That's My Lany

Writers: Jelena, Suzee
Date Posted: 9th July 2012

Characters: Veerona, Jylanya, Naton
Description: The three of them go on a little boat trip.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 9, day 4 of Turn 6
Notes: Mentioned: Irabel

Jylanya

Jylanya held Veerona's hand with one of hers and the other held a
basket of supplies. Today was going to be an adventure. She had even
dressed the both of them in trousers instead of their normal skirts.
She exited the hall and went down the stairs and around toward the
dock. The morning was fresh and clear with just a light breeze.

"Good Morning," she called as they walked toward Naton.

She felt a little funny wearing pants, but she had seen plenty of the
female dolphineers wearing them so she supposed it was okay. And Lany
had some too. Keeping hold of her hand, she followed while looking
around at everything, keeping note of the differences in her environment before
stopping and looking up at Naton.

"Well, if it isn't my two most favorite girls," Naton said with a wide
grin as he turned to look at them. He did like the look of Jylanya in
those pants. Then again, he liked the look of anything on her. Or off,
but that still felt like something he had to earn first.

"Are you girls ready to go?" he asked as he gestured at the small
boat. "It's going to be a lovely day out, according to our dolphin
friends."

Jylanya smiled at the big Dolphineer. "I think we are," she put a
hand on the top of her wide brimmed hat. "Well except for Vee's
floaties. We'll have to put those on."

She almost said 'do we have to' but figured if it meant a boat ride,
she'd keep her mouth shut. "Not too tight, okay?" she asked
plaintively. The things could get so tight and she couldn't move her
arms and she
hated them. It would be good if she could get one of those suits with
a tube built in. Marco had one.

"Well we have to put them on so they don't come off if you get in the
water." Jylanya smiled at Naton. She hoped he would put Vee aboard
because she didn't think she had the coordination to lift her from the
dock to the little ship without falling in herself. But she wasn't
going to let the girl see her own
hesitation.

"As far as floaties go, at least yours look really nice, Vee," Naton
said with a smile and a thumbs up as encouragement. He could
understand why they frustrated her.

"Yeah yeah..." she mumbled, but she'd accept having to put them on
since indeed it seemed necessary for the ride. "Is this a boat with a
paddle?"

"It is, how very observant of you," Naton said, obviously very pleased
with the question. "Permission to
lift milady aboard?" he asked of Vee with a grin, before he even dared
making a move towards her. She may be warming up to him, but he wasn't
about to touch her without her consent.

"Okay..." she said hesitantly, her wanting to be on the boat winning
out over other concerns.

After he had Vee aboard the small craft she reached for his hand to
step across herself. Once she was aboard she sat carefully in the
center of the seat and pulled the little girl into her arms. "This is
going to be fun."

"I hope so!" Naton said with a grin as he seated himself to do the
paddling. "Let's just paddle along the shore for a while until we find
a nice beach. Does that sound alright to the both of you?"

Adjusting herself on Jylanya's lap so she could see plenty and be
comfortable, Vee leaned back
against her fostermother. The sun was awful bright, but she couldn't
help but want to see everything. She didn't answer Naton's question
since she didn't really know the right answer. Her hand reached for
the small water bottle they always brought and she put it to her
mouth, sipping. It was so hot and these silly pants made it even
hotter.

"It sounds lovely to me," she smiled at Naton. His enthusiasm was so
infectious she couldn't help but go
along with his schemes. She adjusted her position a little so the
shade of her wide brimmed hat
fell over the little girl in her lap too.

"Perfect!" Naton said with a grin as he started to paddle. "Do you
know any good songs, Vee, to cheer me on?"

Jylanya couldn't tell from the way the little girl was leaning against
her whether or not she was just a little timid to sing. So, she
offered something else. "Vee's been getting swimming lessons from
Irabel, and she's doing great!"

"Yeah and I didn't even have to wear my floaties!" she chimed in. Her
face immediately became animated as she realized she had so much to
tell about. "I went for my first dolphin ride and EVERYTHING!"

"Well that's great!" Naton replied enthusiastically, as he paddled the
boat a little further from shore before he started to follow the
coastline. "I told you it wouldn't be long. Which dolphin was it?
Kerchek?"

"Yep. I seen him and 'Bel had him come over so I could ride." Of
course she forgot how unsure she had been about the whole thing at
first now that she was a real dolphin rider!

Jylanya tilted an amused smile over the girls head at Naton. She was
very proud of the way Vee had opened up recently. The timid little
waif she'd been before was becoming the brave girl in her
arms. Nothing made a parental heart swell more. She dropped a kiss on
the little head. "You're so brave."

"You are indeed, Veerona," Naton chimed in. "I bet you'll be swimming
with a lot of dolphins soon. If you ever want to swim with Capey and
Bit, after you've finished your lessons with Irabel, just ask. I'm
sure they would be thrilled to go for a ride with you."

Subsiding from her declaration, she nodded and began to look out at
the water. There was a light breeze blowing so it wasn't too horribly
hot in the trousers, but it wasn't comfortable either. She went back
to her water bottle. Leaning into Jylanya, it wasn't hard to see that
she could fall asleep at some point, but she was trying to get through
to the picnic at least since she was hungry.

"Oh, is that it?" Naton had described to her the area where they were
going to go and the stretch they were coming to certainly looked like
his description.

"That is a keen observation, milady," Naton grinned cheerfully. "It is
what I had in mind. Does it live up
to your expectations, or should I paddle onwards?"

"It's beautiful," she responded. "Perfect," the white sandy beach in
the little cove was protected from the waves and shaded by a hill and
multiple trees.

As soon as they landed, Veerona got loose and headed out of the boat.
She splashed into the water a little bit but waded to shore,
triumphantly. Remembering she might have been supposed to wait for the
adults, she turned back with a sheepish look.

Naton got out of the boat right after Veerona and offered Jylanya a
hand to help her out, while keeping an eye on the little girl. He
didn't really see it as his place to reprimand the girl when Jylanya
was right there, nor did he really see her getting out of the boat
ahead of them as a big problem. It wasn't as if she
had gone out into the sea.

"Vee...," she started as the girl escaped her arms and her heart
pounded in her chest for a moment. But then the girl turned around
with a contrite look and she just shook her head. "You must be more
careful dear," she said with half a smile. She took Naton's hand and
stepped out of the boat onto the beautiful beach.

"You reckon there might be some good shells?" the girl asked as she
bent down to inspect some of the ones she could already see.

"Yes, I think there will. But let's have lunch first ok?" Jylanya
winked and nodded at the girl. She knew
how quickly her little agenothree tank seemed to empty and the time
was coming up fast when she'd have a rumbly in her tumbly.

Making a point of breathing heavy, Vee nodded. "'Kay." Trudging up the
shore to a spot, she waited for the others to bring the picnic stuff.
Looking around, she didn't see much else worth investigating just then
anyway.

Jylanya let Naton bring the heavier things and she grabbed the blanket
to walk just up the beach and lay it in a nice patch of shade. "Over
here," she waved to him after she had it spread out.

"Perfect!" Naton smiled as he made his way over the sand to blanket,
putting down the basket at his feet when he reached Jylanya and Vee.
"Now what did you bring us, Lany?"

Hearing Naton use her own nickname for Jylanya, Veerona wasn't sure
how she felt about that. She became almost angry at his familiarity.
That was her Lany, not his! Standing there, she didn't come closer.
Her sturdy little body was held rigid, though, and her little fists
were curled. It would be easy to tell
something was wrong, but she didn't say anything as her eyes flashed.

Seeing the stiff little body Jylanya knew that something was wrong but
not quite what. "What's the matter honey," she reached out and pulled
the child into her arms. She'd never had a chance to be a real mother
before and her heart had latched on to Veerona with all the love a
mother could give.

At that point if she had been a little younger, she might have stuck
her tongue out at Naton. She was learning about manners just then,
though, so she just gave him a look after wrapping herself quickly
around Jylanya. She didn't say anything, however.

"Was it something I did?" Naton asked curiously, looking a but unsure
of himself. The way Veerona
was glaring at him made it pretty clear it was something he had done,
but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what.

Not really wanting to speak to the dolphineer at the present time, Vee
whispered into Jylanya's ear
instead. "I don't want him to call you Lany too."

And the light dawned. "I love you," she whispered back. She hugged the
little girl and laid her cheek against the small head. "I think Lany
is a special name like mommy would be." She looked at Naton, eyes
pleading for his understanding. "So maybe, another nickname would be good."

Naton looked a bit confused for a moment. "Oh, right, I'm sorry
Veerona, I didn't know it was that special to you." He wasn't sure if
he was all for agreeing with her little mood swing there just like
that, but Jylanya was her parent and he really couldn't do much else
than agree with her. "I'll try not to use it
again."

She continued to grab on for awhile then hunger got the better of her
and she reached out to pop some of the fruit into her mouth. Out of
the corner of her eye she watched Naton from time to time.

She smiled softly at the dolphineer. "You can call me Jyl." It wasn't
her first choice but would sound ever so much better coming from his
lips than her late husband's.

Last updated on the July 17th 2012

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That's My Lany