Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a long, quiet summer, and Paradise had spent most of it wandering hither and yon. She couldn't really bring herself to stay put in one spot for too long, though she did always seem to wind up back here near the HQ. If there was any place she cared to call to home... this particular area was probably it. It was even the only place she'd ever bothered to make something of a permanent den at...

It was almost strange to be back this time, though, for some reason. Perhaps her confused feelings about that one particular someone... it had been weird to just run into him again earlier in the summer, after not seeing him for so long. She'd been both happy and unsettled... and Dice didn't know what to make of it.

And so she lay in her usual position, flopped on her back with her paws lounging where ever they felt like laying, tails curling lazily around her body and one another in no particular pattern. But this time even though her eyes were closed she wasn't actually sleeping...

The other form that slunk slowly through the bushes nearby wasn't aware of that particular fact though. Swift and silent the gray form drew closer, moving out from between the bushes with not a sound to give her away, crouched low and ready to pounce...

And pounce she did, though Dice grinned and rolled to her feet to meet the momentum of it and shift her own along to use it against her "attacker". Eru couldn't do a thing as she was thrown with the force of her own jump but roll with it and spring to her feet after she landed. "And here I thought I was gonna get you for once."

"Not a chance, Eru." Dice snorted and grinned. "Good t'see you though. Still pouncing random strangers and causing good-natured trouble, I take it?"

"Of course. So how was your trip this time?"

The conversation continued on in that vein, some idle chit-chat to catch up before one or the other of them got restless enough to bring up a hunt or a sparring match. At least that was how it usually went if they weren't interrupted.

The crying caught the attention of both females well before Arken actually reached them. Eruanna had no idea what was going on, but Paradise... Well, Dice never forgot a pelt. The brightly colored femme blanched a bit and pointed at Arken. "Eru, sit!"

Noting Dice's concerned expression, which was a rather unusual thing to see, rather than make commentary of some sort on the "dog command" she'd just been given, Eruanna decided to comply. Explanations and complaints could be lodged after the male that was barreling toward them no longer posed whatever threat he seemed to. The rather large and muscular femme dove at him instead, intending to knock him over and pin him down and... well... sit on him. Or lay on him, at least. Hopefully the little guardian wouldn't get knocked around too much...

Once apologies were made Eru flicked an ear thoughtfully for a moment before proceeding to flop down on Arken, resting her chin on the back of his head and making and absolutely adorable noise. Paradise snorted at that and rolled her eyes. "Sorry about that, kid. Come on, Eru, danger's averted, let the kid up now."

"Comfy." The gray female said with a bit of a pout, but complied and flopped over on her back next to Arken. She blinked at her now upside down view of the guardian and stuck a paw out, one toe extended and the others curled back, to offer a sort of handshake. "Hello! Lazuli, then? I'm Eruanna."

Paradise walked over to give Arken a long look with a quirked eyebrow before tapping his nose with a green-tipped paw. "You in the habit of breaking promises, Arken? I seem to recall you promising you'd have a better handle on that little problem of yours by the next time we met. From the sound of it you've just let it get worse." Not that Dice had her feelings hurt or anything. If push came to shove she could easily avoid Arken, or beat the tar out of him, whichever came first. She mostly just wanted to make a point. "Though I guess if you really want to just let it get the better of you around an angry blue Nightmaren and get your face taken off, that's your choice."

"I'd hate for him to run into Khael. She'd knock him into next Tuesday for taking out a chunk of fur, if Tamri didn't beat her to it." Eru gigglesnorted a bit at the thought and rolled back onto her side, proceeding to paw at Arken's ear like a little kit without a second thought.

"You do realize that not all monsters are so easy to spot as a Nightmare, right?" Dice gave Arken a very stern look, something halfway akin to a reprimand from an older sister. "There's those around that look every bit as normal as any one of us and would gladly rip a limb off of you."

Eru carefully trapped Arken's ear between her paws and peered at it for a moment. "And not all Nightmaren are monsters, no matter their looks. Most of them are right mean bastards, but not all of them. Like Khael. She'd cower away from a bobtail if her old injuries were flairing up. Hell, she has at least once. Poor thing." Her freckled face dipped toward a frown before she shook it off. "Heeeey you wanna meet her? She's probably at her favorite sunning spot, since the weather's nice. Tamri might be there too."

Apparently done speaking for now, the gray female then sat up, sniffed at Arken's ear, and promptly began nomming on it playfully with her back teeth. Her back teeth were for chewing and weren't so sharp as her front teeth; particularly the very impressive set of fangs revealed by her current activities.

Paradise raised an eyebrow at all this, but Eru just wagged her tails and continued. "Well... at least she didn't decide to sit on your tails like she does with most people," she commented dryly.

"Well, think about it now, kiddo. I wasn't telling you to try and get a handle on it last time just because it was annoying to try and keep you from yanking on my fur." Even if that was certainly a rather large part of it!

Finished with her current nomming session, Eru let go of Arken's ear and propped a paw across his shoulders. "Well, like I said, most of them are right mean bastards. I just happen to be privy to knowledge of some that are at least content to let others be if the favor's returned, y'know? Heck I've got some cousins somewhere that're part Nightmare... though... my family's a bit strange, t'be honest." She shrugged and sniffed at Arken's ear again as though she was about to resume her previous task.

"Hey, Eru, why don't you take Arken to meet Khael?" Dice stood as she said this, apparently with the intention of walking off somewhere.

"Where're you going, then?" Eru paused to look at her friend.

"Figured I'd check in at HQ. Setsumi, Terasu, that jazz." She rolled her eyes as Eru started to grab ahold of Arken's ear again. "And fer crying out loud, Eru, stop chewing on the kid."

Eru blinked at Dice and let go of Arken's ear, though she wrapped her paws around his shoulders at that point and tugged him over to rub her cheek against the top of his head. "Aww, he's being such an agreeable chew-toy, though!"

"You're just seeing how much you can get away with before he gets uncomfortable with you and you know it." Paradise snorted.

"He tastes good too." She stated it so matter of factly that Dice blinked in confusion before just shaking her head and getting ready to move away. "Pfft, fine. You gonna stop by the Place later, at least?"

"Maybe." The brightly colored femme paused to take a stretch before heading for the trees. "See you two around."

Eru gave a soft, amused chuckle at Paradise before turning to look at Arken... who she still had around the shoulders. "Well. Guess it's just us?" She blinked at the top of his head, groomed some fur back into place that she'd mussed, and then let go of him and rolled to her feet again. "Wanna go meet Khael then?

Eru gave a cheeky little grin when she caught Arken blushing and glanced to Lazuli. "Aww he's a blusher!" She giggled a bit until receiving a reply about their course of action and turned to trot off in the general direction of Khael's sunning spot, though the grin never left her face the whole way there.

"So what do you do for fun besides terrorize blue animals, anyway?" she asked. The question was obviously meant in good humor. "Myself, I mostly hang out with my family or my buddy 'Ori, or go pester random people at the HQ. And hunt. Let's not forget hunt!"

"Are too~" Eru cooed at him, teasing grin still firmly in place. "Either that or you have a very peculiar little rash on your cheeks." She stuck her tongue out at him and trotted on.

She bobbed her head good naturedly as Arken and Lazuli conversed, and then as Arken listed some of his hobbies. "Well, aside from the blue collecting that actually sounds a lot like some of the stuff I do, too." She hopped up on a fallen log and pretended at tight-rope walking on it. "And there's usually someone at HQ, you just have to dig around a little to find 'em sometimes. Of course... they don't always like being dug up, but it wouldn't be much of a pestering if I wasn't a teeny bit irritating." She grinned again and then suddenly launched off of the log to pounce at him. "Raar!"