Date:05.23.06
Locale:The Fourth Wall Establishment
Synopsis:Saedare and Ten babysit Dodge
Kaeru stopped in front of the shop, smiling to himself both outwardly and inwardly. This was the first time he'd been here on his own, without Youko tagging along. Honestly? He'd been certain his father would insist on coming along the first time, just to make sure everything went alright. He snorted faintly at that... it wasn't like he was a KID anymore. He wouldn't be flooding the bathroom with Legos this time.
Pushing open the door, he glanced around, thankful that at least this time he didn't have to peel out of a ton of clothes, like he had during the winter. "Hello?" he called out, glancing through the room. "Anyone home?"
Sayuri had looked up as the young man entered, tapping the edges of her fan thoughtfully against her other hand; she was sure she had seen this Fourth Waller before, only he had been alot smaller. She nodded her head towards him and smiled;
'Hello there.' she sat forward on her chair, feet crossed underneath her kimono skirts. Aini looked up from the colouring book that she was happily filling in - orange grass, and purple sky over a pink duck. She giggled at the frog boy and stood up, walking over.
'Hello.' she chirped, ears twitching. He was the biggest one of their kind she had seen!
Trio frowned, eyeing the Fourth Wall shop thoughtfully before shifting the bag she carried from one hand to the other. Makana was peering up at it with obvious recognition, her ears perked. She wasn't wearing her glasses quite yet - getting her prescription filled was their next stop, but they weren't exactly on a timetable. And since they were so close...
"C'mon, sweetie," she urged, blinking as the feline padded toward the door before Trio could even indicate which way to go. Well, Makana's vote was obvious. Chuckling wryly, Trio reached out to open the door for the girl, stepping inside after her. "Hello?"
Kaeru smiled to Sayuri, nodding politely. "Hi there," he said, then saw Aini and grinned. He remembered HER. She was the one that was amused when he'd snapped up a fly. "Hi, Aini," he said, crouching down to see what she was doing. "Awesome picture, you colour really well." He was absorbed in the picture, so didn't quite hear Trio come in right away. It wasn't until the door shut behind her and the cat girl that he turned, blinking over his shoulder.
"Hi, Miss Trio," he said, grinning. She'd be so surprised! She hadn't seen him since he'd grown.
'Thanks,' she smiled, showing the white, sharp canines that had grown bigger when she last did.
'You catch flies dont ya?' Aini, coiled her tail around, suddenly a little shyer as more people came in, woman and feline child. Sayuri looked over as well.
'Hello there,' she greeted this 'Miss Trio' warmly, noting that she too had a kid from here.
'I don't believe we have met,' she carried on as she stood.
'I'm Sayuri, this is Aini.'
'Hello..' Aini peered between her tail hairs, her large ears back a little whilst she decided whether she would like these newcomers.
Makana hesitated. That frog looked rather familiar, though quite a bit larger than the one she knew. But he knew mama, so she figured it was probably safe enough to walk toward him, stopping a few feet away. "I'm Makana," she informed the two kids solemnly. "Who're you?"
Trio, on the other hand, was grinning. "Kaeru, is that you?" she asked, shaking her head before turning to look at Sayuri. "I'm Trio. It's nice to meet you," she said, offering her hand for a handshake.
The door to the establishment opened to admit what seemed to be 2 figures at first glance, but which ended up being three. Saedare, Sajhiri's Aduthule daughter, entered holding Dodge's hand.
Dodge looked particularly excited to be here, especially as Sajhiri had been so overprotective of him and Rebecca since the disaster on Gambino Island. "Thank You, Sae!" he murmured happily, his eyes scanning about for something to ram into with his head.
Saedare smiled down at her charge and rebalanced the glasses on her nose with her free hand. "Glad to be of service, kiddo..." she quipped. Her head lurched to one side as if something was tugging on her ear.
As a matter of fact, something was. Perched on Saedare's left shoulder was a tiny male fairy with blue hair and red markings. "Are you sure Ms. Sajhiri is ok with bringing him here instead of soccer practice?"
Saedare smiled at the little Feien. "I can't see the harm in it. He didn't feel like playing soccer today, Ten," she intoned.
Dodge looked up at the pair and frowned. "The last time someone pushed me down and got my shirt dirty. It was terrible. They actually muddied my ears. I had nightmares for a week."
Kaeru puffed up proudly, the motion causing him to overbalance a bit and he sat down quickly to avoid looking completely stupid. "Yup, it's me!" he said, grinning to Trio. "I grew."
It was plain that his grasp of the obvious was still impeccable.
He smiled to Makana then, remembering the little cat girl, but only vaguely. To be honest, he'd been around her sister, Annora, more. But still, he was polite. "Hi, Makana. Dunno if you remember me or not. I'm Kaeru, Youko's son."
As the new trio entered, he swivelled his head towards the door in curiosity. He hadn't met THEM before. Well, he thought he knew the girl, but he wasn't sure. Not like that would stop him, regardless... Kaeru LOVED people, and waved to them. "Hi! C'mon in, the more the merrier!" The girl obviously wasn't from here... but the boy obviously WAS. "I'm Kaeru... and this is Makana and Aini," he said, motioning to the two girls in turn.
And yet more people. Sayuri shook the profferred hand.
'Good to meet you Trio.' when the handshake was done she folded her fan and slid it into her obi, glancing at Aini to make sure she was being as polite and smiled at Makana.
'She's a pretty little thing.' she nodded, looking at the other woman that had entered with two children. She was very sure she had met her before, briefly when the woman had turned up to collect the male child.
Aini dropped her tail, determined to look brave in front of so many people.
'Hello Ma-kana.' she sounded the word out. It was a nice word to say and she smiled.
'I'm Aini.' she looked over at the fresh newcomers, her tail tip flicking, and she looked at Sayuri, checking she was still there. As the woman was, she relaxed a little.
Makana ducked behind Kaeru at the new people, peering around him to watch them curiously, one ear tilted to listen to them even as she answered the boy she was hiding behind. "You're not Kaeru. Kaeru is smaller," she informed him solemnly. The serious words drew a choked laugh from Trio. But she twisted to look at Aini when she was done examining Dodge, leaning over to see the picture better. "You coloring?" she asked, perking a little at the thought. She liked coloring, after all!
Trio watched the newcomers, letting them get in the door before she called out, "Hi."
Saedare's head swivelled as Kaeru addressed her, and she smiled. "Well hello there! My, haven't you grown! You were just a tiny little thing when Sajhiri came to pick Dodge here up!" The Aduthule moved in and found a spot to settle on a couch.
Dodge trundled over to Kaeru, Makana, and Aini, wideeyed, his hands stuffed in his shorts pockets. He looked Kaeru up and down with an impressed look on his face. "Hi, I'm Dodge! Wow, you ARE big! Will I be that big some day, Sae?" he asked back towards his guardian.
The Feien's eyes lit up. "Well, extropolating that your size will be in proportion to this fellows based on the sizes of your respective seeming species, I'd say you'll be a bit larger than he when you grow up, Dodge," Ten rattled off in a professorial tone.
Saedare grinned. "I think that might be the case, Dodge," she agreed.
Dodge's smile brightened and he looked back to Kaeru. "You have some really cool jewelry! I have a bracelet, look!" He held out a furry arm to show off the Sapphire and gold bauble to the others.
Kaeru blinked, turning nearly completely around to look at Makana with a smirk. "I grew... just like you will someday," he said, leaning in to nuzzle her cheek a bit, the way Youko did with him. He had been told that most furry-things did that. And while it seemed a bit wierd to him (not to mention it tickled his cheek), he figured that it couldn't hurt.
As Dodge came over to them, Kaeru scooted a bit closer to Aini to make enough room for the boy to sit with them if he wanted to. "Eh, I'm not that big," he said, stretching out his legs a bit. "My dad's taller than I am, and he's short. But he said because I'm a frog, I won't get that BIG, really." Truth be told, he looked kinda scrawny... until you got past the fact that his t-shirt was two sizes too big. His limbs and body may have been slender, but the winter's worth of snowboarding, shovelling snow and just generally being on the MOVE constantly had made the teen's body a lot more toned than one would expect from a frog. While he'd never really be that large, he was far from a weakling.
"Awesome bracelet!" He said, grinning as he held up his own wrists and showed off the horn and bead jewellery. "I picked these up in a gift shop down by the beach. They don't get ruined in the water, which is cool... I have some seashell ones too, but I don't wear them all at once." He took a close look at Dodge's then, his smile widening. "See, yours is the good stuff. I'm pretty sure it cost more than a buck ninety-nine like mine did."
However, he was still proud of his jewellery. They were the first things he'd ever bought with his own money, all on his own.
Of course she had seen the woman with the little ram fellow! How muddle headed was Sayuri anyway? It was Saedare, and walked over a little, nodding at her.
'Hello there,' she smiled.
'I see your handful has gotten bigger since we last saw you.'
Aini cocked her head at the interaction between Kaeru and Makana, then bristled a little as Kaeru scooted closer, pushing the crayons to one side as she looked between Dodge and the frog teen.
'I didnt know boys liked shinies..' Aini piped up, showing her own wrist with the golden bracelet that Jacosa had given her as a gift, and which hadnt left her wrist since she had grown and Sayuri had thought her old enough to appreciate it, and look after it. She sniffed the air delicately, then settled again, her quick eyes looking from the frog to the sheep.
Makana watched the others, tucking herself close to the big boy who'd nuzzled her. He seemed safe, and he was really nice and talkative. She'd learned, fairly quickly, that when others were talkative, it meant she didn't have to be. She had no shiny things, but...
"Mama says I'm gonna have glasses soon?" she tried, making the comment sound more like a question than a statement.
Trio watched Makana settle in, and nodded, moving to dig out one of the books from her bag and settle on the couch. She didn't open it, but had it handy, just in case.
Dodge looked over everyone's trinkets, one hand unconsciously smoothing back the hair between his ears. His ears laid back against his head when he realized Aini was the sort of creature that might..gulp...eat him in the wild. Looking around for an out, he caught sight of a mirror and frowned at what he saw. "If you'll excuse me a moment, that ruffling my sister did to me in the car seems to have put a few hairs out of place."
the boy moved to the reflective glass and he began meticulously grooming himself, occasionally grumpily complaining under his breath. He occasionally glanced nervously back at the others.
Saedare smiled at Sayuri, "It is good to see you. Mother knows you, doesn't she?"
Now why'd the boy go away? Kaeru shrugged then and turned back to Makana, grinning. "Glasses, huh? My dad's got those." He leaned in then, whispering. "Yours'll look better, though. They make all kinds of cute ones for kids now, and my dad's blind as a bat without his."
His attention turned to Aini then, and the 'shiny' on her wrist as well. "That's pretty, Aini!" he said, taking her hand and looking at the bracelet. "Were you wearing it last time I saw you? I don't remember seeing it."
Then again, it was hard to remember anything other than the flooding of the bathroom when he 'bombed' the S.S. Lego in the toilet. At least he wasn't that impulsive anymore, right?
Well... he WAS still impulsive. But not like THAT anymore.
Sayuri hadnt realised she had caught the attention of Saedare and she looked up quickly, nodding and smiling;
'Oh yes, sorry,' she chuckled.
'I was so intent on writing down some things I had remembered that we needed to get.' she waved the notebook a little.
Aini blinked at Dodge, then looked at Kaeru. She thought that she would like this frog boy, he smelt sort of nice, but she wasnt sure why. She wriggled her fingers as he examined the bracelet.
'No, Mummy wouldnt let me have it until I grew.' she blinked at Makana.
'What are glasses?' she asked, curious, as she had not heard that word before now.
Makana's eyes warmed with pleasure at the compliment. Really, she was no different than anyone else - flattering words made her feel good. But it was Aini's question that got her bouncing a little. This, she knew!
"They're... um... they sit on your face, over your nose," she explained, remembering how Trio had explained it to her. "And they make you see better. But getting them is really awful. The doctor put these drops into my eyes that made them hurt and I couldn't see anything."
The torrent of words dried up as she finished her explanation, leaning against Kaeru slightly as she reached behind herself to catch her tail and toy with it.
Dodge watched the others warily in the mirror, keeping an eye on how the felines acted with the frog especially. All the cats he knew liked to pounce them. They didn't seem too aggressive, so maybe it was safe afterall. With a final straightening of his shirt, he returned to the others, standing near Kaeru, the largest target to duck behind, should anyone view him as lunch.
"Pretty bracelet," he commented to Aini. "Saedare has glasses...see?" He pointed out to his current guardian where she was talking to Sayuri.
Saedare adjusted said glasses again and unwound her scarf from her neck. "I'm Saedare, mother mentioned to me that you were some kind of guardian to Cervus' daughter?"
Oh good, the boy was back. Kaeru had gotten a bit tired of scaring other kids away, and was trying his best to behave... at least for the moment. Youko had made him PROMISE not to get any of the little ones worked up. Nodding to Aini, he also motioned to Saedare. "Yeah, those're glasses. The things she's wearing on her face. They help her see better, because her eyes have trouble on their own." It was how Youko had explained glasses to him when he was a kid...
Of course, that was after Kaeru had thought they were goggles and took off with them from Youko's nightstand. It was a good thing the fox had contacts as well, and knew the layout of the house, or it would have been far more amusing to watch him stumble around, half blind.
If the frog minded being the 'stability spot' for the two less assertive kids, he didn't show it. He was having a blast at the moment, and now knew why Raven seemed to like kids so much. They were fun!
Damn, Sayuri had glanced at the wall clock, realising that if they didnt hurry from here now, they would be having crackers and water for dinner. Which meant she would have to take Aini away, which she was never happy about.
'Yes, Tamia,' Sayuri said to Saedare, nodding in affirmation.
'Well I'm sorry to say it, but we must be going now.'
'Oh.' Aini had looked at Saedare. So those were glasses.
'I see really well,' she said proudly, smiling, and showing her little sharp teeth again. At Sayuri's words her face fell, and she reluctantly got up.
'I like you!' she pointed at Kaeru, then ran off to Sayuri's side, clutching onto her kimono and waving at everyone before they left.
Makana watched the girl leave, eyeing her outfit curiously. It looked like something some of the people at her daddy's wore... and like something Annora would like! Makana, on the other hand, was much happier in her jeans.
She reached to pat her overall's pocket instinctively, then remembered... they'd left Mouse at home, so that she could get used to looking through her glasses before she picked him up again. Frowning slightly, she tilted her head. "Do you get glasses too, Kaeru?" Apparently, she'd finally accepted that he was the boy she'd met before.
Dodge waved goodbye to Aini before his attention turned back to Kaeru. "You said you wear your jewelry in the water...what are you doing in the water? Swimming? I don't swim much."
Saedare nodded her goodbye to Sayuri and Ten finished adjusting all her various earrings so they were properly oriented. The feien would often get utterly fixated on a task. "I do wonder if perhaps someone in the fleet could fix your eyes for you, Saedare. They have all sorts of advanced technology most beings on this terribly primitive planet couldn't even imagine."
"I have a very strong imagination, Ten," she replied, quelling the urge to pinch him over his derrogatory view of Gaia. She knew the urge wasn't conscious, it was likely something from what remained of her twin's personality deep within her.
Now THIS was a conversation he could get into. "I swim," Kaeru answered, nodding with a grin as he got comfortable on the carpet. "I like to surf too. My dad just got me a surfboard for the summer, and I'm paying it off by doing chores and stuff around the house. I was heading to the beach when I stopped here, but I don't think it'll be good surfing today." He tilted his head towards the window then. "No real breeze... the ocean's too calm today."
Surfing was one of his joys... he'd started with tea trays and had graduated to a snowboard during the winter when he was a kid. He had to admit though, the beach was MUCH better.
It also hurt less when he fell.
Makana listened. She didn't swim, really, and hated the lessons Trio kept insisting she get. Water made her fur feel funny, and it was a terrible pain to groom afterward. Baths were bad enough! But... "Annora swims," she offered. "She swims really good."
Trio snorted at that. Annora didn't really swim all that well, but the fact that the siren could breathe underwater meant that it certainly seemed like she was skilled.
"Surfing! I saw that on TV once! That looked like fun! I bet you could get going really REALLY fast, then dive off and headbutt someone so hard they'd forget what day it is!" The little ram was practically bouncing with the thought of bashing his head into someone else's.
Saedare tried not to laugh, muffling a giggle behind her hand. She cleared her throat and noted to the youngsters "You should see my mother's walls."
Reaching up to run a hand through his hair, Kaeru chuckled softly. "I dunno about that," he said, trying to figure out where the fun was in knocking oneself stupid like that. "All your attention has to be on what you're doing, or you'll fall off. When that happens, you've gotta be quick or you'll get water up your nose." Well, he didn't have to worry about that, because he could breathe water just as easily as he did air... but he was pretty sure the little sheep wouldn't have that ability.
"Besides... if you headbutted someone really hard when they're in the water, they could drown. That wouldn't be too fun."
Makana sat nearby, eyeing Dodge with growing trepidation. Headbutting? That sounded... painful. She didn't speak up again, knowing that the boys were involved in their conversation. And really, it was kinda fun to listen without having to think of what she could add... especially about something like swimming!
After a few minutes, she reached out, picking up the crayons Aini had left behind and getting a piece of construction paper from a nearby desk before starting to color.
Dodge blinked up at Kaeru. "Why would they drown? Do all these people around here have soft heads or something? Momma tells me other people can't butt heads like I do. But it's no fun if you can't butt someone else's head! There's no skill in headbutting an inmani-... nimani--- a not person object!"
"Inanimate..." Saedare offered quietly.
"Yeah that!" Dodge added. His eyes flitted to watch the girl coloring. Pretty colors. Oooooh. Pretty = Good.
"Not everyone's got a hard head, kiddo," Kaeru said, snickering faintly. "You're perfect for headbutting things, because you've got all that thick bone and horns growing in up there. But most people don't have that. You could really hurt someone if you tried something like that." He understood a bit about 'substitutions', having had to make do with snow for months, but this was a bit more serious.
"Inanimate objects might not be much fun... but it's better than really hurting someone, isn't it?" He hoped the boy would agree anyway. Having a headbutt-crazy ram around wouldn't be too comfy for those he targetted.
Makana looked up at the words, head tilting slightly. That sounded an awful like the way her mama had talked to her about stealing a few days ago...
"It sounds like it'd hurt me," she offered Dodge shyly.
The little ram nibbled on his lower lip and looked distraught. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Sometimes it's not all that fun to be different, without anyone like you around." He shoved his hands back into his pockets and studied the tops of his sneakers a long moment. "Is it hard for you two, too?"
Saedare swallowed hard and watched her sibling with tears welling. She knew all about being different. But she had never also been alone. There had always been Saevire, and even absorbed, she felt her twin's presence.
Ten whispered in her ear "He needs a pick me up. Might I suggest ice cream on our way home?"
Saedare nodded to the Feien.
Nodding, Kaeru looked a bit more somber. "Yeah," he answered, shrugging a bit. "I mean... I"m a frog. Go figure. And I get yelled at if I eat a fly. I mean... it's INSTINCT, you know? Just like you have the instinct to butt things on the head." He winked then, grinning. "But it's not all bad. I swim better than anyone I know. I bet you've got something you do better than anyone else, too."
He turned then, looking to see where the quiet kitty had gone, and his eyes lit up as he saw Makana colouring. "Pretty picture, Makana!" he said, reaching to ruffle the kitten's ears gently. It was good that she was occupying herself... he didn't want her to feel left out.
At the gentle ruffling, Makana started to purr softly, smiling up at Kaeru. After a moment, she transferred her smile to Dodge. He seemed so upset at the thought. "Annora's really loud all the time," she noted. "And Etain can fly. I can't fly, and I don't like loud noises, but I can take care of Mouse really well." She puffed up with pride. "And I'm getting good at reading! Can you read?" The words were clearly aimed at Dodge this time, her focus firmly on him, though she continued to purr quietly.
Dodge smiled at Makana. "Yes! A little, Saedare has been teaching me! I'm not great at it, but I can spell my name now!" Of course it didn't hurt that he could just copy it off the side of his mother's truck either.
He looked over to Kaeru. "I can climb really really good, and jump really high. Mom says I scare her to death with all the climbing and jumping. She gets real nervous. But it's so much fun!"
Grinning, Kaeru laid himself out on the floor, pillowing his head in his arms. "See? That's a good skill to have! And I bet it's a lot safer than headbutting people, especially for them. I bet you're really good at climbing, considering that you're a sheep." Everyone had their talents, of that he was convinced. "And if you're that good at climbing, maybe I can teach you to surf when you're older. A big part of it is being able to keep your balance on the board."
Makana finished up the picture she'd been coloring, and handed it solemnly to Kaeru. The only resemblance that the stick figure bore to the frog was color, and even that wasn't very close, but she was very certain that he'd know it was him.
"C'mon, sweetie," Trio said, getting up after a moment and grinning. "It's time to go see about your glasses. Say bye to the boys."
"Bye," she murmured, leaning in to nuzzle at Kaeru before offering Dodge another smile. And then she was hurrying over to the door, leaving Trio to catch up.
"That'd be cool, Kaeru! I'd like to learn!" the ram beamed. Dodge waved to Makana with a smile, his ears twitching a little. He murmured to Kaeru, "She's pretty..." before his silvery fur tinted pinkish around his cheeks with a blush. "Now I really want to headbutt something."
Saedare jawdropped at Dodge's words, thinking him much too young to find girls pretty. But it was spring, and she realized it was the season for banging heads over pretty females for sheep. She got up and almost toppled Ten off her shoulder in her haste.
"Wow look at the time! We better head out Dodge, if we're going to get ice cream on the way home!" she said cheerily, if hastily.
"ICE CREAM!" Dodge exclaimed happily. "It was nice meeting you Kaeru! Hope to see you again soon. And Makana and Aini too!" He dashed out with his sister.
Snickering, Kaeru got to his feet, brushing himself off and watching the two younger kids go. "Later guys," he said, Dodge's words sticking in his mind. Well THAT would explain part of the whole headbutting thing, wouldn't it? Makana would probably curl up into a blushing ball of 'eep' if she'd heard that, and Kaeru found himself unable to stop giggling at the thought.
Maybe he'd tell her about that... when she was older.
He moved to the door then, grinning as he noted the fact that the wind had kicked up while he was in there. Maybe there WOULD be waves today, after all. That thought in mind, he shut the door behind him and headed off towards the beach.
