Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a rather warm day, summer was clearly closing in; for some reason, Vilyum still wore his greatcoat, pants, and a hat, among other things. It wasn’t the wisest choice for the weather, but, for him, it seemed to work. Luska was far more reasonably dressed; she wore a loose, modest, but still short, pink dress and of course had her parasol to block out the harsh rays of the sun. Not there their attire was that important, they traveled by air conditioned car and were only out in the heat briefly, before entering the botanical garden; with all the shade and a breeze blowing through it, it was quite a bit cooler and much more comfortable to be in then an urban environment.

Vilyum didn’t know what to do, since her arrival Luska had been withdrawn and closed off, not wanting to really connect with her new family. He couldn’t blame her; it was understandable to hold people at bay in fear of them leaving you, but he wanted to get through to her. He knew it would take time, but he hoped that taking her someplace pleasant, a place she might enjoy, would help to speed it up. Today he had chosen the botanical gardens. He knew she liked pretty things and what was prettier than a small forest full of trees, surrounding a clearing full of flowers with a waterfall and small lake at its center. Maybe if it went well, he would bring her and all her siblings sometime; they would all probably enjoy it.

Luska had been silent most of the trip there; she clenched her stuffed tiger, Sunny, tight against her chest the whole way. She had loosened her grip, on the plush, upon their entry. Instead she carried it about, Sunny dangling from her free hand. She did think it was pretty; there were flowers everywhere.

“Feel free to look around, I will be right behind you,” Vilyum stated with a smile, unaware that even that comment might bring about some worry.

Luska was still unsure, she wanted to look around, but, as foolishly as it sounded, she couldn’t help but worry that this man, her new daddy she still felt odd thinking that of him, might leave. She knew it was an irrational fear, he seemed nice enough, and so were her new siblings. He would at least drop her off at the lab if he no longer wanted her. She tried to push such thoughts out of her head though; she was determined to enjoy herself, to enjoy the flowers and trees; they were so pretty. She would just make sure he wasn’t too far away.

“Ok, Lulu will,” she uttered, barely audible, before adding, a sad look across her face, “please don’t leave Lulu, Vilyum.”

“I won’t, I promise,” he replied, “How about this? We will go together; I will stay next to you. Do you want to go see the waterfall?”

“Ok, Lulu would like to see the waterfall. Lulu thinks it will be pretty.” She was still barely audible, but together they made their way to the small lake the waterfall poured into. He had seen in the brochure that it was surrounded by flowers and had water lilies spread throughout it. If they wanted to take a break, there were, if the brochure had been correct, even some nice benches.

”Well there’s the waterfall and the lake, whatcha think?” Vilyum asked as he gestured towards both with his left arm.

Luska’s gaze slowly scanned the lake and waterfall. She thought they were beautiful; the water lilies floating about the lake and the waterfall streaming downward into it brought a smile to her face. “It’s… it’s very pretty, Lulu likes it a lot.” The water lilies weren’t the only flowers about, flowers or all shapes and sized were all around her. She bent down, to smell one. She wasn’t sure exactly what species it was, but it smelled nice.

Nearby, footfalls could be heard. Vilyum looked up and saw a boy walking towards the water. He knew he recognized him, but it took him a moment to place him, that boy that Áróra had met at the pool. He mouthed his name, ‘Ciúin,’ upon remembering it, but did not call out. He didn’t know upon his brief meeting with the boy, but later Áróra had informed him of his difficulty hearing. Not thinking he would be able to get his attention by calling out to him, he waved his hands, hoping to get his attention.

It took a moment longer, due to her being distracted by the flowers, but Luska also looked up at the sound of the footfalls. Her eyes widened at seeing the boy; he had wings on his back that looked almost like a flower. Boys generally didn’t like being called such things, but she couldn’t help but thing his wings looked pretty. Seeing that Vilyum seemed to know him, but not knowing of his difficulty hearing, she called out in a shaky voice, “Hello.”

“Hello Ciúin,” Vilyum replied to the boy, making sure he faced him, “I am doing well and yourself? How have you been? Áróra has been well; you should come over and see her sometime. She keeps mentioning you since she got back from her flying class. She said she drew you a map to, I think she called it, the voice? I don’t know for sure what she was talking about; all I know for certain was that she was wandering around the labs after her class and when she got home, she insisted on a paper and pencil so that she could draw a map.” He shrugged after that; he wasn’t really certain what the voice was, but she had made it sound important. “And this would be Luska. I just adopted her; she is Áróra’s new big sister.”

Luska cracked a half smile at the boy, it wasn’t insincere, she just was nervous and was still not in the happiest of moods, but she was trying. “Hello Ciúin,” she started in the voice that would be hard to hear even if Ciúin could hear normally out of water. Luckily though, she was facing right at him. “H-how are you? Lulu is pleased to meet Ciúin. Does Ciúin like the pretty flowers?”

“Well glad to hear you are well,” Vilyum replied. He wasn’t really convinced, but thought it best not to pry. If the boy didn’t want to divulge more that was his choice; it was not his place to pry. He nodded to the boy’s question. “Yes, she did, and based on your reaction, you know what I am talking about. Well good, she was looking forward to giving it to you. It’s nice to see it might mean something to you.”

“Lulu is alright, she guesses,” Luska answered softly. “That’s good that Ciúin is well.” Her eyes seemed to brighten a little; just thinking of the pretty flowers was enough to do that. “Lulu likes the flowers and the waterfall a lot; she would like to get a closer look at the waterfall though. It is so pretty. Ciúin’s mother grows flowers? Lulu hopes he doesn’t mind but… she thinks it looks like there is a flower on Ciúin’s back; it is very pretty.”

“Oh really? Ciúin’s mother use to say his wings looked like a sunflower?” Luska replied with a slight smile, before adding. “Well, Lulu thinks they look like a hybrid, a cross between a sunflower and an iris. There are irises that are purple with a yellow spot, the reverse of your wings, but their petals aren’t as long and thin as Ciúin’s petals. I wonder if those two flowers could be bred together… ” Luska was very fond of flowers, but while she knew of many, she wasn’t really knowledgeable about the breeding and care of them.

At his question, Luska looked back and up to Vilyum, “Can Lulu go get a closer look, Vilyum?” She was still not used to calling him dad or daddy, or any variation thereof.

“Sure, that’s fine. While you go look, I’ll go sit in that bench over there,” he replied as he gestured to a bench a short distance off.

Turning to face back towards Ciúin, Luska’s smile had widened a bit, “Lulu would really like that and Vilyum says it is ok.” As Vilyum headed towards the bench, Luska suddenly blurted out, while holding up her plush tiger, “Oh! This is Sunny!”

“Ok, if Ciúin doesn’t think his mother would mind.” The matter would have been dropped, but suddenly Luska had a thought burst into her head. “Maybe, if they could be bred together, but haven’t yet, it could be named after Ciúin! A Ciúin flower.” Just the thought of it brought a smile to her face and caused a giggle to escape her lips.

“Thank you,” she replied, through a beaming smile, at his compliment of Sunny. “Sunny’s seems may be a little loose, but he is a special tiger. Lulu made him when she had to go back to the laps, to keep her company. She didn’t have the best materials to make him out of, but he still turned out great!” The tone of her voice and expression in her voice appeared saddened, as she mentioned going back to the lab, but by the end of the explanation, she had a smile back on her face. “If Ciúin likes, Lulu could maybe make him a plushy sometime. Vilyum has bought me some materials to make them with.”

“Ok, Lulu won’t disturb the plants.” With a smile, she took his hand and followed closely behind the boy, not only sticking to the path, but trying her best to step in the same spots he was. When they reached clearing that hugged the wall, she replied, “Ok, Lulu will go first.” She slowly made her way along the pathway, turning to see how close Ciúin was once she had made it to the water’s edge.

Luska smiled, she would look forward to making him a plushy. They were always fun to make, but it would be nice to make one for, what seemed to maybe be, a new friend. It had been a long time since she had made any new friends. She hoped that she he would want to be friends as well; he seemed nice. Now she just had to decide what sort of plushy to make.

Luska sighed; she thought it was quite nice to get such a close look at the waterfall. “Lulu likes the waterfall a lot; it is beautiful.” Biting her lower lip slightly, she leaned forward and ran the very tips of her fingers along the water with a giggle. It might have been loud, but it wasn’t the bad kind of loud. He had been kind enough to take her here and share the waterfall with her. She wanted to show him something in return. Straightening up, she turned to Ciúin and smiled. “Lulu can do magic. Would Ciúin like to see?”

Smiling in response to him, Luska took three steps away, to put some distance between them; she needed a stage for Sunny to perform and the ground between them would serve well. She bent at her knees and carefully set Sunny into a seated position on the ground. He leaned slightly forward, seemingly lifeless, like any plush toy would. Standing back up, she closed her eyes for a moment and first inhaled and then exhaled deeply. She bent her arms at the elbows, her hands sticking forward and suspended above the plush toy as she opened her eyes. First next moved the fingers on both hands, first stretching them out, and then bending them into a tight fist, before releasing and allowing them to dangle. She was ready.

She suddenly raised her left hand slightly and Sunny seemed to pop up, suspended so that it seemed like he was standing on his own. With a quick move of her right hands, he began slowly walking forward, towards the center of the space between them. A quick flick of two fingers on her left hand, as he reached the center, caused him to bow to Ciúin. Then with a quick twist of her wrist, the plush toy turned to face Luska, then bowed to her. What happened next, well her hands were hard to follow, they moved quickly, not unnaturally so, but fast enough that it would be hard to keep track of any individual hand movements and pair them up with the movements of Sunny. He danced what appeared to be a ballet on his little stage between them. He spun and leapt through the air and made use of the whole stage as he moved back and forth, to and fro. After maybe 5 minutes of dancing, he suddenly stopped, and Sunny fell back into his seated position. Luska bent forward and picked him up, breathing a bit heavily. While Sunny appeared to do all the work, it was still strenuous to her. Smiling at him and she stood back up, she stated, “Lulu hopes to get better, maybe control him longer, or even control more than one at time. Did Ciúin like it though?”