Chapter 42: A Family Day Out
For the first time since summer started it was partially cloudy out, and Mew and Maria were outside their house working on the garden. Though this was just a time waster. They were waiting for someone's arrival.
Maria patted the dirt down until the surface was nice and smooth. Then she stood up, right into Mew's hand on her shoulder.
"Alright the seeds are planted, now watch this..." Mew extended his other hand out and from the ground grew tiny green sprouts that quickly blossomed into grape vines.
Mew stuck a wooden stake in so the grapes would wrap around them, and soon would give them a ripe bounty of green ones. The two of them plucked one off each and took a bite.
"Mmm!" Went Maria, "Juicy!"
"A-yep! Now obviously when you plant your own someday this'll take a few months," Mew bit his grape with a smile and said in a muffled tone, "But for now just enjoy the shortcuts!"
They snacked on grapes for a bit until Mew flinched and turned his head back around, "Ah there she is!"
Kairi dropped out of the sky in loose fabric shorts and a sleeveless green shirt, huffing and puffing with exhaustion upon landing, "S-Sorry I'm late...You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get away from Shina..."
"Aye you made it undetected, good job!" Mew clapped his hands twice and Maria aped him quietly.
Kairi wiped the sweat off her brow and raised her head high, "Y-Yeah well...the clouds helped."
Mew and her stared at each other for a few moments before blinking. With a slight blush on their parts Mew rubbed the back of his head and chuckled, "S-So should I...?"
"N-No I should..."
The two paused to take a deep breath and let their thoughts out together.
"Sorry for being a massive, lying horndog." "I'm sorry that we all stampeded over your back when you feel face-first into the sand."
Mew glanced aside and muttered, "Yeah that was a dick move."
The moment she went "Huh?" Mew's face lit up and he chuckled, "A-Apology accepted!"
"I guess I accept yours too then..." Kairi said, her blush only getting darker.
"Right! So!" Mew hammered his open palm with a fist and turned to Maria, "Tell 'mama' where you wanted to go today Maria."
"The Zoo!" She replied, her eyes all aglow.
"T-The Zoo?" Kairi's own eyes got this faint glow to them and as Mew began to smirk, she stroked the back of her hair and remarked, "I...heard about them once. That's all."
"Ah huh," Mew said dully before snapping his fingers upside his shoulder, "Well I know just the place to go. Come on! A day of fun awaits!"
After he surrounded them in a cloud and camouflaged into the sky they made their way due west, to a city whose most prominent landmark is a giant dome where comedians perform, hockey is played, and people tend to just go and relax. The city sits next to a massive sea that eventually connects to Seattle, and is also surrounded in hills.
They weren't going to the city itself though, but rather further north, atop one of those hills. There they'd find a place called the "Point Defiance Zoo". After assessing the large groups of people taking advantage of the nice weather Mew found the perfect spot for them to land among the trees, and then they casually waltzed out towards the entrance.
"Whoo, nice and bright up here!" Mew said, shading the gleam of the sun with his hand.
"Good thing I wore light clothes today..." Kairi let out a heavy breath. Between them, Maria was looking a little sweaty already.
Mew reached into his back pocket and pulled out a rolled up straw hat, patting it onto her head and saying, "Here I snagged this out of Alura's closet to keep you cool."
Maria grabbed the sides of the hat down and beamed a smile his way.
"Joe and Alura didn't want to come with?" Kairi remarked.
"Oh," Mew shrugged his shoulders, "Nah, they had other things to do."
Meanwhile back at the house...
Joe Dark and Alura dragged themselves down the stairs and into the living room. After he smacked his lips to wake up he turned his glazed eyes to the clock and muttered, "Noon already...?"
Alura stretched her arms up with a mighty yawn and part of her shirt slumped off her shoulder, "Joe Dark...I want food."
"So do I..." As his eyes got into focus he noticed a certain...emptiness in the house, "Mew."
He looked around some more and exclaimed "MEW!" as he wandered around, happening upon a note on the table. He took a long look at it.
"Hey lazy bones, me and Maria are going out with Kairi today. Feel free to eat what you want, but don't break my stove again :). Your loving brother, Mew."
He crumpled the note between his fingers and muttered, "Goddamn it Mew."
Back with Mew...
Mew cracked a wobbly grin and Kairi glanced him to say, "Meeeeeeew..."
"I-It should just be the three of us anyways!" He replied hastily.
"I guess you're right..." As Kairi settled her hands into her pockets she turned her head, slowly then quickly, as she just noticed Maria running ahead of them to the entrance.
"Maria! Wait up!" She sprinted after her and Mew followed suit at a brisk pace, chuckling all the while.
They got to the entrance and Mew bought their tickets in after a bit of a wait. Once inside Maria was allowed to go ahead a short distance and take her first look at just how diverse the animal kingdom can be.
And her first move was to run up the end of the plaza and hop atop the stone perch overlooking the rest of the zoo.
"Eeek!" Kairi flinched and her attempt to go to her resulted in Mew clamping her down by the shoulder.
"Relax she'll be fine."
"But-" Kairi turned back with a frightened look in her eyes and Mew could only smile at that.
"We didn't come here to have a panic attack. Let her explore a bit. Stretch her legs."
"I just don't want her jumping into an animal's den..."
"Hahaha, I think most of the animals here should worry about her, not the other way around." Mew let go when her tension settled down a bit.
Maria ran back over to them and pulled out a fold-up map they got at the entrance. She scanned it over thoroughly a few times while Mew bent down beside her to help.
"Do you know where you want to go?"
Kairi bent down on the other side and noted, "It looks like there's only one route."
"Yeah starting out, but then you can go left or right," He said, pointing at the map, "Eventually making a complete loop back to start!"
"Then, can we go here first?" Maria pointed to the area marked "Kids' Zone" left of where they were.
"Sure! And remember, if you need to know anything about animals..." Mew stood up and proudly pointed a thumb at his chest, "I'm your guy!"
"Oh god..." Kairi muttered in a horrified tone.
They made their way to the first location and saw a rocky habitat where a bunch of small furry, sand-colored creatures scurried about. Maria tried to peek over the railing but instead Mew got her up on his shoulders.
"These are Merekats. They're normally found in Africa."
"Aff-ric-ka?" Maria tried to repeat.
"Its another continent like North America," Mew jostled her a bit playfully and said, "See that's the cool thing about Zoos, they allow people to see animals they normally wouldn't be able to."
A few Merekats went up to the rock closest to the railing and stood on their tiny hind legs, peeking at the gathered crowd of kids and parents with their little eyes.
"Hahaha, they look like a bunch of furry hot dogs." Maria said.
"You know why they do that?" Mew asked, and she shook her head.
"That's what they do when they're on alert, or are curious. Merekat tend to be cautious creatures and will dig dozens of tunnels underground to escape their predators."
Kairi smiled and slowly nodded her head.
Mew threw his pointer fingers up and remarked, "But if they are cornered, a dozen of them can connect head-to-foot into a giant wheel and roll their enemies over!"
"Oh wow!" As Maria's eyes lit up, Kairi's expression crashed into a gawking form.
When they got to the goat pen...
"Goat horns can fire off like boomerangs to collect fruit off of tall trees!"
Then the wallabie one...
"Much like their older brothers, the Kangaroos, Wallabies can fire off miniature clones of themselves from their pouches!"
And then to the lizards building...
"So you see how those chameleons change colors?" Mew pointed at the brown pivoted eye creature on the tree, "That signifies what kind of elements they can shoot from their eyes!"
"Ok that's it!" Kairi exclaimed, drawing the attention of the people nearby but more importantly, making Mew shut up.
"Eyes lasers? Deployable clones? Horn boomerangs?! Fake fake fake all of it fake!" Kairi crossed then swung her arms out, dropping to her knees next to Maria and taking her by the back.
"You see those chameleons?" She said in a more calm tone, "They change color to blend into the environment and avoid detection from predators."
"Really?" Asked Maria, turning her head towards Mew, while Kairi glared at him.
Mew turned his head aside with his hands held behind it and muttered, "Yeah its true..."
He puckered his lips and muttered even quieter, "But it'd be so much cool with eye lasers..."
Maria's eyes lit up cowards the caged lizards and she proclaimed, "Camouflage is much cooler than eye lasers!"
And it was like an arrow to Mew's heart, "GCKK!"
Alas, he'd been defeated by facts and logic. It was fun while it lasted though...
He shut his mouth the rest of the way through the reptilian section as Kairi filled Maria's brain with not as fun or interesting facts. Once they were outside though Mew grabbed Maria by the hand and looked her in the eyes to say, "Alright I know I messed up but I do know of some legitimately cool animals."
As they began to wander off Maria pointed forward. There was this glossy looking blue bird with a bunch of long feathers attached to its tail just...strutting its stuff on the trail.
"Oh hey, speaking of cool animals!" Mew stopped them there to watch and observe the docile bird turn its head on a pivot. A couple kids tried to approach it but it hastened its strut into the grass.
"What is that?" Asked Maria.
"One of the prettiest birds alive, the peacock!"
"Shouldn't...it like, be in a cage?" Kairi wondered.
"Nah its fine," Mew waved his hand out towards it, "Its a harmless bird."
When another kid tried to approach the peacock, its shining tail feathers went up like a fan. Maria jumped and went wide-eyed with glee.
"That's so cool! Its like a rainbow!"
"Show-offs..." Mew chuckled.
The peacock was left to its own devices and they moved on to the next area: The African Exhibit.
There weren't as many people around and Maria boldly took a couple steps ahead, "Papa mama can I look around?"
"Sure!" Mew said right away, and as she ran off Kairi cupped her mouth and exclaimed, "B-But not too far...!"
The two slowly follow her around while taking this opportunity to enjoy the sights on their own. They passed by the massive elephant pen and one of those ivory-tusked beasts raised their trunk and did their powerful cry.
"Eep!" Kairi was spooked.
"Hehe." Mew laughed as she laid a hand on her chest to catch her breath.
"Mrrrr...!" She puffed her cheeks at him.
"You're still so tense Kairi."
"With you and Shina around its hard not to..." She grumbled.
"Oh yeah, how she's handling the you-know-what?"
"Its the same as always with her..."
"You should get out on your own more." Mew suggested, gesturing his hand out with a smile.
"I know I should but like..." Kairi pulled her head back and her jaw slacked for her sigh, "I'm not used to crowds...And people recognize me more after I beat Gravitus...And-"
"Sounds like a bunch of excuses." Mew said bluntly.
"What?" She stared at him with growing anger.
"You remember what I told you before right?"
"...I shouldn't care what they think?" Kairi vaguely committed to.
"Exactly. Just be yourself and you'll be fine," Mew smiled with his eyes shut, "You're not having any trouble right now yeah?"
"Because its stressful enough with you!" She said, jokingly nudging him in the gut with her elbow.
As she backed away she looked to the right and her eyes went from happy to frightened in a snap, "Maria no!"
Mew swung to the left and saw their little girl trying to pull herself up onto the railings overlooking the lion's den. With a bit of "cheating" from her flight she was able to stand on top of it and balance herself with ease.
Mew and Kairi ran over and Kairi shoved a couple people aside to get behind Maria, "Young lady you get down from there right now!"
"Mama you should come up here with me!" Said Maria, playfully twirling on one foot.
Kairi's eyes widened and her face turned pale, then she pumped her hands on her hips and exclaimed, "Don't make me do that! You're not gonna like what happens next!"
Mew crossed his arms and chuckled, "Gotta admit she's got a good balance, maybe we should see about her becoming a gymnast?"
"This isn't the time Mew!"
The crowd's cries were a mix of awe, fear and worry at Maria's performance. Mew grit his teeth and sighed "Alright" before jumping straight onto the railing himself.
He put one foot before the other and held his arms out, wobbling around at the knees, "W-Whoa! Easy there..."
Maria held her arms out and mimicked his movements with a hearty giggle.
"W-Well I'm glad you're having fun honey but you really ought to get down from there..."
Maria started dipping her legs down towards the den. Mew's eyes widened and he lunged his arm out, only for his footing to slip towards the den.
"Ruh roh..." And sent him tumbling off the rail with a hard "Thud!" on the ground.
"Mew!" Kairi exclaimed as she immediately vaulted over the railing, her eyes frozen all wide-eyed as her descent began, "...WhatamIdoiiiiiiing?!"
As they were reunited Maria hopped off the rail in the opposite direction and lifted her head over it, joined by the crowd of worried people.
"Papa! Mama! Are you ok?!" She screamed.
"Its this girl's parents!" "They look so young!" "Oh no, this is terrible!" Were some of the crowd's cries of concern.
Mew and Kairi got up with little fuss and Mew dusted his shirt off, "Well this is a fine predicament I've gotten us into this time..."
Kairi turned to him and rammed into his face, "You THINK?!"
"Grrr..."
The two slowly turned towards the caves, where two young, hungry lionesses crawled down from their rocks, as a thick-maned male lion watched on.
Mew and Kairi pinned their backs to the wall as the beasts approached their location and hunched down, scratching at the dusty ground.
"Grrr..."
"...Okay Kairi, go ahead and tame them." Mew said with a weary chuckle.
"What do you mean tame them?!" Kairi swung her head at him and hollered.
Mew brushed his hand out and looked her way, "You know what I mean, your Drive, use the experience!"
"It doesn't work like that you idiot!" She yelled until her face was red.
Mew lurched his head back and grinned up at Maria, "Heeeeey honey, we're doing just fine...!"
The lionesses stood their ground in a crouched position, their eyes unmoving. Mew's laughter cracked as he looked back at them.
"Hehehe you know Maria? W-When it comes to lions, its actually the females who hunt, while the males-"
"THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR THAT!" When Kairi screamed the lionesses stirred, extending their claws with the intent to pounce.
"Hhhrrrr...!" Kairi retracted into a slouch against the wall and all color was flushed from her face.
"Should I gas them mama?" Maria suggested.
"N-No honey, we're fine I'm serious!" Mew exclaimed.
Maria pulled herself over the railing and shook her fist out, "You hear that you mean kitties?! My papa's gonna kick your butts!"
The lionesses roared like tearing thunder, and Mew found his fingertips getting dug into the rock behind him, "N-Not helping dear!"
"Aw man. Can't fight can't fly...Am I seriously going to die to lions?!" His frustration was mixing with his panic very quickly.
"...Wait a second," Then he got an idea and pulled his head back dramatically, "Ah! If only these beasts were blinded with dust, then we could try and make our escape! HINT! HINT!"
Maria perked up and firmly nodded her head. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The dust in the ground flew up into the lionesses' faces and threw them off.
And right at that moment the employees only door swung up and a valiant hero exclaimed, "Quick! Run to me!"
"Thank god!" Mew grabbed the frozen Kairi by the wrist and dragged her towards the door.
One of the lionesses shook the dust from their eyes and lunged through the air towards them. The employee shut the door but before it got there Mew whipped around and socked the beast in the nose to drop them immediately.
A short time later...
Mew, Kairi and Maria sit at an outdoor table eating burgers and fries. They're all staring out emptily.
Mew's cough broke the scene of silence and he took a sip of his milkshake, "...So what did we learn today?"
Kairi took her curly fry into a sloppily of ketchip and stirred it around, "Zoos need higher fences?"
"Papa and mama don't have any balance?" Maria commented.
"I was gonna say 'lions are ass-'" He clamped his mouth shut and glanced at Maria, "Mean...They're very very mean."
After a bit of nibbling Mew pointed a french fry at Maria and said, "I know this is early, but is there anywhere else you want to go after this?"
Maria leaned her head back and hummed deep in thought.
"Maybe we could go to a movie?" Kairi suggested.
"I bet there'd be a baseball game up in Seattle later tonight." Mew followed.
"I want to go someplace 'unique'..." Maria murmured, then nodded her head, "Yeah!"
"Unique eh?" Piqued Mew's interest.
"Guess I gotta defer to you Mew..." Sighed Kairi.
He snapped his fingers and proclaimed confidently, "Actually I got the perfect place, and its not far from here!"
A couple more wonderful, trouble-less hours at the zoo later, the three of them took a bus down into the city and headed across a bridge towards a large building shaped like a slanted glass cone.
"This is the Museum of Glass." Said Mew, rousing up a sense of wonder and excitement that Kairi wasn't buying.
"Glass?" She squinted, "They made a museum. For glass."
"Hey she wanted someplace unique. Up to her to decide if its something she likes." Mew shrugged it off and Kairi shook her head.
"I just don't see it."
They head inside and as usual, Mew's seemingly bottomless wallet got them in. This place wasn't as big or hardly as busy as the zoo, which didn't inspire much hope to Kairi.
They went straight right to the main museum, displaying a bunch of unique and varied glassworks. Maria wandered around with some guidance on Kairi's part. She was explicitly told by Mew not to touch anything.
Maria moved towards a giant glass rose on display in the back of the room and craned her head back towards the top of it.
Her agape mouth said it all.
"Figures you'd like this one," Laughed Mew, patting her on the back, "But do know how they make stuff like this?"
She shook her head a lot.
"Well...Have I got a treat for you!"
They doubled back to the entrance and went left through a short hall, arriving in a spacious room with weather metal stands overlooking a big, burning furnace. A man with thick gloves and protective overalls used metal clamps to pull hot red liquid metal from the furnace and place it atop an anvil.
The three of them sat down in the middle row and Mew localized a chill breeze to counteract the heat without arousing suspicion.
The man of the forge used the glass to make a bowl as a simple display of how the profession works. The process was delicate and required lots of patience, but it resulted in something beautiful in its own way.
It didn't leave any room for questions until after the presentation though. Mew filled in the gaps of knowledge to the best of his ability as they left the room and headed over to the gift shop.
Maria was all smiles and nods. As silly of an idea as it was on paper, Mew let this hyperenergtic child loose in the gift store to pick out a souvenir.
And in her brief absence Kairi slumped her shoulders with a sigh, "I can't believe she enjoyed something so...so..."
"Old-fashioned?" Mew said with a chuckle.
She looked aside at him and shook her head, "You too. Its not...what I expected from you."
"Eh, gaming it up all the time gets dull." Mew shrugged.
Kairi raised her head and her expression started to look a little sad, "People...make glass."
"Huh?" He looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"We always got everything handed to us cause of Gravitus and never got to know how it was made. Even the dish I ate breakfast off of this morning must have taken a lot of time to create."
"Want to become a glassworker?" Mew joked.
"HELL no!" Kairi laughed, "I couldn't stand the heat!"
"I'm back!" Shouted Maria, carrying a hand the size of her bag and a lovely rose pin stuck on her vest.
"Heeeey look at that. That looks great on you!" Said Mew.
She blushed and grinned, then raised her bag towards them, "I got something for you two."
Kairi raised her hand and Maria pulled it back to her hip, wagging her finger up, "Ah ah. Close your eyes mama. You too papa."
The two played along and extended their hands out until they felt something cold between them, "Ok, open them!"
The two saw a teal glass heart resting between their palms, and Maria gently closed their hands around it, "It represents the love you share."
Kairi's face turned red, but Mew's soon followed. They pulled back and Kairi wound up with the heart.
"U-Ummm..."
"Maria I-I..."
The two were stumbling on their words and avoiding one another's eyes. Maria stood there and giggled with a wily smirk.
Mew then snapped his fingers and hastily tried to deter the conversation, "S-Say Maria, since you love flowers so much...I know one more place for us to go!"
With the subject of love quickly tossed into the trash they left the Museum and wasted a bit of time exploring the city. Mew wanted time to pass a bit but didn't say why.
Unfortunately the tremors in Maria's stomach forced them to go grab a bite to eat. Maria made them get a pizza by dancing and cheering...Not that Mew complained.
An extra large with meat and cheese slathered on, and a bit of grease up top. The perfect Italian nightmare, but the grand American dream, all wrapped up in a single square box.
They headed on up to the same hill the zoo was at, but landed closer to the waterside. There was no humans. No roads. No buildings. Just a nice comfy slant, and a rainbow assortment of flowers.
"Here we are!"
When they went down Maria bent to look and sniff the flowers. They were still in their prime, fresh as the day they first bloomed.
Mew found a nice empty patch of grass and patted it down, opening the pizza up in the center, "Alright dinner's served!"
The three of them sat down, Mew and Maria towards the water, and Kairi towards the pizza.
"You'll want to look out Kairi." Mew suggested softly.
She gazed out towards where he pointed. The sun was beginning to set, and the orange-purple hue of the sky changed the water's surface. They could see all of the city, the hill on the other side, and even further beyond that.
Mew glided Maria's attention across the city, "That's the sports dome, where they play sports. Over there is the industrial distract...There's a casino...And if you look up the freeway you can juuuuust make out the local water park..."
"..." Kairi stared out into the city and a gentle breeze swayed her hair back, "This one city's barely any bigger than Sancturia. But its just one city, in one state...one part of a greater whole."
She laid her fingers in her hair and closed her eyes, "Shina and I wanted to see the whole world? We were silly kids, weren't we? I've been to space but...seeing the city like this really makes me feel like an ant on this planet."
"Haaaa..." She sighed, and Mew and Maria pulled their attention away for a moment.
"You ok mama?"
"I'm fine," She replied, picking up a slice of pizza, "I was just thinking about stuff..."
Mew and Maria took their first bites of pizza too. Mew smiled, and Kairi made a passing notice to the glimmer coming down his cheek.
"Mew...you're..."
Mew raised his head back and moaned delightfully, "This pizza's sooooo good!"
Maria craned her head into his chest and paddled her feet in the air, "Yummy!"
He then looked Kairi's way, "What was that Kairi?"
"N-Nothing..." She continued nibbling her pizza and didn't believe Mew. That wasn't a cry spared for a pizza.
Mew looked at Kairi, then down at Maria on his lap, and closed his eyes with half a smile, "I'm so blessed to have you guys in my life..."
When the pizza was done it only took a few more minutes for Maria to stretch her mouth and yawn.
"Tired?" Mew got a weak nod from her, "Well that's later than last time anyways. Come on, I'll carry you home."
One cloud camouflage and flight back home later, the sun was thoroughly behind the mountains and the sky was navy blue.
"That seemed like such a long day..." Kairi murmured.
"You had fun though yeah?" Asked Mew.
"Yes I did..." Kairi murmured hesitantly.
Maria stirred in Mew's arms, her eyes shut tight, and her breathing regular. Mew looked at Kairi with a smile and said, "We should probably not talk too much."
"Right..." Kairi peered down at Maria's face and gently stroked her bangs back, then bent down and gave her a light kiss on the forehead, "Good night Maria."
The girl smiled with a giggle. Kairi pulled away, her hand being the last to return. And she looked to Mew and said, "M-Maybe next time...she could stay at my place?"
Mew's eyes perked up and he said, "Sure, she'd love that."
Kairi smiled and whispered to herself, "Maybe we..."
She shook her head and chuckled, "Never mind. See you later Mew."
She turned and flew off back off home, leaving Mew to carry Maria inside the house. When he got in he saw Joe Dark and Alura on the couch, asleep with the TV watching them, and a bunch of popcorn kernels strewn over their bodies.
Mew shook his head and carried Maria off to bed for a good night's rest, after a good day out...
Next Time: Solaris Vs. Proper Manners