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 Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 10:53 am
It had been two days since the last sentencing and Archie was still on 'baby buzz.' After all the bad things he'd done in the past it felt good to be providing a service, as odd as it was.
"Archie! Can I go out and get something to eat?" Even the semi-sarcastic voice of his own charge, Dixie, couldn't bring him out of his good mood. She often joked that her punishment for eating all of those people was to have to endure his cooking. Which reminded him... lunch!
"It's Grilled Cheese Day," he said, tugging a loaf of bread off of some random shelf. "Come in here and help me." It had obviously completely slipped his mind that, based on the date of the last baby's arrival, there should be another one coming through today.
A few minutes later, Dixie entered the kitchen. The fur around her feet was filthy from digging in the yard for more mugshots, and the dirt clashed horribly with the ruffly purple dress she had decided to wear. "Grilled cheese sucks," she declared, opening the refrigerator and looking around for some gross, little, cellophane-wrapped squares.
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 12:17 pm
Ranjit nervously nibbled on his fingertips as he moved through the streets towards the building he'd been assigned to. He had totally forgotten about signing up for a baby and now he was trapped. Knowing that he had a weak hard he wouldn't be able to state that he wasn't interested any longer. The man knew that signing a contract wasn't something which could be easily abolished.
Still his heart raced like a formula one car as he approached. Andraste had just given birth to a beautiful baby and was finally completely satisfied. Another child would probably be 'quite' too much for her. Anyway, he had signed up before he had known about her pregnancy...it was...just...not his fault.
Ranjit knocked on the door hesitantly.
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 5:49 pm
"Could you get that?" Archie asked.
"No."
"All right, then you can cook."
The girl who answered the door was less than excited to do so, and it showed. "Hey," she drawled. "What's up?" If she hadn't been so determined to make this man uncomfortable, Dixie might have noticed the faint whirring coming from overhead.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:56 am
Ranjit sighed out of relief as the door was finally answered and looked at the girl. "Erm...my name is Ranjit, I've been called a few days before to come and pick up a ...baby ? That's the house for the babies, isn't it ?"
His fingers were stuffed into his pockets and he eyed the girl somewhat curiously. As he heard the whirring he looked at the sky quite confused.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:42 am
"Yeah, this is the place." Her near-constant bad mood was broken at the mention of another delivery. After all, she loved the landings as much as her pseudo-father. "Come in for a second." She looked up at the sky after Ranjit did, finally noticing the sound.
"Oh s**t." She dropped the door, hoping that the man caught it, and ran back to the kitchen. "Archie, another one's coming. And the dad, he's here too."
Within the span of a couple of seconds, Archie had turned off the stove and rushed out to the front room, Dixie on his heels.
"Hello," he said, propping the door open with a foot, a wide grin on his face. "I must have called you to come down, but I can't remember your name. I'm Archie." He held out a hand to shake, if this man was so inclined.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 11:22 am
The blue-skinned man scratched his head and sighed out of relief as he heard that he was at least at the right place. People could have easily called the police for asking for babies...
As the girl ran off pretty quickly Ranjit wasn't still quite sure what he had to expect. Catching the door he turned back to the sky and frowned slightly. There was something...coming...probably ?
Before he could make out what it was he heard some footsteps and turned to a man, who seemed to be more of his age. "Ranjit." He concluded as he shook Archie's hand. "Could I probably see the baby now ? Indeed you called me quite some time ago, a few days if I remember rightly."
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:27 pm
"We... don't have him yet." At least Archie assumed the baby was male. "Actually," he looked up again, "that's him." Usually, Archie was inside during initial descent, and was only alerted to the landing when it became too loud to ignore. "Perfect timing. Let me grab my coat."
He turned around to get a jacket of some sort, only to have one shoved into his hands by Dixie. "Come on," she urged.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:36 pm
Ranjit just nodded silently wondering where the hell a baby should come from and if he had to witness another birth. Finally he recognised that the arrival might have to do something with the thing that was coming closer towards them from the sky.
"Uhm...alright." He shrugged and shoved his hands into his trousers' pockets to follow the man and the girl. They knew what had to be done, he suggested.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:49 pm
Archie and Dixie made their way over to the giant bullseye that spanned most of the backyard, and arranged themselves around it.
"Just stay out of the center," Archie suggested. The motor noise had grown louder, and he had to raise his voice to be heard.
Dixie waved her tail across the ground in anticipation, dirtying the furry end even further.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 1:46 pm
"Sure, sure." Ranjit muttered and watched everything with suspicion. He was quite sure that Andraste would so definately kill him, if he told her how he'd gotten the child.
Probably he wasn't able to be heard anyway because of the noise, so he just decided to smile and nod. The man was visibly a bit overwhelmed.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:40 pm
It took a few more minutes and a lot more noise before the little spaceship had deployed its parachute and began slowly drifting to the ground. Archie glanced over at Ranjit. The man certainly didn't seem all that excited. Archie might have attempted reassurance, but he wasn't very good at that sort of thing.
"Here we go," he said as the craft landed with a small thud and slid open.
Dixie ran forward and peered inside. "All in one piece."
Archie pulled a face. "Dixie!" He approached the pod to see for himself before turning to Ranjit. "He's fine. Do you want to see him?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:12 am
Gladly no one was able to see how much Ranjit's hands were shaking inside his pockets. He took a deep breath as the spaceship landed and his eyes trailed from Archie to his daughter.
Of course he wanted to see him ! Well...actually not, because he knew that he could never leave a baby alone and...Andraste...she...err...
"Alright." He simply stated and moved towards the spaceship taking a peek if the baby was really alright. "He's...BLUE !" The man suddenly screamed and a big grin spread on his face. That was a good start, they had the same skin colour...he wasn't from a Nokke planet, was he ?
Somehow the baby crossed his arms and glared at the new people though. "Er...why is he looking like that ?" The man examined the young one carefully.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 9:27 am
"At least he's not screaming," Archie said, remembering the most recent arrival. "Sometimes they can be a little angry at the beginning. Most learn to accept their punishment after a while. It's better than prison." He looked again at the sulky baby as he said this, as if trying to make a point.
"Do you need anything? Like diapers or clothes or something?" Dixie looked in at the baby and noticed he was wearing a loin cloth. Most of the kids arrived in clothing that was much too big for them, but this outfit seemed to be almost the right size. "Must have been small," she said, mostly to herself. She rummaged around the interior of the ship for a moment, coming up with the criminal's picture. "Neat. You're cuter now," she said, attempting to make the kid happier.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:13 pm
"That's true." Ranjit smiled slightly as he moved to pick up the small blue baby, who stared at him quite suspicious. "Hey small one...everything alright ?" As he stroked through the black hair he almost suffered from a harsh bite of the sharp teeth of the boy. "Wow...quite a temper."
Ranjit grinned and shook his head. "No, thank you. Our daughter was just born a few days ago and we're well prepared." His fingers tried to adjust the loin cloth right and wondered what tribe the alien was coming from.
Taking a look at the picture across Dixie's shoulder he nodded. "Indeed, you're cuter now. Your hair colour changed quite drastically, I'd say."
The baby snorted and just continued his stare. "Does he have a name already ?" The man asked Archie politely.
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Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 5:14 pm
"Whoa!" Archie backed up a step at the sight of the baby's glowing teeth. These kids were just getting fiestier and fiestier every day.
Oh, another baby! This guy was in for quite a handful. "Congratulations!" Archie said. He reached across the little ship and took the picture out of Dixie's hands. Flipping it over, he read, "Awook. Hmm. Sometimes they don't label them." This one was labeled in Interplanetary Common, a language Archie doubted the blue-skinned man could read. "Would you like to take this with you?" he asked, holding out the picture.
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