Up the front walkway abloom with late august lavender came a stranger. No dread arose in her chest from being someplace new and unfamiliar, instead it was near bursting with excitement. Everywhere she looked she saw possibility and beauty. And everywhere she looked she noticed what plants were growing and which needed attention.
She grinned and nodded at everything on the front porch. Teal bench, little old teapot, hostas making a big leafy sea. There were high hopes to be had for this new home. Coming upon the door, she went to knock, but found that it swung open under her knuckles. Before she could think "that's odd"-
The door was yanked open to reveal a blond girl, who immediately spouted greetings and questions.
"Hello! Welcome in, welcome in! Was your journey here uneventful? My name's Lily. The rest of the house is here to meet you. What's your name?"
When the blond girl Lily paused for breath, our stranger managed to wedge "Hi I'm Aurora." In before the next barrage of words began.
"Behind me here is Rylan, Leo, Cameryn, and Andie. Say hello everyone!"
There was a staggered chorus of "hello" "hi" "howdy" and suchlike.
Peering inside beyond Lily and the door, Aurora saw more faces than she ever expected, including one who was studying the ground from atop a cardboard box. She started inside, unsure of what to do with herself or her stuff now that there was such a large greeting party.
"Uhh, Just so you know, everyone, there's like. A whole bunch of girls coming up the driveway. I saw them on my way up." Said Aurora to the room at large.
"Oh yeah that'll be our cousins, we're expecting them too. Let's go out and greet them!" Chattered Lily. "And Andie? Get down from that box, please."
Aurora watched as Lily skipped out the door, shouting "Yoo-hoo!" and waving. She was followed quickly by Andie, who had slid off the box grumbling and was now being tailed by the girl with the afro, who must have been Rylan. She looked around the inside now. They were in a living room, and she was accompanied only by Cameryn and Leo. She wondered vaguely who was who, especially since both seemed like boys names but one appeared to be wearing a skirt. Oh well. One could never assume these things.
Presently, Aurora wandered outside to have a look at the cousins. Four seemed like a lot of cousins. But then again, even one cousin would be a lot for her. Lily was hugging everyone and cooing "how are youuuuuu?!" While Andie was smiling distantly and patting whoever was nearest on the shoulder. Rylan stood by holding Andie's hand.
She was surprised when Lily dashed past her viewpoint by the flower pot.
"Hey everybody! Come get up on the bench so we can all see each other and introduce ourselves! We've got like five new people today!"
So everybody made their way over to the bench and did their best to scramble up. Cameron and Leo wandered out of the house and said a pleasant hello to those they past on their way up the bench by way of the side brace on the legs.
After a lot of kerfuffle and hubbub, everyone was situated on the bench and ready to listen. Aurora stuck her bag between her legs. No one had told her where she should put it yet.
"All right, I'll go first." said Lily. Nobody disputed. "I'm Lily. Our BFG's name is Gwen, and I'm her second doll."
"Hold up, what's a BFG?" asked Aurora
"Stands for Big Friendly Giant, like the Roald Dhal book. But in our case its our Big Friend Gwen." Somebody answered.
Lily continued "Andie is my sister, and Mckenna and Maddie are my cousins. Andie, Your turn."
"Ok uh." Andie said to the armrest opposite her. "I'm Andie, Lily's older sister. This is my girlfriend Rylan. I was BFG's first doll, and uh. Mckenna and Maddie are my cousins. Yeah. You go now, Ry."
"Howdy, everybody, I'm Rylan!" said Rylan cheerfully. "I am everybody's housemate and Andie is my girlfriend, aaaand I'm nobody's cousin and nobody's sister. Let's continue."
The one in the green shirt and denim skirt started speaking. "Hi! We are Leo and Cameryn. I don't think the Seattle dolls have met us before, but we live here on swamp road with everyone else. Lots of housemates means lots of frenemies."
"Hold up. Which one of you is Cameryn and Which one of you is Leo?" Asked Aurora.
"I'm Leo." said Leo the green shirt and denim skirt. And next to me is Cameryn. She doesn't like talking very much. Except to me. It's chill."
"Leo, are you aware you are wearing a skirt?" asked one of who were presumably the Seattle dolls.
"Yeah man. My shorts are in the wash but I look great!"
Realizing it was her turn, Aurora took a breath. "Hey all! I'm aurora and I just got here. I guess I'm your housemate now. Uhh. yeah." She bit her lip and stared at her feet, embarrassed she couldn't come up with something better.
The girl next to her went. "I'm Maddie. Mckenna is my sister and Andie and Lily are my cousins."
Mckenna introduced herself in a similar way, adding that she loved gymnastics.
When it was her turn, Saige said "I'm Saige and I live with Mckenna, Maddie, and Kaya. And I can read y'all's natal charts if you want. I don't know why we didn't add our sun signs in here."
"Yeah yeah we know you're an astrology nerd, Saige." Said Kaya. "Anyway, I'm Kaya and I live with Mckenna, Maddie, and Saige. But I guess we live here now. It might be fun."
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I bought Aurora at the very end of august when I was staying with my aunt for a drama class.My cousin, Barrett, doesn't use her dolls much anymore so they are staying with me to make room in her house while they remodel the kitchen.