The Love of Nina, and the Sorrow of The Chimera
...
His hair is a rich, dusty brown. But not the same brown as fresh baking chocolate. It is more like the brown of chocolate which has been disgarded in the back of a pantry for a month.
The glasses on his face age his appearence by five long years; round, reflecting lens that rarely show his eyes beneath the glare, giving him and his wrinkles a depressed shadowing of his features.
His hands are long and able; the pendant around his neck confirms his skills of Alchimey, and the hidden scars on his body mark the failures of his past.
Despite his worn stature, he is adored by his only daughter, Nina, who is four years old.
His daughter loves him. She will never disobey him, no matter what he asks her to do. She has brown, rich hair like her father. But unlike her father, her color of brown is more like the brown of hot melting chocolate- the kind of chocolate you would see dripping from the tip of a strawberry.
...
She is the picture of youth; always seen with a smile on her face, she is full of life and cheerful innocence. Aside from the family dog, Alexander, her Daddy is her best friend.
Nina knows Daddy will never lie to her. Daddy loves her, just like he loves Mommy, even though Mommy had to go away two years ago. Still too young to fully understand, Nina had long ago accepted that her Mommy wasn't coming back, but she does miss her very much.
But it was okay, because she had Daddy and Alexander. Daddy, though, wasn't always there for her. He was always so busy after Mommy left, that he never had any time to play with her. But Nina was not a negative little girl; she knew that matter how much she missed her Mommy, or how lonely she got while her Daddy locked himself in his study-room, she would always have Alexander as her protector and friend.
If someone happens to walk over to her while Daddy is in the study and ask her if she is happy, Nina would probably not answer: She is not allowed to talk to strangers. But if she was allowed to answer, she would say 'yes.'
...
Alexander is a white, fluffy dog. He does not look like a cotton-ball, or white-cotton-candy. He looks more like a very clean mop that has been fluffed out in a dryer. In other words, he looks nice a brand new stuffed animal.
He enjoys running around the house, chasing after the little girl called Nina. The girl never leaves his side, and she seems to mimic his movements like a young puppy would do when learning. If the dog had a single human thought in his mind, he would think of the girl as his sister, or even a mother. But since Alexander looks up to the girl, he believes he is learning from her; that she is the teacher.
He knows that the taller deep-voiced person is in charge of the girl, just like the girl is in charge of him. The girl calls the man Daddy, so he knows who to look to when the girl talks about him.
It excites the dog when he is able to connect words with the things around him, and he is always pleased to hear the little girl laughing. She seems to only laugh when he does something unnatural; such as, walk on his hind legs, crawl on his belly, or stick his nose into a person's butt. He would receive loud, angry scolding from Daddy when he does the last one, but it was when this happens that the little girl runs over and presses her body against his, making soft, undistinguishable noises that seem happy.
So Alexander always wags his tail, having been praised whenever Daddy was angry. But when Daddy became too angry, Nina's voice would drop down into a sad whine that Alexander knew very well as pain. So he would lick the girl on the face to comfort the girl, just as she is always comforting him.
The dog does not have a very complicated life. He eats, sleeps, and plays with Nina all day long. Sometimes he lays down and watches Nina make dark marks on pieces of white paper. When she is done with this, she holds it up to him and says, "Look! It's you, Alexander!" but the dog only wags his tail, his eyes becoming unfocused as the piece of paper is shoved into his eye-sight.
...
Two young men often come by in the afternoon, asking about bio-alchemy. He isnt too thrilled to have the boys around, but it is refreshing to have someone approve of his work after two long years of silence.
He is working strictly with the process of making chimeras; half-human, half-animal creatures that understand human-speech. He had done it once before, two years ago, with his own wife in order to keep his state-alchemy reassement.
It was a very hard choice to make in order to keep his job, but it was worth it. Though he misses her, it was the only way he would be able to provide for himself and their daughter. However, the yearly reassement was closing in again, and he needs something that will awe the alchemists so much, that they would let him keep his position. If not...his title would be revoked, and he would become jobless.
The chimera he created that blessed day two years ago, was no longer his wife. It was clear the creature was in a lot of pain, but when the alchemists saw that creature, they were very excited. But when the creature spoke, they were shocked. For it only said one thing.
"I want to die."
After the people left, he pushed the chimera into the basement and fed it food and water. But it refused to eat. It starved itself all day, whimpering in the night, until three days later, his wife died.
But he no longer considered that creature his wife. It was just an chimera; just a failed experiment. But because of that chimera, he was able to continue his work.
Last year's ressement- he had nothing to show for.
This year- he still has nothing. He only has a study-room full of mixed-bred creatures and endless blood-samples of long-extinct beasts- plus hundreds of out-dated documents on the study of bio-alchemy.
The two young men- by now you must have forgotten about them. But he never will. Those two boys are looked up to so much by his daughter. And it is good for the girl to have a friend that isnt an animal. But the boys are started to get nosey; they came here for information, but all they ever do is play with Nina and Alexander- as if they are children themselves.
For the past two days, the boys have either played with Nina, or skimmed through his library books. But tomorrow is reassement day. The dead-line. And if he cant find anything to impress the state alchemists, then he is going to lose everything.
Down the hall, he hears his daughter and the two boys laughing. They have come in after the long day of frivolous activities.
He rises from his place in his room and makes his way into the living room.
It is time for him to say good-bye.
...