Project Shikon

Chapter 3

She looked down at the table filled with food back up to the man that had put it there. No, Jason, he introduced himself as Jason. She looked up at Jason to see him looking at her with a... frustrated expression. She was pretty sure it was frustration that she was seeing. He was frustrated about her not eating any of the food he had put on the table. She felt bad for not eating any of it, but she just couldn't. Most of the things he had made didn't smell like food, just grease, and burnt things. The one that smelled even a little edible was extremely harsh on her throat. She had only gotten a single bite down before her throat screamed at her that eating more of that would be a bad idea. With a pout, she had put whatever it was back down and hadn't touched it again. The rest of the stuff she had simply scrunched her nose up before pouting once again. She was REALLY hungry and wanted to eat something! The gas she had been exposed to really destroyed her throat though, more specifically her ability to speak. All the screaming and running she had done the night prior may have completely ruined her voice forever. The kind doctor had told her not to speak and to take it easy with her breathing at all otherwise her throat may not be able to heal. She had really botched that up last night.

"Come on Shi I can hear your stomach growling from here. Eat something kid." Jason sighed tiredly at her.

Shi. That is was he had started calling her. Not that she minded all that much, even though it was just an abbreviation of Project Shikon. It wasn't like she could tell him what her actual name was. She couldn't speak at all, she didn't know sign language, and she didn't know how to write. Writing wasn't something the people at the lab thought was prudent to teach her. Sure; she knew large words and what they meant, but she had no idea how to write them. Plus, the only people that actually called her by her name before was Yasha and the kind doctor. Bother were dead now so her original name had bad memories to it. All of the people at the lab always just called her Project Shikon. She liked being called Shi though, it was new and still somewhat remnant of her time at the labs. While most of the time at the labs had been bad she did have some good memories there, mostly with Yasha.

She looked back down at the food and slunk down in her chair. She felt bad about not eating the food he had gotten for her, but she just couldn't. Most of it smelled simply horrid.

She watched him let out a sigh and pull out his phone and pressed a button. He listened for a few seconds before whoever he was calling picked up.

Jason was frustrated and confused. The kid was obviously starving, her stomach had been growling almost constantly for the past hour. She had taken only a single bite of a pop tart before setting it back on the table and not touching it again. It was time for desperate measures. He pulled out his phone and speed-dialed Dick.

"Hello?" Dick asked confusion was evident in his voice. Jason really didn't call other people, especially his family.

"Hey, Dickhead. I have a rhetorical question for ya. What is something that both a dog and a kid would like to eat?" Jason asked looking at the tiny child sitting at his kitchen table.

Dick was silent for a moment, probably wondering where the strange question had come from before saying "Uh, why are you asking?

"Just answer the damn question, Goldie," Jason growled out. He was briefly amused at Shi's quizzical head tilt at his growl.

"Um... meat? Have you tried something like chicken nuggets?" Dick suggested unsure of what he was helping his younger brother with.

"Chicken nuggets? Damnit, I don't have any chicken nuggets." Jason cursed. "Maybe she'll eat them though." He added as an afterthought to himself, not really to Dick.

"Jason, why do you have a small child in your apartment?" Dick asked suspiciously. Jason really wasn't the most appropriate person for a kid to be around.