Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sun sank slowly in the pale blue sky, stretching out to the edge of the water like some celestial blanket. Halos of purple and oranges interrupted the blue and signaled the turn into dusk as the day moved toward a close, leaving clouds like paint splotches drifting high over the sandy shores of Gambino Isle. And the teen Fa'e would have it no other way.

Sure, her seaside home was located on a relatively quiet stretch of beach, broken from the rest of the Gambino shore by a long stretch of jagged rocks that proved treacherous to most boats and especially swimmers, but as the height of summer rapidly approached, even her quiet enclave swarmed with tourists in fanny packs and visors. It was like they smelled the soft shore past the rocks and wandered through her streets and alleys until they stumbled onto a safe spot to swim and sit and otherwise muck up her refuge.

Fortunately, the invaders disappeared with the sun; no condos or hotels made late night diversions to this particular beach worth the effort. And it was this lovely time that Caoimhe chose to return to her front yard, tip-toeing barefoot onto the soft sand. It was a warm night, but there was a cool breeze that stirred the loose hair that had freed itself from the girl's ponytail. She wore a simple pair of khaki shorts, loose fitting but high cropped, and a white tank top. Of course, she couldn't leave off her jewelry: pearl earrings, hemp anklet, and silver clam shell necklace for tonight.

In fact, jewelry was precisely what brought the selkie to the beach tonight. The store where Gristla worked had requested another line of bracelets to feed the growing demands of the tourists, and Caoi had been hard-pressed to keep up with the workload, forcing her to scour the beach nightly. Taking a few steps, she felt a familiar tug and dug a small hole to find an abandoned hermit crab shell six inches below the surface. And so she continued down the beach, stopping periodically to dig for another shell as she moved.

Perhaps it was the gentle lull of the waves. Maybe it had something to do with the Fa'e's concentration on finding market-quality shells. Or maybe, just maybe, the selkie had been straining her ears, keeping them tuned to the ocean just in case the strange singing voice decided to return. Any of these things could explain how the girl could have possibly missed the giant mass sprawled out several feet ahead of her.

Quirking an eyebrow, the teen raised up to her tip-toes trying to get a better look at the thing before she moved any closer. The girl was already highly sensitive about her petite stature. From far away, she looked like a child, but up close, it was clear that she was a teenager. Still, it was sore spot for the girl, and this creature--whatever it was--looked nearly twice her size. And it only was lying down.

Silent footsteps brought her close to the edge of the creature's wingspan, and she stared curiously at the boy. It was a boy, she decided, and though the muscles moving under his fur sent a chill down her spine, the Fa'e found herself smiling at the general feline persuasion of the boy. He was some kind of cat, it seemed--just like Gristla! Crisis averted (no running away today), the girl shifted her weight uncomfortably, unsure of what to do now. He looked familiar to her, and from the feeling in her stomach that she was starting to get used to, Caoi knew this was a Fa'e lying on her beach.

What were the odds? These Fa'e seemed to be springing up everywhere on Gaia. Just how many of them were there? Feeling more questions bubbling in her throat, Caoimhe wanted the boy to wake up--but how to do it... She must be tactful. She must be smooth.

"Oops," she whispered, tipping her hand so that the three hermit crab shells fell onto one of Mortimer's outstretched wings. Stepping backward, she tried to look innocent, feeling thankful her large, naive eyes for once in her life.

"Yikes," Caoimhe said, hopping backwards to try and avoid the moving wings. Unfortunately, it was impossible to avoid the flying sand. A low hiss ripped from the girl's throat as she crouched to the ground, sucking in her lips and covering her ears and eyes with both arms. A veritable sand funnel whipped all around the girl, covering her from head to toe. "s**t-s**t-s**t," she cursed, sputtering from the debris.

By the time the dust settled, Caoimhe was covered an a thin film of sand. She knit her brows together angrily. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. "You mind?" she said, shaking sand from her hair and brushing off her face and chest. "This is private property." A lie, how original, but the teen wanted to feel at least some semblance of control over the situation as it took an unexpected turn.

Her blue-green eyes kept flickering to Mortimer's wings. Caoi could run and swim fast, and her agility was so far unmatched--but flight? It seemed terribly cool, and a little pool of jealousy started to form in the girl's stomach as she waited for a reply from the giant birdcat.

Wondering if Morty noticed the lack of a 'Private Property' sign, Caoimhe placed her now empty hand on her hip, pushing it out so that her left leg extended. The girl felt a chill go down her spine at the sound of the furry Fa'e's deep voice, its masculine tones giving her the 'icky' feeling she so often got around most men. Still, she didn't let it show; she wasn't afraid of him!

And then he stood. He stood, and suddenly, Caoimhe was forced to stare up nearly three feet just to make eye contact. Her eyes widened for a moment, and the second the girl realized it, she dropped her gaze, crossing nonchalantly to a nearby rock. "I will do whatever I want," she began, hopping up on the large stone so that there was less than a foot of difference between the two. Her eyes shot a challenge. "On my beach."

Sizing the Fa'e up from her new altitude, the selkie paused at his feet--talons? Like, little bird feet almost. A birdie. A birdie-cat. Yup, definitely Fa'e material. Fighting an urge to see how fluffy his fur really was, the teenager puffed up a little bigger and said, "I did say so," not quite understanding what the boy was asking.

She paused and added, "How do you walk in sand with those things?" Caoi folded one arm across her chest and used the other to point at Morty's feet. Yes, yes, the magic of misdirection.

Fighting the urge to bite at Morty's wagging finger, the Fa'e felt herself stuck. She wanted to meet more Fa'e and had felt that way for a year, but she wanted to keep it clear that she was not intimidated by the GIANT. Not. At. All.

"Well, what's your name?" she said, nipping lightly at his words, before adding, "I'm KEE-veh." Social interaction with people around her own age was still a very new thing for Caoimhe, and she had a hard time not being tightly wound. Luckily, the other Fa'e calmed things down for her by muttering about his feet and then sitting back down. Yes, sit down, be small.

Taking a note from him, Caoimhe plopped down too, sitting cross-legged on top of the rock. "So, you are a Fa'e," she said in a calm tone, only reiterating what she already knew. But where to go from here? The girl still had so many questions about what being a Fa'e actually entailed, and she had only ever been able to get bits and pieces of information.

It was worth another try.

"So, um, humor me," she began, stealing a catchphrase from one of the sitcoms Gristla and Mrs. Kates watched on Monday nights. "If you had to explain what it meant to be a Fa'e--or, you know, whatever--to someone who didn't know a lot about it, what would you say?" The girl wasn't much of a logical thinker, but she often found herself wondering more and more about her reason for being here. People told her she had some past life---but what did that mean? And what did it matter?

To the Lost Child, she felt as if she had three lives already--but why? Why was she so special? Feeling a little awkward for asking the question, Caoi let her Celtic accent roll in thick waves off of her tongue and said, "Just curious, you know," before staring down at her unpainted toenails for a moment, eventually flickering her gaze back to Mortimer.

Mortimer? That was the name of Krs. Kates' podiatrist, too. Caoimhe almost said something about it, but the furry Fa'e was talking again, asking her age. Well, years weren't exactly something that the girl kept up with when she was basically a science experiment slave on Aranorn, and since she'd been on Gaia, she had only been taught how to use a calendar about six months ago. But Mrs. Kates and Gristla liked to refer to the things that she did that annoyed them as 'teenage phases' that she would grow out of eventually.

It seemed like a safe enough answer. "I'm a teenager... age," she answered, curling her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. In the fading light, the breeze cooled, stirring the waves and pushing the selkie's ponytail into the air. She tucked a strand of loose algae-green wave behind an ear and said, "I've asked a lot of other Fa'e about it, but it's been useless. I just basically got warned not to go away from my guardian." She fought the urge to sigh as her mood deflated, her defenses lowering slightly. Maybe it was the ocean in the background, the cool breeze, her proximity to home, or that the bigger Fa'e had sunk to the ground to diminish the size difference--for whatever reason, Caoimhe was being a little more forthcoming than usual. "It's just not right to dump somebody in a new place with a load of cryptic messages that I'm pretty convinced are just some smoke and mirrors bullshit anyway."

Mortimer's assessment of the Fa'e predicament was short, simple, and easy to digest so the selkie let it stand, not pushing the issue any further. Letting embarrassment creep into her stomach, she tried to change the subject again, "What are you doing out here anyway? Do you live in the area?" The only people who generally roamed this beach at night where either her neighbors... or the occasional homeless guy. Mortimer certainly didn't look homeless.

The added wind from Mortimer's moving wings lifted the stray hair from Caoimhe's face, pushing it backward. She blinked twice and sat upright, trying to imagine what it would feel like to have wings, to fly in the air. The only place the selkie felt that kind of power was in the water; that was how she flew. Still, it would be nice to have a good pair of wings. Instead of having to hook her whip or hands on a branch to pull herself into a tree for safety, she could just give her shoulder blades a good pump and take flight. Well, with those things, he probably couldn't run very fast. Hah!

"I live around here," she said, glancing over her shoulder at the faded robin's egg seaside shack just over the dunes behind them. From where they sat, the second floor was visible, and Caoimhe's open balcony stared back at her. She could see her pale brown wicker chair and the small mosaic table where she worked on her jewelry. Thinking of it, she fingered the bracelet at her wrist before extending her arm to point up toward her home. "It's that one with the white trim. Looks kind of bluish." For a moment, the Fa'e bit her lip. She didn't really know this kid, and it was a rookie mistake to tell the enemy where you lived. Still, he didn't seem like the enemy. Actually, no one in Gaia really did, which, over the years, had worn down her suspicious, tense tendencies.

"I pretty much live out here on the beach," she added, turning her level gaze back to Mortimer. Her mind reeled back to the day she heard the voices on the waves, how she was still absolutely terrified to actually set foot in the water of the ocean, how standing at the edge of a beach felt so familiar to her, like she had spent a lifetime standing on a shore, looking out for something just out of sight. Caoimhe probably should have thought more about that, maybe linked it to something in her past life--but she didn't. She never did. It was just how she was.

The selkie was far more focused on the here and now, and for right now, that focus fell on Mortimer.

"It's nice most days," she said. Like on days when she didn't hear voices. And when there were no tropical storms. "I hate the tourists, though. They swarm all over here like rats, dropping food wrappers and cigarette butts all over my front yard." It pissed the girl off to no end, and by the way she clenched and unclenched her fists, it was obvious. This beach was hers, and no one could convince her otherwise.

Skipping over the bit about swimming, Caoi continued, "I mostly walk, collect shells and stuff. I don't think my skin really... tans. I don't get more grey or blue or whatever." It had never really occurred to the girl that she might be able to tan. Her skin didn't seem to be affected by the sun's rays. She never applied sunscreen, but she never got burned either. Interesting... the Fa'e made a mental note to look into that, the whole no-sunburn-or-tan-capabilities thing. "I figured you would say napping is the best thing about the beach." She smirked.

Durem? In all her wanderings, Caoimhe had been there a few times, but it was pretty busy. The girl didn't like to go there during peak hours when the streets were filled with cars and the sidewalks with people. It was still much better than Aekea, the industrial playground. It was all cement, and the sky was choked with smoke. Who could love a place like that? "Durem is fine," she said, picking a piece of lint from her shorts. "I don't like being around those busy areas though. People bumping into you and beeping at you. Fat ladies walking their dogs and letting them crap all over the sidewalk." She had only been to Durem a few times, but that was a fairly accurate assessment of the time she had spent there.

"I don't see how you could think straight there. I don't blame you for avoiding it." As far as Caoimhe knew, she couldn't be more than a few feet from her guardian without running the risk of disappearing. For now, that meant that there would be no moving out for her. Plus, she was only a teenager--and still very new to Gaia. She and Gristla had a very free relationship; the guardian trusted Caoimhe to stay out of trouble or at least deal with the problems herself.