Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Remington, if you don't pick up Turtle then someone is either going to step on him or run off with him; and you don't want that, do you?" Her chin propped up on one hand, Cajmera sat at a small table outside of the same cafe she'd been frequenting ever since she moved to this area. It was funny; there were other cafes around (as well there ought to be, seeing how large a city this was!), but there was just something about this one that appealed to her...

Must be the lemonade.

But whatever the reason, she just kept coming back; either on her own during lunch breaks from work, or with her kids when she was shopping, or just...when she wanted a chance to kick back and read the paper after finishing off her day. Besides, what was better than spending some quality time people watching? Even if the person in question was her own son...

"Hrm?" Raising his head from the tiny umbrella he had been playing with, Remington blinked owlishly at his mother for a moment, then looked down below his chair where he had stuck his yellow plush turtle. No one would really take him, would they? Mama most likely just wanted to get him to pick up his toys...but then, he usuall wasn't allowed to have Turtle sit at the table, so this was really a good thing!

Glancing furitively at Caj as she turned her attention back to the paper, Remy all but tumbled out of his chair in an attempt to get Turtle before she changed her mind. After all, if Turtle was already at the table...he was safe!

At the sound of the oddly familiar voice Cajmera lowered her paper, then broke into a wide grin at the sight of Fetalini and V'Aron. Setting it on the table, she rose gracefully to her feet; no longer encumbered by a pregnant body, the action was a great deal easier. "No kidding it has; my word, it's been positively months since I saw you two! Fetalini, right? And V'Aron?"

Smiling, she ran a hand through her shaggy red hair as she glanced from one to the other, hoping she'd remembered their names correctly. The gesture was a smooth one; she didn't even come close to hitting the two glossy horns that protruded through her red mane, but when you'd grown up with something like that, you were used to it, apparently.

But it was the sight of Badru that truly made her gape. Good lord, that little tiny baby had certainly grown up! And his hair was a different color, and...

She had to laugh at her own shock though; really, it made sense that Badru had grown; she hadn't even had a kid when they'd last met, and now, well...

But that reminded her. Glancing over at the chair Remy had been sitting in, she frowned to see it was empty, then chuckled. Typical Remesque behavior when surprised; hide!

With that, she leaned over and peered under the table; just as she expected, Remy was sitting cross-legged and starin stoically at the legs of the strangers, the yellow plush turtle clutched in his arms. "Are you going to come out, Remmers, or do I have to come down and get you?"

Eyeing his mother to see if she would follow through on her threat, Remington realized with a sigh that she undoubtably meant it. At least he'd have Turtle to keep him company; and Turtle probably hadn't met the strangers, either...so that meant that he's have to introduce Turtle! Very important stuff.

So it was with a grin and not a pout that the redheaded toddler scuttled out from under the table...though he made sure that his mom was RIGHT THERE before he did anything.

Smiling at her son's acquiesance, Caj turned back to the others just in time for Badru to make his leap into center stage. "Badru, you are just as cute as I remember you!" Obviously he didn't have stage fright! "But on the subject of rememberings, I'd like you guys to meet someone pretty special; this is my son, Remington."

"Remy." Almost automatically, Remington corrected his mother; Remington was much too hard to say and it sounded funny, anyway. Remy was what Kaja always called him, so it had to be right! But he could forgive his mother the oversight; it had been a long time since she'd had to introduce him to anyone.

But now that he wasn't under the table, he could see more of the other people than their legs; consequently, he stared at them with unabashed intent. They had...tails! Just like Kaja did...and funny ears! No horns, though; but how come they had funny ears and tails and he didn't?? So not fair!

"Right, of course; Remy. Remy, this is Fetalini and V'Aron, and this is Badru." Smiling, Cajmera placed a hand on her son's shoulder; this was the first time she'd gotten to introduce her son to someone who had known her before he was around, and that was a very nice feeling.

((The world is cruel when you're physically the only normal one XD))

Blinking a bit at the sudden influx of attention, Remy started to withdraw back to the safety of the table, but the interest expressed in Turtle worked swiftly to counteract that. A wide smile started to form on his face; after all, why shouldn't they like Turtle? He was only the bestest turtle in all the world, even better than Kaja's live slimy ones. They weren't cuddly at ALL.

Holding up the slightly scruffy plush, he proudly announced his name for the benefit of both the lady and the other little boy. "He's Turtle. Cause he's a turtle, so his name is Turtle; my sister gave him to me when I was this little." Gesturing with his hands, Remy's measurements were unquestionably off; but the sincerity of intent was there in spades. What could be more special, after all? "Isn't he cool?"

Chuckling, Caj watched as Remy exultantly showed off his toy. It was nice seeing him enthused while around other people; he usually was only social with one person at a time. But Fetalini had struck just the right nerve...

Turning to V'Aron, she smiled at the little exchange between father and son. "Badru certainly has changed since I remember him...he's such a charming lad now! And his hair has gotten so dark!"

Smiling, Cajmera resumed her seat at the table as well, taking a sip from her glass of almost forgotten lemonade as she did so. Really, it was nice to be able to talk 'kid' again and not have to try and keep the topic on safe-for-non-parent subjects!

"Well, the black suits him just as well as the white did...perhaps moreso, now what he'd growing up. A nice touch of the debonair, or whatever you have."

Grinning at the praise garnered on Turtle, Remy was nevertheless taken a bit aback when the lady started cuddling the other boy. That wasn't how it was supposed to work; people were supposed to cuddle HIM! Of course, he'd never had any children his own age around before...well, aside of that one time at the clinic. But still!

Still clutching Turtle, Remy immeadiately scuttled over to his mother and climbed up into her lap, knowing that at least SHE loved him best. As he did so, for a moment his hand was turned towards V'Aron and the white crisscrossed scar on it was clearly visible; then he was cuddling up against his mum, happy at the attention.

Blinking a bit, Caj only had to glance at Fetalini to know what had brought about the cuddling. "Jealous much? You are such a silly, Remmers." Still, it was as easy to talk with him as without! "Well...basically Remy has been the main point of my existance these days, as I'm sure you can imagine. It seems like my whole life revolves around kids now!" Chuckling, she hugged her son, then glanced over at Badru and Fetalini. "And with you guys?"

Giggling a bit at Badru's formality, Cajmera nodded an assent to his request, ruffling her son's shaggy red hair as she did so. "Of course you may, Badru; I'd love to see a picture of us!" And so she would; it was always nice to see the creativity fo children in action.

Glancing back from the boy to his parents, she smiled a bit ruefully herself. "I don't get to be with the kids as much as I'd like, but I usually bring Remy to work with me during the day. And Kaja-my daughter- watches him in the afternoons most days." A bit of a hectic schedule, but it basically worked out.

Turning her attention back to Badru, she broke into an amused smile. How long have you been drawing, Badru?"

Now that everyone was talking, Remy was starting to get a bit bored; that was teh problem with adults, really...they talked too much @.@

Cajmera inclined her head politely at V'Aron's comment, smiling a bit ruefully at the same time. "A very true statement; I've often thought how nice it would be if I didn't have to work, but someone has to pay the bills, right? I have two wonderful kids and we manage to get by and then some...so I'm definitly happy."

She paused then, noticing with surprise how very intent Badru was on his picture. "Is he always that focused when he's drawing?"

Remy, meanwhile, had decided to take entertainment into his own hands. While everyone else was busy talking, HE'D find a way to keep entertained. As he sat in his mother's lap, he'd noticed the knife his mother had used earlier to cut his sandwich for him; it was lying there on the table, all nice and shiny. Knives had such a cool shape, didn't they?

Taking advantage of the interest in Badru, he deftly reached for the knife. Mama didn't like it when he played with knives; she always tried to hide them. But he was better at getting them than she was at hiding them! Grinning to himself, he firmly closed his hand around the knife...or rather, around the blade...and pulled it over to play with.

"Oh my goodness!" Honestly, she couldn't take her attention off of that child for a seconfd, could she? "V'Aron, I'm so sorry!" Her eyes anxious, Cajmera looked from V'Aron's rag wrapped hand to the knife on the table, then looked down to check on Remy's hand...

How utterly, wonderfully marvelous! V'Aron had the same red on his hand that Remy did; that MUST mean something special! Grinning, Remy raised his own small hand to show to the white haired man, showing everyone else the neat horizontal slash across his palm where he'd squeezed the blade. "Lookit Varron; Remy's got red too!" No one else had ever had the red when he did before; this was so cool!

...It just never stopped. "I swear, I am going to have to take up the doctor's recommendation and put you in a bubble if you don't stop doing things like that, Remington!" Swiftly, Caj pressed her own hand over the bleeding wound on her son's hand, rummaging around in her purse with the other. Things like this always happened; if it wasn't knives, it was tripping on the sidewalk, or a scissors, or tumbling down the stairs...it was always something. Maybe she'd finally get used to that face when Remy was older...

Still, Badru looked to be taking things a lot worse than either V'Aron or Remy. Glancing at his parents as she finally pulled out the antiseptic from her purse, she glanced back at Badru. "Is he going to be ok?"