Welcome to Gaia! ::

A.J. resisted the urge to pat his hair down another time after combing it. His father had reminded him on several occasions that his hair didn't have to be perfect. He knew in his head that it didn't have to be, but that didn't stop him from wanting to look at least halfway normal.

He'd been awake most of the morning, but hadn't done much other than look around the campus a little more, checking out empty classrooms in the publicly available areas, and staying clear of the ones that weren't.

Somehow his shirt still had that fresh-out-of-the-laundry look to it, like it'd been barely worn. Save for a few wrinkles, and the slightest upward curl at the bottom if there wasn't a person currently wearing the article it would look unworn.


He sat down near kind of sleepy looking person staring at his food.

"Hi," he said, with a very plain 'Even-though-you-aren't-a-kiosk, I-still-want-to-ask-you-a-question' look on his face.

"I'm A.J.," he said, extending his hand. Whatever thought he had in his head was interrupted by the offer. "Sure, I guess" he said, as an aside. With his free hand, A.J. tugged at the bottom of his shirt again, rolling his wrist inward to get the stupid little curl out of the bottom of his shirt.

He smiled broadly at Sha after tearing his focus away from his shirt.

A.J.'s eyes weren't sure whether or not to settle on his shirt, the chips, or the handshake.

A.J. shook his head. "I was only outside earlier. I'm still learning where everything is," he replied. He held the chips in his hand delicately.
It took him a moment, but the confusion of what Sha was saying finally cleared.
"But, I thought pajamas were only for bed time," he said, looking at the clock.

'It's the afternoon"

"Not long, we I basically just got here," A.J. replied.

He put his hands on the table, palms down and hands relaxed. He corrected his posture and straightened himself. He crossed his feet under the table and smiled politely.

"When I was outside earlier, it was just cold. The sun hadn't even come up yet. I had to do my exercises, and Dad said that's the best time to do them." he said without the slightest bit of falsehood or concern.

"Exercise before it's a straight line in the morning, and before it's a backwards L at night," he added, raising a finger and quoting something from memory.

A.J. looked at his hands for a moment, then stuck out both with his index finger and thumb extended.

"Okay, so if you hold out your hands, one of them makes an "L" and the other one makes a "Backwards L","

A.J. pointed his hands at the top of one of the walls.

"And then, if a clock with arms is going to be the backwards L soon, then you have to hurry up and exercise," he said.

A.J. thought for a moment.

"And exercise is when you sweat from doing something, even if it's not hot," he added.

A.J. nodded as Sha spoke.

"My clock wakes me up! It shakes instead of making a lot of noise, so I don't wake everyone up, "A.J. paused as he thought about all of the different exercises he knew he could do but didn't know the names for. Running was definitely on the list of approved exercises, but there were other sports and more complex movements that he didn't know the names for.

He made a mental note to find a book with all of the exercises in it later, or go to the library and ask someone.

"Uhm,.. yes I run too."

A.J. blinked as Sha's words registered. "It's okay," he said. "It's just that daddy said it's a healthy rule, so it will keep me healthy if I follow it,"

A.J. wondered if Sha's room was anywhere near his.

He made another note to wear a fire-proof hat tomorrow, in case he woke up Sha by accident.