Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I'm sure you'll find something fun to do," Alaina reasons with the winged child unforgivingly clawing at her pant leg. "Mum'll be back in just under an hour, Garrett, hun, I promise."

Garrett cranes his scarfed neck up at his guardian, his golden eyes examining every muscle spasm across her face and every emotive change readable through her eyes. He does so in such a casual way that one would not think the examination to be demeaning, rather than to be felt as a slightly awkward specimen to be observed and learned from. Alaina chocked it up to the fact that he's a curious boy who looks at the world with new eyes.. but really, what else is a bird of prey to do but to take in his surroundings, to know them with such delicate intimacy that they could be one with the feathers on his back or tail?

Adjusting the tiny blonde child she holds against her shoulder, who, thankfully, has finally fell asleep, Alaina runs her other hand, weighed down at the elbow by shopping bags as it is, through the Eden's fluffy bangs affectionately.

"Give me one hour. Only that," she murmurs, tilting her head in expectancy of a response.

Considering this, looking from his sister to his mother and finally to the Kidspace entrance - equipped with two doors, one that has been proportioned for the little ones specifically - he finally nods his approval and whispers, barely audible, an "okay."

His guardian smiles brightly with relief and newfound shopping adrenaline. "Good! Good. I'll be back in one hour. Be good!"

Garrett waits for his mother to pay, wave her rushed goodbye, and disappear around the corner before he brings himself to enter through the small door into the obnoxiously bright coloured room. He squints a little to allow his hypersensitive eyes time to adjust.

[Apologies if my present tense confuses you! Y'don't have to change yours or anything, I just find myself writing in present no matter how hard I try, haha.]

It's not often that something manages to startle Garrett, but he certainly was not expecting an aerial assault! He nips the tip of his tongue but manages to not jerk away at the reveal of the cat-like boy. Instead, he smooths his wings against his jacket and begins his customary look-over with his intense golden eyes.

"Hullo," he says carefully, resting his thumbs in his pockets. He tilts his head to the side, trying unsuccessfully, with his limited knowledge in numbers hindering him, to count the number of peculiar spots on the boy's tanned skin.

He blinks suddenly, determining it to be impossible and therefore it must be a bajillion spots! He eats back his silence, remembering what his mother always reiterated for him to practice in social situations: conversation. At least, ones that extend further than his own head.

He decides on: "You have a lot of spots. Have you ever tried t' count them all afore?"

A smile cracks into Garrett's stony demeanor, and he accepts the hand offered to him with steady politeness. "I'm Garrett," he responds, and with a little hesitation, he follows Nahuel's lead with, "G-aaaairrr- ret. Tuh."

The tips of his tail feathers ruffle slightly as another child runs past, oblivious to the introductions of the two boys. Still, Garrett is aware of it, and files it into the back of his mind. Red headed female, noisy voice, now relocated to the east end of the room. This calculating observance has become - rather, IS - second nature to him, and takes no more than a second away from his attention.

Now closer to his acquaintance, he once again looks over the spots, almost beginning to help in the effort to count them again. But he stops himself, forcing himself to continue talking. Out loud, that is.

"Did your Mum leave you too?" he asks in a soft and gentle tone. His thumbs again find their place in his pockets. "Mine says she'll be back inna hour and I'm s'posed to stay here." He doesn't quite like it indoors, and as much as it's usually inevitable, the crowds within the mall are much, much worse and would make Garrett very uncomfortable, Alaina knew. A lesser of two evils, she supposed.

A fort! He had noticed it, truly told, but didn't give it much thought at all. Following Nahuel's lead and attempting the same pace, Garrett too starts for the ladder, but only three steps up does one of his taloned toes, broken out of yet another pair of boots, catches on the rope and set him back on his bottom on the padded mat. One of the supervisors glances his way, but doesn't deem it worthy of her effort to come over and check on him.

Garrett winces, but immediately leaps up onto his feet out of sheer stubbornness. One of his tail feathers is bent, damaged in the fall, but other than a numb pain in his behind, one the toddler deems easily ignorable, he feels all right.

"Coming, coming," he calls up at Nahuel in a gruff tone as he begins to climb again, this time much more carefully. He focuses his eyes on his hands, one two, one two, to avoid seeing the other's reaction to his fall.

Now, the idea of enclosing himself within the constraints of a plastic tunnel wasn't exactly the most appealing idea Garrett has heard all day, but some sort of pride in him won't allow for his turning back now. If only his mother could see this!

Pulling himself up with the help of the other child and leaving the rope behind, Garrett tucks his wings very neatly against the folds of his jacket. "Okay, tunnel we go," he agrees with a faltering voice. How much easier this would be if he could only be taught how to make use of his wings! Then he could meet the other at the top of the tower by his own means and not through some very enclosed space and-

While all this thought clouds his mind, he finds himself already at the mouth of the tunnel. Swallowing harshly, he abruptly looks to Nahuel for guidance.

A quick glance at the tunnel's length eases Garrett's anxieties a little. It is short.

Inhaling sharply, Garrett follows his new friend loyally through the tunnel, keeping his eyes and thoughts fixated on the top. His breathing quickens, and he uses this as a distraction from his screaming instinctual need for open space, working, as his arms and legs work through the tunnel, on keeping it even.

"Almost there?" he asks weakly as his right wing grazes the plastic tunnel.

Reaching Nahuel's side on the platform, safely conquering the tunnel and his subsequent fears, Garrett breathes an audible sigh of relief. Space! Options!

"Yes," he agrees a little too eagerly, brushing at his bent tail feather consciously. "Down the slide, that's fun!"