Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a week or so since Natalia had come to live with them, and Keeta had found it difficult. Not only were their the constant lies and histories they had to make up, but they were still dealing emotionally with the loss of Ceres and Sky. Not to mention Kaida and Cassara were still MIA. The rest of Rhine's family was presumably still on the Island, but with no functioning mirrors, there was no way to know. Joel and Camille didn't understand why their mommy and daddy were acting strange and why Natalia had suddenly come to live with them and was now their sister. They didn't understand why they couldn't talk about grandma Ceres and grandpa Sky. Things were getting tense.

Eventually Keeta found herself to the point where she couldn't sit and dwell on things in the house anymore. She needed a day out and someplace where everyone could enjoy themselves, but Keeta and Rhine didn't feel obligated to spend all their time entertaining the kids. She couldn't think of a better place than the beach. So the next day Rhine had off, she made plans for them to all go.

Having remembered that Rhine had wanted to get in touch with Surion, and thinking it might be nice to have another adult to talk to about this, she called him up and invited him to join them. It promised to be a lovely day: clear skies, with mild temperatures and a slight breeze. Perfect.

It was around 9:00 by the time Keeta got everyone ready and out the door, and 10:00 by the time they made it to the beach. Keeta staked out an area above the high tide line and laid down beach towels, put up their portable awning, and set down the cooler. It wasn't two minutes after their arrival that Natalia had taken Joel and Camille down to look for shells, and Rhine had disappeared into the waves, explaining that he felt dry. She couldn't blame him. He probably needed some time to himself to sort things out. There really hadn't been much of that since things had gone south. Regardless, Keeta soon found herself alone and was happily watching everyone from her folding chair. She wondered if Surion would decide to show or not?

At the sound of the bike, Keeta's attention was diverted from the water. It was a rumble that seemed familiar. Not only that, but as she turned, her awning being narrowly missed by two mischevious dragonettes, Keeta knew Surion had gotten her voicemail. She turned fully around and scanned the parking area for his imposing figure. Finding it, she took off the floppy straw hat she was sporting and waved it in the air, hoping he would notice and come to where she was.

"Surion!" she called, only half believing he would be able to hear her at that distance.

"Yes, isn't it? I needed to get out of the house and I thought the kids would enjoy themselves." She greeted him with a smile and indicated with a wave of her hand that he could place his towel next to where she was seated if he wanted.

"I'm glad you were able to come. I'm sorry I haven't been better about keeping in touch. What has been happening in your life lately? I see you still have your two friends. " She turned towards the water for a brief moment, looking where the two dragonettes had flown, making sure the children were still being safe. Natalia seemed to have them in check, so Keeta turned back to Surion, giving him her attention.

"Well busy can be good though. I'm glad your business venture is turning out to be successful. I hope it's still fun and isn't overwhelming?" she asked, offering a questioning smile, before looking away again and answering his question. Her fingers played with the brim of her hat.

"As for me....for us...things have been rather tumultous of late. For starters, Rhine and I find ourselves expecting...." she said, indicating her still smallish, but rounded belly. That seemed liked the simplest news to start with, and the most cheerful.

"Aurora Dawn?" Keeta asked, her mouth twitching into a nervous smile. She was pretty certain that's what he meant by his partner, but for all she knew Surion could have found himself a girlfriend or something since they last met. If it was Aurora Dawn, Keeta was afraid she might be longer than Surion expected.

"Yes, I guess it would. You are kind of an adopted member of the family the way I understand it. It seems Ceres has even shared some of her taste for...what's the new word...'bling'?...with you," she said, indicating his metal band. Her eyes traveled to his exposed chest and almost chastised herself for 'looking' at someone other than Rhine, when she noticed the array of scars. Keeta blushed slightly, embrassed to ask, figuring he might be embarassed to explain, but she really wanted to know.

"Surion. What happened to you...? I mean it was obviously a long time ago, because they've healed, but..." she reached out a hand slightly as if to touch them, but drew it back, realizing that would be completely inappropriate.

"Oh I see...." Keeta said not really knowing what to say, never having been in peril for her life like that before. She sensed his hesitation in sharing what he did, and chose not to press further. It had basically answered what she wanted to know anyways.

"Well I'm glad you survived it, so we could get to know you. That's impressive that you can hide them like that, but it's good that you are confidant enough about yourself to let the real you show. I know that can be hard sometimes. I tried hiding I was half elf when I first moved here....I wanted to 'fit in' better with my fully human friends. Didn't help me in the long run...." She sighed and glanced at his arm bands again. How was she going to tell him that the person he had made that promise with was no longer living? She had never really seen Surion and Ceres interact, but from the way they talked about one another, she gathered that they were fairly close.

"Well even without the scars, I don't think I would try and cross you, if I was a patron of your club. Whether or not I was made brave by alcohol." Keeta hoped that sounded like the compliment she meant it as, and not something distainful.

"And why would I laugh?" she asked, confused. Her eyes wandered back to the water, as she instinctively checked on the children from time to time. Seeing nothing amiss, however, she turned back to Surion once more.

"Oh...." Keeta said, blushing. The conversation had certainly turned away from her intended direction, but conversations had a way of doing that. She cleared her throat and tried to move on, watching the children and dragonettes with him.

"They seem to be enjoying themselves, dragonettes and children alike." She paused for a moment, seeing in her mind's eye a means by which she could segway into sharing the unfortunate news with Surion. Keeta hoped it wouldn't ruin their morning, but he needed to know. And he needed to know before he interacted at length with Natalia, so he wouldn't further confuse the poor girl.

"I'm especially glad to see Natalia having fun. She's been...confused....lately. She needed a day where she could just... be a kid again."