It was a beautiful day on Kauai. The noon sun shone hot and bright, the air was sweet, the sky was a calming blue, and everyone was going about their day. Swap sat in his bush under a tree on a hill by the road, feeling sad as usual. Carrying the physical weight of other people's problems can really mess an experiment up. He often sat in this shrub because it was both secluded and open; a nice place to be alone and be with himself. It was his little spot that only he and a few others knew about. Mainly close, close cousins. He sighs deeply, an action he knew all too well, and looks at his clawed feet.

A leaf crunches behind him, "H-hello?" He nervously asked the sound and slowly turning to see the culprit.

"Uncle Swap!" Skye waves and smiles. She was one of the few experiments that knew about this spot. Often if she was bored, she would walk up the hill and see if her Uncle Swap was there.

"Oh, Skye! You scared me," Swap smiles for the first time that day and pats a spot on the dirt. Seeing the kids, especially Skyelr always cheers him up.

Skye smiles happily and sits next to her Uncle, "I just came by to see if you were up here. That's all!"

"Yeah, I'm here, like always," Swap said with a feeble chuckle and a head pat.

"So..." Skye said after a few seconds, "Do you wanna get some shave ice with me? I was gonna go with my friends, but they had to do stuff."

Swap nods, it was kind of humid so it was perfect, "Yeah! Shave ice sounds good right now."

The town was bustling. Stores and vendor stalls of "authentic Hawaiian souvenirs" were busy as usual with tourists. The duo push through the crowd of people to Slushy's Snow. They push through the glass double-door and step foot into the packed shave ice restaurant.

"It's… so full…today," Swap moaned.

Skye growls quietly, "Like always. Hmm…" She taps on her lips, thinking of another place to go. Swap tilts his head to see how long the line is. There was a good fifteen people lined up. "How about we, um..." Skye continued, "Go to the- actually can we wait? I was kinda craving this earlier, and I'll pay too."

"Well… Sure. I don't see why not. Not like there's really anything else we can do, yeah?" Swap smiled and kept their place at the back of the line, still holding Skye's paw.

After about five minutes or so of waiting, it was finally their turn. "Howzit guys!" Slushy welcomed, happy as ever, "What would you guys like?"

Swap shook Skye's paw, urging her to order first, "Um…" She scanned the TV menu, "Can I get a small rainbow, please?"

"And can I get a blue vanilla, please?"

Slushy smiles and writes their orders onto the tablet in front of him, "And will that be all for you two today?"

The two nod at the same time, and Skye pulls some money out from under her beanie. Slushy takes the money and counts it. It was just the right amount, just a few cents over, "Alright! Two seconds and your orders'll be ready." He takes two paper cones in one paw and pours some water on the counter with the other. The water starts to get cloudy as it starts freezing. Slushy smirks slightly at the awed faces of his customers gawking at the ice tower slowly forming; a little show he likes to do for his customers.

Dupe passes the yellow, red, and blue syrup bottles to his partner and goes to take more orders. Slushy evenly pours each color to make the rainbow for Skyelr and pours only the blue for Swap, "Skyelr?" He called. Skyelr and Swap look away from the ice spire and pick up their order.

"Here ya go. One rainbow, and one vanilla. Enjoy!"

They smile, thank Slushy for the snack, and leave.

Outside, Skye was nose deep in her shave ice, totally oblivious to a dog walker. The dog saw her and ran, ripping its leash from its owner's grasp. It pounces on Skye's chest and licks her face, knocking the cone out of her paws.

"Skyelr!" Swap yelped and rushed over. The dog was small, even compared to Skye, but still. He was taking care of her and was worried.

"I'm OK, I'm OK! The shave ice isn't though," She frowned at the sight of her beautiful treat splattered on the sidewalk. The dog's tail wagged excitedly as he smelled the two aliens and the ice.

It began to lick and it eat it before it was pulled away by his owner, "So sorry about that!" An older woman exclaimed as she scampered over. Swap held his shave ice high above his head and away from the white Maltese. The woman apologizes again and walks away with her dog.

"Skyelr? You okay?" Swap asked as he kneeled.

"Yeah, yeah… I'm okay," Skye sighed. She looks at the heap of rainbow sadness on the sidewalk, all covered in gravel and dog slobber.

Swap leads Skye off the sidewalk and under a tree and gently clasps her paws in his, "No, I simply can't stand to see you sad. Look at me, Skye," He requested softly. "Look at my eyes."

Skye slowly met her Uncle's gaze and smiled a bit from the awkwardness, "Good girl," Swap smiled. His paws started glowing a soft pink, "Now. Close your eyes."

Skye followed his instructions and shut her eyes. A smile broke open on Swap's face, and his ears' tips started glowing. His smile then disappears and appears on Skye. She smiled and giggled. The two open their eyes and look at each other. Swap looked dispirited, but Skye was back to her chipper self and seeing that was enough for him to smile again. Her sadness wasn't too strong, it was more of disappointment, but that helped a lot. She tightly hugs her Uncle around his neck and he returns it.

"Where to next?" Swap asked when Skye returned from throwing away the shave ice cone.

"Hmm..?" She makes a popping sound with her mouth and looks around, "Where do you wanna go? I just want to spend time with you."

"Well, we could go back to The Bush, OR, go find something fun to do?"

"The Bush, haha" Skye wheezed. She put a claw to her chin, "Yeah, let's go look!"

Swap offers his paw to Skye which she takes. They walk together for about half an hour, just talking, when Skye sees a familiar figure in a store. "Oh look, it's my dad! Hi Daddy!" She shouted and waved to her father in his music store across the street. Swap looks down at his niece and smiles. They looked both ways before crossing the street and into the music shop.

Inside, Sample was helping Houdini get rosin for her violin, "Here you go, 'Dini," He locks the cabinet and stands up, "Got your rosin, and need anything else?"

"Nope, I'm good. Thanks, Sam!"

"Auright! 'K, let's go pay for this," The strum of the ceiling-mounted guitar alerts him as he leads Houdini to the register. "Hey, guys! Uh, one second, and I'll be right with you. Feel free to look around and ask us if you have any questions."

Swap looks at Sample then at Skyelr, "Your dad's a hard worker. You know, I don't think I've actually seen him work before, or his shop. I should get out of The Bush more, huh?" Skye giggled at the joke, "Yeah! But, yeah, he is. He loves this little shop." They walk around the store, looking at all the different instruments and equipment. The shop just got a new shipment of things, so about six piles of boxes of music stuff were strewed around the premises.

"Howzit guys," Sample greeted from behind a pile of boxes. He recognizes Swap and dap-hugs him, "Sorry I didn't see you earlier, I was helping 'Dini. Hey, isn't Skye with you?" He then felt someone hug his hip, "Oh, hi baby!"

"Hi, Daddy! We just came by to say hi. Also, can I get this?" She held up an aux-stereo adapter. "Yeah sure. Just bring it to Uncle Lloyd, and he'll help you."

Skye beamed and ran up to the register.

"How about you Swap? You want anything?"

"I uh, heh, I was uh, lookin' at… this." He shows Sample a coconut kalimba he found.

Sample inspected the thumb-piano, "This is nice! This is from this morning's shipment. It has the new turtle decals. You want this one?"

"U-uh, yeah. I-I thought it looked cool." He scratches the back of his head. Sample notices his cousin's action and picks up on his nervous energy. He knew Swap didn't particularly show his emotions because other people's emotion's muddled with his and made expressing confusing. "Okay, you can meet me upfront when you're ready."

Swap thanks his older cousin and follows him to the front to pay. At the front, Skye was watching the rotating display of guitar picks spin when her dad pats her back. She smiles at him and goes back to the shimmering show.

"Oh..." Sample groaned at the register after scanning the kalimba.

"What's up?" Lloyd, Sample's human coworker, asked; also watching the display. Sample clicks through more tabs on the computer, "We didn't put the kalimbas into the system yet. The barcode wasn't accepted. How much do you think this?" He hands him the instrument.

Lloyd flips the kalimba around in his hand, "Hmm, let's just say- pfff- twenty bucks? For now, until we log all the boxes?"

"Ok, yeah, that works. We'll do that when we get back from lunch." He clicks through the register some more and adds the temporary amount. "'Kay, Swap, you ready?"

"Yeah," Swap hands Sample a twenty, and a five from the satchel he always carries, "Th-Thanks Sam." Sample grins from ear to ear, "Of course, dude! Also, you guys wanna go grab lunch with me?"

Skye's stomach, at that moment, growled loud enough for everyone to hear. She puts her paws to it and giggles sheepishly. "I'll take that as a yes. Leh-Lloyd, wanna come? We're gonna get ramen." Sample tempted in a singsong voice.

"Nah, I'm good, you three enjoy."

The three aliens exit the store and the human locks it up behind them. Lloyd waves goodbye and walks off to the store's left, leaving the three to themselves. "So uh… where are we going to eat?" Swap asked as they walked.

"Down the road," Sample responded, nodding in the direction, "There's a place called Yaas Ramen and it's really good!" Skye smiles at the name and saw the restaurant's sign up ahead.

Service was fast. The people working really valued fast and efficient service. Sample ordered a Beefy Wild to share with Skye, and Swap got a Seafood ramen.

A quick prayer and everyone got to eating. "You like your fishy swishy, Uncle Swap?" Skye asked, looking at the soup of shells and shrimp.

"Mhmm!" He tousled her head fur, "The fishy swishy is really good!"

"Thank you!" The trio said as they left the restaurant. Back at Sample's instrument shop, Lloyd was already there working on the boxes. He had already finished two, which left four more piled next to him.

"Hey Lloyd, we're back," Sample announced as he pushed the door open and clipped his nametag back on. Lloyd looks up from the computer and smiles with a nod, "Yo! I did some of the boxes already, so we just gotta do a few more."

"Sweet!" Sample turns to his daughter, "'Kay, I have to go back to work now, okay, baby? I'll see you when I get home," He kissed her blue square-ish nose, "Love you."

"Love you too, Daddy! See you later."

Swap pushed the door open and offered his paw to Skye, "I'll take her home..?"

"Hmm? Oh uh, before seven. I finish work at eight that's why."

With a thumbs-up, they left the music shop. They spent the rest of the afternoon walking and talking, window shopping, playing Basketball with Sparky and his kids, and watching the waves. Swap looks up to the sky from the spot of sand he was sitting on. He saw where the Sun was in the Spring sky. It wasn't terribly low, but it was low enough to where it changed the sky's color from blue to yellow.

"It's kinda getting late, yeah? I should bring you home before it gets too late to walk. Skye?"

Skyelr looked lost in the waves. She loves how they move and have all those little foam bubbles. It was always fun to throw around at her friends. She loves how they sound when they crash on the crackling sand. It always has a nice crisp and calming frequency that she likes to sleep to. She breathes the salty air deeply and sighs happily. But she was broken from her trance at hearing her name being called, "Huh? Oh yeah… sorry. We'll go soon… I just wanna… watch the waves for a little longer."

Swap looks down at his niece and smiles. He always loves seeing how she plays with the sand when she looks at the waves. "Come on," He said softly after a few moments and offered his paw again, "Let's go home."

"Mhmm..." Skye's eyes were still on the waves, then at her Uncle, then to their path. "Thank you Uncle Swap. I had an awesome day with you!"