Like a six year old ninja!

[mitochondriaaya]

She'd meant it when she said her dad was all done with his photo's. He'd gotten a bonus for finishing the tourism spread early, and bonuses were good as far as Aya could tell...but it meant they'd been here less than a year.

She didn't want to move. She didn't want to leave. And she was pretty sure the boys didn't want her to either.

That left her one option: running away!

It was really late at night when there was a tapping at the boy's bedroom window. Aya was outside, sitting in the tree by the window. If she was careful she could push the branch enough to make it tap the glass! She had a flashlight carefully tied to the backpack she was wearing, and she knew the tree by heart so it wasn't nearly as dangerous as it looked!

Comments

[sliceitwithwind]

"Ayay?" Dilan opens the window, "Come in! And don't blind me. Braig, Aya's here!"

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya obeidently shut off the flashlight...then realized she couldn't see in the dark. She decided it was best to sit very still. "Shhhhhhh!" she hissed "Don't talk so loud! You'll wake up the adults then we'll get in trouble!"

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan, however, totally could. He gave Braig quiet instructions on how to reach Aya, and the bigger boy pulled her inside.

"What're you doing here?" she's asked, softly.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Eep!" it was kind of scary to get pulled out of a tree in the dark, but also kind of neat. Adventures were suppose to be a little scary! "I came to say goodbye. I'm running away!" she said cheerfully.

[sliceitwithwind]

"You can't run away. We'd miss you." Dilan says, "You need to live here."

[mitochondriaaya]

"But my dad can find me here! It'll be...the first place he looks!" Or more like the third or fourth, but regardless, he'd get there! "It's gotta be someplace better!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"You belong here, Ayay." Dilan says, "Braig's parents - "

"Won't let him take you away."

[mitochondriaaya]

"I kinda think that'd be illegal." Aya said after a moment a thought "And I don't wanna get your parents in trouble! I won't stay away, and I still gotta go to school, so just until my dad's gone okay? There's gotta be someplace near I can hide right? Like...Mrs. Tanner's barn or..or...a pirate cave!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"No more illegal than hiding in a barn or something." Dilan says, hugging her.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Yeah, but then it's just me in trouble! And I'll say sorry later!" Aya crossed her arms and glared at the boys. "This is why I was in the tree! I knew you guys would be dumb!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"We're not being dumb." Braig says, "My parents can ask your dad for you to live here."

[mitochondriaaya]

"You are. My Dad's an idiot too! He won't listen, so I gotta go hide for a bit! It won't be long! I'm sure he'll give up quick!"

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig responds by grabbing her in a bear-hug with her arms down by her sides and shouting, "MO-OM!"

Which Dilan picks up on, "MO-OM! DA-AAAD! MOOOOOM!"

[mitochondriaaya]

There was a look of utterly shocked betrayal on her face before she got mulishly, and possibly dangerously, stubborn. "LET ME GO!" she had quick little feet, and a tendency to kick hard! "You don't get it at all! You're gonna ruin it!"

[sliceitwithwind]

Braig's parents get there, "Now what's this all about?" asks his mother, firmly.

[mitochondriaaya]

Mutinously, Aya just kept kicking Braig, her lips held firmly shut. Yes, they'd ruined it. She should have left without telling them! Next time she totally would!

[sliceitwithwind]

"Ayay is running away because her dad is leaving and she thinks that you won't keep her and her dad'll make her leave." Dilan explains, Braig being occupied with holding onto the little human.

"Aya, stop kicking Braig."

[mitochondriaaya]

"He's my Dad!" Aya finally piped in "So he gets to make decisions! That's how it works! If he can't find me though it'll be okay!" she finally stopped kicking and just glared "Lemme go!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Aya!" Elcy frowns at her, "If you had come to me I could have told you that we're already planning on having you here at least through the end of the school year."

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya blinked at the adults, then quite simply said "Why would I do that?" Elcy wasn't her mom, and sure, for an adult she was okay, but she was still an adult.

"Braaaaig, lemme go!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Because that's what adults are for, Aya. Taking care of children."

"Are you going to try to run?" Braig asks.

"Better not." Dilan adds, darkly.

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya glanced at the door, the many people between it and her, then back at the still too-dark window. "No, not gonna run. One of you guys could have told me." she huffed at the room in general.

"I coulda packed so much better!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"I didn't know!" both boys chorused. They just assumed that Elcy and Yinsi had it covered.

"Your father was supposed to tell you, sweetie." Elcy said gently, as Braig let Aya go, "I'm sorry."

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya took a few defiant steps away from Braig when he let go, just to ensure she wasn't in bearhug/Aya capturing range again, then crossed her arms over her chest. "He didn't."

Granted she'd kind of assumed a lot from the gleeful 'Project's done' dancing and the packing up of all the photos and negatives from the spread. This happened after any major project, but she'd been pretty sure they were only there until the final product so...

He might have been planning to tell her tomorrow, since his photo packing had taken until long after she was suppose to be asleep. "He should have written it on the calender!" Or something. Then she'd have known.

[man-in-the-moon.insanejournal.com]

"Sometimes," Braig said, sitting down on the edge of his bed, "Your dad is an idiot."

Dilan hums a little, out of tune. He didn't want to say it, but...

[mitochondriaaya]

"...yeah. I know."




"What now?" Should she go back down the tree and home?

[sliceitwithwind]

"Now I let your dad know where you are," Elcy says and her husband picks up with, "And you get a second bath and put to bed. Your own, or do you want to crash in here with Braig and Dilan?"

"In here." says Dilan, before Aya gets a chance to respond.

[mitochondriaaya]

"Awww, I didn't get that dirty!" She'd only climbed a tree! And been pulled over a sill by Braig! She started shucking her pack anyway, since they were adults and they weren't going to do anything like call the cops apparently.

"And I guess I sleep in here! Guard my stuff guys?" The Moogle was poking out of the top of her bag, jaunty little head bobble waving.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Dirty enough." Yinsi informed her, scooping her up when her pack was off, "Now. Do you want the pink bubbles, the orange bubbles, or the green bubbles?"

"We'll take care of it." Dilan told Aya, seriously. Braig was already making up a nest on the floor that he could sleep on; he took having the others in that room seriously and was the eldest so he got the floor. Even Dilan had stopped arguing.

[mitochondriaaya]

This was obviously a big decision! She draped over Yinsi's shoulder, thinking it over before deciding "Green! Kind of like slime, from a monster in a pirate cave!" She had been rather enchanted by the idea of living in a cave for a few days.

"Okay, I'll be back soon! I have fruit gummies in my bag if you want some!" They were SURVIVAL SUPPLIES!

[sliceitwithwind]

"Green it is." he bounced her a couple of times on the way to the bathroom, then set her down so that he could get the bubbles and the bath toys out. Including the new one, brand new for Aya rather than something from when the boys were her age; a squeaky, floating Moogle.

"Mmm, gummies..."
"No, Dilan, you've already brushed your teeth."
"Tomorrow, sweet gummies...tomorrow..."

[mitochondriaaya]

Bounce, bounce...an then finally a giggle. She was not immune to bouncing! "Yay! That's...more like grass. Neat!" It was a very different shade of green than what she'd pictured! Annnnd...yes, latching onto the squeaky moogle toy happily. By the time Super Moogle had saved the city of bubbles from the evil submarine men, well, it'd been close to an hour?

She was well scrubbed though.

And the PJs she was wearing smelled like they belonged in Braig's house! "Hey, is there room in there?" She, naturally, was poking the blankets on the floor when she returned!

[sliceitwithwind]

"You can have my bed, Aya." Braig mumbled from his pile of blankets and pillows. He wouldn't argue if she did curl up with him, though, he was already close enough to asleep that it would take another little girl showing up outside the window to get him to move.

Dilan was taking advantage of that! He'd already pulled pillows and blankets down to join the older boy on the floor, so he just held out an arm and said, "Uh huh. C'mon, lets cuddle."

[mitochondriaaya]

It totally would not be fair if they got to have a blanket nest and she had to stay on the bed! She dug her moogle out of her bag and carefully peeled back a blanket or two so she could wiggle into the blankets without kicking anyone. "I guess this is better than a pirate cave..." She yawned and draped an arm over each boy, the stuffed toy having been relegated to 'pillow'.

[sliceitwithwind]

The already snoring Braig's arms flopped out so that each of his younger friends could easily use him as a pillow, which was what Dilan was shamelessly doing. It was warmer that way! "Uh huh. You're with us."

[mitochondriaaya]

Ooo, warm pillow vs. Moogle Pillow. Hmmm, the Moogle ended up sandwiched between Aya and Braig,a soft, squishy addition as she yawned herself. "Yeah, and no pirates, which could have been bad I guess...goodnight guys."

[sliceitwithwind]

"G'night, Ayay." Dilan murmured.

Braig's response, alas, was merely, "SNNNRKKGGGGHGHHHHKKKKKTTTT" but that was normal for sleeping Braig.