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 Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:19 pm
Mordekai's quick pace was followed as best Cruz could without flappable wings. He used the banister to speed himself further along; this didn't help him once they were in the hall but the kiss was an enjoyable reward for the effort. ”Mhm,” Cruz murmured, all smiles. The sudden shift in height was a surprise that made the croc giggle. He allowed Mordekai to pick him up however the man pleased while Cruz reveled in the compliments. ”Nuh-uh,” he replied coyly – Aina was definitely cuter but Cruz did feel pretty cute a lot of the time, it was nice to hear agreement on the matter.
When they returned, Anita was just putting away the last plate. Cruz beamed at her from atop Mordekai's shoulder, which took her a moment to notice between the blond's explanation, the kiss, and her innocently chewing something. ”Oops,” she covered her mouth with the back of her hand while she spoke, amusement clear in her voice and the crease of her eyes, ”Good job, though – on all of this. Seriously.” Anita gave a slight roll of her eyes regarding the food that showed how much she enjoyed the samples she already had. ”We can bring most of it and just have lunch on the beach, if it's not too hot.”
”What's your favorite food, Momo?” Cruz lifted himself up on the man's shoulders to lean forward and peer over top of Mordekai's head, upside down. Anita stifled a laugh.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:19 pm
Mordekai giggled, more than happy that Anita was enjoying her breakfast already – he rested his chin against her shoulder for it a bit, humming and giddy, and quickly gave her a kiss on the cheek before stepping back. “Shouldn't be too hot out! Got some nice clouds outside too, huh?” he mused, grinning up at Cruz for confirmation.
“My favorite food? That's a hard one,” he pouted, glancing up at the ceiling in thought; when his view was blocked by Cruz's face, he laughed, poking him on the nose. “Y'know what I haven't had in a damn while? A sandwich,” he replied, swaying a bit with Cruz on his shoulders, “If God's real, he's livin' inna sandwich.”
“'M all done!” came Aina's voice from the second floor – she quickly floated her way downstairs, carrying a handful of the beach stationary in one hand and the bin full of pens in the other. By the time she reached the first floor, she was staring at the letter again, and she slowly drifted to where Anita was as she nitpicked the last bit of writing. “What're you gunna write, Anita?” she asked, handing her a fresh paper to write on. She flustered. “Sorry, I used the other paper all up...”
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:20 pm
The sigel couldn't help but smile at how openly affectionate Mordekai was with Anita, not to mention how receptive she was. She leaned her head against the blond's while his was on her shoulder and hummed at the kiss. It had been a long time now since his actions the previous summer, even if it didn't feel that way to him, but it was still such a relief to see things back to the way they were supposed to be; to see his family happy again.
Cruz crinkled his nose at the poke and giggled. Before he could ask what kind of sandwich, Aina came barreling downstairs in all of her excitement. Pleasant laughter surrounded her as Anita received the paper. She hesitated on a pen to use, considering how many were offered, but plucked out a nice deep green.
”It's okay,” she chuckled, ”but gosh, I don't know. What did you guys write already?”
”A lot!” Cruz pressed gently off of Mordekai's shoulders to hover beside Aina. ”Mostly about how we all miss 'em and want to see 'em soon and that we're gonna go do cool stuff at the beach. And um--” He looked at Aina, suddenly curious about what she wrote that took up the rest of the page.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:21 pm
Mordekai peaked over Anita's shoulder as the brunette took up the pen and stationary, curious, and he giggled as Cruz explained. “We do miss 'em a lot, don't we?” he implored, glancing down at the younger Frei – she flustered, giggling. Of course, Mordekai hadn't heard the end of missing Jillette and Jerri every month.
“Um...” Aina replied, staring down at the remainder of the letter in her hands. “You can read it if you want,” she said, sounding hesitant at first; a part of her was a bit too shy to let the contents of the letter go. But, wanting Anita to know, she held the letter up as high as she could. She tapped Anita's shoulder. “But don't read it out loud, please!” she asked, wings bristling.
Hi Jill and Jerry,
Sad we missed you but happy to write. Since we can't play today we gotta make sure to play soon. We're going to go to the beach today and have an adventure, maybe we can go on an adventure soon too. We'll find pretty things for you and then we can make them even prettier together. Momo misses you both and wants to play soon too! Maybe we can paint stuff together.
I hope you remember Aunty Leigh because I painted seashells with her in January two months ago and it was really fun. So we should do that together too I hope you can tell but this is Aina now.
Please come over soon so Cruz and you and your brother and me can play together. They're a lot of pretty new baby flowers in the garden so it smells nice and every thing is fresh. It's not OK to only visit during Thanks Giving because that is only once a month and you always say you are free every Summer and every Winter so we should be playing all the time. The piano ricitall does not count because we did not play after you finished playing the piano because lots of adults wantid to talk you.
The kingdom cant wait forever on us and we have not visited in a really long time so they might be worryed. I miss you Jillette see you soon!!!♥♥♥
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:23 pm
”I don't want to think about how big they are now,” Anita mentioned quietly to Mordekai as Aina handed her the paper. The last time she got a good look at them, the twins just seemed about twice as big as when she first met them. Aina's request was met with a laugh from Anita, as well as a reassuring nod. ”Yes ma'am.”
The letter so far was adorable, as expected, riddled with cute sentiments and some stilted grammar. In Aina's exuberance, she even seemed to mix up a 'month' with a 'year' – Anita couldn't stifle her giggle in time to hide it completely. ”This is really sweet, thank you,” she complimented. Cruz thrummed with pride while he draped his arms gently over Aina's shoulders and rest his chin upon her head. Anita tapped the end of the pen against the corner of her mouth, then drifted to the kitchen counter. ”I'm gonna say... that they can come see me in the mall whenever they want.”
”And come over the apartment!” Cruz piped up, suddenly eager. While Anita's smile said enough of her agreement, the croc elaborated. ”Jerri's got lots of game posters. They can play games with us.”
Anita's hand moved carefully as she wrote. Her own writing, and the color chosen, were easy to tell apart from either raevan's. ”...and play – video games – at our home. There, that sounds good.” She glanced back to Mordekai and pointed at the container of the pen's with her own. ”Did you want to write anything?”
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:24 pm
“Duncan's tellin' me Jerri's got tall, but don't trust 'im,” he whispered back, ending his sentiment with a chuckle; the last time he'd seen either of them was during Thanksgiving, and even then they'd grown too much for him to be comfortable. With a hum, Mordekai let Cruz off of his shoulders, and he waited along with the two Raevans as Anita finished reading their letter. Aina kept quiet, hugging Mordekai's arm and glancing up at Cruz with a shy smile. She certainly hoped Anita liked her letter.
She giggled in return when Anita looked up from her letter, even though she was a bit nervous to see what Anita had to say. She clutched her hands together when Anita's comment was positive, and she hummed, wings fluttering so much she floated a little taller for a second. Hugging Cruz's arms close, she floated closer to Anita when she walked to the kitchen counter to write, head poking out from beside her as she began. Mordekai walked over to Anita's other side, resting his back against the counter.
“I wanna visit you at the mall, too!” Aina piped up, grinning up at Cruz as he explained; she bounced a little. “Let's go visit Anita an' buy Jerri lots of games! And then-- and then we can play 'em together! Okay?”
“We can buy 'im a couple games,” Mordekai amended, laughing nervously; “Jerri's already got lotsa games, remember?”
“Okay! We just gotta find him the best two games ever,” Aina replied, seeming just as content with that as she was before. Silence fell over the two as they watched Anita write her portion of the letter. ”'Nita, that sounds really good!” Aina cheered, hopping up to try and grab the letter off of the counter. Mordekai raised his brows when Anita looked back at him, and he stifled, glancing back at the bin of pens.
“Cruz an' Aina got me, but 'ey, I'll sign it,” he smiled, reaching over to find a pen of his own – when he found an orange gel pen, he uncapped it, leaning forward to find some free space on the paper. “Aina, Cruz, y'all sign it already?”
“Mm-mm! Papa, we gotta hurry,” Aina urged, looking hopefully up at him, “Can we still go to the beach?”
“Yeah, baby girl, beach ain't runnin' away nowhere,” Mordekai laughed, signing his name in a messy scrawl near the bottom of the page. “'Ey, Anita, think we should walk, or should we get in the car?”
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:25 pm
Anita smiled warmly at Mordekai's signature despite its messiness. While he did so, Cruz drifted back towards his water bottle on the kitchen table for a drink – he paused at Aina's suggestion that they were running short on time. That made Anita laugh. She gestured for Cruz to put down his signature now that the writing seemed to be done, and she moved about the kitchen collecting their baggies of brunch.
”We could walk,” Anita started with a playful tone; she eyed Aina curiously with the baggy of lemon pancakes in hand, ”but I think somebody's gonna explode if we don't get there ASAP.”
”Car!” the sigel confirmed as he put down a messy flourish of his own. To accentuate it, Cruz scribbled a goofy little crocodile beside his own name.
Several lunch baggies cradled in her arms, Anita turned toward Mordekai with her hip. Keys dangled from an empty belt loop on the side and, to call his attention, she wiggled enough for them to jingle. ”Wanna go start her up? I'll grab some more water bottles for the trip.”
Cruz floated to Anita's side with his arms held out in a similar position. After a moment of confused hesitation, she handed the bags over to him and gave a quiet 'thanks'.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:26 pm
Anita's judgment was right; Aina nearly collapsed to the floor as soon as Mordekai suggested they walk. “Papa, walkin' is so slooooooow,” she whined, hugging Mordekai's side and dragging herself (and him) down towards the floor.
“Not true!” Mordekai objected, but he wasn't going to fight driving with how sore he felt; Cruz's own enthusiasm for taking the car also won him over. “Fine, fine,” he laughed, wiggling his fingers out for Anita. “Sure! Gimme her keys.”
***
Just like Anita and Mordekai said, the beach wasn't far. All they had to do was take the car downhill and away from the townhouse complex and they were there. Auntie Rebecca lived on a sleepier part of town, where a bunch of tourists from outside of Gambino visited to eat seafood and watch the seals. Thankfully, a random day in March meant that not many other people were there, and the coast was sparkling and uncrowded.
As soon as they managed to park the car in a sandy, empty lot near a short cliff, Aina hopped out of her seat, floating away from everyone else to soak in the smell of beach and warm sun. Smiling, she eyed the wooden boardwalk just in front that lead down to the beachside proper. She rushed forward.
“Aina, 'ey! Wait up!” Mordekai called out, quickly hopping out of his side of the car to pace to where Aina was. Aina looked back, giggling, and hopped forward to place her hand against the boardwalk ramp.
“Nuh-uh!” Rushing down the flight of stairs, the Frei was quickly out of sight. The girl had a knack for making Mordekai feel weak and slow just for having legs. He stopped just short of reaching the boardwalk to return to the car, a slight limp as he felt some soreness bundle up at his knees.
“Cruz, mind catchin' your devil of a sister while I get somethin' for us to sit on?” Mordekai asked, leaning against the trunk while he waited for Anita.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:28 pm
The croc wasn't far behind with unbuckling himself, especially with Aina's eagerness. His guardian, on the other hand, fumbled with her seatbelt while Mordekai had already jumped out to follow the frei. Anita huffed as she finally untangled herself and managed not to trip on her way out the door. By then, the blond was retreating back to the car.
Anita rounded the corner of the Oldsmobile and gave the boys a sympathetic smile, particularly at the sight of Mordekai limping. ”Excitement knows no bounds.” She popped the trunk, which doubled as an opening for Mordekai to sit while they unloaded their things.
”I got her,” Cruz assured with a chuckle. He gave Mordekai a pat on the shoulder as he passed, at still a slower pace than Aina with the excited beat of her fairy-like wings.
Anita's thanks on his way down the boardwalk was answered with a wave and nothing else as Cruz combed the beach with his eyes. Further down, it wasn't difficult to catch sight of Aina's colors but she had managed to bridge quite a distance from the car, let alone the start of the dunes. He cupped his hands around his mouth to project his voice among the scattering of tourists. ”Aina!”
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:30 pm
“Excitement hurts,” Mordekai replied, chuckling through his pain. He sat lightly against the rim of the trunk and kneaded his knees with his palms, and waved at Cruz alongside Anita before the Sigel went drifting down to the beachside. “Don't go too far widout us!”
Aina was doing just that, of course. In all her readiness to explore the beach, she hadn't looked back once since she fled from Mordekai. When Cruz called her name, he sounded so far away, and she spun around to see where he was. From her vantage, she felt like she'd traveled miles and miles already, and she wasn't ready to turn back just yet.
“Cruz!!” she flailed her arms up, wings twitching, “C'mon! Let's go to the tide pool, okay?”
Aina glanced left, right, between the two opposing sides of the cliff face that surrounded the beach. “Cruz! D'you remember where the tide pool is?” she asked aloud; without hesitating, she quickly began floating off to the right of her. “I think it's over here!”
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:31 pm
The frei's response set Cruz back into motion as he tried to catch up with her. It was only thanks to how scattered the tourists were and that he was able to hear her at all but her request was still difficult for the croc to parse. He tried to hurry along toward her but the meager twitch of his wings did little to boost his speed.
Her question came through clear enough the second time she mentioned the tide pool but Aina gave him no time to answer before she moved on ahead. ”Hang on!” She flew to the right; Cruz groaned. If Tango were here with them it would have been so much easier to catch up to her. ”Aina, wait up!” Even with there being less tourists, the distance between them was causing disruption to the groups wandering the shoreline. A few couples looked at him over their sunglasses and he grimaced in apology but that didn't stop him from calling out to Aina.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:33 pm
The more Aina ventured away from the familiar end of the beachwalk, the more unsure she felt. She glanced back at the opposing cliffside, only just registering how far Cruz was in view, wondering if she was going the right way at all. The remainder of the beach was as level as she remembered, and nothing about it or the surrounding tourists helped her recall where the tide pool was. The only real way of knowing was to get closer to the cliffs.
“Over here!” Aina encouraged, waving back at Cruz. She continued on. Thankfully, the valley in which this part of the coast was on was narrow, and the cliffside didn't seem so far away.
A few minutes later, and Aina had already crossed the entire way by sand. The only thing in her way now were the jagged path of rocks both small and large, the sand below them drenched by the thin bits of tide that managed to pool so closely to the coast. A few children and other visitors were clumsily navigating the edge of the rock lining, holding onto the moss-lined crag that shadowed the beach for balance.
Thankfully for Aina, she didn't have to worry about slipping on her feet. Carefully grabbing onto one of the taller rocks, she slowly inched to the top of it, the foot of her ribbon just missing the tide that washed onto the sand below her. She glanced down at the ground as shells and pebbles slipped and stuck into the narrow crevasses of wet sand.
Aina didn't remember anything like this from last time. She looked back at Cruz one more time, wondering if it was best to ask him if he did. While waiting, she laid flat against the smooth rock and reached over to tip one of the seashells lying in the sand.
“Hi, is anyone home?” she asked. “Is there a tide pool here?”
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:34 pm
Even if she refused to wait for her papa, Cruz was grateful that Aina was willing to at least keep him aware of her position. As she neared the rocky crags, it became much harder for him to keep his eye on her. The wind behind him changed direction and made Cruz's progress a bit faster but Aina still had a significant lead on him by the time he reached the rockier part of the beach.
”Aina!” Cruz called to start a game of Marco Polo with the flitting frei.
Like many tourists, he held to the mossy outcroppings and moved carefully. The tip of his own ribbon hung low enough that it dragged against the shifting tide but Cruz scarcely noticed. As he rounded a corner a familiar bed of snowy white hair and vibrant pink wings came into view, closer than in what had felt like ages. ”Aina, where are you trying to go?” If she really wanted to read the tide pool, at least the one he remembered, this certainly wasn't the way to it.
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:37 pm
Aina collected a handful of shells from beneath the rocks and held them close to her heart, upending a few to see inside. To her disappointment, there were no fairies there, and she looked sadly at them all as Cruz approached.
“I'm goin' to the tide pool,” she explained, sifting through the seashells in her hands with a bit of revitalized hope, “I wanna ask a fairy, but I'm not seein' any of 'em...”
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Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 11:41 pm
“Fairies in the shells?” Cruz drifted closer, relieved they no longer had to shout.
He tilted his head and leaned in to look at the shells Aina had collected. They all looked very nice but were quite empty. With a slight pout, Cruz glanced to more of the shells beneath them. All sorts were scattered around; angel wings, clams, tritons, even tiny conches and augurs. One little pear whelk shell stood out to him as he bent lower. It seemed to twitch even without the help of the tide.
Cruz took the top of the shell between his fingers and lifted it. “Is this a– ” A small collection of legs fidgeted in the shell's hole and two claws held out in defense. “–hermit crab.” He gently set it back on the ground.
“Don't think we need to ask a fairy, though,” Cruz said with a sympathetic smile. He pointed back the way they came. “It might be back over there.”
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