Welcome to Gaia! ::

[ok now it's done] Today was the day, THE DAY. The fair was finally here, just as Lavi had promised it would be.

As soon as daylight had broken through her window that morning Ayame had been awake and dressed, waiting impatiently at the table for Lavi to wake up and fix the two of them breakfast. She could hear the sounds as things were being set up not far off, where booths and peculiar animals were being put up and games of all sorts sat ready for when the fair opened. The smells and what little she could see over the bottom of the window had her excited and eager to just as soon skip breakfast altogether just to get outdoors.

Suddenly, the front door swung open to reveal *gasp* Lavi? in one hand was a cereal bar, and the other held open for Ayame to take, both held out to her. The smile on Lavi's face only brightened her mood from where the gloom and anger it had begun to drift to just moments before. With a giggle of glee Ayame ran forward and took the cereal bar and Lavi's hand, only to try to pull Lavi out the door as she crammed nites of granola in her mouth.

They arrived as the fair opened, and Ayame found herself in awe as they stood in the entrance, other eager patrons going past, too occupied to notice the little girl and woman standing just inside. Giggling with glee Ayame pulled Lavi towards the nearest booth, one with a ring tossing game set up specifically for the children that wasn't nearly as hard as the ones more often viewed as scams. As the man handed Ayame a set of rings she grinned and let one fly, already enjoying the experience.

Ayame paused mid throw, causing the ring she was about to toss to go flying and land squarely on the head of the man running the stand. Oblivious to the result she spun around to see who had said her name, a voice that she remembered, but only faintly.

"I...Hello? wait...saba...Saga?" She struggled to recall his name and hoped she was right, the memory of him was so small, just barely clinging to her thoughts. If there was one thing out of place to her from what she did manage to recall, it was the shades. She gave them an awkward glance but tried to keep her eyes more neutrally focused on him. Her wings fluttered in nervous anticipation of her query.

Lavi smiled down at the two before looking up at Dragain. "It has been some time...much has happened since I....was away. Is that who I think it is behind those shades?"

Ayame nodded and stepped aside slightly so that he could join her. As she did she noticed the ring sitting on top of the booth owners head, a bemused grin on his face. Ayame blushed slightly and turned her attention squarely on Saga to avoid the peculiar feeling of embarassment that came over her. "When did you get glasses, Saga?" She spoke his name more to settle it in her memory though she did wonder why he had the shades.

As her memories of him slowly returned a thought occured to her. He looked better without them, what was making him wear them?

Lavi smiled softly and looked down as the two seemed to get along rather amiably, and for a change on Ayame's part, politely.

"Yes, yes she is, and Saga is becoming a rather handsome young man himself, though I have a curiousity that i feel i should ask you in private, so i'll save it for when the chance arrives. In the mean time, would the two of you care to join us for today? A fair is always more fun with friends."

Ayame's question to Saga never reached her ears over the din of sound from the rest of the fair.

Ayame simply nodded to his reply, that would do. She still held the curiousity of a youngster as to what he did look like without the shades but, not enough to prod. As Dragain and saga agreed to join them for the day, she turned a grin from saga to toss her last ring. It bounced about from cone to cone by some miracle, only to land precariously balanced on the tips of two cones.

With a sigh of defeat she turned to watch Saga to see how he would fair, likely better then her, she thought. She wasn't too great at these things but they were still fun.

Lavi gave Dragain a nod and in the same space of time, a thought occured to her. Quietly she gave Dragain a signal to keep the two busy as she turned away and ventured out into the crowd, her goal set in mind, despite the flood of people about her. The children would surely enjoy this treat.

Finally she found a chance to make a bee line for her destination, A stall with an assortment of treats set out, several being made on the spot, from funnel cakes to candy apples and cotton candy. After a moment she made her selection of four seperate items; One funnel cake, two candy apples and a rather oversized ball of cotton candy. and then, managing to find a way to hold the lot of it, she started back.

This should leave plenty of option to the children as well as something for her and dragain.

Lavi grinned and handed the funnel cake and cotton candy over to dragain, trying to avoid dripping caramel everywhere on them as she did so.

"You think saga will enjoy one of these? I've got Ayame hooked on the idea of trying a funnel cake, She's been waiting for the fair to get here for a while now, i'm glad to see she's enjoying it, and especially with a friend. I'm glad we ran across you..."

She looked over at dragain with a soft smile. It was so nice to see more and more familiar faces after coming back from...that....

Ayame watched with proud but envious eyes as Saga easily out did her and then with slight awe as the man running the booth walked over with two prizes in hand for him to choose from, as well as a pencil with the fair logo embrazoned on it which he handed to Ayame in consolation for her attempt.

The man in charge of the booth then held forth the two prizes. One was a stuffed animal that somewhat resembled a blue dragon with a lop-sided, goofy grin on it's face, while the other prize was a pair of sunglasses with trick eyes on the front that moved no matter which way one looked at them when they were being worn.

"Which would you like son? Three successes is a prize if you didn't know! if you'd gotten all 5 I could have offered you that big one behind me," he gestured to a rather enormous doll resembling a character from a popular cartoon show, "but for now this is what you may choose, maybe come back later today and you can try again!" He waited calmly for Saga's choice and gave Ayame a second glance, smiling to her in attempt to cheer her up despite her loss.

"I find it hard to be surprised anymore with some of the things Ayame has done. I think, from what you've just told me, his obsession with sweets is quite amusing! When did Saga get into basketball though? He never struck me as someone who would be interested in sports."

With gooey caramel apples as her weapons Lavi worked her way through the crowd, waving them about to clear a path for dragain. If anyone had thought to simply watch they would have found her rather comical in the act, thrusting the apples out ahead of her and using them as if they were part of some invisible barrier to make people edge out of the way.

As she got onto the other side of the crowd she stopped short to watch the two talk as well as wait on Dragain.

Ayame took a moment to look wistfully at the stall. It burned at her nerves she hadn't won and Saga had, but it would be fun to try again later. "Yeah, I'd like that...whaddya want to try next?" she pocketed the pencil and glance down the row of booths before turning around and, to her surprise, seeing Lavi approaching with....apples on a stick?

Lavi laughed as she saw Saga's grin, then turned to dragain, "Well if he's as interested in sweets as you say, it may do him good to have a way to get rid of the energy."

With Dragain now safely through the crowd she walked over to Ayame and Saga's side.

"So, we have a few goodies before you two continue to take this fair by storm, because i'm sure between the two of you you can clean up pretty well. Won't do you any good to get worn out early on now will it? we have three different things to try, so go ahead and pick one!"

She grinned before adding, "Oh, if both of you want to try the funnel cake there is plenty for the two of you to share. They've made it bigger since I last came."

Ayame couldn't help but stare greedily at the funnel cake in Dragain's hands, though as Lavi mentioned it's size she felt the need to rush Dragain to get it wane. "I want to try the funnel cake Miss Dragain! Please?" It dawned on her she hadn't answered Saga's question after a moment, "Darts after sweets?"

[It's no problem, you gave me fair warning when we began you might be a while ^^]]

Ayame nodded her thanks as she took her share and proceeded to stuff a piece into her mouth. She closed her eyes in glee at the powdered sugar as it touched her tongue. With a shiver she opened her eyes and greedily ate the remainder, ending the heinous inhalation of sugar by licking her fingers clean before rocking on her heels waiting on saga.

Lavi stared with her mouth open in slight shock at the speed ayame consumed her treat, though after a moment she simply shook her head and looked over at dragain, offering a 'children will be children' look.