Welcome to Gaia! ::

When it came to finding a babysitter, Sukku’s own family was the last group of people she looked at for candidates. The only other person of age underneath her roof was unqualified for the care of children lest he was in the company of someone much more responsible to take care of him. So after very little deliberation, but much prodding and suggesting from Elda about how great and wonderful and lovely and pretty and amazing! Banyan was (somewhere amid the other excited chatter of her little motor mouth), the she-devil had caved and called Syrcaid.


Oh, oh! how Elda loved Durem! It was one of those warm, muggy days—thick with moisture and the sound of cicadas buzzing from secret places she could neverever find no matter how hard she looked. A yellow-stained summer day, the type her mother read to her from books. The little flamingo was unfazed by the oppressive heat, her dainty wings fluttering with barely-kept excitement, hands going up to pull upon the large, floppy brim of her straw hat.

“Goodness, you look like you’ve never been to Durem before!” Su laughed, shooing Elda’s hands from her abused hat. The girl stopped devouring the townscape with her eyes to settle her beaming gaze on her mother; she was bouncing on the balls of her little sandled feet.

“I know, but I never get to explore it! There are so many wind-y streets and alleys and places!” Elda chirped, hands coming together.

“Yeah, and you better stay out of those ‘wind-y streets and alleys and places,’ so help me!”

Elda made a face at her mother, though she took one of her hands to hang off of it as she waited. Few people milled up and down the street, toying with shop signs or simply loitering beneath store awnings; it was early after all and too hot for most to be bothered in exploiting a day like this. But Elda, she thought it was perfect. The she-devil’s worry aside, not much was going to steal the young girl’s excitement. Strolling the city was one thing, but being with Banyan for the day made her pink feathers bristle with glee.

“She’s late.”

“No, Mama, we’re early!”

Before Su could consult her watch, Elda had commandeered her wrist, twisting it just so to see the watch face. She needed good, solid evidence if she was going to defend Banyan’s honor! She tapped a claw against the glass, triumphant.

“See? Early!”

Su didn’t bother double checking, offering a harried laugh instead, “Okay, okay. We are.”

Elda wound her arms around her mother’s waist and stared down the street, willing Banyan’s appearance to materialize at a point down the road. She knew her mother had been a mite stressed, something about being called in when it was her day off; Elda liked to think of it as Su being in high demand. It made it much more exciting, and her mother’s worry much easier to deal with. She gave the she-devil a squeeze and buried her face in her scratchy suit jacket.

But lo! a foreign hum breaks across the din of the cicada voices and like a giant, red beetle, Banyan settles like a beacon on the horizon! —

“Oh Christ.” Su hated her imagination sometimes.

Elda lifted her head, Banyan-senses tingling! With a squeal of delight, the flamingo darted a ways down the sidewalk and would have full-on planned to meet the helmeted moped-er had her mother not snatched her around the waist to stop her.

“It’s her, it’s her, I promise!”

“All I see is a bright red moped and a helmet, kiddo. Don’t go flying outta here so eagerly! Wait patient! Paaatient…” She slowly set Elda down again.

Elda found out right away that it was pretty darn difficult hugging a person sitting on a moped, but it didn’t stop her from trying her hardest. And she barely gave Banyan time enough to take her helmet off, let alone hop off her little vehicle.

“Don’t worry about it,” Su said with a wave of her hand. She could hardly fault the young woman when she finally arrived—she was, after all, the quasi-daughter of one of the few people the she-devil trusted on Gaia. And somehow, by way of association, anyone who could deal with Hugo without wanting to send him to the bottom of the Bass’ken Lake was all right in her books (well, so was anyone who wanted to do the deed as well really).

“You did?” The surprise that colored Elda’s voice was overridden by the pleasure of receiving a present. A frown suddenly crumpled her small face and she looked to her mother, at a loss, “But I didn’t bring you nothing!”

She took the bag with an air of shyness, rifling through tissue that fled from her hands and onto the sidewalk. Elda promptly forgot her woe and laughed with delight, fishing out the helmet to screw it onto her head despite the hat she already wore. And the purse! It matched the little daisies sewn onto the square collar of her pale yellow sundress. Elda’s wings fluttered as she danced in place, all smiles and giggles and glee.

“I could take the helmet and cookies with me to work so you don’t have to carry them all day,” Su suggested. Elda was busy plucking paper stuffing from the clutch and transferring the contents of her pockets into her new purse.

“Nuh uh, not the helmet!”

“Why not?”

“’Cause I wanna ride Banyan’s motor… scooter… thing!”

Sukku blanched.

Su seemed far from convinced, though she did struggle to shoo away the wave of uncertainty that plagued her. It was irrational to be sure. So caught between Banyan's confident smile and Elda's eager anxiety, she folded with a shrug and the spread of her hands. What could she do?

"All right! I can't possibly say no," she said, wiping her doubt with a toothy grin. Elda whooped and hugged her mother, bag crushed between them. Laughing, Su knelt and took the bag from her, though the girl's clawed hands were busy digging through it to free several cookies from their tin.

"Now, you're going to be good for Banyan, right?" she warned lightly; the smile on her face made it a joke. Elda didn't misbehave - to her knowledge, anyway. Elda, with a cookie halfway in her mouth, hopped back and saluted her mother.

"No'm!" She swallowed the cookie. "No need to worry, Mama-darling! We're gonna paint the town red!"

Su rolled her eyes with a laugh. Elda surged forward and pressed a loud kiss to her mother's cheek, crumb laden hands clasping the she-devil's cheeks.

"Now off you get, Mama! You're going to be terribly late and then who knows!" the flamingo said, fists on her nonexistent hips.

Su stood back, peeling the gift bag from the girl's hands, "Off with my head?"

"Off with your head!"

Laughing, Su turned to Banyan, "If I can sneak out of the office, I'll be done by three-- but! They'll probably hold me 'til four, the slave drivers! I'll give you a head's up when I get out." She signed a phone with her hand.

"Stay sweet, hon'-- and be safe, you two!" And with a rap of her knuckles against Elda's helmet, Su turned and disappeared around the corner. Elda watched her until she had gone before rounding on Banyan, arms in the air.

"The great escape!"