Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Oh, a puzzle!" Lorata smiled pleasantly as she leaned over to get a look at the pieces that had spilled out of the bag. Autumn seemed delighted enough with the gift, she supposed, but all she could think of was how glad she was that she'd finally gotten the yellowblood to trade with her. It was obvious the tiara had been meant to be hers. And really, if there was such a thing as winning this kind of game, that meant she'd done it, right?

"Have you put together very many?" She watched the girl an her lusus begin putting it together and was just about to reach out to help as well when Autumn suddenly lifted a particularly large part. Was that...a lid? But it wouldn't open, so...Oh! "Maybe it's the sort of game that comes with a prize!" Or maybe it was something like the stories, where heroes had to solve a puzzle to get the item they needed to continue their quest?

"You're welcome." Lifting her eyes back to meet Autumn's as she returned the cheerful smile, she couldn't help squinting a little to see if maybe...There was a brief, imagined glimpse of that face maybe a little older and set in stone, a potential hero that she might be able to work towards now that they were clearly friends, but then it hit her. If there was a prize for solving the puzzle...Did that mean Autumn had gotten two gifts in one?

A little bit of warmth slipped out of her smile as she glanced back down at that puzzle piece, but- No. She was being silly. She'd gotten the best gift so she still won, no matter what was in there. Unless- "You'll have to let me know if you find anything interesting when you solve it!"

~~Green Minuet

It was as if Azrael's brain had been in a fog since Amonee kissed him on the forehead. A fog that caused his head to go completely blank. This was no time to be making a scene so after introducing Mia and seeing Amonee completely distracted, Azrael covered his face and took several deep breaths. His heart was racing now, What even was the feeling? Was he dying? Was he going to suffer cardiac arrest at such a young age? He peeked out from his hands and then quickly pulled them away from his face to hide them as best he could behind his back. The young blueblood opened his mouth to call to his greenblood friend but his voice seemed to get stuck in his throat. The more he thought about Amonee kissing him the more color seemed to tint his face and the more his body felt weirdly tingly. He would definitely need to consult something on troll biology later.

He was snapped out of his trance by another familiar greenblood, something about enjoying gifts. Azrael glanced up at Kursha and stared at him for a moment before following his gaze to Mia, then back to that smirking face of the greenblood. That smirk, was it devious or humorous? Actually now that he thought about it... did the greenblood usually have a devious smirk or something akin to apathy? When he wasn't angry of course. Something clicked in Azrael's head as the non-verbal conversation that seemed to be passing between Kursha and Mia lead to a grin. The spider. Was he the one that put the spider in the box? Or was this some kind of inside joke? Azrael hesitated to make any real accusations and just watched as Kursha turned his attention to Elidae and took her away from the crowd. They definitely seemed pretty friendly? The young blueblood briefly wondered with some interest on their relationship.

Ahhg, he wanted to catch up with them but he felt too frazzled to deal with either at the moment let alone at the same time. He clutched the strap of his bag and stared at them for a moment before he turned away to Amonee and Nucleo who began to leave, Azrael opened his mouth only to feel his words get stuck in his throat. He felt his face burn as he watched Amonee.“Ah, yeah, I’ll be dropping by your hive some time Amonee, not tonight of course... so see you then,” Azrael tried to say as loud as he could without yelling. His voice seemed to crack as he did so. “Stay safe,” the small blueblood said and brought his attention to Mia. “I’m going to head out too, I have some things I need to get ready for, It was a pleasure meeting you Mia…. umm, if you’re ever in busthind I wouldn’t mind you visiting, I live at the pique of the mountain, it’s a pretty straight shot from the train and if you ever get lost, the village has people who know where everyone lives, so you could try for directions,” He really hoped that the other blueblood would pay him a visit, visitors were far and few between and he would very much enjoy the company. “Anyway, I’ll… talk to you later.”

With goodbyes said, Azrael left feelings of disgust with his cowardice but he also felt the warmth that came from the peck from Amonee. What message was the greenblood trying to send? What was he going to do about this? He needed to talk to someone… Psykgi. He needed to talk to Psykgi, she would know how to help him. Hopefully she was still as willing to be friends as she seemed to be at the gala.

[+] Kursha Vidari

Once he had put enough distance so that the others were out of earshot, Kursha released Elidae's shoulders. He had no sooner let go than she skipped around to face him, rattling off a greeting, an apology, several questions and some quick small talk. Weathering it with a grin, Kursha put his hands in his pockets and listened. He almost jumped in once, but the yellowblood seemed to be going a mile a minute. He waited for her to finish.

“Really?” he drawled in response to her latest remark. He gently pinched one of the leaves, examining it. “I'm not so sure about that—it sounds like I saved myself a lot of trouble actually.” His grin broadened, and returned his hand to his pocket. With a wink, he added, “I'll let you keep it.”

He continued, nonchalant, “You might have liked what I got too, but too bad I already gave it away: a tea set.” He shrugged. “This redblood seemed totally enamoured by it, so I let him have it. That's what the holidays are all about, right?” He tilted his head, doing his best to look modest. To be honest, he had no interest in the tea set, but there was no reason that she needed to think his charity was anything other than good will.

“Oh! Speaking of which...” Kursha pretended to rummage around in his pockets. A moment later he found what he was looking for and offered it to Elidae. A small glass sphere about an inch and a half in diameter rested in his palm. It sat in a slender steel frame, attached to a chain. Closing his hand around it, Kursha gave it a quick shake. When he opened his fingers again, the orb emitted a faint glow.

Once Elidae had taken it, Kursha clasped his hands behind his head. Looking all too pleased with himself, he beamed at the yellowblood. “It's a kind of chemiluminescence,” he said, as though that explained everything. “So, whatcha think?”

[+] Kursha Vidari

Kursha tensed when Elidae wrapped her arms around him, cocksure expression faltering for just a moment. Through his jacket he could feel the yellowblood's warmth. Heat rose up in his face. He bristled. Then just as suddenly he relaxed again. He lowered his arms, resting one hand on Elidae's shoulder. The other slipped behind his neck, as he turned his gaze towards the ceiling.

“No problem,” he said, confidence returning. She hugged him tighter then, and warmth spread throughout his chest. The physical contact only lasted a moment longer, but by the time she pulled away he had fully recovered. Her attention quickly shifted to the necklace, for which he was grateful. As she toyed with the clasp, he watched in amusement.

“Oh, you know,” he replied, making a vague gesture with his arms. “Some kitschy shop around the back side of the mall. Small, easy to miss type of place... Here. Let me.” Swooping around behind her, Kursha parted her hair and took both ends of the necklace. He pulled either side around the back of her neck, hands barely brushing her skin. Then with a quick pinch of his fingers he opened the clasp, and slipped the opposing ring around the hook.

“Got it,” he said. Arms folded, he grinned at her. “You're welcome,” he added before she could object or offer thanks.

As though nothing had happened, he continued on, “Anyway, I was thinking... Have you ever been to Busthind?”

[+] Kursha Vidari

“Cold and rocky about sums it up. Not to mention it's plagued with howlbeasts, wendigores, and a*****e dragons...” Kursha replied, flippant. He tossed his head with a derisive snort before continuing. “Still, there's a cute village on the south side. Kind of a cool place to hang out: all local businesses and stuff. It's a bit of a walk from my hive, but if you want I could show you around sometime.”

Despite seeming at ease, he watched Elidae carefully, gauging her reaction. As he did, a thought struck him. The corners of his mouth twitched and his smile crept up into his eyes.

“Or...” he began slowly. “If that's not your speed I could show you the other side of Busthind.” He flashed a sharp fanged grin at her.

Stryke finally found what he was looking for. In all the commotion and rustling of movement loosing site of Maneki and Autumn had scared him. No, it had even made the make-shift acting lusus of the group feel like he was having a damn heart attack of all things. While slow to arrive, his searching paid off finally when he heard familiar voices. Stryke ducked past a troll to make his way over to stand beside the winged-yellowblood child. She seemed to be talking to a seadweller, who Stryke inclined his head politely to in greeting.

Smiling despite the sense of overwhelming dread he felt, Stryke cleared his throat. While he was glad they'd both gotten some time out and about, he couldn't help feeling unnerved and worried over the two younger rebellion members. As it was he felt like he'd taken far too long in trying to recollect them and would have simply try and take back control over the situation.

Namely because seeing Kursha here had thrown him off, and he didn't know how long he could stay hidden in plain site. Their safety however was more important than his own.

Finding it in him to speak calmly Stryke placed a hand on Autumn's shoulder. "Ah. Sorry to interrupt. But, you do know..it's very hard to find sometroll when your run off and don't say anything." He gave a sharp whistle, catching site of Maneki's familiar getup he'd come in not to far off as the festivities began to settle down after the gift exchange. "Hey! You as well! It's about time to head back to the hotel, and think about dinner. It'll be dawn in a couple hours. So, come on then. Move it!" The troll posing as Nozdor crossed his arms over his chest, walking over to grab Maneki and gather him like he had done with Autumn.

There was a stern look he imagined his own SkinkDad using like in days gone by when he'd been nothing but a wiggler himself. While he used stern words Ryk meant well, and if you knew him well enough there was a hint of a smile on Strykes face. It was good for the kids to experience life outside the Swamp but enough was enough before anything to serious hit the fan. He just wanted to get the hell out of here in one piece with all three of them safe and sound.

[+] Kursha Vidari

As Elidae began her frantic response, Kursha's grin sharpened. Then a flash of a memory entered his thoughts and he felt a little bad. A little. Maybe some other time then.

“Great! You can find me in the books. In the meantime though...” Hands in his pockets, he glanced around at the dissipating trolls. Time to skedaddle. “Looks like you got your prongs full wrapping this up. I should get going myself. Work things.” He winked. She could interpret that however she wanted.

Before she reply, Kursha turned to leave. As he strode away though, he waved. “See you around, Eli-bug!”