Post by Elda Forever on Apr 2, 2011 22:59:52 GMT -5
YAY I FINALLY FINISHED IT! It is about 4,800 words, and has at least character from most everybody on it! I tried to get everyone in there a notable amount, but I don't know some of the characters as well. T_T;; I tried to make it fair! I hope you enjoy!
This is Alternate Universe NOLA charries. I kept Kagayaki and Lilith as adults, since they work at a daycare center in town.
Feel sorry for them, folks. The other characters are:
Mine - Yukito (age 5) Chance (age 3)
GG's - Erin (age 4) Trent (age 5) Alex (age 4)
Poppy's - Cassie (age 4) Shelby (age 3) Yumi (age 3)
MTM's - Clarence (age 5)
Moony's - Jessica (age 4) Liv (age 1)
Mysty's - Golden (age 5) Cat (age 3)
Here we go!
Daycare Dilemmas
The cacophony of shouts and child's cries that always accompanied the morning rush brought an instant headache, but Lilith was accustomed to it by now, and at smiling through it while she removed jackets and coaxed little ones into parting with their parents. She was beyond glad that Kagayaki was here today. He had a real way with the kids, especially their regular ones that instantly raced forward to dog-pile on him. She stood holding one of the infants, a raven haired beauty, and watched Kagayaki chuckle and guffaw beneath the many hands that attempted a tickle at his belly and neck. He called out protests, but she let them play, readjusting the one-year old on her hip and telling the baby, “Come on, Liv, let's go find you that blanket you like best.”
She started off, instantly feeling a tug on the side of her jeans from a tiny hand that had shoved its fingers into the belt loop. Looking down, she saw a blond haired little boy of about three, his pudgy face into a mischievous grin, and his eyes with no fear. She smiled down at him, ruffling his hair, then her eyes widening when she saw what he was wearing. “Chance, why are you wearing a tu-tu?” He also had several colorful hairclips that held his bangs out of his eyes that she was sure he hadn't come in with. Whose were they?
He shook his hips a little, giving the pink material an appreciative little pat. “Pwetty.”
“Well, I think we should go find you some pants instead, Chance...” She didn't know what his parents would say if they saw him. They'd probably think she was instigating it. But then Kagayaki spoke up, still half-wrestling four-year-old Erin off of him. The girl had discovered that no matter how sticky the fingers, a tickle of a single index finger in Kagayaki's ear caused him to let out the funniest sort of giggle that resembled an asthma attack.
“No...hurt, think. I do it, too. When small.”
Lilith shared a questioning look with Kagayaki, still unsure. “You think it's just a phase he's going through? I've heard most kids do..” At Kagayaki's reassuring nod, she relaxed, and sent Chance a smile. “Okay, then, Chance. We need to find Liv's blankie.” She took the little boy's hand and they went off in search of it, while Kagayaki overcame the mob of children and ended the tickle fight.
“Ow, Erin! No do!” He lifted the girl off the ground, holding her beneath her arms as she erupted into heart-melting laughter. Kagayaki grinned at her, setting her down and then pointing toward one of the brightly-colored tables in the corner. “You want to draw?” Several heads nodded, and he went to grab paper and the box of crayons off one of the shelves at adult height. He had set it on the table before he noticed there was already a little boy seated there, who looked petulant, his tiny arms crossed on his chest and covering up the book he held in his arms that was almost as big as he was. He had sandy-brown hair and glasses, and he sniffed angrily as Erin sat next to him, half-crawling onto the table to get to the crayons.
“You want...draw too?” Kagayaki asked, but the boy just pouted.
“I was here first, idiot,” the boy declared. Kagayaki's brows lowered. What was the boy's name? He'd been told what it was, but he couldn't remember.. He didn't seem very happy.
“Clarence!” called out the little girl on his other side, her blonde hair pulled up high into a pony-tail and her bright green eyes flashing as she reprimanded the boy with a shout, “You be nice to Kagayaki! He is...nice. Nicer than you!”
Clarence responded with a deeper frown, pushing the girl with his shoulder. “You shut your fat mouth, Jessica! You have an idiot face! Every one of you!”
“Do not, Clarence! You meanie-head!”
“Hey, hey-hey!” Kagayaki called out, waving his arms to calm them down. “No fight!”
Meanwhile, Erin was humming to herself while she messily threw her crayons across her paper, missing it half the time and holding an orange crayon in one hand and a green one in the other. A red-haired girl reached up to take the orange one, and Erin shouted a, “Hey! It's mine!”
“I wanna use the orange!” the girl's large eyes filled instantly with tears. “I need it for my..my..” She'd forgotten exactly how to describe her work, but it didn't matter anyways. She knew she needed that crayon. “Please?”
Erin cocked her head to the side and considered for a long moment, the enormous bow on her headband flopping down and brushing against her forehead. “Okay,” and she tossed the crayon to the girl, focusing instead with her green. “I like green best. I am making a pumpkin. Because pumpkins are for me. We eat them on my birthday.”
“Really?” the girl breathed. Erin nodded, then leaned forward to see what the other girl had drawn on her paper.
“What is that?”
“It's a tree with flowers on it. Kagayaki, see?” She reached up to pull on Kagayaki's shirt, and he looked down and gave a gasp when he saw her drawing, proclaiming it pretty and saying she should put her name on it. “How do you spell 'Cassandra'?”
Kagayaki paused, eyes wide and unsure. The girl repeated her question, and he was still lost. Luckily, Lilith stepped up to help, saying that Cassandra was a very pretty name, but very long. “So we'll write 'Cassie', okay? Can you write a C?”
“I can write a C, too!” Clarence declared, looking up from his enormous novel he had laid out on the table in front of him. The page he had been reading floated up and brushed against his nose while he glared at Cassie. “My name starts with a C!”
“Mine, too!” crowed Chance, who had followed Lilith over. He'd helped her find Liv's blanket and the baby was now quietly – but happily - playing in one of the playpens.
“That's right!” Lilith announced, “All of your names start with a C! But what does my name start with? Does anyone know?” She looked around, but Cassie was writing her C with utmost care and Clarence had buried his nose in his book again. Erin was busying herself with trying to make the crayons stay on their ends, and Chance was trying to help her do it.
“Lily starts with L!” announced the little voice behind her, and she turned to see the large brown eyes of a young boy about Clarence's age peering up at her, his long, shaggy black hair falling into his eyes. Lilith reached up and brushed his bangs out of the way, smiling.
“That's right, Yukito! Lily starts with L. And so does Liv, aaaaaand..” she looked around the room for inspiration, then added, “Lemonade!”
“And lightbulbs!” Erin announced, throwing both hands up into the air, getting excited at the prospect of a new game.
“L..” Chance tried, but came up with nothing.
“Love!” called out Erin, bouncing in her chair.
“Licks?” Cassie offered, and Kagayaki nodded vigorously, making her smile.
“Lord of the Rings,” Clarence added, throwing his book in the middle of the table for everyone to see. Lilith's eyebrow arched. All three books were combined into one very battered volume, explaining why his book was so enormous. ...A five year old reading Lord of the Rings? What the heck?
“Lollipop!” Chance shouted, jumping as high as he could when he had something to add, undeterred by Clarence's odd pick. Shelby, however, thought that the choice was novel, and reached over to snatch up the book, nearly falling over in the process. She let out a little squeal as Clarence shot after her, tackling her to the ground and prying the book from her hands. Shelby began to cry, and Liv soon joined her from her playpen. Letting out a sigh, Lilith raced over to console Liv while Kagayaki worked to pry Clarence off Shelby. He'd pinned her with one hand and had the other fist ready for a punch when Kagayaki interfered.
“Don't take my stuff, stupid-head!” Clarence screamed, pulling on Shelby's curly crimson locks.
“Noooo!” Shelby protested, turning around to fight back. But Kagayaki had already lifted the wriggling boy into his arms, and all she could do was give the little boy's exposed leg as hard a slap as she could manage.
“You weak stupid-head! That didn't hurt, you know!”
“Noooo!”
Kagayaki lifted the boy over to the opposite corner, setting him down next to another boy who was building with LEGOS, carefully weaving through the pile for the exact piece he wanted. When he saw them coming over, he held up his creation – “Look, I made a spaceship! Isn't it cool?”
“Yes, very!” Kagayaki declared, adequately giving oohs and aahs to please young Trent, who held up his spaceship for Clarence to compliment. Clarence, however, slammed his fist down on the ship, and LEGOs sprinkled around their feet with little plinking sounds. Trent's mouth fell open, before he gave an angry shout.
“Hey! Why'd you do that!?”
“It looked stupid,” was Clarence's blunt reply. He wriggled out of Kagayaki's arms, ignoring the man's demand that he apologize, and looked Trent straight in the face, his eyes widening as both clenched their fists and stiffened in preparation for battle. “What you gonna do about it, eh, punk?”
“I'm gonna rip you to shreds!” Trent leaped forward and pinned Clarence down easily, the two of them wrestling back and forth and sending kicks towards each other. Kagayaki went ignored entirely, but when Lilith barked across the room that they needed to settle down, they covered up their fight – and thereby avoided punishment - by turning it more into a game than anything, sending roundhouse kicks and punches that more than barely missed their mark, letting out sounds of “Hiya!” and “Grr!” while doing so. Rubbing his temples and sighing in disbelief, Kagayaki moved away to clean up a nearby mess, keeping one eye on the two boys as they formed a sort of friendly rivalry.
Meanwhile, Erin was bored with coloring, and skipped her way over to the toys, digging through until she could find something – or someone – to play with. She found a little xylophone, pulling it out to the middle of the floor and lying on her stomach so she could play it. A couple of kids raced past her, and she looked up, distracted, but her hands still came back to hit the brightly-colored rectangles until they made sound, entertaining her for awhile. More kids ran past, and she looked up to see Cassie walking along the wall, dragging a crayon against every available object as she walked past, as though she was looking for something. Lilith caught her and scolded her, instantly boring Erin and keeping her from joining the game. Instead, she kicked her legs back and forth and hit her xylophone quite happily. She played a few more plinking notes, trying to come up with some sort of melody, humming along and adding little nonsense lyrics about things that started with the letter E. Then, a boy tripped in front of her, almost landing on top of the xylophone. It was Yukito, and after getting over the initial shock of falling on his face, he looked over at her with interest.
“Can I play with that?” he queried, sitting up on his heels. Erin gave a pout, not wanting to give up her new toy.
“No, it's mine. You find you one.”
Yukito frowned, but wasn't easily deterred. “I'll find a better one, and I'll play it faster than you do!” He raced over to the toybox and started digging through it, throwing the unwanted plaything aside. After a few moments, he got distracted by a small robot toy, which he pulled out to inspect. Yukito held it out and made it fly with a suitable wooshing noise as he moved across the room, stopping at Erin's side and making circles around her. Erin went back to her xylophone, ignoring him for the most part, and Yukito's flight slowed at the sound of the notes. He circled a few more times then 'landed' the robot in front of her xylophone.
“I can play guitar.”
“No, you can't,” Erin stated matter-of-factly, not even looking up at him. Yukito pouted, then sat cross-legged in front of her.
“Yes I can. I play daddy's guitar all the time! The big one. I play songs.”
Erin glanced up, interested now that he'd mention her favorite word that began to S. Other than spaghetti, that is. “You can? Can you play this plano?” She pushed the xylophone a little towards him, hoping he could show her and she could play songs, too.
“Plano? No, I can't play it. It's stupid. Planos are for stupids.” Yukito thought back to how his mother had forced him to play piano for ages and ages, and he scowled at the memory.
At his words, Erin's eyes saddened, and she felt as if she was gonna cry. But instead she got angry, sitting up onto her knees and pulling the xylophone closer protectively, in case its feelings were hurt by Yukito's words. “They not!”
Yukito paused, looking at Erin and tilting his head to the side. After a long moment, he gave in, giving a little shrug and saying, “Okay. Planos are nice. They for girls, though. Can you play?”
Erin nodded eagerly, bouncing and leaning forward to press the buttons at the end of the keys, a clear ring singing out in each different tone for each different color as she sang out about her lunch and pretty stars. Yukito watched her for a few moments but quickly became more interested in his robot, sitting next to her and slamming it into the carpet.
“Erin! Let's play house!” called Jessica, diverting the girl's attention once more.
“Okay!” Erin called out, skipping over to the bright plastic playhouse in the corner of the room. There were already three or four kids playing in there, one girl with almond eyes was glaring out the window at Erin as she came over. “I wanna be a rock star!”
“But we're playing house, Erin,” the girl at the window growled, but Jessica just gave her an irritated glance.
“She can be the rock star, Yummy,” Jessica declared, not bothered in the least.
“My name is not that! It's Yumi!”
“She is gonna play the mommy,” Jessica told Erin, pointing over her shoulder to Yumi, “And he wants to play, too. But he doesn't want to be a daddy.”
Her finger pointed to the new boy, with blond curly hair that sat on top of his head like a raggedy mop. He was taller than Clarence, Erin noted, but he seemed a lot nicer. He grinned at Erin and then fell onto his hands and knees and gave a happy-sounding bark.
“Golden is gonna be the puppy!” squealed Erin, understanding. She leaned forward to 'pet' his hair, making him purr.
“Puppies do not purr!” Jessica corrected. Golden made a sad face and whimpered, earning a “Much better,” from the pony-tailed girl.
“Can I be the rock star daughter with the Golden Receiver puppy-dog?” Erin squealed happily, jumping and giving a giggle as Golden barked in approval and chased her around the playhouse kitchen set.
“But who is gonna be the daddy?” Yumi complained, poking her head out of the window again and looking around at all the children running around the daycare. Her eyes fell on Yukito, who had grabbed Erin's abandoned xylophone and was now trying to play it. “Yukito! Yukito! Come play with us!” She pulled her head back in and informed the others, “I want him to play the daddy.”
Jessica shrugged, not caring who played the daddy, and Erin was giving Golden the puppy orders, making sure he was trained and enjoying how he listened to her every command. She glanced up at Jessica then, and asked, “Who are you, Jessica?”
“I am the grandmother witch. Like on the show my mommy watches, called Bewitched. I get to pick on everyone else and wear funny clothes and disappear whenever I don't get my way!”
Erin let out a gasp, liking the idea. Then, she considered, and asked more skeptically, “But the grandmother spoils the rock star daughter, right? They're good friends.”
“Sure,” Jessica said, then held up her hands like threatening claws and hissed, “Except when the rock star daughter is BAD.”
Erin's eyes widened to saucers, and she declared she would be very, very good. Yukito's nose appeared in the window, asking what they were all doing, and Yumi jumped with glee and ran outside to drag him into their house.
“Yukito, you have to play the daddy!” she declared, pulling on his arm and making him trip as they entered the doorway.
“Huh? I don't want to be a daddy...” Yukito murmured slowly. “My daddy says it's too much frustration.” Jessica looked up then, interested at such a big word, and knowing Yukito was proud that he'd remembered it.
“But you have to, Yukito!” Yumi cried, pulling on his arm some more until he pushed her to the floor. Erin and Golden had found some plastic food, then, and Erin had been putting a banana into a little tin frying pan when she saw Yumi hit the floor.
“He don't wanna play, Yumi!” Erin called out, hoping to make peace. “We can find a new daddy!”
“But I want Yukito to play!” her voice rose to a wail, and at the sound, Yukito vanished from the playhouse, and instantly brought Kagayaki over to see what was the matter. Yumi fell into a full-on bawl, jumping into Kagayaki's arms for a reassuring hug while she told him how nobody wanted to play with her anyways, and how she wanted to go home. Kagayaki picked her up and took her over to talk to Yukito about it, and Jessica turned to Golden and Erin.
“Since the parents left you on my doorstep, Erin, I adopted you,” she explained easily.
Erin sent Jessica a smile, then leaned down to put the fried banana on the floor for her puppy to slurp up, and he barked and bent to pretend to lap it up. Erin patted his curly head and said, “I like this puppy.”
Kagayaki let out a sigh and came over to help Lilith bring out the snacks, noting how she kept glancing over her shoulder at a couple of little boys that were sitting in the corner. “What wrong, Lily?”
“That little boy there, next to Alex?” she nodded with her head, both hands holding sandwiches and bags of cheetos. Kagayaki looked over to see the little boy with shaggy brown hair and clothes that didn't fit him right. “I don't remember his parents dropping him off, and I don't think I've seen him before. He won't talk or play with the other kids. So I sent Alex over to play with him...”
“What his name?”
Lilith's mouth worked nervously, then she added, “He says his name is 'Cat'.”
“Like a kitty-cat?” A smile lighted on Kagayaki's face, amused at the idea of the kid giving himself such a nickname.
“Yeah...he's really cute and sweet, though...” she looked over at him while she laid out the snacks on the table. Alex, meanwhile, walked up to the boy named Cat for a moment, considering. He didn't know what to say so instead he started stacking up some of the enormous cardboard building bricks into a rickety stack, making it go as high as he could. Cat watched him with eager eyes while the stack came up to Alex's knee, then his stomach, then his shoulder. When Alex's tower got so tall he had to go on tippy-toe, Cat stood up and asked if he could help. Alex gave a nod, and Cat pushed over a small blue chair and clambered up onto it with a block in his hands, reaching out to place the block on the top of Alex's tower. But as soon as he lifted his block above his head, he accidentally bumped into the stack with the corner of the one in his hands and the hold thing came tumbling down. For a long moment, the two boys frowned down at the disheveled mess in mourning. Then, Alex moved forward wordlessly, and started on a new building.
Cat, looking miserable, just stood watching for a few moments. He fiddled with his shirt, his little fingers catching in the tiny holes around his abdomen. Alex, without looking up, called out, “Help me make a fort!”
A smile lit up Cat's face, and he jumped in to help. “We gonna make a biggun?” he queried, and Alex nodded, sitting up on his heels to place a large yellow block across the doorway he had made.
“A big BIG one,” Alex declared. They were almost done with it when suddenly Yukito bolted over, being chased by Trent and Clarence together. They all three had somehow found plastic guns and were making shooting noises. Yukito hit behind their block fort, reaching one arm over top of the barricade and aiming right at Clarence.
“Boosh! I got you in between the eyes!” he declared, but Clarence ignored the hit and kept coming on, holding the gun up so close to his face it knocked his glasses askew.
“Pshoo! Pshoo! I'm gonna get you, scrawny!”
“Nuh-huh!”
Trent moved in to try and get an angle at him from the side, giving a tumble as though he was a spy. Jumping out almost on top of the brick fort, he managed to get Yukito at close range, his water gun spraying a little line that barely missed the boy. Yukito frowned – Trent had the only water gun. Lilith and Kagayaki had banned them after the last round.
“My gramma could get you,” Trent laughed, as Yukito sprang over the fort, knocking several blocks off. Clarence piped up at the subject of grandmothers.
“I know mine could! My gramma is as big as my dad! And she says if kids don't learn to shut their mouths, she'll stick her boot so far up your a--”
“I WANT A WATERGUN, TOO!” cried Erin, racing over, a firefighter hat on her head, Chance trailing behind her with a cowboy hat on his head.
“We wanna play!” Chance declared, reaching out for one of the toy guns. Trent gripped his to his chest possessively, sending Chance a pout.
“Not near our fort!” Alex whined, trying to pick up the blocks Yukito had knocked over. Erin jumped into the middle of it, knocking more blocks over.
“It my throne now! I'm the princess!” she declared.
“Princesses don't wear firefighter hats!” Yukito snapped, and she sent him a glare, her large brown eyes narrowing into slits.
“She can be a firefighter princess, if she wants to!” Golden declared, coming over to see what they were up to. “Look what I found!” He held up a nerf gun someone had hidden at the bottom of the toy boxes.
“It's snack time, kids!” Lilith called out, and an instant rush of half the children in the room began. Most of the ones in Cat's corner, however, lingered behind. When Lilith came over to tell them individually to go eat their lunch, she let out a gasp. Erin was sitting on Yukito's back, pinning him to the ground and pointing a plastic gun at his head, her firefighter hat barely clinging onto her bow for dear life. Chance and Golden were hiding together behind the broken fort, and Alex and Cat were yelling at them to stop. Clarence and Trent were wrestling over the nerf gun. Jessica came up and pounced on Clarence, knocking him to the ground before reaching up to shove Trent over, prying the nerf gun from his fingertips before getting knocked to the carpet herself.
“Hey!” Lilith shouted, reaching down to push kids off the gun and then lifting it above their heads. “Let go of it! I don't want to send any of your home with only one eye!”
“Erin! Get off me!” Yukito protested with a growl. But as Lilith went to put the nerf gun away, Cassie raced in, marker pens in her hands and colorful splotches all over her arms and face. She giggled and raced over to jump on Yukito with Erin, the two girls laughing at the game.
“Lily! We on Yukito!” Cassie declared, sitting between his shoulder blades. She gave his hair a little pat, then giggled. “It poofs.”
“All of your over to the snack tables, now!” Lilith called, nudging them all until they were seated around one of the short, round tables. “Yukito, why do you have two shirts on?” He glared up at her, adjusting the red Spiderman shirt over top of his black one beneath.
“You can't take my 'lil rocker' shirt! Daddy gave it to me! DON'T TAKE IT!”
“Okay, okay,” Lilith reassured him, a little confused.
Meanwhile, Clarence tried to sit down next to Erin, but she pushed him off and waved Cassie over, patting the seat next to her.
“Come sit with me, Cassie!”
Cassie hesitated, then sat across from Erin, looking up and finding Yukito crawling into the chair next to her.
“Girls are stupid,” Yukito hissed at her, rubbing his cheek where a rug burn glowed. Cassie looked up at him for a long moment, but said nothing, turning to offer to share her cheetos with Erin.
“Cheetos are the best!” Clarence declared, whooping as he started viciously devouring the snacks, ignoring the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
“Here is your ham sandwich, Cassie,” Lilith leaned down to give Cassie her lunch, sending her a smile before getting distracted again.“Chance, take that carrot out of Liv's nose!”
“Why do you get a special sandwich?” Clarence queried, leaning over to lift up the edge of Cassie's bread and peer inside.
“Because if she eats peanut butter she will die!” Erin declared, her voice deepened as she tried to sound threatening.
“I dare you to eat some peanut butter to prove it!” Jessica snorted, scowling at her carrots and slipping them over to Alex, who was sharing them with Cat in an attempt to build a tiny carrot-fort with them.
Cassie frowned, and didn't respond, just pulling out a crayon from her pocket and doodling on the edge of the table with her green crayon. At the table behind them, Shelby let out a squeal, declaring that Trent was pulling her hair. Yumi was calling out for Kagayaki to make him stop, jumping so hard in her seat that she tipped it over and fell backwards, making her start to cry.
“Alex, do you want my carrots?” Yukito offered, making twisted faces at the only vegetable in their lunch. Alex gave a hearty nod, and Yukito stood up to take his over to the other boys, saying that perhaps the carrots would stick together better if they used some peanut butter from their sandwiches.
“Cassie, whatchya drawing?” Erin asked, leaning over.
Cassie paused a moment, unsure, then told her “It's Yukito.”
Her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Erin crawled over the table to land in Yukito's old seat so she could see for herself. Then, she gave a laugh. “It is! Look at his hair! You are a good draw-er, Cassie!”
“Thanks,” Cassie said, blushing.
“Cassie!” Lilith cried out, exasperated, “Why did you draw on the table?! You know you're not supposed to do that!” She leaned down and took the crayons from the little girl, pocketing them before moving on to ordering the boys to clean up their lunch mess because their parents were going to come pick them up soon.
As Lilith left, Erin placed both her elbows on the table and placed her chin on her palms. “Cassie, let's be best friends.”
“What?”
“Let's be best friends, Cassie! Forever ever and ever and ever and ever and-”
“Okay!” Cassie squealed happily, letting out a giggle. “I like that idea a whole lot.”
~~
This is Alternate Universe NOLA charries. I kept Kagayaki and Lilith as adults, since they work at a daycare center in town.
Feel sorry for them, folks. The other characters are:Mine - Yukito (age 5) Chance (age 3)
GG's - Erin (age 4) Trent (age 5) Alex (age 4)
Poppy's - Cassie (age 4) Shelby (age 3) Yumi (age 3)
MTM's - Clarence (age 5)
Moony's - Jessica (age 4) Liv (age 1)
Mysty's - Golden (age 5) Cat (age 3)
Here we go!
Daycare Dilemmas
The cacophony of shouts and child's cries that always accompanied the morning rush brought an instant headache, but Lilith was accustomed to it by now, and at smiling through it while she removed jackets and coaxed little ones into parting with their parents. She was beyond glad that Kagayaki was here today. He had a real way with the kids, especially their regular ones that instantly raced forward to dog-pile on him. She stood holding one of the infants, a raven haired beauty, and watched Kagayaki chuckle and guffaw beneath the many hands that attempted a tickle at his belly and neck. He called out protests, but she let them play, readjusting the one-year old on her hip and telling the baby, “Come on, Liv, let's go find you that blanket you like best.”
She started off, instantly feeling a tug on the side of her jeans from a tiny hand that had shoved its fingers into the belt loop. Looking down, she saw a blond haired little boy of about three, his pudgy face into a mischievous grin, and his eyes with no fear. She smiled down at him, ruffling his hair, then her eyes widening when she saw what he was wearing. “Chance, why are you wearing a tu-tu?” He also had several colorful hairclips that held his bangs out of his eyes that she was sure he hadn't come in with. Whose were they?
He shook his hips a little, giving the pink material an appreciative little pat. “Pwetty.”
“Well, I think we should go find you some pants instead, Chance...” She didn't know what his parents would say if they saw him. They'd probably think she was instigating it. But then Kagayaki spoke up, still half-wrestling four-year-old Erin off of him. The girl had discovered that no matter how sticky the fingers, a tickle of a single index finger in Kagayaki's ear caused him to let out the funniest sort of giggle that resembled an asthma attack.
“No...hurt, think. I do it, too. When small.”
Lilith shared a questioning look with Kagayaki, still unsure. “You think it's just a phase he's going through? I've heard most kids do..” At Kagayaki's reassuring nod, she relaxed, and sent Chance a smile. “Okay, then, Chance. We need to find Liv's blankie.” She took the little boy's hand and they went off in search of it, while Kagayaki overcame the mob of children and ended the tickle fight.
“Ow, Erin! No do!” He lifted the girl off the ground, holding her beneath her arms as she erupted into heart-melting laughter. Kagayaki grinned at her, setting her down and then pointing toward one of the brightly-colored tables in the corner. “You want to draw?” Several heads nodded, and he went to grab paper and the box of crayons off one of the shelves at adult height. He had set it on the table before he noticed there was already a little boy seated there, who looked petulant, his tiny arms crossed on his chest and covering up the book he held in his arms that was almost as big as he was. He had sandy-brown hair and glasses, and he sniffed angrily as Erin sat next to him, half-crawling onto the table to get to the crayons.
“You want...draw too?” Kagayaki asked, but the boy just pouted.
“I was here first, idiot,” the boy declared. Kagayaki's brows lowered. What was the boy's name? He'd been told what it was, but he couldn't remember.. He didn't seem very happy.
“Clarence!” called out the little girl on his other side, her blonde hair pulled up high into a pony-tail and her bright green eyes flashing as she reprimanded the boy with a shout, “You be nice to Kagayaki! He is...nice. Nicer than you!”
Clarence responded with a deeper frown, pushing the girl with his shoulder. “You shut your fat mouth, Jessica! You have an idiot face! Every one of you!”
“Do not, Clarence! You meanie-head!”
“Hey, hey-hey!” Kagayaki called out, waving his arms to calm them down. “No fight!”
Meanwhile, Erin was humming to herself while she messily threw her crayons across her paper, missing it half the time and holding an orange crayon in one hand and a green one in the other. A red-haired girl reached up to take the orange one, and Erin shouted a, “Hey! It's mine!”
“I wanna use the orange!” the girl's large eyes filled instantly with tears. “I need it for my..my..” She'd forgotten exactly how to describe her work, but it didn't matter anyways. She knew she needed that crayon. “Please?”
Erin cocked her head to the side and considered for a long moment, the enormous bow on her headband flopping down and brushing against her forehead. “Okay,” and she tossed the crayon to the girl, focusing instead with her green. “I like green best. I am making a pumpkin. Because pumpkins are for me. We eat them on my birthday.”
“Really?” the girl breathed. Erin nodded, then leaned forward to see what the other girl had drawn on her paper.
“What is that?”
“It's a tree with flowers on it. Kagayaki, see?” She reached up to pull on Kagayaki's shirt, and he looked down and gave a gasp when he saw her drawing, proclaiming it pretty and saying she should put her name on it. “How do you spell 'Cassandra'?”
Kagayaki paused, eyes wide and unsure. The girl repeated her question, and he was still lost. Luckily, Lilith stepped up to help, saying that Cassandra was a very pretty name, but very long. “So we'll write 'Cassie', okay? Can you write a C?”
“I can write a C, too!” Clarence declared, looking up from his enormous novel he had laid out on the table in front of him. The page he had been reading floated up and brushed against his nose while he glared at Cassie. “My name starts with a C!”
“Mine, too!” crowed Chance, who had followed Lilith over. He'd helped her find Liv's blanket and the baby was now quietly – but happily - playing in one of the playpens.
“That's right!” Lilith announced, “All of your names start with a C! But what does my name start with? Does anyone know?” She looked around, but Cassie was writing her C with utmost care and Clarence had buried his nose in his book again. Erin was busying herself with trying to make the crayons stay on their ends, and Chance was trying to help her do it.
“Lily starts with L!” announced the little voice behind her, and she turned to see the large brown eyes of a young boy about Clarence's age peering up at her, his long, shaggy black hair falling into his eyes. Lilith reached up and brushed his bangs out of the way, smiling.
“That's right, Yukito! Lily starts with L. And so does Liv, aaaaaand..” she looked around the room for inspiration, then added, “Lemonade!”
“And lightbulbs!” Erin announced, throwing both hands up into the air, getting excited at the prospect of a new game.
“L..” Chance tried, but came up with nothing.
“Love!” called out Erin, bouncing in her chair.
“Licks?” Cassie offered, and Kagayaki nodded vigorously, making her smile.
“Lord of the Rings,” Clarence added, throwing his book in the middle of the table for everyone to see. Lilith's eyebrow arched. All three books were combined into one very battered volume, explaining why his book was so enormous. ...A five year old reading Lord of the Rings? What the heck?
“Lollipop!” Chance shouted, jumping as high as he could when he had something to add, undeterred by Clarence's odd pick. Shelby, however, thought that the choice was novel, and reached over to snatch up the book, nearly falling over in the process. She let out a little squeal as Clarence shot after her, tackling her to the ground and prying the book from her hands. Shelby began to cry, and Liv soon joined her from her playpen. Letting out a sigh, Lilith raced over to console Liv while Kagayaki worked to pry Clarence off Shelby. He'd pinned her with one hand and had the other fist ready for a punch when Kagayaki interfered.
“Don't take my stuff, stupid-head!” Clarence screamed, pulling on Shelby's curly crimson locks.
“Noooo!” Shelby protested, turning around to fight back. But Kagayaki had already lifted the wriggling boy into his arms, and all she could do was give the little boy's exposed leg as hard a slap as she could manage.
“You weak stupid-head! That didn't hurt, you know!”
“Noooo!”
Kagayaki lifted the boy over to the opposite corner, setting him down next to another boy who was building with LEGOS, carefully weaving through the pile for the exact piece he wanted. When he saw them coming over, he held up his creation – “Look, I made a spaceship! Isn't it cool?”
“Yes, very!” Kagayaki declared, adequately giving oohs and aahs to please young Trent, who held up his spaceship for Clarence to compliment. Clarence, however, slammed his fist down on the ship, and LEGOs sprinkled around their feet with little plinking sounds. Trent's mouth fell open, before he gave an angry shout.
“Hey! Why'd you do that!?”
“It looked stupid,” was Clarence's blunt reply. He wriggled out of Kagayaki's arms, ignoring the man's demand that he apologize, and looked Trent straight in the face, his eyes widening as both clenched their fists and stiffened in preparation for battle. “What you gonna do about it, eh, punk?”
“I'm gonna rip you to shreds!” Trent leaped forward and pinned Clarence down easily, the two of them wrestling back and forth and sending kicks towards each other. Kagayaki went ignored entirely, but when Lilith barked across the room that they needed to settle down, they covered up their fight – and thereby avoided punishment - by turning it more into a game than anything, sending roundhouse kicks and punches that more than barely missed their mark, letting out sounds of “Hiya!” and “Grr!” while doing so. Rubbing his temples and sighing in disbelief, Kagayaki moved away to clean up a nearby mess, keeping one eye on the two boys as they formed a sort of friendly rivalry.
Meanwhile, Erin was bored with coloring, and skipped her way over to the toys, digging through until she could find something – or someone – to play with. She found a little xylophone, pulling it out to the middle of the floor and lying on her stomach so she could play it. A couple of kids raced past her, and she looked up, distracted, but her hands still came back to hit the brightly-colored rectangles until they made sound, entertaining her for awhile. More kids ran past, and she looked up to see Cassie walking along the wall, dragging a crayon against every available object as she walked past, as though she was looking for something. Lilith caught her and scolded her, instantly boring Erin and keeping her from joining the game. Instead, she kicked her legs back and forth and hit her xylophone quite happily. She played a few more plinking notes, trying to come up with some sort of melody, humming along and adding little nonsense lyrics about things that started with the letter E. Then, a boy tripped in front of her, almost landing on top of the xylophone. It was Yukito, and after getting over the initial shock of falling on his face, he looked over at her with interest.
“Can I play with that?” he queried, sitting up on his heels. Erin gave a pout, not wanting to give up her new toy.
“No, it's mine. You find you one.”
Yukito frowned, but wasn't easily deterred. “I'll find a better one, and I'll play it faster than you do!” He raced over to the toybox and started digging through it, throwing the unwanted plaything aside. After a few moments, he got distracted by a small robot toy, which he pulled out to inspect. Yukito held it out and made it fly with a suitable wooshing noise as he moved across the room, stopping at Erin's side and making circles around her. Erin went back to her xylophone, ignoring him for the most part, and Yukito's flight slowed at the sound of the notes. He circled a few more times then 'landed' the robot in front of her xylophone.
“I can play guitar.”
“No, you can't,” Erin stated matter-of-factly, not even looking up at him. Yukito pouted, then sat cross-legged in front of her.
“Yes I can. I play daddy's guitar all the time! The big one. I play songs.”
Erin glanced up, interested now that he'd mention her favorite word that began to S. Other than spaghetti, that is. “You can? Can you play this plano?” She pushed the xylophone a little towards him, hoping he could show her and she could play songs, too.
“Plano? No, I can't play it. It's stupid. Planos are for stupids.” Yukito thought back to how his mother had forced him to play piano for ages and ages, and he scowled at the memory.
At his words, Erin's eyes saddened, and she felt as if she was gonna cry. But instead she got angry, sitting up onto her knees and pulling the xylophone closer protectively, in case its feelings were hurt by Yukito's words. “They not!”
Yukito paused, looking at Erin and tilting his head to the side. After a long moment, he gave in, giving a little shrug and saying, “Okay. Planos are nice. They for girls, though. Can you play?”
Erin nodded eagerly, bouncing and leaning forward to press the buttons at the end of the keys, a clear ring singing out in each different tone for each different color as she sang out about her lunch and pretty stars. Yukito watched her for a few moments but quickly became more interested in his robot, sitting next to her and slamming it into the carpet.
“Erin! Let's play house!” called Jessica, diverting the girl's attention once more.
“Okay!” Erin called out, skipping over to the bright plastic playhouse in the corner of the room. There were already three or four kids playing in there, one girl with almond eyes was glaring out the window at Erin as she came over. “I wanna be a rock star!”
“But we're playing house, Erin,” the girl at the window growled, but Jessica just gave her an irritated glance.
“She can be the rock star, Yummy,” Jessica declared, not bothered in the least.
“My name is not that! It's Yumi!”
“She is gonna play the mommy,” Jessica told Erin, pointing over her shoulder to Yumi, “And he wants to play, too. But he doesn't want to be a daddy.”
Her finger pointed to the new boy, with blond curly hair that sat on top of his head like a raggedy mop. He was taller than Clarence, Erin noted, but he seemed a lot nicer. He grinned at Erin and then fell onto his hands and knees and gave a happy-sounding bark.
“Golden is gonna be the puppy!” squealed Erin, understanding. She leaned forward to 'pet' his hair, making him purr.
“Puppies do not purr!” Jessica corrected. Golden made a sad face and whimpered, earning a “Much better,” from the pony-tailed girl.
“Can I be the rock star daughter with the Golden Receiver puppy-dog?” Erin squealed happily, jumping and giving a giggle as Golden barked in approval and chased her around the playhouse kitchen set.
“But who is gonna be the daddy?” Yumi complained, poking her head out of the window again and looking around at all the children running around the daycare. Her eyes fell on Yukito, who had grabbed Erin's abandoned xylophone and was now trying to play it. “Yukito! Yukito! Come play with us!” She pulled her head back in and informed the others, “I want him to play the daddy.”
Jessica shrugged, not caring who played the daddy, and Erin was giving Golden the puppy orders, making sure he was trained and enjoying how he listened to her every command. She glanced up at Jessica then, and asked, “Who are you, Jessica?”
“I am the grandmother witch. Like on the show my mommy watches, called Bewitched. I get to pick on everyone else and wear funny clothes and disappear whenever I don't get my way!”
Erin let out a gasp, liking the idea. Then, she considered, and asked more skeptically, “But the grandmother spoils the rock star daughter, right? They're good friends.”
“Sure,” Jessica said, then held up her hands like threatening claws and hissed, “Except when the rock star daughter is BAD.”
Erin's eyes widened to saucers, and she declared she would be very, very good. Yukito's nose appeared in the window, asking what they were all doing, and Yumi jumped with glee and ran outside to drag him into their house.
“Yukito, you have to play the daddy!” she declared, pulling on his arm and making him trip as they entered the doorway.
“Huh? I don't want to be a daddy...” Yukito murmured slowly. “My daddy says it's too much frustration.” Jessica looked up then, interested at such a big word, and knowing Yukito was proud that he'd remembered it.
“But you have to, Yukito!” Yumi cried, pulling on his arm some more until he pushed her to the floor. Erin and Golden had found some plastic food, then, and Erin had been putting a banana into a little tin frying pan when she saw Yumi hit the floor.
“He don't wanna play, Yumi!” Erin called out, hoping to make peace. “We can find a new daddy!”
“But I want Yukito to play!” her voice rose to a wail, and at the sound, Yukito vanished from the playhouse, and instantly brought Kagayaki over to see what was the matter. Yumi fell into a full-on bawl, jumping into Kagayaki's arms for a reassuring hug while she told him how nobody wanted to play with her anyways, and how she wanted to go home. Kagayaki picked her up and took her over to talk to Yukito about it, and Jessica turned to Golden and Erin.
“Since the parents left you on my doorstep, Erin, I adopted you,” she explained easily.
Erin sent Jessica a smile, then leaned down to put the fried banana on the floor for her puppy to slurp up, and he barked and bent to pretend to lap it up. Erin patted his curly head and said, “I like this puppy.”
Kagayaki let out a sigh and came over to help Lilith bring out the snacks, noting how she kept glancing over her shoulder at a couple of little boys that were sitting in the corner. “What wrong, Lily?”
“That little boy there, next to Alex?” she nodded with her head, both hands holding sandwiches and bags of cheetos. Kagayaki looked over to see the little boy with shaggy brown hair and clothes that didn't fit him right. “I don't remember his parents dropping him off, and I don't think I've seen him before. He won't talk or play with the other kids. So I sent Alex over to play with him...”
“What his name?”
Lilith's mouth worked nervously, then she added, “He says his name is 'Cat'.”
“Like a kitty-cat?” A smile lighted on Kagayaki's face, amused at the idea of the kid giving himself such a nickname.
“Yeah...he's really cute and sweet, though...” she looked over at him while she laid out the snacks on the table. Alex, meanwhile, walked up to the boy named Cat for a moment, considering. He didn't know what to say so instead he started stacking up some of the enormous cardboard building bricks into a rickety stack, making it go as high as he could. Cat watched him with eager eyes while the stack came up to Alex's knee, then his stomach, then his shoulder. When Alex's tower got so tall he had to go on tippy-toe, Cat stood up and asked if he could help. Alex gave a nod, and Cat pushed over a small blue chair and clambered up onto it with a block in his hands, reaching out to place the block on the top of Alex's tower. But as soon as he lifted his block above his head, he accidentally bumped into the stack with the corner of the one in his hands and the hold thing came tumbling down. For a long moment, the two boys frowned down at the disheveled mess in mourning. Then, Alex moved forward wordlessly, and started on a new building.
Cat, looking miserable, just stood watching for a few moments. He fiddled with his shirt, his little fingers catching in the tiny holes around his abdomen. Alex, without looking up, called out, “Help me make a fort!”
A smile lit up Cat's face, and he jumped in to help. “We gonna make a biggun?” he queried, and Alex nodded, sitting up on his heels to place a large yellow block across the doorway he had made.
“A big BIG one,” Alex declared. They were almost done with it when suddenly Yukito bolted over, being chased by Trent and Clarence together. They all three had somehow found plastic guns and were making shooting noises. Yukito hit behind their block fort, reaching one arm over top of the barricade and aiming right at Clarence.
“Boosh! I got you in between the eyes!” he declared, but Clarence ignored the hit and kept coming on, holding the gun up so close to his face it knocked his glasses askew.
“Pshoo! Pshoo! I'm gonna get you, scrawny!”
“Nuh-huh!”
Trent moved in to try and get an angle at him from the side, giving a tumble as though he was a spy. Jumping out almost on top of the brick fort, he managed to get Yukito at close range, his water gun spraying a little line that barely missed the boy. Yukito frowned – Trent had the only water gun. Lilith and Kagayaki had banned them after the last round.
“My gramma could get you,” Trent laughed, as Yukito sprang over the fort, knocking several blocks off. Clarence piped up at the subject of grandmothers.
“I know mine could! My gramma is as big as my dad! And she says if kids don't learn to shut their mouths, she'll stick her boot so far up your a--”
“I WANT A WATERGUN, TOO!” cried Erin, racing over, a firefighter hat on her head, Chance trailing behind her with a cowboy hat on his head.
“We wanna play!” Chance declared, reaching out for one of the toy guns. Trent gripped his to his chest possessively, sending Chance a pout.
“Not near our fort!” Alex whined, trying to pick up the blocks Yukito had knocked over. Erin jumped into the middle of it, knocking more blocks over.
“It my throne now! I'm the princess!” she declared.
“Princesses don't wear firefighter hats!” Yukito snapped, and she sent him a glare, her large brown eyes narrowing into slits.
“She can be a firefighter princess, if she wants to!” Golden declared, coming over to see what they were up to. “Look what I found!” He held up a nerf gun someone had hidden at the bottom of the toy boxes.
“It's snack time, kids!” Lilith called out, and an instant rush of half the children in the room began. Most of the ones in Cat's corner, however, lingered behind. When Lilith came over to tell them individually to go eat their lunch, she let out a gasp. Erin was sitting on Yukito's back, pinning him to the ground and pointing a plastic gun at his head, her firefighter hat barely clinging onto her bow for dear life. Chance and Golden were hiding together behind the broken fort, and Alex and Cat were yelling at them to stop. Clarence and Trent were wrestling over the nerf gun. Jessica came up and pounced on Clarence, knocking him to the ground before reaching up to shove Trent over, prying the nerf gun from his fingertips before getting knocked to the carpet herself.
“Hey!” Lilith shouted, reaching down to push kids off the gun and then lifting it above their heads. “Let go of it! I don't want to send any of your home with only one eye!”
“Erin! Get off me!” Yukito protested with a growl. But as Lilith went to put the nerf gun away, Cassie raced in, marker pens in her hands and colorful splotches all over her arms and face. She giggled and raced over to jump on Yukito with Erin, the two girls laughing at the game.
“Lily! We on Yukito!” Cassie declared, sitting between his shoulder blades. She gave his hair a little pat, then giggled. “It poofs.”
“All of your over to the snack tables, now!” Lilith called, nudging them all until they were seated around one of the short, round tables. “Yukito, why do you have two shirts on?” He glared up at her, adjusting the red Spiderman shirt over top of his black one beneath.
“You can't take my 'lil rocker' shirt! Daddy gave it to me! DON'T TAKE IT!”
“Okay, okay,” Lilith reassured him, a little confused.
Meanwhile, Clarence tried to sit down next to Erin, but she pushed him off and waved Cassie over, patting the seat next to her.
“Come sit with me, Cassie!”
Cassie hesitated, then sat across from Erin, looking up and finding Yukito crawling into the chair next to her.
“Girls are stupid,” Yukito hissed at her, rubbing his cheek where a rug burn glowed. Cassie looked up at him for a long moment, but said nothing, turning to offer to share her cheetos with Erin.
“Cheetos are the best!” Clarence declared, whooping as he started viciously devouring the snacks, ignoring the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
“Here is your ham sandwich, Cassie,” Lilith leaned down to give Cassie her lunch, sending her a smile before getting distracted again.“Chance, take that carrot out of Liv's nose!”
“Why do you get a special sandwich?” Clarence queried, leaning over to lift up the edge of Cassie's bread and peer inside.
“Because if she eats peanut butter she will die!” Erin declared, her voice deepened as she tried to sound threatening.
“I dare you to eat some peanut butter to prove it!” Jessica snorted, scowling at her carrots and slipping them over to Alex, who was sharing them with Cat in an attempt to build a tiny carrot-fort with them.
Cassie frowned, and didn't respond, just pulling out a crayon from her pocket and doodling on the edge of the table with her green crayon. At the table behind them, Shelby let out a squeal, declaring that Trent was pulling her hair. Yumi was calling out for Kagayaki to make him stop, jumping so hard in her seat that she tipped it over and fell backwards, making her start to cry.
“Alex, do you want my carrots?” Yukito offered, making twisted faces at the only vegetable in their lunch. Alex gave a hearty nod, and Yukito stood up to take his over to the other boys, saying that perhaps the carrots would stick together better if they used some peanut butter from their sandwiches.
“Cassie, whatchya drawing?” Erin asked, leaning over.
Cassie paused a moment, unsure, then told her “It's Yukito.”
Her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Erin crawled over the table to land in Yukito's old seat so she could see for herself. Then, she gave a laugh. “It is! Look at his hair! You are a good draw-er, Cassie!”
“Thanks,” Cassie said, blushing.
“Cassie!” Lilith cried out, exasperated, “Why did you draw on the table?! You know you're not supposed to do that!” She leaned down and took the crayons from the little girl, pocketing them before moving on to ordering the boys to clean up their lunch mess because their parents were going to come pick them up soon.
As Lilith left, Erin placed both her elbows on the table and placed her chin on her palms. “Cassie, let's be best friends.”
“What?”
“Let's be best friends, Cassie! Forever ever and ever and ever and ever and-”
“Okay!” Cassie squealed happily, letting out a giggle. “I like that idea a whole lot.”
~~
