The Holidaze (Part 2)
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The trip to Arcadia from the Gateway was not short, especially since traditional scramblers were still considered too noisy for Riparian Earth, which meant that Director Kline was left utilizing one of the Unity Programme's dirigibles. Although they came in many sizes, she didn't require anything large-- just enough to transport herself and her daughter.
Raine, the half-Human, half-Ikali bundle of joy who accompanied her on her latest outing had her muzzle plastered to the view port facing their destination. "Mom! Mom! Look! That's Arcadia right there!"
Angie Mae smiled, moving to stand behind her daughter. At twelve, Raine had an inquisitive streak twice her size and, despite having more growing to do, both her body and her curiosity would only increase. The Director rested a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Yes it is... but remember: the aerodrome is on the far side."
The Otter girl was undeterred. "But our house is on THIS side. Can't we just land here?"
Minimizing her smile, Angie Mae considered it a teaching moment. "No, we can't. Not only is it against protocol, but there isn't enough room to-- what did your father do?!?"
In the middle of explaining why air travel had distinct start-and-stop locations, Angie Mae's train of thought came to a halt the moment she saw the veritable spiderwebs of green cords running all over their home. Poking out of the cord like a plethora of leaves on a vine were innumerable, multicolored light bulbs and, despite the fact that dusk was still a good half hour away, they were blazing brightly for the entire neighborhood to see.
Raine was completely undeterred, addressing the point of landing her mother had made. "Oh... good point. We'll need more than three square feet to land.... it's a shame our back yard isn't a full back kilometer."
Having inherited most of her physiology from her father, Raine's love of wordplay was another gift from Anin. Angie Mae was well used to living in a house with two Otters who incessantly stressed the English language to its breaking point but, in that moment, she didn't so much as remark appreciatively of the dual use of 'yard', instead stating "I can't believe he did ALL OF THAT in three days."
The trip to Water Earth was quick in the scheme of things as Director Kline had an issue to address at the Phin summit with the four Phin races passing a directive to allow Tikk to emigrate to Land Earth, but, despite Anin saying something about wanting to experience more Human holidays alongside his family, Angie Mae never expected something quite so... extravagant. Yes, she decided, she would settle on the word 'extravagant'.
The blimp landed less than twenty minutes later, at which point a driver with a ground transport arrived to pick her up. The driver, Konrad, was a recent graduate of the Centre who had been assigned to her specifically due to his high scores in Ikali studies. "Good to see you again, Director."
Angie Mae helped Raine into the vehicle then slid in beside her daughter. "Thanks. You too, Konrad. How are you and Vaea?"
Like her, Konrad had found love among the Ikali; while Anin, her husband was a Lokali, the second largest of the Otter folk, Konrad's girlfriend was a Sakali, and almost the same height as a shorter Human. Vaea, also unlike Anin, was a little more down to Earth and nowhere near hyperactive. Konrad, of course, didn't miss the strain in Angie Mae's voice. "Good... we are good. She Also decorated for Christmas... but nowhere nearly as much as Mr. Swiftbrow-Kline did."
Raine was twice as happy. "Did you see our house, Mr. Bauer? Did you? Did you?"
Konrad laughed. "Naturlich, Katzchen! Jeder kann es sehen!"
In response to Konrad speaking his native language, Raine switched over seamlessly. "Es ist so schon!"
German was one of several Human languages Angie Mae had taught her daughter, but she pulled the conversation back to English. "Yes, it is beautiful... but I can't even begin to imagine how or WHY he would do something like that!"
Konrad's laughter trailed off and he glanced at her in the rear view mirror. "You should see the INSIDE of the house, Director... he learned all about Christmas traditions, but I'm sure he didn't pay attention to all of the little details."
Raine let out a squee. "Let me guess..."
Angie Mae didn't give her a chance to speak by herself, and they said the word in unison. "Stockings."
The Director let out a long sigh when Konrad's grin widened. "I don't have many nice pair of pantyhose... he and I are going to have to have a LOOOOONNNNNNNG talk."
The vehicle pulled up to the curb outside the house and, as Angie Mae got out, looking at the gaudy display of what she could only describe as a 'Christmas mummy equivalent', she still couldn't help but smile as the house's front door opened, revealing Anin with a huge smile, holding a mug of what looked like steaming hot chocolate in either paw, and wearing a lopsided Santa hat. Letting out a sigh, she simply shook heard head back and forth, rolling her eyes as she was forced to admit "It's good to be home."
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