Toddler Arc XI : Cutely Saying Goodbye
The next day, Astraea had woken up in the early morning but still had gotten sufficient sleep that a growing little angel needed, as she wanted to make most of the time she had in her childhood.
Both Kyris and Tirana were sleeping soundly with Kyris splayed out weirdly on his side of the bed, and Tirana's head being the only thing visible amongst the sea of stuffed toys on her side. Astraea giggled at the sight, shaking her head at the ridiculous sight.
She thought back on the previous day and a bright smile came onto her face, It was truly an amazing birthday despite its simplicity, though that simplicity made it feel warm and comforting like being in your own home.
She was glad she had enhanced memory that allowed her to relive that day in the future with near-perfect clarity and had officially pinned it as one of the first best memories she's had in this world, knowing that there was more to come.
She got off her bed with Valkyrie still in her arms and set her down on the ground, deciding that she would make use of the time by continuing where she left off from yesterday, teaching Valkyrie.
Valkyrie had made good progress yesterday and already had the full range of movements that normal humans could do, though she knew that Valkyrie was able to go beyond that range, she was only able to teach her what her body was capable of as she didn't understand words yet.
Astraea had taught Valkyrie for about less than two hours and had achieved a lot in that time as she didn't have to let Kyris and Tirana play with Valkyrie, which took up a lot of the time yesterday. At this point, Kyris and Tirana were stirring awake as Astraea could hear sleepy groans coming from the both of them.
Astraea stopped what she was doing in order to help wake the two up, as they had already gone back to sleep, not wanting to get out of bed. After a bit of prodding and tickling, the two toddlers finally woke up with sleepy expressions.
"Why did you wake us up..." Kyris asked grumpily as he had wanted to sleep for a few more hours.
"It's already tomorrow! You can go home!" Astraea replied with a smile.
At the mention of going home, they suddenly became wide awake, none of the previous tiredness present on their faces. Though the only reason they were like that was that they couldn't wait to go back to sleep in their own familiar beds.
Astraea led the two out of the room as she wanted to know if the adults were already awake, or were still sleeping. When they left the room, sounds of chatter and sizzling came from the kitchen and living area, and the smell of food entered their noses and the three rushed to the kitchen, eager to have breakfast.
"Oh! The kids are up, looks like they smelled the food." Dennix said as he spotted the kids rushing forward, he had been chatting with Aereon outside of the kitchen.
Just before the three could enter the kitchen, Aereon stepped into their path, blocking their way.
"Hey now, don't go rushing into the kitchen when the ladies are cooking, you might disturb them."
"Mommy is cooking?!" Tirana asked happily, she loved her mom's cooking and didn't expect to have it at someone else's house.
"Yes, including your aunt Paela, and your grandmas," Aereon answered.
"What about aunt Kaelie?" Kyris asked, noticing that Aereon didn't mention her.
"Your aunt is still sleeping on the couch, she drank a little too much last night and she only started drinking alcohol not too long ago." He explained though he knew the explanation would be lost on them, it was better than making something up or dumbing it down for them, he had done this with Astraea as he believed she would be able to learn better when introduced to complicated words and sentences.
Though Astraea hadn't learned anything as she was already a grown adult mentally, she appreciated what Aereon did as it made them very transparent with her without filtering things so that a child would understand, though that was only when it was related to something that was complicated in the first place, like the concept of alcohol and getting drunk.
Though Kyris and Tirana didn't understand much, they gathered that alcohol was something that made you sleepy.
Not being allowed into the kitchen, Aereon had told them to go sit at the table with their grandpa Dagen who was currently checking some things on his holowatch.
They waited patiently for their meal and not long after, four women exited the room with the food in tow, floating beside them like Astraea's cake from yesterday.
They had hearty breakfast with all the classic breakfast foods from fried eggs to pancakes, and sausages to hashbrowns.
Not long into breakfast, Kaelie had roused from her sleep with a massive headache, currently sporting a hangover. She was less bubbly than usual and quietly ate her food, thanking Paela when she handed her a specially made hangover drink.
After breakfast, all the guests prepared to leave, but not before helping out to clean the mess from yesterday.
After everyone was done, they all gathered at the entrence platform to say their goodbyes.
"We'll be going now, Aereon, Paela. You continue to be a good girl for your parents now Astraea." Elle said to the three of them.
"Yes Grandma! Bye bye!" Astraea cutely replied.
"I look forward to your growth in the future Astraea, make good use of your new holowatch alright? Even with the restrictiona in place I cam guarantee you won't be bored," said Dagen.
"I will! Bye bye grandpa!"
"Go on now, say bye to Astraea Kyris" Dagen told his son, seeing how he seemed a little reluctant, though he knew it wasn't out of dislike, but the unwillingness to leave.
"B-bye bye Astraea, can we play together with Valky next time?" Kyris asked with a tone softer than his usual.
"Mhm! Let's play a lot again! I'll teach Valky a lot of stuff!"
Kyris smiled happily hearing her reply, before telling her one last thing.
"Yeah! Make her become the best little sister!"
Tirana was also unwilling to leave, fidgetting in place as she didn't want to say goodbye.
Seeing her daughter act like this, Aneya gave her a smalp nudge, gaining her attention. When Tirana saw the gentle expression on her mothers face which told her that its alright, she gathered herself and spoke towards Astraea.
"B-bye bye...let's play again..." she said softly.
"Yeah! We can play together again! Wait there, gonna get something!" Astraea ran to her room, making everyone curious about what she was going to get.
She came back holding a black stuffed bunny the size of Valkyrie, with Valkyrie in particular being held by Astraea since she had awoken.
She passed to bunny to Tirana, who accepted with confusion and a bit of joy.
Astraea had actually seen Tirana hugging that black bunny to sleep the previous night and guessee that she must have really liked it. Wanting to increase her favorability and relationship with Tirana.
"I know you like it a lot, so you can keep it!" Astraea told her with a bright smile.
"Really? I can keep it?"
"Really really!"
Tirana beamed with joy at Astaea's confirmation, happy that she had received a new stuffed toy.
"Now what do you say to Astraea?" Aneya asked her daughter, promting her to do what she was taught.
"Thank you!" She happily said while hugging the black bunny tight.
"You're welcome!" Astraea replied.
"Astraea! Make sure to teach Valky well alright? And don't forget to give her lots of love!" Kaelie said with a happy tone, having regained her bubbly demeanor after her hangover had subsided.
"If little Valky had any problems with her body, or if there are any functions you want to add, don't hesitate to call me alright? I'll come and help," Vaena added on.
Yes, big sis Kaelie, grandma Vaena! Bye bye everyone!" Astraea said to all the guests, all of them moving onto the magic circle.
Astraea waved her hand at them and Valkyrie waved as well, having been taught yesterday. Kyris and Tirana waved back and all the guests disappeared from the platform as the magic circle lit up and teleported them out.
"So sweetie, did you enjoy your birthday yesterday?" Paela asked.
"Yeah! I loved it!" Astraea replied, her answer genuine, as it was truly the best birthday she had celebrated amongst the decades of birthdays she's had in her previous life.
"That's good, because you still have plenty of birthdays to go!" Aereon told her.
"I can't wait!"
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After her birthday, her normal life resumed but with a lot of changes, er parents started teaching her harder things with greater frequency and despite it being useless for her.
It allowed her to act less ignorant and use more vocabulary and she slowly eased into becoming more intelligent than they had already seen.
She taught Valkyrie everyday and her parents started to slowly treat Valkyrie like their own child and began teaching the both of them together.
Valkyrie became more and more human-like and alive everyday which brought smiles to Astraea and her parents.
She played with Kyris and Tirana quite frequency, there was always at least one day when they played together every week, allowing them to bond and strengthen their relationship.
She learned a lot of new things from practicing her magic, studying her magic wand, and using holowatch which had an abundunt amount of information suitable for an ignorant toddler.
Over a year has passed since then and she had celebrated her second birthday not too long ago, receiving more cool and useful presents and making more memories.
Astraea was currently standing infront of a colorful building covered with shapes and pictures that were attractive to children, it had beautiful plants and flowers at the front that added a sense of naturality to the building.
All around her she could hear the chatter of children and footsteps, along with the chatter and footsteps of adult that accompanied them.
That's right, she was currently standing infront of her new school, the school where she was going to attend preschool.
A thought popped into her head as she looked at the school she would be spending two years of preschool at.
'Preschool, beware, the cutest toddler in the omni...err...city has arrived!'