To Boldly Go Where No Aoife Has Gone Before...

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 3:26am by Cailus Griffin & Eva Griffin
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 5:56am

Mission: New Moon Rising
Location: Wicklow, Ireland, Earth
Timeline: Shortly after "The Tale of the Wounded Table"

With Shae away at Starfleet Intelligence, Cailus and Anna had decided that Aoife needn't have to stay at home just because her mother was away. Thus, with some encouragement, Aoife was placed into an old family pram and the three of them set off for Wicklow itself. The walk was pleasant enough, with various other children enjoying the warm weather. The ever-curious toddler, proving just as much an explorer as her mother, was moving quite a bit in her pram with so much around her.

Glancing at Anna, Cailus shook his amusement as he crouched down in front of the pram. Wagging a finger in front of Aoife to catch her attention, he smiled. "How are you doing, Aoife?" he asked the little one.

Cailus' supposition that Aoife was more intelligent than she appeared was spot on; it was true she didn't know how to talk yet, or even understand what the adults were saying half of the time, but it wasn't for any lack of intelligence and she could still recognize her name and understand that Cailus was getting her attention and asking her something. Unable to understand what he was asking or even how to reply, all she did was held out her arms; this pram was fun to ride in for a moment, but she was already bored with it. Besides, she all she could see from this strange device were people's backsides...

"I suppose I should've seen that coming," Cailus chuckled. He took the little girl up in his arms and straightened up, arranging her so that she had an ideal view of their surroundings. Wicklow's small town centre was thrumming with activity in the pleasant weather, with even a few children running around nearby. "Better?" he asked, watching everything right along with her.

Aoife made no attempt at a response, but she was much more pleased with where she was now, her eyes bright with curiosity, her ears were standing tall and listening to all kinds of new and exciting things, and her little tail was wiggling with excitement. Though now that Cailus was holding her, he could feel just how frail she was; she had been so thin when she was brought to the Tornado, little more than skin and bones, and though she had put on some weight, she was still so thin, barely any muscle to her, which explained the little therapeutic exercises Shae did with her to get her limbs moving and building muscle.

"Yeah, I didn't think she'd go for it either," Anna said with a grin. "We're not far from my shop, I can go tuck this away so we don't have to push it around with us," she suggested, changing directions to take the pram to floral shop.

"Go ahead," Cailus acknowledged with a distracted frown. He had been expecting Aoife to be quite heavy, but instead she was painfully light. Victoire had been much heavier when she'd been Aoife's size, but then again, Victoire had also been running around with other children by that point.

That simple comparison, coming so quickly that it caught him by surprise, brought a fresh stab of pain that Cailus hadn't expected; in an instant, the control slipped. Looking around, he strode swiftly to a nearby bench and carefully sat down, Aoife still perched in his arms, before allowing the pain to hit full bore. It had only taken one small thing: the memory of picking up Victoire after the first day school, the image of her crystal clear in his mind.

At the edge of a thriving playground two young parents stood, the man's arm around his wife's shoulder, watching the playing children in quiet contentment along with dozens of other parents. The day was cold, the sky stone grey, but even with their thick coats the children ran and played with that wild enthusiasm only children possessed. All of a sudden, one of the smaller girls, no older than five, spotted the two adults and stopped in her tracks. With wide eyes and a wider smile, she sprinted directly for her parents, arms raised over her head with joy at the day's triumphs.

"Mama!" Victoire cried as she ran, her French accent just beginning to develop. "Papa!"

In reality, Cailus took a ragged breath, still clutching Aoife as he stared aimlessly into the distance. Control. It was all about control. The moisture in his eyes threatened to erupt, but he tensed, fighting to stay strong. For Aoife.

Aoife was quite confused by his sudden change in composure, and like her mother, her ears were quite keen, so she could hear his heart racing. And that aimless stare... Aoife was still learning what it meant to be happy, but that did not look like a happy face! She tried leaning her head against his chest as she had done once before, but it did not seem to be helping. In fact, he didn't seem to notice at all, so to get his attention, she gave him a couple pats to his shoulder as she made a sort of chirping sound.

"Hm?" Cailus was actually confused by the sound for a moment before realising it was coming from Aoife. Turning her around to face back at him, Cailus attempted a broken smile. Wiping his eyes and clearing his throat, he said "Sorry, Aoife. I'm not doing a good job taking care of you, am I?"

Aoife could see his attempt to smile, but even she could tell that wasn't a real smile. And he was crying; had she made him cry? Her ears drooped and her tail stopped wagging; Aoife didn't want to be the reason he was sad! With another chirp she nuzzled against him, trying to put her arms around him for one of those hug things everyone was always giving her.

Chuckling softly, Cailus hugged her, Aoife's tail ticking his hand lightly. It felt similar to Mars, when it had felt like Shae and Aoife were physically holding him together, and it was a painful reminder that he shouldn't take his control for granted. It was a grim thought that his immediate future could turn into this: simply feeling that awful, constricting pain at random intervals. Cailus had been better on the Tornado, hadn't he? Before Sophia forced him to confront the truth? Before Shae?

No. Perhaps not.

With a sigh, Cailus stood back up. Tapping his thumb lightly on the tip of Aoife's nose, he made a comical "bop!" sound. "Thank you, little one. You really are your mother's daughter," he said with a genuine, warm look. Glancing around, he noticed Anna on her way back. "Now, then, how about we go exploring? Your grandma and I can show you a beach!" He accentuated the word 'beach' with a sense of wonder, his eyebrows raising in emphasis.

Aoife scrunched up her nose, looking up at him with confusion; her mother had made a similar gesture before when she was growling, but Cailus did not sound like he was scolding her! And she did not know what 'beach' was, but she liked the way he sounded when he said it! Aoife's ears perked up when she finally noticed Anna returning; yay, the cookie lady, maybe she has more cookies!

"Alright, that's done, now let's see if we can-" Anna stopped short when she noticed Cailus' eyes, slightly red and puffy. "Are you alright, dear?" she asked, sounding concerned.

Blinking his eyes rapidly, Cailus attempted and failed to smile, instead grimacing. "I'll be fine," he reassured Anna, shifting Aoife's weight slightly. "Just memories. You were saying?"

Anna gave Cailus a comforting pat on the shoulder. "As long as you're okay," she said with an understanding nod. "Now, are you ready for the transport to the beach?"

"Not quite." Pulling a small mini-PaDD from his pocket, Cailus glanced down at the back of Aoife's head meaningfully. "If you want to take her, I'll record you both as we transport. Shae will love to have a holovid of Aoife's first time at the beach, right from her initial reaction."

"A wonderful idea," Anna replied with a smile, taking Aoife from his arms. "Let's go, little one, we're going to the beach!" she said to get Aoife excited. They came up to the transporter station and gave their location to the operator, then in a wash of blue light, they were on the boardwalk bordering the beach. Aoife had seen a beach in the holodeck before, but it lacked the smells and sounds and everything that reality had to offer, so her eyes were wide with wonder, her ears and nose full of so much information! Pausing to make sure Cailus was recording, Anna finally made her way down the beach to the water where there waves were breaking gently over the soft white sand. Anna removed Aoife's little shoes and socks, tucking them into a bag slung over her shoulder, then she lowered Aoife to let the water wash over her tiny feet. Aoife squeaked in surprise, drawing her feet closer to her body, but then finally lowered them to let water touch her. Anna then dared to let Aoife's weight rest on her tiny feet, and Aoife's bowed little legs started to fold as if to sit, but after a couple of tries Anna got her legs to support her, standing in the surf to watch as little shells dug themselves out of the sand when the water receded. Aoife was full of excitement and wonder, she could finally no longer contain little squeals of delight as she watched it all.

At that sight, Cailus couldn't help but laugh himself. The midday sun blazed away in the teal sky directly above, the vast beach all theirs to explore with the water almost at its highest point. For away to the left, atop a peninsula, the town of Taranto could be discerned atop the horizon. Setting the camera to hover and auto-record the trio, Cailus walked up next to Aoife and crouched down next to her, running his fingers through the water. It was taking a degree of effort to remain focused, to simply enjoy the moment without allowing anything else to intrude.

"How is it Aoife?" he asked with half-forced cheer.

Aoife's cheer was pure and genuine, and finally a bright smile graced her adorable features; truly she was grinning from ear to ear, clapping her hands to show her excitement. Then, heedless of the fact that she was still wearing her dress, she let herself flop right down on her backside so she could dig into the sand with her hands, pulling up little shells with wriggling mollusks inside them, squeaking in surprise and dropping the shells when they wriggled in her hands.

"Oops," Anna said with a chuckle, pulling the little sundress over Aoife's head to reveal that she had been wearing a brightly colored swimsuit all along. They could lay out the dress to dry later, but at least Aoife was having fun...

"I think we have a mermaid here," Cailus said, shaking his head with a grin, still crouching in the receding surf beside the giddy child. He glanced out at the sea, the Mediterranean just as blue as it had always been with the sound of Aoife's merriment ringing out in the calm of the seaside. Cailus' eyes still felt slightly sore, even a little itchy, but he forced himself to ignore them. Looking back at Aoife, he playfully splashed a bit of water from a puddle onto her feet.

"I think you may be right," Anna said in agreement, watching with merriment as Aoife played in the surf. Cailus' little splashes incited more excited noises from Aoife. "Such a beautiful sound... it's a shame Shae had to miss this, but she'll be delighted to see the recording you've made." Cailus was a wonder to this family; he could so easily bring joy to Shae and Aoife, and considering what little Shae had told the family about Aoife and what Anna had witnessed herself, to see the child smiling now was nothing short of a miracle, and that made Cailus truly special in her eyes...