<P> Waterbabies (Xun/Cos/Kyrie/Isidore/Caelia)

[midnight_medea]

Isidore eyed the water with something close to suspicion. It was shiny, and looked a little like glass, he was very sure he could see fish swimming around in the shallows, just beyond his toes. He was on the land of course. This water looked noway near as fun as a bath.

Cosine stood next to him, the water lapping at her feet, she held the skirt of her long dress in her hand, keeping it out of the water.
"Come on, it's fun." She smiled, moving her foot about in the cool water.


Isi studied his mother for a moment and then glanced to his sisters. If they were going to go in then he miiight consider it.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Well, there was one sister whose's reaction would be wholly predictable.

Caelia's reaction had been exactly the same as it always was, when she was faced with something new. She got herself knee-deep in it as soon as possible... literally. She ran past her mother, all giggles and laughs. She liked this ! It was odd and cold and wet, like a bath but infinitively bigger. There was so much space to move, in here ! And there were moving things inside this, even ! She tried to catch one of the fishes, but it darted away from her all too quickly, slipping though tiny fingers, tickling her in the process. Augury would laugh, but then she would look up again, and tilt her head to the side.

And there was this strange rock in the distance...

Except Caelia's rock was not a rock at all. It was a little too scaly for that. And it definitively moved way too much.

As it was, Xun Jiang was out a nice, fresh lunch. Thankfully, he noticed the sudden pit-pat of tiny litte feet before he could give the kids an unintended lesson about the circle of life, and the dragon surfaced slowly, a few feet away from the little group.  

[ceedabear]

Kyrie watched her sister barrel on in to the water and gave her chortling laugh as she clapped her hands, though, like her brother, she was a bit more hesitant to explore this new feature of their ever expanding world. She loooooooved bath time. She love to roll around in the water and get all of her feathers wet, but this water was so big. Grabbing onto her mother's hand before Isi could, she reached out a timid toe to dip it in. It was cooooold too. Pulling her foot back, she watched her sister for a moment, then looked back to Isi. She'd go with him if he moved his feet into the water too, she decided.

"Go," she cawed and put her hand to his back to give him a bit of a shove towards the water, accidentally pushing a little harder than she meant to.  

[midnight_medea]

Cosine smiled as Caelia took to the water immediately, and looked down at Kyrie. She could imagine at their size it would be intimidating to look out at the expanse of water.

Hearing a stirring a little way away from them she smiled as a familiar dragon appeared slowly to the surface of the water.
"Xun!" She called, her attention distracted for the moment.


Well of course Cae had gone in all guns blazing. She was far too eager, Isi decided it was better to be cautious about things. Or at least approach them with a degree of respect.

He wouldn't get that chance with the lake however as Kyrie gave him a shove that sent him flying face first into the cold water. Isi rolled to his back, coughed, spluttered and looked up at Kyrie.
"Hey!" he said angrily.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Xun ? Mommy said Xun. What was a Xun ?

...

OH MY. THE ROCK HAD MOVED.

It was good she had missed her brother getting a face-full of water, or she might have mistaken it for a game and jumped right beside him - which would only have gotten her poor brother even wetter than he already was. No, for now the moving 'rock' had her complete attention.

COOLEST. ROCK EVER.

And sure enough, with Caelia being Caelia, there was only one possible outcome to this situation. Augury went right for it - going deeper and deeper into the water until said 'rock' had caught her by the scruff of her top, much like an mammal would carry their young. "HEY !" She pouted, the perfect little picture of affront. She pouted, and tried to bat at the maw that was holding her. Thankfully, the goddess' little arms came up too short for this.

Affront, perhaps, but better than little goddesses sinking like rocks. Drowning might have been a non-issue, as far as he knew, but that certainly would not have been pleasant. He made his way toward the shore, quickly ending up padding his way to solid ground.

"Seems like you've lost a chick." He teased, letting Caelia down carefully. If he only he was aware of how right he was with that pun...  

[ceedabear]

Kyrie blinked when her brother suddenly went flying forward. Well... that had been unintended. Putting her hands over the top of her beak, she blinked wildly.

'Oh no!' she thought, projecting the thought with the intonation of a gasp. Stepping into the water, she walked over to her brother and crouched down over him. 'Sorry,' she thought, holding a dark hand out to him to help him up, though suddenly there was a rather large ripple in the water that knocked her back onto her backside in the mud and shallow water and her eyes caught on the new... thing? carrying her sister.

"Cae!" she crowed and held her arms up.  

[midnight_medea]

Isi smiled at his sister and reached out to take her hand. His attention went with her's to the rather strange creature carrying his sister out of the water.
"Wassat?" He asked his mother, pushing himself to his feet from the cold water and pointing.

Cosine was not worried about Cae, though she would have to teach her some boundries. Water could be dangerous.
She smirked as Xun picked her up and placed her on the shore.
"They're hard to keep tabs on, especially Caelia. No fear." The goddess shook her head and looked to her son.
"This is Xun, he is a dragon king."  

[A Wandering Esper]

Caelia had seemingly forgotten about her own affront the second she was back on her own too feet. That, or Augury had simply decided not to hold a grudge, because as soon as she was down, the young goddess was all over Xun Jiang - in a much different way. Little hands running everywhere, eyes wide at the feel of scales under her fingers. She stopped at the base of one wing and tilted her head. What were those ? They weren't like her own at all ! How strange !

Yes, restrain would probably be a very good lesson for Caelia. Not one easily learned, though.

Xun Jiang was putting up with the abuse well enough - unable to contain his amusement and letting out a low, amused chuckle as Caelia seemed mesmerized by her wings.

He had heard of the three, but getting to see them for himself was something else. Caelia was just as inquisive as Glyph had told him, and looked quite a lot like her mother - with dark purples where Cosine had dark greens, and a tiny bit of her father in those sunset-colored eyes. Isidore was on the opposite side of the spectrum - taking most of his appearance from his father, but having an hair color similar to his mother. Kyrie was certainly unique, and quite a delightful little lady as well. Did she want up ? He leaned toward her, so she could touch as well, if she wished.

"I must be quite strange to them." He laughed. "They are just as lovely as Glyph told me they were..."  

[ceedabear]

Kyrie opened her beak wide with awe as she tilted her head way, waaaay, waaaaay back to peer up at the dragon king. "Ahhhh," she crowed and lifted her arms up until her dark fingers were able to brush against the shiny scales. Sooooooo shiny! Twisting in the water, she pushed herself up to her knees and continued to run her fingers over the glistening scales.

'Isi... feel,' she beckoned, casting a look to her brother.  

[midnight_medea]

Cosine watched her daughters and smirked at Xun's words ... lovely? Yes, though not always. Boundries were something they really needed to get used to. She did not want curiosity doing to them what it did to the cat.

"Strange, perhaps exciting might be a better word." She kept half an eye on them as they reached out to touch the Dragon King. "If they bother you you have my permission to growl at them.They are very inquisitive, perhaps the scholar blood in them?"

Isi looked up at the 'dragon' he wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he did know that one day he wanted to be one. In awe as his sisters were he paddled over to Xun, going towards his head rather than his body. He had huuuuuuge teeth. Isi tilted his head to the side and grinned.
"Draaagon King." He repeated, giving a satisfied nod.  

[A Wandering Esper]

"Well, I figure everything is exciting when you are new." He mused. "Even huge lizards."

Growl at them ? Well, no, that certainly was not in his plans at all. Cosine would have to find someone else for that particular lesson. Still, this all somehow felt familiar... in a way that was very strange, some sort of half-thought that made it obvious he was not thinking about when Elik had been young.

Had he... been a father, before the fading ? He had no idea.

"Yes... That is right. I am a Dragon King." He nodded. One large wing rose to cover the children, sending water dripping on top of them. "I'll assume you were all about to learn to swim, hm ? A very good idea. Did you know Glyph did not know how to swim before I taught him how ?" His voice was full of mischief. There was also the part where Forest had taken a dive in Illisia's cleavage, but that was likely best left for their mother's amusement, later on.

One wing shifted under her touch. It was so BIG !!! So much bigger than her own wings were, even with feathers. Maybe even bigger than daddy's.

That strange wing was so big that it made the whole sky go away, and...

It made it rain, too ! Caelia giggled, then eventually broke into full laughter, clearly amused by this turn of event, Augury let the 'rain' fall on top of her and would soon start to happily dance in it.  

[ceedabear]

Kyrie gave a squawk of surprise as water began to fall on her head in the middle of her investigation of the amazing beast in front of her. Looking up, she blinked furiously against the drops that tried to fall in her eyes, then she clacked her beak with excitement and looked to her sister as she began to laugh. Beginning to giggle her distinct giggle, Kyrie cupped her hands into the water and brought water up to splash at her sister.  

[midnight_medea]

"Actually I just brought them out to splash around. Though if you would like to do the honours?" She smirked and raised an eyebrow in challenge. She could not imagine Glyph swimming very well, though wood did float.
"I am not the greatest swimmer myself." Just good enough not to drown.


Isidore glanced back at his sisters, watching Kyrie as she picked the water up.
"Cae!" He shouted, pointing to warn her.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Splash around was definitively a good option, Xun Jiang could recognize a good challenge, made actually challenging by the fact that his current shape was drastically different than the one the children had. This would require a little experiment, perhaps, but who was he to turn down such a clear cut challenge.

"I could..." Through it seemed he had given the little crow an idea that could only end in playful mischief. "Through I will start by letting them become familiar with the father first."

The polite way to say he did not mind being at the center of a water fight, perhaps.

Isidore's warning came, and Caelia turned to look at her brother - but not quickly enough.

This meant that the young goddess ended up with a face-full of water, plus the water the big, scaly creature was raining down upon them.

Oh.

This was so clearly on.

And there was only one way to settle this - a tiny wave of water was laughed toward Kyrie, in a similar manner than she had seen the water move as Xun Jiang had risen his wing out of the water. Caelia laughed. This was fun ! Maybe they could get mommy to join in, too ?

Her brother's attempt at aid had not gone unnoticed, it seemed, for Isidore was spared his sister's powers of water-tossing... for now, at least.  

[ceedabear]

Kyrie squawked as water rushed up at her face. Falling backwards with a large splash, she blinked her eyes a few times, then looked up at her mother.

Did you see that?! she demanded, then pushed herself up to her feet. Her backside was completely caked in mud, but that went unnoticed for the most part as she opened her feathered arms wide and brought them down in a hard splash, laughing as the water rushed up at her sister the dragon king. Chortling, she bounced away from her sister before she could retaliate and kicked her dark foot up at her brother, spraying him as well.

It only seemed right. He had chosen sides by warning Cae, after all.