[PRP} Lazy Afternoons.....

[tepidtea]

“Are you sure its done right?” Ziya asked, gray hues looking over his shoulder towards his guardian. They were out at the docks bobber fishing for the first time together. Ziya had found the old fishing rods in the upstairs closet, covered in year’s worth of dust. He’d walked by the docks a few times, seeing fishermen come in and out with hauls of the silvery fiends. So he’d asked Ashton if he’d like to go and with some persuading he managed to get his guardian outside.

“Yes Ziya… its all set up right… you have to be patient…” Came the muffled words of the raven-haired male. He had a hat over his face, arms folded under his head as he lay down on the wooden dock. Having pulled a very long shift last night at work, he wasn’t really into being outside today. However he couldn’t say no to the dusts request; he always had a hard time saying no. They hadn’t been out together in some time, not since that strange run in with the teenage dust. After that encounter, Ashton had been a little leery, wanting to keep Ziya within a safe arm reach. He realized that day what it felt like to be a parent, a scared parent worried about the well being of their child.

”Oh…” Ziya replied, looking back at his little bobber. It bounced in the slight waves, never diving under the water or showing any signs of activity. The dock swayed in a very lulling motion, making even the vibrant little dust a tad sleepy. Sitting cross-legged, he stared out at the vast ocean, seeing little dots of boats in the distance. The smell of t he sea was nice, but not as nice as the smell of an on coming thunderstorm. The sheer electricity in the air made his hair stand on end; it pumped excitement through him and yet calmed him and made him happy all at once.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

Since the acceptance of Oxiin into the family, the Lekan's daily routine had changed drastically... Well, actually it was only really Inge's routine that had undergone new changes. Jeremiah plugged on as per usual, similar to the determined little boat that they lived on, leaving Inge to flounder in the wake of the new life form he had adopted. Whereas before Inge could allow himself some leeway in the time that he woke up, (so long as the boat was ready in time for departure) now he was rudely awoken at the whims of his rusty child. Every day this week the teen had been awoken at obscene times in the morning with a curt tug on his ear and a snappish demand of "Wake up." Today seemed no different and the sharp jab of pain on his ear alongside the boy's voice roused him rudely from his slumber.

"Wha-?" Inge mumbled, blearily looking at his charge who was staring at him from the side of his hammock, a familiar pouty expression on his face. "It's a satur-" his sentence was interrupted by a long yawn, "-day today.. I don't have to get ready." He'd expressed his wish to have a lie-in to Oxiin yesterday evening before they 'd gone to sleep and although the request had been met with slight opposition the child had eventually obliged and now Inge felt a little knot of irritation that Oxiin had gone back on his word. However, he was awake now and there was little point getting angry at the child... Maybe a stern word about respecting promises later on would tackle the issue. For now he'd just get up and get on with it; though he'd go at his own pace, nice and slow - working the aches and pains of the previous day's work out of his system.

Unfortunately, a slow rise also seemed to be denied by the bottle-child as when Inge lowered himself out from his hammock his calloused hand was grasped by Oxiin's soft child sized one and tugged profusely.

"No work, but boy outside!"

At this Inge lofted a brow. Over the past few weeks that Oxiin had taken to settle in he hadn't really shown much interest in anyone outside of Inge and Jeremiah; regarding others that frequented the docks with indifference and occasionally annoyance - expressed to Inge with little whinnies of complaints out of the people's earshot. The fact that Oxiin seemed pretty eager to take Inge to this other child was enough to rouse Inge. Thus, after hastily grabbing some clothes and dressing Oxiin in something more presentable than the massive t-shirt he wore in bed, donated by Jeremiah, the pair ascended to the deck and then stepped onto the pier that the boat was moored to.

Spotting the child Oxiin had mentioned was easy enough; he was splash of vibrant yellow against the pale sun bleached wood of the docks. Beside him was presumably his father, lounging with a hat shading his face. They looked like a happy pair enjoying themselves with a relaxed day of fishing; nothing about them really made it click why Oxiin seemed so eager to go up to them. In fact, now that they were approaching his charge was slipping back looking hesitant.

Rolling his eyes Inge took the initiative and opened up the conversation; "Hello, uh, nice to meet you." Awkward... Yes. But it was better than allowing him and Oxiin to linger there.  

[tepidtea]

The slight movement of the docks lulled Ashton into a half sleeping state, though he was aware of what Ziya was doing. His nerves were still frayed but he didn’t want to worry the smaller over it. Though they had a very lengthy talk about talking to strangers, even if they are dusts, he still worried. Ziya was very trusting; too trusting for his liking but just couldn’t seem to change that fact. Maybe he’d grow out of it, but in ways he didn’t want him too cause Ziya seemed to counter act his negativity and jaded out look.

Hearing the slight creak of the dock, he listened to the footsteps, as they seemed to approach them. He hadn’t bothered to take the hat off his face yet, not to keen on the idea of blinding himself with the offensive sunlight. The stop of the footsteps caught his attention, was it Lan and Kirnn?

At the awkward greeting of a voice unfamiliar to him, Ashton pushed himself up onto his elbows, the hat dropping into his hat. Turning his head to look over at them as best as he could, he blinked his stormy hues. The tired looking hints of rings around his hues were partly shielded by the messy locks of black. An eyebrow arched for a moment, and then looked over at Ziya, who piped up to break the silence.

”Hello!” Ziya chirped, looking at the older male then the spiky haired child. He could sense that he too was a dust quite like himself. “Nice to meet you too! I’m Ziya and this is Ashton!” he beamed happily to the others, who seemed a little awkward. Why be awkward? They wouldn’t bite! Or well Ziya knew he wouldn’t, Ashton on the other hand could be a little grumpy.

“Have you come to fish too?” The yellow haired boy asked politely, eager to have someone his age possibly to talk to.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

Inge was quietly pleased when his rather flat greeting was responded to with a beaming smile and a chirpy reply. Evidently being walked up to by a stranger wasn't at all weird to the peppy little child and at this acceptance Inge's stuffy body language relaxed and he returned the smile, nudging Oxiin slightly forward in an attempt to get him to introduce himself; It was him after all who had been so keen to meet the other child. However, judging by the nervous stance of the russet haired child and the nervous scratching of his rusted arm Inge assumed that traces of wariness still lingered in the child and decided that perhaps setting a good example and introducing himself would further prompt Oxiin to say hello at the very least.

"Hello Ziya, I'm Inge." After he'd spoken he examined the boy's parent and smiled politely. He certainly wasn't as chatting as his son and by the looks of it he was content sitting there without conversation as he hadn't expressed much interest in them other than raising himself to look at them.

Whilst his adopted parent did the talking Oxiin was busy examining the other child through his large brown eyes. Something about him felt familiar. Not like the familiarity that he could associate Inge or Jeremiah with, but a more instinctive feeling.. That, alongside something akin to a mixture of butterflies in his stomach and the light brush of static on his skin*. All in all in was very peculiar and enough to make the Oxiin quite apprehensive towards Ziya. However, nothing in the other's bright smile seemed dangerous or bad so he did as his Inge was hoping and followed in the introductions.

"I'm Oxiin." He spoke quietly, stepping forward from behind where he had been moderately sheltered by Inge. Now that they were all acquainted the nervousness was somewhat dispelled, yet a tickle of the butterflies still remained, Oxiin looked at the rod with it's gaudy bobber before glancing back up at Inge. "Inge fishes. I don't. Fish smell bad." He grimaced as he stated the facts, crinkling up his nose to fully express his dislike towards them.  

[tepidtea]

Sparing the other a half smile, he sleepily rubbed at his eyes with the heel of his hand, the other propping him up better. Setting the hat off to the side, he figured these two weren’t too much of a threat, seemed a lot more like him and Ziya were. Nothing seemed too bizarre about them, perhaps this child was too a dust and senses Ziya? It wouldn’t be the first time someone sensed the electric boy. He was like a little magnet.

When the two introduced themselves, he looked over to the smaller boy who stated his dislike for fish. “Well if I had to smell them everyday I wouldn’t like them either,” He said to Oxinn, a slight smile on his face.

“Oh! Nice to meet you guys!” Ziya chirped again, totally losing interest in his fishing fast. “You fish Inge? That’s cool! Today’s my first time fishing! Are there lots of fishies by the dock? Cause I haven’t even gotten a bite! Is it fun going on a Boat? I’ve never been on a boat either!” He said with a bright smile.

”Don’t over load them with questions Ziya… take a breath….” Ashton smiled a little at the electric dust who had fallen into his habit of talking a mile a minute. Ziya was always big on meeting new people and always got along with most right away. Forming relationships were just as easy for him as it was as taking a breath of air. He had to admit it was a very good trait and skill to have, he’d have no problems later on socially, or so he hoped.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

Ziya’s father figure seemed to agree with Oxiin and thus the rust child warmed to him slightly; perhaps he wasn’t as solitary and shady as he’d first appeared? He nodded in response and nudged at the dock’s floor with a toe. “He goes out most days and comes back smelling bad.” He shot a glance at Inge after complaining, making certain that he was hearing his protests and would take note in the future and harbour a less putrid odour when he returned from sorting the catch. However, the teen was quite busy with the yellow haired youth’s bombardment of questions and hadn’t seemed to have heard even a hint of Oxiin’s moan. He didn’t like that.

“Yes, I do it for a living. Uh, that nice having any lu- Oh, you’re not.. Well there are plenty of fish but you have to keep qui- Um.. I suppose it’s fun, when the weathers nice..” He garbled, trying to keep up with the questions as they came... But failing rather miserably and confusing him somewhat... The little child seemed almost as electric as his vibrant blond hair! It was no wonder that he hadn’t caught anything if he was this bouncy all the time! The fisherman let out a quiet sigh of relief when Ashton calmly told the boy to be slower and less yippy with his questions... Inge didn’t mind but he would appreciate extra time t actually answer the queries.

“We could join in with you with the fishing if you’d like?” Inge suggested, fixing a smile onto his face. It would be good for Oxiin to socialise with kids of his own age after all; growing up alone in a boat would do him no favours! He beamed at Oxiin and was met with a pouty expression and knitted brows. “You’d, uh, like that wouldn’t you Oxiin?”

Actually Oxiin didn’t want that... The tingly child had already stolen his carer’s attention and he was no longer in the mood to investigate or socialise. However, he knew better than to throw a strop in front of strangers so he simply crossed his one good arm across his chest and gave a sulky nod of confirmation... Hopefully it wouldn’t last long.

“Uh, ok... I’ll fetch our rods. Play nicely while I’m gone...”