Welcome to Gaia! ::

Okay, so it wasn't free. Still, Harmony felt content to lie on the grass of the front yard, staring up at the clouds as they danced along lazily. Maybe she was starting to get too lazy. She could just barely hear her siblings playing nearby, but she couldn't bring herself to get up and join them. She even heard Donny's boisterous voice rise up above them all, calling out to her, but she waved a hand lazily and he let her be.

It was so comforting and peaceful, on the soft grass. The sky was so beautiful. She wished she could fly, like Donny.. then she would surely fly straight up until she reached the clouds, and float with them on their merry way.

"Harmony, you're going to get your pretty new dress dirty! Sreas is coming over, remember?"

The little Mysterian perked her head up to glance at her father, and grinned at him childishly. That's right, how could she forget! The boy she'd met a while back was coming to visit, and play! And here she was, getting dirty in the grass. Oh well, she was sure he wouldn't really mind.

Nio was just about to fire up the grill when he heard Atriz approaching, and threw the match toward the coals while waving him over. This sparked a fire he didn't expect, and halfway through his greeting he was interrupted by the flames.

"Hey, At-AGH! Okay, too hot, too hot.."

He wasn't as.. experienced with grills as one might think, but he was relatively new to the family experience. It was to be expected. He turned down the heat, and the flames died off somewhat. Quickly checking for any burnmarks on his hand first, he then extended it to the man.

"Nice of you to come visit."

Harmony lifted her head once more when she heard her name, and pushed herself up to a seated position. When the child watched Sreas approach, her face darkened with confusion. Who was this, Sreas' older brother?

Nevertheless, she waved at the young man politely with both a single hand and a few tail appendages. "Hello.." She murmured out quietly when he was within hearing distance, never one not to be polite.

"Ah.." Nio chuckled nervously, and rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I'm new to this whole grill thing. I think I understand it, but I guess it got the better of me there for a second! It looks okay now, I hope.."

He started unwrapping various meat; mostly hamburgers, and a steak or two, while replying to his second question.

"I've been good! Ah.. who am I kidding. I've been fantastic. We just found out my wife's pregnant, the other day. I can't tell you how happy I am. How about you, how've you been?"

Harmony sat up straighter when the boy called himself Sreas. She quirked her head softly, before leaning in to peer at him. "..Really?" She murmured, her voice filled with curious awe. "You look so much.. bigger. Did you grow?"

Well, bigger or not, it seemed her friend had arrived, and this was reason enough to make her smile. She grinned up at him quite suddenly, and wrestled with the thought of giving him a hug. She settled with the knowledge that he didn't know her well enough yet, and might not even be comfortable with physical affection, so she held back. She was so used to her brothers and sisters glomping left and right, that it was hard to do so.

Nio turned to get a look at the flower, but he didn't seem surprised to hear that it would turn into a child. He picked up a spatula, and pressed down on the steak.

"Well, first off I would say.. keep it as far away from the fire as possible. If one of these embers happens to jump up, I'd hate to be responsible for a dead child."

He chuckled softly and flipped the steak over, before picking out another one for himself. Men needed steaks, after all. They were filled with testosterone or something.

"Secondly, I wouldn't doubt it for a minute. Harmony and Sreas, they came from eggs, right? At least that seems plausible compared to where most of our kids came from."

He pointed his spatula at a curious pair of toddlers playing in the distance. One of them was blue, and one gold with huge midnight blue wings.

"See those two over there? They came out of a book. And I've got another toddler who looks just like me and Enoh, she came from a pebble." He continued chattering off the list of all his odd children, as if he was saying nothing out of the ordinary.

"Then of course there are the Tahnee, we don't even know where they come from exactly. Essy came from a notepad.. let's see.. oh yes. And Thoreau came from a star in the sky. Can you imagine that?"

He shook his head softly and chuckled, though he really didn't seem surprised by any of it. "I'll tell you, the things that happen here on Gaia.. It'll never cease to surprise me."

Of course, he kept his own creation story to himself.

"How do you like your steak?"

---

By now Harmony had fully accepted that this was indeed Sreas, her first real friend. She laughed at his mention of being dressed up, stumbling to rise to her feet and twirling around childishly.

"My daddy said the same thing! He wanted me to dress up for company, and they put me in this dress.. but I don't like it. It's green. At least you can't see the grass stains in it, can you?"

She tried to bend her head to be able to see her back, but failed miserably.

Atriz followed Nio's descriptions as he glanced across the yard. He spotted the two kids playing together, with their weird colorations.

"So all your kids came from something crazy? I mean... Cier came from an Ice Cube, but all my other pets have come from eggs." Atriz scratched his forehead with his index and middle fingers.

"Perhaps I have still much to learn about this. Oh, and medium rare, please." Atriz pointed to their Mysterians who were playing on the lawn. "Awww, my baby looks so adorable, no? It's so cute that him and Harmony seem to get along so well."

"So what do ya want to play?" Sreas said, hopping up and down between his feet. He sat down and laid upon the grass. "By the way... I really... like your dress. It looks nice. And you're right - those grass stains just seem to disappear when you wear it." Sreas laughed a little and rolled back and forward along the grass, staining his own shirt which was, unfortunately, not green.

Atriz caught Nio's look, but after taking a moment to decipher it determined that it was nothing. He watched carefully as the kids walked towards the grill. He look for Sreas, but found him still over by Harmony. "Sreas, what kind of burger would you like? And don't get your shirt all dirty! I don't want to have to get you a new change of clothes!"

Sreas rolled his eyes, and stood up. He brushed off his pants and started to walk towards the grill. "Hey, Harmony, you want something? I'll tell Nio for ya." Sreas smiled politely, as he toddled forwards, waiting for a response.

Sreas bounded over to Atriz, his feet bouncing below him. It didn't take a brain surgeon to see that he was having fun. "So, Sreas..." Atriz said with a grin coming across his face, "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yeah." Sreas said with a little smile on his adorable little face. "Oh, and we'll each have a burger. I want mine with a little bit of mustard, and a slice of cheese. Harmony wants no cheese, and lots of ketchup. She said that Nio would know how she wants it."

"Awww, you two look so cute together. My little tikester is growing up." Atriz said, messing up his hair a little. "Don't worry, I won't tell the others."

"Tell them what?" Sreas responded quizically.

"About your girlfriend." Atriz smiled patting his hair down. "She's not my girlfriend!" Sreas argued, his body temperature starting to rise. Atriz's hand felt a sudden burn. "She's too young for me anyways! Leave me alone! You're almost as bad as Corsel and Cier. God!"

"I was just kiddi..." but it was too late. Sreas had already pulled away and was storming back to his seat on the lawn.

"Sure thing." said Atriz, slightly embarrased that the event had become public. "I'll watch the grill." Atriz skittered over towards the grill and played with a few knobs to make him look occupied.


"I don't really want to talk about it, okay? It's just Atriz being a jerk. He still treats me like a baby. I'm full grown now!" Atriz let out a low growl as he squatted to the floor. "He doesn't give me enough space. And it's starting to make me really angry." Sreas paused for a second. "Really angry." he emphasized.