Lj Idol Week 1: Trust Everyone But Cut the Deck

[zaichikarky]

Shanna was busy doing her homework when her adoptive parents walked into her room. "What are you studying, sweetie?" Linda asked.

"We have to do a report on marine mammals." She replied, smiling.

"Oh did Ms. Rubin let you do the Sea Lion?" Linda asked, knowing that was one of Shanna's latest favorites, ever since their family trip to San Francisco when Shanna enjoyed their boisterous antics at Fisherman's Wharf.

"No." She scowled. "Marnie got the Sea Lion. But I got the Orca!" She grinned, showing her mom and dad the book she checked out from the school library.

"Oh the killer whale?" Her father, Tony, asked.

"That's another name for the Orcinus orca," She replied. "But I like 'Orca' better because technically it's a dolphin..."

"Really?" Linda raised her eyebrows. "See, maybe it's a good thing you didn't get sea lions, now you can be our resident orca expert." She smiled, proud and happy of her daughter's enthusiasm for learning.

"There was something we wanted to talk to you about..." Tony started.

"Oh?" For a split second, Shanna worried she'd done something wrong. Her parents looked somewhat apprehensive. Maybe they decided they didn't want kids after all, even though it'd been a year, maybe there actually was a way to take back formal adoption, maybe...

"We were wondering what you thought about getting a sibling." Linda said somewhat quickly.

Shanna looked at her parents, both smiling nervously.

"You know that your dad and I can't have kids, so we adopted you... Dad's an only child, but I was always very close with your aunt Cathy and well... we love having you in our lives and want to see if we can help another kid too... you would be a great big sister."

She nodded and stayed quiet for several seconds as many thoughts raced through her head. What if her parents like the new kid more? What if it's some kind of devil child and tried to steal her stuff? A lot of kids at St. Helens were messed up from being bounced from home to home, what if the kid was one of the most messed up there was? What if she found her backpack...

"Do I have to share my room?" She finally asked.

Tony smiled. "No, we were thinking of converting the study."

She nodded. "I guess you can try... as long as it's not a little brother."

---

Two weeks later, Linda and Tony walked in with a small Asian girl who stared at the ground as she was introduced to Shanna.

"Hi..." Shanna said. "I'm Shanna..." The girl didn't reply, but look up at her slightly. Shanna tried to remember if she ever saw her at St. Helen's, but she couldn't.

"This is Veronica." Linda finally said. "She's six years old and a little shy..."

"Can she speak English?" Shanna asked, wondering how long it could actually take to get her to talk.

The girl's expression suddenly changed to annoyance as she gave Shanna as dirty of a look as a six year old can muster.

"I was born here." Veronica finally said, in a quiet, yet agitated voice.

"Oh, sorry, wasn't sure." Shanna replied. It was then when she noticed Veronica was clutching a pink backpack probably as tightly as she clutched her own Courage the Cowardly Dog one.

Linda and Tony ushered the girls upstairs as they gave Veronica a tour of the house. They stopped in the newly converted guest room. Shanna remembered this scene all too well. "We hope you like the room, tell us if you don't!"

---

Three weeks went by and Shanna still didn't quite know what to make of Veronica. Well, she wasn't a devil child and she never touched her things, but she wasn't really much of anything else either. She was always so quiet, so afraid. She rarely spoke. Shanna thought maybe it was best to leave her alone. Maybe she was in a particularly bad foster house.

"Shanna..." Linda said one evening while Shanna was writing in her journal. "Maybe it would be good if you and Veronica could spend some time together."

"Well Mom, I'm not sure if you noticed, but she doesn't really like to talk much..."

"You should know that these kinds of things take time. It may be a while before she can trust us."

Shanna smiled wryly. "Alright, I'll try to talk to her."

She hopped out of bed and knocked on Veronica's door before slowly walking in. She found Veronica sitting on her bed beside that pink backpack, holding a little stuffed grey monkey toy.

"Hi... Mom says we should hang out." She said bluntly.

Veronica stared at her, not saying anything.

"So... who is that girl with the pink hair on your backpack?" She asked.

Veronica looked down at her bed. "Stephanie..."

"Oh... what show is she from?"

"Lazy Town." Veronica replied, looking up more.

"Lazy Town?"

"It's about Stephanie going to a town that's lazy and she likes to run and play... and help them not be lazy."

Shanna laughed. She looked at Veronica and for the first time noticed that she was capable of smiling. "I've never heard of that show before." She hesitated for a few seconds, then said "I'll be right back." She went into her room, opened her closet, and grabbed her old friend.

"I have a backpack too... from back before mom and dad adopted me." She said walking back in and putting the backpack on Veronica's bed.

"Oh it looks old." Veronica said.

"That's because it's older than you." Shanna replied.

"Is that a dog?" She asked, looking at the illustration of Courage the Cowardly Dog.

"Yeah, his name is Courage, and he's a coward. In 5th grade, I learned that's called 'irony'".

Veronica stared at her for a few seconds, not understanding a word. "What's in your backpack?" She finally asked.

"Well... I got a few things...." Shanna replied, sitting down on Veronica's bed.

Linda peeked through the crack of Veronica's door as she walked past. She smiled. It was then when she knew Veronica would be just fine.

---

This entry has been an intersection(and sequel) with the talented dmousey. Her entry is found here

And just for fun, here's my favorite Lazy Town song!

Comments

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

This was a great read and very well-written :)

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Thank you <3

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

This was brilliant- just brilliant!!! <3
Now, let's see if others think so. :)

Peace ~~~ D

[kehlen.livejournal.com]

You did very well together. :)

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it especially! I struggled for a while getting an idea about what to write. I think I was supposed to write a story from the perspective of another orphan, but for some reason I wanted to continue Shanna's story a bit, so I'm happy you didn't mind I used your character.

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Oh no, that was fine!!! I thought we melded quite nicely! I am glad I gave you enough info to work with. :)

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

I KNOOOWWW. One of the best kids shows in the last decade or so I think : ). And I only know it from various clips online.

[morettaallstar.livejournal.com]

As an older sister - yes! Mistrust and then settling into your role, usually to bossily guide and moodily overprotect.

I enjoyed this a lot, especially having read dmousey's entry first! Well done. :)

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Thanks, glad you liked it! I'm an only child, so I don't know a whole lot about sibling dynamics.

[kehlen.livejournal.com]

Yes, Lisa, this is much better than your average in previous seasons :)

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Teehee "Yeah Lisa I think you sucked all the rest of those seasons, but now I think you're finally catching on!" lol jk jk, I know what you mean <3.

I'm not sure if I like this entry very much, but hopefully others will like it enough. I write fiction kind of rarely, but whenever I do I spend a lot more time with it than I do with non fiction (because of the difficultly mostly), so maybe it helps. I used to write fanfiction a lot as a teen, but then got tired of that hobby, so it's a fun challenge to write it for Idol every now and again.

[sinnamongirl.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad it's working out for Shanna and I hope it works out for Veronica too! I've never heard of Lazy Town but I really enjoyed that video :)

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Oh Lazy Town is a great kids show. It has a lot of fun music videos!

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

This was so sweet - and neat to get your and dmousey's stories together!

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed. I hope to have more intersections with teammates this season : )

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

You wrote this intersection so well! I read yours second, an it fit right in. Nicely done!

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was hoping most people would read hers first. Thank you!

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

My son watches LazyTown sometimes. Did you know that Stephanie has been played by at least three different actresses? It's hard to spot the change because of that wig.

Nice sequel to dmousey's piece.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

NO, I didn't! That's really funny. I thought most of the clips I've seen have the same actress. I think I will have to watch more closely next time.

[eternal-ot.livejournal.com]

A good intersection..:) I quite enjoyed both the stories..Good to see Shanna all grown up. Great Job!

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[ex-uf0s886.livejournal.com]

this was such a lovely read!

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

It was really nice to see this follow-on to the other story-- filling in the background to that happy ending, and mirroring to Shanna a little of what she had probably been like herself, without ever realizing it.

because technically it's a dolphin...
?!? My world has been shattered. :O

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Okay. I've got tears in my eyes, that is making it very difficult to key the letters I need on my Kindle.

So lovely! Well written, characters drawn clearly. Nice to meet them again, and so soon.

Brava!

[prog-schlock.livejournal.com]

I really like the cross-over and that continuation of the backpack metaphor from piece to piece. I'm also glad I read them in the correct order!

When I realized this was a continuation of Shanna's story (after I thought he story was over), this song flashed into my head. Not for the whole story, but just at the start.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Oh neat I love that U2 song! I think my current favorite is With or Without You : ). Good tastes, my friend!