Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Ok, we’re here!” Vilyum declared as he pulled the car into a parking spot.

Cordelia didn’t answer; she merely pushed the button on her seatbelt, unclasping it, slid the claws on her hand under the door handle, and then pushed it open. She jumped out gracefully landing on all four feet. With a bit of a yawn, she stretched all 4 limbs, and then gave a slight wag of her tail. She wasn’t sure she would like the reptile zoo, but it sounded like it could be fun.

Nell also didn’t respond to Vilyum’s statement either; she didn’t hear it well enough to respond. She was, however, able to figure out what was going in. The car stopping, Vilyum getting out, and her sister unbuckling, were all the clues she needed, to know that it was time to get out. She unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her bag, which contained her snacks, before getting out. Her gaze drifted downward, as the claws on her toes clicked against the ground outside the car.

Vilyum bent down in front of Nell; noticing him she looked up. Looking at her face, he asked, “You ready to go in?” She couldn’t really lip read yet, but his lip movements combined with him speaking directly at her, were enough to make her understand. She nodded in acknowledgement as Cordelia, not realizing it wasn’t she who was being talked to, came around the side of the car and replied, “Yep!”

“Let’s go then,” Vilyum stated, taking Nell’s right hand in his, her left guarding her bag of goodies. Nell wasn’t the quickest at the moment; she Vilyum took her pace, while Cordelia walked circles around them, as they approached the entrance. Reaching the door first, Cordelia waited as Vilyum and Nell approached. As soon as he opened the door, she scurried in between it and him; they followed just behind.

Upon reaching the front desk, Vilyum let go of Nell’s hand to pay for their admission. Nell took this opportunity to look at some pamphlets; she couldn’t read, but she did like the pictures. They were stuffed into her good back though, soon after. Her hand was back in Vilyum’s as they entered where the reptiles were kept. Cordelia wasn’t nearly as concerned about the pamphlets; she wanted to see what was inside. Just as at the front door, she was the first to head forth into the exhibits.

“Hey!” Cordelia exclaimed as the other girl bumped into her. As she twirled around to face the other girl, she added “That’s not nice!” Looking up at the girl, she lowered herself into a more defensive position, her tail curled up over her, pointed towards Kana. She couldn’t help but wonder how the other girl could not notice her!

“Hello, Kana right?” Vilyum called from a few feet away. “It’s been a while, you’ve grown. Are you here with your mother?” He looked around a bit, seeing if he could spot her, before adding “It’s too bad I didn’t bring Áróra. I’m sure she would have liked to see you again. Well, the little one you almost plowed through is Cordelia. Say hi Cordelia, I’m sure it was an accident. And this would be Nell.” With his free hand, he motioned to the little girl that held his other hand. “She can’t really hear that well and doesn’t really talk much yet.”

At Vilyum’s insistence, Cordelia reluctantly stated, “Hello.”

Nell had sensed the other girl as soon as she had arrived, she was very energetic. She watched her daddy and Cordy talk to the girl with curiosity, and while she had no idea what was being said, she thought it would be a good time to wave. She shifted the bag, so that its strap was against her shoulder, and waved, with her now free hand, before wrapping her arm back around her goodies.

“Oh, I see,” Vilyum replied. He had never let any of his kids run about, alone, as of yet, but he seemed to be the exception. When he would take his children places, he often ran into other children, who were unsupervised, from the lab. It surprised him at first, but he has had plenty of time to grow used to it. “Well, honestly, I have no idea that it would be like. Other then real quiet, I imagine. Only Nell could tell, or someone under similar circumstances at least,” he answered, using his free hand to ruffle her head feathers. “Maybe one day she can tell us.”

Nell looked back and forth between the spider girl and her daddy as they talked, but stopped to giggle as he ruffled her feathers. Looking up at Kana, she couldn’t help but wonder if she would be a friend. It would be nice to have a friend. She slid her hand out of Vilyum’s and opened up her bag of goodies. Opening it up, she peaked in and rummaged about with one hand. Pulling out a chocolate cupcake, that was wrapped in plastic wrap; she held it out to Kana with a smile.

Why isn’t she paying attention to me? Cordelia wondered, in great concern. She couldn’t understand why someone would practically ignore her then continue onto her daddy and Nell. She jumped forward and circled around to stand next to Nell. Well next to and a little bit ahead of her. “So you like reptiles?” Cordelia blurted out at the girl, “I know all about reptiles!”

“Well I am sure she is just busy,” Vilyum replied before asking, “So would you like to look around with us?”

Nell giggled and her smile turned into an open mouthed grin, revealing a 2nd row of teeth, as Kana took the cupcake and patted her hand. She realized though, after giving the girl a cupcake, that she was hungry. She stuck her hand back in the bag of goodies and pulled out a brownie wrapped in plastic. Her big sister, Rora, had made it for her. She didn’t bother to unwrap it, she just took a big bite out of the brownie, plastic and all. It was delicious! Before she could even finish chewing though, she felt a tapping at her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Vilyum shaking his head.
Once he saw that she was looking at him, Vilyum stated, while pointing to the brownie, “Just because you can eat the plastic, doesn’t mean you should.”

She only caught bits of what he said, but enough to understand what he was getting out. She unwrapped the rest of the brownie, and stuck the plastic into the side pocket of the goodie bag. The plastic didn’t take good anyways. Sticking the rest of the brownie in her mouth, she once again took Vilyum’s hand and smiled at Kana, her cheeks bulging slightly.

Cordelia was glad to get Kana’s attention; how could she pay attention to someone else instead of her? The possibility just seemed silly. Unfortunately, she didn’t really know a lot about reptiles. “Well, um,” she started, her tail waving zigzags behind her, “lizards come from snakes that grew legs. Also, a long time ago, people made suits of armor out of the scales of lizards and snakes! It was called scale armor!” She didn’t know if either of those facts were true, but they seemed like they could be.

“Ok, sounds like a plan,” Vilyum replied to Kana. “We were just going to head towards the snake section; that sound good to you?”

Nell grinned at Kana as she took a bite of the cupcake. They were really good cupcakes! Removing her hand from Vilyums again, she pulled out her pamphlet and opened it up. She then walked towards Kana, an open mouthed grin on her face. Nell wanted her to see the pretty pictures of the different reptiles. She hoped she would be able to get a good look at all of them!

At Kana’s reply, Cordelia nodded her head rigorously, and answered, “Yep, it’s all true!” She then added, “Oh! Also, there is a special snake here! It has 2 heads!” That part she actually knew was true; there was a picture of it on the wall near the entrance.

“Ok, well, want to lead the way Cordelia?” Vilyum asked. He knew that she would jump at the prospect, figuratively and likely literally as well. Leading the way was an important task after all. Also, he felt that Kana could use a break from the both them.

“Yep, two heads!” Cordelia explained with glee. Unfortunately, Cordelia couldn’t read, so she had no idea that the snake was born that way; that the two heads were Siamese twins. “Um, someone used magic to put an extra head on it!” she guessed, incorrectly. At Vilyum’s request, she leapt to face him. “Ok! I will lead the way!” she happily replied. Leader was the most important position; she felt it was a good role for her to have. She started making her way to the entrance of the reptile exhibit, making a big show of pushing the door open with her tail.

Nell smiled widely and giggled at the snake Kana pointed to. It was a very bright green; it kind of reminded her of her sister. She didn’t hear Vilyum’s comment to Cordelia, but when she saw her sister walk to the door and saw that Vilyum had started towards the door and had turned towards her about halfway there, she figured it was time to head in. She carefully folded the book and placed it back in her bag. Smiling, she looked up at Kana and held out her hand.

“Um,” Vilyum began, before being cut off by Cordelia, who assumed she was the one being asked, “Well, there are 236 snakes here, but they keep some of them in the back on ice. Snakes are cold blooded, so they can be stored in ice. Did you know that?” Cordelia was quite proud of herself for sharing another fact and it showed. She hopped back and forth, a wide grin on her face. There were several cases with snakes nearby, and she jumped between them.

Vilyum couldn’t help but shake his head at Cordelia’s answering of the question and her added bit of knowledge. In truth though, he had no idea how many snakes there were. While Cordelia was jumping about, he got close to her and whispered, “Honestly, I have no idea how many there are.”

Nell was all smiles as Kana took her hand. She couldn’t be happier, as they made their way into the snake section. She had a friend! Nell looked all about, her eyes full of wonder as they scanned the myriad of snakes in the room. As her gaze passed over a particular snake, her jaw dropped, and she excitedly pointed towards it. It was the same green snake as in the pamphlet.

Nell was all smiles as they looked at the snake that had been in the pamphlet. Being here for so exciting and she had a new friend! She was certainly glad they had come to see the reptiles today.

Cordelia was up on two legs, her front two pressed against the glass, at the next case over. She couldn’t see the snake anywhere, that’s not fair. She was here to see the snakes and the case was empty. Looking all about, she proclaimed, to everyone in hearing distance, “The snake is not here! They must have it in the back. Maybe in cold storage!”

Nell could see her sister looking about. Not hearing what she said, she guessed that Delia was looking for the snake and couldn’t find it. She would be a good sister and help! Thanks to her ability to sense the electricity naturally produced by a living things body, she knew exactly where the snake was, even though it was hidden from view. One hand still in Kana’s, she pointed with her free one to a hollow piece of wood in the case. The snake was curled up behind it, likely asleep.

Taking offense at her sister’s unintentional correction, she replied, “Who was asking you?!”

Not hearing a word that was said, Nell smiled in reply.