Welcome to Gaia! ::

Albaine: *sitting in the clearing*

Kara: *walks over to Albaine* Hello.

Albaine: *waves* Hello. How're you?

Kara: Alright. You?

Albaine: Pretty good. Just thinking a bit.

Kara: What about?

Albaine: About the past, mostly. The good memories anyway.

Kara: Oh? Pleasant sojourn down memory lane?

Albaine: *nods, then stands up to be on Kara's level* It's nice to think about every once in a while.

Kara: Yeah, I suppose so. *hasn't in a while*

Albaine: *nods* Better than always focusing on the bad anyways. *looks for a topic change* Oh, the book's good so far.

Kara: Indeed. *perks up* What's happened?

Albaine: *recalls* Arthur's house was scheduled to be demolished in order to build a bypass that Arthur was somehow supposed to know about. Arthur, in protest, laid down in front of the bulldozer to prevent this. Then Ford showed up, told Arthur that he needed to get to the saloon, and convinced the man in charge of destroying the house to lay down in front of the bulldozer so that Arthur could do so. They had 6 pints there, Ford informed him that the world was going to end, a Vogon ship showed up, informed the people of earth that their planet was going to be destroyed in order to build a hyperspatial express route, and that the people of earth should have filed complaints to a place they had never heard of if they didn't wish their planet to be destroyed. *not to where he is in the book yet, but pauses to let Kara comment and to avoid too many spoilers*

Kara: *brightens* Sounds interesting! What happens next?

Albaine: Ford and Arthur board the Vogon ship, and the president of the Imperial Galactic Government, Zaphod, arrived on a planet to deliver a speech but instead stole the Heart of Gold. Ford introduces Arthur to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy, sort of a handheld electric encyclopedia about everything. Ford puts a Babel fish in Arthur's ear so he can understand every verbal language, the Vogon announces that he knows that there are stowaways on the ship and that they will be found and, if lucky, hear the Vogon poetry.

Kara: *frowns* Hearing Vogon poetry is lucky?

Albaine: *shakes his head* It was a threat. Ford was obviously worried about it.

Kara: Huh. *sighs* Sounds like something I might want to read.

Albaine: Did you want to borrow the book after I'm finished reading it?

Kara: *sighs* Thanks, but no. Wouldn't do any good.

Albaine: ...? *puts two and two together* Ohh...hm. *ponders* Maybe there's an audio book of it.

Kara: *puts a hand over her eyes* Even normal length books take ten hours plus.

Albaine: *blinks* That's a lot of time to be listening to a tape.

Kara: Yeah.

Albaine: I'm guessing they wouldn't print it in the language you can read?

Kara: *grins wryly* It'd be about six times the size.

Albaine: Wow. *can see what she was talking about before as far as inefficient text goes* And learning how to read English is a pain. *recalls from his youth*

Kara: *sighs* Yeah.

Albaine: Shame there isn't a Babel fish for the eyes, or something of the sort.

Kara: It would certainly make things easier.

Albaine: It would. Though I'm not sure I'd want to have something crawl into my eye. *shudders*

Kara: Yes, that is rather icky.

Albaine: Even the ear is bad enough...though I think people are just wired to be adverse to stuff crawling inside of them period.

Kara: Seeing as it hardly signals anything good, more than likely.

Albaine: If you're lucky it'll just make you sick without any permanent damage.

Kara: And if you're not, sudden death.

Albaine: Or worse- a slow, painful death.

Kara: Okay, yeah, that's worse.

Albaine: Especially if you don't know that you have something foreign inside of you.

Kara: . . . Especially if it's slimy.

Albaine: *frowns* Yes, slimy things are rarely pleasant.

Kara: Slime just has an overwhelming ick factor.

Albaine: It does.

Kara: *dusts her hands off* anyway, enough about slime. Anything interesting happen with you recently?

Albaine: *mind immediately goes to the Byrnar incident* .... *discards the idea of telling it to out of respect for Byrnar's dignity* Nothing really interesting.

Kara: *suspiciously* That didn't sound like nothing.

Albaine: It's rather awkward trying to explain why a straight guy would assume that the reason I'm not interested in dating the woman he has feelings for is because I'm gay and interested in him. Much less the fact that he wanted to duel over it instead of just refusing me like a normal person would. *shakes his head in disbelief*

Kara: Really? Seems quite simple to me.

Albaine: Well I find it awkward.

Kara: *succintly* Booze must be at fault somehow.

Albaine: You would think, but no. No booze was involved. Or at least he didn't seem to be intoxicated at the start.

Kara: High off life?

Albaine: That's the only explanation I can think of unless merely talking to Cyrena induces drunkenness, and I've certainly never felt that way after speaking with her.

Kara: *smiles* Unlikely.

Albaine: Very.

Kara: So, nothing besides the unfortunate drunken incident?

Albaine: Nah, not really.

Kara: Hm, normal boring day, normal boring life goes on.

Albaine: I'll give you an update if my life decides to get more interesting.

Kara: *regally* See that you do so.

Albaine: *nods* Well, I should probably get to bed. Have a good night. *waves*

Kara: You as well.

Albaine: *avoids the mud as best he can as he walks into the clearing holding an umbrella over his head*

Kara: *subconsciously avoids mud as she's pretty much staring up*

Albaine: *spots Kara looking up and looks up as well into the clouds for a moment before waving at her* Hello.

Kara: *haphazardly waves back, as she's still staring up at the rain* Hey.

Albaine: *looks up again as well* Nice to see it rain once in a while. Namiah needs it.

Kara: I only remember it happening twice before.

Albaine: *ponders* ...actually, that sounds about right, to be honest. It really doesn't rain enough.

Kara: I confess myself surprised that the entire island isn't a desert.

Albaine: Same here. Maybe the humans water the plants when nobody's looking.

Kara: All of them?

Albaine: Maybe. There's no way of telling. *simply happy to see rain again*

Kara: Well, I wouldn't put anything past them.

Albaine: *nods* So how are you?

Kara: Well enough. You?

Albaine: Fairly good. Not too much going on, though I finally got a good opportunity to sit down and read.

Kara: Was the book good?

Albaine: *nods* It was. Though I think it's part of a series, so I'll need to get the next one at some point.

Kara: So, very good.

Albaine: Right. I wonder how many of them there are.

Kara: *thinks a monment* Six. But I think the last one switched authors.

Albaine: It did? Huh. *thinks* Did the author pass away before writing it?

Kara: *nods* I think so. The books are somewhat old.

Albaine: Well, that's a shame. It happens though. I wonder if the last one was as good as the previous five.

Kara: *shrugs*

Albaine: Anyways, I made a few flash cards to help out. But I think learning the alphabet first would be better.

Kara: *snorts* You think?

Albaine: Well, technically you probably could just memorize the looks of the words, it would just be harder. *takes the piece of paper out from his pocket*

Kara: *rubs temples* Probably.

Albaine: Well, let's just start with one section at a time. Once you know one line we can move onto the next. *holds the umbrella out a bit so she has room*

Kara: *shuffles under the umbrella morosely* I guess.

Albaine: *can't point very well with the hand that's holding the paper, but does his best* The first letter in the English alphabet is 'A'. After that is 'B', then 'C'. So, A B C. I've actually heard the alphabet called A B Cs before.

Kara: *obediently looks* Okay.

Albaine: *points at the other three* And these are D, E, and F. So we have *points at the start again* A, B, C, D, E, and F.

Kara: Okay . . .

Albaine: *nods and points to the E* So what's that letter called?

Kara: E. *just remembers which order he said them in at this point*

Albaine: *knows she's probably just recalling from her short term memory* Excellent. E usually makes an "eh" sound, like in elephant. It can make other sounds, but for the moment just remember "eh". *points to the F*

Kara: Eh. Right. *looks* F.

Albaine: Right. F makes a 'ff' sound, like in fork. *points at the D*

Kara: Fff. D.

Albaine: Great. D makes the 'duh' sound. *offers the umbrella and paper* Could you hold these for a second?

Kara: *hesitantly takes them* Okay . . .

Albaine: Thank you. *takes out a small pocket notebook and a pen* Now English is read left to right, and to read words you just combine the sounds each letter makes. A lot of times if you don't know what a word is but you know what sounds the individual letters make you can puzzle out what word it is. *writes the word Fed clearly on the piece of paper and show it to her* So what would this word be?

Kara: *squints at the word, even though that would help precisely NOT* Fff . . . *looks at the paper, remembering what he said was what and matching those up to what he just wrote* Eh . . . dd. Fed?

Albaine: *smiles and nods* You got it.

Kara: *twirls the umbrella while grumbling* This is ridiculous.

Albaine: What's ridiculous?

Kara: *sighs* Learning by rote is not going to help.

Albaine: *ponders* How do you generally learn things? *completely open to suggestions*

Kara: *tries to remember how she learned heiroglyphs* . . . Association helped. But those were pictograms mostly, not this, this . . . representative stuff.

Albaine: Oh. *writes both forms of the letter "a" and draws an apple under it them* Like that? It's an apple. Apple starts with A.

Kara: *looks* Apple. Starts with A.

Albaine: *writes both forms of the letter B and draws a bee under it* Bee starts with b. *writes both forms of the letter C and draws a candle under it* Candle starts with C.

Kara: . . . If the letter is B, why does the word need more letters?

Albaine: *shrugs* I'm not quite sure. I'm guessing it's to differentiate the 3.

Kara: . . . the 3?

Albaine: *nods* The letter, the insect, and the verb. The letter is by itself, as all letters are. The verb has 1 E after the B. The insect has 2 Es after the B. They're all pronounced the same way, but on paper you'll know which one the writer is referring to without needing context.

Kara: . . . I repeat, English makes no damned sense.

Albaine: *wholeheartedly agrees with the sentiment* I know, I know. English is stupid. *goes back to the A and writes "apple" under it, and repeats for the other 2 illustrations he's completed* Next is D. *writes both forms of D and draws a dog under it* Dog begins with D. *writes dog*

Kara: D for Dog, okay.

Albaine: *writes both E forms and draws an elephant* E is for Elephant. *writes Elephant under it, pauses* Oh. Here's another instance of English being stupid. *points at the 'ph'* P and H make the same exact sound as an F when put together. I believe I mentioned that before, but it's worth noting again. *writes both F forms, draws a fox underneath, and labels the fox as such* F is for Fox.

Kara: *muttering more imprecations about the english language under her breath*

Albaine: Alright, now G. *writes both forms of G and draws a pair of gloves* Gloves start with G. *writes the word below and moves onto the two forms of H, drawing a hat* Hat starts with H.

Kara: Gloves. Hat.

Albaine: *writes the word hat before moving on to drawing an ice cube, writes both forms above and the word below* I is for Ice. *writes both forms of J and draws a jaguar* Jaguar starts with J. *labels the jaguar*

Kara: Ice and . . . Jaguar? I bet the kids get simpler words.

Albaine: Oh, I was just using what came to mind. *draws a jar instead* Jar. Now onto K... *Writes both forms of K, and a kite* Kite. *labels it so*

Kara: Kite.

Albaine: L is for lant... *pauses* Lamp. *writes both forms of L, draws a lamp, and labels it so* Mud starts with M. *draws a mud puddle, writing both forms of M above it and the word below*

Kara: *conversationally* I liked lanterns better anyway. Some of these modern lamps are ugly as sin.

Albaine: *nods in agreement* I prefer lanterns as well. *draws a bird nest, sans birds* Nest starts with N. *writes both forms of N, and the word nest below* O is for owl. *draws an owl, writing both O forms above, word below*

Kara: *smiles slightly* Owl nest?

Albaine: *smiles a bit back and nods* It's kind of hard not to think of an owl when the word before it is nest.

Kara: And owl chicks are cute.

Albaine: They are. *writes both forms of P and stops himself from drawing a penguin, draws a pie instead* P is for pie. *draws both forms of Q and draws a quill* Q is for quill.

Kara: Pie. Quill.

Albaine: R is for rain. *writes both forms of R, draws the rain, and labels Pie, Queen, and Rain* S is for sled. *writes both S forms, draws a sled, and labels it*

Kara: *innocently* Why would you be sledding in the rain?

Albaine: Because I didn't particularly feel like drawing snow, and my mind went to sled afterwards. *writes both forms of T, and draws a towel* T is for towel. *labels the towel, and moves onto writing both U forms* U is for umbrella. *draws and labels an umbrella*

Kara: *spins the umbrella a bit* Towel. Umbrella.

Albaine: Next is V. *writes both forms of V* V is for valley. *draws a valley and labels it* W is for watch. *draws a watch, writes both forms of W, and labels the watch. We're nearly done with the alphabet.

Kara: Oh good.

Albaine: *nods in agreement* Indeed. *writes both forms of X, pauses for a moment before drawing the typical xylophone* There aren't enough things that start with X. X is for Xylophone. *labels the word, double checking to make sure he spelled it correctly* Y is for yarn. *draws a ball of yarn, writes both Y forms, and labels*

Kara: Xylophone . . . Hah, I recognize that one now.

Albaine: *nods* I was wondering if you would. Now the last letter- Z. Z is for zoo. *draws the entrance of a zoo, with some animals in the background to make it clear what it is, and labels it* And that's the alphabet.

Kara:Zoo. Okay.

Albaine: *looks through all the pages with letters to make sure everything is all set, nods somewhat to himself, and hands the notebook over* There you go.

Kara: *switches the original paper to hand holding umbrella before taking notebook* Thank you.

Albaine: You're welcome. *pockets the pen and holds out a hand to take back the umbrella* And now you have a visual reference.

Kara: *puts the notebook in her pocket, switches the paper back over, and then hands him the umbrella* I'm sure it will be useful.

Albaine: *nods, and looks for a change in topic, thinks back* You mentioned something about pictograms earlier?

Kara: Yes, heiroglyphics tend to be pictures rather than random ink strokes.

Albaine: Huh. Are the actions illustrated as well?

Kara: Have you ever seen any Egyptin writing? They usually have some sort of central picture with explanations written around the edges.

Albaine: *shakes his head* I've never seen any. Sounds pretty unique though.

Kara: It is at that.

Albaine: Easy to learn, or were you young enough not to really remember?

Kara: I wasn't that young. It was . . . Well, some of it was common sense and some of it always meant only this one thing, so it was comparatively easy.

Albaine: Well that sounds rather nice. *wishes all written languages had a bit of common sense to them*

Kara: It was.

Albaine: It's a shame it's inefficient, otherwise it might be a lot more common.

Kara: Also the fact that its somewhat ridiculously complicated.

Albaine: Ah, being complicated would be a bit of a hindrance.

Kara: Yeah, it takes a while to write out . . . ah, can I see the pen a moment?

Albaine: With all those pictures I wouldn't be surprised. And sure. *swaps the umbrella to his other hand before reaching into his pocket to get the pen and hands the pen over* Here you go.

Kara: Thanks. *takes the pen, reahes into her pocket for a piece of paper and scribbles for a couple minutes* Here, this is your name. . . . Basically.

Albaine: *looks at the pieces of paper* That looks like it'd get tedious to write after a while. Especially compared to English, which takes no time at all. *would show her, but is holding an umbrella and lacking the pen*

Kara: There are reasons why scribe was a full time occupation. Also why tombs took upwards of ten years to finish.

Albaine: 10 years to write? Wow. Were they built before being needed?

Kara: The pharaohs tended to start working on their burial sites shortly into their reign.

Albaine: Don't exactly blame them if it would take that long. 10 years...a lot can happen in 10 years. Might need it sooner than expected.

Kara: Many of them did at that.

Albaine: *nods* So it's a good idea to start as soon as possible. *looks up at the clouds, simply noting how dark it is* Well, it's getting rather late. Have a good night. *waves*

Kara: Night.

Albaine: *walks into the clearing, carrying an umbrella in case the rain picks up a bit*

Ryo: *Ventures out into the clearing, covered by a long black rain coat with his hood up* See? The rain's not going to hurt you

Yarrow: *Truding behind Ryo in rain yellow rain boots, a matching rain coat, and hold an umbrella with ducks on it. His tails so tightly wrapped around him, to keep them off the ground, that it looks like he's wearing fluffy pants* Says you...

Albaine: *looks over to spot Ryo and Yarrow, waves* Hello.

Ryo: *Shakes head and wonders why he was doing this* Come on, you can't get over it if you don't face it *Lifts a hand and returns the wave before heading over to Albaine* I see we're not the only ones venturing out ^^

Yarrow: *Ears fop down even further when he notices Albaine. Shifts, kicking at the wet ground as he debates what to do. His previous encounter with Albaine hadn't been desirable, but, Ryo wouldn't let him take off. And he really didn't want the other male hunting him down. Reluctantly, he trudge over*

Ryo: I'm alright, enjoy the drizzle. What about you? *Looks between the two, unsure if they'd have met before. Decides to do introductions just in case.* This is my friend *Pauses* Wait. *Rubs the back of his hood in a sheepish manner* That's brother-in-law now, Yarrow. Yarrow, this is Albaine ^^;

Yarrow: *Shifts from foot to foot beside Ryo. Fidgets with his umbrella* Uh, hello *Decides not to mention that he's met Albaine before* I've... been better

Albaine: Same, just out enjoying the rain. *blinks somewhat at the introductions as he figured that Ryo would remember him speaking with Yarrow, decides to mention the second of two encounters with him* Yarrow's the one who told me what sort of Pokémir my son was before he hatched.

Ryo: *Blinks out of surprise* Huh, maybe I really am getting old *Shakes his head* Or maybe I've spent too long inside the house

Yarrow: *Twirls his umbrella, his ears twitching as he listens to the beat of the rain. Wary of it picking up*

Albaine: *shrugs* Everybody forgets things. Who knows how many things I've forgotten over the years. *Ryatre covertly makes her way out Albaine's coat pocket and onto the grass to watch the conversation without freaking Yarrow out*

Ryo; Only human... *Sighs and shakes his head.* So, think we're going to get a big storm?

Yarrow: *Ears pin back when movement catches his attention. Noting the cockroach, he shifts closer to Ryo, bumping the other male with his umbrella*

Albaine: *looks up at the clouds* ...nah, I don't think so. Just looks like rain to me. *shrugs* Then again, I'm no expert.

Ryatre: ... >> *wonders why Yarrow is so scared of a harmless little cockroach*

Ryo: *Glances to Yarrow, knowing that the other male would know, but if he asked, it might spook him off.* A little rain never hurt anyone. *Glances back to Albaine* It'll be nice to have things cooled off for a bit

Yarrow: *Grumbles something incoherent under his breath while glaring at Ryo. If he wasn't afraid of shocking himself, he'd smack the other with his umbrella*

Albaine: It would, though just the change in weather is nice in itself.

Ryatre: *loudly complains (albeit silently to anyone who doesn't understand cockroach) that she doesn't even have any diseases so there's absolutely no reason for the anthro to be so creeped out*

Albaine: *nearly makes a comment on Ryatre's remark, but realizes that it would look like he's making an inane comment to a voice in his head*

Ryatre: *doesn't like being ignored* -_- *wanders away from the group to go off exploring*

Yarrow: *Mumbles* I like sun, it should stay. Forever

Ryo: *Wonders if this is where Jonsi gets it from.* Sunshine is great, but can't be a constant. Everything would dry out without the rain *Holds up a hand to catch a drop on his palm*

Etah: *Pushes soaking wet white locks out of his face as he trudges through the woods. Not for the first time, he debates just ripping the hair out* Worthless fur

Albaine: Then the island would just be one big desert, where it's much too warm during the day and uncomfortably cold during the night.

Ryatre: *parks herself in the grass and just enjoys the light shower*

Yarrow: *Pouts sightly an grumbles about logic and where they can stuff it*

Ryo: *Lifts a brow* So moody! *Shakes his head before tilting his head back, letting the rain drops smack against his face* ... *Sighs when a thought bubbles up* I hope Shino's not skidding around in the mud

Etah: *Lifts a clawed hand to fist in the white locks, giving them a testing tug. Winces at the resulting pain.* Stupid island *Bares his sharp canines as he lets out a bug like hiss of annoyance. Not caring where his feet are taking him, he emerges into the clearing. Not noticing the other males as he stomps across*

Albaine: *ponders* Well, that's one downside to clothes. If Evan gets all muddy he can just jump in a pond or something to wash...

Ryatre: *feels some vibrations as Etah approaches, looks over to see a foot right over top of her* D8 *tries to get away but is promptly squished*

Albaine: *stops mid sentence as if he just received a minor shock, eyes grow unfocused as he passes out*

Ryo: *Blinks out of shock, barely snapping out in time to move forward and reach out to try and catch the other male hopefully prevent his fall*

Yarrow: *Has no idea what just happened* Nyeh!? *Jumps and nearly drops his umbrella*

Etah: .... *Lifts up his foot to peer at the bottom of it, swearing he'd stepped on something*

Albaine: *is completely unconscious, but is successfully saved from bumping his head on a tree*

Ryo: *Awkwardly holds Albaine, his ears flicking and knocking back his hood as he debates what to do. He couldn't exactly set Albaine down on the wet ground*

Yarrow: Is he dead?! *Twirls his umbrella, his eyes shining as tears threaten to form* What do we do?!

Ryo: *Ears pin back from annoyance as he silently wishes for patience* Yarrow, calm down. *Opts to verify that the other male is indeed breathing*

Albaine: *Ryatre reforms into physical form upon Albaine's shoulder, and he seems slightly less pale*

Ryo: *Nearly drops Albaine when Ryatre reforms. He stares at her for a moment, and then shakes his head. He couldn't wonder about that now. Satisfied that Albaine is indeed breathing, he grunts and drags Albaine over to a tree. Maybe under there, the ground would be at least a little drier there. Hopefully*

Yarrow: *Wiggles and kicks at the ground as he goes on about how they're going to be locked away like in the prison movies and how he'll never see Erik or his kids again. When he sucks in a breath to continue his tirade, a couple of tears slipping from his eyes, he falls silent and just stares at the cockroach on Albaine's shoulder. She hadn't been there a moment ago*

Albaine: *blinks awake shortly after being set down by the tree, looks around for a second before deducing the earth is spinning around a bit too much for his mind or stomach's liking and quickly covers his eyes with a hand* ...wh-what the hell just happened? *realizes that he is in a great amount of pain, but can't quite deduce which body part is injured*

Ryo: *Smiles out of relief when Albaine stirs* I'm not sure exactly. You just suddenly dropped on us.

Yarrow: *Stares at what he has now dubbed, the magic cockroach. Slowly, he edges closer, his gaze never leaving Ryatre, even when Albaine speaks*

Albaine: *sits up a bit shakily, uses his other hand to help balance himself* Oh. *tests the waters for his vision, deducing that it's not quite there yet* ...something hurts. I don't know what, but it hurts. A lot.

Ryo: Something? *Frowns and looks Albaine over. There was no sign of apparent injury, and he had not seen anything abnormal before Albaine dropped* I don't see any damage on your person

Yarrow: *Despite his reservations, he reaches out to poke at the cockroach* Maybe it's got to do with the bug?

Albaine: *shudders as the cockroach is poked, Ryatre skitters off timidly, he replies a bit weakly* ...yep, that's it. *lifts up the hand that was formerly holding him upright as he feels more stable, Ryatre obediently crawls into it and he cradles her like he'd cradle a broken limb*

Ryo: *Can't help but feel fascination, but chooses not to pry* Will you be alright?

Yarrow: *Rain seems to be momentarily forgotten as he tilts his head and stares. He's seen a lot of odd things in his life, but no one whose well being was tied to an insect. It reminded him of that movie, "The Golden Compass."*

Albaine: Probably. *stares at Ryatre for a little bit, looks over at Etah for a moment before looking back at her* He stepped on her.

Etah: *For whatever reason is still attempting to figure out what he stepped on. Crouching and poking at the ground. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.*

Ryo: Who? *Glances over and releases an annoyed sigh. He'd managed to avoid interaction with the bug Pokemir for over a year, he didn't want to ruin that now.* That would be Etah. He was the resident terror when I still lived at Ishie's.

Yarrow: Etah?! *Instantly sent on edge again, sparks leaping off his tails as dives behind the tree for cover* I'm not here...

Albaine: Huh. Well, I'm glad he hasn't put two and two together. *uses the tree as balance as he gets back on his feet* ...I hope this pain can go away. I don't know how souls tend to heal, nor how fast. They usually don't get stepped on.

Ryo: You should mostly feel thankful that he didn't eat her.

Etah: *Lets out a hiss of frustration and pushes to stand up right, his wing spreading behind him.* .... *Gaze slowly slides so that he's staring at Albaine and Ryo from the corner of his eyes*

Yarrow: *Clutching his umbrella while in hiding, whimpering and wishing for Erik. Even though he can't see Etah, he can practically feel the Scizor's gaze burning through the tree*

Albaine: *pats Ryatre at the thought of it* I think that would amount to nearly the same thing, only with more warning before I passed out and Ryatre would be more miserable. *ignores the Scizor, knowing that looking in his general direction would probably invite trouble*

Ryo: *Much like Albaine, he ignores the Scizor.* Unless those around you know to look out for her, might be best to keep her from wandering off your person when you're not alone

Etah: *Quickly loses interest when he gains no reaction. Plus, Ryo was there. And he has deeply ingrained memories of the other using some form of can, that emitted funny smelly air, and some form of portable flame to create large steams of fire. He didn't think the other could pull off such a feet in the rain, but he wasn't in the mood to test it.*

Albaine: *nods* A good idea. She's not planning on risking that again either.

Ryo: *Nods and then sighs as the whimpering from behind the tree gets louder* I guess he lasted longer than expected. If Etah hadn't shown up, this night might have been a success. *Pulls his up his hood, even though his hair is now soaked* I have to get him home. You take it easy, alright? *Walks around the tree to easily scoop the small fox boy, barely missing getting smacked with the cutesy umbrella*

Yarrow: *Hides his face in Ryo's shoulder to stifle the whimpers and keep anyone from seeing his tears*

Ryo: Erik's not going to be pleased with me ^^; *Begins the long walk to Yarrow's home*

Albaine: *nods and waves* Take care. *goes for a walk to avoid having to interact with Etah*



Albaine: *peers into the clearing to affirm that the Scizor has left before walking in*

Kara: *walks in, humming absently*

Albaine: *hears humming and looks to the source, waves at Kara* Hello.

Kara: *waves back* Hi.

Albaine: How're you?

Kara: Pretty good . . . *frowns* . . . Are you okay?

Albaine: *shakes his head a bit* Ryatre got stepped on. *pauses, realizes what it sounds like and puts out his hand for her to crawl into so that Kara doesn't think that Ryatre died*

Kara: *winces* Ouch. That must've hurt.

Albaine: *nods* Yeah. It...still does, actually. *Ryatre seems more or less okay, aside from still being shaken from the experience*

Kara: *frowns harder* Still? That doesn't make se- . . . But then again, there are different rules here, I suppose . . .

Albaine: *shrugs, not aware of any rules involving spirit animal "death"* I suppose so.

Kara: Anyway, it doesn't really matter. *makes a beckoning motion* Get over here.

Albaine: *surprised at the sudden command, but obediently walks over to Kara*

Kara: *hovers up a few inches so the height difference is less jarring and hugs him, moving her arms slowly to give him time to get away if he wants*

Albaine: *is very surprised at the hug, but doesn't move away, figuring that there's a reason for it*

Kara: *secures the hug, resting her head on his shoulder* This will work better if you hug back.

Albaine: Ah, alright. *returns the hug, feeling just a little awkward but quickly gets over it as he would have appreciated a hug anyways even if there wasn't a reason behind it*

Kara: *rubs circles on his back, starts glowing a faint green*

Albaine: *feels a great relief as the pain starts to melt away, feeling emotionally and spiritually better*

Kara: *pats his back with one hand while continuing rubbintg circles with the other* Better now?

Albaine: *nods* Much better. Thank you.

Kara: Good. Your chi was all out of whack.

Albaine: Huh. I wonder if it would have corrected itself with time. *very grateful for the hug regardless*

Kara: Probably - chi usually does eventually - but it would've taken a few days of resting up, most likely.

Albaine: Ah, I see. I figured it would, but doesn't hurt to ask.

Kara: Indeed not. *fidgets a lil* Um. That's all I can do with a hug, so . . .

Albaine: *flushes a bit out of embarrassment* Oh, sorry. *lets her go*

Kara: *settles back down to the ground* Anyway. Ah, glad I could help.

Albaine: *nods out of appreciation* Well, aside from that I really haven't been up to much of anything. It's still a bit slow around here.

Kara: Shame. I almost miss the crowded clearing. Almost.

Albaine: Same here. At least Namiah doesn't feel like a deserted island when the clearing is full, even if I don't like crowds.

Kara: True, the deserted island vibe is to be avoided at all costs.

Albaine: Otherwise the island just becomes eerie, like you ought to be finding a way to escape.

Kara: *makes a face* Sounds like a demented sitcom.

Albaine: Which I tend not to watch. Not that I'm really a TV person to begin with...

Kara: *handwaves* Mostly mindless drivel.

Albaine: Doesn't surprise me in the least. Seems to be popular in spite of that though. *shrugs, not sure how people deal with watching the same commercials interrupting whatever it is they are watching*

Kara: *shrugs* It seems addicting, to a certain extent.

Albaine: How? Most addictive things I know about reward you for some action you take. How is sitting down and watching a bunch of commercials interrupt what you're trying to watch addictive?

Kara: Cliffhangers.

Albaine: Ah. Well, I suppose that's something.

Kara: Yeah.

Albaine: And before you know it you've watched 30 hours of something that just leaves you with more questions than when you started.

Kara: Precisely. It is to the producer's advantage not to give you all the answers . . . More like as few as they can get away with.

Albaine: And then you take things that were answered before and reveal that the answer was false, leaving viewers wondering what else is not truly resolved.

Kara: Very twisty, producers.

Albaine: Very. I bet they were taught to set things up like that, just to drag things on and keep people watching.

Kara: Not to mention dragging out three seasons worth of material into twice that.

Albaine: So really television isn't about showing a well written story, it's about money.

Kara: If they don't bring in the viewers, they won't get the opportunity to tell the story.

Albaine: I suppose.

Kara: A fine balancing act.

Albaine: *nods* Balance is a tricky thing.

Kara: That's rather the point.

Albaine: It certainly makes it more rewarding when you succeed.

Kara: That it does.

Albaine: Though really, in this case the viewers just wind up watching a good show. It's the people who make the show that get the challenge of it.

Kara: Point.

Albaine: *fishes around for conversation topics, can't really think of anything* So how's the alphabet? *not really in the mood to go over it, but figures he could see if she even looked at it since*

Kara: . . . *has had a couple hair-tearing fits over this* Um.

Albaine: Would you like me to recite the letter names again, or would that be pointless without a visual?

Kara: *mumbles something about having the visual in her pocket*

Albaine: *hears the words visual and pocket, and rightfully assumes she has the visual on her* Well, let's go over it once or twice.

Kara: *fishes the booklet out of her pocket and hands it over without looking directly at him*

Albaine: *takes the notebook and it to the first letter, glances over at Kara to see if she is looking*

Kara: *is looking. At the booklet*

Albaine: *content that she is paying attention, points to the letters as he recites them* A. B. C.

Kara: A B C. Yes, I get that.

Albaine: *nods and goes on* D. E. F. G. H. I. J. *wondering somewhat if "Tomoe's" problem isn't her not knowing the letter names*

Kara: Yes, I get the letter names. *at this point, is more like has memorized what order they go in. Plus pictures*

Albaine: Ah, alright. What would you like me to help you with?

Kara: Putting it all together?

Albaine: Putting it all together? *unsure of what she means, indirectly asks for a clarification* What do you have put together so far?

Kara: *flatly* Letters.

Albaine: Ah, and you want to put the sounds to them. All the sounds or just one per word to start out?

Kara: All the sounds.

Albaine: *nods and puzzles out the best way to phrase things, decides to simply start at the beginning* Well, A can make an 'ah' sound, like in apple, or an Ay sound, like in bake.

Kara: Okay . . .

Albaine: B just makes a 'buh' sound, so that's easy to remember. C can make a 'c' sound, like in cat. It can also make a 'ss' sound, like in receive.

Kara: *nods, expression of fierce concentration*

Albaine: D makes the 'duh' sound, like in door. E can either make the the 'eh' sound, like in elephant, or an 'E' sound, like in deed. *thinks a moment* Usually when it's making the 'E' sound it's because there's another vowel after it, like an a in eagle, another e like in deed, or an i like in receive. Of course, there are always exceptions. *realizes something* Oh, the vowels are A, E, I, O, and U. Apparently Y is only sometimes considered a vowel. *shrugs as he doesn't really know what that's about, he just knows he's read it somewhere*

Kara: *eyes are getting a tad glazed over* Um. Right.

Albaine: *looks over at her, and realizes that he went just a tad too advanced* Oh, sorry. E makes an 'eh' sound or an "E" sound. *moves on* F just makes a "fff" sound. A p and h together... *goes back to E and points to the ph in Elephant* ...make the same sound. G makes the 'guh' sound, like in goal, or the 'juh' sound, like in giraffe.

Kara: . . . I prefer Japanese. Everything only makes one sound!

Albaine: Doesn't English have more sounds to it than Japanese?

Kara: I don't know. Probably.

Albaine: *ponders* I think English is so messed up because it takes influences from a lot of different languages, like French and German.

Kara: Hmm. Probably. *rubs her temples* Figures the identity crisis language is the common denominator of understanding.

Albaine: Unfortunately, it's the only language I know, otherwise I might...no, French would probably be a bad idea. Too many silent letters from what I could tell.

Kara: They seem to be mostly h's. Lots of h's.

Albaine: Well I remember seeing Versailles spelled out once. The last 4 letters are silent. Then again, I don't know the language. *shrugs* Spanish seems to do the silent h thing too.

Kara: *eyes go distant for a moment* Je parle Francais. Un peu.

Albaine: *a little surprised at the French, and pays close attention to her as he listens to the language* Um... *realizes he should probably say something, attempts to translate going mostly on tone and knowing Francais = French* You speak French. A little?

Kara: *nods, smiling* Oui. Je . . . Je n'ai pas eu l'opportunité depuis plusieurs années.

Albaine: *finding a bit difficult to think complete thoughts, his mind just wanting to zone out and listen* ... *wonders why the heck that is, tries to pull himself out of it with another translation* You, uh, haven't had the opportunity to use it in a while?

Kara: *nods* Exactement. *smiles* Vous faites bien pour quelqu'un qui ne peut pas parler le français.

Albaine: *fails to put together a thought, and just sort of gazes at her* .... *suddenly becomes self aware enough to realize what he is doing and puts his hand over his eyes in obvious shame and embarrassment, turning his head a bit to look away as he wraps his jacket around himself more tightly with his free hand* ...thank you. *knew what Exactement means*

Kara: *frowns* Sont vous bien? *shakes her head* I mean, are you okay?

Albaine: ... *flushes somewhat, too embarrassed to admit his issue, and is VERY confused* Um...sorta?

Kara: You're not running a fever are you? I should've taken care of anything like that earlier. . .

Albaine: *shakes his head emphatically, would excuse himself if he wasn't positive that she'd follow after him to make sure he's really okay*

Kara: *puts her hands on her hips and glares at him a lil* You don't look okay.

Albaine: *admits his problem in a somewhat vague way, and in a very embarrassed tone* ...I just...like French...for some odd reason.

Kara: Well, yes, it certainly is aesthetically pleasing, I suppose. *slightly puzzled as to what that has to do with anything*

Albaine: *still rather confused as to why it affected him that way* ...yes it is.

Kara: . . . And?

Albaine: *loses confidence in his ability to elaborate* And that's pretty much it.

Kara: I fail to see how liking French results in you appearing ill.

Albaine: I'm not ill. Just weird. *has concluded that being aroused by a language is not normal thing and thus he is strange for it*

Kara: Normal is an illusion anyway.

Albaine: I know. *removes his hand from over his eyes and grabs the notebook from his other hand, taking care not to let the jacket come undone* Well, that's enough of the alphabet for today. *is in no mood for it*

Kara: *staring at him intently* You're sure you're okay?

Albaine: I'll be fine, I just need to go do something.

Kara: *skeptical* Something.

Albaine: *shifts uncomfortably, embarrassed* Yes, something.

Kara: *feels he is being deliberately obstructive, but really has no room to point fingers* Well, alright then.

Albaine: *nods* If it was something you could help with I'd let you know. *waves* Good night.

Kara: Night then. *waves somewhat slowly*

Albaine: *walks home, relieved to be out of that situation*

Albaine: *walks into the clearing*

Clare: *hovers out*

Albaine: *spots Clare and waves* Hello.

Clare:*waves back* Hi. ^^

Albaine: How are you?

Clare: A-alright. You?

Albaine: I'm alright, same as usual.

Clare: That's good. Um . . . I-I thought we m-might try something new today?

Albaine: *tilts his head a bit on confusion* Something new?

Clare: *nods* I-I j-just re-recently heard about it.

Albaine: Ah. What is it?

Clare: Dream analysis. ^^

Albaine: ...huh. That's funny, if you had asked not even a full week ago I wouldn't have anything to tell you about.

Clare: You don't usually remember your dreams?

Albaine: *shakes his head* No. Not usually anyways. Blazon said I had a particularly bad one once, but I don't remember a thing about it.

Clare: Well, you usually dream every night even if you can't remember it.

Albaine: Oh I know. I just hardly ever remember them.

Clare: But this changed recently?

Albaine: Not really, but I did have one dream. *thinks back to the dream* ...it was somewhat weird.

Clare: *encouragingly* Oh?

Albaine: Well, Ryo and Tomoe were siblings. Ryo's an acquaintance of mine. The weird thing is that I got the distinct impression that she was the younger sibling despite her being I forget how old.

Clare: Very old. Continue.

Albaine: Uh, well... *wonders how to phrase the next bit without stating that in the dream "Tomoe" was apparently his girlfriend* Ryo challenged me to a duel and I lost. After that I woke up.

Clare: . . . Why was he challenging you to a duel?

Albaine: ...because it's a dream and absurd things happen in dreams?

Clare: Usually your subconscious at least has a reason. *actually just recognizes he's hiding something*

Albaine: *realizes that if he just attributes it to the subconscious she will certainly jump to the wrong conclusion, sighs as he resigns himself to explaining* ...okay, fine. He challenged me to a duel because I introduced her as my girlfriend. -_- He wanted to protect her, she told him after the duel that she was perfectly capable of protecting herself.

Clare: *smiles* That sounds like "Tomoe". Any other details? Sights, sounds, feelings?

Albaine: *thinks* Well, we were just here in this clearing. Makes sense, this is where I usually speak with them. Aside from that I don't think there was anything else of note.

Clare: *nods* Okay. *thinks*

Albaine: *wonders what conclusion she'll draw from the dream*

Clare: Okay, you're . . . concerned about repeating past relationship mistakes.

Albaine: *blinks a bit, as this conclusion is absolutely not ridiculous in the slightest* Well, yes. That's nothing new.

Clare: You're- *discards "scared to death" as unnecessarily off putting* -worried about opening yourself up again because it'll all go wrong and what's more you feel you deserve for it to go wrong.

Albaine: *completely silent, just letting it all sink in*

Clare: However, a relationship includes more than just you; that's the whole point. You have to trust that they'll be able to handle themselves in certain situations without you, but also that if they need help, they'll ask for it. And vice versa, of course.

Albaine: *nods, thinking back to Ellenoir and the trouble that arose from him not trusting her to tell him whether or not she wanted to be "helped" out of her situation* I know.

Clare: Yeah . . . *thinks some more* Well, unless your subconscious is trying to tell you you have a crush on "Tomoe" . . . *has to turn her head aside for a short "coughing fit"; complete with desperately contorting facial features.* -That's probably it.

Albaine: *dismisses the alternate conclusion* Nah, I don't have a crush on her.

Clare: Didn't think so, but never hurts to make sure.

Albaine: Never does. *recalls the thinly veiled laugh she had earlier* What's so funny about the idea of it though? Something I'd only get if I knew more about her? *guessing that is it*

Clare: "Tomoe" is . . . *thinks a moment* . . . Well, not very romantically inclined at this present time. So, yes, I suppose.

Albaine: Ah. *nods in understanding* I see.

Clare: Yeah. It's . . . *hesitates* Well, I can't really talk about it.

Albaine: Oh, I wasn't expecting you to. I don't need to know.

Clare: You could always ask her. *smiles briefly* Though you probably won't.

Albaine: *shakes his head* Most likely not. She'd probably wonder why I want to know.

Clare: But she wouldn't actually ask why you wanted to know, she'd just look puzzled.

Albaine: Still, I'd rather not. *thinks that asking "Tomoe" questions that will leave her puzzled before she's affirmed that he's perfectly fine is a terrible idea*

Clare: *nods* It is, of course, your choice.

Albaine: *nods* Always.

Clare: *obvious subject change!* Anything new happen recently?

Albaine: *thinks* Well, I did find something out that I didn't know before.

Clare: Oh?

Albaine: It turns out... *pauses* Wait, do you know about Ryatre? *forgets if she's seen her*

Clare: Your cockroach? *nods*

Albaine: *nods* Right. *Ryatre crawls from Albaine's top hat down to his shoulder because she likes being visible when being spoken of, waves an antenna at Clare "^^"* She's not actually my soul, she was just in charge of carrying and protecting it. So she was the one who brought my soul here.

Clare: *waves at Ryatre* ^^ Hello, Miss Ryatre. Did you think Albaine would be happy here?

Ryatre: *explains freely, still not quite over the novelty of being able to communicate with physical beings*

Albaine: She says that she brought me here because it felt right, even though in the thousands of years she's spent carrying souls none have ever been brought to this place before. She couldn't decide whether or not to leave me here and go to her next soul or to follow my soul to see just what was going to happen to it here. She chose to follow me here, but her hesitance resulted in her being partially removed from my spirit, so that while there's still a link she manifested in the physical plane. Still, while it wasn't her choice to bring me here she's...glad to see me have a bit of peace in my life again.

Clare: That's very nice of you, Miss Ryatre. I'm sure Albaine appreciates it. *gives him a Look*

Albaine: *nods* I appreciate it. Even if this place can be weird at times.

Ryatre: *already knows that he's thankful for the chance to live peacefully because she's been with him since first day of his life and probably a couple of lifetimes prior to that, she suspects*

Clare: *smiles* I know, Miss Ryatre, but it's the principle of the thing.

Albaine: *looks at Ryatre and back at Clare* You can understand her? *doesn't have a clue what Ryatre thought*

Clare: Um, only a little? It's the touch of telepathy helping out.

Albaine: Ah. So you weren't just listening to me echo what Ryatre already said. That's good then.

Clare: Yes. I usually only pick up general ideas, and it was a bit vaguer with her, as well . . .

Albaine: *nods* I'm guessing she thought something along the lines of already knowing I was thankful.

Clare: About that, yes.

Albaine: Considering how much time she's been with me I think she could probably rightfully assume nearly anything about me.

Ryatre: *would probably make a joke assumption if she felt Clare would be able to appreciate it*

Clare: Only "nearly" anything?

Albaine: Well, she doesn't know the future.

Clare: That's not precisely the same thing, is it?

Albaine: *thinks* No, I guess not. It's more guessing than assuming unless the person making the guess is absolutely certain they are right.

Clare: True.

Albaine: You'd be surprised at what you can't safely assume here anyways. An acquaintance of mine refers to his spouse as his wife. *leaves out names for the sake of privacy*

Clare: . . . *thinks a moment* Two men?

Albaine: Yes. I didn't realize the "wife" was a man until the acquaintance had an argument with an old friend of his spouse, and they started using male pronouns.

Clare: *blinks, hesitantly* . . . Maybe the other party identifies as a woman?

Albaine: If he identifies as a woman then wouldn't they use female pronouns out of respect?

Clare: *shrugs* I've never actually met any transexuals before . . .

Albaine: I haven't either, I just think it'd be more respectful to call someone like that what they are more comfortable with being called.

Clare: Seems reasonable.

Albaine: *nods* I suppose that means that if he doesn't mind being called a wife it's his choice...but I still think it's weird.

Clare: *smiles slightly* Differently normal, perhaps?

Albaine: I guess so. *shrugs* It's not like my opinion matters anyway, it's none of my business.

Clare: That's a mature way of looking at it.

Albaine: Well, part of it is me not wanting to think about it too much.

Clare: Still, its one of the better ways to handle that.

Albaine: *nods* I like to think it is.

Ryatre: *thinks it's certainly an improvement over what he would have done when he first came here*

Clare: It's encouraging to see that you've grown as a person.

Albaine: *blinks somewhat at the comment, knowing how it's related but is unsure of how she knows he's gotten better* ...did Ryatre think something at you?

Clare: I think so, yes.

Albaine: Ah, alright. *debates about elaborating, decides not to when he realizes that she'd probably ask him how he got over it*

Clare: *delivers the patented Patient Stare {TM}, capable of eliciting a confession from a passel of toddlers*

Albaine: ... *fidgets from the stare* ...well, I used to be homophobic.

Clare: Oh? You have progressed admirably then.

Albaine: *nods* I didn't hate them or anything, I just thought they were contagious.

Clare: *slowly, working things out* So you thought it was a disease.

Albaine: Yes. Like a cold, only permanent.

Clare: Why?

Albaine: *looks down at the ground, wondering how to avoid stating it outright because he doesn't want to visit those memories, chooses instead to recall a related memory that he hopes says enough* ...it was because my uncle said my father was sick.

Clare: *uses vaunted psychological powers of observation and drawing conclusions* . . . I see.

Albaine: *simply nods*

Clare: *searches for subject change material* How is Evan these days?

Albaine: *looks back a Clare, happy for the subject change* Oh, he's fine. Off having adventures with his friends as usual, and he always drops by when he's near the house or just hasn't been around in a while.

Clare: That's good of him.

Albaine: *nods* I'm glad I get to see him often even though he's moved out.

Clare: Well, you did raise him. It makes sense that you're attached.

Albaine: It would be weird to call him my son and not be attached.

Clare: Exactly.

Albaine: *smiles a little* And the fact that Evan drops by often to see how I am shows that he's happy to have me for a father.

Clare: I see no reason why he shouldn't be.

Albaine: I know, it's just nice to think about.

Clare: Feel warm and fuzzy inside?

Albaine: *nods* It makes me feel like I'm not that bad, in spite of what I've done in the past.

Clare: I doubt there are many people who are really out and out bad. *thinks a moment* . . . Here.

Albaine: *looks away a bit* Every time I look in the mirror I can plainly see that I strongly resemble my father. Sometimes I wonder what else I might have inherited from him.

Clare: *carefully* I think you would have noticed anything . . . extreme, before now.

Albaine: *nods, looks back at her* You're probably right.

Clare: Only "probably?"

Albaine: ...okay, yeah. I would have noticed anything really amiss by now.

Clare: *smiles at him* Better.

Albaine: *looks up at the sky* I should probably get going. Have a nice night. *waves*

Clare: *waves* Goodnight.