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"What do you mean, I've got to take care of her?" Aurora whined, as she was given Aquene and a bag with baby things. Aquene let herself be handed over, but Aurora wasnt' looking all to pleased at all.
Kia pointed at her stomach dramatically, and then pushed at Aurora. "I pregnant, so I sleep. Go! Take Ene to somewhere, make friends, be social, have fun! Bye!"
She pushed Aurora out the door, and Aurora trudged along the footpath with Aquene in one arm, and the backpack on the other.
Aurora wandered down the path for a three seconds. Then she put Aquene down, and carefully tied her hair back to keep it away from the baby's tugging fingers. Aquene took advantage of that moment, doing a 'super crawl' towards a yummy looking snail. Yum yum!
Luckily, Aurora picked her up before any crunchy sounds were heard, and they continued down the pathway in some random direction.
Aurora walked up to the place slowly, with Aquene in her arms. The directions led her here, but now that she was here, she was going bright red and a bit embarrased. Social! Well... she had to do it for the baby. Pest!
So Aurora wandered foward, muttering things in Greek that she'd never want Aquene to hear in English. And it took her three steps to stare up from where she had been looking at her feet... and to see Dare. Aurora went bright red, again, and almost dropped Aquene.
He was CUTE.
She recovered quickly, and hurriedly put Aquene down. Aquene went off on a power-crawl towards the nearest toy, and shoved it in her mouth, her little wings fluttering excitedly. Now this was good!
Snarf!
Gyre's nose took in a great tuft of April's hair. Smelled good. Was fine. Passed inspection. The bird child sat down in front of April and waved back to her. She rather liked her smell. Smelled good.
Lu waved and bowed to Aurora, watching the new baby Legend. Gyre turned a bit to watch as well, but she was going to pay attention to one thing at a time.
Dare turns to the entranceway as a breeze of frigid air marks the arrival of another person. He gives a toothy smile to the newcomer, having not seen anyone quite like this girl before.
"Hullo," he says plainly, shrugging the strap of his guitar case off his shoulder. It'd been sitting there too long that it began to feel heavy, so he'll let it rest a while. After setting down the case carefully against the wall, he continues talking to be polite.
"Cold day today, but they're saying it'll only get worse." He gestures toward Aquene, "I haven't seen her before, is she new?"
There's a gentle tug against April's mouth, the famous almost-smile that she wears only sometimes. Something stirs from within her yellow scarf, and there's a flash of dark orange, but nothing more.
Aurora peered at the guitar and then back at him. Did he play? He was probably really good, he looked like one of those rockstars, in fact, was he? She didn't even think about what he'd said till a few seconds later. "Oh! I... this seems too cold already... I've never seen snow or anything. Before this winter, I mean."
Aquene peered up from the teddybear's foot to Dare. Then she dropped it, power-crawled to his ankle and latched on. Yumyumyum!
Aurora went red again, and nodded. "She's ... she's Aquene. She came a few days ago, and ... yea. She has nice wings, if you touch them. Nice if you don't too."
Aquene peered from the ankle towards the other babies, not sure if she was feeling like being curious about them or not. They were kind of scary!
Dare smiles sheepishly. "To tell you the truth, I haven't either. It's not all as bad as everyone makes it out to be; then again, I'm not the one who has to shovel it all."
Catching on to her glance at his guitar, he runs his left hand across the top of the case. The case itself is sturdy, pitch black and not at all bulky. There is a golden trim outlining the corners, and the strap itself seems to be made of the same material as his coat.
With a thoughtful pause, his olive green eyes meet down on Aurora's. He grins playfully at her, not really having any sort of explination for how enthusiastic he is today. First, offering to babysit, and now -
"You like music? I'm told I play a'right, so if you've got a favourite song, I'll try an' take a crack at it."
April watches, dumbfounded by this action. Chewing? She used to chew on Daddy's glasses, but now her teeth have grown in right so she doesn't do that anymore. Leaning forward slowly, she holds out her hands and braces herself for impact with the floor in crawling position. Her knees brush the ground and her hands pull herself forward until she's back beside her brother.
Black and orange hair streaming to the side as the baby cocks her head, she scrunches up her face very slightly in a puzzled, questioning look directed at the baby Legend.
"I want to try ice skating, it looks so easy. It's always easy looking on TV, but I guess it's really hard in real life." Aurora scratched her head, tugging her hair out of the hair tie, now that it wasn't going to be tugged on by the baby. "You haven't seem it either...? Where are you from?"
She was hardly going to tell him she was only a few months old, Aurora decided, if he asked. So she turned her attention to the guitar, and nodded. "I love music! I just can't play... I guess I can sing a bit? But... you play any song and I'll see if I know and like it?"
Aquene's attention was taken away from the ankle for a second, and straight to the other little baby. She took her mouth off his ankle, and somehow managed to shift herself into a sitting position. This baby made Aquene confused, so she told it, "Phhb." and held out one of the toys nearby. Did it want something to chew on too?
April reaches out and accepts the toy, though just sits it in both of her hands and stares at it. She examines it until all ridges and bumps and colours are memorized in her mind. What is she supposed to do with this..? She looks up at the baby for guidance.
Dare smiles down at the two babies as they interact, wondering what it was they were really thinking. Putting his mind back on track, he pulls over a stool from the kitchen and sets it down where the babies can still be in sight.
"I'll see what I can come up with," he replies honestly, flipping open the locks and opening up the case. He lifts out his precious guitar, taking a moment to tap a finger on the hourglass with a light nostalgic smile. Guitar in hand, he sets the case against the floor again and plays a chord to figure out what his tuning was set to last.
Quickly, expertly, he makes some changes as if they were so obvious that one was born knowing how to do this stuff. The question still lingered about where he was from, but it was just odd to admit to this girl that he's not much more than a few months of age. Instead, he recalls a song he'd recently heard on the radio, some sort of rock Christmas song.
His bare hands brush across the strings as he plays the first thirty seconds. Dare flattens his top hand across them to abruptly stop the music, looking up at her for guidance. "Know that one? I'd really like to hear your voice, so let's find something you know the words to."
Aquene was already reaching for another toy, and she shoved it in her mouth happily. Funny, how these things always tasted nice! So she chewed with her gums, and hummed baby noises at April, and chewed more, her wings fluttering madly... and going right into the wall with each movement.
Aurora followed, getting her own stool and perching on it. She felt a bit vulnerable without a real chair, but she was hardly going to say it. And then she watched him fiddle with his guitar, as if he knew everything about it. Rora had read about that before, when a musician knew his or her instrument like it was another limb. Was that how it was for this guy?
She flushed along her neck as she listened to the music that filled the room, unable to think clearly about what song it was. Aurora just nodded, and half stuttered, "I... think I know that one. Um. What else? I'm not such a good singer anyway, so ... but what's it like to play like you've known all your life? I've never really been able to play an instrument, just sing."
Dare leans forward, his guitar tilted in his lap at an angle so the light in the room streaks off it in a beautiful way. There isn't a scratch nor a fault in this instrument; he wouldn't let it get that way. His red bangs fall across his eyes as he looks thoughtfully upon her questions.
"I've never studied any music, truth be told. It's all natural to me, as if I've already learned every song there is to play." With his free hand, he gives a push against his hair, but it falls back anyway so he ignores it. "I can'na' sing for -- anything," he corrects himself cooly, reminded of the babies in the room, "But music's something I do know."
Grinning eagerly, he adjusts back so he's ready to play again. Giving her a quick glance, he focuses on the strings beneath him as he targets his fingers. "Don't let me push you into singing if you don't want. Just thought your voice'd be a lovely addition to the atmosphere, is all."
With that, his fingers breathe a life of their own and play vigorously a song Dare never actually heard before, but sounds just as wonderful as if he'd practiced it for years.
April perks up at the sound of the song; however, when she's focused on something, she really focuses on it. She picks up on the humming over the sound of her brother's music, and becomes even more intrigued at the sight of the wings. The other baby had feathers.. soft looking ones, too. These ones..
She moves forward, gently reaching an overly curious hand to the closest wing.
"Like how I can speak Greek, I guess." Aurora answered, leaning forward to very gently ,as if she was afraid one touch would break it, run a finger over the beautiful guitar. Then she withdrew her hand and looked at her feet. "Sorry... just how it looked. I wanted to see how it felt."
She glanced back up, and went a bit red at the way the hair fell into his eyes and... Aurora inwardly sighed. She HAD to stop reading those teenage girl magazines. "You do, it's all so pretty... the music, I mean. Nice, I mean. And... I'm not scared, just, I've never sung for others before so..."
Aquene jerked her head up at the song as well, curious. What was that? Was it a funny shaped ... music box thing? It was nice! She shifted foward, just as April did, and the wings fluttered right through April's hands as if it wasn't there, leaving April's hand glittery and shiny for a few seconds.
April shakes her hand vigorously as it sparkles. Disappointment is evident as it fades away, but the curious nature of this type of wings strikes her hard. Her hands might be back to normal, but there's something about those wings..
She drags herself closer, eyes wide and locked on the fluttering things. Curiosity pokes his head out from beneath her yellow scarf, disgruntled with all of the moving around. He takes one look at the wings, barking sharply in disgust that she can be distracted so easily.
"You should try it. I never was keen on playing in public, but hey - I found out I can make other people happy with my music, as well as myself." He catches sight of the slight blush on her cheeks, but was never really sure what that meant. He's never really taken the time to make himself familiar with the subtle emotions of girls and what they just might indicate.
Hands quickly playing the notes to Jingle Bells, he holds out the guitar to her. "You can see it if you'd like," he offers quietly, finding the silence in the room a bit unnerving. "I'd best be getting April some sort of snack, anyway."
"I should, I know. Kia tells me that I make the dead cry." Aurora muttered the last part, and went red again when he held out the guitar. She took it tentiavlly, her fingers soft but firm so that she wouldn't drop it, but she wouldn't... bruise it? Could you bruise guitars? she wondered, as she ran one curious finger along a string. "I've never held a guitar before."
Aquene jumped, and peered at the noise. Who was that? she seemed to ask, pointing at Curiosity with one fist, the other still clinging to the toy she'd gotten for herself.
But she leaned foward, twisting so that her back was to the other girl. Aquene was letting April touch again, she hadn't felt anything and the other seemed to like the glitteryness?
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