Welcome to Gaia! ::

The star festival was going to be SO EXCITING. Giulia Montgomery waited eagerly every year for these mini-events hosted by the city, because they meant street food, and pocket money, and usually meant all kinds of games, and other fun things. Sometimes they meant rides, or haunted houses, or decorating their own house to match the season; and they ALL meant knick-knacks to go into the curio in her room, or tickets to go into her Memory Book. And, of course, events meant that there would be new people coming into town, or old people she hadn’t seen since the last event, bringing all kinds of adventure with them.

At the knowledge that a new shop was opening that sold cookies, Lu had been the first person that Giulia had called. Lucia was one of her oldest friends, and one of the only people who knew Giulia was also Charybdis. She was older than Giulia by like two years, making her a TEENAGER, which was practically a grown-up; and even at almost-eleven, the vivacious blonde thought that having an older friend was incredibly cool. “Cookies,” Giulia had gushed to her friend, “It’s a COOKIE shop.” It was only natural that she didn’t even imagine that that her invitation could possibly be declined, because even though Lu was an awesome and cool teenager, she was still Giulia’s best friend. You didn’t just ditch besties to go eat cookies by themselves, after all. You had to help!

Not that they had more than one type of cookie. But it was a pop-up shop, right? One of those temporary kinds of stores that only bothered to have one thing on the menu because they couldn’t afford a crazy range of ingredients because they paid so much for rent for the building, because they were so specialized? Kind of like those Halloween stores that somehow moved in to warehouse-size buildings overnight and then vanished between October 31st and November 1st, so you couldn’t return anything.

Yet with as good as their cookies were reviewed to be, bothering with branching out into a different kind of cookie- like, maybe a Comet-Chip Cookie? Might just diminish the quality returns on their ‘Starlight’ cookies. Honestly, from the reviews they might just run into SANTA CLAUS, because could he really resist such a delicious-sounding combination of cookies and milk?

Anyways.

The blonde practically jittered as she waited outside the shop for Lu to arrive, bouncing from one foot to the other impatiently. Blue eyes stared anxiously over the crowd, one bright pink sneaker tapping against the ground, a glittery purse clutched in her fingers, the nails traditionally rainbow-painted. Her flouncy skirt was bright white with rainbow colors splattered over it, and her top was a bright blue. Giulia might not be stylish, but she was certainly eye-catching. (Hopefully Lu wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with her friend looking so young.)

There were so many people here! What if they ran out of cookies? No- surely not. A shop this popular had to be prepared! Right?

Giulia practically vibrated in delight when Lucia came into sight, the small face brightening with joy and affection. "You match the theme!" she said in return, hugging her friend tightly and quickly. Her eyes danced over her friend's form, taking in the shorts and the purse, before she added, "That purse is super cute!" How stylish Lucia looked, with that grown-up purse- and Giulia tossed her long blonde hair happily, the toe of a sneaker pressing to the ground.

"And they have moonlight milk," Giulia agreed, shifting her weight side to side as they stood in line, "I wonder if it's just regular milk, or do they put edible glitter in it to make it sparkle? That would be pricey, but match the theme." Dancing around in place was a habit for her now, and she rose to her tip-toes and dropped back down, stretching out her skinny legs as they moved forward, more people having been served ahead of them. "I haven't heard anyone complaining about having any issues with it either, so I wonder if they are using a lactose-free milk?" Or people just weren't drinking it.

Bright blue eyes turned back to her friend, a small hand reaching out to Lucia. "So how is your family doing? Jada said to tell you hi, by the way, and remind you you're always welcome to drop by for dinner."

A grown up purse. The blonde signed dreamily, seeing her friend maturing so quickly. Soon Lu would be making high school friends, and going to fancy dances, and Giulia would only be able to watch. But she would also be able to use Lucia's experiences to her advantage, too! To ensure that Giulia curated only the best experiences for her own teenage years, of course.

And Lu even spoke like a grown-up now, talking about making money. Blue eyes shone as Giulia nodded along to her best friend's wisdom. "And everyone likes shiny things. Otherwise jewelry wouldn't be so expensive. So if you make your food shiny, everyone will want it." It made sense to Giulia, anyways. "I wonder if next year they'll have vegan alternatives- there seems to be a lot of restaurants lately with vegan food."

After placing her order Giulia grabbed a Crimson star charm off the counter, and snagged another one at random for Lucia. "Oh, that could be such a fun trip! I bet Jada would let me go. We don't have any plans for a trip this summer, I don't think, so it could be great to get away. Make Aidan entertain himself."

Giulia took a drink of her milk first, gasping with delight at the way the liquid seemed to swirl and shimmer. "This is so cool!" Hands greedily tore off a piece of a cookie, and Giulia squealed as she stuffed it in her mouth. "Oh my gosh! I should have taken a picture first!"

When she looked back at Lucia, eyes brimming with delight, there was a glitter in the bright blue that was not... entirely... normal.

"You can!" Giulia actually knew a little bit about how to be a vegan because of one of the kids in her class last year, and there had been a class project on it, and the kid had brought in vegan cookies.

As Lucia moved closer, Giulia saw that her friend's eyes were funny, and quickly looked at her own in a reflection. "Oh!" She could still see fine, but magic on the loose could be terrible! Quickly, she finished her cookie and downed her milk- because priorities- before running after her friend.

But... there was nothing there. All the lines, all the people, all the cookies?!?!

"Wha???" This was so weird. "We need to go back to a house and see if anything happens. I think the Town House is closest." Giulia reached out for her friend's hand, quickly. "Tell me if you feel bad, Lucia. I'll call someone."