Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sun glared down from the sky, mighty Apollo showeth his wrath upon the city below. But there was one place, at least, enjoying the bright sun. That place was the Elysian Gardens. The plants were all in full bloom, soaking in the golden rays; they were kept well-watered by their two caretakers, Elst and Aoi, so the heat certainly did them no harm. But.

It was a rather slow day, today. The heat was forcing people indoors, and that meant languid business. Elst was of course fine with this; it gave him some time to work on things, so he could keep himself quite happily occupied. Aoi, on the other hand…was bored out of his mind. Sure, the Lobby was comfortable, plush chairs and air conditioning and all that, but…it was far from entertaining. Work would be better than this, but…he’d just finished watering most of the plants for the seventh time today, so there was nothing left to do.

At least when it was raining [the other weather factor that kept customers away], there was a chance there’s be some lightning to watch. But with sun, there was just…brightness. No fun at all.

But wait…the lake! Way, way back on Elst’s property, actually outside the Nursery was a large patch of heavily tree-laden land, made fertile and green by Elst over the many years he’s been here. It was like a rainforest, almost; a short walk could take you to a rather large, clean lake, just past this massive tree he often liked to climb.

Yes, that would work, he could just go exploring out through the trees, and take a swim afterwards…but wait, no…that’d be no fun without someone else to swim with…Where was Verdant or Orpheus when you needed them?! Wait, damn, today was one of their days off…Oh well, so much for that.

A deep sigh was heard within the quiet Lobby; Aoi, once again bored to his wits’ end, laid sprawled out on the counter, legs draping off both sides, grabbing into the large jar the counter held and popping a few candies in his mouth. What to do, what to do…

Bored…bored…bored…Aoi simply remained sprawled out along the counter, head resting on a potted geranium, popping candies in his mouth every time his current one ran out, by throwing them in the air, and catching them with his tongue. Yes, this really was the most interesting thing he could think of to do. Really.

While it was true that the Lobby proved to be an oasis of cool, fresh air from the outside wasteland of heat, it just was boring beyond belief. Aoi’d already read all the magazines on the table, and alphabetized them with a secondary index of chronology. He’s already read all of the thick botanical and anatomical texts kept on the bookshelf behind the counter, long ago…and had even gotten through every romance novel and magazine that Verdant had furrowed away in various places. Yesterday, he’d finished a jigsaw puzzle. And now there was just Nothing. To. Do.

But then the ring of a bell could be heard from the door -someone had walked in! Ignoring the fact that he’d just threw another candy in the air, Aoi looked over [and was pegged in the forehead by said candy, which he then caught and ate] to see none other than Shade! Perfect company! And he looked bored too! Aoi nearly fell off the counter as he rolled off to try and stand.

“Oh, hey Shade! Busy? We couldn’t be any less busy. How’ve you been?” A friendly smile was quick to grace his expression. “I’m glad there’s finally someone to do stuff with, I was starting to think I’d die of boredom in here…I hope that’s what you’re here for?” He walked over to the impling, reaching an arm over his should and lead him to the leather sofa nearby to sit down.

Elst, on the other hand, was busy, for whatever reason, making a large potted bamboo take on some odd shape or another…this was simply what he did when he had nothing better to do. But what was that? The bell that was affixed to the door had rung! A customer, perhaps? He peeked his head out from within the storage room, walking out from the door located behind the counter, to see Shade. Oh, how nice to see him, and…Aoi seems to have him handled, but the heat surely must have gotten to him by now! He said a quick “Hello, nice to see you again, Shade…” before ducking beneath the counter, opening the mini-fridge located below. A few moments of rummaging later, and he reappeared, two bottles of chilled orange-and-cream soda in his hands. He’d been stocking it lately, along with sarsaparilla and root beer, in most every fridge Aoi frequented, for the Alter had taken a liking to them lately.

“Incredibly hot day out, you must be thirsty by now. Would you like something to drink?” He ducked down again, this time popping up with bottles of sarsaparilla and root beer in his hands as well, setting them down on the counter to show his guest the selection. All nice and ice-cold, perfect for a hot day like this.

Elst listened to the impling’s request, smiling a bit at Shade’s manners. Ah, he’s polite too, he must have been raised well, eh? He took all the bottles, save for a sarsaparilla [for he knew that was what Aoi was currently preferring, that mental link came in handy sometimes] and a root beer, replacing them in the fridge, before picking up the remaining two and bringing them over to the two seated boys. The coffee table was right in front of them, so he sat the bottles down there. After a few moments of searching through his pockets, a bottle opener was produced, and with two soft popping sounds, the sodas were opened, their necks slowly pouring out chilled, airy vapors.

“Here you are, enjoy.” Elst said, a pleasant tone to his voice, before narrowing his eyes for a moment, walking over to the counter, and jotting something down in a log book. Under his breath, he muttered, “Rather odd, I do not recall there being an appointment today, and this isn’t Aoi’s or Verdant’s handwriting…” His voice raised volume a little, becoming more audible. “Hm, Shade, depending on whether this appointment holds through, I may have to deal with a customer for a short while. You and Aoi, of course, are quite free to do as you please. If you wish to go anywhere locked, such as my house, Aoi has the keys.”


He looked back down upon the appointment list, looking puzzled. The only appointment for the day was written in a precise, artistic, yet very peculiar handwriting, in dark violet ink, and it matched the handwriting of no one he knew. Hell, it looked like it had been inscribed by a fountain pen. How had someone managed to get in here and fill in an appointment without him noticing? Or Aoi sensing their mindset? Especially, since, well…he’d checked the book less than five minutes ago…There was no name, and the appointment listed had no end time, yet, with a quick check of his pocket watch, Elst saw that the start time would be less than five minutes away…Very peculiar…

Aoi smiled as his father set the drinks down, a quick, yet quite sincere “Thanks, Dad!” leaving his lips as he lifted the sarsaparilla, not drinking yet until his guest drank first. Speaking of which, it seems Shade had asked something. “Oh, yeah, it’s been like this all day, not a single person’s came in, or at least in the last…” He pulled up his ribbon from beneath his shirt, glancing at a baroque clock face, in working order, that had been sewn onto it. “In the last six hours, fifty-five minutes, and…forty seconds? Something around that.” He laughed a little. “And that customer was just looking to buy some preserves…Jam, that is. Thirty seconds, she’s gone, jars in her handbag, headed off to wherever. Bo-ring. And, wait…Dad, you said there was an appointment? A confused look crossed his face. “But…I checked it like, just a couple minutes before Shade got here, and before that I’d been resting my head on it, there’s no way someone could have written that, and it wasn’t me…”

He shrugged a little, looking back to Shade. “Ah, well, I’ve seen weirder, I guess. So, Shade, anything you want to do? Now that there’s two of us, there’s plenty of choices…” Inwardly, however, he’d already had something planned for them; this was perfect swimming weather. He’d been aware of a certain fear the impling held for quite some time; he’d gleaned it long ago, while he was still a Proto. Hydrophobia, eh? Well, Shade, time to help you push through it. The fear only made this a more interesting challenge.

“You’re quite welcome.” Elst said, a smile on his face. Aoi had started on his sarsaparilla, as well, savoring the peculiar taste the old-timey drink held. He’d put the appointment matter in the back of his mind; his Dad didn’t seem worried, per say, just quizzical. The flower-child pondered it for one last moment. Maybe he had simply fallen asleep for a short time, that’s always possible. He didn’t remember passing out, but…you rarely recollect your own passing out, anyway. But now, let’s think about more important things, like say…persuading a hydrophobic impling to go swimming with him.

“Well~ I did have something in mind, yeah…” He leaned in a little bit closer. “What say we take a little swim, hmmm? It’s a perfect day for it, and there’s a little lake way back on Dad’s property, with a nice shallow end to it just in case, say, water were to make you nervous or something like that.” He wore a friendly, ‘You can trust me’ grin on his face. He hoped he hadn’t been too bold about it, but…he needed to mention the safer area of the lake somehow.

A few minutes had passed, and Elst glanced down at his pocket watch once more. Apparently, the supposed appointment was to start only a few seconds from now. More specifically,
Tick!Five…
Tick!Four…
Tick!Three…
Tick!Two…
Tick!On-
Just as the last second ticked by, the Lobby door opened, the silhouette of a moderately tall man black against the bright sun coming from outside. There was one discernable feature in this living shadow puppet, however; his eyes. They softly glowed several shades of violet, and stood out quite apparently. As he closed the door behind him, however, and the light no longer blared behind him, he was much easier to see.

The man stood a sturdy 6’1”, broad in shoulder, with mildly pale skin; one might be surprised it wasn’t burnt on a day as bright as this. His hair, medium-length dark brown and neatly, yet stylishly combed to the side, displayed a sense of style, yet not gaudily so. His face had a strong structure to it, cheeks ever so barely sunken in, his visage cleanly shaven. A pair of rounded-square frameless glasses perched upon his well-shaped nose. His face was overall rather handsome, yet modestly so; far from gorgeous, yet not hard on the eyes.

His clothes, however, were expertly arranged; a coffee-colored collared shirt with cream pinstripes buttoned to the middle with what appeared to be a chocolate-colored silk handkerchief with a lighter shade of swirls neatly fitted into the breast pocket. There was a mocha-colored cotton shirt underneath, the V-neck visible above the uppermost fastened button of the collared shirt, displaying the inner portion of his prominent collar bone; it showed just enough to achieve a mellow sensuality. He wore dark, coffee bean-colored slacks with matching leather shoes as well. On his hands were two milk chocolate-tinted leather gloves. The ensemble in its entirety was almost appetizing to look upon, completing every little morsel of detail to complete the synesthesia; he even wore a light mist of cologne scented richly of chocolate and mocha. He was groomed to a degree of perfection.

The body that carried these clothes was not quite muscular, but well-toned; it was obvious the man took care of his body, but had no desire to appear buff. He seemed to simply exude absolute self-confidence, without excessive pride; this could easily be seen in his stride, carried with assurance and a friendly air. In his left hand, he carried a rather peculiar volume; what appeared to be an extremely old, black leather-bound book, a decent bit larger in all dimensions than most directions. Both the front and back covers were inscribed with dark scarlet text, all in unintelligible symbols, and the spine was embedded with two, twin crimson gems. Whether they were rubies, garnets, or something else entirely was not quite perceivable.

To Shade and Aoi, he offered a polite nod of greeting accompanied with a well-humored grin as he passed them by on the way to the front desk; to what appeared to be a very confused plant man. His voice was hinted with an ever-so-slight accent - was that Russian? “Ah, so good to see you again, Elst, my apologies for having used so abrupt a method of meeting.”

Elst simply stood, appearing shocked, for a second or two. It was not fright that laced his thoughts, but sudden recollection. His memory had always eluded him; before he had met Longway, he could remember nothing after three weeks time, people, places, all disappearing to the foggy depths of his subconscious. This was why he now kept a detailed journal to remember things by. But this man…this man he’d known from before he kept a journal, had probably last seen him around a year ago. This man, in fact, had crafted nearly all of Elst’s clothing by hand quite some time ago; it was his quality in tailoring that prevented the clothing from ever wearing down. And all this -or at least most of it- was rushing back to Elst’s memory, in just a few seconds. He found his voice, after another second or so.

“…Josev…?”

Aoi lost his smile a little at Shade’s reaction to the idea, but still kept it going, trying to look calm, supportive, maybe optimistic, even. Small clouds of his mist gently drifted around the impling, attempting to soothe.

And what was this? The dude who made the appointment, apparently…and how did he make the appointment in the first place without being noticed…He wasn’t exactly hard to notice…weird. Nonetheless, Aoi gave a quick wave to the man as he approached Elst, and paid him no further heed. Now, back to Shade.

“Ah, cool…hey. Let’s go walk to the house, I’ll get you a swimsuit.” Without waiting, he gently took Shade by the arm, leading him outside, along the path to Elst’s home. Now…they could talk. “Okay…well, I wanted to tell you. I know you don’t like water too much, but that’s why we’ll be going swimming. I’ll help you through this, alright? I’ll do everything I can to fend off this fear of yours.” Though brief, Aoi’s words were quite sincere; he really wanted to help Shade through this. Shade’d have someone there to support him, and Aoi wanted to make sure he knew that.

Aoi smiled a little upon noticing Shade calm down. He could still sense worries, though, that, well…worried him. He got closer, wrapping an arm across the back of the impling’s shoulders, a half-hug while they walked. “Listen…Shade…I’ll help you through this. I’ll support you. You’ll never have to fear the water ever again…I promise.”

They were nearing the house, it seemed.

That’s right, Shade, I…will be there with you all the way…

Hopefully Shade would soon realize - these gestures would be in no short supply from Aoi. He hoped to become someone the impling could trust, someone Shade could turn to. Whether or not he would succeed…could only be known in due time. He at least had someone watching out for him now.

As they neared the house, Aoi wondered if he actually had any swim shorts that would fit the impling…His waistline at least seemed fairly similar to Shade’s…

As they got to the house, he opened the door for Shade, tendrils of chilled air welcoming the both of them in from the sweltering outside heat. “Come on in…”