research was in order.
He slipped off to find the magazeen and book isle. Grocery Stores never had very many useful things in his department, but he figured that due to the large number of parents that shopped here they would have some form of parenting magazeen here.
Just as he reached the shelf he saw down at the other part of the isle (which had toys, cards, and art supplies) a man with long blue hair and a child that was with him. The child, however, had features of a cat, such as ears and a tail. He wasn't sure exactly why the two caught his eye-maybe it was because he realized that soon they'd have to take care of a child too and perhaps, just perhaps, it'd look something like that.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:58 am
"I waaaaant iiiiiiit!" the shrill cry went up and down the aisle, and Calder flinched, holding the little box of dinosaur figures out of Taki's reach. It all seemed a little childish, really, the grown man holding down the boy with one hand, the other up in the air, while the little boy's arms reached upwards with grasping fingers. "Paaaapaaaa..."
"You've been taking lessons from Irelia," Calder muttered, sighing. "Look... If you go home and clean up your room, you can have these..?" The compromise seemed more of a pleading for Taki to shut up. It also seemed to work. Calder hated more than anything to draw more attention than their unusual appearances gathered in the first place. "But you have to clean before I'll give these to you."
Taki nodded emphatically, and Calder tucked the dinosaurs into a nook between two boxes of cereal. Now. That review was supposed to be published in that magazine... He had wanted to pick it up, so he turned the cart around and pushed it down the aisle, trying--and failing--to look inconspicuous.
He paused when he saw Kai, and smiled sheepishly. "Uh... sorry about the yelling." Even though that probably wasn't what he was staring at. Even in Gaia, a Sidhe and a cat boy were a little unusual.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:08 am
Kai smiled warmly, his eyes gently, "Oh no, it's no problem! Kids will be kids, won't they?" He felt a surge of empathy for the strange man, for that could be him in a few days-moving down the asiles with a shopping cart and screaming baby. And then he realized this was a great opertunity-this man might be able to tell him of some helpful books and the like. After all...it'd be better to get one or two magazeens that had useful information then 6 that had nothing in them.
"I'm so sorry to bother you, but...do you think you could show me a few good parenting issues...? I'm quite new at this so I'm not sure which would be best," he offered Calder an apollogetic smile as the shifted his gaze to the shelf of books and magazeens. What had once seemed a small and poor section seemed a little...too big to choose from.
Victor, on the other hand, wasn't having much luck. He took a new notices down about two adoption agencies, but neither really seemed...right. One was for children who were older in age, which he didn't feel was quite what the family needed. It'd mean less work on their part, yes, but it'd also mean that it'd be harder for the family to come together as a group. And the other one was only for boys, which really didn't help. He sighed, pocketed his notes, and went back to find Kai.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:47 am
"Oh... uhh..." Calder ran fingers through his bangs, scowling down at the selection. There were so many magazines. Hey, hadn't he written a review for that one? No, no browsing, he was helping someone... "You got a new arrival or just planning for one?" he asked cheerfully, glancing up at Kai, then back to skim the titles of the magazines. Most of them were for mothers. He'd never picked up a book on parenting. He... well, he just sort of went with it. After all, his parents had never had any magazines to help them out, and he turned out okay.
"I heard this one's supposed to be good," he offered, pulling a copy of Parenting magazine off the shelf and offering it to Kai. He'd heard some of the others who had adopted from the patch talking about it one day. "But... If I'm looking for a new magazine, I usually grab a few that look good and decide which one's the best. You know? They've all got good information, it's just a matter of which style you like better. And most parenting magazines are aimed towards women, as far as I can tell..." Calder shrugged with one shoulder, then glanced back at Taki when a pudgy hand closed around his shirt sleeve.
"We get ice cream?" the toddler hazarded, looking horrifically cute and innocent, ears pointed forward, eyes wide. It had worked with the dinosaurs. He could tell it wouldn't work this time from the expression on Papa's face. "Just a little?"
"Maybe next time," Calder said, patting Taki's head, then ruffling the hair before he looked back towards Kai. "Sorry, I'm not much help. I'm new to this whole thing myself."
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:17 am
"My brothers and I are adopting, actually..." Kai nodded, looking a little sheepish though. He new the idea was probably rather strange. Fore it was normally a single individual or a couple who chose to adopt a child, not a pack of male siblings. But it was how things were and there was no changing it.
"'Ahh, thank you! I'll keep that in mind," Kai said with gratitude, taking the magazine from Calder. "I suppose the whole...directing it more towards women makes sense...mothers and all, right?" he smiled comfortably and passed Taki a little grin. What child didn't want icecream? He still knew two "big kids" who cut in icecream lines due to their eagerness, much to the dismay of the children 12 years or more younger then them.
"Kai, lets go," called Victor, walking down the asile from the opposite direction of Calder and Taki, his hands in his pockets.
Kai turned with a warm, hopeful look, "Did you find anything, Vic?"
The elder brother shook his head, "Nah. I think we're going to have to keep looking for a good place...the two adoption agencies listed here probably won't work. Unless you want a kid who's practically grown already." This statement was more rhetorical then anything, for both Vic and Kai knew and older child wouldn't work.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:30 pm
Calder paused, biting his lip, then tapped Kai lightly on the shoulder. "I... uh... actually know of a place. Where I got Taki. I've got a job there, teaching, but you can adopt kids about Taki's age there." Taki looked up at the sound of his name, tail swishing out the back of the cart seat.
"Let me... find my card..." He fished through his pockets, scowling for a moment as he flipped through one card that had his shopping list on it, and another with a phone number, finally getting to a blank one. "It's got the address of the Liberty Center there, but if you call that number, you should be able to transfer to the Lab, where you adopt..." he offered, fishing a pen out of another pocket and circling an 800-number. "It sounds a little strange, adopting from a lab, I suppose," he said, chuckling and shrugging slightly, offering the card. "Obviously... My name's Calder Quoile. Just call me Calder, though," the sidhe added, smiling brightly at the other man.
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 1:14 pm
Both men listened intently, Victor with friendly curiousity and Kai with grateful relief. Since Kai had been the one speaking to him before, Victor him take the lead in this. He might be the eldest, and basically the leader of the five, but that hardly made him a control freak. Kai smiled warmly, his eyes bright, "Ah! Thank you so much, Professor Quoile! You have no idea how helpful this is."
He gestured comfortably to himself and to his brother, "I am Kai Ta'rish'e and this is my elder brother Victor."
Victor nodded and took the card from Calder with a calm, gentle smile, "Thank you. This alone has been quite a bit of help...and by the looks of things you were assisting my brother before this. Is there any way we can thank you?" It was only fair to return the favor, after all. Neither of the brothers seem to think that adopting from a lab was strange-after all, there were stranger things in gaia, right?
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:24 pm
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. I don't really think there's anything--"
"ICE CREAM!" Taki shouted gleefully, arms up in the air, grinning widely and showing off little kitten fangs. A few people turned to glance at the source of the shout, and Calder let out an exasperated noise.
"You've already gotten the dinosaurs, you can't have both," he said, laying a hand on Taki's head and resuming his other conversation again. "I'll see you around the Liberty Center if you're going to be adopting. We'll have to get together with the children sometime."
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Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 6:00 pm
"Sounds like a plan. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon, then," Victor nodded a thank you to Calder. He then bent down a little so he was closer to Taki's eye level and offered a small smile, "Next time, I'll be sure to bring icecream with me, ok sport?" He then straightened back, slipping the card into his pocket.
"Thanks again," Kai murmured with appreciation.
"Alright, come on Kai, lets go tell the others," Victor said to his brother. With one last friendly glance to Calder, and a small gesture of a wave to Taki he started out of the store, followed closely by Kai. Now they were getting somewhere at last.
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