Ida and Aunt Mo (for cripmeister)

[justmedk]

Ida had just landed and gotten her suitcase off the transport belt. She loved to travel, but she hated the process of it: The stress of getting to the airport three hours before the flight, the mad rush to get to your seat, the mad rush to get out of the plane when it landed, the mad rush to get to the conveyor belt to get your suitcase, and then from there to whereever you were going. It always drove her up the wall, but it was worth it.

She smiled, and closed her eyes for a moment as she stepped out into the terminal which was illuminated by the light of the rising sun, just after dawn. She remembered this place well, from her last visit 5 years ago with her parents. Things had seemed a lot bigger back then, but it was essentially the same.
Ida kicked herself internally.

Of course things seemed bigger! I was smaller! ....but not much smaller, she thought to herself with an annoyed look on her face. Her parents as well as the school nurse had told her not to worry, that she'd suddenly grow quickly, but she had her doubts. She had friends who were taller than their parents at this point, while she herself was the same height as when she was 10. With her "babyface" and being slightly chubby, though not fat by any stretch of the word, Ida looked like she was two or three years younger than her 13 years, and it annoyed her to no end.

Ida yawned as she started to scan the terminal for that one familiar face she was searching for. She had tried to get some sleep on the plane, but the trip hadn't really taken long enough for her to get any sleep once they were at cruising altitude and the pressure on her ears had gone. She did look forward to sleeping tonight, that was for sure. But for now, she tried very hard to find one face in a crowd of hundreds.

It shouldn't be that difficult, she thought to herself. Most of these people are either businessguys or their drivers, she generalized as she attempted to find her aunt Mo in the crowd, while dragging her large suitcase, almost cartoonishly big for a girl her size, carrying her computer in its bag over one shoulder, and the backpack she'd used for carry-on, on her back. She felt a bit like a mule, but she had decided that it was better to pack too much than too little, and so she had packed more than she could carry herself. Her parents had helped her with her suitcase in Copenhagen before the departure, and a kind stranger had helped her from the conveyor belt to the terminal here, but now she was a bit on her own.

[cripmeister]

Mo drained her coffee and dropped the cup in the bin as she headed for the arrivals gate at the small city airport. In her typical style she has arrived well in advance of Ida's flight, and so had plenty of time to park her car and sit with a large coffee (her second of the morning) with a good view of the arrivals board. It was one of the great benefits of working at home more these days that she could come to pick up her niece - she would have hated to handle this as she would have had to a year or two ago, and just told Ida to get a taxi back and make herself at home, while she stayed at the office until late.
Waiting in the crowd of businessmen and drivers she struggled to pick out the face she knew among those beginning to trickle through the gates. She had obviously seen plenty of photos sent over in the last few years, but she wondered how much Ida would have changed in real terms from the eight year old girl she had last seen in this airport. By all expectations not a huge amount, although a young woman Ida was still rather baby faced as the photos bore witness. She would try to avoid commenting on how little she had changed, she knew from her brother that the teen could be sensitive about it.
She had understandably heard a lot from her brother and her sister in law recently as they discussed the move. There were all of the purely practical considerations like enrolling Ida in school and so on, but also a lot of more generic concerns as Mo sought any information she could on how to raise and live with a teenage girl. It was very daunting on many levels, and Mo had many times asked herself what the hell she was doing taking this on, at this stage especially. Right now though, her feelings were entirely positive, she had done the best preparation she could, and she knew that ultimately they could only have a good time together. She just hopes she could do the best for the girl at this key stage in her young life.
Her reverie was interrupted as she finally caught sight of her new charge. No wonder she was towards the end of the group, laden down as she was with so much luggage; then again, Momsupposed she was transplanting her whole life over here so she was bound to be well laden. She rushed forward excitedly to embrace her niece, and to try and help her with some of the more precarious bags.

[justmedk]

Ida finally saw her aunt, and broke out in a giant smile as she recognized the woman. It was almost as if the suitcase she was rolling wasn't all that heavy anymore, as she rushed forward to meet her.

"Aunt Mo!", she exclaimed happily as she threw her arms around the woman, not really realizing until later that this wasn't very "cool". At the moment, she didn't care. She was happy to see her aunt, and while she was tired, she was very exited to be here. She'd been reading up on the place before coming here, but by necessity she could only find out bare facts: How many people lived here, what are some of the main attractions, etc. For someone who didn't care too much about football, or any sports, England would seem to be a strange place, but she was still looking forward to staying here with the enthusiasm of a child, and that showed in her eyes and facial expression as well.

Not that anyone would be wise to point that out to her. She was self-conscious about her appearance already. No need to exacerbate the issue.

"I'm so fucking tired", she grinned nonchalantly, "It felt like the middle of the night when we left....", she continued as she once again struggled with her suitcase, and other luggage that made her both feel, and look, like a pack mule. "Coffee would be good right about now", she finished, not telling that she really didn't like the taste of coffee at all, but that she still forced herself to drink it because that's what some of her older friends, and of course her parents, did.

[cripmeister]

Mo maintained their embrace for a few seconds, genuinely thrilled to see her favourite niece again. She really hadn't changed much, not that she was going to say so. Her voice and attitude had of course matured but Mo knew those well enough from over the phone.
Turning to head towards the exit, she picked up one of the bags to make Ida's life a little easier.
'Coffee? No problem. I've just had one but there's a Starbucks on the way out, what would you like?'
'How was your flight anyway? You must have set off early, I'm not surprised you're tired. I guess you'll want to crash when we get home, go right ahead, we can sort everything else out later once you're back on track.'
She reflected wryly that that was definitely the new Mohana talking; her old self would have wanted to be busy with a dozen things immediately and not have comprehended the desire for breathing space, but she told herself again she could comfortably take things slowly and let Ida find her feet in her new home before she stared dragging her round to organise things.
She gave the teen's shoulders a fine squeeze as they headed through the thinning crowd.

[justmedk]

Ida smiled widely as she felt her aunt squeeze her shoulder. It was a small gesture, but for someone who wasn't used to physical affection, it was a big thing all the same.

"Just...coffee, please?", she said in response to her aunt's question about coffee. "Yeah, well", she said, "might as well unpack too. So it's out of the way, you know?", she finished as they headed for the exit and the Starbucks. "The trip was...you know...okay", Ida continued. "A screaming baby somewhere close to where I was, but", she shrugged, "there's always that I guess."

When they got to the Starbucks and had gotten their orders, Ida sat down and smiled at Mo. She had really been looking forward to coming here, and that much was plainly obvious from her body language.

"So...I mean...what's up in..you know....in general?", she said, meaning to ask about how her aunt was doing professionally and personally. She had heard a bit about her work, but not a lot, and while she was also exited to know all she could about other things, like what there was to do in this place, she also wanted to catch up. They'd only briefly spoken on the phone a couple of days before she got on the flight, and that had only been to arrange practical matters about when and where she'd be landing.

She took a sip of the coffee and tried very hard, but failed, to hide her frown at the bitter taste of it.

[cripmeister]

'Sure, you may as well unpack and stuff. Just take your time is what I meant, and get settled in. I'll show you everything and make sure you've got all
You need and I haven't missed anything when we get in.' Mo had been nervously buying everything she could think of that Ida might need or want I the run up to her arrival, spending rather more than she was really happy with both to assuage her nerves and to make her niece's arrival as comfortable as possible. She grimaced sympathetically at the description of the baby on the flight.
'Oh god yeah I hate it when that happens, it's the worst. Guessing you didn't get any sleep then.'
Grabbing the coffee, and struggling with the multiple bags they sat down at an outside table in the warming morning sun. Lacking coffee and seeing as they were outside, Mo have into her urge and lit a cigarette.
'Bad example I know, sorry Ida. I am quitting now, down to a couple a day but you'll have to bear with me. Im not doing it in the house so don't worry, and I'll try and avoid doing it around you or anyone else.' Mo had chain smoked her way through her time in PR, but the reduced stress of her new work had given her the necessary opportunity to kick the habit.
'Stuff's pretty good at the moment' she began to answer the question. 'I'm a lot happier at work for a start, which makes all the difference. This is a good time for you to arrive, because I'll actually be able to spend time at home and do stuff outside of work. The new place is pretty sweet too, it's good to have some space and I'm really lucky I found it. I hope your room will be ok, I e had to throw it together a bit as it want great when I moved in, but I'm sure we can work on it now you're here and can actually give some input.' She laughed at Ida's frown as she sipped the coffee 'Mate are you sure you wouldn't prefer a latte or something? I could know way drink straight black coffee at your age, it took 9 hour working days to get me drinking that stuff!'

[justmedk]

Ida nodded when Mo mentioned the lack of sleep.

"Well, yeah", she said, "But at least it wasn't on a plane till...like...Thailand or something. I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway so short the trip is", she said. "When we climbed to...you know...normal altitude or whatever it's called", she explained, "my ears hurt, and the same when we went down. And it always takes me a while to fall asleep", Ida continued, "so there really wouldn't have been time enough anyway", she finished as she took another sip of the coffee, frowned again, and then blushed a bit at her aunt's chuckle.

She was about to object that she could easily drink it, when Mo threw in the remark about herself. That changed Ida's tune, though she tried to keep it casual there was still a badly concealed eagerness in her voice when she replied:

"That'd be great, thank you"

When Mo lit a cig and apologized for it, Ida shrugged. She was used to people smoking. Her mom had only quit a couple of years ago, and some of the kids in the grade above her did it too.

"No big deal", she shrugged, though she had to admit to herself when nearest to honesty that she was quite ambivalent about it. For one thing, she knew that the "cool kids" did it, and she desperately wanted to be cool. But on the other hand, she hated the smell.

Ida wasn't exactly thrilled that Mo would be home a lot. Not because she didn't want to spend time with her aunt, because she did, but because she had gotten used to more or less taking care of herself except for groceries, and bills and meals. The more adults were around her, the more they wanted to interfere with her. And she didn't like THAT. But she was too polite to say that to Mo's face, so she merely smiled and nodded. She did think of Mo as her "cool aunt", so in that sense it wouldn't be that bad anyway.

After a small pause, Ida looked around. "The place hasn't changed much, has it?", she said, looking around at the surroudings. "I mean....I remember that tree there, for some reason", she pointed, before she grinned. "I guess that'll be even more so when we get home, right?"

"So...I mean....what's there to do here...for...for fun, you know?", she asked. She had researched a bit herself, but she also wanted to make conversation, and she was too tired to think of other topics besides small-time stuff.

[cripmeister]

Mo smiled inwardly at Ida's chattiness. She was still an excitable girl in some ways after all, just as she had been five years ago. She sat back and had a look at her niece as she has not yet had a chance to. Admittedly she still had the same childlike face, but her new blonde hair was a sharp contrast. Mo wondered if it was an entirely wise decision, but strongly felt it was not her place to say, at least not yet. She remembered all too well how frustrating and disheartening it was for a teenager struggling to develop their own 'look' to have adult relatives trying to impose their opinions. Ida's figure was also very definitely developing, Mo noted ruefully remembering her own gangly and immature adolescent frame at Ida's age and well beyond.
'I guess it hasn't changed much round here, you're right' she said 'but you'll probably notice a bit more change as we head into town. There's a lot of cool stuff that's appeared over the last few years.' (As she spoke she realised that a lot of those were bars and places Ida was unlikely to have much exposure to, but there were other things too. 'Sometime soon we'll have to spend some time exploring and eating out and you can see what's new and what you like around here. And the shopping has come on a lot recently.' If Ida was anything like herself, she was at the age where shopping was becoming very important. 'As for what to do for fun, there's all the usual stuff I guess, the cinema and stuff...' she tailed off slightly realising she didn't know the answer to her next question. 'What do you like to do for fun these days anyway?'

[justmedk]

Ida couldn't help but widen her eyes with joy at the mention of shopping. She loved to shop. Not ONLY actually buying stuff, because the allowance her parents gave her - while generous - wasn't quite enough to get all the stuff she wanted. But just the experience of window-shopping too. Hanging out with the one you were shopping with. Having lunch in the breaks. Everything.
She couldn't remember the last time she and her mom had gone shopping, but she had really hoped to be able to have one last time before they had to leave for Dubai. Her mom had said yes....and then "an important meeting" had gotten in the way.

Ida had acted as if she didn't care, but in reality it had hurt.
So when Mo brought up shopping Ida struggled to contain her exitement, though she did try.

"Uhmm...I mean...I like shopping I guess", she said with understatement. "And...you know...the movies....things like that", she continued. "Not really much for sports, though", she says. "Or horses. They're..you know...creepy I think", she added.

"I mean...it's not like...like I'm really scared of them or anything", she went on. "It's just like...they're huge....and if they feel like it, they can kill you, or worse. Like that actor dad keeps talking about...Christian something....", she finished with a bit of a shudder.

[cripmeister]

Mo giggled at Ida's latest excitable ramble, and gave her shoulders another squeeze as they stood to leave, coffee and cigarette finished.
'Well don't worry either way, there aren't too many horses around. Shame you're not such a one for sports, I was going to say there's a really good leisure centre near my new place, they've got a great climbing wall, a massive pool, plus all the usual stuff, and I spend quite a lot of time there these days. But if you'd prefer shopping and cinema and stuff you'll be well taken care of don't worry. The buses from mine are easy enough too so you'll have no trouble there.' She suddenly wondered if Ida was confident going out on her own, and whether her parents would be happy with her setting their daughter off unsupervised like that, and mentally kicked herself for not being more on top of this, and remembering what was normal at age 13. 'I don't know if you'd want to come into town with me when I'm out shopping or whatever' Mo really didn't know if Ida would want to or not; whether she was a cool enough aunt or just another grown up who would be an embarrassment to go shopping with.
Slinging Ida's luggage into the boot of her car they started the trip home. The journey to Mo's new house was a bit further than to the apartment she'd been in five years ago. That had been at the peak of her intense years working in town for an unforgiving PR agency - the few days she got off a year when her big brother brought the family over had been an oasis, something that really got her through the slog for the rest of the year, and spending time with her bubbly little niece had been a big part of that. Now that her life was a lot more balanced, she hoped she could give something back and give young Ida a good home while she was here.
On the journey they both chatted away about their lives recently, the crown nversation flowing more and more easily between them as they tried to update each other on five busy years. Despite her promise to herself Mo also started going into the grand plans she had subconsciously made, telling Aida all about the school she would be starting at in September, as well as her plans for doing up the house which Ida would be a part of - after all it was now her home too.