I Didn't Know This Was The Kindergarten Floor [Rya]

[Ranooki Reese]

There were days when Ranooki missed having her adoptive niece around. Lily had grown up so much for the past years and was now off to her own adventures. The Navy Captain hoped that she'd get to see the now teenage girl again in the near future. She had known her since she was a little child. In the back of her mind, the blonde could also hear her twin sister laugh in tears and tease her about how she was starting to have baby ideas.

She was musing about all of this as she left a meeting room at an official building in downtown Thani where she had spent the past hour. In her line of work she could avoid boring meetings most of the time, but every once in a while, especially with her extensive experience, she had to sit with some officials about needed supplies for the Navy.

Gods, she was dying for a smoke and maybe a few whiskeys after this meeting! She briefly spoke with the assistant in the lobby of the floor, before heading towards the lift.

She stopped on her tracks as she almost stumbled into a little ginger haired girl...

[Rya Beltrak]

Stay in here. Stay in there. Don't go here! Don't go there! Rya was bored of waiting for Daddy to come back from his meeting, so decided she'd go look for him! Couldn't be that hard right? He said he'd be in the building if he were needed, but his comms were off when she needed him most! He'd said he'd be back by noon and this was now 12:15!

Packing her little purple care bear backpack with sweeties, Rya made her way out of the room she'd been kept in and toddled down the corridor, shouting "Daaaaaaddy! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDY!" before sighing. He wasn't on this floor. Blowing a strand of hair away from her face, Rya sighed and found one of those lifty thingys you stepped into. Pushing the button to get in, Rya then pressed a random button and waited as the doors closed and opened again, shooting out and nearly crashing into a tall, blonde lady. "Sowwy miss! I can't talk... I lost Daddy..."

The little girl curtsied to the blonde lady and began to walk past her, oblivious to the thought that the lady could help her find her lost Daddy.

[Ranooki Reese]

To say that this child was set on a mission would be an understatement. Ranooki chuckled at the good manners and stubborn nature the little girl displayed. She hadn't heard the child yell for her Daddy moments before - or she would have made the connection.

As she stared at the kid walk away, she caught the weird look from the lady at the information desk. "Excuse me, miss, but shouldn't this child be looked after?!" The woman dipped her gaze. "I think she must have left the room where we keep the children, the normal area is going through renovation."

Ranooki stared. "Fine. I'll make sure she doesn't wander off any further." She growled at the assistant.

She easily caught up with the trotting child. "Hey... Want some help to find your Daddy?" She slowly crouched before her, so she could be on eye level. "I'm Ranooki."

[Rya Beltrak]

Rya searched high and low for her Daddy, albeit in the wrong places. Under tables, under chairs, under a table cloth! Rya had yet to learn the concept of size all too well. Daddy couldn't have fit into the areas she looked...except maybe under the table. It was a big table after all! But... no joy. He wasn't there either... but the blonde lady was! She looked up as the blonde lady made herself smaller so the little girl didn't crane her neck overmuch, asking her if she wanted help finding her Daddy. Rya had been told not to follow strangers by both Mama and Daddy, but wasn't being given a name meaning she wasn't a stranger? The little girl was in a conundrum. Should she trust this lady and let her tag along? Should she just shake her head and run away? It was a big decision for a three year old to make... a very big decision.

Finally, Rya gave the lady a small nod before trying to repeat the lady's name in her cute little three year old voice. "Ra...noo...key? Ra...noo...ki? Ranooki! Heehee!" she grinned as she finally got it right before bopping a hand on her chest. "Me S...S...hmm..." Rya frowned. She was still struggling to say her full name. "Sar....Sarya!" she began. Yes...that was right... now the rest. "Sarya Nava...Navaria!" she clapped her hands with glee as she said her name in full. "Me Sarya Navaria Wayne! Mama and Daddy call me 'Rya' so you can too if you like!"

Canting her head to one side, Rya then said, "Daddy said he would get me at noon. but it past noon now and Daddy's comm is gone and I don't know where he is..." Big blue/grey eyes looked up sadly at Ranooki. She really didn't know what to do or where to go and Mama said that the world was a very big place. He could be anywhere for all she knew!

[Ranooki Reese]

Ranooki found it good that the little girl seemed a bit wary of her at first. It was why she was giving her her name too. And they were still in the building, so in worst case, she could have the other lady, who supposedly was looking after the children in there, check on her.

"Yes, Ranooki." She smiled fondly when the little one managed to say her name correctly. She knew that Ranooki wasn't a common or so easy name, so she praised the kid. "Happy to meet you, Sarya Navaria. It's a lovely name. And okay, I'll call you Rya!"

She nodded to what the little girl explained about her daddy. "Maybe your Daddy's work isn't finished yet. We can go ask the lady where he is. We can go there and I can wait with you until he comes back. Would you like that?"

[Rya Beltrak]

Rya smiled as the blomde lady, Ranooki said her name was lovely. "Fank you miss! Mama name me after my Aunties." she said enthusiastically. "I no meet Auntie Sarya but Auntie Navaria is a Jedi! Mama is too!"

When she spoke about Daddy, her features turned sad. "But.. Daddy said he'd be back at noon. He pwomised he would...Daddy no bweak pwomises." Rya could've cried in that moment if she wanted, but she was too much like her mother. Stubborn to the core. Instead, the little girl pouted then looked downhearted. "He said we go to the park and get ice cream...."

[Ranooki Reese]

"So you come from Yavin VIII? Or Corellia?" Ranooki asked with a smile, knowing that the Jedi had build an enclave on the Core planet over the past couple of years.

When the little girl seemed sad when talking about her Daddy, the blonde tried to cheer her up and explain things simply. "I came here for work today. I was supposed to finish at eleven thirty. They let me go at noon. It wasn't my choice. Maybe your Daddy is busy because of work. I'm sure he would have been back otherwise."

Getting back to her feet, she gently held out her hand to the child. "Let's ask the lady at the desk where we can go find your Daddy."

[Rya Beltrak]

Rya looked up shyly as she responded to Ranooki's question of whether she was from Corellia or Yavin Eight. It wasn't that she couldn't answer the question, but she quite literally was from both. She was born in space and raised on both worlds so she decided that, rather than choose, she'd say the truth. "I'm from bof worlds! Mama and me live on Corellia now but me used to live on Yavin wif Mama. Daddy sometimes come home but stays here a lot. Work always take him away..."

As she took Ranooki's hand into her own, she gave the woman a nod and allowed herself to be led to the reception lady. Determined to ask herself, Rya let go of Ranooki's hand to try and gain the lady's attention. Rya was still very small, however and couldn't see over the desk without help. Bouncing and hanging off the end of the desk, Rya asked while bouncing, "'Scuse me kind lady. Where Daddy gone?"

Of course, 'Daddy' was the name she called him. His real name wasn't Daddy, however. It was Maize.

[Ranooki Reese]

"I went to Yavin VIII a few times. It's really cold there. I live here on Telos." Ranooki replied to the little girl's words, finding it normal to also say something about herself. There was something about the child that reminded her of her adoptive niece, who was almost an adult now!

She smiled as Rya took her hand and they made their way to the reception desk on the floor. She grinned as the decisive little girl tried to ask herself. The woman raised a brow and looked at Ranooki. "We are looking for a Mr. Wayne who had a meeting normally finishining at noon."

The lady checked her screen. "The meeting is still ongoing but is five floors above." Ranooki thanked her. "We can go wait for your Daddy upstairs."

[Rya Beltrak]

Rya looked downhearted as it was revealed that her Daddy was still in the meeting. It was like a betrayal for the little girl, who finally started rubbing her eyes. "But...but..." she said, trying hard not to burst into tears. Why would Daddy say it would be done at noon when in fact it would not?

Sticking her left thumb in her mouth and sucking on it for comfort, the vibrant little girl's features looked sad as she looked up at Ranooki. At least she promised to keep an eye on her until Daddy returned. Quietly nodding, Rya raised up her right arm and outstretched her tiny hand. Whether Ranooki lifted her up or took a hold of her hand was up to her. Rya would've preferred getting carried, but as Ranooki was a 'new friend', Rya wasn't going to push it.

[Ranooki Reese]

The little one was brave and wasn't crying, but it wasn't hard to tell that she was very sad because her daddy was still stranded in a meeting. At least, she agreed to Ranooki keeping her company.

When a little hand was outstretched, the Captain bended and picked the little girl up, not thinking twice. "You're a big girl, you know that?" She chuckled as they took the stairs. The blonde had suddenly remembered how she had remarked that some kids tended to hate the lifts.

"Do you like space ships?" She asked, trying to take the child's mind off of her worries.

[Rya Beltrak]

Rya took in a breath and sighed as Ranooki lifted her up, a smile peeking through despite her still sucking on her thumb, even letting out a small giggle as the woman commented on how big the girl was. "I'm free years old! Hehe!" she said before taking her thumb out of her mouth as Ranooki distracted her from the long walk up the stairs.

When the woman asked about whether she liked space ships, the little redhead nodded eagerly. "Yep! Daddy and me fly by space ship! It was really fun and saw the sky turn from black to red and yellow and blue! It was very purdy!" she responded before asking her question. "Do you like space ships Ranooki?"

[Ranooki Reese]

Ranooki grinned when the little girl said she was three years old. It felt like eons ago that Lily had been such a young one. She really hoped to catch up with her adoptive niece soon enough. She had the intuition Mazen's daughter was likely to get in trouble, but she wouldn't fault her for that! After all, trouble was Ranooki's middle name!

She beamed when Rya seemed happy with the topic of starships. "The skies have beautiful colors, right?" She grinned at the next question. "I love space ships! I work on them. I fix them, I help building them sometimes. I call them my birds."

[Rya Beltrak]

"Really?! You make and fix space ships?!" she said eagerly. "Mama used to fix ships too. I wanna learn to fix dem too!" The little girl had so many questions about working with ships but for the moment decided to stick with one question. "Is it easy to make dem?"

[Ranooki Reese]

"Yes! I've done that since I was little." Ranooki smiled when the kid said that her mother used to fix ships to. "I'm sure your mama will teach you then!"

"It's not easy to make ships, but sometimes it can easy to fix them. You have to be patient but it's a great job! I fix ships and my sister flies them. It's a family thing."