Welcome to Gaia! ::

• ..story post..

Moving boxes littered the dining room in the small apartment in downtown Barton, as the afternoon’s dying rays of light hit it. Large, curved windows framed the room and gave it a light, airy appearance that was further enhanced by the off-white colour of the walls.

Olivia had big plans for this room; she’d spent the entirety of last Wednesday going through the different furniture stores that were to find in Barton, examining every chair, table or couch in a variation of white or cream. It’d felt like she’d seen every-frickin’-one, at least. But it was worth it now, she thought as she looked at her messy room.

Ohh yes, the the teak chairs over there and with the table just so, it’d be a beautiful room. A bit large for one person maybe, but in time something could be done about that.

Olivia Taylor was single. This could’ve been attributed to her career, but most likely had more to do with her personality; Olivia had had relationships before, but none of them had ever lasted very long. The first man she’d been in a serious relationship with had left her after two years of living together, claiming that their relationship had never been a partnership, but her bossing him around.

This had come as a shock to Olivia, who hadn’t even suspected that anything was wrong until one morning all his stuff was gone.

The second relationship had lasted a bit longer, but not much, and once again Olivia was the dumpee.
At that point in her life, it might have been a good idea to re-evaluate herself, but Olivia had done nothing of the sort and happily trudged on with her career.

Not that it had been a particularly interesting one at the time. She’d been a secretary for some minor businessman in her hometown who had sold sausages, and most of her days were filled with the intriguing life of sausage-sellers. That was, filing the number of exported sausages and keeping track of her boss’ appointments, most of whom were there to talk about sausages.
Olivia had gotten tired of sausages pretty quickly.

So it was, when she had gotten offered a position as a secretary at another firm, an easy decision.

The only problem had been that the firm was located in Barton, a good way from Olivia’s home; after negotiating with the management, she’d been offered an apartment in downtown Barton. It was large, lovely and had entirely too much space for only one person, as her mother had been quick to point out.

The salary had gotten fatter, the hours were good, regular and didn’t require her to take work with her home and Olivia was happy that everything in her life was looking up from sausages, pigs and odd relationships.

Maybe this new change was what she needed.

• ..closed RP..

Butterflies danced in Olivia's stomach as she entered the lab; she'd heard about it from a friend's friend (the kind that no-one could ever pinpoint the sure identity of), and there'd been word that the people here were looking for good homes for kids - there'd been talk of biotechnology and plants, but the friend hadn't been very exact in their description, and Olivia had ended up doing some research on the computer about the facility.
Biotechnology had never interested her and gardening had never been an option in her apartment, so the only thing that really drew her were the option of adopting a child. A few pictures had been posted on the websites she'd found, and the kids seemed as normal, and cute, as any.

The secretary at the front desk had directed her to the Adoption Center, and Olivia entered the waiting room, taking in the slightly chaotic appearance of it.
Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she waited for someone to enter. Was there a bell she needed to ring or something? At least she could occupy herself with the bulletin board; it was interesting to see the other children that'd come from here.

She barely had time to glance at the titles of the bulletins. The door on the opposite side of the room opened and a woman in a blue dress with a folded white cloth hat and matching white apron entered. She looked like she had stepped out of an illustration from the nineteenth century. She wore a bright smile under her pile of frizzy red hair. "I am Sister Adeline. May I help you?" she inquired politely, hands clasped in front of her, eager to be of assistance.

"Oh yes, that'd be wonderful." Olivia smiled at Sister Adeline, speaking as she walked across the room. "My name is Olivia Taylor, and I'm here for a possible adoption."

Standing in front of the Sister, she put out her hand out for a handshake.
"I didn't need to have an appointment first, did I? The secretary at the front desk didn't say anything about that, but if I did I apologize for just barging in like this."

Giggling politely into her hand, Adeline shook her head. The little red curls sticking out from under her bonnet bounced back and forth with exuberant energy. "Oh, no! Of course not! We welcome all of our visitors!"

Adeline gestured to a nearby chair. Since the waiting room was otherwise empty they might as well sit there and not go into the back office. Adeline hated going in the office, it was such a small space, not breezy and bright like the waiting room! She continued, "Especially those visitors who have chosen to make the greatest commitment by brightening their lives with a child. Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?"

Sitting down, Olivia began.

"Well, currently I work for SDN as a secretary for the director, I own an apartment in Barton and I'm 27. My family lives a good way from here, in Durem, but I grew up on the outskirts of Gaia." In a very, very small town that hadn't ever made it onto the maps, in fact.
"I'm single, responsible with a steady paycheck and I've got plenty of space in my apartment." That seemed to be - superficially - all.

Adeline's smile strained just a bit, those sorts of things being what least interested her in people. More important to her than steady paychecks and living space was what she called quality of spirit. "That's so lovely!" she said regardless, cheerfully optimistic. Olivia seemed a nice person, with a bit of poking that spiritual quality was bound to come shining through. "Do you enjoy what you do? Is it fun?"

Oblivious to Adeline's feelings, Olivia frowned. Enjoyed her work? "I.. not as such, I mean, it's mostly just filing and keeping order in office dealings, but I suppose it's alright..?" the last bit was added almost as a question - whether or not she enjoyed her work had never really been on Olivia's mind, as long as it brought in the dough, she was good.

"Oh," said Adeline, crestfallen, her voice laden with disappointment. She went from happy excitement to morose depression in the blink of an eye.

Just as quickly, she brightened again. "But that must be important, so someone has to do it!" Instantly, Adeline had turned Olivia from the average, bored office worker into a hero toiling for the good of the masses. She clasped her hands over her chest and swooned. Here was a potential mother just as self-sacrificing as one of the Sisters! "Does it keep you very busy? Do you have anyone to help you do it?"

Olivia blinked, rather confused by the sudden moodswings. There was something very odd about Sister Adeline, she decided in the back of her mind.
"Yes, well, obviously someone has to do it," she did her best to answer the string of questions and almost-question, "Busy at work I suppose, but never at home and no, I haven't got anyone to help me with the filings. That would be kind of a moot point, wouldn't it? With me being a secretary.." Olivia was on rocky grounds, and she knew it; never having met anyone like Sister Adeline (if there even was anyone else like her) she was uncertain of how to deal with her special brand of enthusiasm.

Time to get things back where she knew what to do with them.

"About the adoption, should I fill any special papers or take some tests or something?" the question was a bit ridiculous, but to Olivia, it was a valid point. She'd been raised to be practical, and practical she'd be; this morning before leaving the apartment, she'd packed all of her legal documents into her handbag, just in case.

"Oh yes, there's--"

Adeline never got to finish her sentence. She was interrupted by a voice calling her name: "Addy!" A moment later the door to the nursery opened and a tall, dark-skinned woman emerged. She was dressed identically to Adeline in every way except for scale. At five-foot ten, she made Adeline look all the more like an excitable child. When she spoke, her voice had a deeply accented richness to it, placing her origin somewhere in Africa. "Sister Adeline!" she said reproachfully.

Hopping up and clapping her hands again, Adeline exclaimed, "Olivia, this is Sister Ruth! Ruth, this is Olivia, she's come to consider adopting! I was just about to tell her about the forms!"

Ruth was everything Adeline was not. She went straight to business, no need for introductions or chit chat. With slow grace and effortless poise she reached into a brown plastic paper holder mounted on the wall nearby and retrieved a set of papers. In two steps she had deposited them with Olivia. "Fill out these and deposit them in the slot on the wall. Sister Adeline and I will prepare the nursery for your visit. When you're ready, please knock on the door." Sister Ruth gently took Sister Adeline by the arm and guided her out.

"And if you need anything just knock!" added Adeline cheerily, giving a little wave.

The forms were fairly straightforward, though they looked like they had been devised by someone with an odd sense of sanity. "Govenment identification number and type from world of origin (if applicable)" and "Government identification number and type for world of current residence (if applicable)." It seemed nearly every field was left up to applicability, and there were a lot of fields that did not apply. There were also a lot of check boxes, including one for surname: "matrilinear or patrilinear." There were probably ten pages in all. Thankfully, there was also allowance for attached documents, which Olivia was prepared to provide and which would preclude her filling out most of the form by hand.

Olivia nodded, too late for the two Sisters to see as they'd already made their way out. Everything seemed to be going so fast here, but she wasn't about to complain.

Filling out the form and attaching the legal documents she'd brought took more time than she'd first have imagined, skimming over the forms; even though the papers she'd brought had helped in not having to fill out everything, there was still a good deal she needed to fill out by hand.
By the time she'd put the forms in the slot, more than an hour had already passed. Crossing the room, she paused momentarily before knocking on the door.

She was getting nervous - this was the exciting part. On the other side of that door, if that door did lead to the Nursery, her future child might be.

The door opened so quickly Olivia had to wonder if someone had beem standing behind it, waiting for her knock. That would just be silly, of course. No one would wait behind a door for over an hour.

Then again, that Adeline was rather strange.

But it was Ruth, not Adeline, whe answered the door. Her face was impressively neutral. "Come right this way," she invited with a sweep of her hand.

The nursery was plain but filled with sunlight from the large windows along the left wall. Feathery white curtains billowed in the faint breeze, filling the room with fresh air from the courtyard. It was impressively tidy and clean. Cribs in three neat, even rows of seven, most empty save for a handful of children.

If the goal was to meet a variety of children, this nursery seemed not quite to work, but for finding that one special child it just might be the place.

Sister Adeline was on the other side of the room, just putting down a baby in one of the cribs. She waved at Olivia. Most of the children were sleeping after a lunchtime snack. As excitable as Adeline was, she was always considerate of the children and did not call out any greeting lest it wake them.

At Olivia's elbow, Sister Ruth said, "Take your time. You may ask us any questions you have."

Olivia nodded in greeting towards Adeline, not wanting to wake the children unnecessarily either.
Her voice was small when she replied a single "Okay" to Ruth.
She'd just have to look at the children while they were sleeping, right? Perhaps it was better this way, for an awake child would surely have picked up on Olivia's blatant nervousness.

She moved towards the cribs, taking a good look at each child she passed. Some looked normal, some looked less so - once or twice she stopped to smile down at a particularly cute kid, but no-one really grabbed her attention until she got a couple of rows in.

There, in a completely like the others, lay a small, chubby thing that suspiciously reminded Olivia of the larvae her brother had enjoyed collecting as a child.
Small, spiky looking hairs were situated all over the child, and Olivia just had to touch them to see if they were as spiky as they looked. Surprisingly, they weren't - and even more surprisingly, the girl just turned over in her sleep with a small sound, instead of waking like Olivia had feared.
And somewhere in her chest, something loosened. This one, if it was possible, despite all the greenness.

Olivia went back to Ruth with a new bounce in her step and a palpatable smile in her eyes.
"The, the green one, with the tail and the spikes? Is she available?" She wrung her hands. Another question on the tip of Olivia's tongue was what the child was, but that could wait; it didn't have high priority in comparison.

Ruth's reply was calm and smooth as ever, making Olivio sound as childish as Adeline in comparison. "Certainly," said the sister, "your application has been approved. Would you like to take her now or do you need more time?" Is was a polite way of offering Olivia the chance to reconsider, or rush home and do up a baby room.

But Olivia was too hyped to care about her appearance. A baby! Her baby! Clasping her hands together in front of her chest, she nodded happily before noticing that Ruth's question required a more verbal answer.
"Er, that is, I'd love to take her home now!" being slightly hyped, Olivia had already bought the bare neccessities, and then some, for the child's room. A more personal touch would be required, of course, but she had what she needed.

"But.." she frowned, "Not to sound rude, but what is she?" Olivia figured that since Sister Ruth hadn't protested against her using 'she' with the green baby, that meant that the child was indeed a girl.

Ruth was at a loss to answer, and unfortunately it showed. She hesitated, considering, and fell back onto the brochure spiel. "All of the children here have been born from a biomechanical computer in the form of a cabbage..." Olivia already knew that, it was written in so many different ways in the waiting room and at the lab's reception desk. The plain answer was Ruth had no idea.

Adeline came to the rescue, coming up behind Olivia and saying brightly (but not too brightly), "She's adorable! Such a sweetheart. Have you any thought as to what you'll name her?"

Effectively distracted from her question by Adeline, Olivia tentatively nodded her head.
"I was thinking about naming her after my late grandmother, Ethel. Or my great-aunt Madeleine, or someone else." It'd been a family tradition to re-use names, and her mother had been hinting heavily ever since Olivia made it clear that she was going to adopt.

"You'll need one for the final form," said Ruth evenly, plucking a paper from a holder inside the door. Adoption approval papers on one side of the wall, adoption finalization papers on the other. It had a satisfying circularity to it.

"Or if you need more time, you can leave it blank!" offered Adeline helpfully.

With a pointed stare that said "down child" to Adeline, Ruth repeated, "We'll need a name for the final form and if necessary, it may be changed later."

"I like Madeleine," mumbled Adeline, chastised. "It's pretty."


"Yes, it is," Olivia agreed with Adeline. And besides, great-aunt Madeleine had always been much nicer to her than grandma Ethel had. "Changing her name later would be.. odd, so Madeleine it is, I suppose." Madeleine Taylor. Not a bad name, as far as Olivia was concerned - and it did have a nice ring to it.

"Should I fill out the final form then?" and hopefully once she was done, Madeleine would be ready to go as well.

"Please," said Ruth, handing the paper to Olivio. Unlike the approval forms, it was short and directly to the point. Ruth ushered Adeline over to little Madeleine's cribside to make sure she was ready for departure.


Filling the form took less than 10 minutes, and just to be sure Olivia tripled-checked everything. Yes, it seemed to be alright.
Handing the form over to Ruth and smiling a little, she waited for Adeline to get Madeleine ready for leaving.

"Thank you so much for this.." turning to look at Sister Ruth, Olivia grinned, "for letting me adopt Madeleine."

"Certainly," said Ruth, totally neutral, since it was none of her concern what the powers running the lab did or how quickly they processed and approved people for adoption. She took thi final sheet and went to go finalize it in the office with the official stamp of release.

Adeline waved Olivia over to the crib. "Do you want to pick her up or shall I? Do you need any instructions? I can give you a care tutorial if you like!" Absolutely Adeline, happily bouncing through things like a flitting butterfly.

Frowning a little, Olivia watched for a moment as Ruth left. She was cold, that one, no doubt about it - at this point in time, Olivia was more partial to Adeline, despite her cheeriness.

"Oh, I can take her, it's no problem." carefully scooping the still slumbering child up into her arms, it took a second to find a good position for the small child to lie in; Madeleine yawned and stretched her tiny fingers into the air before slumping down into Olivia's arms again. It'd been a tiring day, and a small thing like being taken up wasn't going to wake her.
The older woman smiled and cooed at the sleeping child, before turning her attention to the Sister's other questions.
"I've been reading a lot of children's care books, so I think I might have it covered. She, functions" Olivia made a small grimace at the cold word," like any other child would, right?"

"Poops, eats and burps!" giggled Adeline with the desensitivity of someone who has exposure to those three functions on a daily basis. Olivia would stop grimacing in a week or two. It was inevitable that parents learn to ignore the basic bodily processes in children, since they invariably ended up dealing with the cleanup. "So you have all the supplies? Nothing we can get for you? Ask now while the asking's open!"

Olivia smiled slightly at Adeline's way of putting it. The Sister really was a very happy person.

"No, I think I have it." she shifted the baby in her arms to get more comfortable; carrying a child around when your arms aren't used to it can be exhausting. "But thank you very much, all the same. You've been extremely helpful, Miss."

"Well.. I suppose if that's it, we'll be going now." Olivia had already plucked a flier from the waiting room and stopped it in her already overflowing handbag.


"It's really awesome to meet you and I know you'll take great care of Madeleine and I hope the two of you are very happy and have a lot of fun together!" said Adeline in one giant burst, waving her hand like a child at a parade. "Byee Olivia! Bye Madeleine! Take really great care of yourselves! Come back if you need anything, we're always here for you!"

Best to leave quickly, as Adeline seemed like she could continue this farewell all day.

"Bye and thank you so much!" hefting Madeleine up one more time to make sure she wouldn't fall off as they went home, Olivia waved to the exuberant Sister and made her way out of the lab.

• ..story post..

Almost there, almost, almost, just a little bit longer… there it was! A chubby hand grabbed at the chair for support while the other went for the treasure on the coffee-table. Reaching out, small fingers finding their target, the adventurer sighed happily to herself. Finally, it was in her grasp; after long battles and many hours, it was finally her’s, the fabled item of her long quest. Oh yes, this was life at it’s finest!
Giggling happily to herself, the small green girl used her tail as support while standing. Her mommy had been wanting her to stand upright for ages and she’d surely be proud to know that her little girl was already doing it! Giggling again, Madeleine hugged her treasure and flopped down on the floor. Of course, mommy didn’t know that she’d been able to do so for quite some time now, and Maddy surely wasn’t going to tell.
Getting herself back on track, she peered down at the handbag in her grip. This was one of mommy’s most prized treasures, Maddy knew, one she always carried around.
It was truly a magic item, for she’d often seen her mommy take out things that Maddy had never seen before, of odd sizes and smells - she’d captured one the other day, much to her mommy’s distress. What was leepstik, anyway? Sounded dangerous. Mommy ought to be happy Maddy had gotten rid of it for her.
But mommy seemed determined to keep her treasure bag to herself, which really wasn’t fair at all. Mommy had made her share her toys with other children that came to visit, so why shouldn’t mommy do the same with her toys?
It was justified. Really.
Fishing out another one of the things mommy called leepstik, Maddy wrinkled her nose in disgust. She had valiantly gotten rid of the last one for mommy, but it had put up a horrible fight and she’d had to smear it on the walls and floor to win over it. Mommy hadn’t appreciated that, but grown-ups could be so odd.
But what if this one would do the same thing? Maybe it was best to keep it locked up, and anyway, it was much too hard to get out – entirely too much work.
No, better keep looking. The lipstick was discarded in favor of more rummaging in the wonder handbag.
This? No, too boring. Oooh, this was a hard decision. Frowning at the small collection of trinkets spread on the floor, courtesy of one green girl, Maddy pondered which one would suit her current scheme best.
“Madeleine!” a horrified voice sounded from the doorway, and the girl in question could say with certainty that it was her mommy taking quick steps towards her location.
Hands grabbed her and moved her to her mommy’s waist as the damage was surveyed with a critical eye. Unfortunately Maddy hadn’t been able to extinguish any of the horrid monsters from the bag yet, and she squirmed, trying to make her mommy put her down. Who knew what sorts of evil deeds the things would do without her there to threaten them to obedience!
“Oh Maddy, how do you manage to do these things?” a tired voice came from above her, and she knew immediately that it was the playpen for her the next few hours.
Oh, drat. So much for that adventure.

• ..story post..

“No Alice, just because I went on vacation doesn’t mean that I absolutely have to have a fling. No, really, it doesn’t.” Olivia rolled her eyes at her friend, even though Alice couldn’t see it through the phone. “Besides, romancing foreigners gets kind of hard what with having a little kid with you all the time.”
Not that she’d particularly wanted to romance anyone, but Alice wouldn’t be satisfied until she made some sort of passable excuse.
“I am not going to be a cat lady, Alice! I like my life just fine, and I don’t see any reason to change it! Besides, I’m concentrating on Madeleine, not me, and you know that. Yeah, we’re baking some cookies later today, mom’s recipe. Mmhmm, the ones with the chocolate and you know I’m not going to mail you cookies, weirdo.”
The chocolate cookies were a family recipe, passed down to the Taylor women, and Olivia figured that it was never too early to teach Maddy something new. Not that she’d remember it, or even be able to do very much in the baking, but she was sure that later, when Madeleine was older, having a good foundation in cookie baking would do her good.
“Anyway, how are things going with you and Sten?” Olivia twisted the phone chord absently, making appropriate ‘mmhmm’ and ‘ahah’s to Alice’s ranting.
“He didn’t!” a surprised gasp and an exclamation point here and there really did wonders for the conversation. Olivia wandered over to Maddy’s room to check on the girl, making sure she was tucked in properly. Overall, she was an active child, and Olivia had to keep on her toes at all times to keep up with her, so nap-time, for Olivia, was a god-sent gift.
She smoothed back the small, spiky hairs on her daughter, smiling softly at the small sigh that escaped the toddler. In her ear, Alice was still ranting about her boyfriend of 3 years who had been caught flirting with a co-worker.
Not that it’d been anything more than that. Olivia knew that Sten adored and worshipped Alice, and the incident was more likely to be a figment of Alice’s over-active and jealous imagination. Not that she’d ever say that to her friend; she was well aware that tomorrow the incident would be forgotten, and everything would be back to normal. Alice just needed space to vent.
“Of course it’s not you, Alice, you know that. Besides, it was just flirting, you know he loves you more than anything. Did you talk to him?” Olivia knew she wouldn’t have, but felt obligated to ask all the same. “Then maybe you should! Let the poor man defend himself before you throw him to the wolves.”
She was beginning to seriously regret asking about Alice’s relationship. This sounded like it was coming to a full-blown war. So much for that nap she had been planning to take while Maddy was asleep.
Olivia sighed heavily before turning her attention back to her friend.

Baaaaackloooooog { Maddy emerges }

It was, Maddy had thought, the perfect plan. And it wasn't that it hadn't worked, oh no, it had worked all right.
She'd spent time practising her expression in the mirror before approaching her mom, too. She'd planned it, calculated (the best her childish mind could) what time of the day would be the best to approach, too.
She really had done all she could to make it succeed. And, well, it sorta had. Sorta.
Maddy looked up at the woman holding her hand as they walked down one of the many shopping streets in the city. She just hadn't accounted for this.
Because, apparently, her mom had been planning too. A bit less thoroughly (Maddy was quite certain that no-one could top her plan. No-one) than her daughter, but planned nonetheless.
But Maddy had had the advantage when the plan had come to fruition, for Olivia hadn't planned on doing anything about the subject in particular until evening-time.
She had stealthily approached the living room table, turned on her best puppy-dog face and asked for her mom's attention with just that little note of plea that made it all perfect.
And Olivia had, surprisingly, agreed to the whole thing. Maddy had been counting on at least several days of pleading, screaming and whining, but that hadn't been neccesary at all.
So it was official: she was getting her very own pet. And she'd been ecstatic, not even listening to her mom's lecture on how 'this will lay the groundwork for future responsibility' and blahblahblah. All she'd cared about was that finally, FINALLY she'd be getting her very own cat. Or lion.
Or maybe a cheetah. Hmm..
And then they'd gotten to the pet store. And it'd all gone downwards from there on.
First of all, they didn't have any cheetahs, or lions, or even a common household cat! (Apparently you had to find a breeder for that or something. Pfft.)
And then, instead of talking to the clerk about these alleged breeders, Olivia had taken her over to the fish.
The fish. This was Not Good, and Maddy had no qualms about telling her mother so.
And this was when, finally, Olivia got around to explaining that she wasn't going to have a large animal ("Really Mom, kittens are really small!") in an apartment building.
Well, apparently she'd already explained it back at their home, but Maddy hadn't been listening. As if that was her fault.
And now, now it was all ruined. Ruined, ruined, ruined! There was no way she was going to settle for a fish, even if they did have pretty scales. A pet you can't pet isn't a pet and that's that.
So, after driving her point home by an impromptu shower of tears and a few yells, the poor clerk had finally come over to try and ask them to please buy something or just leave.
So while her mom had been distracted trying to apologize her way out of the situation, Maddy had snuck off. They had to have something here that was cooler than a fish.
A few rows of empty cages later, she came upon the turtle section.
And they were.. Maddy blinked, not really equating these tiny creatures to the large sea turtles she'd seen on TV, they were actually pretty cute.
Some of them were lazing around on the little island they had, and others were swimming around.
She stared in fascination, not at all noticing that her mother and the clerk were done talking, until her mother found her.
"I want that one," she pointed at a particularly small turtle, "That's my turtle."

Some time later, as a long-suffering clerk watched them walk off with a small turtle and all the stuff needed by such a creature, a sigh of something akin to relief passed over his lips. Thank God he didn't have children and only worked here on the weekends.

Maddy & Kaimi -- Butterflies

The sun shone hot and bright in the sky, the recent rain leaving everything crisp and green before it got baked brown by the heat. It was a perfect day for an adventure. It was a perfect day for an indoor jungle.

Not a jungle per se... it was a massive concrete building, the inside carefully climate controlled with carefully selected tropical plants that would sustain the wide variety of butterflies that were raised there. The brightly colored insects floated about happily in the humid, wet air, swirling around among the orchids and the tulip trees.

The local natural science museum had just opened up their butterfly exhibit and Kaimi was ecstatic. Before being permitted inside to see all the prettiness, she and her guardian had been subjected to a video on the life cycle of the butterfly and a safety talk on how you weren't supposed to touch them, and if they landed on you you should hold very, very still and not bother them. This in particular thrilled the little girl, as the creatures landed on her quite often, attracted by the flowers in her hair.

"Mommy! Mommy, look at that one!"

When her mom had said they'd go see the new butterfly exhibit, Maddy had been ecstatic. After being pulled on the wings by a random passerby twice, having been screamed at by another child once ("Mom, it's a giant butterfly! MWAA IT'S GOING TO EAT ME!") and having been stalked around by one of the bemused staff members for 10 minutes, she was less ecstatic.

Luckily no-one had harassed her in the last half an hour and Olivia had gotten rid of the pesky staff member, but she was still a bit wary.
Wandering about for a bit had caught her onto the mysteriously wonderful scent, that while flowery, didn't seem to match any of the scents coming from the plants.
Plus, the butterflies seemed especially happy the closer she got.

This was another odd thing that had happened while she was here. Madeleine was certain she could feel the butterflies move around her, even when they weren't in her sight - and initially she'd been swarmed by butterflies, but after she'd realised that this just wouldn't do, they'd taken off again.

Mneh. She shrugged in response to her own thoughts, and stepped closer to the wonderful smell.
And blinked. It seemed to be coming from a.. girl?
Not only that, but she was covered in butterflies! They were all over her arms, and the flowers in her hair; maybe the same thing that'd been happening to Maddy had been happening to her too?!

Furrowing her brow, she stared hard at the girl. No way she was letting this mystery slip her by!

Kaimi was giggling softly to herself, twitching under the soft tickling of the butterfly touches. She was spinning in a very slow circle when something... no, someone... caught her eye.

Kaimi's wide golden eyes locked with Madeline's, and her face broke out into a broad and friendly grin. She'd never seen someone with wings like that before... they were so pretty! Carefully Kaimi raised a hand, causing the little monarch perched on her knuckle to spin off into delicate flight, and waved enthusiastically at the other girl. "Hi!" She said, loud enough to be heard from a distance. She wanted to run over to the other girl and make friends, so she did. The butterflies flickered away as she ran, skidding to a stop in front of Madeline. "Hi!" She said again, beaming cheerfully. "I'm Kaimi. You're pretty!"

"I.. uh, thank you?" Well, at least she wasn't pulling on the wings - that had to count for something. Gathering her wits in a conscious effort, Maddy smiled at the other girl.

"You're really pretty too! And you smell awesomely," she really did, too. Like all sorts of different flowers gathered into one person.
An antennae twitched lightly, "My name is Maddy, by the way." Politeness had always been her mother's advice in foreign situations.

It had never occurred to Kaimi that her natural enthusiasm might throw people off or take them by suprise. The fact that it did tend to happen slipped blissfully past her consciousness. Her grin brightened at the compliment (because, after all, who doesn't like compliments?) And then she asked the question that had twisted into her mind since she'd started beelining it over to the other girl. "Maddy, do the workers here think you're a butterfly too? Have they... kidnapped you?"

"They tried, but mom threw them off." Well, it did make sense, now that she thought about it - she looked like a butterfly, and that could have been why that woman was following her..

But she'd been saved, thankfully! Maddy felt a surge of pride in her mom, who'd managed to avert a kidnapping all by herself.
"She was really awesome," she nodded sagely.

"Your mom must be really brave." Kaimi agreed cheerfully. "I'm glad they didn't kidnap you." She looked up and around at all the brightly swirling insects. "Wow! They really like you! I think they like me too..." Grinning at the other girl, Kaimi added in a stage-whisper "I bet you're the butterfly queen... and thats why they wanted to kidnap you."

"I am too!" getting kidnapped would've been absolutely horrible, even if she would've been surrounded by pretty flowers and whirling butterflies.
Well, maybe not all that bad, but without her mom.. Man, that'd have sucked.

Maddy blinked slowly, absorbing Kaimi's words. Hmm, that was a thought. "But I don't feel very queenly," she scrunched up her face in concentration, trying to find any hidden feelings of queenship in herself Nope, nothing.

"Maybe they're just jealous that the butterflies like me better," but, wouldn't that mean that they'd try to kidnap Kaimi too? The butterflies loved her too!

"But the butterflies like you too," Maddy turned horrified eyes on her new friend, letting the words trail off. They could be caught in a plot of kidnappings right now - two for the price of one, as it were.

It took the little girl a moment, but then her face scrunched up in horror too as she stared wide eyed at Maddy. "Oh no!" She looked around, trying to see how many of the museum employees were spying on the two girls, waiting for their chance to spring. "We can't let them catch us! We have to find somewhere to hide!" ...but where?

"There!" After taking a moment to survey her surroundings, the butterfly girl pointed to a low slab of stone, evidently meant as a bench for the visitors. It was broad enough for two children to lie behind without being able to be seen.

Throwing a look at her companion, Maddy stealthily (or as stealthy as can be when you've got wings and antennae) crept over to the bench, pausing every few seconds to look out for kidnappers and make sure Kaimi was all right.

On her tiptoes, Kaimi followed behind, flashing glances here and there with narrowed eyes to make sure no one was following them. Settling into the dark and slightly damp space behind the bench, she looked over at Maddy and grinned. "We made it! Now what?" Her whispered voice echoed almost eerily in the little enclosed area, bouncing off the stone.

Grinning back at Kaimi, Maddy thought about their situation.
"We need to make a plan. A master plan," she whispered back, remembering one of the movies she'd seen with her mom recently. Yes, a master plan was exactly what they needed, "Like.. we need to find out what they're planning, and stop them!"

She quieted down and narrowed her eyes as an employee walked by, fortunately missing the two girls behind the bench.
"We need to find the leader." Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

The leader... that was a good idea. "You're smart." Kaimi said, her tone thoughtful. She couldn't remember if leaders were usually obvious, but she didn't think that they'd be just hanging out with their minions. And the butterfly exhibit was only part of the museum, after all... she hadn't seen the whole thing, but she knew there was a whole lot more than just this part.

What it really came down to was defeating the leader so that they could save the butterfly kingdom. Kaimi was pretty convinced that if Maddy wasn't the butterfly queen, she was at least a princess or something. "I wonder where their leader is?" Kaimi asked, trusting in the older girl's knowledge on the subject. "Maybe we should spy on them? Maybe they'll talk about it and we can find out?"


Maddy blushed happily - someone thought she was smart! She listened intently to the younger girl. That could work, but they'd need to know what they were listening for; hadn't mom once said that she worked for the boss at her workplace? And that he had a whole office to himself, which had impressed the young girl quite a bit.

"That's a really good idea. We need to listen for any mentions of their leader, or his office," they had to be able to find someone talking about him. Minions were talkative, at least in the movies she'd seen, and no doubt these were too.

But.. "We need to find someone to spy on first, though." Staying here, howevermuch a good hiding place it was, wasn't going to get them any good leads. And Maddy knew next to nothing about the museum; in fact, she didn't even know it was a museum, and thought it all consisted of only the butterflies.

Listening seriously to Maddy, Kaimi looked around the large room for someone who was potentially both devious and talkative. Not an easy task. Office? She thought her mom had mentioned having an office on earth... but she wasn't sure. Naomi never went there that Kaimi was aware of.

A pair of teenagers with a push broom and rolling garbage can caught her eye. They looked chatty. And devious... Kaimi could swear their eyes were shifty. And their khaki uniforms were downright suspicious. "What about them?" She whispered, pointing out the suspects. "Do they look like they might talk about their leader?"

"Hmm, they do look a bit shifty," or at least they looked spotty. One of them had a full eruption of pimples and that, in Maddy's book, was as good as being shifty.

But they were a good ways by, and there was no way to come closer and listen in on their conversation without drawing attention to themselves. "We need a distraction, so we can get closer and spy on them," Maddy turned determined eyes on Kaimi, "or they'll see us coming from a mile away."

"But.." she frowned, thoughtful, "There's not a lot here to distract them with." Well, there were butterflies and plants, and had they been a bit stronger they could've possibly thrown one of the strategically placed stones at them - but that wouldn't have worked in any case.

Distraction... Kaimi frowned, her face scrunching up with thought. Plants and butterflies. It was too bad the butterflies couldn't offer some sort of distraction, seeing as how there were so many of them. "It's too bad the butterflies can't distract them." Kaimi said. "What if we do something to get their attention. Maybe they'll take us right to their leader!" The fact that they would probably be thrown out of the museum didn't even occur to the little girl. Thats not the way it worked in Indiana Jones movies. "Except then we would be captured." Maybe not such a good idea after all.

Yeah, and being captured was not a good thing. Maddy was pretty sure that they needed to keep the element of surprise to be able to defeat their leader; he was obviously a powerful man - or monster, or thing - and to make things worse the whole place was full of minions.
No, capture was not a good idea. But the butterflies.. She tried to purse her lips in the same way she'd seen her mom do, and think.

The butterflies had been odd. But they'd liked both her and Kaimi, which was why they were in this mess to begin with, so perhaps they would help.
"Maybe.." her voice was hesitant, "Maybe if we ask the butterflies to distract them long enough to get us closer."

There were lots of butterflies swirling around them still, but luckily neither of the two teenagers were noticing. If they asked them to help, they might.


Of course! If anyone could command (ask) the butterflies, it would be their queen! They would most certainly be willing and cheerful to do her bidding and distract those horrible spotty-faced minions so Kaimi and Maddy could get close enough to hear their plan.

Kaimi beamed. "How do we ask them?" She didn't know much (anything) about magical butterfly communication methods. But she was certain her new friend would have an idea. Kaimi, it seemed, was certain of a lot of strange things. Nevertheless, she looked at Maddy with hopeful, trusting and only a little bit calculating eyes, eager to learn the answer.

"We ask them," her hand reached out and caught one of the smaller butterflies, careful not to hurt the wings, "like this."
Carefully she opened her hands a little, just wide enough for there to be a small hole so she could see the fluttering wings, but not wide enough for the butterfly to fly away.

"Please distract the evil minions of kidnapping so we can get closer," she whispered carefully down to the creature before opening her hands and letting it fly away again. It would tell the other butterflies for them, surely.
"Now you try," Maddy was sure that this needed to be a team effort, or the butterflies might not realise the seriousness of the situation.


Kaimi, more awkward with her her chubby little toddler's hands, took a couple of tries before she caught one. She held it very carefully, just as Maddy showed her, and peeked into the little hole she left in her cupped hands. "Please," she whispered, "distract the minions so we can get closer." Then she opened up her hands and let the butterfly float upwards.

Turning to Maddy, eyes big and hopeful and excited, she smiled. "Do you suppose they'll listen to us?"

Maddy didn't even get time to open her mouth before all the butterflies in the area had started to move towards the two teenagers. Forming a rather massive and colourful swarm, they determinedly settled around the two minions, succesfully obstructing their vision and freaking them out.

The butterfly girl grinned triumphantly at the younger girl beside her, before making a 'follow me' hand motion and crawling as fast as she could toward a small, but thick tree near the other two.
Settling in behind the tree, she waited for Kaimi to join her while listening intently to the two boys who were swearing like there was no tomorrow.

It took Kaimi a moment to realize Maddy had moved and she needed to move as well. She was busy staring disbelievingly at the butterfly swarm, her jaw nearly touching the floor.

Finally, she shook herself out of it enough to run and crouch by the tree. "It worked..." She whispered, her eyes huge and a massive grin spreading across her features. She turned her attention to the cursing teenagers. "I wonder what s**t means." She mused, having heard it shouted repeatedly by this point. "I don't think it's the name of their boss..."

s**t? Maddy furrowed her brow, thinking that the word sounded familiar. Ah yes, of course!
She turned to the younger girl, a wide smile and an excited whisper on her lips.
"It might be!" she snuck a quick glance to the boys, to make sure they hadn't heard her, before she continued, "I heard mom say that once when she was talking on the phone to her friend. She was talking about her job, and then she said that, and looked at me really oddly."

In fact, she'd looked guilty. Perhaps it was a term for bosses that kids weren't meant to hear?
"Anyway, I think it's some sort of boss-title. Maybe that means they'll start talking about their boss soon!"

Kaimi watched as the multi-colored butterflies continued to harrass the two teenagers mercilessly. They swatted at them, but it was clear that they weren't allowed to actually hurt them. Finally, one of them pulled a walkie talkie out of his pocket and screeched something in a cracking, panicky voice about "some weird s**t going down... need backup"

Turning her grin back on Maddy, Kaimi felt triumphant. "Do you think that was the boss he was talking to on the thingy?" She didn't know what a walkie talkie was, but she could guess well enough the purpose of the thing.

"It must've been!" she matched Kaimi's triumphant grin, "Now we need to get ready to confront the boss."
Yeah, they needed to be ready for anything; you never knew with evil overlords with tendencies to kidnap others.

"Okay. We need.. weapons."
Maddy turned to search the ground for a suitable stone, and grinned again when she found it. The perfect fist-sized rock was quickly picked up by the butterfly girl before she tried to crawl silently back to the tree and the other girl.

Now all they needed was the boss.


Kaimi looked around as well for a weapon. From the graveled walkway she picked up handfuls of pebbles and shoved them into her pockets. If Maddy had a big rock and Kaimi had lots of little rocks, the toddler reasoned, then she could throw the little ones for cover fire. She'd seen people throw sand at their enemies eyes in the movies and figured gravel ought to work just as well... heck, it was bigger! It should work even better!

Scrambling back to the cover of the bench, she huddled excitedly by Maddy. It didn't even occur to her that, by now, Naomi might be wondering where she'd wandered off to. The immediate task was SO much more important!

In the time it took Kaimi to get back to Maddy's side, the overseer of the butterfly exhibtion had arrived. She - a brownhaired woman with glasses too large for her face - was currently gaping at the swarm of butterflies in a mix of awe and terror. All their hard work, and now the damn butterflies had gone insane!

Maddy scrutinized the newcomers from the safety of the tree. The overseer had brought along a few employees, but they were all in a uniform resembling the one the teenagers were wearing. All except for the overseer, who had come directly from a meeting and was wearing an expensive business suit.

They had the leader, obviously.
"You see that one, with the glasses? That must be the boss," she discreetly pointed to the person in question.
"We'll attack on the count of three," a deep breath, "One.. Two.. THREE! YAARRGH!"
She threw herself out from behind the tree with her best roar, closed her eyes and threw the stone in the general direction of the poor overseer.


Kaimi scrutinized the boss, with her oversized glasses. She didn't look all that threatening... Kaimi was certain that between the two of them, she and Maddy could certainly prevail.

At the end of the countdown, Maddy let out a war cry and let loose. It took Kaimi only an instant, shrieking her own bastardized Tarzan call and flying out from behind the bench. She followed Maddy and flung handfuls of pebbles at the offending villians, her face glowing with truimph. She could smell victory in the air.

The two girls flung their stones at the enemies, and by sheer coincidence, actually managed to hit something. Maddy's rock had caught one of the newcomers behind the overseer in the crotch, and he was currently doubled over, groaning in pain and wishing he'd become a baker instead of working at the museum.
Meanwhile, several of Kaimi's pebbles had made small, but significant impacts on the overseer's large glasses; a large crack had been made in one of the lenses, and the woman was currently shrieking and flailing her arms.

Unfortunately at least one of the employees had retained their sanity in the chaos, and she now made a grab for the butterfly girl.

Maddy squealed as she was caught by a female employee and lifted into the air.
"Run, Kaimi! They've got me, save yourself!" She screamed to her friend, desperately trying to get free of the restricting arms around her torso and warn the younger girl in time, "Ruuuuuun!"

It was too late for her, but at least one of them would survive and tell the world about the evil people and their conspiracy of butterflies.

Kaimi was torn. One part of her told her to flee to safety, like Maddy was telling her. The other part told her that you simply didn't leave a comrade in the hands of the enemy if you could help it. Then the whispers started up, the voices swirled around her and, even though she couldn't make out any real words, she knew what the right thing to do was.

Kaimi let out the savage roar of an Amazon Princess (which really sounded like a terrified and excited little shriek) and dashed into the thick of things, grabbing the arm that held Maddy captive and biting it. Not a hard bite, but hard enough to startle the woman into letting go. Feeling quite brave and fierce, Kaimi tried to grab Maddy's hand. "C'mon!" She said, preparing to dash.


Startled, Maddy grabbed Kaimi's searching hand and made a run for it. That was so brave of her! If they hadn't been making a run for safety, she'd have thrown an admiring glance at her new friend, but as it was she had to settle for a fierce sense of admiration in her mind.

Behind them, the poor employees made a short dash for the two girls, but really hadn't got much of a chance. Both of the girls' shorter legs and smaller statures came in handy during the run, and they were gone before the museum's people ever knew it.
"Well, s**t," was the only thing heard as they all stood panting, and the woman with the glasses nursed the ugly bite on her arm.

The two girls had made it fairly close to the entrance by the time Maddy deemed that they were safe enough.
"That was so awesome!" she turned to the younger girl and beamed happily, "You were like.. like a real superhero!"

Kaimi beamed in pleasure at the praise. "They told me it was right, to go get you. And anyways, you're the butterfly princess! I couldn't let them get you!" She looked about to make sure that they weren't being pursued. It seemed safe enough for the moment...


Maddy only paused for a quarter of a second to ponder who 'they' were, before deciding that it didn't matter.
As it was, she'd probably have protested the princess comment, but decided that it just wasn't worth it. Besides, it'd be kinda cool to be the butterfly princess, so why complain, really?

But the fairness of it nagged her. Sure, she'd done some stuff too, but in the end it was Kaimi who'd saved the day; so wasn't it kinda unfair that she was the one who got the pretty title, and not the other one?
"Well.." a quick decision was made, and Maddy straightened her back the best she could and tried to look regal, "If I'm the butterfly Princess, I hereby pronounce you Butterfly Champion for your brave deeds."
She nodded solemnly, still trying her best to look princess-like.

Kaimi, who liked titles very much, didn't really understand what "Champion" was. But the voices, those ever-present whispering voices she heard, rumbled with contentment inside her head. Even without their approval, she would have been happy.

Beaming, Kaimi looked around. "What now?" She asked, before frowning. Someone... ah bother. Naomi was calling her name. "Thats mom calling..." She sighed.

"We could.." Maddy got started, before they heard the voice of Naomi, "Oh, I guess your mom's worried." Come to think of it, her's would be too. Perhaps it was best if they went back and placated them.

"I'll have to go find mine, too. She's probably worried by now," she threw a quick smile at her newfound Champion, "But maybe we'll meet again!"
That'd be fun; this'd definitely been an adventure, and much more interesting than watching TV.

Kaimi nodded enthusiastically. "Yes!" She said in agreement, beaming. "We should play again!" Impulsively, she wrapped her arms around Maddy for a quick hug. "I had lots of fun with you!"

Giggling slight, she hugged the younger girl back for a moment before letting go. They had had a lot of fun, hadn't they?

"You better get going, or your mom'll end up losing her voice," she raised a small hand in a wave, "We'll see each other around, definitely!"

Kaimi giggled at the thought of Naomi trying to call out to her with no voice. Waving back at Maddy, she headed towards her guardian, happy to have made such an adventurous new friend.

Turtle or Bust!
PRP with Lenachan358 - incomplete, counted as ½ ORP

Kitchen Wizards
Thanksgiving ORP

Incomplete NOT COUNTED