Wonderment of a New World

Today was Afolabi-Soies' first time visiting the Starlight Observation Station, and Arjean's first time visiting an amusement park. Their family tried their hardest to excite Arjean, telling them big, fantastical stories about amusement parks and how exciting they were, but once they got there, Arjean was immediately struck with fear by how crowded and busy the place was. There were too many people speaking and moving around, and for a moment they felt like they were going to pass out, or scream, or both. It was when Béatrice laid their head into her soft, white hair and told them that she would find them a place to get food that they felt safer. Food always raised the mood of the Soies.

The food here made Arjean almost forget about all their worries. Sure, the food court was still crowded and scary, but every time they got nervous again their family would start speaking to them and have them focus on eating. Eventually, Arjean convinced themself that because their family was there, they were protected and scooted off of their chair to draw after finishing their meal. There were many things to illustrate, especially the people dressed up in costumes that ranged from silly to beautiful. Arjean drew the castles, the rides, and some individuals who were sitting around just eating. In the background, Arjean could hear Béatrice getting angry about being called "Rapunzel" by Archard and trying to get revenge by attempting to spill their food onto their lap. Meanwhile, Ade and Remi tried to distance themselves and pretend they were occupied with supervising Arjean.

@svrangerchrista

Arjean jumped when they heard a nearby voice speak to them. As they drew they attempted to block out every other sound nearby to drown out the noisy crowd. After a while of headaches and sensory overload, they found that it was easier to focus on their family talking or on the sound of their crayons against their paper. They weren't expecting someone outside of their family to try to speak to them, though. If they were close enough to their family, then no one should have bothered them.

When Arjean looked up to see who was speaking to them they were met with a little human girl around Junchi's age with wings and pretty blonde hair. Arjean hesitated for a moment before speaking. Sometimes they would speak in Oscela instead of English, even if the person speaking to them was speaking in English. Sometimes they wished everyone knew Oscela, because then Arjean could speak to them any way they wanted and never confuse anyone.

"Hullo," they responded, trying to sound confident instead of anxious. "I new too. I Arjean Afolabi-Soie. You?"

Whenever someone spoke to Arjean using a lot of words they always looked back at their family to see if they could get some help. Their grandparent and mommies didn't seem to notice the little girl, but Remi did. Despite their sister's face looking as plain as ever, they could tell she was urging them on to keep talking. To those outside of the Afolabi-Soies Remi looked apathetic and bored, but to Arjean they could see she looked proud of her little sibling.

Arjean turned back, only now just realizing the girl, who was named Gabbi Gardener, could speak Oscela. She didn't look oricenta. She didn't have all the feathers on her body, or the hooves, or the deer ears. She just had the human characteristics and wings. Arjean wasn't sure how to correctly asked how she knew the language, and there were too many things she gave for them to respond to.

To solve the problem, Arjean opened up their sketchbook to a new page and began writing their response. Now it was easier for them to be understood and organize their thoughts. When they were writing, they didn't even have to give Gabbi constant eye contact. Arjean found it a little exciting speaking to someone who was older and sounded really smart. 2 and preschool. I drew Didney Princii and people. They showed her what they wrote down so far, flipped back to their drawings to show it to her, then went back to writing. Yes. Maman, Mommy, Grandy, sister Remi. We can draw. Every time they wrote down a different family member they pointed to them so Gabbi could see who they were talking about. Then Arjean patted the ground where they wanted her to sit and laid out more of her crayons. They didn't bring a second sketchbook, but there shouldn't have been any issue sharing the one book. All Arjean had to do was lay down the book in a way so Gabbi could take one page, and they could take the other.

It took Arjean a moment to realize what she meant by rides. Before today, the only rides Arjean knew of were the ones in cars, or on the backs of their relatives. Now rides meant all sorts of things. The rides Arjean saw so far seemed scary. They were so big, and the lines were long and busy. Though there was one Arjean thought looked fun: the ride with the pretty looking cups that people rode in looked fantastic. But it seemed like some rides seemed to be for bigger kids or more than one person. Yes, Arjean wrote down for her last response before setting up the pages they would both be drawing on.

"Commememorate?" Arjean tried to repeat. Whenever they heard a new word, they liked to repeat it a few times to remember it, but that was usually with adults. Gabbi didn't look much older than them, or at least Junchi, and Junchi didn't use big words like that. They hoped that if they befriended Gabbi, she could teach them a lot of new things.

They decided to focus on the more simpler questions she asked. Since she could understand Oscela and English, Arjean didn't worry much if their writing or speaking switched between those languages. "I like pictures," they responded eagerly. Their family always liked to take pictures, their maman the most. She would dress them up in beautiful clothing and spend the whole day photographing them. Right now, Arjean was wearing a pink and yellow summer dress with a long yellow bow holding their hair up in a ponytail. It was always Arjean or their maman picking their clothes, but now Arjean was trying to act like a big kid like their friends and do everything themself.

Gabbi bringing up stuffed animals made Arjean excitedly drop their crayons and dig into their messenger bag. They then pulled out their Protector Guardians, two dolls almost as big as Arjean named Chaoshag and Mistling. Chaoshag was a pink, black, and white owl with a flowery look to herself. Mistling was a black, blue, and white deer with a large white horn protruding from his. Arjean pointed to each one to introduce their names, then told Gabbi that Remi gave them the dolls.

As Arjean laid their Protector Guardians next to Gabbi so she could get a closer look, they were confused when she asked if it was okay for her to be here. Arjean wanted to answer themself, but she was looking at their family. "It's fine," Remi responded monotonously, tilting her chair back and forth as she supervised the kids. Arjean wasn't sure what to be worried about more, if she would fall out of the chair, or offend Gabbi for how she spoke. Whenever she babysat them outside, they could hear people complaining to her about her apathetic look and way of speaking, but to Arjean all of her emotions were so clear they didn't understand why others couldn't see it. "You're pretty smart, huh? How did you learn Oscela? You don't look oricenta," Remi continued.

Arjean's new friend was overwhelming: she was quick to speak, formed long sentences, and moved at a fast pace. Arjean, on the other hand, didn't talk as much and was more reserved, sticking closely to her sister as she followed Gabbi. That didn't mean they didn't like her, just that she was... different, but in a good way. It made Arjean happy that it seemed like Gabbi liked them too, and Remi looked proud that Arjean was making a new friend.

Arjean wobbled up into a standing position, holding their dolls tightly so they would be in the photo like Gabbi told them. Afterward, Remi escorted Arjean as they followed Gabbi, leaving the rest of their family behind to eat and walk around in separate directions. They were led to a carnival game, but when Arjean realized they forgot their backpack and art supplies they flew back to get them, not thinking to stay in Remi's sight, or even Gabbi's. Fluttering back with their message bag around their body and their dolls laid neatly inside, they were pulled into Remi's arms before being rushed back to where Gabbi was.

It took them a bit to find where she was because she didn't stay in place. Arjean was told that if they got lost they should stay in place, but it was hard for them to remember to stay in one place instead of flying around and calling out for their family. They liked to hide in the trees, underwater, or in snow, and when their Protector Guardians were with them, it was easier for them to calm down and think a little longer.

"I'm so sorry," Remi said to Gabbi. Arjean's new friend looked like she was about to cry. Remi sat her little sibling down and crouched to look at Gabbi at eye level. "We didn't mean to leave you. Are you okay? Looks like you had a friend to protect you." She pointed at the toy mouse she was holding. "We'll stay closer next time, right Arjean?"

Arjean blushed, knowing Remi wasn't too happy with what they did. Avoiding eye contract they said, "Yes, Remi. I'm sorry."