Alpine silently blinked, staring down at the little figure of Finley. He hadn't asked to become the emergency backup babysitter HD hunted him like a wolf hunted down prey, or to be yanked from his self-entertainment of flipping through old books, but yet here he was. The albino shark didn't say a word, baffled by the fact the nature deity had been able to, one, locate him in the first place, two, drag him back to this house, and three, on top of all that, convince him to babysit. Despite all that, Alpine seemed to be less angry and pissy, for once. "So, uh... Hi, kiddo..."

Finley looked up at Alpine with a confused look, making grabby hands at him as she whined softly. "Papa? What happened to you?" She asked quietly, looking concerned. She probably thought Alpine was Foolish given their similarities, but it could probably be irksome. Her tiny wings opened as she continued making grabby hands at him. "Up, up, papa?" She asked quietly, almost seeming to beg him as the small totem wings shifted.

Alpine paused, his eyes locked on the little totem god, or rather goddess, in front of him. He himself seemed mildly confused as well, puzzled as to how anyone, even a child, could effectively confuse him for Foolish. Alpine was albino no matter where you looked, spare his floof of faded brown-to-white hair; hell, even his outfit was mostly sheer white. From his cloak, to his shirt and pants, and miraculously his shoes as well. Foolish, on the other hand, was golden with grey patches for scales, had fluffy brown hair, emerald green eyes, and constantly wore a playful shark hoodie. Nonetheless, not wanting to upset the child in front of him, Alpine bent down and gently picked Finley up. "I'm not your papa, I'm his... Uh... Brother, or something like that."

"Uncle?" She spoke curiously after a moment, reaching up to hold his cheeks as her light emerald-colored eyes rested on him in curiosity. She then happily grinned at the thought, bouncing softly in his arms in happiness. "Uncle! Ehehe!!" She cooed out happily, her little wings flittering like a moth's. She seemed very excited to meet him, and pointed to herself. "My name's Finley! What's yours?" She asked eagerly as she patted at his cheek slightly, curious and excited.

"My name is Alpine," The albino shark offered out as a soft-spoken answer, shifting to sit and float comfortably, making accommodations so that he could continue to hold her whilst doing so. It felt natural to him to do so despite never having really interacted with children, weirdly enough. "I've occasionally heard a whispered tale or two from HD and Foolish about you and... Junior...?" He paused a moment, unsure if he had recalled the name correctly, speaking once more regardless. "It's nice to finally properly meet you, Finley."

Her eyes sparkled softly as she gasped, then nodded and grinned happily. "Mhm mhm! Junior's my big brother!" Finley spoke excitedly before she hugged him tightly, her small tail swishing happily. "It's nice to meet you, uncle Alpine!" She spoke out as she giggled lightly, looking up at him and offering him a small golden ring she'd stolen from her father. It was a cute offer, and she blepped slightly as she made a soft clicking noise.

(*cough cough* finally responding *cough cough*)

Alipne paused once more, a contemplating expression on his face as he stared down at the golden ring that was offered to him. He seemed mildly confused; he had no clue why he was being given a gift nor why he was shown sheer joy. Hadn't Finley heard of him through tall tales before? Apparently not from what he'd seen, and it would probably be best to keep it that way, not wanting to give nightmares to such a sweet kid. Alpine gently took the ring from her after a few seconds of thought, "Oh, uhm, where did you get this?"

"I got it from papa's stores!" She chirped in excitement as her tiny shark tail swished behind her to show how happy she was, reaching up and booping Alpine's nose as she grinned. "He gives us shiny things a lot, they don't taste very good though..." She seemed to pout a bit at the last words she spoke, looking down at the golden cuff-style bracelets she had on, picking at the jewels. "Fishies do, though! They taste nice!" She seemed pretty excited again, then seemed to examine him quietly. "You look kinda like papa...are you twins?" She asked curiously, grinning softly at the thought. "Why haven't me n Junior seen you before? Are you a secret?? I can keep you secret with HD! Hehehe!!!" She squished her cheeks quietly and blepped as she floated up out of his arms a bit, then dropped slightly back into them as she was distracted by something. Very short attention span, it seemed.

Alpine blinked at the bombardment of questions he got verbally shot with, softly chuckling as he hummed. "I guess you could say we're twins, yeah. I'm not a secret though Finley, I'm just not spoken about. Kind of like... Like Fundy, for example. He's not talked about often, right?" He offered out, trying to find a simple example that Finley could understand, figuring that she would easily recognize his name since Foolish was a part of Las Nevadas just like Fundy was.

She thought for a moment before blepping at him, squishing her cheeks quietly. "Fundy 'n Yogurt are nice." Finley seemed a bit distracted again, leaning in and booping his nose with hers before giggling. "'N so are you, uncle Alpine! I love you!" She chirped in excitement, floating up a bit in the air as she clapped happily. Her tiny wings shifted softly, tilting his head at him with a soft grin. "You're big and cool, like papa! Can you make storms too? Or control lightning?" She seemed about to bombard him with questions again, but stopped herself at two to keep him from getting annoyed with her. XD tended to get a bit annoyed with question bombs, but Alpine seemed patient enough.

Alpine couldn't help but smile softly, showing the same sharp teeth that ran through the family as he nodded at both questions. "I can do both, as a matter of fact, but there's a little tiiiiiiiny twist about my lightning." He stated vaguely, figuring it would be a better sight to see than to hear about. The albino shark set Finley down in his lap in order to bring his hands together, slowly pulling them apart inch by inch as he made a small, harmless, pure white lightning orb. "Foolish's lightning is golden and sometimes a little blue-ish in colour, but mine's completely white." Alpine said as his smile grew a touch.

Finley's eyes sparkled softly as she gasped, seeming fascinated by it as she tilted her head at him. "I've never seen white lightning before...it's cool!" She chirped as she grinned, reaching up and slightly poking the lightning orb. She had her own lightning, it being a slightly less vibrant gold than her father's, but she never really used it unless she found it necessary. Which she never truly did, she was a very pacifistic child like her father. Like father, like daughter was a good way to describe Finley and Foolish, especially when they were trying to form her magic.

"Thank you, I take great pride in it." Alpine confidently said with a laugh, offering her the orb to play with, knowing perfectly well that it was completely harmless. "It doesn't hurt people unless it gets to be those huge lightning bolts too, which is kind of nice to toy around with. However, it CAN start white fires if you're not careful... You'll be careful with it though, right Finley?" He asked, trying to entrust her with the small orb and give her a little bit of responsibility at the same time.

Finley nodded in confirmation calmly, playing with the orb calmly as she smiled happily, letting out a happy giggle. "It feels like papa's lightning, but it's...fuzzier." She nuzzled her face against it, feeling it brush her cheek happily as her small tail swished. "So fuuuzzyyyyyy, ehehe!!!" Her voice was high-pitched in happiness, sticking her tongue out slightly before looking up at him with a soft smile. "Mine isn't like this, mine is pretty gold and sparkly."

Alpine raised a brow, his gaze softening with pure curiosity, "Oh yeah? Pretty gold and sparkly, you say? Well, can I see it, Finley?" He asked kindly as he continued to smile, happy to see that she was enjoying a simple, basic gift such as a mere orb of lightning. He made a small mental note to himself to bring a few gifts next time he visited, knowing he had a few items he was sure she would be fascinated with. Maybe even a few for Junior too, if her brother held the same curiosity that she did.

"Papa says I have to be careful with my lightning, are you sure?" She seemed a bit nervous, since the last time she'd used it, she'd started a fire. Obviously, HD and Foolish hadn't gotten upset, but she'd gotten upset with herself since she didn't like fire. She especially didn't like fire on HD's creations, much less when she herself was the source of the fire. Finley blepped softly as she continued to play with the ball of lightning, looking down at it slightly nervously.

Alpine hummed in thought, "Well, we can go someplace else so that it's safer, if you'd like. I know a few places lightning won't start fires, such as the ocean or the Aether." He stated casually, smiling softly as he offered his ideas out to her in the attempt to help her feel more comfortable with the idea of showing him her lightning. "I can teach you some magic skills, too, if you'd like. Like, hmm, let's see... Do you like animals? I can teach you how to make animals out of lightning," Apline continued to offer, momentarily making a little shark made of lightning as a demonstration, letting it swim around in front of her.

Her eyes glanced up at Alpine as she thought for a moment, then smiled lightly. "Let's go to the Aether, maybe?" Of course, she'd heard stories, but she thought that this ball of lightning and Alpine were okay, so the rest of the Aether should be fine. She moved close and nosed at him with a soft smile, hugging him as she closed her hands around the ball to try and expel it. She wasn't good at it, and quietly tilted her head at it curiously. "Huh?"

"Oh, Finley, only Foolish and I can expel my own magic, nobody else can," Alpine said gently with a small laugh after watching her try to expel it herself. Of course, he didn't take into account that she theoretically could do so herself if done so correctly, momentarily having forgotten that she was literally Foolish's daughter and had inherited his magic abilities. He floated off after he finished slightly laughing, strolling casually into the white rift known as the Aether that opened up seemingly from nowhere, watching Finley carefully to try and make sure all the solid white didn't bug her eyes, knowing it usually did for most people.

Finley continued to try, grinning as she managed to make it shrink a bit before blinking at the sudden white. "Heh-?" She seemed confused for a moment, then rubbed her eyes and tried to get her eyes used to all the sheer white, sticking her tongue out in confusion. "Why's it so briiighhttt-?" She asked in confusion, looking over at Alpine as she continued to slowly shrink the ball of lightning down until it was completely gone. She then slipped out of his arms, looking around before falling over and giggling softly. "It's also fuzzy! Niceee!!!" She squealed happily as she sat down, then looked up at Alpine with her head tilted. "Are you sure you want to see my lightning, though?"

Alpine only blinked upon seeing his lightning orb being expelled, but shook it off upon half-hearing a question he was asked. "Oh, uhm-" He paused, slowly recalling what exactly he was asked before nodding, shifting so he was no longer sitting and floating, but rather standing tall and looking down at her. "Yes, I'm sure. You won't start any fires in here or hurt anybody, don't worry, just channel your magic and you'll be fine."

Finley took a soft breath before placing her hands together securely, golden lightning zapping around her as it slowly focused into her hands, her face slightly screwing up in dire focus as she let a soft breath out. Her eyes snapped open as she opened her hands out, lightning slamming into the ground heavily between them since she lost control slightly. It took her a moment to bring it back under control, then choked and coughed as she winced. "Ow. Sorry, it's kinda hard for me to keep it under control..."