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 Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:19 am
Do you come here often....? Hui kind of had to snicker at this, it was just too... Cliche for someone to ask. Come on, really? But, she twisted the snickering into a small cough so as not to seem rude. It was as though she was jarring at the man, just thought of it as kind of amusing. She nodded in response. "It's one of my favorite places in the city... It's always teeming with life, even in the winter. It's beautiful here when it snows, but in the last few years... The climate change has been causing it to snow a lot less." Why did she have to bring up serious topics to someone she just met? She needed some dire lessons on socializing from her brother, but not that she would even consider it. She'd learn on her own. Distracting herself, she smiled as Sohne was still keeping a close watch on his new friend.
Of course Sohne was keeping an eye on her, what did Mama take him for? You never knew with women. You could be watching them one second, close your eyes and they'd be gone. Like his purple doll. He ended up falling asleep by accident and woke up to find he was back at home. Psh. He wasn't going to let that happen today. And he liked her sun-gold eyes. Flexing his wings, he made sure that she was in view from the corner at least at all times. Where were they going anyway? He looked around, distracted again, and found horse carriages and people. Lots of people.
Wow. Lots of art on tables too! This was exciting. He wanted to stop and look, wait! No! Mama was walking passed all the cool stuff. Noooo...! He peered around on top of Mama's shoulder and looked longingly at all the things they were not stopping to look at. Shoot. Sulking back into her arms with a sigh, he looked over again at the candy-girl. She was singing again. He liked it, though it was different from his purple doll. Who... Sang in instruments and techno. He couldn't decide which he liked more actually.
Hui nearly stopped in her tracks when her companion looked at her in that way. "I... I-I'm just idealist..." She smiled sheepishly. "About parenting anyway..." She laughed a little, completely thrown off by such an action and such a statement. She wasn't used to handsome men talking to her this nicely, and complimenting her at that. Goodness this was so embarrassing! She quickened her step a bit as they were almost at FAO Schwartz. It was now just across the street and to the right side of where the glass entrance to the Apple Store was.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 7:42 am
"I'm sure it is." The non-committal response was all he could find to say in return to Hui's comments. He didn't usually come to New York in winter, and even when he did, he rarely had the time for casual walking. As it was, he probably needed to hurry and get this done so he could review some of the data he had before his meeting with the Foundation's board tomorrow. "That's a pity. Snow makes things much more peaceful."
Sighing inwardly, Damien made a mental reminder to not push at this particular woman. He hadn't been trying to flatter her, but her reaction was very similar to someone who felt like they had been given undeserved attention. It made Damien feel like his words had been taken in entirely the wrong way, which had not been his intention at all.
Seeing the shop that was to be their destination looming up so close, Damien awkwardly shifted Asher and flicked a glance the place. Apprehension was a feeling he didn't experience often. "Ahh..." How to ask this? "Would you like to help me pick something out for Asher?"
Fortunately for him, Asher decided at that moment to gurgle joyfully, trying once again to reach the other Song. "Seems like Asher doesn't quite want to leave Sohne, anyway."
Indeed, Asher was having soooo much fun. There was so much movement and life! And Sohne. Uncaring about their destination, she tried to reach for him again, worried that he would disappear. She could tell that Dami was a little anxious, she hoped it wasn't because they were about to leave. That would be bad, since they'd been having so much fun. Shifting a bit so that she could look up into Dami's face, she sang an inquiring note.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:13 am
Of course some big rich money-making hotshot from England wouldn't understand the dire state the Earth was in. Climate change and all that jazz. Hui realized that she probably wouldn't be mentioning anything about that again...
Hui had opened her mouth to decline when suddenly Sohne was tugging at her sleeves. Though it wasn't because he wanted attention from her, he was just playing around again. He soon stopped as his attention was drawn to the stop and saw that there was a distressed candy-girl. Oh no, this wasn't good at all in his book. Was it that man's fault? What was he doing, he was making Mama kind of upset too. He could tell cause she didn't want to be around him any more, her heartbeat was kind of fast in the angry agitated way, kind of like when she would storm out of the room from Uncle for being a stupidhead again. He sighed. Why couldn't everyone just chill and be happy? Like he was, most of the time anyway. He patted Mama's cheek and shook his head as if to say, "Don't be upset Mama!".
Sohne was getting to know her too well, Hui figured. Sighing and watching the two babes wanting to stay together couldn't bring her to separate them. "I... I guess there is something I've been wanting to get for Sohne. Maybe they'll have it here...." She kind of reluctantly grumbled. She didn't like stuck up rich people at all, but if it would grant her child some happiness she would suck it up and go along with things...
Mama's grumbling sighs told Sohne that he had won. Sidling back into his Mama's arms to relax, he waved a happy hand at the candy-girl with his usual mysterious grin. Only at the moment, he looked too content and relaxed for it to seem mysterious at all.
The light had changed now, and it was time to cross the street and greet the soldiers who would smile and wave and open the door for them.
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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 8:34 am
Soldiers. Pretty soldiers. They were so awesome, with their uniform and rigid manner! Though these ones looked nice. They smiled. Asher sang a happy note as they got closer, preparing to reach out and try to touch one of them. Their hats were cool too - it looked so strange, but so ... she frowned, trying to find the word. Distinguished! That was it!
Damien was relieved when the girl agreed to go in with him - it wasn't as if he couldn't handle it, as he was quick to assure himself - but it had been oh, maybe ten years since he'd last set foot into a toy store. Thankfully, he was completely oblivious to the other's less-than-positive thoughts about him, otherwise he wouldn't have felt quite as delighted. "Thank you, I would hate to pick the wrong thing."
Curiosity also reigned supreme in Damien's mind, and he found himself glancing over questioningly. "Oh? What is it?" Perhaps he could purchase it for her, by way of thanks?
The thought flew out of his mind, however, when Asher made a sudden jerk, almost flying out of his arms in her attempt to reach the soldiers by the door. "Steady there, honey." Shuffling her so that the baby was once more safely held within his arms, Damien took a few steps closer to one of the now-amused store staff. With a slightly sheepish grin, he apologized for Asher's behavior before asking if they could touch.
Asher waited impatiently as they got nearer and nearer, until she couldn't take it anymore and reached abruptly, trying to traverse the distance between herself and the soldier with a chubby arm. Caught in Dami's arms, she fell short, but was relieved when he moved even closer. Listening in, she realized that Dami was actually helping her! So she tried to wait a little longer.
Once the soldier-man nodded - that was a yes, right? - Asher reached out her hand, poking a small finger at the hat that seemed so big. What if Dami had one? She squeezed her eyes shut tight, hand still on the hat, as she tried to imagine it.
*OOOooo*
The strange noise, which sounded like an extended syllable from the song that Asher had been made out of, echoed softly in the air.
And with a soft bump, a miniature hat, identical in detail to the one the soldier was wearing appeared on Damien's head. Being too small to sit on his head properly, it slid forwards, landing silently in Asher's waiting hands.
Too astonished to speak, Damien could only stare down at the child in his arms as she wriggled contentedly, switching her attention innocently from the soldier by the door to the new hat on her Dami's head. Now she had something to play with! Reaching up, she patted at it softly, not realizing what it was that she'd just done.
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Posted: Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:13 am
Oh wonderful, Hui thought. He wanted to buy it for her. Flaunting his money before even getting into the store? But she held her tongue, Sohne was still in her arms enjoying the view and the fact that he was singing that same bass line he always did when she was upset meant she didn't want to make him worry more.
"Oh, I don't think there really is a wrong thing for you to pick." She gave a brief smile.
But luckily for her, she didn't have to answer the question because soon his babe was trying to fly out of his arms. A little startled, Hui put up a hand as if to prevent them both from falling forward though not as though she would've been able to stop it if it happened. Sohne however was enjoying the little mayhem that was occurring. He wasn't all that impressed with the smiling soldiers, but figured they had an alright uniform. Luckily for him though, his unique qualities weren't as noticeable as pink hair as such say... Candy-girl.
Hui's eyes widened as the girl made an object suddenly appear and the shock in the faces of the fake soldiers. Oh no.... This was bad. They had to cover up the magic somehow. "Oh wow! Hahaha... Would you look at that? The little kid sure knows how to play tricks on our eyes. That's like the third time today, isn't that right Damien?" She chortled and nudged the man, and subtly gave him a look that said 'Play along or else!'. Because the fake soldiers were beginning to whisper and the children's looks alone were enough to draw attention, pink hair? People would automatically assume that he was one crazed father to dye his infant's hair that color.
"C-Come on, let's go inside shall we?" She asked nervously with that awkward smile on and pulled a little at Damien's sleeve to distract the attention away from Asher. She waved good bye to the soldiers. "There are loads more cool things inside." She nodded a little frantically.
Sohne's attention had been caught again by the candy-girl though. So she could make objects appear out of no where too? Sweet. He nodded his head in approval. Now that was the way to do things, though it seemed she had made the object for herself rather than for someone else, like he usually did. Ah well though, everyone had their own way of going about things.
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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:45 am
Damien's mouth opened and closed once, before he quickly gathered his composure and deftly turned Asher so that she was no longer showing her swirling golden eyes to the employees at the door. With an almost-genuine-looking grin over at Hui, he tried - and managed - a relatively credible laugh as he nodded. "Yeah, she's getting so good at it that it almost fooled me, this time!"
Bloody hell, he hadn't expected to run into this sort of complication with the Song. It was such a harsh jerk back into reality, and the fact that the children were so different was a truth that had been slapped indelibly into his mind. He could see the suspicion and distancing in the soldiers' eyes, and it struck at his heart, to learn that even in this day and age, discrimination ran so freely against anyone and anything abnormal.
Acting like everything was alright took more effort than he expected, but the Earl hadn't been raised without having been taught to deal with situations gone awry. With a nod to Hui to indicate she should precede him, he shifted Asher into a one-armed embrace and used the other to pull open the heavy glass doors. "Indeed. Maybe Asher can find herself something else to play with." He sure hoped not.
Entering the store, Damien looked around, taking in his surroundings with a slow, deliberate glance. Maybe if he could just spot the things they needed, they could get out of here as soon as possible.
Asher wasn't sure why they were moving inside so quickly - she loved the soldiers! But she could feel the discomfort in Dami's body and the way he moved as he held her, and decided not to make a fuss. Content, Asher leaned forward, singing softly to the other boy. Her hands were still full with the little hat that she'd just made, and she proudly held it out, offering it to Sohne as if inviting him to play with her.
She thought he would look really cute with the little black hat on his head. It matched the black strings on his hands, too!
"Asher honey, what would you like?" The words pulled the pink-haired girl out of her happy singing, and she looked around. There was so much stuff! She didn't know where to begin, and sang a note in confusion. She didn't need anything! Just Dami and her little black hat. And maybe Sohne, since he was so nice to her.
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Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:59 am
Hui was relieved once they were inside the store, and the fact that he had played along with her. Since when was she so clever? She had no idea. Perhaps under pressure it came out. Regardless, she let out a sigh of relief as they looked around slowly through the shop.
There were so many stuff animals. But there was something in particular that she wanted to get for Sohne. She would not give up until she found it!
Sohne however, found the whole bustling into the store quickly rather amusing. Head spinning a little by the new surroundings, there were so many things to look at. Close enough to touch one of the stuffed bears on the shelves, he reached out a little hand. Oooh... It was soft. And squishy. He laughed inwardly about it. As he allowed his eyes to travel though, he found that the candy-girl was holding something small and black. Gratefully taking the object, he examined it in his two chubby stringed hands for a few moments. He whistled a few guitar lines. It was a miniature hat. Like those guys outside were wearing.
Coolio. He put it on carefully and looked back at the candy-girl, waving with that mysterious grin on his face. He looked kind of charming with the hat on. Hui saw this and laughed. Silly kid, she thought. She supposed the hat was harmless, but it wasn't a good idea for them to openly do tricks like that in public. Either way, she tried to shrug the notion off as her eyes searched longing for that one animal she wanted before realizing that she was still in the company of that man. She coughed.
"So... Um. What do you think you'll buy for Asher?" She tried to be conversational as the continued to walk through the isles in their small group. She would pause on occasion to allow Sohne to grab and touch the big stuffed animals. He wasn't that interested in them for that long though. So she knew he would definitely like the one she had in mind to buy for him.
These enormous stuffed animals were great and all... But Sohne thought they all looked kind of the same. He wanted something exciting. Different. Why was it always bears, dogs and cats? There was the occasional monkey though... That wasn't so bad. But they didn't grab his attention. Not at all.
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:19 pm
Asher looked over at Sohne, in his older-person's arms with the hat on his head and sang a few notes of amusement. She was proud that the boy liked her gift and was playing with it, but was now distracted by the toys around her. Squirming in Dami's arms, she twisted this way and that, trying to see everything and anything. The animals were cool, and she reached one multi-digited hand out, fingertips trailing over the soft fur as they walked. None of it was particularly interesting, though. Not like the hat she'd made... plus these animals didn't move! And they were smaller than she'd imagined them to be...
As they turned towards another aisle, Asher's golden eyes lit up, and the siwrling in them increased as she leaned forward, twitching eagerly. This next row seemed to hold big, big, toys that were colored a bit like her! Ooooohhhh. Giving an impatient bounce, Asher looked backwards inquiringly, almost demanding that Dami move closer.
Damien was a bit stuck. Well, perplexed would maybe be a better word. He'd originally planned to be in and out of this shop as quickly as posible, but the design of the shop was such that it was nearly impossible to simply go direction from point A to point B. They'd wandered through the area with stuffed animals in a meandering fashion, and the layout had forced them to head directly towards another row of ... stuffed food?
How strange.
Hui's question dragged Damien's mildly confused face back towards hers, and he found himself at loss for words for a moment as her question registered. "Ah..." The tugging of the baby in his arms as well as the excited smile that appeared on those rose lips decided him. With a nod towards the aisle of stuffed candy toys and other various food types, he flashed a quick grin, momentarily forgetting his status as the Earl. "Maybe one of those, since Asher seems to be so intrigued."
Stepping closer, Damien held Asher out with both arms around the tiny waist, letting her touch and poke the selection at will. Asher, for the most part, seemed to be interested only in those that had pink and blue in them, humming softly under her breath as busy hands and eyes went from one toy to another.
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 8:35 pm
Sohne had sort of dozed off. All the boring animals. And now it was food... Sure giant stuffed food toys were kind of cool. But. Where was the thrill? The excitement? He simply ended up kind of dozing off as Mama responded to the nice man...
Hui laughed. "Those are kind of cool..." She stated. Not really sure how else to respond. The baby girl had interesting taste, that was for sure.
"I'll be around the corner..." She said, still wanting to find that one thing that she was looking for.
And lo and behold, it was just around the other side of the giant food aisle. The reptiles. Just what she was looking for. Peeking down at the babe in her arms, she noticed that Sohne was looking kind of sleepy. But sneakily, she grabbed an enormous green snake and gently rubbed it's flailing tongue on his cheek a few times and that seemed to do the trick.
Big brown eyes met with the fake marble green eyes of the stuffed snake and immediately lit up. Woo hoo~ Finally, he thought. Something awesome. Wrapping two chubby little stringed arms around the soft object, Mama had impeccable taste. She rubbed his head a few times before making their way back to their sort of new friends.
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:12 am
Asher finally settled on one of the big stuffed toys, a circle thing with swirls of color that seemed to mesmerize if one looked at it too long. Tugging at it insistently until it fell off the shelf and into the gap between her and Dami's bodies, she sang cheerily to indicate her approval before snuggling up against her Dami's chest contentedly. Now that she had a toy, she was no longer insistent, completely happy with settling for looking around her with mild curiosity.
Damien nodded absently as the other two wandered off towards another section of the shop, his attention mostly focused on the babe in his arms that was now almost calm. Perhaps a toy really would do the trick, and he could relax a bit now. A faint smile crossed his face at the thought - he very much doubted that would happen. But now that they'd made their selection, perhaps it was time to go? Looking back up, he headed in the direction that he thought Hui had gone, in time to see Sohne's arms wrapping around a long green object. A snake? Well, that was rather interesting, not a choice he would have made for a child, but Asher was now holding a giant lollipop, so who was he to complain?
A quick, discreet glance at the watch on his wrist showed him that the time was much later than he'd expected - and he belatedly remembered that there was a stack of papers waiting for him to review before the afternoon meeting. With a grimace, he waited until he was within speaking distance before nodding to Hui. "Seems like we've both gotten what we needed - I may have to come back at a later date, but this should be good enough for now." He gestured towards the cashier counter over by the doors. "Shall we head out, now?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:38 pm
Sohne was one happy kid. He had a miniature hat AND a green thing. Cool. Today was a good day. He saw the candy-girl also clutching onto something large and soft-looking. It seems they were both getting awesome gifts today!
Hui looked up at Damien. Nodding, she walked towards the cashier.
"Well it was nice to meet you Damien.... If Asher ever needs a friend her size... You can always contact us." She replied. She knew Sohne would need to get to know others like himself as he grew older, so she couldn't let her own distaste get in the way of him forming friendships with others. Reaching into her bag, she took out a plain business card with her contact info on it. "Here." She said with a smile. "Feel free to call."
Paying for the large stuffed animal, Hui felt happy that she actually found what she intended to buy for Sohne. And he seemed to like it so much that he didn't even want to let go of it. So helping save the environment just a bit by not using a bag, the two were set to leave. Taking one last look at their new acquaintances, Hui and Sohne both waved to the two. "Until next time then..." She smiled and bowed a little as she left the rich man to pay for a large stuffed lollipop. Perhaps she would enjoy his company more the second time around? Perhaps she needed to give people another chance... Sohne however like the new friend he had made. She had even given him something... He would have to do something nice for her next time at the very least, taking his last look at her and giving her a small wave of a chubby stringed hand.
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