Who: Laura and Aurora What: Seals and butterflies When: early July Where: A seal sanctuary Status: complete Rating: PG
If there was one thing that could make Laura drop whatever she was doing, it was animals. Anything involving seeing them, touching them or taking care of them or any combination of the above. The people who’d made her a weapon had made her kill animals, to harden her.
Love of animals had been one of the few things that reminded her she wasn’t a monster during those dark times. Because they had no malice or hatred, they just existed and they loved.
“I’ve never seen a seal before. Not in person,” Laura said, smiling at Aurora. “The time I went to the zoo the enclosure was empty.
Aurora was happy to set up ideas for Laura and it was pretty easy to tell what sort of adventures she liked. She at least knew that the beach and dancing were high on her list of adventures, but to be fair, Aurora had sort of stumbled into the idea of seeing the seals. It was free, but Aurora tended to make small donations anyway. She was happy that it was possible for these things to happen.
“Really?” Aurora grinned, walking her inside the building. “Well, you’re going to see them today. I’ll see if we can’t get the chance to pet them, too. We might not, though. Since they’re there to get better. BUT! We can always ask!!”
And really, the thought of playing with seals (even just a little bit) made things seem much better.
Laura was happy to make donations too. And to guilt her father into making a really big one. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail, and her smile widened. “I’d really like that.”
Aurora was like distilled sunshine and Laura was glad to know her. And just a little worried about how glad she was to know her.
“Then let’s hope it happens!!” Aurora was rarely operating on a dimmer. Only when she wasn’t sure about her parents was she less sunny than she had been before. But she was back to her normal self now, bolstered by the fact that her parents had accepted her and were talking about more visits and maybe a family vacation. She was pretty excited about it.
But it was nice here, too. Once they got to where the seals were, Aurora grinned widely. “Look at them. They are so tiny, but also still kind of big.” She moved a little closer to where they were. There were fences, which probably would keep them from getting to play with them, but maybe one would come over to the fence and they could reach through and pet them. Either way, it was cute to watch as they curled up next to each other while some swam around in little pools.
“They’re like little dogs,” Laura observed. She had to contain some enthusiasm, both enthusiasm wasn’t typically expected of her and also because jumping in with the seals was probably something only a five year old would do.
She moved next to Aurora, glancing at her briefly, before looking back at the animals. “This is a rescue center?”
Aurora nodded. “Yep! This is a rescue rehabilitation sort of center.” She looked at them quietly. “Which is why it’s such a good place. There’s some that are doing better, but apparently there’s a lot of seal pups or sea lion pups that wash up and they get them ready to go back into the wild.” It was a good cause and really, who could be sad around baby seals?
“Why are we not working here?” Laura mused. She leaned over the fence as far as she dared, trying to get a good look at one. This made today a good day, and it was already kind of a good day since she was spending it with Aurora. Laura didn’t have many friends.
“Probably because you have to be twenty-one or older to volunteer and I am tragically only seventeen.” She also had dreams of working with plants for the rest of her life, but she guessed it couldn’t hurt to volunteer to take care of animals. “But maybe you can talk your way into it.”
“I have a fake ID,” Laura said, grinning at her. It was the only way she could get beer. It was bizarre to her, some of the laws. Smoking should be 21 too, but it wasn’t. “But I don’t think that would work for you. You’re a little too baby-faced and innocent looking.”
She reached over and patted Aurora’s head.
Aurora shrugged slightly. “I am adorable by nature. It doesn’t help me with convincing people that I’m an age I’m not.” It could have been worse, she supposed. “I’ll let you do the baby seal thing and I’ll do the horticulture stuff. Then we’ll be unstoppable and make everyone jealous.”
“Someone would call that a power couple,” Laura joked back. “We’ll have to work on your scowl. I’m sure you could have a terrifying scowl.”
“That does sound like the phrase people would use for it.” She smiled at Laura. “That’s probably going to take a lot of work. I’m not even sure I could make a convincing scowl.” But she tried anyway. It didn’t really work, but that was probably because she was trying not to smile at the same time.
“More like this.” Laura’s face was often neutral (though around certain friend she actually smiled sometimes), but it suddenly darkened into something that would give Batman the chills.
Aurora did note that it looked a little scary. Okay, more than a little. “I like the smiling more. I don’t think I can ever manage to look even a little amount of scary. I can’t help but smile and laugh. I don’t even know if I have an angry face.”
Laura’s expression softened into a smile. “More like this?”
If Aurora had an angry face Laura couldn’t imagine it. Though she supposed if someone was hurting those seals it might happen. She hoped that never happened.
Aurora grinned, nodding. “It’s a good smile.” She thought that Laura was pretty even if she didn’t smile, though. But probably less scary when smiling or at least neutralish. She turned back to the seals, fingers holding onto the fence. “What do you think it’s like to be a seal?”
Laura shrugged her shoulder, then rested her hand on Aurora’s shoulder. “Simple. Eat. Sleep. Play. Mate. Seals don’t typically murder or assault people. They just exist.”
“It sounds nice.” She let go of the fence with one hand, to squeeze the hand on her shoulder quickly. “I hear there’s also a butterfly garden here. If you’re interested in that sort of thing.” She wouldn’t mind sticking around the seals, but a butterfly garden mixed beautiful creatures and plants.
There were suddenly butterflies in Laura’s stomach that she did not want, but she just nodded and didn’t remove her hand. “I’d like to see the butterflies.”
If Aurora had known it was making things complicated for Laura, she might have felt bad for it. As it was, she wasn’t even thinking about it being a problem because she didn’t really consider herself as the sort of person anyone might like as more than a friend. “Okay! We can go there. Then if you want to come back and see the seals for a little longer, we can do that.”
“You have me all day.” Laura was content to let Aurora lead her around. She doubted she’d be led astray and just about anything Aurora did would lead to something good anyway. She took her hand off of her shoulder and clasped it behind her back.
Aurora smiled brightly before making her way toward the butterfly garden. It smelled nice and it was beautiful. Her expression was one of wonder as she looked around at the butterflies in the room. “They’re so pretty.” When she looked back at Laura, one of them landed on her hand and another in her hair. She laughed a little, doing her best to stay still and keep her voice soft. “And thus started my life as the crazy butterfly lady.”
“Is that different from a crazy cat lady?” Laura asked. She stood perfectly still as several landed on her, though Aurora seemed to be attracting many more. “You really are some kind of beautiful Disney princess. All you need is a bluebird.”
She liked Disney, shh.
“Not really,” she said, the amusement evident in her voice. “I think it’s about the same only with butterflies.” She was more than happy to find that both of them seemed to be gaining butterfly friends. “A bluebird? I don’t think I have those coming to me.” She felt herself blushing just a little bit, however. There weren’t really a lot of people that told her she was beautiful. At least not to her face...and also not people she wanted telling her she was pretty. “But Killian said he knew a princess named Aurora once. I don’t think we’re the same person, but it would be interesting, wouldn’t it?”
“It would be.” Laura finally moved closer, careful not to disturb any butterflies. “I know people who’ve dreamed of more than one version of themselves.”
Logan was dreaming of a younger version of her. She still didn’t know what to make of it and was actually just a little afraid of those dreams. She didn’t want to be experimented on again.
“Have they?” She knew that people dreamt things that were unusual and things that were sadder than others. She hadn’t met anyone that was dreaming multiple selves. Or...if she had, she couldn’t remember having talked about it. “That sounds unusual. Maybe I’m the butterfly princess.” The idea made her laugh.
“My father does.” Laura reached out, gently dislodging one butterfly from her hair to her finger, and then coaxed it onto Aurora’s nose. “Your crown would be interesting.”
Logan. Aurora smiled a little at that. He was always so nice to her. The feeling of a butterfly on her nose made her nose scrunch up a little. “It would be the best crown ever and it would always move and be cared for. And there would be flowers all over the kingdom.”
“And deer, there should be deer everywhere, and they aren’t allowed to be hunted unless there’s overpopulation.” Laura loved animals but she was also pragmatic. Too many deer was bad for the environment, but not as bad as not enough deer. She stared a little too intently at Aurora’s nose.
“And deer,” Aurora agreed. She had befriended a deer in her dreams after all. Maybe it had run away, but they'd briefly been friends. “What's the matter? Something on my nose?” She couldn't help the huge grin or the laugh that followed the question. Obviously there was a butterfly there.
“No, nothing on your nose.” Laura decided to play along. And if they stayed still long enough she was certain that they’d end up covered in many colored butterflies. Still, she snapped a picture with her phone. “But we can review the picture and find out.”
“That sounds like a very wise idea.” She couldn’t stop herself from giggling a little, though. She probably wouldn’t have minded a life where she was covered in butterflies, but she wasn’t sure she could stay still all day. “What does the picture say, then?”
“That I’m wrong.” She showed Aurora the picture. “There’s Danaus Plexippus on your nose. Monarch butterfly.”
Because of course Laura would know the scientific name. She read a lot. She glanced at Aurora again then looked … anywhere but at her.
Aurora giggled a little as she looked. “Ah. Yes. The Danaus Plexi--whatsit.” Because she knew all the scientific names of flora, but definitely not butterflies. Not without her phone to look it up with. She went to give Laura a quick smile, but noticed her looking away. Not thinking anything about it, she went back to focusing on the butterflies. “They’re so pretty.”
“Not as pretty as you.” Laura waved her hand, trying to dislodge several from it. She suddenly felt self-conscious and tried to shake the feeling off. “Are there any plants here you want to show me?” Perhaps Aurora could show off her knowledge!
Aurora lit up at the compliment, a huge grin on her face. But the question distracted her and she walked toward the plants. There was a bush. It wasn’t yet flowering, but she pointed it out. “This is epilobium canum. California fuschia. It blooms in late summer to autumn and it has little red flowers all over.” There was a look at happiness on her face as she floated to the next plant that looked more like a small tree more than a shrub. Even if some people considered it a shrub. “Cassia bicapsularis. Cassia, Winter Cassia, or Butterfly Bush. It mostly blooms around the winter holidays. It has pretty yellow flowers.” She pointed to some flowers that were yellow and another set that were white. “These are Achillea millefolium or yarrow. There’s white, yellow, pink, and...I think some other colors. But the funniest…” She dragged Laura over to some flowers with a small sign. “Sticky Monkey flowers.” She laughed at that. “Diplacus aurantiacus.” It was all said on there, though.
Laura followed along, committing each fact to memory. It wasn’t like she’d be quizzed, but she remembered almost everything that was presented to her. A survival mechanism, but a useful one. “What’s your favorite flower, and color?” Just to know. No other reason.
She moved up alongside Aurora, glancing at her, then the other flower. “Some things have the most amazing names.”
“Sticky Monkey flower is a pretty great one,” she mused, laughing again at the name. But then Laura had asked about her favorite flower, which was always the hardest question. “The hardest thing to choose,” she replied. “I like tulips, but wildflowers are just as well. And purple is a nice color, but then so is yellow and orange and red. Did you know that tulips are just as much love flowers as roses? If you know the language of the flowers, I mean.” She shrugged. “Not many people do these days. It’s very Victorian.” There was a pause. “Sunflowers are also great. They’re so bright and happy.”
“Sunflowers are like you,” Laura noted. She hadn’t known that about tulips. Even roses weren’t something she’d really known about before she’d actually dated someone. Rapunzel had educated her on a lot of those things. Like what a date actually was.
“Bright and happy.” None of that answered the favorite color question.
“I guess they are.” She smiled at that. “I’ve never been very good at favorites. I always feel bad for loving one thing more than the others. Except once I had a stuffed rabbit that I liked very much. His name was Terry. He lost an eyeball in an unfortunate game of hide and seek with a few other kids in the neighborhood. I fell out of a tree. Not my best day. I didn’t realize his eye was missing till I got home.” She shrugged. “Flowers are the hardest. There’s so many pretty ones. I like roses, but so does everyone, I think. There are some flowers that very few people like, so I don’t like to make them feel unloved. Some of them are very stinky flowers. There are some, you know, in the rainforest that are HUGE. They smell like rotting flesh, though.” She smiled. “It is called the Corpse flower. For good reason. Given the smell. It’s still very interesting to look at. I tried once to go see one at one of the botanical gardens, but I was too little and had no money to get there on my own. So I sold lemonade, but that didn’t make me much money either.”
Laura put her hand on Aurora’s shoulder again, and said very solemnly, “Terry gave his eye for you. He was a wounded warrior who protected you.”
There was almost a twinkle in her eye. The Rabbit Ranger.
“Would you like to go to the rainforest for real, some time?” They might not see any corpse flowers, but they might.
“He is a very good friend.” She smiled a little at the memory. But her attention shifted when Laura asked if she wanted to go to the rainforest. “I’d like to to be able to see the flora there and research it all. It’s curious to see what is there and what has changed. Not that I’ve ever been there, but I’ve read some things.”
“What if I told you I could take you there?” Laura said. It was impulsive and very much unlike her but she could blame her dream sister’s influence. “Any time you wanted.”
Aurora watched her closely for a moment. “You could take me there?” The dreams were a curious thing, but Aurora hadn't even considered it was a dream thing. “How would we get there?”
“Yes.” Right now, Laura would do almost anything for Aurora. It was a dangerous thought. “I have a jet. My dad has a jet. It can travel across the country in an hour. We can go to a rainforest in two.”
Aurora looked at her curiously for a moment. “You have a jet?” The concept of people having jets wasn’t exactly new to her. She knew that people had jets. She just never knew anyone personally that had jets. Much less ones that could get to the rainforest in two hours.
“Kind of. From our dreams. It’s like a … superhero plane.” Laura suddenly felt nervous, and brushed some hair behind her ear. “A dream gift for my dad and his friend.”
She smiled a little at that. “For all his grumpiness, he would be a superhero.” She studied Laura before nodding at a thought in her head. “Okay. We could go sometime. Do you want to go see the seals again?”
“I’d like that.” Perhaps the seals could save her from either embarrassment or the unexpected feelings she didn’t want.
Aurora’s smile widened and she reached for Laura’s hand so they could make their way back to the seals. She had to gently brush a few stray butterflies from her hair, but it didn't take too much coaxing. “Maybe one day we can find a way to go swimming with dolphins. Since we couldn't swim with the seals.”
For some reason, Laura’s heart did some kind of flip when Aurora took her hand. Oh no. But she let herself be pulled along. There were worse fates than seals.