an almost perfect day (jay)

It was a bittersweet parting. Thia and the others hung back but I was surprised Tiana didn't come say goodbye as well.

"I'll likely see them again later." She told us when I asked about it.

I found myself wondering how long she was actually planning on staying.

It was a long way from the Nabula to the airport but that was alright. They seemed to enjoy looking around the small town, even slowing the pace as much as they dared so they could get a good look at things. On the way back, we took a little detour so that Tiana could get a look at the school we went to - Walking around it she even got a glimpse of the front of the Zoo – then we headed to the market. There were two shops that I knew of; a grocery and an entertainment shop. There were probably more but those were the only two I knew of. Since we weren't the ones to do the shopping for all the supplies, we didn't pay much mind to the market, nor set foot in any of the shops before. Now that we were out and about, it was the summer holidays and there was still plenty of daytime left, so I wanted to have a proper look at the entertainment store.

It was mostly video games, since those had pretty much taken over these days. but here and their there was the odd action figure, soft teddies and other kids' toys. I lingered for a moment at the action figures, to see if they're were any from The Hobbit or Lord of The Rings. Then I found Thia next to me, likely doing the same for Harry Potter.

"Pick a video game." Sam and Noaba had gone straight to the game isle.

I popped my head up. "Just one? Why not all of them."

Then Thia came over. "I don't think dad'll appreciate you spending all his money on video games."

"Ok. Then we'll spread the cost." Tiana offered. "You can pay for two, and I'll pay for another two." She pointed at us. "So, each of you gets to pick one.

Thia smiled, holding her hands in front of her, taping the tips of her fingers together. "Let's make it more interesting. We can pick one each but do it randomly."

"What'd you mean by that?"

Instead of answering, she demonstrated, going over to the start of the shelf and taping games randomly without properly looking at what they were. "Enny-Menny-Miney- That one." On the last two words, she flicked a case of the shelf to where it landed and the floor, face up. It was a Persona game.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. Of course she wants to make a game of picking a game.

"Don't look." She told me with a grin. So, I turned round and closed my eyes, reaching for the game stack and picking one at random. It turned out to be kingdom hearts, which I wasn't too happy about but Tiana seemed pleased with. "Great, more Disney for me to study."

"How long are you actually planning on staying?"

She hesitated for a moment, like she didn't really want to answer. But then she smiled. "At least long enough to watch you start these games.

Going back to the games, Noaba got Legend of Zelda and Sam got Spider-Man But there was a small problem with Zelda. It could only be played on the Nintendo switch.

"Don't you have a switch?"

"Sure, we do." Thia said but then she started thinking about. "I think." She scratched her ear. "We should have somewhere. I'll ask dad when we get back."

"Shouldn't you ask before we decided to buy the game?"

She shook her head. "Nah, cause we're bound to have one somewhere."

So, we bought those games and by that time we were starting to get quite hungry, stopping at a market stall for some lunch and some soft drinks for walking around the rest of the city (except for Tiana who got a fizzy Fanta, which she let Thia have a taste of when asked). This was the first time the four of us were able to walk around town that wasn't related to school in some way and the very first time Tiana had even been here.

Carrying our bag of games around, she craned her neck up at the tall buildings, had a proper walk around the Zoo where she could peek at the cages. All the while, we talked and laughed and told stories and jokes.

"Wait, what'd you mean more Disney."

"Oh, part of my homework this year is to watch all the Disney movies that have ever been made."

"All the Disney movies? There's gotta be like a hundred of those."

"Which is probably why I was told to start this summer."

"Then let's start today." Thia spread her arms out wide. "When we get back, we'll put on the first ever Disney movie."

I glanced at Tiana. "Do you even know what the first ever Disney movie was?"

"Actually no." She admitted. Then in a similar way to how her sister sometimes did, she put her finger to her chin as she was thinking. "I was told of a Disney plus and was planning to just look at that and work from there."

"Do you not know any Disney movies?"

"Of course we do. We were raised on Disney movies." She put her arms around Thia, who smiled widely up at her.

"Well, I was raised on Marvel." I put in, and Thia sniggered.

"You do know Disney owns Marvel, don't you?"

I froze. "I –" I dragged out this one syllable for at least a second before continuing "did not know that, no."

But Tina, who had just taken a sip of Fanta and still had her mouth full, held up a finger and shook her head. "Disney owns the MCU."

"The what-now?"

"Marvel cinematic universe. That much I do know."

"You know that name's kind of void since 'comic' also begins with a C."

"I know, I know, it's just what people call it. Anything outside the MCU is called the marvel-verse."

"Maybe you should start with that. Watch the first ever MCU movie."

Now I was actually starting to get excited. "Oo, I'm pretty sure I know what that is. Ironman."

"Correct." Tina nodded curtly but looked hesitant. "But then I won't be watching them in order."

I waved a hand. "You can watch it again. Marvel's pretty cool."

As the sun started to get low, we sat on the very edge of Nabula, behind the zoo and looked out towards the mountains.

"It really is beautiful here." Tiana said. "Though it's a shame you can't see a proper sunset with those mountains in the way."

I thought back to all the times I'd climbed to the top of Nebulas Rise to watch the sunset. "Just imagine how good it would look from higher up."

She looked at me with a knowing smile.

Beside me, I heard Thia sigh and looked to see her with her eyes closed, her head back and a smile on her face. Who needs a sunset when you've got this to look at?

But then I started to hear other things. Noises from behind us that weren't from the animals in the Zoo. I started to recognise the familiar metallic sounds and I groaned. "Are you kidding me?"

Surprisingly, Tiana was the first to turn around. "Could you guys have picked a worse time?"

Then Noaba stood up. "I don't think they appreciate the moment."

And Sam followed suit. "Not one bit."

Then lastly, Thia turned with a sigh. "And I was having such a good day."