...// Opening Log.exe
...// Loading March 25th 2007
Shouko Hiirigizawa lifted herself out of the somewhat uncomfortable seat she had planted herself into while she had eaten dinner that evening. Dinner for her consisted of various types of sweets and a mineral injection of her own concoction.
Researching and Observing wasn't the the best of jobs she had, as when she would call it quits for today she would return to her beloved hospital and clinic for the madness she truly craved. But for now....She would deal with this.
She adjusted her lab coat sleeve to cover her arm once more, concealing the bandage which covered the small puncture wound from the needle she used. Quickly, she gathered up her trash and disposed of it in the proper areas; after all if she did not do her part to help keep her environment healthy her brothers, sisters and cousins would die off quicker than the dinosaurs at the ice age.
She shoved the chair she had been using back under the table and grabbed her clipboard, pen and notes and turned to exit the room, hoping for a smooth walk back to Nhadala. Back to her prize.
Kitten and Seveda walked hand in hand down the hallway, swinging their hands between their bodies and humming a tune that the two of them were probably making up there on the spot.
In comparison to the pastel pinks and purples of the girl next to her, Kitten seemed strangely void of colour, minus the strange gold glow about her head. Gray hair and gray eyes behind her glasses was the most colour she wore beside the black tie and shoes and white jacket. They certainly made an odd couple.
So far, Kitten hadn't met any of the other researchers, but that wasn't completely a bad thing. Kitten was feeling rather nervous over her new charge and the last thing she wanted was to run into someone else and have them point out her various, and probably vast, mistakes. As meticulous as the woman can be, she manages to be quite the klutz and scatterbrain at the same time.
Pushing her way into the greenhouse, Kitten paused and pursed her lips slightly as she saw the other woman, but atleast she looked like she was about to leave, so perhaps she wouldn't stay and observe Kitten. It wasn't like the two of them were here for research, they were here for a little bit of fun.
Seveda spent so much time stuck up inside Kitten's room that Kitten just felt bad constantly, so she took Seveda around with her as much as she could. The girl had a wistful look about her, and there was a hint of a smile that seemed to show the dreamy thoughts that continued to tumble about in her head.
"Oh, I'm sorry, are we interrupting anything?" Kitten asked as she stepped away from the door to let Shouko out or otherwise just answer the question.
Shouko looked up from where she was standing and smiled. Great, people...That's the last thing my old a** needs is people. She thought to herself as she quickly collected her thoughts for a response. "No, no. I was simply going to collect Nhadala from her quarters," She stated with pleasant voice, under toned in annoyance. "Ah! I see you have a charge as well. I've not seen either of you here before, are you a new comer?"
Stupid question on her part, of course this woman was new, she didn't recognize her scent around here. Shouko clutched her clipboard to her ivy green colored sweater and awaited her answer, glancing to the new Vale in her usual plesant manner. Though some could say Shouko herself was a new comer as she was rarely ever spotted. She was crafty like that.
Kitten picked up the hint of annoyance in the woman's voice, but she wasn't stupid enough to comment on it. With a bright, almost faked smile Kitten nodded and gave Seveda a squeeze of her hand. "Yes mam, I'm new here, and this is the charge I've been given. Her name's Seveda and she's a beautiful tulipa puchella, aren't you my dear?"
Seveda giggled softly and blushed before shrugging, though it didn't look like she was going to bother speaking up for any reason. She was rather curious about this Nhadala person, wondering if she was like herself, but like before she didn't bother voicing her thoughts.
Kitten nudged Seveda's shoulder with her elbow and peered at the girl, mentally begging her to be polite. In return, Seveda blinked and cant her head to the side before speaking up, "Oh, I'm sorry mam. My name is Seveda and it's my pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise, child, likewise." Shouko murmured. This would be a grand opportunity to see how Nhadala would act with others...She pondered for a moment, I might as well give it a try, great research follows experimentation.
"Say, Seveda was it dear? Would you like to meet another of your kind? Her name is Nhadala. And she is about your age." Shouko smiled, switching on her more sweetened tone hoping to win over the nonchalant Vale.
Seveda perked up considerably. It wasn't that she hadn't looked happier a moment ago, but now she seemed to radiate joy. "A girl my age? Of course...I would love to meet her mam," she practically gushed before blinking and withdrawing a bit with a deep blush on her cheeks that matched her looping hair style. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so loud."
Kitten stiffled a laugh as she watched Seveda get shy once more. Although the girl acted shy a lot, she was actually quite friendly and bright when she opened up to people. Kitten didn't even remember the last time she had seen the shy side of Seveda.
Suddenly Kitten realized that although Seveda had introduced herself to the woman, Kitten had once again lost track of herself and forgotten to introduce herself to the woman. "Oh! I'm very sorry mam. My name is Kitten. I'm very sorry that I didn't introduce myself for you before."
"It's quite alright," Shouko mumbled, scratching the side of her cheek with a finger, "I too forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hiirigizawa Shouko, Ah. Shouko actually....Just call me Shouko." She smiled, extending a hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you Kitten."
Shouko smiled at Seveda once Kitten and her were finished formally exchanging greetings and extended a hand to the young girl herself, "It's also nice to meet you, Seveda....If you'll give me a moment, I can go retrieve Nhadala." She mused, pulling her clipboard otto her side and striding off quickly to retrieve the Vale from her quarters.
With a smile and a nod, Kitten extended her hand to grip Shouko's to shake it. "Just Shouko? Alright, I'm pretty sure I can remember that," she joked with a wink and the hint of soft laughter in her voice.
Seveda, having watched the curious exchange between Kitten and Shouko only managed to, awkwardly, shake Shouko's hand as well. You couldn't really blame her though, the girl hadn't really met anyone, and those she had met didn't bother shaking hands with them. "It's nice to meet you Shouko," she said again, seeming to have forgotten that she'd already exchanged pleasantries.
The two watched Shouko leave before turning to look at each other, both wearing an enthusiastic grin. "Well, this is exciting, isn't it my dear?" asked Kitten, reaching up and brushing some of Seveda's hair back into place and fixing a few of the petals placed in her hair.
Shouko returned approximately 10 minutes later, her clip board under one arm as she helped along a fragile young woman of average height and slender build. The young woman's hair was held in the air unnaturally by what seemed a phantom breeze. Her locks of various pinks swayed from side to side above her and around the front of her face giving off an ethreal essence. Her clothing was completely made of rose petals and ribbon, it was very pretty.
The young woman caught a glimpse of her new aquaintances as they neared and shyly ducked behind Shouko, peeking out from her shoulder at them with curious emerald eyes.
Shouko smiled as she pattered her way with Nhadala back to Kitten and Seveda and stepped aside a moment to keep Nhadala from hiding again and to introduce her, "Kitten. Seveda. This is Nhadala. She is my frail little charge. Nhadala, wave to Kitten and Seveda. This is not a time for rudeness." She spoke sternly.
The teenage Vale lifted a hand gingerly and waved the tips of her fingers at Seveda and Kitten with a shy reluctance, "H-hello Ms.Kitten...Ms.Seveda.."
While Shouko was gone, Kitten went about fixing up Seveda's skirts and frills, adjusting the petals in her hair and combing back a few stray hairs. Sure, she'd just groomed the poor girl moments ago, but Kitten was pretty compulsive with looks, and Seveda didn't seem to mind the pampering her guardian gave her.
Once Shouko returned the two looked up to watch the women enter, catching sight of the girl before she disappeared behind her guardian. That is, until Shouko stepped aside to reveal her once more. The girl wasn't just pretty, she was stunning, simply jaw-dropping in any aspect one might begin to imagine.
Kitten smiled at Nhadala and nodded, lifting a hand as well to return the wave, for she thought it might be almost rude of her at this point to assult her with handshake that seemed at this point unrequired.
Unlike Kitten, Seveda stayed quiet, watching the girl silently before looking back to her side where Kitten stood.
Oh, so that was the game was it? Poor Seveda, always needing to be told when it was proper to do things, otherwise she'd just lose herself to her own thoughts. Thus is the life of a dreamer.
"Hello Nh...Nhadala," replied Seveda cautiously and with the same shy tone that the other vale had used. Despite stumbling over the beginning of the girl's name she managed to make it through without butchering it, which allowed Kitten to sigh in relief.
"It's so nice to meet you Nhadala. Seveda's been hoping there was someone her age hanging about these parts. And even better you're a girl. Now the two of you can talk about all those...girl things, or whatever girls talk about these days."
While Shouko was gone, Kitten went about fixing up Seveda's skirts and frills, adjusting the petals in her hair and combing back a few stray hairs. Sure, she'd just groomed the poor girl moments ago, but Kitten was pretty compulsive with looks, and Seveda didn't seem to mind the pampering her guardian gave her.
Once Shouko returned the two looked up to watch the women enter, catching sight of the girl before she disappeared behind her guardian. That is, until Shouko stepped aside to reveal her once more. The girl wasn't just pretty, she was stunning, simply jaw-dropping in any aspect one might begin to imagine.
Kitten smiled at Nhadala and nodded, lifting a hand as well to return the wave, for she thought it might be almost rude of her at this point to assult her with handshake that seemed at this point unrequired.
Unlike Kitten, Seveda stayed quiet, watching the girl silently before looking back to her side where Kitten stood.
Oh, so that was the game was it? Poor Seveda, always needing to be told when it was proper to do things, otherwise she'd just lose herself to her own thoughts. Thus is the life of a dreamer.
"Hello Nh...Nhadala," replied Seveda cautiously and with the same shy tone that the other vale had used. Despite stumbling over the beginning of the girl's name she managed to make it through without butchering it, which allowed Kitten to sigh in relief.
"It's so nice to meet you Nhadala. Seveda's been hoping there was someone her age hanging about these parts. And even better you're a girl. Now the two of you can talk about all those...girl things, or whatever girls talk about these days."
Nhadala gave a sweet smile, stepping foreward towards Kitten and Seveda inquisitively and spoke in her soft tone, "What're....Girl things?"
Shouko internally groaned as she had never found a need to explain how gender roles had worked and what exactly Nhadala was expected to be interested in. She place da hand on Nhadala's shoulder and gave the girl a small smile, "I'll explain those things to you later on, Nhadala."
Seveda blinked at the question proposed by Nhadala and shook her head, turning to look up at Kitten after a moment. "I don't...I don't know what they are. Kitten, what are girl things?" she asked curiously.
Kitten shared Shouko's internal groan and rolled her eyes. Darnit, she should have known better than to mention that, huh? "Well baby, when you meet guys and stuff, and when you want to talk about doing your hair and dressing yourselfs up and such, those are girls things."
The tulip vale got a confused look on her face now, shaking her head once more. "There aren't any boys and you do my hair and pick out my clothes for me. Why would I talk about stuff like that?"
". . . nevermind sweetheart, I'll try and explain better later, ok?" Talk about a hopeless cause. "Heh, sorry Shouko. I'm afraid Seveda's just...not had as much interaction with others as I would like her to have."
"That's quite alright," She murmured, rubbing her neck abit to get the kink out of it. "Because of running my Hospital, Nhadala doesn't usually get to come out till the wee hours of the night. This is a first for her to be out this early." She looked ot Nhadala and gave her a small smile, and evaluated her a small bit. "She isn't very up-to-date about such girl things. Especially since I don't talk about them much to her...She is mainly book smarts."
Nhadala gave a bright smile as the compliment, or what she thought was a compliment. She lifted a hand and gestured as she began speaking, the wisps of her hair floating gently, "D-Did you know that water isn't an e-element? It's actually a combination of hydrogen and oxygen!"
Kitten placed a hand over her mouth to hide her smile and stifle her laughter, though there really wasn't a reason to be hiding it for it certainly wasn't a mocking laugh. Honestly, Kitten thought the girl was cute the way she boasted about something like her knowledge of water.
"It isn't? What's hydrogen and oxygen?" asked Seveda, flashing a perplexed look. "I don't really like to read," confessed the girl with a bland shrug.
Kitten groumbled to herself and shook her head. "I try my hardest to get this girl to read, or atleast pretend to be interested in reading, but everytime I bring out a book she just doodles all over it. The only thing she'll read is those silly romance novels."
"They aren't silly..." Seveda said with a tinge of hurt in her voice, casting her gaze to the side and blushing from Kitten's off-handed scolding.
Nhadala quirked her head abit at the word, "Romance?", she murmured, not fully understanding the concept of Romance. "What is Romance? Is it edible? Is it a game?" She questioned, looking to Seveda for the answer.
"Eh. Sometimes you can't stop girls from instinctually being girls." Shouko muttered, checking her watch quickly for the time.
Seveda perked up happily and clapped her hands together once, "Romance is the best. Stories about men falling in love with women and stories about things that happen to them. Usually something happens and the two of them are unable to be together for a time but they always end up together and it's a happy ending. I try to read atleast one every two days, but I think I can start reading one a day soon. I'm pretty good at reading," she finished, praising herself a bt.
With eyes shut tight, Kitten shook her head and put and arm around Seveda as a silent plea for her to be quite. "You wont be allowed to read any romance novels if you don't start focusing on your studies more. I wont have you failing out of science just because you don't know what hydrogen and oxygen are."
Catching sight of Shouko cheking her watch she cant her head to the side, "I'm sorry, are we holding you up? We didn't mean to keep you so long."
"Hmmnn? Oh no! No. I forgot what times it was. I'm supposed to be at a wedding in a couple of hours and I keep forgetting to check. My Granddaughter is finally getting married." She smiled, with a sigh. "It's so cute, almost like a Romance novel in itself, granted the only thing she really did was rope herself a now Ex-Priest."
Nhadala marveled at this. Her reading skills weren't THAT good, and added to Seveda's own praise with her own, "You're so talented, Ms.Seveda! It takes me 3-4 days to finish a book," She sniffed alittle in her own expressed pity," But I'm really good a math though! I can finish equations easily in afew minutes!"
It was amusing at Nhadala's own attempts to redeem herself in the youngers eyes. Perhaps Shouko would bring her delicate flower out more into the world, confidence is something she would need.
Innocent eyes grew wide and misty at the mention of being good at math and Seveda let out a breath of amazement. "Good at math and science, wow...that's amazing. Isn't that amazing mama?" asked the girl as she turned her head to smile up at Kitten.
The older woman laughed and nodded, reaching out to pinch Seveda's nose affectionatly. "It's amazing, especially compared to you silly," Kitten replied before looking back to Shouko. "She's great at composing and English but when it comes to calculations it's like there's nothing working up there," she said, teasing her charge and getting a pinch in her side in return.
"A marriage? Oh how wonderful! You must be very proud!" Despite Kitten's excited words, her eyes held the hint of sadness.
"The only one in the bunch so far to actually marry their mate." Shouko laughed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and muttering how marriage seemed to be taboo in her family. She rearranged a few petals from Nhadala's hair which caused the girl to look over wondering what she was doing, "It's alright." Shouko muttered, "Just a few things misplaced is all."
Nhadala blushed from the worry and looked down at the ground a bit to avoid the embarrisment. It was a little humiliating to have your 'mother' prissing you up, when it was technically supposed to be your job.
Seveda watched as Shouko fiddled with the girl's hair, but she didn't see anything to be shy about. Seveda just loved it when Kitten played with her hair, especially when she braided her silky locks of hair. Subconsciously, Seveda reached up and twirled a finger through a bit of her hair, toying with it by her temple before realizing and quickly dropping her hand.
Kitten sighed as she watched the two girl. Both were nice and polite, but they both seemed so reserved; she wondered if there was anything she could do to get the two of them to open up a bit more. Seveda would certainly be a ball of chatter if just given the chance, but she didn't want to make the other girl feel nervous.
"Uhm, if you want Nhadala, I have one of my romance novels that you can borrow if you want. It's not one of my favorites but I don't think it's bad at all," the girl spoke up, poiting over at the table she'd set the relatively average sized book sitting upon.
"R-Really?" Nhadala squeaked, perking up a bit from her near humiliation by her 'mother'. "I-I'd like that!" She smiled, clasping her hands together in a happy manner, "And if you want, I-I can help you with some of your studies! We can have study groups!" She said, the excitement with the prospect of having someone else to study with nearly bursting out of every pour in her being.
Shouko smiled, at least she knew the girl's social skills weren't completely lax. She would definantly have to bring her out more now.
Seveda's smile grew bright and she nodded enthusiastically, turning to hurry over to the table and grab the book to present to the other girl. The cover was scrawled with bright colours and two princesses posing and making silly faces up at the reader. "It's-It's about these two girls, they're princesses, and they both fall in love with the same boy, but he's not a prince so they aren't allowed to marry him. I wont tell you how it ends of course because that would be silly to spoil it for you."
Kitten did her best not to groan; she hated those stupid romance novels. Where the hell was the substance? It was all just a bunch of wishy-washy nonsence! The only good side of those silly books was that Seveda's imagination seemed to grow in leaps and bounds, and her grasp on languages seemed the be helped along by so much reading. "School's starting soon if I'm not mistaken. You two girls should sign up to be in the same classes, hmm?"
"Oh yea! That would be really fun! I really need help with studying!" Seveda replied, looking just as excited as Nhadala.
"They have schools for them?" Shouko questioned, looking surprised. "I didn't know they had school for them...I thought the majority of them were just babies..."
This bothered her a slight bit, she didn't want them to hinder Nhadala's already developed skills by using a different method of teaching on her. Especially one she might not be able to regulate.
"I can't wait!" She smiled, before hearing Shouko's watching go off. "What's that noise??"
Kitten's had rubbed at the back of her head in a nervous fashion, her shoulders lifting to emphasize her non-commital reply, "Uhm, well, I guess I can't tell you anything for sure because I'm not all that positive myself. From what I understoon there would be a school opening up relatively soon and that the classes would be divided according to the level of the Vale." Kitten had probably only passed the notice once, so she really didn't know what else to say or any more information to give the woman, so she just offered a smile instead. "If there is a school though, I think Seveda and Nhadala should try and take classes together, hmm?"
The noise of the watch didn't seem to bother or phase Seveda, she just blinked those big doe eyes and looked over at Kitten as if in question of something, but Kitten wasn't sure what the question was.
"Indeed." Shouko agreed before noticing that her watch was making noise; it was its alarm going off. "Ack!" She said, peeking down at the time with widened eyes.
She peeked back up to Kitten and Seveda and gave them an embarrassed smile and a small apologetic bow."I have to go now. If I don't start dressing quickly I'll be late." She laughed nervously. "It was nice to meet you both, and yes, we should make sure these two are in a class together."
Nhadala blinked back at her mother and than to Kitten and Seveda before she got what Shouko meant, "Wait! You mean we have to leave???" She whined, a disheartened look spreading upon her face.
"You'll be able to see them again!" Shouko hissed, hurrying along Nhadala before her. "Hope you both have a nice evening! Sorry to leave so suddenly like this!"
"Bye Seveda!!! I hope we meet again soon!!" Nhadala cried, tears falling from her eyes at being torn from someone else like her. It was a depressing feeling...
Both Seveda and Kitten had one of those wide-eyed, confused expressions on their faces as the two women began bustling about and leaving. Seveda was the first to snap out of it and her expression sank into one of forlorn adoration as she waved good-bye to Nhadala. "Bye-bye Nhadala! I'll see you soon," she giggled softly, trying to help Nhadala feel beter about having to leave.
Kitten placed a hand on Seveda's back in a form of comfort, her other hand lifting to wave good-bye to her new friend as well. "Do have fun Shouko, we look forward to seeing you again soon. Please send me a message with the best time for Nhadala and Seveda to have class together, I'm sure we can work around your schedule."
The gray-haired woman grinned sweetly at Seveda, "I'm glad you made a new friend today Seveda.." she said, brushing a lock of hair out of the girl's face as she nodded in confirmation. The two got back to the things they'd originally come to do, Kitten researching various things and Seveda reading one of her gooey love books.
