Nash had stood on this very street a some years ago and had gotten on a bus to the plane station. Today though she was not standing with her things to leave she was returning. Another difference was on this day Nash was not alone. She was never alone now. She hadn't been for years.

"Mama?"

She clasped her searching daughters hand with her own and smiled even though she knew Rosemary couldn't see her. She lovingly pushed the girls hair flat on her head and tucked it into place behind her ears.

"I'm 'ere. Where in New York now Luv. Remember the one I told you about?"

Her daughter took a hesitant step forward and smiled. She didn't need to tell Nash how excited she was about being in New York. Nash could see the wonder written as clear as day on the young girls face and smiled even more. Suddenly though Rosemary tugged away from her and ran up the street. Normally this would be distressing for any mother of a young child but for Nash it was even worse. Her daughter could not see on coming trouble and this was a busy streey. If she wasn't stopped she would hurt herself or-

"Rosemary!"

There was no time to think only time to react. She dropped the rolling luggage and tor after her daughter. What had compelled the young girl to take of so suddenly?

Shiva was walking down the streets of New York, weaving and waving and ducking and diving like a drunk, his long beard and hair swaying in the wind. In most places he would have attracted unwelcome looks, but here in new york, there was nothing unusual about him. Well, except the extra two arms. And the fact that his arms are freakisly huge. And the insane-ness. Yeah, the insane-ness atracted a bit of attention as Shiva muttered to himself, randomly spazzing out and clenching and unclenching his hands in a complex pattern only he could see. His pattern was intturrupted when a young girl flew at him, and bumped into him before being knocked onto the pavement. When she got up, Shiva noticed her. Turning his head to the side so far that it was at a right-angle to his neck and made cracking sounds, Shiva grunted.

Nash ran after her daughter and pushed her way through the crowd of people. She got rude looks from some and a lot of curses but she didn't slow. She almost sighed in relief when she saw her daughter standing in front of a man. As she got closer she could see that this man was clearly not a normal person.

"Hewo." She said to the man before turning to look at her mother who she could clearly sense behind her "Mama! Mama!!" She pointed at the man and beamed up at Nash, trying to indicate that she had sensed the man before her too.

"Das nice Rosemary but what 'ave I told you about runnin' off?" Nash said it sternly as she took the girl by the wrist and placed her hat securely on the young girls blond head. Rosemary lowered her head and mumbled her apologies as she ground her toes into the pavement. Nash knew she had gotten exited and forgave her but didn't say it. She turned her head to focus on the man her daughter had bumped into so rudely and dully noted his extra arms. He didn't look all that pleased at being bumped into.

"I'm sorry. She can't see where she's going and she gets so exited sometimes. She just pulled out of my hand before I could stop her." She smiled as politely as she could and tugged on her daughters wrist tell she was standing in front of Nash. "Say sorry Rosemary."

Rosemary stared up at him blankly unable to see him but sensing his position. She stared for the longest moment before she said anything. "Sowwy."

Shiva stared off into space for the entirety of Nash's apologies and her daughters as well. The only words he caught were 'Mama' and 'Rosemary'. The words sparked a memory in Shiva, of his own mother many years ago, keeping that one rosemary bush alive on the windowsill, even in the dead of summer. Then it was washed away under the tide of madness, and images of kittens, old ladies, and flagpoles filled his mind once more.

"Grrrunmph. Grahhhahahaha!" Shiva laughed, for no reason other than to hear himself make a sound. His laugh opened his mouth, and revealed his lack of tongue. "Grhmnnnmmnsppphleele." He said, making perfect sense in his own mind. He then turned to adress his good friend the swallow, who he saw on his shoulder. "I don't know, they purlpel four twenty to me." The swallow said. No-one else could see or hear the Swallow, and in a few moments Shiva would forget about him. Madness was fluid.

"Oh, dear." Nash said. She was a little distressed by all of this. The man clearly wasn't in his right mind. He also appeared to be missing his tongue. The first fact made Nash anxious, not for herself but for her daughter. Rosemary on the other hand seemed delighted by the man. She clapped her hands together and squealed in the delighted high pitched way a lot of children her age did.

Nash sometimes was just as perplexed by her daughter's behavior as anyone else was. Rosemary tugged on her mother's shirt but when Nash went to pick her up Rosemary dogged her. Nash was also used to Rosemary's strange behavior even if she couldn't understand it. It wasn't going to stop her from worrying though. She watched as Rosemary tugged on the man's pants, "Mistew?" Rosemary asked cautiously.

Shiva looked down at the child as she tugged his pants, and another memory clicked. This one was of his father throwing him high in the air and then catching him again as a young child. Shiva remembered that he used to love it. This memory did not die away, and Shiva bent down on his knees to study the child. After a couple of seconds of contemplation, Shiva reached over and grabbed Rosemary, hoisting her into the air. He then threw her into the air and watched as she gained hight quickly. Twenty, Forty, Eighty, a Hundred feet into the air! Then, she began to fall, gaining speed and going faster and faster and faster until, she jerked to a stop as Shiva caught her with all four of his arms. He smiled and held Rosemary out to Nash, clearly pleased.

Nash thought she would faint and die away right on the spot. She was so shocked at seeing her daughter flying high into the air that she could say nothing, her leeches didn't react and watched as her daughter fell back to earth. Only to be caught by the man who had thrown her up and Nash remembered her parents doing similar things for her as a child. With that clicked into place Nash breathed out a sigh of relief even though she knew Rosemary would probably complain about being sore later.

Rosemary on the other hand was smiling gleefully. She had laughed the hole way up and down, loving the sensation of flying. She didn't know how high she'd gone but she didn't much care. Those who could see where limited to what they saw and perceived. Rosemary wasn't limited to such things, she felt and sensed. She had felt pure joy being in the air and falling back down. If she had hurt herself at the jerky shock she didn't show it. Rosemary clapped her hands again and reached out to her mother. Nash took her unable to keep herself from smiling too. Rosemary was alright there was no point in dwelling on momentary fear.

"Ta!" Rosemary said to the man, thanking him for the fun and Nash smiled at him as well. Happiness was contagious.

Shiva smiled, then beckoned Nash and Rosemary closer. Boy did he have a surprise for them. Reaching into the back pocket of his jeans, Shiva pulled out a beaten and battered wallet, opened it up, took someting out, and put it back. The thing he took out was a dead frog, and he handed it to Nash with a smile.

It was a very, very, very good thing that Nash wasn't easily freaked out for when she moved closer she saw exactly what it was that the four armed man had removed from his wallet. Nash was always interested in creepy things, being a creepy thing herself, but even she found a dead frog a little... weird.

"Umm.. Ta." Nash said as she took it and held it in her hand. She kept it a little ways away from her and Rosemary. She didn't want the little girl to get a hold of it and put it in her mouth. It would be rude to do anything with it here so she slipped it into the pocket of her pants.

Rosemary, who had felt the gift giving, did something unexpected then she wiggled around dug into her mom's purse and pulled out her hair clip. It was a bit bigger then a normal clip and shiny because it was painted a fake gold color. She held it out to the man, offering up her favorite clip.

(OOC: I'm back!! My internet got wonked out for a while and the guy from the service provider only now got it fixed! I'm still alive!)

Shiva smiled as Nash took the frog, and then promptly forgot about it. He laughed again, then said "Ghnnngaiihhhg?" in a questioning warble. He knelt on the ground and began to scrape at the pavement, making mewling sounds and chuckling every so often, until he noticed Rosemary holding something out to him. He stood up and stared at it for a while, trying to drag some recognition of it out from under the flow and ebb of insanity, and only one thing surfaced: you use them to clip hair. Shiva nodded and took the clip gently out of Rosemary's hand, and stuck it into his beard, smiling now as always. He then forgot about Nash being there, and stuck out one of his hands to Rosemary, then began walking across the street with her, with no regard for the busy traffic.