Welcome to town (Kiddie AU)

[mitochondriaaya]

Aya looked at the small vacation cottage and hefted her suitcase up onto the curb. This was going to be 'home' for at least six months. Possibly nine? She couldn't remember all the factors for extending the job. Regardless, this cottage was smaller than their apartment back home! At least it was warm here. Early spring in New York wasn't so much...

Her suitcase she dragged into the small living room along with the thick quilt. Her dad was already fussing with the smaller of the two bedrooms, getting it ready to be a dark room. The photos were important. This was a high paying job, so the dark room had to be ready as soon as possible! She understood that, so, she stayed out of the way by unpacking the rest of the car.

Well, unpacking what she could lift. Or kick out of the side door, if it wasn't fragile. She might be an unconventional little girl, but she was a very determined one!

She was also a rather enthusiastic singer. She'd figured out how to keep the car radio on while she worked. Hopefully the new neighbors were at work or something.

Comments

[mitochondriaaya]

"I'll go when you guys go." she shrugged "I just need to talk to the teachers an stuff." she admitted. "But I do like monkey bars!"

"Hey, snails!...wait. crabs. In snail shells!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, that kind of crab changes shells as it gets bigger. Don't get pinched again, okay?" Dilan fusses with the water, then beams and says, "Octopus!"

[mitochondriaaya]

"Hey, pinching is just something they do" she pointed out "If I want to look close, I'll get pinched! But they're really cool...and they might not pinch hard..." she mused, fingers darting in to poke at shells without getting nabbed.

"Octopus"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Yeah, but humans tear more easily than points and folds." Dilan says, "And I didn't bring band-aids this time. I don't want to have to explain to Braig's mom that I tore the new girl."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Hey I'm not that weak! I might bleed just a little but I won't tear!" she snorted in indignation, but she did abandon poking the crabs in favor of petting the octopus. "You don't have to explain to anybody. If I get hurt it's cause I did something, and maybe next time I won't!" Yes, all the times she and her sister had gotten scraped up had been Aya's fault. she was the adventurous one.

[sliceitwithwind]

"It has nothing to do with being weak." Dilan says firmly, "Just not as thick. And if you bleed it's cause your skin tore. Usually I have band-aids, I just don't now."

[mitochondriaaya]

She looked at Dilan a moment then very, very calmly stated "My teachers say it's not a good thing to be thick." of course, her teachers were only adults, which were incredibly fallible. They could be wrong! "Though I think they were being mean."

She grinned as the octopus flopped an arm over her fingers while exploring the rocks. "I had some neat band-aids with fish on them but I don't think I packed them...

[sliceitwithwind]

"It's a different kind of thick. Thick in the head is dumb, thick skin is just. Thick. Mine doesn't get cut or torn or anything as easy as humans."

[mitochondriaaya]

"So they were being mean!" she announced. That made her a little mad to know honestly. "You're lucky!"

[sliceitwithwind]

"The teachers here won't be." Dilan promises, "They're nice. And I know I'm lucky. Mom says that if I were a little less lucky I wouldn't have been born, because I'm the only one like me."

[mitochondriaaya]

"People in New York aren't very nice. It's not their fault though. I think it's kind of like living where Buffy does on TV. Not a good place and maaaaybe full of vampires." she laughed. "It has some neat places though so it's okay!"

"Yep! Really lucky! And you know how to pick up an octopus without hurting it...show me?" she was very. carefully stretching out one of it's tentacles. But, she was pretty sure if she picked it up that way it's arm would fall off.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Sure. Just give me a moment." Dilan fusses gently with the octopus until he lets go, then offers him gently to Aya. "I like living here. It is a good place."

[mitochondriaaya]

She watched him fuss, then carefully cradled it in her hands when he passed it "Is it a boy octopus or a girl octopus?" she asked, utterly distracted from any other questions.

[sliceitwithwind]

"I dunno." Dilan admits, "I just think they're cool, I don't think you can tell without cutting them open, and that would be bad."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Ewww yeah. That'd be bad." she agreed, then lifted the poor thing to nose height "Well, you're a good octopus even if we don't know what you are!"

[sliceitwithwind]

Dilan grins and flops back to poke at other things in the pool. "You're cool, Aya."

[mitochondriaaya]

"Okay" she agreed simply. Cool wasn't exactly a term she'd had applied before, so she'd take his word for it. "You're fun!"

Now, to get an octopus on her head...she managed after a moment of careful maneuvering! And yes, the tentacle that flopped down by her ear under the hat brim pinched and...tickled.

[sliceitwithwind]

"Wah-oh." Dilan puts his finger under the tentacle and attempts to convince it to let go of her ear, "Ears are sensitive, little guy."

[mitochondriaaya]

"It tickles" she admitted, scrunching away from Dilan and the tentacle while trying to keep her head upright. She didn't want to drop it! "But it's not bad! Should we give it a treat? What do they eat?"

[sliceitwithwind]

"Uh huh. Um. Fish, I think. Probably best to let him catch his own fish." Dilan says slowly, frowning a little.