Swings and Childish Things [Bhavya]

[Katrien Lowenthal]

She grinned from ear to ear, well as much as one could as she bounced along, a pep in her step as she looked up and over her shoulder slightly to her steady companion for the extent of her time in the Menagerie this past month or so. She meant, you know, like her nanny back at home? She frowned for only a moment at the thought, a mixture of thoughts of care for the woman who raised her and anger at the deceitful things she thought her parents were. Who they always were! She sighed, shaking her head as she attempted not to spoil her good time as Bhavya had told her she would get to go to the park again -- only one other time had she been there! There was a rusted swing that someone had fixed and a structure to climb and be adventurous on .. and The Menagerie was so .. boring with all it's trees, overgrown buildings and dilapidated structures.

The park had it's own fantasy beauty, in a way, not like anything she had back before this place, a marvelous jungle-gym with tons of nooks and crannys to hide out and see how long it took for her parents to get worried. Though it was always Eloise to come and find her, that woman ALWAYS knew where she was no matter how much she changed it up! It was frustrating.

She squealed in delight as she saw the swing-set and grabbed Bhavya's trunk and tugged, though it was a feeble attempted at the giants size compared to hers as she only ended up leaning forward as her arm held herself up by holding onto his trunk. "Come on! Come on! I can't wait to go on the swing again! Will you push me like you did last time? Pleeease? It was so fun!" she practically squealed with childish glee, forgetting she was a "presentable young lady of four-teen" and loosing her cool to the excitement of being able to play after being ripped out of the normal world.

[Deleted]

Bhavya lumbered behind the young girl in his usual stoic silence, lost in his own thoughts about various things both past and present. It had been so long since he truly had any close interaction with someone as young as Katrien, for the simple fact that it caused so much internal grief. Regardless of the type of child, it never failed that he would see something that reminded him of his own young ones. Even Katrien, this tiny blonde thing that was as far from what his own daughters resembled in both appearance and personality for the most part drew him toward her. He decided it was for the simple fact that he missed being a father and that is what she needed, some sort of adult to guide her. Though so far over the month they had been together she treated him more like a servant than a respected elder. He couldn't really blame the child though, they were from two very different background and one couldn't expect her to understand everything. The coming months will be rather interesting.

"Come on! Come on! I can't wait to go on the swing again! Will you push me like you did last time? Pleeease? It was so fun!"

Katrien's excitement and the tug on his trunk pulled him out of his reverie and brought him into the present. He looked over at the worn swing-set and smiled, they didn't really have luxuries like this where he was from. It was funny how a place like this provided so many things he had lived without.

"Of course, of course." Bhavya gave a deep chuckle at her enthusiasm which turned quickly into a note of seriousness, "We shouldn't stay too long however. There is work that needs to be done back at home. Can't spend all of our time playing."

[Katrien Lowenthal]

At his agreement she let out a short "Yay!" of excitement as she let go of his trunk and had begun to run toward the swing set, although pausing as his deep voice continued on about work, which in turn she pouted as she turned back around, only half way to the swing, with her hands on her hips. "But Bavvie," she said, not having been able to say his real name that well as much as she tried, "we just came from doing chores this morning .. can't we be done for the afternoon? At least until dinner or something?" she said, a small whine creeping into her voice as she pouted up at the giant elephant.

She hadn't really liked the fact that belonging to a Ring meant that she had to do shores and the like, almost liking it before when she was by herself. Well, no ... actually it was way more scary and the only thing that was good about it was that she didn't have to really do any shores but ... she ended up being forced to do things on her own. No one to do them for her and she wasn't all that strong. She remembered vaguely many nights crying for her parents as much as she hated them in the morning. The Menagerie had been a scary place before Bhavya came upon her one day trying to reach fruit from a tree .. his trunk coming above her head to pick the fruit off and hand it to her, she had almost instantly attached herself to the man.

[Deleted]

Bhavya merely shook his head and cast a stern look at the young girl, "You forget that you are not living at home anymore Katrien. Your actions and decisions don't just affect you anymore, but the whole ring. That is part of the price we all pay for being a part of it. We all have to do work in order to keep our group strong and stable." He lumbered forward a few paces before sitting down on the dusty earth. Though he was no longer towering over his companion Bhavya was still eye level with her. With his trunk he motioned over to the swings, "So why don't you stop whining and enjoy the free time you do have. It is privilege enough to have a place like this to enjoy. You are a lucky girl."

He wasn't speaking out of irritation, just simply stating a fact. As odd as it was, Bhavya often came to the conclusion that in situations such as these the children in the Menagerie were in fact lucky. Yes life here was incredibly stressful and difficult at times, but life always is. It was nice that places of reprieve such as this one existed here for them. A place to give inhabitants time to relax and simply enjoy being. Playing in a playground was much more enjoyable than rummaging through a landfill in your spare time at least.

[Katrien Lowenthal]

She huffed, her brows furrowing as the elephant man spoke to her, spoke down to her like she didn't know what was going on. She did know and she didn't need him telling her things like she was an innocent, naive little girl. She wasn't, and the M had proven to strengthen that feeling after she had come here. "I know we have to to work but I'm tired, I'm sore, and I don't want to do anymore!" she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned as she stalked towards the swings, sitting so she was facing away from him as she sighed. She sat a minute, her lip sticking out in a pout before she grabbed the chains and pushed back a little with her feet, though just let her swing move back and forth slower and slower before it stopped.

Repeating the process she looked down at the ground, her feet kicking up dirt as they dragged under the place below the swing as she sat there, her long blonde hair falling over her shoulders and shadowing her face. She was cranky and she just didn't realize really how foolish she was being; though she did know the one thing she didn't want was to work only more.

[Deleted]

Bhavya sat quietly after Katrien's short outburst, watching the girl swing herself halfheartedly and kicking the dirt. He didn't mean to make her mad, it was difficult to relate to her at and harder still to see her as something other than a child. So many little things about her, and all of the children really, reminded him of his own in some way. In any case, it would seem he needed to work on his tactful conversation. Looking down to the dusty ground Bhavya had begun to write in sanskrit with his trunk, writing out the first few lines of a Hindu story in the dirt. Actions like this helped him to collect his thoughts.

"If it is so terrible you could always leave. Was life so much easier when you were on your own?" The anthro rumbled gently, pausing for a moment in his writing to glance up at the girl, "We all do things that we don't really want to do but we do them because it is for the best. We should go through life trying to better the world around us not just for ourselves, but the others we share it with. Take it from someone who has already learned this lesson Katrien." The elephant man resumed his writing and gave a chuckle, "Besides, with all of this work you will eventually become big and strong like me."

[Katrien Lowenthal]

She had let her swing stop, listening to him as she looked to the ground and shivered at the thought of being alone again. Though she mentally calmed herself as she looked over to the elephant man and listened to him, not really replying to him but not really wanting to at the moment either. He was the first person in this world to treat her as an equal, still as a child, but not like she was used to. She sighed then as he went on, saying something about becoming strong like him after he chuckled a bit in humor.

She laughed then too, leaning back far enough on the swing so she could lean her head back and look at the other while upside down. "No one is as strong as you Bavvie .. I could never be that strong!

[/b]" she said as she smiled genuinely, not liking to fight and be upset since she was so used to it in her past.

"... can you push me, Bavvie? You said you would ..," she said asking the other, still hanging upside down from her swing as she watched him.
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