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 Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 4:33 pm
Ceres and Sky left Keeta's side to go and help Rhine. She knew that Keeta had enough going on that she couldn't just strike up a conversation. They had plenty of time to talk later.
Rhine smiled and waved to his parents when they approached him. He about had a round of burgers and hot dogs done.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 6:03 pm
keetabirdy At the voice of the fairy, Keeta turned and looked at him again with a smile. "No...I don't believe they are allergic to anything..." Keeta said, her glance flickering over to the oddly wrapped packages. Now she was curious as to the contents.
"I don't believe I've met you before today. I'm Keeta, the mother of Joel, one of the birthday children. He's the one over there with the same color hair as mine," she said, pointing in the direction of the child.
"It's nice to meet you.....?" Keeta said, the pause at the end being for him to fill in his name. She offered her hand to the fairy to shake.
His attention was diverted from the quicklisver musings by Keeta's next words.
"Omirao," he answered cheerfully, grasping her hand and wildly swinging it up and down. Well, he'd never boasted of any sort of proffesional atributes, accountant or not. Luckily his empoyers had hired him based on a test and his proffessors reccomend instead of meeting him. Otherwise he'd still be rummaging through... Er, nevermind.
"I'm new here. Just arrived in the area a couple days ago--Luckily I didn't have much to haul around for the move! I contacted the GMFC just in time to find an invite... How old is Joel turning?"
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:18 pm
Keeta thought to ask him to claify his comments about the sleeves, but decided against it. In all likelyhood it would be made clear when the gifts were opened. If not....well... she could ask then. Her thoughts were inturrupted by his erratic handshaking technique. Despite it not being the most comfortable of handshakes, Keeta was nonetheless amused by the fairy's enthusiastic spirit.
"Well I'm glad you could make it. And welcome to Barton! Are you settling in ok?" Keeta asked Omirao.
Her gaze flickered towards Jiao'lan and she smiled at her friend. Her hand moved in a "come here" gesture, trying to get the Keichancho-Jin to join her where she was, as she was currently engaged in conversation.
Joel had now made his way next to Natalia and Nyoka. He spotted Natalia's new glasses and grinned, pointing to his own.
"We same!" he said with excitement.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:28 pm
Jiao'lan noticed Keeta's gesture and glanced once more to her daughter before making her way over. The infant was so enthralled with the flowers and butterfly that her mother said a silent prayer of thanks that the little girl didn't begin to fuss and being walked away.
A warm, rather large smile slipped across the Keikancho-Jin woman's face as she approached the pair. "Hey, Keeta." She said, eyes sparkling. She then looked to the exuberant, and slightly shorter man. "Hello there." She said, by way of greeting.
Mi'Ako merely looked to the new faces and continued to make 'omnomnomnomnomnom-ing' sounds on her tail. Clearly, at one week she was still very self-centered, as any baby is supposed to be.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:03 pm
Keeta obviously wasn't too put off by his uncontrolled handshake, as she was still talking very nicely to him. "Ah! Thank you much! I am. My new job lets me work what ever hours I please, as long as I have a report in every three days, so I've had plenty of time to unpack and do a bit of looking around..." upon seeing his new companion looking elsewhere, he followed her gaze--
His eyes widened. Shoving his glasses up for a better look, he gaped, awestruck. "FEATHERS!!" <3 The sound exploded from him, decidedly higher pitched than his previous low tenor/high bass voice. Bouncing exitedly and clapping, he stopped himself just in time from leaning over to put his face within inches of the glorious plummage.
He LOVED feathers. Collected them, actually. If every he found himself with nothing to do, he would go to the nearest lake and wander around to find feathers of all kinds. He currently had an entire wall filled with cases of soft, shining feathers, from just about every bird you could find in public parks.
The sight of Jiao'lan's feathers distracted him so much, it took him several moments to notice what she held, but when he did... he almost swooned. The baby girl in the newly-met woman's arms was the most adorable creature he'd ever seen. "AWWW! What's her name? She's so cute!" >w< On impulse, he ripped off his glove to reveal hand that were heavily bandaged up to the middle knuckle of his fingers and offered the bare tip of his index to the child.
He wasn't worried about making the newborn sick. His skin had healing properties, after all, and she probably didn't have teeth yet, so he most likely didn't have to worry about his blood...
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:13 pm
"Fortunetly my job is pretty flexible with my hours too." Keeta said with a nod. "I'm a bartender and so long as all the shifts get covered, I pretty much get to make my own schedule, as the owner is a good friend of mine." She looked over as Jiao'lan apporached.
"Hi Jiao'lan! Hello Mi-" Keeta's voice cut off abruptly as the fairy's voice startled her with his outburst. She glanced back and forth between him and Jiao'lan in surprise.
((ok....if no one new shows up by the time I get home from work tomorrow I shall get some of the whole group activities going))
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:19 pm
The high pitched sound frightened the infant at first, but then she was able to register the happy tones that accompanied it and opened her large eyes at him. While Jiao'lan wasn't afraid of people getting the little girl ill the bandages on his hands screamed 'wound' in her mind and she took an instinctual, half step back not knowing his contact wouldn't cause her harm.
Afterall, babies back on her island were very hardy, healthy little things as far as catching ailments went, but wound taint was always a concern in the damp, moist clime she was used to, when it came to very new immune systems.
The baby fussed as if on cue, as his hand came toward her, so Jiao'lan took this excuse and drew the little girl close to coddle and soothe her. "Shhh...s'okay...you're just fine." She cooed, as she slowly began to sway in place. She then looked to the gentleman. "Her name's Mi'Ako." The proud mother said, beaming. "I'm sorry about her getting upset. She's very, very new to life in this big old world." She explained, while thinking, 'And wound germs, please and thank you very little'
Her tone was light and cheery however badly she wanted to thwap the smaller man with her tail.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:41 pm
Brought from his adoring stupor by Jiao'lan's movement, Omirao looked up in surprise. As realization of his actions dawned, he quickly stepped back in embarrasment. "Oh, dear, I'm sorry. I get so impulsive sometimes. To ease your fears, I assure you that I wouldn't have made her sick... Well unless she has teeth, but she looks so young I doubted... But my skin has healing properties, so germs and the like are never an issue..."
He didn't even think that the bandages may have been the real worrying factor--in reality, there were no open sores or wounds. His skin's attributes ensured that wounds healed shut very fast, however, it took just as long as it did anyone else for the protective layer to build. Thus, the areas he filed off for use were often raw and tender, despite their lack of bleeding. The bandages were medicated with a soothing balm that sped the growth and health of his skin, and offered a gentle buffer from the rough physical reality of the world.
He also had some nasty scars from days long past in captivity. THOSE areas were always covered. Some things were just better off unasked.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 10:00 pm
Keeta moved so that she could step between them, if either party decided they needed to take some kind of defensive action. Keeta could read Jiao'lan a little better, since she had known her longer. But that wasn't even the main thing. Keeta was also a mother and could understand the reactions and impulses that went with the territory of being protective of one's offspring. She remembered that night when Joel was so little and she'd felt as though she needed to protect him from one of her customers. The difference was that the customer had done it on purpose. Omirao, it seemed had not intentionally acted to make Jiao'lan nervous.
Ok...time for a little redirection, despite the fact that she was curious about the fairy's healing powers.
"So....would either of you like to make an instrument? I'm holding a contest to see who can make the most creative instrument using the materials I've provided...." She rocked from side to side, hoping one of them would be willing. Perhaps others would come and join them once they saw someone get started. It wouldn't be much of a contest if there weren't any entries.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 10:19 pm
"I would but..." She looked around to make sure the birthday girl was out of earshot. "I spent the better part of two weeks working on Natalia's gift...I think it fit that category..." Jiao'lan said, with a wink. She then looked back to Omirao and smiled sheepishly. "Oh...well...eheh, good to know." She said, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand.
"No she hasn't any teeth yet...thank the Gods above..." She said. "But...well, I...I jumped to conclusions." Really in the scheme of things, she had no reason to apollogise but with how different their cultures were, she wasn't sure. Now, if he had tried to hurt her, that'd have been an entirely different story.
"I come from rain forests and with all of the herbs and things we have around...the only time I'm used to seeing bandages is when there's injuries where something's..." She paused to try and find a Gaian word. "seaiante," Well, back to elementary words! "Bad's happened to them." She explained. The word she wanted was 'festered'.
An ant crawled over one of her talons causing her eyes to widen briefly before giving her foot a very subtle shake. It was rather large, even by her standards since she noticed it by feel alone. But it wasn't large enough to be what her tribe called 'siafu', better known in the Western World as 'driver ants'. With newborns they were quite a concern as they traveled in droves of hundreds of thousands and God help anything that couldn't get out of their way!
The woman looked back to Keeta. "But, I'd love looking at the supplies you've gathered." She said, referring to the crafting.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:13 am
Natalia turned her head in the direction of Joel's voice out of instinct. Everything at this moment (site wise) was clear as a bell. "Yes, we are!" She said with a chuckle as she pointed to her new gift proudly. She then hugged both Joel and Nyoka.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:31 pm
Omirao smiled nervously--and apolegetically!--at Jiao'lan, "Oh, you mustn't apologize! I'm the one who's in the wrong..."
He laughed, still embarrassed by his actions and busying his eyes by (gently!) putting his glove back on. "To tell you the truth, I really can't help it. I think it may be part of how my species is wired, mentally, but I honestly can't get enough of babies. They're worse than catnip for a cat for me. I get better as they get older, but I still have a tendency to obsess over the youth. Still, I shouldn't have frightened you, or her, like that."
"Something bad? You mean... Like a huge open wound or infections..? Oh, dear, I... Well I'm not quite THAT bad. In fact, there's no bleeding or infection at all. Er, my skin... get very tender, I guess you should say. Very sensitive. Yes. The bandages are medicated to soothe it, that's all..." he wasn't about to tell people he just met that he frequently took a nail file to his skin to get the beneficial dust. Seriously, who did that to themselves? Well, except for him. But it wasn't like he sold it for profit or whatever.
Having redonned his glove, the short, winged fellow looked over at Keeta, fidgeting still from the recent outburst, "To be honest, I'm not the most creative of fellows... But I'll certainly give it a try! Perhaps I'll get ideas as I go along."
Ah, changing the subject. Generally fairly successful at easing awkward moments!
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:29 pm
"Well then follow me!" she said perhaps a little too brightly and waved so they would come with her. She led them to one of the tables, where there was an assortment of common household items and recycled materials.
"Well here's what I've got. I spent a while scrounging up odds and ends from my own home and from my neighbors." The items on the table included, but were not limited to: toilet paper and paper towel rolls, rubber bands, beads, corrugated cardboard, uncooked beans and rice, paper plates, aluminum foil, wax paper, empty (but clean) milk cartons and jugs, plastic soda bottles, metal coffee cans (with lids), small plastic containers, such as a majorine container (with lids), various sizes and lengths of wooden dowels, plastic baggies, old newspapers, and beyond. And of course there were safety scissors, glue, and a stapler to assemble things with and markers, paint, sequins and feathers for decorating.
"Use whatever you want on the table. It should all be clean and safe!"
Joel giggled and hugged Natalia back, grinning from ear to ear. He didn't comprehend the difference in her, that she was able to see now. For the moment, he was just happy to be included.
Camille watched from the pillar, wanting to join in with the other children, but unwilling to venture into the large group (for her) of adults and children.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:21 pm
Natalia sat on the ground without a care as to what she was sitting on. She pulled Joel and Nyoka down with her. "Come on Camille," she hollered across the way. She didn't know what they would do but they could do something.
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Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:29 pm
Jiao'lan nodded as she followed Keeta toward the craft table. "Oh, well I was sure you didn't mean any harm...new Mum jitters I guess." She said with a light laugh.
Mi'Ako began to start making more clear human baby sounds, her bottom lip quivering. "Ohhh...don't tell me you're hungry..." She said to the infant as she switched arms so she could reach her nappy bag. She pulled out a soft, silken blanket, that wasn't at all sheer, and draped it over her left shoulder before directing the infant's head and fussing under the cloth with the snaps on her blouse. She turned her back to them all the while as it took her a moment to direct the child's mouth to 'pay dirt'. Soft cooing sounds laced with that of a content baby bird could be heard coming from the little girl as she nursed with frevor.
"Sorry..." She said with a smile, knowing full well Keeta of all people would understand, it was more for Omirao. "Oh! I don't know why it slipped my mind...I'm Jiao'lan by the way..." She said to the fairy.
Mi'Ako's semi-prehensile tail curved around the wrist her mother was using to support her. "And, it seems you've come to the right place if you enjoy children." She said, her grey eyes twinkling.
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