Different Pace

It wasn't too often Dysis and the others got time for vacation but May had insisted they all go together. The idea of it being on another planet in a tropical resort no less was also his mother's idea not that he had problems with it. The next phase had been getting Ryva to come which wasn't hard at all; it was more timing then anything else really when it came to that.

The planet, Gana, was years behind Alus and definitely Eldar in terms of technology. A much more fair and accurate idea would be of what earth realm currently was capable. One of the key differences between this and earth was its size. It was far smaller then earth and that was for one reason:

It wasn't a natural planet.

No one was really sure exactly--but the planet was created by something either by way of science or some being that was bored or trying to do fix for some purpose. Whatever the reason, because of its small size, tropical atmosphere and rich resources it had become a booming place for a colony that had made way from their original planet.

In terms of military, it was a bit lacking. Gana was more of a trade area relying on more powerful neighbors for defense and a relatively small defense force to get things done. It wasn't a power house but it wasn't defenseless either.

Dysis had the suspicion his mother and grandmother were trying to get him to date one of the attractive young women present.

They would deny that.

Of course.

* *

Miranda woke up with a yawn, feeling slightly tired from her earlier sleep but it didn't last too long. The little girl was curious and she loved seeing and learning new things. Granny always had stories of things she had done and places she had been which the little girl never grew tired of.

Speaking of, her grandmother was still asleep in the bed even as she gently dislodged herself from her.

The Dhampir watched her grandmother sleep a bit longer, then her natural curiosity got the better of her and she didn't want to wake her up. So instead she opted to hop down, making a bee line towards a thick black book. It was actually a picture book mommy had made a copy of some time back.

Her tiny hands went through the book, even if she had seen it many times before. Most of them were pictures of family and friends--Miranda in particular liked seeing the pictures of her father. Mommy seemed sad when he was talked about some times, so Miranda didn't bring it up too much.

After a bit, there was a soft moan from the bed, as Ryva sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. Her nightgown hung a bit loosely due to one of the straps falling, but it hardly mattered; it was mostly see-through anyway. At least she was wearing a bra and panties. She looked around the room through blurry vision, until she spotted Miranda. She smiled a bit at what she saw. "Hey, bring that over, sweety. We'll look at it together. Maybe one of the pictures will even have a story to tell." It was never too early in the day to see that look of wonder in her granddaughters eyes.

Miranda instantly perked up at hearing her grandmother before rushing back to the bed, under the covers as a lump moved under there before she appeared leaned against her side. Most of the pictures didn't really hit her interest button since she had seen them so much. However one did in particular which she pointed at; a picture of a younger Dysis, a bike and her mother.

Ryva looked over the picture, and then smiled. "Ah, yes. I remember taking this one. It was the day that your mother was teaching Dysis how to ride a bike. Poor things, the whole day was crazy. You see, as I'm sure you are aware, your mother can be a bit over enthusiastic about things at times. She had so much confidence in your brothers ability to ride without training wheels that she let go of the bike just a little bit early. Of course, Dysis does seem to work well in 'trial by fire' situations. Notice, there? How his hair is sticking up? He went down a rather steep hill. I honestly thought I was going to have to save him, he was panicking and struggling to stay balanced, but that brother of yours, I don't know how he did it, but he managed to find his balance in that situation. By the time he reached the bottom of the hill, he had control of the bike and was laughing." She chuckled, putting an arm around Miranda and hugging her tight.

"That was also the first day that May seemed to discover her love for matchmaking. She kept trying to encourage Dysis to go talk to this girl who was nearby... he was a bit shy about it though." She grinned. "You know, we really should teach you to ride a bike before long, before you get too old. What are you, three? Or was it twenty-two? I can never remember."

Miranda giggled at the image of what her brother had done; she couldn't really imagine herself going down a hill like that. It would have been too scary for her; she didn't like heights or anything like that either.

"Four!" Miranda exclaimed. "I'll be twenty two in ten years? I dunno.." Math really wasn't her best subject, however Miranda was still pretty bright and it showed how well she talked at a early age and other little things.

"Do I have to ride a bike like Dysis did? I don't wanna go down a hill."

Ryva just smiled. "No, you don't have to learn that way. Your mother was just inexperienced in raising a child back then, just as I was in raising her. Just like you will be when you have your first child. There's no manual for motherhood. You learn as you go. But me and your mother will be there to help you if you need it." She kissed Miranda on the forehead, running her fingers through her hair for a moment. "Alright sweety, let's go. I'll bet May is already making breakfast, she always was more of an early riser than me..."

Miranda wasn't too sure about the kids part, but she wasn't worried about that. She hopped off the bed and offered her hand for her grandmother to take. As long as she was around her family Miranda really didn't have a care in the world.

True to Ryva's words, May was making breakfast and humming to herself. When she spotted her mother and daughter she smiled. "Morning. You sleep well?"

"Mhm. What are you making?" Miranda couldn't entirely see due to being short; and a lot of the other things on the counter.

"Nothing much." May said, turning back to her work. "Just some pancakes mostly. Dysis is still asleep but that's normal."

Ryva chuckled a bit. "Should I go wake him then? We're on vacation, he shouldn't sleep in! The more he sleeps, the less he gets to enjoy this beautiful place. And the beaches. And the women on the beach." This was all said in a rather matter-of-fact way.

May thought about it, then nodded. "I think that would be a good idea. Dysis always did have a habit of sleeping in a bit."

Ryva nodded. "Good thing you've always been an early riser then, right?" She smiled, then walked off to Dysis' room. She gave a light knock before opening the door. "Knock-knock!" She always did that. She openly stated it was to give people time to 'put themselves away' if they were playing with themselves. She'd never caught him doing that, but she caught May once, and so developed the habit. Seeing he was still asleep, she smiled. She came over, sitting down lightly on the edge of his bed, and just looking at him for a moment. Her daughter and grandchildren... despite all her accomplishments in life, those three were what she was most proud of, and sometimes, she felt like just sitting and watching them.

She leaned over Dysis, gently brushing his hair from his forehead, placing a light kiss there. "Dysis, wake up dear, before I yank the sheets off and get a look at your morning wood."

Dysis opened up his eyes slowly, seemingly a bit out of it before noticing his grandmother on his bed.

"..Is it morning already? I thought it was day light savings." Dysis really didn't feel like getting up. On the other hand, it meant there was things to do and breakfast so he couldn't really say no to that. "I'll be there in two minutes."

Ryva just smiled at him. "I'll wait. Otherwise you'll be tempted to just rest your eyes a bit longer, and go back to sleep on 'accident'." She'd done that herself before.

Dysis sighed before forcing himself up, he wasn't a morning person. At all. "I'll be there in a minute."

He did notice Ryva's clothing but didn't comment or react on it visibly in anyway. It wasn't something he was entirely used to, not really but he wasn't going to trip over himself or anything. When he left to go to the restroom to get dressed and cleaned up. His attraction to Ryva was thought to be by pretty much everyone just physical but it was more then that; he just couldn't tell anyone.

When he came back with Ryva, May had the food done and smiled at the both of them. "Morning sleepy head. Go have yourself a seat."

Dysis, while still tired was more awake by now had a seat. "So any plans?"

"Hm, not sure." May said thinking. "Probably just go out to explore, maybe go to the beach."

Ryva smiled as she sat down. "The beach seemed like a good idea. It's always a fun time for people at the beach. Plus the great view. Hey, maybe some people will be playing Volleyball? That would be a great way to meet some new people, wouldn't it? Make a connection? What do you think, Dysis?" Ryva was only somewhat more subtle than May about these things. May was simply more direct, while Ryva was just a bit more casual about it... but the difference wasn't huge, admittedly.

Of course, a lot of this was because she had no idea that Dysis was more than just physically attracted to her. If she knew, things would be quite a bit different.

Dysis didn't really have a opinion on it, the beach would be nice for eye candy and to see Ryva herself in a bikini. He just couldn't let either of them know that. He didn't really know how they would react to it so kept silent about it. "Sure, I think it would be a good idea."

"You're not going to get mushy with girls are you?" Miranda asked.

This made Dysis chuckle. "I don't plan too."

Ryva pouted at that. "Unfortunate. You're young, you should be getting 'mushy' with all sorts of girls. At least until you meet the right one. Then I'd expect a lot more than just getting 'mushy'."

Miranda giggled at Ryva pouting then went about eating, she didn't understand everything but she found Ryva pouting amusing.

"We'll see, I'm not in a rush." Dysis wasn't going to tell her the part he was actually looking forward to was seeing her in a bikini and not other girls.

* *

At the beach, once they were there May had found themselves a nice spot, taking a towel along with a umbrella to give their family some shade. Miranda was making a sand castle while Dysis was helping her, Ryva was on her way she just had to finish getting dressed first.

Dysis didn't mind the heat. Too much. The girls were distracting from a purely physical view point being honest with himself but they weren't what he was here for. Though..thinking about it, wouldn't it be better? Trying to move onto someone closer to his age and more importantly not family? Easier said then done since his feelings simply wouldn't go away.

When Ryva finally arrived, she was pretty much oblivious to the looks people gave her. Most were admiring, some pitying. She was beautiful, undeniably so, but many people had a tendency to feel that her numerous scars marred that beauty, or even made her 'ugly' to some people. Ryva didn't much care what others thought, but personally, she was conflicted. She was proud of her scars; they were a sign of her past, of her many battles. On the other hand, she felt that they did indeed make her less attractive to a possible mate. Well, unless that mate was a fellow Kerlodian. She was hardly opposed to that, but it did limit her options and chances quite a bit, unless she moved back to the Bleeding Plains; Kerlodians were somewhat rare outside of the Plains.

Still, that was no reason to hide her scars, so it was only natural that she wore a bikini. As she approached her family, she smiled. "It's been so long since I came to a beach, we should do it more often if we can."

Dysis had to swallow the lump in his throat and did his best to act natural which was fine on the surface at least--even if the sight alone from Ryva was really getting to him. Lucky for him he was sitting down so a certain part of him wouldn't really be noticed, espeically his little sister.

May smiled at her mother. "I agree. We have do this more when we can. It's been a long time since we came to the beach and just relax. Have a seat." She motioned for her to sit down which, funny enough was close to Dysis.

Ryva came over, smiling, and sat down where May motioned, giving Dysis' shoulder a squeeze as she did. "Are you enjoying the view around here, Dysis?" She meant the women around the beach, not herself, but it was rather amusing.

Oh, he was for sure just not nearly as much as Ryva was nearby him. On one hand he was happy to have her like this by him, on the other there was the bittersweet part nothing more would come from it. Ryva and his mother were open-minded people, but how would they react to what was really going on with him? That's what kept him quite but somedays were harder then others.

"..So far." Dysis forced any conflicted feelings so far down for now.

Ryva was a rather intelligent woman, even if some people thought her to be a bit airheaded with how she sometimes acted. She also was perceptive about her family; she could tell Dysis was having some sort of issue, but wasn't sure what it was. She leaned in closer to him, whispering in his ear. "Dysis, if something is bothering you, you know you can talk to me, right?" She knew, in the back of her mind, that this closeness might affect Dysis a bit. She assumed, however, that he'd be more interested in the other women around.

Dysis could pretty much feel a certain part of him react more when Ryva got closer much to his further embarrassment. The only saving grace was his mother wasn't doing anything to further his embassament further.

"It's.." He mulled it over a bit longer before answering. "Just something I have to deal with myself, but I promise if I can't resolve it myself I'll get back to you." He might regret that later but being honest with himself he really wanted to get that off his chest regardless how she took it when time came.

If it came.

Ryva frowned a bit at that, but she wouldn't force him. She gave his arm a gentle squeeze, nodding. "Alright, Dysis, I understand. Just be careful not to leave it for too long, alright? I hate seeing you upset or unhappy. I love you, and want to see you smile more. Just remember that I'm here for you, okay? Not to mention your mother. Lord knows she'd move heaven and earth just to see her children smile. She got that from me, of course." She chuckled and kissed his cheek, lingering briefly, before pulling away and going to speak with May about plans after this. Then she would see about getting herself a sun tan.

"Yeah, don't worry I will. I love you too." Dysis meant more then what it sounded like on the surface not that he could tell her that.

* *

Michru woke up with a silent yawn, stretching as she found herself suddenly stuck between Emanulle and Karin. Earlier last night they had been watching movies together when all three of them had ended up falling asleep under the covers.

She didn't know everything, but she liked this vacation so far.

Huffing a bit silently, Michru removed herself from her father and Karin who she was starting to see more and more of a mother figure. It was partly due to the fact she spent so much time with them now that the two were dating. Did that mean they would get married? She didn't know.

Taking her notepad and pen(which on top of drawing, she used to talk) she began scribbling 'things to do' for the day.

1. Go swimming.

2. Ask uncle Vargus for a piggy back ride.

3. Go swimming!

4. See if auntie Ignis will make cookies.