Twins Amber and Calcite couldn't be any less alike. Where Cal is happy to stay at home with his piano and guitar, Amber has a desperate need to see unknown places and explore the wilds. Chasing a childhood dream into the jungle of Selvadorada, Amber finds a dream cut short...and Cal finds himself living for two lives, instead of just one.
Moonstone: Waking them for baths and dinner’s going to fun isn’t it?
Saffron: Yeah, but we can handle it. Four of us, two of them.
Moonstone: You have yet to chase Amber when she books it, hun.
Moonstone: There! See, Ori? Baths aren’t so bad are they?
Ori: *bark*
Moonstone: Well you handled it better than Amber.
Moonstone: Time for bed…
-
Saffron: The seasons passed quietly in their home, safe and sheltered from the world outside. Every day, Ku grew a little stronger, a little bolder, a little more ready to go out into that world herself.
Amber: Last one into the pool’s a rotten egg!
Lacus: Hey! No fair!
Corona: Come on, slowpoke!
Amber: Maré, your brothers are slowpokes.
Maré: Don’t remind me. You try having to share a bathroom with them.
Palus: Speak for yourself!
Corona: Come on, guys! Let’s just play!
Corona: Whoo!
Spinel: Ah-Palus, don’t run so close to the pool!
Palus: Yes, Gram!
Amber: Watch this!
Calcite: Race you to the end!
Firefly: Lacus! No running by the pool!
Palus: *snickering* Now who got told?
Corona: Only you boys get told off.
Amber: Hey, Lacus, what was that book report supposed to be again?
Lacus: It was three chapters on Henry Puffer and the…you didn’t do it, did you.
Calcite: She didn’t do it!
Amber: Stuff it, Cal!
Calcite: Hey, don’t shoot the messenger!
Corona: Guys, just come on already!
Amber: I’mma school all of you!
Sundown: Nice slide, Amber!
Saffron: Okay, kids! It’s getting late, so start packing up!
Calcite: Okay, Ma!
Luna: At least they’ll be tired out tonight.
Sundown: They might, but I’m not sure about that one.
Spinel: Makes me glad we didn’t have one of those back home. We’d have never gotten them off of it!
Firefly: Would that have been so terrible?
Spinel: Maybe for their egos.
Maré: Today was great, wasn’t it?
Corona: Yeah…I’ll miss this when we go back to school tomorrow.
Amber: Ugh, don’t remind me…
Corona: Come on, Am. School’s not that bad.
Amber: Speak for yourself.
Amber: Mama? Was this story real?
Moonstone: All stories are real somewhere, honey bee. I’m sure this one was, too.
-
Saffron: The Light soared into the storm, banishing the clouds. For leagues in all directions, all anyone could see was the Light of Niwen as it brought life back to the forest, restoring that which had been broken.
bus honks*
Moonstone: Oh! Come on, kids–you don’t want to be late!
-
Dove: That’s right. Now, can anyone tell me which part of the spine this is?
Dove: The uppermost portion of the spine i s called the…
Calcite: The cervical?
Dove: That’s right! And below it is the…?
Maré: The thoracic, which is the biggest part of the spine.
Dove: Very good! Next up is…
Palus: The lumbar. Isn’t that part really easy to hurt?
Dove: Very. The lumbar region takes a lot of the weight of our day to day lives and can easily be strained if we’re not careful. But it’s not the end of the spine. Can anyone tell me what comes after the lumbar region? …Amber, do you know?
Amber: Uh…the sacred?
Dove: Close! The sacrum is the fourth portion of the spine.
Lacus: Did you even do the reading for this? You didn’t, did you?
Amber: Stuff it, Lacus.
Lacus: You didn’t do any of the readings! Man, your Moms are gonna be so mad at you..
Corona: No madder than your Mom when I tell her you’re being a jerk.
Lacus: Hey, I’m just saying…
Amber: I said stuff it!
Dove: Alright, alright, settle down. I won’t have you fighting in my class.
*bell rings*
Dove: Remember, three more chapters are due by this weekend. Amber, hang back. We need to talk.
Amber: Ugh…
Amber: I’m sorry I yelled, Miss Dove. Lacus just–
Dove: He can be a bit of a bully, I know. But this is about more than that. Your grades have been slipping lately. Is everything alright at home?
Amber: What? Yeah, of course it is!
Corona: What do you think that’s about?
Maré: I don’t know…maybe her homework?
Maré: It’s weird though…Miss Dove doesn’t usually hold us back after class…
-
Amber: I just–the readings are really hard for me. It’s like they don’t make sense at all no matter how hard I try, I just…
Dove: There are adjustments we can make to account for that.
Amber: And give Lacus another reason to pick on me? No thanks!
Dove: Amber, your education matters more than what a bully thinks about you, even if he is your cousin. If your grades keep slipping like this, it’ll be very hard to get them back up. I’ll give you a note to give to your parents, alright?
Amber: I–ugh…fine. Thank you, Miss Dove.
-
Corona: What was that about?
Amber: I don’t wanna talk about it.
Maré: Yikes. That bad?
Amber: I don’t wanna talk about it!
Corona: Am, you know we aren’t gonna laugh if you tell us. What’s the matter?
Amber: I–ugh!
Amber: I hate school. It’s such a stupid waste of time.
Maré: It’s not that bad…can we help somehow?
Amber: No. I need to hit something.
Amber: Ugh! Stupid lessons, stupid grades, stupid cousins!!
Coach Champagne: Whoa there, spitfire. Hurting yourself won’t make them any less dumb.
Amber: I don’t care! It helps me–oof–it helps me think!
Coach Champagne: Ah. I think I know what’s going on here.
Coach Champagne: Amber, do you have trouble thinking when you’re not moving or doing something else at the same time.
Amber: Yeah! Like–all the time?
Coach Champagne: Yep, I figured. I know what’s going on here.
Amber: What? Can I fix it?
Coach Champagne: There’s nothing broken, kiddo. You’re just a little different than other kids, that’s all. But you can make it a little easier on yourself.
Amber: How?
Coach: Well, exercise can really help out. Giving all that energy another outlet so you can sit still when you need to, and fidget toys. Some kids play with their bracelets or necklaces, too.
Amber: And you think it’d help, Coach?
Coach Champagne: Well, I think it’d help more than sitting around doing nothing about it, that’s for sure! You can come in here whenever you want, but it’d be a good idea to get some equipment at home, too.
Amber: Coach how do you know all of this?
Coach Champagne: Hey, I was a kid once too! I had a lot of the same problems you did, and my Granpa helped me sort myself out. Of course what worked for me may not work for you, but what could it hurt to try?
Amber: Not much?
Coach Champagne: Exactly. The gym’s open whenever you’re here.
Amber: Thanks, Coach.
After school…
Calcite: So hitting stuff makes you feel better?
Amber: Just the punching bag. I don’t wanna hurt people, you know? And it’s not just hitting, it’s…moving, I guess.
Calcite: Huh. Makes sense. You never can sit still.
Artemis: What’s this about sitting still?
Amber: Aunt Arty! You’re back!
Artemis: For a couple days. Come here–oof, honey bee! You’ve gotten so big!
Artemis: Now, what was that about sitting still?
Calcite: Amber’s really bad at it, and moving helps her think better.
Artemis: Oh! Yeah, that makes sense. Your moms weren’t very good at it, either. There’s a reason they’re so good at basketball.
Amber: Does that mean I’d be good at it, too?
Calcite: You hate playing basketball.
Amber: …oh yeah…I do.
Artemis: *chuckle* Well, basketball's not the only athletics course, but you still need the rest of your grades up. Who wants help with their homework first?
Calcite: Me!
Amber: Cal! Uh, fine…
Spinel: Having some trouble, honey?
Amber: Yeah…the words just don’t hold still!
Spinel: Oof. Well, let’s see if I can’t do something about that.
Spinel: …and there we go! See, that wasn’t so bad.
Amber: It was really easy! Why can’t I do it like that…
Spinel: Everyone’s different, honey bee. Some people find reading easy, others don’t. We can figure it all out for you.
Amber: Thanks, Gran. I’m gonna go play on the bars now, okay?
Spinel: Okay. Holler if you need some help.
Calcite: Am? You’re gonna fall doing that!
Amber: No I won’t! Don’t be such a fraidyberry, Cal. I’ll race you!
Calcite: Loser has to walk Ori tomorrow!
Amber: You’re on!
Amber: –whoa! That was close…
Calcite: Told you you’d fall.
Amber: I didn’t!
Cal: You giving up?
Amber: ….ugh. Fine. Fine, you win. This time.
Calcite: So playing around out here…what does it do for you?
Amber: Makes my brain shut up. See, it’s like…it’s like there’s a thousand of me all shouting at the same time, and I can’t listen to just one of ‘em because of that.
Calcite: That sounds really sucky.
Amber: Ugh, you have no idea. But when I’m moving around, they all get quiet, and I can think about just one thing. Like homework, or…whatever.
Calcite: Well, if you ever wanna play with somebody else to shut ‘em up, I’m here.
Amber: I know. Thanks, Cal.
Amber: I need to talk to Ma about it, too…
Calcite: I can take Ori out so you can.
Amber: Hey…
Calcite: You can do it tomorrow.
Moonstone: Kids! It’s time for dinner!
Amber/Calcite: Coming!
Later…
Amber: Ma? Mama?
Saffron: What’s up, honey bee?
Amber: Can we get a punching bag?
Moonstone: …what.
Amber: Miss Dove was worried about my grades and Coach Champagne said that exercise could help me with being able to do my homework and–
Saffron: And slow down! Let’s take this from the top. Your grades are slipping because you…
Amber: I can’t think about one thing long enough to do the homework, so I don’t do it, and my grades fall. But when I’m moving I can think so the coach thinks punching things will help.
Saffron: Okay, so you want to get a punching bag for here, so you can get your brain to think about one thing?
Amber: Uh-huh. Can we?
Saffron: I don’t see why not. But maybe we should try the ones at the gym first to be sure it actually helps.
Amber: Ma, it helps! Aunt Arty said you and Mama did the same with basketball back when you were kids.
Moonstone: We weren’t doing it for this reason, baby.
Saffron: No, we just liked to play. I mean, wearing myself out was a great way to sleep, sure, but not like this.
Moonstone: But if you think this’ll help, we can try.
Saffron: We’ll go to the gym after school tomorrow. But, honey bee, why didn’t you say anything about homework troubles?
Amber: I thought I’d get over it.
Saffron: Maybe you will, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help anyway. There’s nothing wrong with needing help, you know.
Amber: But…you and Mama don’t ask for help…
Saffron: We know each other well enough that we don’t need to ask, baby. But we still need help from time to time.
Amber: Oh…okay. I’ll ask for help earlier next time.
Saffron: Good. Want me to tuck you in?
Amber: Please.
-
Saffron: Sweet dreams, honey bee. Ninight.
Amber: Ninight, Ma.
Amber: What other stuff is there besides punching bags, Ma?
Saffron: Well, there’s rock climbing walls here, and yoga mats, and treadmills. A punching bag would be easiest to get at home, though.
Amber: Oh, wow…everything’s so new! It’s not like the stuff at school!
Saffron: Go on, give one a try.
Saffron: Remember, knees bent, thumb on the outside–
Amber: I know, Ma!
Saffron: *laugh* Okay, Miss Smarty. Let’s see what you can do.
Amber: Oof…this bag’s harder than the one at school…
Saffron: That’s because it’s new. Keep the gloves on.
Amber: So?
Saffron: So? What do you mean, so?
Amber: Can we get one? Please?
Saffron: …you really were sure, weren’t you?
Amber: Uh, yeah?
Saffron: *snort* Okay, I’ll make an order on one condition. You tell me, or your Mama, or your Gram or Gran if you have trouble with your homework again. Deal?
Amber: Deal.
Calcite: Mama?
Moonstone: What’s up, baby?
Calcite: Uh…can I try playing a little?
Moonstone: oh! Of course. Here, sit next to me.
Moonstone: You know, your Gran Firefly taught me how to play.
Calcite: She did? Was it hard to learn?
Moonstone: Only a little. I can teach you, if you want.
Calcite: That’d be great! I like listening to the stuff you and Ma make. It’s really pretty.
Moonstone: Hm, it is, isn’t it?
Lacus: So what’s at this museum, anyway?
Calcite: It’s the Museuem of Selvadoradan Archea…archey….uh..
Palus: Archaeology
Calcite: Thanks. Basically it’s old stuff they dug up and are showing here so people learn what life was like way back in the past in Selva..
Palus: It’s pretty interesting. Omiscan history is so much longer than ours, and they have all these stories!
Lacus: Sounds kinda boring. Who wants to sit around and dig in the mud all day for broken old junk?
Calcite: It’s not all broken old things, Lac. Besides, how else are we supposed to learn what happened back then? It’s not like they’re still around to tell us!
Maré: I heard they’re starting to offer Archaeology placements at the big universities, too! So they can get more people doing it.
Corona: You couldn’t pay me enough to go that far away from home! I’d rather stay in town, thanks.
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