Title: Transparent, Translucent, and Opaque
“Heh heh. Hi daddy!!” She and hurries onto her feet, which causes her balance to become a bit unstable. “We are doing a science project!! Umm, papa, tell him! Tell him!” Waxer waves his hand over to the freshly carved wood table that Boil made for them a couple months ago. So beautiful still. Waxer thinks internally.
“Soooo~ As you can see here, we have a couple items. Today I wanted to teach our daughter the understanding of Opaque, translucence, and transparency!”
It’s a nice day on the farm to spend some quality family time together. With lessons that need to be taught and learned, new things to be discovered, and a little fun game of Scavenger hunt is at play. What will little Numa learn today?
This story was written for a challenge presented by @thatkanragirl which is for all Clonecest shippers, where we will write drabbles in July. I was given a different set of prompts and pairings to go with them! If you would like to read other contributors’ work then you can press the tag below #clonecest in July.
This is my first day’s contribution! (I am posting it on the second day because I didn’t get to edit it till this morning with the help of my amazing Beta-reader @blazesurrender, love yah!) So, get some popcorn, grab a seat, press ‘keep reading’, and enjoy some wholesome fluffiness!
P.S. you can press the tags ‘betawrites’ or ‘angelwrites’ at the bottom, and you can find my other prompts easily that way!!
Boil stares at the screen of his holo-pad, as he has been doing for the past several minutes. He just can’t figure out what to do next. He is, or was, trying to order family photos but ended up getting distracted by work and now he can’t seem to find his focus again. He sighs and leans back into his soft-cushioned chair. A gift from Waxer a year ago.
Wow, I can’t believe this chair is actually that old already. Crazy. And that means that little Numa is going to turn…..nine?! Wow, she’s getting so—
A loud metallic crash sounds from the kitchen. Boil jerks in startlement and shoots up in his seat.
“Waxer?!” He starts to run towards the kitchen where his husband is. Boil comes thundering around the corner, blaster in his hands, and stops in the doorway at the surprising sight before him. Waxer is eagle-spread across the tiled floor. Pots, pans, and dishes surround him; the pots still twirl round and round till they come teetering to a stop.
“Waxer?” Boil deadpans. Waxer blinks at him in shock.
“Woah! Boil? What’s the blaster for?” He sits up and points at the blaster that’s loosening in Boil’s two hands.
“Um, what do you think? I thought something was wrong!” Boil retorts.
Waxer stands up and makes his way over with a soft smile on his face as Boil continues, “I…I had to…to make sure you were okay. Am I not allowed to do that now?” Boil turns his head away in embarrassment and leans the blaster down on the floor against the spam on the pink door-frame.
“Babe, of course you can. I appreciate your concern over me but I just dropped the pots and pans silly.” Waxer giggles. Boil rolls his eyes. “Yeah, obviously, ” He gestures to the mess on the floor. “And what are you up to? Making dinner or something?”
Waxer pecks him on the cheek. “Actually, no.“
The brown cabinets start to shift. The doors open and Boil glares at it. Numa tumbles out and into the mess of silver pots and bronze pans. She smiles up at them and sneezes at the dust she brought out with her.
"Heh heh. Hi daddy!!” She squeals and hurries onto her feet, which causes her balance to become a bit unstable. “We are doing a science project!! Umm, papa, tell him! Tell him!"
Waxer waves his hand over to the freshly carved wood table that Boil made for them a couple months ago. So beautiful still. Waxer thinks internally. "Sooo~ As you can see here, we have a couple items. Today I wanted to teach our daughter the understanding of Opaque, translucence, and transparency!"
Boil hums. "Huh, I’m impressed. So explain to me what you guys are planning to do with all of these items.” He sits in one of the wooden booth seats.
“Okay! Numa, explain to daddy what our plan of ‘fun fun’ is,” Waxer rests his hands on his hips. Boil notices that they are twitching ever so slightly. Heh, he’s so excited about this, isn’t he? “So when we look around the house all the time we see items made of different materials. Umm, items that can be organized by the way they work with light.”
Waxer giggles oh so cutely. “Yep! So materials that allow almost all light to pass through are called,” He gives Numa a cheeky look. Finish that sentence for me.
“Transparent!!” She cheers.
Waxer smiles brightly “Yes!”
Boil chuckles. Numa is truly his daughter. They get along so well. Numa is practically Waxer’s partner-in-crime. Whenever Waxer is up to something, Numa is by his side every step of the way; and the noblest thing she’s done is when Waxer and her are caught, she blames everything on herself and makes sure her papa did not get in trouble.
Boil hates punishing Numa. He really does! Because she’s a good girl. Boil believes that he and Waxer are raiding her quite well, especially after she lost her father during the 2nd year of the war and Boil and Waxer stopped at nothing to find Numa; and when they did, it was a dream come true.
I remember she was so frail still. Barely any muscle on her body. Poor thing. Almost starved to death from another camp she was forced into. Separated from her father, like last time, but this time she was placed on a completely different planet on the other side of the galaxy. Good thing we found her in time or she wouldn’t be here right now.
“So, examples of transplant items are glass, water, and air. Those materials that allow some light to pass through them are called what Numa?” Again, Waxer looks straight at their daughter. Numa smirks slyly. “Trans…uhhh…trans-lunctent?"
Waxer blinks at her silently. Numa chuckles nervously and her lips bend inwards to look silly.
"Okay, close enough, ” Waxer waves dismissively. Boil grins at that. “But yeah. So that includes things like frosted glass and wax flimsi. And if any object does not allow any light to pass through it then it’s, ” — “Opaque!!!” Numa cheers. Boil blinks in confusion.
Waxer gawks and squinted at her. “Wait! Hold on hold on, so you remember THAT but not TRANSLUCENT?!” He raises his hands straight up into the air.
Numa laughs at her papa’s loud antics. “Yessss~"
"But that’s a new word?” Waxer scratches his head. “They all are, papa.” Numa reminds him. “Yes yes. Well, anyways. Most objects are opaque and include things made of wood, stone, and metal…Boil, what’s wrong?” Waxer finally notices his expression full of confusion.
“I’ve never heard of the word Opaque before is all."
Waxer screeches. "Oh force! I am surrounded by a pair of uncultured swine!!"
Numa and Boil both start to laugh. "Come on, babe. Keep going.” Boil tries to move this along a bit.
“Right, anyways,” Waxer starts to say but Numa interrupts him one again, waving her hands about, a giant grin spread from ear to ear.
“So first before we even sit down and actually do the science-y part of the objects, we have to look around the house for objects made out of wood (opaque), objects made out of clear glass (transparent), and frosted glass (translucent).”
Waxer placed a warm hand on her left shoulder. “In other words…” He smirks mischievously. Oh no. I know that look.
Numa climbs up Waxer’s body like the little athletic, bendy, flexible monkey she is, and sits on his right shoulder.
“SCAVENGER HUNT!!!” They both yell in unison. Like they planned this from the getgo. Boil sighs heavily. I should’ve seen this coming from a mile away. How did I miss this mischief? I should’ve smelled it on em. They reek of it!
Boil facepalms himself. His right-hand wipes down the front of his face and then he’s yanked out of the chair and a list is slapped onto his chest. “Huh?” He stares at it and hovers it in front of him.
“That’s your list! It’s blank, obviously, but you find things and put it under the category of transparent, trans-luctent, ” — “Translucent!!” Waxer screams from the living room. Numa rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out. “Whateverrrr~” She mumbles.
Boil raises his hand and pats her head right in between her teal-colored lekku. Bright pink eyes gleam up at him.
“And then Opaque, right?” Boil asks.
Boil holds the piece of flimsi close to his side and starts to walk away. A lot of items are already on the table like wax flimsi, plastic wrap, Styrofoam plates, clear plastic lids, and colored plastic lids. That’s evidence enough of what Waxer was up to earlier in the kitchen, making all that racket. Kitchen items. So we have to do the hard work and find other things. Well, it wouldn’t be a scavenger hunt if we made it easy for ourselves.
"Well, let’s get to work!” Boil shouts to Numa and disappears down the hallway to the bedroom first.
It’s been about 15 minutes and so far every room checks out. Boil found a couple transparent things like water; which he poured into a cup for him to use as a holder, and the glass table in the living room between the sofa and the holo-vid screen. Translucent things are hard to find and it seems they may already have all of those.
But opaque items will be the easiest to find. It’s literally everything in their house! The furniture, Cardboard pieces, old books, etc. That’ll be easy peasy. No problem. Boil walks towards the closet and opens the door to see Waxer already inside of the small space. The light creeps across the carpeted floor till he snags at the heels of Waxer’s feet. He turns around and raises an eyebrow at his husband.
“Hey. Whatcha doing?” He smiles. Wagging his finger back and forth at Boil’s suspicious body language.
“Just looking at a handsome man before me who managed to snag my attention. Transfix me with his beauty.” Boil walks in a little further, his feet leave imprints in the soft padding of the carpet, and then he stands directly in front of Waxer’s face.
“You always seem to know how to make Numa happy. I appreciate it. Really. I am always so busy, trying to get used to the war being over and everything. It just…I still haven’t gotten there yet like you have. My husband, who is always able to acclimate to any situation or any change.” Boil smiles at him. Waxer makes an ‘awww’ sound.
“Darling, you are getting used to it. One day you’ll see that things are going to get much easier for you. And I hope it does. But don’t be fooled by my overly gleeful attitude. Heh. I am struggling a bit with settling in too.” Waxer admits. “I am not perfect. Nobody is.”
Boil nods. “Sure. Sure. But in my eyes, you’ll always be perfect to me,” His soft hand taps the side of Waxer’s warm skin, and Waxer leans into it. “Vor entye.” He thanks Boil.
“Gar’re olarom.” Boil boops his nose. Waxer giggles before he dives down to the floor and bounces back up with two leather-backed books each.
A red one, just for Boil. “Here you go.” Waxer hands it to him. And a Navy blue one for Waxer. “Now I think this Scavenger Hunt has gone on long enough. Let’s start this, in Numa’s words, 'science-y’ part finally."
Boil chuckles and leaves the closet with Waxer close behind.
"You guys take forever! What were you doing in there?” Numa quirks one eyebrow up and rests her hands on her slender hips. Waxer makes a 'tut-tut’ sound and tosses, underhand, the blue book to her. Numa catches it with good reflexes.
“Ah, books.” She smirks, disbelieving. “Okay, come on! I’ve been waiting for almost 4 minutes.”
They all settle down in the booth seats.
“Alright you two, here’s the deal. Use your lists and the flashlights, say what happens to the light and write a diagram of what you observe. Got it?” Waxer grabs his pencil and smiles excitedly.
“Got it, babe.” Boil smiles back lovingly. Waxer and he stare at each other for a couple seconds, reading each other, sending a clear message that their daughter wouldn’t understand until she’s older. But then—"I better not get any siblings from this.“ She whispers vehemently.
Waxer and Boil snort. "Psh! You wish! Now be quiet and blind these babies with the power of…” Waxer pauses, for effect, “Light.” He turns on the flashlight.
“Ewwww~ Stawwwppp~” Numa cringes and ignores her goofy papa. “I am ignoring you now. Ew."
"You know you love me, baby girl.” Waxer smiles so hard that his eyes become little squints and two lines. Boil shakes his head in good-hearted humor.
The three of them point their lights at different objects. For some items, the light just wouldn’t go through. Numa would shake her head every time that happens for her and she would write it down on the flimsi as opaque. Then on to the next item.
The weirdest thing happened. Boil ran through every item like it was a ball game. He did not take his time. And Waxer studied every item liked he just completely fixated by the details on each individual thing. Boil scoffs.
“Why are you doing all of that? We are just shining the light through them and taking notes, are we not?"
"Yes yes! But this kind of procedure takes precision. If done wrong, the whole experiment could go up in flames!” Waxer turns the block of wood in his hands constantly.
Boil lets out a hoot! “Ha! Yeahh, the way you are staring so intensely at it, it might as well go up in flames."
Waxer glares at him. "Not funny!”
Numa’s eyes widen in wonder. They glow impossibly brighter at the new discovery and understanding of it all. She has three items lined up. One is transparent, the second is translucent, and the third is opaque. She is pointing the light’s warm ray at each item to make sense of it!
“Wowww. I get it, papa!! Why didn’t I see it before?” She turns to smiles.
“Because darling, you are just learning this now! Kids get to learn about this stuff and remember around the age of nine, so you are right on time.” Waxer looks so proud. Pride and happiness swim in his golden orbs. Boil stares, subtly, at the glow it reflects in them.
“Thanks, papa. I loved this! I learned so much!” She gets up from her chair, runs around, and squeezes Waxer in a big tight hug. Waxer feels so loved right now. “You’re welcome, baby girl.” He breaths into her shoulder and closes his honeydew eyes for two seconds before gazing over at Boil.
They share a smile with one another.
“Now I think it’s time to put all this stuff away, review, pop quiz, ” — “Awwww.” Numa let’s go of him and stomps away. “Ah! Don’t 'awww’ me! You knew this was coming!” Waxer jabs his index finger at her.
Boil snickers. “Yeah, you had to have known that was coming. Right?”
“Then you suck.” Boil wiggles his eyebrows. Waxer cracks up laughing up a storm. He slaps his own thigh in amusement.
“Uhhh, dad! Seriously!” Numa piles all the stuff she gathered and walks away.
Waxer and Boil both chuckle and gather their things as well.
“Alright! First things first, what did you both learn?” Waxer crosses his arms over his chest teasingly when Boil stammers. “E-Excuse me, what?"
"I didn’t stutter babe. What did you both learn?” Waxer repeats himself.
Numa snickers at Boil and places her two index fingers in both of her ears and turns them this way and that while sticking her tongue out.
“Well, I learned that opaque means anything that can’t be seen through.” Boil twists his head around and grins with all teeth at their daughter.
Numa waves at him dismissively.
"Well, I learned something valuable today! Something that I think will make papa veryyy happy.” Numa teeters and tots back and forth on her heels. Her arms are behind her back.
“And what’s that Numa?” Waxer questions.
“Those items are made of different materials and every material reacts differently to light. Transparent objects allow most of all light to pass through them. Trans-lucent objects allow some light to pass through them. And opaque, like dad said, are objects that do not let light pass them at all!” Numa is on point.
She’s a quick learner. She learns better when she does things a bit more hands-on. Just like Waxer. Boil inhales and exhales. He stares at Waxer and his spitting image.
Waxer snaps his fingers and winks at her. “Spot on Numa!” He hugs her. “I am proud of you."
"Thanks, Papa, ” She hugs him back. On cue, their Tooka cat, Melon, decides to poke its orange and white head around the corner to say hello. “Meow.” The three of them turn their heads and smile happily.
“Hello, Melon!” Numa waves.
“Should we go watch a movie? I can make dinner and then we can eat it on the sofa. Who’s down?” Waxer asks.
Numa stomps one foot into the floor, yanks her right arm down, elbow pointing towards the floor, and then shoots it back up, pointing. “Yeahhhh!”
Boil forms a peace sign with his two hands.
“You two are goofy! Come on, go ahead, and get showered and dressed while I make something simple; soup. Then we’ll find a holo-vid to watch!"
Numa squeals and runs away. Teal lekku waving in the wind behind her. Boil runs after her. "Race you to the couch Numa!” He shouts. But before he left completely, he leans over and presses a wet kiss onto Waxer’s cheek before disappearing around the bend.
Waxer smiles to himself, a light blush appears in the bridge of his nose.
“Alright, you guys! Here’s the soup!” Waxer saunters back into the homey living room where the holo-vid is already set up with a nice movie Numa fell in love with a year ago. “Oooh! This one again! I love this one.” Waxer hands the small scarlet red bowl. Nice and ceramic.
“Yep! Ooh, this looks delicious!” Numa sticks the wooden spoon into the red chili soup and starts to savor the spicy taste. Boil and Waxer curl up beside one another.
Next to Numa is her purple Tooka doll. Dirty from all the many years left on it. Her beautiful rosé colored eyes stare in wonder and excitement, the light blue reflects in them. Boil watches in awe.
“We did so well with her so far haven’t we? After the war, it’s been so hard for all three of us; I am just surprised that it’s just…look at how she turned up."
Waxer smiled at him. "Yeah. She’s special alright. Our ad'ika. It’s crazy how fast she’s growing. It feels like only a month ago we found her again after the war ended."
Distracted by the holo-film, Numa doesn’t notice her dads’ talking to one another softly and out of earshot.
Boil leans against his strong shoulder. "And it’s only because I have my cyare here with me.” Boil glanced up at him. Waxer looked back. “Mm. Yes, you do. And I have you, cyar'ika.” They stare into each other’s twin golden eyes before they kiss one another on the lips. Soft. Affectionate and sweet.
“Ni kar'tayl gar darasuum.” Boil whispers against his lips. Waxer’s eyes flick from left to right, searching his, reading him. “Bal Ni gar.” Waxer returns the endearing vow of love and then they lean their heads against one another once again.
Sounds of speeders echo from the holo-film. All staticky and in the foreground. Waxer chuckles and closes his eyes for a moment.
“We should adopt another kid though,” Boil suggests. He closes his eyes as well.
After a long pause, Waxer blinks, “What did you just say?"
