Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was the sound of the front door's bell ringing that would announce to Aliikki that she had company, and the sound of very heavy footsteps would likely betray just who they belonged to. Zero, as she had come to be in the last few years, was rather flickle - the life zurui rarely ever saw the same look twice, but the scars, tattoos and, more importantly, heavy metal footsteps that in no way sounded like they belonged to the slender form of the cyborg was what gave her away. This month, it was apparently blue bangs with the rest dyed black, cut very short and spiky, wearing her usual blue bikini top under a leather jacket and army pants.

A black and rainbow colored form followed the woman inside the shop, Iris scretching herself before padding over to a pillow set in front of the shop window to lay down. Zero often joked that she was the perfect eye-catcher and that perhaps, many kits had found loving homes because she had been sitting right at that window, grooming her many prism-colored tails.

"Really ?" To be honest, Zero had no idea what this had to do with her at all, but she figured she would get an answer to that one sooner than later.

"Good afternoon, Aliikki." Iris answered, before lifting one tail up in the air, leaving the others down to provide with fluffy cushioning. "Careful, I pounce back." She warmed candidly, but that did not seem to bother the kit in the least, if the weight against her tails was to be of any indication.

"Hey Mir, im go-" Perhaps, if she hadn't turned around, she would have been able to finish that sentence. But as it, whatever she had been about to speak about never came out of her mouth.

The form beside her friend was unmistakable, even with how long it had been since she had last seen it in the flesh. She had changed dramaticly since then, but he... he had not.

Not one bit.

Zero rather accurately looked like she had just seen a ghost. "H-...Hoshi ?"

"Well... Something interesting this way comes." Iris seemed rather interested in the scene that was unfolding in front of her, apparently having forgotten the kit who was batting playfully at her outstretched tail.

"I... I used to babysit you when you were little, remember ? I lived right beside your house... And... Oh, god." She trailed off. "It's... okay if you don't remember me, it's been a long time and I changed alot and..." Im your son's guardian. Did you know you had a son ? was what the wanted to say, but it got lost somewhere in between her mind and those blue-tinted lips.

Her attention turned back to Mireille then. "I... I see..." After how much Shina had searched for him. After how much Sei had looked for him. After even she had looked everywhere she could think of...

Well, that was life for you.

"Are you allright ?" She asked Hoshi, looking him over. "You've been gone a long time... We... looked everywhere we could think of for you..."

"...I know very well." Zero said, weighting her words carefully. The pleading look in his eyes was hard to ignore... as well as all the little signs that he did not remember. She did not move away when he came toward her, remained perfectly still. He may have forgotten him, but she had not forgotten him. Far from it, as he had hovered in her thoughts for the last few years. He would not hurt her, the cyborg knew. At the same time, however, it took some time for the blue and black haired woman to look up and meet his eyes truly with her two glowing ones, to weight the words in her mind carefully. Would he disapprove of Shina's choice ? And how would Sei...

...This was not a matter of the then and now.

"I know very well." She repeated. It was quite an effort to keep her voice from choking up with emotion, but some part of her, the fighter, remembered how to look calm and serene. "You have a son, almost a spitting image of his father. Shina named him Sei before she had to hand him over to me. Hoshi... I am his guardian."

Zero did not answer right away, perhaps adding to Hoshi's uncertainity, though not for the reasons he might fear. In fact, she was wondering how she was supposed to put down the other bombshell of information she would need to drop before the two of them would meet. That his child... was not exactly a child, per se. Or... normal. Even by fa'e standard. Most likely her fault, of course.

"He... is at work right now, I think." There. Dropped. Not very elegantly, but the poor man looked like he would implode if she held herself any longer. "But... I can call his cellphone and have him come here once his shift is over ? I think he's only got half an hour left by now...""

And that was another hard part. "...Four years, Hoshi." Four years. Time really did fly... "We looked everywhere we could... Shina, me... Even Sei when he was old enough..." It sounded almost like an apology. Almost like she had failed him somehow by being unable to find him after so long.

"Ill call." She said then, taking her phone from it's stap on her belt. and then promptly gave the device an irritated frown and a tap of a finger before having to step outside to get a signal.
"Sorry, can't get a signal in here. Won't be long."

Technology could be so primitive in gaia...

Iris had not followed her human outside, instead remaining on the pillow exactly where she had been, now having a small collection of kits happily snoozing off in her bundle of multi-colored tails, the very tips twitching slightly with a few little paws still trying to grasp at it from the depts of their dreams. Perhaps this was the best sign that Zero had not actually left.

The silence stretched on for a few more minutes before the bell of the door run once more, and the cyborg slid her way inside. "Got his voicemail. It... shouldn't be long."