Chapter Six: You Are Invited To My Birthday PARTY!

Kara's first week blows by in a haze of menial labor with few distractions. It's nearly spring, two more days now. The weather is getting hot and she can feel the shift in the air and water, gearing up for a rainy season. Raverden had its fair share of storms, but she's a lot closer to the ocean now.

It can't get too bad, surely.

Kara is outside for a change, working on what clearly used to be a garden. She's wearing a sun hat and shorts, a green button up, and has foregone shoes for the day.

Weeds had overtaken the poor garden, but she'll have it ready for new seeds in time for planting season by the looks of things. With such nice soil, Kara is excited to see what she can grow. Maybe she'll even be able to cook with fresh ingredients.

Adjusting her sun hat, Kara looks down at the space she has to work with. It's a decent plot, big enough for a small variety. She rakes her gloved fingers through the dirt and finds a few earthworms. They're the first living animal she's seen so far. No birds, no deer, nothing.

That's unusual for someplace that's been abandoned so long. All that's left behind are prints... It's still technically winter, she would've expected to see something by this point.

But the worms are a good sign.

Kara continues weeding the garden and tossing rocks over the fence into a neat pile. She wonders if a greenhouse would be better than planting straight in the ground.

So lost in her work, Kara doesn't even notice a thumping sound for several second. It sounds like someone knocking on the door around the front of the house.

"Outside," she shouts. Of course it was too much to hope for that she'd be able to finish her work free of interruption. Honestly, it's a blessing she made it three whole days unbothered. At least she's outside and has no obligation to invite them in, they may be confused with how much she's accomplished in just a week.

"Kara? Hello? Where are you?" It sounds like the well-mannered child. Good, better him than his brother. Kara just isn't ready to face Theo again. He's too complex for her overthinking mind to handle, his intentions a mystery to her. Undoubtedly rude, too, but she isn't exactly winning any compassion trophies, either...

Well, in any case his little brother is far easier to be around.

"Over here," she calls grumpily, wiping her face and tugging up more weeds. Blake comes around the corner of the house and hangs on the fence with a grin, leaning over but not entering the garden.

"Hi, Miss Kara! Are you growing vegetables? Don't worry, I won't trample any." This is the only human who understands respect, Kara decides. Polite, respectful, thinks about others. What happens to humans when they grow up?

"Don't worry, there's nothing planted to trample on, yet. I do plan to grow something, though. First I just need to tame these wicked strangling roots," she tells him, pulling out a thorny plant with a grunt. She tosses it aside and turns to face him, giving him her full attention. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, right! You're invited!" What? Wiping her hands clean, Kara looks at him with a quizzical frown and beckons him to continue.

"To another cookout?"

"Not this time! My birthday is in two days, miss, and I'm having a birthday party. You're invited," he says excitedly, handing her a card. A birthday party? Caught off guard, Kara struggles to find some way to turn him down politely. She doesn't want to hurt his feelings, but a party will mean dozens of children, and dozens of children means dozens of parents.

Humans all congregating and making their small talk... Yeesh.

"Oh, uh, I'm not sure-"

"Please, Miss Kara? It would sure mean a lot to me if you came," he says earnestly, giving her the biggest doe-eyed look she's ever seen. Darn his polite little vernacular! How is she supposed to say no to that?

Kara sighs and tugs her gloves off to take the invitation. It's bright yellow with her name scribbled hastily on the front in terrible handwriting.

"Alright, mister, you've convinced me. Where's this awesome party," she asks, her resolve to keep her distance crumbling. It's just one more get-together. It probably won't even take too long. She can endure.

"It's just at my house. One o'clock, that's one p.m not one a.m. Just come right in, Mom and Dad won't mind." The idea of entering someone's home without express permission physically nauseates her. Then again, Blake is sort of giving her permission and to humans, home is less of a territory and more of...

Something else?

"What would you like as a gift," she asks suddenly. Birthdays require presents. A child's present shouldn't be too impersonal. Plus, Kara can't be the only one showing up empty-handed.

"The planet Mercury."

"I can do Jupiter," she counters.

"Neptune?"

"You got someplace big enough to hold Neptune?"

Blake purses his lips, a thoughtful look on his face before breaking out into a huge grin.

"I guess you just have to surprise me, then! Don't worry so much, miss, I like pretty much everything. And if you can't bring a gift, that's okay, too!" Before Kara can assure him she'll definitely be bringing one, they both hear a rustling sound. Kara tenses up, hands raising in case she has to pull Blake closer.

Just because she hasn't seen a wild animal yet doesn't mean they aren't out there and humans are fragile.

Kara can't let a kid get hurt, even a human one.

"Hello?! Blake, Kara?" Ugh. Him? The tension drains from her body and is replaced with a deep-seated displeasure. Kara isn't emotionally prepared for another conversation with Mr Disrespectful just yet.

"In the garden," Blake calls back. Soon after, Theo walks around the house and takes a look at Kara kneeling in the dirt and Blake practically sitting on the old fence, his arms crossed.

"You better hurry home, you know you aren't supposed to be here," Theo tells his little brother disapprovingly. Blake just smiles sheepishly.

"Miss Kara was watching me," he insists. At Theo's glare, he pouts and slides off the fence. "I was about to go, anyway," he mutters. He waves at Kara before running back towards the so-called trail in the woods.

Kara will have to put some thought into his gift, she knows. He's just so sweet, she wants to get him something he'll really like. Only... What do human kids actually like? Guppies like playing with other critters in the sea, and as they get older, most develop hobbies of a sort.

The Sea Folk who live in pods and build their homes in the ocean even trade with each other. Jewelry, weapons, that sort of things. Is Blake more of a guppy at this age?

Kara is about to resume working when she feels a presence is lingering nearby, still. Turning, he finds Theo is leaning on the fence with his arms folded over the old wood, watching her.

"Blake really likes you," he tells her. "You're basically his first real neighbor. The first one he can remember, anyway. It can get sort of lonely only very seeing the same faces. Plus, he thinks your cool for buying this place. Pretty sure he thinks it's haunted."

Right... Still staring at him, Kara waits in silence. Evidently, Theo has nothing more to say.

"So, are you here for... something in specific?"

"Actually, I came to invite you to coffee. I wanted to talk." Kara stares up at him covered head to toe in dirt and leaves, her hands sore from weeding the soon-to-be garden.

"No thanks."

"Really?" Theo looks shocked at her rejection, truly shocked. Then again, an attractive human like him probably isn't used to rejection.

"I'm too busy right now, so maybe a raincheck?" Speaking of a rain check, Kara wonders how much flooding there will be when the spring showers start. Hopefully Blake's party isn't affected, she's sure it'll hit around that time.

"You're in a big hurry to fix this place," Theo points out, seemingly unable to get the hint.

"I am in a hurry. This is my home now and I want it to feel like home as soon as possible." Rather than just a place she happens to be staying, that is.

"Why are you out here playing in dirt, then?" Kara sighs, a sound of annoyance and suffering. If there is one thing he hates, it's people who ask too many questions.

"The soil here is very healthy. It'll be good for planting and it's almost time for a lot crops to be planted. You see, certain crops have a season that they need to be planted in for maximum harvest. The sooner I clear it out, the better," she explains, as if gently teaching a child.

"Don't get your hopes up. I doubt anything is going to grow," Theo warns her. "It certainly wouldn't grow anything fifteen years ago."

So he has no problem talking about it? At the cookout he looked furious when William was talking to her about it. When before was all bristles and thorns, now he wants idle chatter?

Is this genuine? Could he be pulling some kind of trick switching up on her like this? Ugh, all the possibilities are giving her a headache. It doesn't matter what he wants, she isn't taking the bait.

"It'll grow or it won't." Kara stands up and holds up Blake's invitation. "What does your little brother want as a gift? Besides the planet Mercury, apparently."

Theo shrugs his shoulders dispassionately and it really takes all of Kara's strength to not chuck the pile of weeds at him. That's entirely unhelpful.

"Any likes, any interests? A hint would be nice," she snaps. Theo looks startled by her tone, but he doesn't get angry or defensive.

"You don't have to bring a gift if you don't want to. Trust me, he's one of the only kids in town, he'll get lots of presents." Huh. So that means not a lot of other kids and not a lot of parents. The same crowd as before?

That doesn't sound as unbearable this time around.

"Is he an artist," she asks.

"Do stick figures from when he was five count?"

"A musician?"

"Nah."

"Does he like to read?"

"He likes adventure," Theo offers. Kara brightens at that. "Stories and shows and games about exploration. Treasure hunting, expeditions, all that stuff."

Now that she can work with. It makes sense, too. For lots of kids, the idea of discovering the unknown is alluring. Adventure awaits around every corner.

"Cool. Was that so hard, Theodore?" Theo's face sours and Kara smiles sharply. "What? That's your name, right?"

"Just call me Theo, please. Theodore is an old man's name." He doesn't like his name. Good to know.

"Well, Theodore, I have a lot of work to do. So, raincheck on that coffee. Actually, if you want to talk, we can just talk at the party in two days."

Theo pushes off the fence with a dejected look on his face.

"The party? Nah, raincheck it is. How about next week?" Kara suppresses a frustrated groan.

"Maybe, yeah. Like I said, super busy. We'll just have to wait and see. Oh and tomorrow I'll be busy picking out a gift for your brother, so I won't be-"

"Then tomorrow is perfect," Theo interupts. "I actually haven't gotten him anything yet, so we'll go together! It's decided. Bye, Kara."

What? That wasn't what- no, she doesn't-!

Theo is already running off, though, leaving her unable to decline. He's gone in a flash and she has no desire to run through those woods chasing him barefoot. Groaning, she tosses her gardening gloves down and storms inside to wash up. She refuses to be outwitted by a human.

He wants a coffee date? She'll give him a coffee date.