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Cloneness, complete scene
http://www.livejournal.com/users/askerian/83395.html#cutid1 for previous scene.
I think I need some help with baby talk and the way the kids react. I'm not sure it's believable. But it's really hard to guess how such a group of children might react. They range from four to fourteen year old and they all have different experiences in their pasts.
That's only the impression I got from them. It can change. I need input.
lena(4) and Milly(9): Duo found them three years ago. Relena couldn't really walk yet, Milliardo was five. Their parents had been quite well-off before the war; they were living in a hidden estate until the food ran out, then they had to leave. Once in town, Relena crawled off to play, Milly followed to get her back, their parents made too much noise while searching for them and were killed quite messily by a gang. Relena doesn't remember them, Milly does, a little. I don't know if he heard what happened or saw the bodies or anything; Sera, ideas?
Meiran and Wufei(51/3): Their parents were travelers searching for a better place. The twins were three or a little more when duo got them. I don't know what happened to the parents.
Hilde(6): Not a clue.
Sylvia(7): grew up in a gang. They have no use for children. I know she was treated harshly; her mother was a druggie and couldn't care for her very well. She was probably hit a few times, maybe beaten, maybe sexually abused, I don't know; she certainly saw her mother/other gang women with the men though.
Trowa (14): Stayed with grandfather, a few cousins, friends of his cousins, which made a sort of gang. they were all rather well-off before the war,and even mildly nice for a gang, which is why they ended up wiped out. Some of the adults survived, but scattered.
cathy(9 1/2), Nanashi (triton) (7): nomadic family. epidemy? they got lost? I don't know. Trowa's gang found them briefly before it was destroyed. Trowa decided that triton was a stupid name, and Triton agreed, which is why he decided to be called something else. He didn't know what else he wanted to be called, though, so they ended up calling him no-name.
Quatre (4 1/2): not a clue.
Otto (13): stayed with his father until he was 11, then there was an accident. He survived alone for about a month before Duo found him.
Alex (12), Mueller (11): were from an allied gang of Trowa's. Theirs was even smaller and got absorbed/destroyed a little bit earlier by the same gang that attacked Trowa's later. They hung around for a while, then were found by Duo, then directed him to Trowa, Cathy and Triton.
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The rat-catching thing had been... interesting, Duo decided. The clone had quickly gotten the hang of it just by watching Duo. The scavenger had more practice, but he could see how inhumanly fast these hands could snap forward, grab, twist, crunch. If he decided to attack, Duo could probably inflict some damage, but the chance that he would win uninjured wasn't that high.
He gutted the rats efficiently, abandoning the innards in front of a sewer, knowing that it would encourage the ones who had scampered off to come back, then lifted half of them by the tail, gave the other half to the Soldier to hold, and went back home.
The sun was starting to show between the buildings when they arrived back at the hideout. Otto was crouching on the sentinel spot-- what they had named the landing at the top of the twisted emergency stairs. It always made his heart squeeze to see them up there, but they were cautious and so far the old, rusted metal held well enough to bear his kids' weight.
He nodded a discrete salute at the thirteen-year old, then slipped in, the clone on his heels. The smallest kids had migrated to the pile of blankets the older kids had left on the floor, and were all sleeping soundly in a tangle of small limbs. Mei and Fei were, as always, a lot more sibling-ly when asleep than awake, and were using each other as a teddy-bear. He knew from experience that the first thing they'd do when they would wake up would be to glare at each other and start arguing, only to turn back as one on the first idiot who would try to berate them. Quat was half-buried under a pillow, his upper body on Nanashi's lap, Nash himself slumped against the wall. Lena was sprawled on her front on top of the pile of blankets, as if hugging them all to her possessively.
The older kids all avoided that area, going about their business quietly. Cathy was washing the dishes with help from the shy, mousey Sylvia. Duo frowned; Alex and Mueller were hanging around and smirking at each other, Sylvia looked like she wanted to bolt, and Cathy was moving with that determination that indicated an explosion of her fiery temper coming soon. The brats were probably bothering them again.
Alex leaned over Cathy and hooked a finger into her collar to look down her shirt. Dumping his rats in Heero's arms, Duo stomped toward them, scowling. The little perverts!
Cathy was strong enough to defend herself, and proved it by kneeing Alex in the groin properly, but Sylvia looked close to tears. The second she saw Duo, she ran for him.
Alex had managed to twist to avoid the full force of Cathy's blow, but it had still landed. The blond boy straightened up, giving her a watery glare. "OWW!! You little--"
Duo picked up Sylvia, sitting her on his hip just like he did with the smallest kids. "Alex. Enough."
The two boys jumped and gave him a guilty look. Cathy was standing behind them, arms crossed over her chest, glaring death at them both. She looked up at Duo and blushed, visibly embarrassed.
"What's going on here?" the braided man growled, glowering at the teenagers.
The two boys exchanged a guilty look. "Uhh, nothing..."
"We were just talking with the girls, that’s all..."
Duo snorted. "Ah, so now to talk to a girl ya have to talk down her shirt? Do you take me for a moron?"
"But she kneed me!!!"
"Quiet," the man hissed, glancing at the stirring pile of little kids. "Don't you wake the babies." He nodded at the door fiercely, indicating that the boys should leave and fast. "Go to the other room. Wait there."
Dragging their feet, they went as ordered.
"You okay, girl?" he asked once the boys had left.
"Yeah, sure," she mumbled, but she was looking embarrassed, and her arms were still crossed firmly over her chest. Duo had to admit that one of his baby girls was growing up, and she was probably still feeling awkward about it. Having these two brats teasing her wasn't going to help.
He put Sylvia down at her side, patting her long, silvery-blond hair gently, then gave the curly-haired redhead an awkward smile.
"You did good to knee him, girl. These idiots need to learn to respect girls. If they bother you like that again, or any of the other girls, you tell me, okay? I'll punish them."
Sylvia took Cathy's hand and hid behind her. Duo felt his heart squeeze. He didn't know what had happened to the thin, green-eyed girl before he found her, but it had taken months to get her to whisper even one word. She was painfully shy and cringed every time one of the older kids or Duo raised their voices. The scavenger didn't know how she had been treated, but it hadn't been nicely.
"... I'll punish them, promise. And, uhm-- maybe you want a larger shirt?" Hers was getting too small and it was too easy to see her budding breasts, which probably looked a bit too enticing for boys entering puberty. Otto would never touch any of the girls without their consent --he was too gentle, and shy that way-- but as for Trowa, Alex and Mueller, it was another story. He had found them late and they were a bit too used to taking whatever they wanted. It was a good survival method, but not an attitude he would tolerate between his kids.
He gave her a pat on the head, because he didn't know what else to do, then walked out to find the two boys.
They were in the far corner with Trowa, staring at the clone with wide eyes. Heero was still standing by the entrance, looking just slightly uncomfortable.
His hood was down.
Time to do some damage control, the scavenger thought as he walked casually to the clone, who was still holding the rats. Though... Maybe it was good that the brats were afraid of something, even if he didn't want them thinking that the soldier had come to kill them all in their sleep. "Hey, Heero, do you know how to skin an animal?"
Puzzled, the clone hesitated before he nodded.
"Then take the rats there and skin 'em, please," he asked, pointing to a plank balanced on two casks that served for preparing the food. "No need to keep the head or the paws."
There, the kids would see him skinning something, but doing it at Duo's bidding. Man, but the scavenger was glad the clone had, for some weird reason, decided to let him order him around.
Heero out of the way, he turned back to the teenagers.
Mueller's usually chocolate skin was trying to compete with Alex's pallor. "Duo... That's..."
"Yeah. But he's okay."
Trowa opened his mouth to argue and Duo shut him up with a vicious glare. "I thought it was your turn to get water?"
"Uhh-- yeah, but..."
Duo shook his head, not interested in hearing his excuse. Trowa was a fearless thief, and good help whenever the task he had to execute made him look strong, but as soon as it was more tedious than daring, he always had a good reason to let someone else do it. "Go help Milly."
"But the..."
"Trowa Dekim Barton. Go get water. What I have to say to Alex and Mueller doesn't concern you."
The oldest of the boys finally skulked out, giving him a sullen look. The braided man turned back to face Alex and Mueller. They were squirming already.
"Do you even know what you did wrong?"
They exchanged looks, then finally Alex decided to talk. "... We annoyed the girls?"
Duo shook his head. "Not only that. For teasing the girls, you get water duty for the week, starting tomorrow. Are you sure you don't know what else you did?"
"Uhhh..."
"Alex, you looked down Catherine's shirt. You have no right to do that. It may seem funny to you now, but it's her body. It's her decision to say who gets to look at her naked, not yours, not anyone else's. What would you do if I came and pulled your pants down just to look at your butt?"
Now they were both blushing furiously.
"You would hate it? Well, I bet she didn't like it either. And yet you didn't think one second that she may feel the same way."
"You look at the little ones naked all the time," Mueller grumbled under his breath. Duo glared at him. They both knew very well that it was different.
"Yeah, I do. To wash them, or clean their scratches. Not because I find it funny or interesting. That and they're babies. They don't have breasts or hair yet. You do. Cathy does. It means you and her are old enough to make that decision on your own. You don't have the right to not care about her decisions."
"Oh, come on, Duo, we were just joking!" Alex protested, scowling back at him.
Duo just stared back until he looked down. "Yeah, it starts as a joke now, and it ends up as you two turning into rapists. It was wrong, you know it; you just don't want to think about it too hard. Well, I'm going to make you think about it."
He pointed at a corner, against the same wall Heero was working by. "You sit here. No breakfast. You think about how your attitude needs to change instead. Today and tomorrow, you will help Cathy to cook, and this means getting wood for the fire, washing the dishes, setting the table and doing what she tells you two to do. You will wash half of the blankets -- better not tear any-- and hang them in the sun. If one of 'em falls in the dirt wet, you better wash it again. When it's all dry you'll wash the other half. You'll watch the babies with Nash and Hilde too."
He saw them open their mouths to protest, and quieted them with yet another glare. "You think it's bad? Well, if I hear that it happened again, I'm going to have everyone come here, and then I'm going to bend you over my knee and spank you both. Pants down. You'd rather do the chores, eh? Yeah, that's what I thought."
He pointed at the corner again, and they went, dragging their feet.
The clone was watching them, a mildly interested look on his face.
"Are you finished?" Duo asked as he looked at the plank. The rats were neatly lined up, the fur and other unpalatable bits piled up in a corner. "Good," he said, but then he felt weird. He was treating the clone just like one of his kids, praising him for a well-done job. He tried not to think of spanking him if ever he did something bad. Not only was he a grown man, he was a grown man who only obeyed because he had chosen to and would probably respond to a tentative to discipline him by lots of bloodshed. That and the idea of bending him over his knee was weirdly disturbing.
"... Thank you."
Heero shrugged. "When are we leaving?" he asked, changing the subject brusquely. Duo needed a second to switch mental gears.
"I need to wake up the kids and feed them, and then we can go."
He thought about asking Heero to watch the brats for him, make sure they stayed put, but the clone was way too literal about some things. Anyway, his mere presence would make them try to pretend they didn't exist, it was just as good as having him actively watching them.
He went back to the other room, bringing the rats to Cathy and Sylvia and helping them string a few of them over the fire to smoke them, then went to wake up the babies. As predicted, Mei and Fei started to squabble right away, bumping into Nanashi. The older boy gave them a long-suffering stare then looked solemnly up at Duo. The man helped him untangle himself from Quatre's hold and deftly picked up Lena when she started to slide from the pile of blankets.
"Morning, princess," he smiled at her, kissing her forehead as she blinked her eyes open, then picked Quatre up and gave him a good morning kiss too. "Nash, go and tell the big boys to come in?"
The quiet little boy nodded and padded out, still as solemnly. Following him, Duo carried the two babies to the place they used as a bathroom, Mei and Fei tugging on his shirt randomly and already babbling up a storm.
Most of the older kids were there when he came back, the only ones missing being Milly and Trowa. The clone was still standing against the wall where he had left him, Alex and Mueller still sitting in the corner. He invited them to follow to the dining/sleeping room with a quick nod.
He could have sworn the Soldier took a deep breath before entering the room.
Cathy and Hilde were putting the plates on the table already. He put the babies down and watched them scramble to climb on the benches, then helped Milly and Trowa pour the water they were bringing back in the barrel.
The clone was standing by the door, observing them all, his back to the wall. Duo sighed, weirdly amused. If he didn't know better, he could have thought that the fearless Soldier was scared of children.
"Sit down," he said, pointing at a place in the corner. Heero obeyed, keeping a cautious distance between him and the children at all times.
The last kids arrived and took place, and they all started to devour their meal. There was rarely that much meat in one go, and Duo reluctantly admitted that the Soldier clone had been useful in one thing at least.
"Okay, brats," he said as the slowest of them were finishing up. "I'm not going to be around today. I'm going with him," he added as he pointed at the clone, who lowered his head to hide his head behind his messy fringe. "He knows where we might find guns. If there's really as many as he says, I can keep a few to defend us and trade the others for really neat stuff," he added with an encouraging grin. The kids were all looking various shades of worried.
Trowa gave Heero a skeptical look and scowled at Duo. "You're following that guy away from our turf alone?"
"I was alone when I met him first, yanno," Duo replied calmly.
"But you know he's... He's..."
"Silence," Duo quieted him. He didn't know how the clone would react to anything his kids said and didn't want to find out. That and to reassure his kids he was going to need to say some stuff he didn't want to admit to his face. "Heero, I gotta talk to my kids... Can you wait out?"
Heero frowned slightly.
"... Please?" Duo whispered as he leaned toward him a little. "There's stuff we won't feel comfortable saying if you're around, and they need to talk this out."
The clone shrugged as he got on his feet, but his face was utterly expressionless. It was hard to say if the flash in his eyes was hurt or annoyance, or maybe even suspicion.
"I'll wait outside," he agreed and left, all eyes following him.
"He's?"
Trowa lost a bit of his assurance. "Well, I'm pretty sure he's..."
"He looks like a Soldier," Mueller said for him, then ducked his head as Duo looked at him instead.
Most of the kids drew in a deep breath and shuddered. Hilde and Sylvia's hands were squeezing each other and Mei and Fei were huddling, eyes wide.
"He's not!!" Lena screamed suddenly. "He's NICE!!! Soldiers are mean an' they kill babies and they put things on fire an' all!!"
She was waving her little fists around, working herself into a fit of righteous fury. Her brother pulled her close, hugging her protectively as he gave the door through which Heero had disappeared a dark look. Duo sighed. Looked like his Lena had latched onto the stranger. For a moment he wondered why; it wasn't as if he was talkative or good with children in any way.
He went to her and patted her head gently, then ruffled Quatre's golden locks. The little boy was staring at him with big worried eyes, his thumb in his mouth. "That's right. Heero's not mean. During the war, he was a Soldier, but it wasn't his fault. Now he's just a normal guy."
The babies were giving him confused looks, so he tried to find a simple way to explain, conscious that the oldest were listening too.
"The government created him and tons of other babies, and they gave them drugs and raised them to be mean to everyone."
"Drugs?" Fei repeated, frowning. Duo resisted the urge to grin at his cute pouty scowl. It wouldn't have been appropriate.
Living in the streets, his kids all knew that drugs were bad and made people do weird, dangerous stuff. Duo would have liked to need to explain, and it made his heart twist that he didn't need to.
"What sorta drugs?" Milly asked, still holding onto his little sister firmly.
"Well, drugs to make them stronger, I think. Drugs to make them obey their chiefs, and to make them mean, and to make them not care when they hurt people. So when they would kill a baby, they wouldn't cry or anything," he added softly. Cathy, Sylvia and Quatre, the more sympathetic of his children, looked properly horrified. "Then when the war ended, there was no government no more, and no drugs for the Soldiers. So most of them died, because their bodies had gotten used to the drug and it was like having no more food all at once." This he hadn't even known before meeting Heero, assuming like lots of people that they had been destroyed somehow. He saw the oldest kids nod thoughtfully as they took the information in.
"So why didn't he die?" Alex asked, looking equal parts wary and puzzled.
"He says he was in retraining, got half-doses only. His body was already adapting to a lesser dose of drugs when the war ended."
"So he says," Trowa grunted skeptically.
"So he says, and so far I've had no reason to doubt him," Duo replied, thinking of the violent headache the man had suffered through. "He's learning to become his own person, and you gotta respect that. Doesn't mean I want you all alone with him," he added as he thought that he didn't want his kids to trust the man to much. He didn't want them screaming and terrorized around Heero, but neither did he want them to accept him just yet. Intending to be or not, he had the potential to be dangerous and that was enough reason to be wary of him. "But that's just the way I would want you all to behave if I brought anyone else here. He's a stranger, but if I thought he would hurt any of you, he'd be long dead already. You just can't be alone with him."
He let his kids think on that for a few minutes, then straightened up.
"Otto, you're in charge. Alex, Mueller, you have your chores already. Cathy, they're gonna help you. Trowa, I want you to scout the houses by the broken tower. You take Milly with you -- Milly, you're forbidden to come in, you're just to relay messages and carry some stuff. Trowa, you're older, you better carry most of what you'll find," he added quietly for the teenager's ears.
The blond scowled briefly but nodded reluctantly.
"Sylvia, Hilde, Nash, you are sewing old clothes and blankets back together today. Don't prick your fingers too much, 'kay?"
They didn't have so many old clothes to sew, really. It would take them half of the day at the most, but he refused to let them out to look through the ruins without him. Ah well, it would give them some time to play.
"Kiddies, you better take a bath today, and wash properly. And you can only help the big kids if they tell you it's okay."
Mei, Fei, Lena and Quatre nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Duo looked all his kids over a last time, checking a mental list to make sure he had given every one of them something to do.
"Okay then! I'm going. I don't know how late I'm coming back, but don't you get worried before noon tomorrow."
He stepped back from the table, and two seconds later was properly mobbed. It was hard to give everyone a soft caress and a nice word, but after a few minutes, he managed to untangle himself, and with a last smile and a wave of his hand, he walked out to find the clone.
I think I need some help with baby talk and the way the kids react. I'm not sure it's believable. But it's really hard to guess how such a group of children might react. They range from four to fourteen year old and they all have different experiences in their pasts.
That's only the impression I got from them. It can change. I need input.
lena(4) and Milly(9): Duo found them three years ago. Relena couldn't really walk yet, Milliardo was five. Their parents had been quite well-off before the war; they were living in a hidden estate until the food ran out, then they had to leave. Once in town, Relena crawled off to play, Milly followed to get her back, their parents made too much noise while searching for them and were killed quite messily by a gang. Relena doesn't remember them, Milly does, a little. I don't know if he heard what happened or saw the bodies or anything; Sera, ideas?
Meiran and Wufei(51/3): Their parents were travelers searching for a better place. The twins were three or a little more when duo got them. I don't know what happened to the parents.
Hilde(6): Not a clue.
Sylvia(7): grew up in a gang. They have no use for children. I know she was treated harshly; her mother was a druggie and couldn't care for her very well. She was probably hit a few times, maybe beaten, maybe sexually abused, I don't know; she certainly saw her mother/other gang women with the men though.
Trowa (14): Stayed with grandfather, a few cousins, friends of his cousins, which made a sort of gang. they were all rather well-off before the war,and even mildly nice for a gang, which is why they ended up wiped out. Some of the adults survived, but scattered.
cathy(9 1/2), Nanashi (triton) (7): nomadic family. epidemy? they got lost? I don't know. Trowa's gang found them briefly before it was destroyed. Trowa decided that triton was a stupid name, and Triton agreed, which is why he decided to be called something else. He didn't know what else he wanted to be called, though, so they ended up calling him no-name.
Quatre (4 1/2): not a clue.
Otto (13): stayed with his father until he was 11, then there was an accident. He survived alone for about a month before Duo found him.
Alex (12), Mueller (11): were from an allied gang of Trowa's. Theirs was even smaller and got absorbed/destroyed a little bit earlier by the same gang that attacked Trowa's later. They hung around for a while, then were found by Duo, then directed him to Trowa, Cathy and Triton.
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The rat-catching thing had been... interesting, Duo decided. The clone had quickly gotten the hang of it just by watching Duo. The scavenger had more practice, but he could see how inhumanly fast these hands could snap forward, grab, twist, crunch. If he decided to attack, Duo could probably inflict some damage, but the chance that he would win uninjured wasn't that high.
He gutted the rats efficiently, abandoning the innards in front of a sewer, knowing that it would encourage the ones who had scampered off to come back, then lifted half of them by the tail, gave the other half to the Soldier to hold, and went back home.
The sun was starting to show between the buildings when they arrived back at the hideout. Otto was crouching on the sentinel spot-- what they had named the landing at the top of the twisted emergency stairs. It always made his heart squeeze to see them up there, but they were cautious and so far the old, rusted metal held well enough to bear his kids' weight.
He nodded a discrete salute at the thirteen-year old, then slipped in, the clone on his heels. The smallest kids had migrated to the pile of blankets the older kids had left on the floor, and were all sleeping soundly in a tangle of small limbs. Mei and Fei were, as always, a lot more sibling-ly when asleep than awake, and were using each other as a teddy-bear. He knew from experience that the first thing they'd do when they would wake up would be to glare at each other and start arguing, only to turn back as one on the first idiot who would try to berate them. Quat was half-buried under a pillow, his upper body on Nanashi's lap, Nash himself slumped against the wall. Lena was sprawled on her front on top of the pile of blankets, as if hugging them all to her possessively.
The older kids all avoided that area, going about their business quietly. Cathy was washing the dishes with help from the shy, mousey Sylvia. Duo frowned; Alex and Mueller were hanging around and smirking at each other, Sylvia looked like she wanted to bolt, and Cathy was moving with that determination that indicated an explosion of her fiery temper coming soon. The brats were probably bothering them again.
Alex leaned over Cathy and hooked a finger into her collar to look down her shirt. Dumping his rats in Heero's arms, Duo stomped toward them, scowling. The little perverts!
Cathy was strong enough to defend herself, and proved it by kneeing Alex in the groin properly, but Sylvia looked close to tears. The second she saw Duo, she ran for him.
Alex had managed to twist to avoid the full force of Cathy's blow, but it had still landed. The blond boy straightened up, giving her a watery glare. "OWW!! You little--"
Duo picked up Sylvia, sitting her on his hip just like he did with the smallest kids. "Alex. Enough."
The two boys jumped and gave him a guilty look. Cathy was standing behind them, arms crossed over her chest, glaring death at them both. She looked up at Duo and blushed, visibly embarrassed.
"What's going on here?" the braided man growled, glowering at the teenagers.
The two boys exchanged a guilty look. "Uhh, nothing..."
"We were just talking with the girls, that’s all..."
Duo snorted. "Ah, so now to talk to a girl ya have to talk down her shirt? Do you take me for a moron?"
"But she kneed me!!!"
"Quiet," the man hissed, glancing at the stirring pile of little kids. "Don't you wake the babies." He nodded at the door fiercely, indicating that the boys should leave and fast. "Go to the other room. Wait there."
Dragging their feet, they went as ordered.
"You okay, girl?" he asked once the boys had left.
"Yeah, sure," she mumbled, but she was looking embarrassed, and her arms were still crossed firmly over her chest. Duo had to admit that one of his baby girls was growing up, and she was probably still feeling awkward about it. Having these two brats teasing her wasn't going to help.
He put Sylvia down at her side, patting her long, silvery-blond hair gently, then gave the curly-haired redhead an awkward smile.
"You did good to knee him, girl. These idiots need to learn to respect girls. If they bother you like that again, or any of the other girls, you tell me, okay? I'll punish them."
Sylvia took Cathy's hand and hid behind her. Duo felt his heart squeeze. He didn't know what had happened to the thin, green-eyed girl before he found her, but it had taken months to get her to whisper even one word. She was painfully shy and cringed every time one of the older kids or Duo raised their voices. The scavenger didn't know how she had been treated, but it hadn't been nicely.
"... I'll punish them, promise. And, uhm-- maybe you want a larger shirt?" Hers was getting too small and it was too easy to see her budding breasts, which probably looked a bit too enticing for boys entering puberty. Otto would never touch any of the girls without their consent --he was too gentle, and shy that way-- but as for Trowa, Alex and Mueller, it was another story. He had found them late and they were a bit too used to taking whatever they wanted. It was a good survival method, but not an attitude he would tolerate between his kids.
He gave her a pat on the head, because he didn't know what else to do, then walked out to find the two boys.
They were in the far corner with Trowa, staring at the clone with wide eyes. Heero was still standing by the entrance, looking just slightly uncomfortable.
His hood was down.
Time to do some damage control, the scavenger thought as he walked casually to the clone, who was still holding the rats. Though... Maybe it was good that the brats were afraid of something, even if he didn't want them thinking that the soldier had come to kill them all in their sleep. "Hey, Heero, do you know how to skin an animal?"
Puzzled, the clone hesitated before he nodded.
"Then take the rats there and skin 'em, please," he asked, pointing to a plank balanced on two casks that served for preparing the food. "No need to keep the head or the paws."
There, the kids would see him skinning something, but doing it at Duo's bidding. Man, but the scavenger was glad the clone had, for some weird reason, decided to let him order him around.
Heero out of the way, he turned back to the teenagers.
Mueller's usually chocolate skin was trying to compete with Alex's pallor. "Duo... That's..."
"Yeah. But he's okay."
Trowa opened his mouth to argue and Duo shut him up with a vicious glare. "I thought it was your turn to get water?"
"Uhh-- yeah, but..."
Duo shook his head, not interested in hearing his excuse. Trowa was a fearless thief, and good help whenever the task he had to execute made him look strong, but as soon as it was more tedious than daring, he always had a good reason to let someone else do it. "Go help Milly."
"But the..."
"Trowa Dekim Barton. Go get water. What I have to say to Alex and Mueller doesn't concern you."
The oldest of the boys finally skulked out, giving him a sullen look. The braided man turned back to face Alex and Mueller. They were squirming already.
"Do you even know what you did wrong?"
They exchanged looks, then finally Alex decided to talk. "... We annoyed the girls?"
Duo shook his head. "Not only that. For teasing the girls, you get water duty for the week, starting tomorrow. Are you sure you don't know what else you did?"
"Uhhh..."
"Alex, you looked down Catherine's shirt. You have no right to do that. It may seem funny to you now, but it's her body. It's her decision to say who gets to look at her naked, not yours, not anyone else's. What would you do if I came and pulled your pants down just to look at your butt?"
Now they were both blushing furiously.
"You would hate it? Well, I bet she didn't like it either. And yet you didn't think one second that she may feel the same way."
"You look at the little ones naked all the time," Mueller grumbled under his breath. Duo glared at him. They both knew very well that it was different.
"Yeah, I do. To wash them, or clean their scratches. Not because I find it funny or interesting. That and they're babies. They don't have breasts or hair yet. You do. Cathy does. It means you and her are old enough to make that decision on your own. You don't have the right to not care about her decisions."
"Oh, come on, Duo, we were just joking!" Alex protested, scowling back at him.
Duo just stared back until he looked down. "Yeah, it starts as a joke now, and it ends up as you two turning into rapists. It was wrong, you know it; you just don't want to think about it too hard. Well, I'm going to make you think about it."
He pointed at a corner, against the same wall Heero was working by. "You sit here. No breakfast. You think about how your attitude needs to change instead. Today and tomorrow, you will help Cathy to cook, and this means getting wood for the fire, washing the dishes, setting the table and doing what she tells you two to do. You will wash half of the blankets -- better not tear any-- and hang them in the sun. If one of 'em falls in the dirt wet, you better wash it again. When it's all dry you'll wash the other half. You'll watch the babies with Nash and Hilde too."
He saw them open their mouths to protest, and quieted them with yet another glare. "You think it's bad? Well, if I hear that it happened again, I'm going to have everyone come here, and then I'm going to bend you over my knee and spank you both. Pants down. You'd rather do the chores, eh? Yeah, that's what I thought."
He pointed at the corner again, and they went, dragging their feet.
The clone was watching them, a mildly interested look on his face.
"Are you finished?" Duo asked as he looked at the plank. The rats were neatly lined up, the fur and other unpalatable bits piled up in a corner. "Good," he said, but then he felt weird. He was treating the clone just like one of his kids, praising him for a well-done job. He tried not to think of spanking him if ever he did something bad. Not only was he a grown man, he was a grown man who only obeyed because he had chosen to and would probably respond to a tentative to discipline him by lots of bloodshed. That and the idea of bending him over his knee was weirdly disturbing.
"... Thank you."
Heero shrugged. "When are we leaving?" he asked, changing the subject brusquely. Duo needed a second to switch mental gears.
"I need to wake up the kids and feed them, and then we can go."
He thought about asking Heero to watch the brats for him, make sure they stayed put, but the clone was way too literal about some things. Anyway, his mere presence would make them try to pretend they didn't exist, it was just as good as having him actively watching them.
He went back to the other room, bringing the rats to Cathy and Sylvia and helping them string a few of them over the fire to smoke them, then went to wake up the babies. As predicted, Mei and Fei started to squabble right away, bumping into Nanashi. The older boy gave them a long-suffering stare then looked solemnly up at Duo. The man helped him untangle himself from Quatre's hold and deftly picked up Lena when she started to slide from the pile of blankets.
"Morning, princess," he smiled at her, kissing her forehead as she blinked her eyes open, then picked Quatre up and gave him a good morning kiss too. "Nash, go and tell the big boys to come in?"
The quiet little boy nodded and padded out, still as solemnly. Following him, Duo carried the two babies to the place they used as a bathroom, Mei and Fei tugging on his shirt randomly and already babbling up a storm.
Most of the older kids were there when he came back, the only ones missing being Milly and Trowa. The clone was still standing against the wall where he had left him, Alex and Mueller still sitting in the corner. He invited them to follow to the dining/sleeping room with a quick nod.
He could have sworn the Soldier took a deep breath before entering the room.
Cathy and Hilde were putting the plates on the table already. He put the babies down and watched them scramble to climb on the benches, then helped Milly and Trowa pour the water they were bringing back in the barrel.
The clone was standing by the door, observing them all, his back to the wall. Duo sighed, weirdly amused. If he didn't know better, he could have thought that the fearless Soldier was scared of children.
"Sit down," he said, pointing at a place in the corner. Heero obeyed, keeping a cautious distance between him and the children at all times.
The last kids arrived and took place, and they all started to devour their meal. There was rarely that much meat in one go, and Duo reluctantly admitted that the Soldier clone had been useful in one thing at least.
"Okay, brats," he said as the slowest of them were finishing up. "I'm not going to be around today. I'm going with him," he added as he pointed at the clone, who lowered his head to hide his head behind his messy fringe. "He knows where we might find guns. If there's really as many as he says, I can keep a few to defend us and trade the others for really neat stuff," he added with an encouraging grin. The kids were all looking various shades of worried.
Trowa gave Heero a skeptical look and scowled at Duo. "You're following that guy away from our turf alone?"
"I was alone when I met him first, yanno," Duo replied calmly.
"But you know he's... He's..."
"Silence," Duo quieted him. He didn't know how the clone would react to anything his kids said and didn't want to find out. That and to reassure his kids he was going to need to say some stuff he didn't want to admit to his face. "Heero, I gotta talk to my kids... Can you wait out?"
Heero frowned slightly.
"... Please?" Duo whispered as he leaned toward him a little. "There's stuff we won't feel comfortable saying if you're around, and they need to talk this out."
The clone shrugged as he got on his feet, but his face was utterly expressionless. It was hard to say if the flash in his eyes was hurt or annoyance, or maybe even suspicion.
"I'll wait outside," he agreed and left, all eyes following him.
"He's?"
Trowa lost a bit of his assurance. "Well, I'm pretty sure he's..."
"He looks like a Soldier," Mueller said for him, then ducked his head as Duo looked at him instead.
Most of the kids drew in a deep breath and shuddered. Hilde and Sylvia's hands were squeezing each other and Mei and Fei were huddling, eyes wide.
"He's not!!" Lena screamed suddenly. "He's NICE!!! Soldiers are mean an' they kill babies and they put things on fire an' all!!"
She was waving her little fists around, working herself into a fit of righteous fury. Her brother pulled her close, hugging her protectively as he gave the door through which Heero had disappeared a dark look. Duo sighed. Looked like his Lena had latched onto the stranger. For a moment he wondered why; it wasn't as if he was talkative or good with children in any way.
He went to her and patted her head gently, then ruffled Quatre's golden locks. The little boy was staring at him with big worried eyes, his thumb in his mouth. "That's right. Heero's not mean. During the war, he was a Soldier, but it wasn't his fault. Now he's just a normal guy."
The babies were giving him confused looks, so he tried to find a simple way to explain, conscious that the oldest were listening too.
"The government created him and tons of other babies, and they gave them drugs and raised them to be mean to everyone."
"Drugs?" Fei repeated, frowning. Duo resisted the urge to grin at his cute pouty scowl. It wouldn't have been appropriate.
Living in the streets, his kids all knew that drugs were bad and made people do weird, dangerous stuff. Duo would have liked to need to explain, and it made his heart twist that he didn't need to.
"What sorta drugs?" Milly asked, still holding onto his little sister firmly.
"Well, drugs to make them stronger, I think. Drugs to make them obey their chiefs, and to make them mean, and to make them not care when they hurt people. So when they would kill a baby, they wouldn't cry or anything," he added softly. Cathy, Sylvia and Quatre, the more sympathetic of his children, looked properly horrified. "Then when the war ended, there was no government no more, and no drugs for the Soldiers. So most of them died, because their bodies had gotten used to the drug and it was like having no more food all at once." This he hadn't even known before meeting Heero, assuming like lots of people that they had been destroyed somehow. He saw the oldest kids nod thoughtfully as they took the information in.
"So why didn't he die?" Alex asked, looking equal parts wary and puzzled.
"He says he was in retraining, got half-doses only. His body was already adapting to a lesser dose of drugs when the war ended."
"So he says," Trowa grunted skeptically.
"So he says, and so far I've had no reason to doubt him," Duo replied, thinking of the violent headache the man had suffered through. "He's learning to become his own person, and you gotta respect that. Doesn't mean I want you all alone with him," he added as he thought that he didn't want his kids to trust the man to much. He didn't want them screaming and terrorized around Heero, but neither did he want them to accept him just yet. Intending to be or not, he had the potential to be dangerous and that was enough reason to be wary of him. "But that's just the way I would want you all to behave if I brought anyone else here. He's a stranger, but if I thought he would hurt any of you, he'd be long dead already. You just can't be alone with him."
He let his kids think on that for a few minutes, then straightened up.
"Otto, you're in charge. Alex, Mueller, you have your chores already. Cathy, they're gonna help you. Trowa, I want you to scout the houses by the broken tower. You take Milly with you -- Milly, you're forbidden to come in, you're just to relay messages and carry some stuff. Trowa, you're older, you better carry most of what you'll find," he added quietly for the teenager's ears.
The blond scowled briefly but nodded reluctantly.
"Sylvia, Hilde, Nash, you are sewing old clothes and blankets back together today. Don't prick your fingers too much, 'kay?"
They didn't have so many old clothes to sew, really. It would take them half of the day at the most, but he refused to let them out to look through the ruins without him. Ah well, it would give them some time to play.
"Kiddies, you better take a bath today, and wash properly. And you can only help the big kids if they tell you it's okay."
Mei, Fei, Lena and Quatre nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Duo looked all his kids over a last time, checking a mental list to make sure he had given every one of them something to do.
"Okay then! I'm going. I don't know how late I'm coming back, but don't you get worried before noon tomorrow."
He stepped back from the table, and two seconds later was properly mobbed. It was hard to give everyone a soft caress and a nice word, but after a few minutes, he managed to untangle himself, and with a last smile and a wave of his hand, he walked out to find the clone.
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En tout cas, tu gères super bien ^____^**
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les autres gosses sont des persos secondaires de GW ^^ Sylvia, c'est Sylvia Noventa, la petite fille du chef des pacifistes que heero a descendus sans le vouloir. Pendant que heero voyage avec trowa, il va voir sa famille et leur propose sa vie pour racheter celle du général. Sylvia dit presque oui (elle braque même heero à un moment) mais finalement elle décide que c'est pas ce que son grand-père aurait voulu et que c'est trop facile pour heero de se racheter comme ça, qu'il doit vivre et se démerder pour se racheter tout seul.
Alex et Mueller, c'est deux pilotes de OZ fans de Noin. Y en a un blond avec un petit air pointu et un brun bronzé avec une coupe moquette. ils sont tous les deux assez sarcastiques et pas très obéissants (sauf à Noin-- lieutenant noin par ci, lieutenant noin par là u_u;;;). je sais plus comment au juste, mais ils meurent tous les deux. je crois qu'ils ont essayé de se fritter soit à un des gboys soit à zechs, faudra que je vérifie ^^;
Otto c'est le frisé qui pique le tallgeese à zechs et se suicide avec pour l'aider à conquérir Sank. ~_~;; "ZEEEECHS!! BANZAAAIII!!!" *boom* u_u;;;;;; (je l'aimais bien moi ;_;)
Juste au cas où, Trowa, c'est pas le trowa à la mèche de la série, c'est l'originel Trowa Barton, le blond qui devait être le pilote, qui s'est fait descendre et notre Trowa a pris sa place ^^
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Pour Sylvia et Otto, okay je vois. Par contre, Alex et Mueller m'ont pas du tout marquée ^^!
Merci pour tes précisions ^____^*
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(fais gaffe aux popups u_u;;;;)
ca c'est alex: http://nmrgundamw.freeservers.com/cgi-bin/i/multi/images/misc/other/alexmueller/001.jpg
Ca c'est mueller: http://nmrgundamw.freeservers.com/cgi-bin/i/multi/images/misc/other/alexmueller/003.jpg
http://nmrgundamw.freeservers.com/cgi-bin/i/multi/images/misc/other/alexmueller/004.jpg
oh mon dieu mueller avait des cils sous les yeux. ALEXxMUELLER OTP!!!!!
sylvia est vraiment toute mignonne. *^__^*
http://nmrgundamw.freeservers.com/cgi-bin/i/multi/images/misc/other/sylvia/001.jpg
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Merci pour les z'images ! Alex et Mueller ont vraiment des têtes à claques ^^!
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I've read a few fanfics like that and i've LOVED them. there's not enough of them. But i'm not sure i'm handling things as realistically as I could. ~_~; ah well, I'll see. this is still only the first draft.
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*lick*
*^_______________^* I are teh happy!
And now for the hard stuff. XD
lena(4) and Milly(9): Duo found them three years ago. Relena couldn't really walk yet, Milliardo was five. Their parents had been quite well-off before the war; they were living in a hidden estate until the food ran out, then they had to leave. Once in town, Relena crawled off to play, Milly followed to get her back, their parents made too much noise while searching for them and were killed quite messily by a gang. Relena doesn't remember them, Milly does, a little. I don't know if he heard what happened or saw the bodies or anything; Sera, ideas?
This sounds pretty good and very plausible. I don't think Milly saw his parents be killed, but I'm sure he saw their bodies, and probably the gang bragging or whatever. Milly probably hates all gangs. And, obviously, Lena doesn't know anything about that.
Meiran and Wufei(51/3): Their parents were travelers searching for a better place. The twins were three or a little more when duo got them. I don't know what happened to the parents.
I can actually see Mei and Fei's parents dying honorably, maybe protecting their children from... something. They hid Mei and Fei and when the twins woke up, their parents were just gone. T_T
Hilde(6): Not a clue.
Hilde, I suspect, was probably abandoned by her parent(s). It's too hard to live already, and harder with a little kid that can'tdo anything. Duo probably found her quickly, because Hilde wouldn't have known anything about how to survive.
Sylvia(7): grew up in a gang. They have no use for children. I know she was treated harshly; her mother was a druggie and couldn't care for her very well. She was probably hit a few times, maybe beaten, maybe sexually abused, I don't know; she certainly saw her mother/other gang women with the men though.
Bingo... explains why she's so quiet and shy, too.
Trowa (14): Stayed with grandfather, a few cousins, friends of his cousins, which made a sort of gang. they were all rather well-off before the war,and even mildly nice for a gang, which is why they ended up wiped out. Some of the adults survived, but scattered.
Sounds good, and it would mean Trowa is used to being a bully and stuff. He's got the most experience being in a gang.
cathy(9 1/2), Nanashi (triton) (7): nomadic family. epidemy? they got lost? I don't know. Trowa's gang found them briefly before it was destroyed. Trowa decided that triton was a stupid name, and Triton agreed, which is why he decided to be called something else. He didn't know what else he wanted to be called, though, so they ended up calling him no-name.
Lost and epidemic sounds good. I bet it's hard to find any medicines or doctors. T___T Cathy probably doesn't like Trowa for changing her little brother's name. XD
Quatre (4 1/2): not a clue.
Quatre was from a rich family like Milly and Lena. His was, most likely, wiped out by a Soldier. Quatre wouldn't quite remember the event, but maybe a servant (Rashid?) managed to get Quatre out of the house secretly, and took care of him for a bit before he died of wounds.
Otto (13): stayed with his father until he was 11, then there was an accident. He survived alone for about a month before Duo found him.
Sounds good. And thank god Otto was actually raised by someone with sense. XP
Alex (12), Mueller (11): were from an allied gang of Trowa's. Theirs was even smaller and got absorbed/destroyed a little bit earlier by the same gang that attacked Trowa's later. They hung around for a while, then were found by Duo, then directed him to Trowa, Cathy and Triton.
Hehehehhe... they've been together for awhile. I think they'll take orders well, even if they're naughty.