[PRP] Zoo, glorious zoo (Rekha/Beth)

[Smerdle]

Robert didn't understand how this had happened. A little more than a week ago, he had been single and alone, just how he had liked it. He had been in charge of a couple of strange pets and a very strange house, but they were nothing he couldn't handle. Now, he was the father of three very different little girls, and it was only the fear of police punishment that kept him from leaving them on a street corner somewhere.

He was actually enjoying a bit of a break at the moment. Both Duff and Maclah had expressed interest in visiting with the 'gorilla man,' a young gentleman who wore a goofy outfit and shared random facts about primates, all while alternatively tap dancing or pedaling his unicycle around the gorilla area. Robert had let the girls stay there by themselves, a testament to the sort of parent he was. The only kid that was left was little, purple Beth. She had been the second child to invade his house, but by the strange growth laws of Gaia, she was currently the youngest in appearance, and couldn't quite walk yet.

Beth hated her father. She sat stiffly in her stroller, looking out at the other children nearby. Every so often, she would lie back dramatically, huffing and crossing her little arms, trying to get a rise out of Robert. Frankly the toon was too tired to battle with his children at the moment. Beth picked at her pink polka-dot overalls as she watched a pair of red-headed twins play with their new stuffed tigers. Stupid. She stuck her tongue out at the backs of their heads and flopped onto her back again.  

[ladyumbra]

For the first time in a long while Pash was able to spend some time alone with Rekha. While the ideal father son bonding place was a bit more rugged and trying than a zoo , Rekha was only a toddler and didn't really posses the personality that made a day spent fishing or tracking seem like he'd enjoy it. Thus the zoo ti was, the place was both educational, required a bit of exercise in walking and had things even an adult could enjoy.

Still Pash's mind was slightly occupied with worry. Connor was safely at home with a babysitter, both so he could spend time alone with Rekha and becuase it was day two of her' I hate you becuase you let the doctor give me needs' thing and she still wasn't responding well to him. So with a not completely free mind Pash wandered the zoo with Rekha and tried to have fun


Rekha walked slightly ahead of his father as they made their way past the Gorrilla enclosure. Primates didn't really interest him much, they just looked like very hairy people. Not to mention that his father in a move he would regret,has bought him a ball coloured like a globe with from one of the stores in the zoo. Rekha didnt care which animals came from where on his ball he just wanted to play with it.

Unfortunately for the copper haired toddler when he went to grab it for the millionth time his hand ended up batting it away and the air filled toy rolled lazily over to rest against the wheel of a stroller.

An apologetic look on his face Rekha hurried forward to say sorry, and to prevent his ball from getting squashed if the stroller moved.  

[Smerdle]

Beth looked down at the planet-ball. For a moment, she thought the ball was kind of as stupid as those stupid tiger toys, and on top of that, boys were especially stupid, but she was really very bored and willing to make the best of the situation.

"Hi," she said curiously, her expression neutral but not uninviting. "S'dat fun?"  

[ladyumbra]

Rekha smiled at the friendly reception he had gotten, he'd expected to be glared or yelled at. " Hi, I'm Rekha and it's pretty fun." To prove his point he picked up the ball and bounced in high enough to meet his chest. Any higher and he'd probably lose it again.

From just a few feet away Pash washed silently but shot the purple girl's father a look that said ' I know how you feel'  

[Smerdle]

"Beth." She pulled at the stroller's lap bar, and when it didn't move, she leaned around the side of the seat and squinted her eyes at Robert. She was particularly good at glaring already, even though her corporeal body was only a day old. Beth was surprisingly good at a lot of things, everything except what she wanted to do most - run away.

Offering Pash a weak smile, Robert slowly rose to his feet and unhooked the safety bar that held Beth's stroller closed. The little girl leaned back, unwilling to have any part of her body touch her new father. When the toon had resumed his place on the bench, Beth slid out of the stroller, resting herself in a seated position on the footrest. She didn't actually want to bounce the ball herself for fear she would be bad at it, so she just smiled slightly. "Cool." She looked up at Pash, masking her disdain. He was interesting, at least. Time would tell if he was as stupid as her guardian had turned out to be. "That'ur da?" she asked Rekha.

"Your son seems like a nice boy," Robert said, clearing his throat. "I'm surprised Beth is talking to him at all. She doesn't like people from what I've seen, especially adult people. Adult male people." He pressed his foot against the stroller's wheel lock so he could stop holding it. "I'm Robert. Nice to meet you."  

[ladyumbra]

Rekha nodded in response to the question " but not from blood" he frowned a bit " I don't have any blood fam'ly." Although Rekha loved his father and his siblings and zephyr and his grandmother he wondered if somewhere out there he had a blood family. He wasn't even sure how they were supposed to happen just that he had always been here but had never been born like in that gross thing he saw on t.v once.

He bounced the ball again and then looked back at Beth " He's really and he has a mom with six wings all different colours. He did something bad and lost his wings." Tact , was apparently not his strong point as Rekha shared this information with a near stranger.

" I'm Pash and children all seem to have things they don't like, perhaps something in her nature something about whatever she is." Seagreen eyes flicked over to Rekha for a moment " He's nice enough and fairly Mello for now, i expect that to change as he ages."

Pash blanched at Rekha's words and sighed " I was guardian angel at the time and made mistake." it was in his mind best to explain before Robert jumped to conclusions  

[Smerdle]

Very interesting. Beth nodded. "Me too. Not blood." The former yeti respected her sisters well enough, but neither of them were purple, nor did they feel remotely familiar, like Beth figured family should. Her father was even worse. Unless there was an emergency, he was a nonentity. Unfortunately, near-helplessness carried with it plenty of emergencies.

She looked back up at Pash. Something bad? Beth didn't know what an angel was, but she knew about wings, and having them seemed pretty decent. Too bad they were gone. "Cool da." She leaned over a bit more and whispered, "Mine's stuuuuupid."

"I hadn't thought of that, actually," Robert said to the fallen angel. He tried to hide his relief at the thought. Maybe he wasn't such a horrible caretaker after all. Duff and Mac seemed to like him well enough. "I'm sorry to hear about your wings," he added awkwardly. "Must have been horrible." Not that he would know.  

[ladyumbra]

Rekha was glad that his father met with approval, he certainly liked him well enough. At Beth's comment on her own father he frowned, it couldn't be any fun to have a stupid father. " I'm sorry" he whispered sympathy evident in his voice.

As he spoke the copper haired boy continued to play with his ball though now he through it in the air rather than bounce it and risk it hitting Beth's stroller.

" Have you seen the camels? he asked suddenly remembering where he'd been going before this little detour had started. " I'm going to ride a camel"

Pash just nodded and gave a soft sigh " It was more humiliating than anything,apparently I'm to earn them back by playing parent. Though part of me is surprised all my mothers feathers didn't fall out trying to raise me so perhaps having none now is a blessing." His wings were a bit of a touchy subject and joking was perhaps the best way to deal with it.  

[Smerdle]

Beth shrugged. "It s'okay," she said. Her new father hadn't abused or hurt her, nor did he seem likely to. She would manage. "Ka-mels?" She shook her head. "Ef'lent. Monkey. Pen'gin. Bear. Grizzlee." Beth smiled, displaying her two little front teeth, pleased with the large bears she had seen for some reason she didn't understand. "Ka-mel ride fun?" At this early stage, fun seemed awfully important to the little girl.

"Ah, yes," Robert sighed. Apparently the slightest mention of the strange way kids were handed out on Gaia caused him to forget all else. "A week ago I didn't have any children. Funny how that happens 'round here."  

[ladyumbra]

" I dunno" Rekha admitted " I hope so. rides are usually fun". Plus camels looked hilarious and that would be enough to entertain the young boy.

Pash smiled sympathetically " Every day you leave the house there's a possibility you may become a parent. " he frowned " I didn't even leave the house for two of them. Apparently there's nowhere safe."  

[Smerdle]

"Good." Beth gave a short nod of approval. "Maybe I try. Not t'day." Obviously. She huffed out an exasperated breath of air, puffing her cheeks and buzzing her lips with the effort. A second later, Beth's head snapped up at the sound of her sisters hooting and laughing in a sort of post-gorilla-man high.

"Same here. Well, I left my house for two of them, these two in fact," he said, noticing Duff and Mac as they made their way over. "I should have known better than to go outside again after coming home with a leaf that could move on its own."

Duff was the first to approach, naturally, and she plopped down next to her sister's stroller and gave Rekha the once-over. "Hey," she offered in greeting. Mac, the tallest and oldest in appearance of the three girls, stayed standing and silent.  

[ladyumbra]

Pash shot Robert a curious glance. Was it possible? there were a lot of ways to acquire children but Pash had never heard of anything other than Eden project children coming from leaves. " Did you get any strange messages concerning your leaf?"

Rekha hoped Beth got a chance to ride the camels. It looked like something everyone should have a chance to do.

"Hi" Green eyes assessed the two new girls and deciding they weren't anything he had to worry about Rekha smiled at them  

[Smerdle]

"Yes?" Robert said hesitantly. "I received a ceramic pot. I planted the leaf and a bit later, Duff was born." 'Born' seemed to be a laughably short way to describe what had actually occurred, but Robert could think of no better way to explain what had happened. He didn't mention the letter that came with the pot, mostly because he had burned it and didn't recall what it had said.

"This's Duff," Beth said, jutting a finger at the scaly girl who had spoke. Duff swatted the finger away and Beth scowled, sticking it out again to point at the orange spiky child. "An' Mac. Sisters." She rubbed at her eye as if a piece of something had gotten into it. "This Rekha. He nice. A boy too." The fact that he was a boy wasn't important to the two other girls, so they simply didn't comment.

"That's a nice ball," Mac said, smiling back at Rekha.

"Talked about ball," Beth said. Her tone implied that the topic had been covered and the other girl should just. Go. Away.

Mac narrowed her eyes and flounced over to the bench to sit next to her father. "That's a nice ball," she near-whispered, looping her arm through his and resting her head on his arm.

Robert nodded.  

[ladyumbra]

" Sounds like you have an Eden project child then. Rekha's older brother is one of them, some sort of rabbit child." Pash never had figured out what exact species Owen was, he probably never would either but it didn't seem to harm the boy any.

Rekha senses the tension between the sibling and gently rolled the ball towards Mac so she could play with it while he talked to Beth. That should make everyone happy, right?

Returning his attention to the purple girl in front of him the young boy grinned. " Did you know snake don't chew their food ?" Having seen the reptile exhibit already Rekha had been fascinated by the things and retained a small amount of information on them. mostly the fact that they didn't chew their food and needed light to stay warm.  

[Smerdle]

Eden Project. That sounded familiar. "Yes, that seems right. Are they some sort of organization? I don't really know exactly what Duff is either, but she seems like a normal enough little girl, minus the skin and tail." Not that Robert had much experience with normal little girls, but he had seen them on TV loads of times.

Mac, still looking up at Robert as he spoke, didn't notice the ball had been rolled to her until it tapped her foot. She looked down at it, then over at Rekha. "Thanks!"

"You have to give it back when we leave," Robert whispered.

"I know," Mac replied, even though she had known no such thing.

Beth shook her head. She hadn't realized snakes didn't chew. Of course, she had only just found out that things called snakes existed this morning. Plus, Beth herself couldn't really eat much more than applesauce with her substantial lack of teeth. Maybe this not-chewing thing was something to try. "How?" she asked curiously.