This chapter of Strings was brought to you by diabetes.


He remembered the cool waves on the searing banks. It was here that he was king, undisputed, unstoppable. Even the largest of animals feared him, even the bipeds gave him a wide berth. They had tried, oh yes, but they had all failed to destroy him. All across the horizons his legend was told, a predatory beast of unmatched ferocity.

"Adam..."

Then the skies opened up, and from it descended-

"Adam..."

The tiny thing blinked, coming to from his dream. He chirped, head darting about, until he met a familiar face, the positively radiant face of Alice. "Hey sleepy head!" she greeted with a smile. "Get a good nap in?"

Adam stared at her, head cocked to the side. He really had to mull over his response, which sadly was only an insightful chirp. Still though, he was rewarded with a gentle pat on the head.

"I told Shanghai I would be bringing you home, she was really excited!" Alice gently set Adam down, who chirped in protest and immediately clung to the hem of her dress, hiding behind her leg. She giggled at his shyness, rapping on her front door.

Slowly the door opened, revealing a familiar blonde doll. "Sorry, Alice isn't here right-" she blinked, getting a look at her maker. Slowly her gaze fell, spotting the little black thing clinging to Alice's leg. Alice looked down at Adam, giving him a reassuring pat on the head, but he didn't even acknowledge her, staring at Shanghai with dinner-plate eyes. The homunculus hunched, slowly moving out from behind Alice's dress. His wide eyes were locked on the doll, who shrunk under his gaze as he moved closer.

Alice quirked a brow, quite curious. "Adam?" She didn't get a response, as he approached Shanghai, his hunch kept deepening. Then it hit the magician.

Unfortunately it hit Alice too late, as a microsecond later Adam pounced Shanghai, holding her down by the wrists and effectively pinning her. Alice watched, still morbidly curious, waiting to see what her latest creation would do. He just stared at Shanghai, and she stared back with an equally wide-eyed expression. It was incredibly creepy.

Shanghai glanced to Alice, who smirked and nodded. The doll then smashed her head into Adam's sending the little thing reeling. He stumbled back, hissing lowly and feeling the developing welt on his forehead. Shanghai conjured her lance and charged, skewering him through the chest within seconds. The doll raised her lance, watching as Adam fell to the hilt. The homunculus blinked at the lance, watching his yellow blood start leaking from the wound. He cocked his head, staring.

Shanghai lowered the lance, willing it out of existence. Adam stared at the hole, feeling around the empty air with a furrowed brow. He looked the picture of thoughtful as he examined the wound. Then the wound sparked, dark energy coursing across his body to the hole. Within seconds bone and flesh filled the hole, a seamless regeneration. Alice utterly speechless, gawking at Adam as he poked the spot where the hole used to be. Shanghai joined in too, examining the now flawless skin.

Adam promptly got a fistful of Shanghai's hair and swung her overhead, planting her head through the porch. Alice cringed, "yeah we need to work on that." As Adam reached through the hole in the perfectly good porch mom intervened. "Alright Adam, enough!" she grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him away, fishing up the stunned Shanghai by proxy. Upon Adam releasing her in response to Alice's crossness, the doll slowly got up and dusted herself off, looking back to Adam with a curious expression. The homunculus let out a low, territorial hiss, and then the magician knew what this was about. "Alright, she knows. You're bigger and stronger- hey," she snapped her fingers in front of his face, "you proved your dominance, alright?"

The homunculus stared at Alice's hand, blinking, irises growing. He chirped, looking up at Alice. She frowned at him, specifically the ferocity of his retaliation. Adam paid it no mind though, holding up his hands to her, as if to say "upsies mommy". The magician rolled her eyes, scooping the little black beastie into her arms. "Oh you're gonna be the cause of a lot of trouble aren't you?"

Trouble was a bit of an understatement.

=][=

Alice groaned to the sound of commotion, a ruckus sounding from downstairs. "Please not again... I wanna sleep..." she whined, hearing the smashing of glass. She tried smothering her ears with her pillow, but the chaos persisted. With an enraged snort the magician slowly rose from her bed, grabbing a robe from her armiore to conceal her bare body. She huffed, leaving her room and heading downstairs, the commotion ramping up as she approached the source.

"Adam! Shanghai!" Alice snapped, the commotion immediately ceasing. Indeed there the two were, Adam still trying to assume a dominant position over the blonde doll. Alice was really hoping this obsession with posturing wasn't a result of some bastard puberty, her own in decades past was enough for her. "Come here, both of you." Shanghai was the first to arrive, while Adam made more of a confused beeline, but arrived all the same. "Now listen carefully," the exhausted Romanian said, pushing the two into each other. "You two are going to like each other from now on, got it? Family doesn't harm family, right? You both have my blood."

Adam and Shanghai blinked at each other, as if never considering the notion.

"Altruism between family members all I ask, so go to bed and please stop destroying everything," she finally ordered, releasing the pair to rub her eyes. "I gotta..." she let out a long yawn, "gotta get rested now..."

Without a second glance Alice retreated back to her room, throwing her robe into some black corner of her space and flopping into the bed, sighing as she sank into her satin sheets. So silent now, so peaceful, it was a good time to dream.

Which was immediately ruined by a series of needy chirps.

Alice buried her face into her pillow and screamed, but this did little to scare off the little homunculus, whose small hands were reaching over the edge of her bed, clawing at Alice's sheets as he tried to climb up. The Romanian tried to ignore him, but he kept chirping, knowing she'd get up eventually. So she did, rolling over and grabbing the little demon by the wrist before hoisting him into bed and hugging him close.

Adam blinked, feeling her warm body press against his, his soft abdominal scales soaking up the heat she was giving off. He looked at her face, her eyes shut tight and her expression stern. His gaze fell before he decided to snuggle in and get comfortable.

Alice meanwhile was just glad she had gotten him to shut up already. She let out a pleased sigh, her features relaxing as her embrace softened. She could feel Adam shift in her arms, noting that she had relented, trying to nestle even closer. The magician couldn't help a tired smile, pulling the sheets over her homunculus.

"Good night Adam."

=][=

"Aggressive retaliation, so how do you propose we deal with it?" Patchouli asked, bouncing little Adam on her knee. He looked absolutely terrified of bouncing given how wide his eyes were, but he didn't make a peep about it.

Alice pondered the query briefly, taking her mind off of Adam's dinner-plate eyes. "I'd considered some options, up-to and including reducing his overall intellect-"

"Which would have hampered his problem-solving skills and understanding of basic tasks."

"Exactly," Alice said evenly. "The healthiest way to go about it is also the most time-consuming."

Patchouli sighed, ceasing the bounce in her knee so she could lean back. "Conditioning," she almost spat. "That will take months." She flinched when Adam crawled up her lap, planting his hands in her shoulders and getting uncomfortably close to her face. The magician bristled as he pressed his nose against hers. "Get off of me," she ordered.

"Do you have to be so mean, Patchouli?" Alice teased, pulling Adam off of the pale magician. "He's just saying hello." She nuzzled the little homunculus, who gladly returned the gesture.

"Alice, it disturbs me how close you two are growing," Patchouli leaned forward and clasped her hands together. "I'm growing concerned that you will not hold your end of our bargain. I gave you the supplies, you give me the doll."

"He's not a doll," Alice said, staring into Adam's eyes. "He's something more than I had planned, I need time with him."

The pale magician sighed, "and this is why I'm getting concerned, if I didn't know better I would say you got it into your head that you're his biological mother."

"We both gave our blood, Patchouli," Alice responded.

Patchouli glowered, eyes narrowing. "Alice."

The Romanian waved off the cross librarian. "Stop worrying, I'll keep my end of the bargain when I know he's ready." She cooed softly as Adam rubbed his nose against hers, chirping as he cupped her cheeks.

Patchouli sighed, at this rate he'll never be ready.

=][=

"See the dog," Alice enunciated carefully before flipping the page. "See the dog run." She then flipped back to the previous page. Adam then tried his hand at reading, spouting toddler gibberish before flipping the page and speaking more nonsense. He looked up at his surrogate, obviously proud of himself, and Alice couldn't help smiling at her darling little monster. "Very good Adam," she said, leaning down and rubbing her nose against his.

"Buh," the little homunculus eloquently and oh so lovingly responded, cupping Alice's cheeks so she wouldn't leave him. The Romanian giggled, playfully craning her head and play-biting his forearm. Adam went bug-eyed, releasing Alice and trying to pull his hand away. She released him quickly, letting him inspect the nonexistent damage. "Ahh," he said, giving her an open-mouthed grin, realizing his fear was for naught.

"Tea," Shanghai announced, floating into the room with tray in hand. Adam watched Shanghai intently, waiting patiently for her to finish. Shanghai had noticed Adam's stares, and set the tray aside, floating down and sitting in front of him. Adam started bouncing in his seat reaching out to her. Shanghai leaned forward, and Adam made a few attempts to grab her shoulders. After several failed attempts, Shanghai reached out as Adam tried again, pulling him into a gentle hug. Adam cooed in her arms, nuzzling his adoptive sibling. Shanghai gave him a gentle squeeze before releasing him, letting him unceremoniously topple over.

"Up you go, honey," Alice gingerly lifted Adam back up, scanning his face to see his reaction. He just had that open-mouth grin on his face, looking the picture of amused. "Nothing will get to you, will it?"

"Alice? It's Marisa! I'm coming in!"

The magician nearly jumped out of her skin at the intrusion, "can you at least knock Marisa?!" She hopped to her feat, pushing Adam behind her.

Marisa entered the room with an aura of purpose. "I'm sorry Alice, but this has been botherin' me for days. I need to know more about who you plan to... to..." she trailed off, staring at Alice's dress with wide eyes.

Alice's eyes went equally wide, her gaze following Marisa's. Peeking out from behind Alice was Adam, who had joined the saucer-eye club it seemed. He chirped, slightly hunched as he approached Marisa. "No Adam!" the Romanian snapped, easily reading the body language. Adam flinched, stopping dead in his tracks before retreating back to Alice's side.

"S-so that's it?" Marisa asked, dropping to one knee. "This is who I..." she trailed off as she exchanged looks with the tiny black thing, trying to get some reading on him. "I'm sorry little guy."

Adam cocked his head at Marisa, lurching forward before he looked to Alice. She frowned at him, but nodded. "Behave."

The homunculus nodded, letting out a soft "buh," before casting his gaze back to Marisa. He made a beeline toward her, trying to take a more nonthreatening and submissive posture. Marisa felt an urge to retreat as he stepped forward, just waiting for him to suddenly scream at her and curse her for the role she played in what happened.

Adam stopped dead in his tracks when Marisa flinched. He waited for a moment, slowly taking another step forward when she did nothing. They were less than a meter from each other now, staring. When Adam got into arm's reach, he plopped onto the floor, crossing his legs and holding his little feet in his claws as he rocked in his seat. He looked at Marisa expectantly, silently asking what she would do now.

Marisa sat down, following the little freak's example and crossing her legs. Adam blinked at her, opening his mouth, "aaah!" He suddenly looked rather excited as he reached out to her. Marisa flinched when his tiny hands grabbed her fingers. He swung his arms with hers in tow, a strange toothy smile appearing on his face. The young magician found herself laughing, albeit a bit nervously. His smile just sort of rubbed off on her.

"And I was worried you'd hate me," Marisa said wistfully, not even aware she'd said it out loud.

Alice smiled, watching her friend and her spawn play. "Was that what you were so scared of, Marisa?" She watched her friend try to come up with a retort, but Adam's enthusiastic bouncing in his seat as he swung arms with her stole her voice.

Then the magician had an idea, she clasped hands with her new friend, rising to her feet. Adam let out a soft gasp as he was pulled onto his own. Marisa giggled girlishly, slowly swinging his arms and stepping to and fro, pulling Adam into a simple dance. He was hyperventilating, so visibly excited by what he was doing. He hopped and danced, easily out-pacing Marisa and taking the lead.

To think she was so terrified of coming face to face with the fruit Alice's labor, when it turned out to be a happy, energetic child.

"Ma! Ma!" Adam pulled Marisa over to Alice, offering his and Marisa's arms to her. The Romanian smiled, taking both hands and unceremoniously getting yanked into Adam's little dance. The homunculus' dancing grew more and more wild, until eventually he tripped on his own feet and toppled over. Alice and Marisa were pulled down as well, laughing heartily as the younger magician helped Adam off the ground. He looked no worse for wear, panting as he rode out the adrenaline rush, eyes wide.

"Now do you see why I did this?" Alice asked, taking Adam's hand. "There's this, and there's the idea that he's going to make someone very happy. It's every toy-maker's dream, to make children happy."

Marisa frowned a bit. "He's still going to Flandre?" Alice's nod made her brow furrow. "You certain she'll be a good mom?"

"I told Patchouli I'd like to meet her myself, but I think she will. It just comes naturally," Alice responded with a serene smile.

"Ma," Adam said again. "Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma!" he continued, crawling into Alice's lap and cupping her cheeks. "Mama!"

It wasn't often Alice cried, but this was just one of those times.

=][=

After that first day, Marisa started visiting regularly again, playing with Adam as much as she could. Alice was enjoying it, but it was exasperating having what amounted to two kids running around her house causing trouble. Though on retrospect she should have savored it, because when things settled down suddenly the day was just that more boring.

"King Ryon came with twenty armed men, and Balyn and Balan attacked with such fury that many were slain and the rest fled." Today Adam's reading material was the tale Balyn and Balan from Arthurian legend. He liked to read, Alice joked it was something he got from his mother, something that confused Marisa to no end. Still though, it was nice to read to him, he was a great audience. As Marisa thought this, she looked up and noticed that Adam had passed out on the floor again. She sighed in amusement, closing her book and setting it aside. "Look's like he's out again."

Alice nodded, "one week left," she noted somberly, gingerly picking up her sleeping charge. "I'm going to miss him."

"We still have time!" Marisa blinked, shocking herself with how indignant she sounded. "I-I mean," she coughed awkwardly, "we can still make the most of it. Reimu set aside tomorrow to come see him for herself."

"Oh I know," Alice said, cradling Adam in her arms, smiling as he shifted himself to get more comfortable. "After Reimu visits he's going to meet Flandre for the first time. I'm kind of nervous, I mean he doesn't exactly look like a doll, even though Patchouli assured me Flandre would love him."

Marisa eyed Adam, noticing something. "He's getting bigger."

Alice blinked, looking down to the homunculus. "Is he?" she asked, giving him a brief glance over. There wasn't a scale out of place, she really couldn't tell. "You sure?"

"It's just a bit, but it's there. I mean, look at his arms," the younger magician held up Adam's hand, pointing to his bicep. "Not so little anymore." It was true, there was some muscle developing there, and as active as Adam was, he never pushed himself enough to warrant such growth.

Alice furrowed her brow. "I may have to get an extension, this shouldn't be happening. I need to go talk to Patchouli, can you watch him?"

Marisa shrugged indifferently, "I don't mind, he's asleep anyway." Alice nodded, gently handing Marisa her burden. After Adam was securely in Marisa's arms, the Romanian magician hurried off, concern clear on her face.

Adam shifted in Marisa's arms, his muscles clenching and his brow furrowing in discomfort. Marisa decided to take him to bed, hoping that he wouldn't wake up soon. Thankfully, Adam was too preoccupied by the dream-scape...

=][=

"Hello there."

It seemed like an eternity ago, yet the memories were plain as day. The skies split open and out came a biped female. The beast hissed as she so casually drew too near for comfort, like she had never come across his like before.

The woman offered a smile to him, nine thick bushels of fur unfolding behind her, fanning out in a kind of display. The beast turned to face her, inclining his head in a show of attention. "My name is Yakumo Ran, and I've come to extend an invitation," she began serenely. "Your reputation speaks greatly of the fears and superstitions surrounding you, spreading far and wide. This has caught the attention of my benefactor, and she invites you to a land where you will not be harassed by the bipeds you loathe so much."

The beast snorted, visibly unimpressed. Its back arched, signaling that his hospitality and mercy had run out. However, the woman still smiled at him. "I know your type," she said. "And you are powerful, which is why my benefactor wishes for you to meet with her. She will be able to express her intent far better than I."

Swishing its tail in the shallow waters, the beast pondered the request. If the words were true, the bipeds would finally leave him at peace. If it was a ruse, he would be walking straight into the biped trap. However, he had never seen a biped like her before, she did not smell like the others, her skin was creamy and white by comparison to the locals. The most damning was her scent, she smelled of a beast. He inclined his head at her.

Yes.

The stranger clapped her hands. "It's decided then!" she chirped happily. Behind her the air split apart in some kind of void. The biped stepped aside and gestured for the beast to make his way through.

There was hesitance, as the beast had never seen such a thing before, but after a minute or two of staring, and seeing that the stranger had infinite amounts of patience, he finally stomped forward, crawling into the strange hole and leaving everything he knew behind.

"Welcome to Gensokyo, Gustave."


The goal of this chapter was to show Adam's quickly growing relationship with Alice, as well as Marisa. I didn't want to bog it down too much, so we get snippets of the rough month that Alice has custody of him. The following chapter may potentially take a similar format, because while it's important to show how Adam came to know certain members of the cast, the focus is not thus.

I hope you all enjoyed this update, as short as it was. Take care, and I'll see you next chapter.