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 Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:01 pm
"Really?" asked Laura, her eyes lighting up with interest. Snakes? That was unusual. "Your house must be an absolute wonderland for a child," she said, smiling. "I remember when I was a kid, I used to be so jealous of this boy I knew because he had an iguana."
Naida gave a delighted squeal as the sled flew down the hill, the front throwing up snow into her face and around her tail. The world blurred in a wonderful, confusing stream of rushing color, and they were going so fast, faster than Mommy ever went with her, faster than she could swim, faster than anything. She clutched the reins of the sled with two mittened hands and hunched over against the wind, squinty-eyed and ecstatic.
The hill was gone after a few moments, to her disappointment, but the sled kept going for a bit after it ran out of slope. It glided to a halt, surprisingly gentle and graceful after its careening pace down the hill, and Naida, after unsquinting her eyes and getting her bearings on a world that stood still, burst into deliriously happy giggles.
"Was fun?" she asked as soon as she had control of her laughter, turning to see Regina. She earnestly hoped that she had liked sledding and hadn't been too afraid, because she was mean if she scared her friend and because she was now quite sure that the sled was magic, and Gina oughtn't miss out on magic.
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:17 pm
Monty grinned a little, looking up at Laura and offering a sheepish shrug. "Regina doesn't seem to have a strong affliction one way or the other when it comes to the animals." She admitted, looking at where the girls had gone careening down the snowy hill. "Which is okay. No strong feelings towards them is better than her being terrified of them, right?" She grinned, and looked up at Laura. "I used to have an iguana named Vinny. My brother's daughter has him now." She admitted, sheepishly. "Birthday present, y'see."
Gina kept her eyes closed tight, clinging a little to the girl in front of her who just found this so fun. She had no idea how she could feel so free about this, they were going to die! Did she hate life that bad, that she had to commit suicide? And drag Gina with her, no less!? They were picking up speeds that Regina had never experienced first hand. They had to be going faster than a rocket ship into outer space. Faster than anything!
It was over before Gina realized it, and when Naida asked if it was fun for Gina... She looked at her, eyes big and wide and only a little terrified. She was trying to put a smile on her face, but it was shaky. "Was... okay." She said sheepishly, ears flicking the snow off of them and then flattening into her hair. "You liked it." She said bluntly, nodding at her. "Is okay." Regina snorted, and started to get up.
"Again?" She asked, looking at Naida. And... since they hadn't died the first time, maybe it was okay. Naida liked it, so it couldn't hurt Regina to play nice, right? Being the girl with the legs, even if they were only used for crawling, Regina went around to the front of the sled and took the reigns from her. And she did something that Monty would wish she had a camera to capture.
She moved in between the rope and the sled, and put the rope in her mouth. Then, on all fours and very grateful for her mittens, Regina started to pull Naida back up the hill. Because... she had to. Naida couldn't pull it up herself, because she had a fishy tail, so it was up to Regina to do! Besides, she liked to make her friend happy. Even if it meant careening down the hill again.
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:43 pm
"That's true," Laura said, grinning, "Regina seems like a pretty brave little girl, though." She smiled at Monty and nodded slightly at her story. "She's a lucky kid! All I ever got from my aunts was socks and the odd sweater," she replied, laughing a little. Of course, her aunts were the sort of people that she suspected were born as old ladies, and probably couldn't have gotten her anything remotely interesting for a child even if they had wanted to.
Naida thought Regina looked more afraid than excited, which dampened her spirits slightly, but then she smiled - not the most convincing smile, maybe, but Naida was too pleased to care. And sledding was okay, which was not quite as good as fun but was still an acceptable answer.
"Okay," Naida said, breaking into a wide smile at the offer. "Then we do a thing 'Gina likes," she added quickly, because sledding was not a thing she liked. This seemed satisfactorily fair, and Naida nodded a bit in agreement with herself.
Sledding again was tricky, though, because sleds only went down and there was no more down to go. Naida frowned at the front of the sled with some consternation, willing it to move for her. She had assumed the problem would just resolve itself somehow, either by some arcane sled magic or her mother coming down and helping the magic along, but neither of these seemed to be happening.
Regina had a solution, though, because she was smart. She took the rope and began to pull the sled up, which was impressive because the sled was big, and which was a good thing and surprised her because Gina didn't even like sledding very much.
"Thank you!" Naida cried, flushing happily. "You're nice to me," she then added, because it was true, and smiled, delighted with her luck in nice new friends.
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:20 pm
Monty snickered, and nodded to her. "My parents used to do that to me. I rarely ever got toys unless I was out with them and I was good, they always bought me clothes for my birthday." She made a face, and grinned. "Until I was thirteen. Then my Dad went out and buy me a pet. My very first snake." She grinned. "My Mom was about ready to kill him." She admitted, grinning a little as she looked towards the hill where the girls would be popping up soon.
Gina blinked when Naida offered to do something she liked, and grinned a little, nodding her head shortly. "'Kay." She said. When Naida proclaimed her thanks, the girl just shrugged, pulling the sled up on all fours. It was just more convenient for her, since her balance wasn't that good yet. She glanced back at Naida's comment, and grinned sheepishly, shrugging again. "Y'welcome." She said around the rope in her mouth, before turning back to pull the sled up.
When Monty spotted Regina pulling the sled like a little sled dog, she covered her mouth quickly to bite back the laugh. It was times like this she wished she had a working camera. "You two have fun?" She asked once she could contain her giggles. Regina gave her a pointed scoff, and once the sled was up on the hill, she turned it back towards the downward slope, and took the rope out of her mouth.
Then she made a face, and stuck her tongue out. "Rope tastes bad." She said decisively, reaching up to itch behind one of her ears. Then Gina went around to sit at the back of the sled again, so they could go again. Monty grinned a little at the girls, and watched Regina edge the sled closer to the edge. "Ready?" Gina asked, looking at Naida.
Monty smirked a little, and looked up at Laura. "For a girl who didn't like sledding, I think she's enjoying herself." She said, amusement dancing across her face. Regina was an odd little girl, so seeing her interact like a fairly normal child was always funny. "Though... I can't decide if she just likes pulling the sled." She laughed quietly.
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Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:09 pm
"My parents usually didn't try to get me excited about clothes, but they had this policy that all my toys had to be educational. Also, the definition of "toy" was pretty loose; I had a lot of brightly colored plastic flashcards sitting around," she said, grinning. "Heh, I can imagine. What kind of snake was it?"
It seemed rude to talk to someone whose mouth was full of rope, so Naida stayed mostly quiet for the duration of the climb, except for a meandering tune of indeterminate pedigree which she hummed under her breath. She couldn't quite remember where she had heard it, but it seemed appropriate for the moment.
She nodded at Monty's question, with as ardent a "mm-hm!" as possible. But they were at the top of the hill now, and Regina was nearly ready to sled with her, and so there was no point in talking about fun when she could be having it instead.
"Daisies taste bad too," she said sympathetically to Regina, nodding. Of course, daisies were sneakier about it. They went around looking like great, thin white candies and seducing hungry children, while ropes were innocuously frayed and unappetizing-looking.
"Ready!" she said, looking over her shoulder and smiling at Gina. "You push?" she offered, because pushing was fun and it was only fair they share it.
Laura watched the two with a faint smile, happy to see her daughter out of the house and playing with other children. "Looks that way," she said, grinning. "I'm glad they're getting along so well."
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Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:18 pm
She grinned a little at the image bright colored plastic flashcards brought to mind, and shrugged at her question. "Eh. Garden variety coral snake." She said, grinning a little. "She had a good life, lived for quite a few years. It was a shame when she passed away." Monty shook her head. "She was what got me into my profession, studying snakes. Fascinating creatures." She grinned to herself.
Regina made a face at the mention of daisies, and nodded in agreement. "Daisies tricky." She said solemnly, a look of utmost seriousness on her face. When Naida offered to let Regina push, she blinked, and nodded with a small grin. "'Kay." She started to push the sled over the edge. Two small pushes brought them teetering to the edge, and with a harder push, they were off!
This time it wasn't as terrifying as the first. Regina knew what to expect, and she actually found herself, while still clinging to Naida just a little, that it was... kinda fun. Still stupid, but kinda fun too.
Monty watched Regina shove off the edge of the hill, and nodded at Laura. "So am I." She grinned at her. "Its interesting to see Regina like that, havin' fun. Usually she's so..." Her hands moved as she tried to think of a word that fit. Mean? Somber? Quiet? Evil? "Introverted." That worked!
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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:32 pm
"The nonvenomous kind, I assume?" Laura said, summoning her limited knowledge of snakes. Red and...yellow, kill a fellow; red and black, venom lack, chimed in her head, returning from some memory of dubious origin. Was that even right? She resolved to look it up on Wikipedia and do her best to sound intelligent later.
"That's an unusual career choice, though. Do you have any help taking care of them, or you do it all yourself?" she asked, thinking of her chaotic house and imagining with a thrill of horror what would happen if she were left in the sole care of a dozen poisonous animals.
Naida held her breath as the sled teetered once, twice, and then down again, as fast and beautiful as the first time. She laughed and wiped the snow off of her face with a mittened - and probably equally snowy - fist.
"Magic!" she declared, grinning broadly. And Gina didn't seem to be as scared as before, which meant maybe she was beginning to get the magic of it too. "Again?" she asked hopefully, looking up at Regina through a fringe of windblown hair.
"Mm, she seems like a great kid," Laura said, smiling down at the two. "I know what you mean, though. I think Naida likes people, but she's off in her own little world most of the time, and I'm not sure she always notices they're there," she said, grinning impishly. "Not to mention, there aren't many legs-optional places outside of the house."
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Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:30 pm
"Oh, yeah." Monty nodded, grinning a little. "Mom was already gonna skin him alive for buying a snake at all, if it was venomous..." She snickered a little, and shook her head. "He wanted me to learn how to take care of 'em, since he worked with snakes at the pet shop." She shrugged a little, and looked up at Laura thoughtfully when she asked.
"Well... ocassionally I have help." She said honestly. "When my brother brings over the girls, or when my cousin Carl decides to crash into my house, they help out. But mostly I do it myself." Monty shrugged again. "It's sort of my alone time, very relaxing." For her, anyway. "Most of them are drained of their venom before they come to the house though," she added, as if reading Laura's mind. "Just in case they get moody and bite me while I'm feeding them or something."
Regina clung to Naida without truly realizing what she'd been doing on the descent, finding that it wasn't as terrifying since she was doing it with someone else. And after the first run, it wasn't so bad. In fact, Regina was grinning a little by the time the sled had hit level ground and slowed itself to a stop. She looked up at Naida, and her ears stood straight up as she bobbed her head in affirmation. "Again." She recited, getting off the sled and grabbing the rope to pull the sled and Naida back up the hill. It was monotonous, but it was worth the thrill.
"Y'know, you'd think Gaia would have more leg-optional places." Monty said, snorting a little and looking towards the hill, where the girls were heading back up. "She's a cute little girl." Monty mused about Naida. "Very friendly. I think, though, all kids their age tend to do their own thing. With or without people being around." She looked up at Laura and grinned. "I'd say its normal, but... no offense, I don't think anything those two do will ever be 'normal' by any standards." And Monty was okay with that. Normal was boring, anyway.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:32 pm
"That makes sense," Laura said, smiling. "Everyone's got that one thing that clicks with them. It's great that you've been able to make yours into a career." Then, as an afterthought: "You have nieces?" That must be nice. Laura liked kids well enough, and Rachel was a teacher, she had to, but neither of them had had much success in creating them. Until now, she supposed.
Naida gave an ecstatic giggle, the tip of her tail twitching with joy. This was good, she liked this - all this movement and thrill, and a friend who she liked. She caught the shadow of a grin on Regina's face when the sled leveled out, and grinned back enthusiastically. "Okay," she agreed, and smiled, her cheeks and nose red as paint from delight and the nipping cold. She steadied herself with one mittened hand as Regina pulled the sled up the incline, her palm sinking into the strange snow plastered into the little crevices in the sled. It wasn't powdery and dry like the snow that sprayed up behind them, it was sticky and thick like wet flour. It was strange, and she wondered for a moment, but she preferred to think of the free snow that flew up like fairy dust, and so she soon forgot.
"You'd think," Laura agreed, giving a short laugh and burying her fingers in a handful of her dark curls. "Mm, that's true," she said, turning to watch them again with renewed interest. "Is Regina one of those too? Edens or something?" she asked, glancing over at Monty. "I should drop by the headquarters or something, I don't know as much about all this as I'd like."
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:50 pm
Monty nodded, and smiled a little, shrugging. "Yeah. I've only got one brother, but he's got little girls." She said, shrugging. "It's nice to have them around when they do come." Monty said with a bright smile. She neglected to mention that they didn't come often. They couldn't be expected to, after all! Her brother did travel, and the girls often travelled with him. But that wasn't something that upset Monty. It was nice that they were such a close-knit family.
Regina hadn't thought much on the tread up to the top of the hill. It wasn't her nature to think as opposed to following bolt instinct. An example was the snow sticking to her ears, which flicked this way and that to try and get it off. The snow, after spraying up on the descent, was sticking to her ears now. Once at the top of the hill, she reached up with her gloved hands and rubbed her ears off, frowning quietly. The little bit of fur stood up on her ears in response. After she took care of her ears, Regina looked over and grinned carefully. Regina started to crawl back onto the sled, ready for the descent again. Her ears, this time, stuck straight back onto her head.
Monty blinked at the question, then grinned, nodding. "Apparently." She said sheepishly, rubbing her neck. "I keep meaning to, but... well." She tilted her head to the side. "We keep getting distracted." Mostly it was Monty who got distracted, but Regina had her moments too. Monty looked up at Laura and frowned curiously. See, before, she hadn't really given a thought to what this Eden Project could mean. But after hearing Laura's statement... well. "Y'know, it is kind of odd." She mused. "They just... popped up." Literally and figuratively, actually. "I wonder if there's any reports on the shop..."
Stopping by would be nice, now that she thought about it. Monty looked over at the girls, and grinned. Then she glanced down at her hands, where her watch was. She blinked, and looked at it closely. "That can't be right..." She looked up. "Do you have the time?" She asked, sheepishly. "I think my watch might've died." She hoped she wasn't late; Carl had asked her to bring Regina over to the restaurant for dinner.
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:48 pm
"Mm, I bet," Laura said, smiling. "I've got a sister, Rachel? She only lives about a half hour away, which is nice. Likes her space, though, and visiting's gotten harder since Naida was born." Or more dangerous, to be accurate. Laura had never been sure why Rachel was allowed to work with children when she had barely matured past that stage herself.
Naida watched Regina's ears with growing interest. They were very good at moving, better than hers were. Except hers weren't quite ears like that, they were sort of fins, her mother had said, except not fin like the cursive letters at the end of a movie, that was different. Fins like a fish.
Anyway, Regina's ears were ears. Ears that were having some difficulty with snow.
"Should wara hat," she advised, touching the top of her own hat. It was blue and had a fluffy ball sewed on the top. She liked it, although it made her head itch.
They mounted the top of the hill, and Naida's heart sped up in anticipation. She turned around and smiled at Regina, feeling a sudden surge of determination to have her enjoy it for real this time. "Le's hol' han's," she suggested impulsively, grinning. Regina had hugged her the other two times, which seemed unfairly one-sided. Holding hands was better.
"Ready?" she asked earnestly, and perhaps unnecessarily at this point. Still, it was only polite.
"Mm, I thought so too," Laura said, inclining her head slightly. "I guess it's not too important right now, but I'd like to know where she came from. I've gotten a couple letters, but they were mostly just general announcements - daycare services and all. Should visit them, or at least talk to some more experienced parents," she mused, more talking to herself than anything.
"Sure, just a second..." she said, pulling back the sleeve of her parka to see her watch. "Ten to five," she declared, looking up. "Do you have somewhere to be?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:48 am
She nodded a little, and smiled. "It'd be nice if my family lived closer, but I think after a while they'd drive me crazy." She admitted, snorting sheepishly. "They're... active." Wasn't. Even. The word for it. As her parents got older they'd slowed down, but that didn't give her brother any reason to. Even her aunt and uncle hadn't slowed down on their adventuring yet. Crazy people that they were.
Regina blinked at Naida, and then nodded sheepishly. "Monny tol' me to, but I din' wanna." She said sheepishly, grinning at her. She looked over her shoulder at the hill, a little excited about going down this time. When she'd been about to hug onto Naida so she wouldn't fall off, she heard her ask to hold hands. Blinking, she looked over at her hands. Then she nodded. "'Kay." Gina smiled and held her hand out to her. It was still holding on, so she wouldn't go flying off the sled and get hurt. Getting hurt was for the no.
When asked, Regina nodded, and grinned. "Ready." She chirped, starting to push the sled over the edge with her free hand. After a couple small shoves, they were tipping over the edge, and... Whoosh! They were off for a third run!
Monty nodded, and tilted her head. "Yeah, I've gotten those letters." And really, if she worked in an office or something, the daycare would've been great. But since she worked from home, it was kind of silly past getting Regina to meet new friends. She itched the back of her head curiously. "I wonder if all the Edens are as diverse as our girls." She meant how they had picked up different traits of completely different animals, which was relatively easy to pick up on. "I wonder if we'll have any surprises waiting for us." This was Gaia, after all. Surprises were around every time you blinked.
Ten to five. Ten to... "Aw crap." She rubbed her eyes, and started getting up. "Yeah, I do." But, of course, she had to wait for the girls to come back up again before she could get Regina. "I told my cousin Carl I'd bring Reggie out to meet him." She grinned sheepishly. "He's never gonna let me live down being late." He never let her live down anything, truth be told.
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:13 pm
Laura laughed, and nodded understandingly. "Well, every family has its quirks. My parents, they're worriers. They were terrified when I moved out, and then when my sister did, and check up on us several times a week to make sure we haven't died or gotten pregnant." Then she gave a resigned smile, cocking her head slightly. "But I suppose there has to be something, or it wouldn't be family."
"Oh," Naida said, immediately feeling slightly ashamed for suggesting it. If hats had been recommended by a mother, they probably were a boring idea. She tugged a little at her own hat, suddenly slightly less impressed with it, even if it did have a fluffy ball on it.
She smiled when Regina held out her hand and took it readily. Then Gina gave the sled a push and it was off again, whizzing down the hill in a blur of white and blue. Naida gave a delighted whoop, caught up in the moment, and squeezed Regina's hand tightly. Too soon the sled slowed to a halt, and Naida turned around and grinned widely at Regina, ecstatic and half-sick with the thrill. She liked that, she liked moving like that, she liked the world when it was so cold and bright and fast.
"That was good," she declared, sitting back on her snowpanted tail and smiling. Her nose hurt, and she couldn't feel much past her elbows, but that was all part of why it was good. She wondered if running felt like this, and decided that it must have, because it was just like swimming, only drier and with more magic to it. She shoved her hair away, mussed and damp from the wind and snow spray, and laughed again, because it was hard not to.
"Mm, I hope so," Laura said, inclining her head slightly, "They must be a beautiful bunch of children, if they all look so different." Yet another reason to drop by the headquarters, as if the prospect of answers and a daycare with a pond weren't enough. "Oh, I'm sure we will," she said, grinning impishly. Any child that came into the world by bursting out of a pot was unlikely to do anything the conventional way.
"Oh," Laura said, slightly disappointed. Monty was the first "mother friend" she had made since unexpectedly finding herself with a child, and both mother and daughter were interesting and nice enough to make her like them. "Well, you'd better not keep him waiting, then," she said, her smile returning. "D'you want to get together some other time? I'm sure Naida would love to see Regina again."
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Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:56 pm
She nodded, grinning a little. "Right, right... My parents were kinda like big birds." She explained, looking up at her. "Not in the way they looked or acted, really, but... They were firm believers that once you finished school, whatever that meant. High school or college... You were old enough to move out on your own. So I graduated with my degree, and my parents kicked me out. Gave me enough money to buy a small place to start out with, helped me with my first couple bills 'til I got a job, and that was that." She grinned wide. "Firm believers in learning to be independent, Mom and Dad. 'Course, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think they did it just 'cause I was the youngest and they just wanted me to get the heck outta the house." She grinned sheepishly, rubbing her neck.
Regina saw the ashamed look, and frowned a little, her nose wrinkling up. It took her a minute to connect that look to what it meant, and then she reached out and swatted at the fluffy ball on her hat. "I'm gunna wear one nest time." She said solemnly, nodding. "Monny can get me one wiff a ball, like yours." She beamed at her, in a small attempt to make her happy again.
The smile came back when they held hands, and then the sled was off and everything was going too fast for her to really think about it. The first few rides, she'd thought about it and it didn't really make the ride as wonderful. This time, instead, she just enjoyed the rocketing down the hill and the way her stomach fell right to her butt and she was grinning wide by the time the sled levelled out and slowed to a stop. She nodded in agreement to Naida's declaration, and crawled off the sled to pull it back up, a small giggle escaping. It was good. Alone, she wouldn't have done it, but with her Naida friend, it was much better. Much! She carted the sled up the hill, again the rope clamped firmly behind her sharp teeth and held down by her duller ones.
Monty nodded thoughtfully, and grinned a little. "I just hope my house can withstand any unforeseen surprises." She snorted a little. It wouldn't at all surprise her to see Regina trying to hang off of a ceiling or something. ... On second thought, she really hoped her daughter never did that. Monty caught the disappointed tone, though like Regina, it took a moment for her to recognize it. She grinned, and nodded. "Oh, I'm sure." She said, getting up and pulling the sled Regina left for Naida's up so it was over her shoulder. "I have... something." She rummaged through her pockets, frowning, and then through her bag, and procured a small card. "Ha! ... This is going to look so weird, I apologize." She laughed sheepishly, and held it out. "This is the house number. I'd really love for the girls to get together again." She smiled brightly. Laura was a nice person, and she definitely seemed like a girl she could get along with.
It'd be nice to have adult friends who weren't related to her, after all.
Regina was just pulling the sled over the top, and saw that Monty had her sled up. Her ears flattened, and she pouted a little. "I think I haff to go." She mumbled dejectedly, pulling the sled up safely and turning around to see Naida.
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