Welcome to Gaia! ::

Why did I have to pick today to go shopping?

That was the main thought that ran through the dark angel's head as she navigated the parking lot of the super market, weaving through the lines of parked cars and other pedestrians. Nanaki was being held by his mother, his arms around her neck as she rested him on her hip while she walked. Blackfell was behind them, hands stuffed down his pockets as he kept his eyes up, glancing around the hustling parking lot.

"Today just had to be the busy day..." She mumbled to herself, tsking and shaking her head, causing her dark hair to bob slightly. The motion caught Nana's attention, and he made a pass for one curly lock that fell in his face, his little clawed hands missing it as she pulled it out of reach with a quick hand.

"Grawr!"

Snorting, Blackfell grinned and waved a hand vaguely in the air. "Runts' gettin' hungry, mother dear. I'll go ahead and get a cart, so we can hurry on up. Meet you inside?" The teenager strolled ahead without waiting for a reply, hands back in his pockets and whistling a simple tune as he approached a small gaggle of young women outside the sliding doors of the market.

Giving her eldest a sardonic look, which was completely lost on his retreating back, she bounced Nana on her hip, cooing at him before going on and into the super market.

Well, at least it wasn't as busy in here. The cars were probably for the rest of the shopping center.

It didn't take the angel long to grab a cart and get Nana situated in the toddler's seat, before slowly making her way towards the vegetable and farm product section. Small children needed greens to grow, right?

Wandering down the veggie aisle with Nanaki happily bouncing in his seat, Nikomas wasn't entirely sure what to get. She hadn't gotten baby food in a long, long time. What was the best for a toddler to eat? Something more substantial then the baby porridge stuff in the tiny bottles. No, that was for newborns...

Wandering through her thoughts of child-related matters, she idly wandered through the store, glancing around and grabbing stuff as the need came to her. It wasn't till Nana started waving his arms wildly and making growling noises that she looked down at the toddler.

While his mother had been essentially zoning out, Nana had been looking around in avid interest. Nearing the meat aisle(It smelled so good!), he'd of course noticed a brilliant flash of pink. Not that he was a fan of pink or anything, but she smelled good. Well, more like smelled tasty.

Result? The toddler wanted to go closer.

Following where the toddler's grabby hands were motioning to, the angel felt a smile come to her face as she recognized the long pink hair and ears. How long had it been since she'd seen the rabbit girl? Not since Blackfell was a kid, at the least.

"Faye?" Oh lord, she hoped that was her. She wouldn't want to be addressing some random pink haired woman and be mistaken.

Nikomas smiled in relief, leaning on the handle of the grocery cart. Nanaki kept waving his hands towards Faye, making growling signs at his futile attempts to get closer.

"Good, you remember me! I was afraid I might have mistaken someone else for you, I haven't seen you in so long. Though I can't imagine there are that many people with pink hair and rabbit ears wandering around." She grinned crookedly, taking hold of Nana's chubby little hands and holding them down.

"Hush now, love." Niko murmured to the toddler, quieting him easily enough. His amber eyes continued to watch Faye, though.

"Mama, whozat?" He asked, craning his head back to look at Niko, his little ears flicking back and forth in curiosity. "She smells nice."

"This young lady is Faye, an old friend of mine. She babysat your brother one time, a ways back." Niko laughed softly under her breath, remembering the little fiasco from when Fell was a child. "I still don't know how you managed with him, Faye. He was always so much worse with babysitters."

Nikomas shrugged in answer to Faye's question, her wings rustling against her back with the movement. Nana had settled down to listen, though he currently held the end of his tail in his hands, playing with the fiery tip of it.

"Oh, I've been alright. Gone through some changes, had a few kids move out. Most are off on their own now, only Blackfell is still with me, plus Nanaki, the most recent addition." She grinned slightly as she glanced down at the odd animal child, some sort of mixture of canine, feline, and human. "Some odd blessing-curse thing in disguise, I suppose. Blackfell's gotten bigger though, taller then both of us now."

She held a hand up above her head, giving a height of at least a foot taller then herself. "Much bigger. He disappeared for awhile and came back grown up. He's helped me out a bunch by sticking around, though." Oh, yes. That was a... Difficult time. Not knowing where he'd gone had been torture, but the teenager refused to tell where he'd gone. Pressing the matter had essenially been unsuccessful.

"Are you still staying with your mother? Uhhm, Two, was it? Apologies if I misremembered her name, I didn't really see her a whole lot." Niko said, grinning sheepishly as she glanced back at the youth.

The angel would have commented on Solange's departure, but Faye's next words brought her up short. Missing? What? When?

"So she's gone? When did this happen, that's awful!" Niko's expression looked sympathetic and slightly pained as she spoke to Faye now. She'd had family go missing before, and it was terrible. Faye seemed to be holding up well, though, thankfully enough. Though honestly Niko doubted the rabbit-girl was the type to run around screaming 'OHGODWHATHAPPENED.'

"So are you, uh, by yourself then at home? Since Solange isn't there?" She couldn't remember much of Faye's house, but being by yourself in a big empty house was no good.

"Would you like to stay with me? I mean, until Tsu turns up? I have a spare room, since Aqua and Sere both are away." Oh lord, Sere wouldn't like her room being occupied, but she'd moved out ages ago with Zuko. So it was fine.

Nikomas smiled in relief when the youth nodded assent, leaning against the cart handle again and wiggling her fingers in front of Nanaki's face. "Well, good, now I won't have to worry about you by yourself." She said, standing up straight again.

Nanaki hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation, ignoring the fact he probably hadn't understood most of it. But from their voices, it sounded like some sort of decision had been reached, and it seemed like he might have a new "sister."

"What's goin' on, mama?" He asked, craning his head up, gold eyes gazing from Niko to Faye. "She goin' with us?" His tail, draped through one of the leg holes, twitched with his emotions, like a cat's. As it was, the prospect of another person in the house seemed to excite the toddler.

"Playmates?" Nana asked Faye, leaning over the side of the seat, to the angel's amusement.

"I don't expect you to watch him, just for the record. Unless you want to." Niko said, laughing softly. Blackfell didn't mind baby-watching, and if she recalled correctly, Faye had only babysat him before as a favor.