Welcome to Gaia! ::

Crow looked down at the sand sourly, digging at the sand with her boot. Looking at Rabid sheepishly, fully aware of her suddenly bitter mood, she gave a shy smile.

"It's nothing. Nothing at all."

Lenore gave a wild laugh as she was buffeted by wind. As the ground rushed up to meet her, she twitched her arms and spread her tail of feathers, angling the sable feathers with the ease borne of long practice. She glided upward gracefully before doing a wobbly midair somersault and landing unsteadily on her feet. With a triumphant smile, she turned to Malachi and gave a sweeping bow, setting her razor feathers to ringing.

"Tadaaaaaa!"

Crow twisted on the swing, embarrassed about her suddenly sullen mood. Running a hand over the scarification tattoos that wrapped around her arms like ribbons, she gave a sigh. Considering how most people in Gaia looked, she had no reason to feel silly about her own appearance - but the thought of having her brother see her like...like this, was a little hard to swallow. Looking at her clawed fingers and running a hand through her sable hair, she turned and looked at Rabid shyly.

"My brother's the one that got me out of my old country when I did something really stupid. He's a great guy, but he can't really keep more than one secret at a time - he spilled about Len to my folks as soon as Mum asked about the e-mail I sent him a couple weeks ago. If he sees me like this, and I asked him to keep it a secret....well, he might rupture an organ trying to keep it to himself."

Lenore gave another elaborate bow, beaming at Malachi's applause.

"Yus, yus, I know I'm fab'lous, thank you," she said airily, twirling around and giggling. Brushing a few feathery hairs out of her eyes, she looked Malachi over appraisingly.

"Tha's my special thing, Bah. What can you do?"

Crow gave an only slightly bitter laugh, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, I s'pose so. I just hope he doesn't spill before he gets really settled in. Dad'll have his alchemy-dabbling lackeys swarmin' all over the place looking for me to bring me home," she said, buffing her claws on her shirt and grinning.

"Buuuut, luckily for me, Dad's henchmen can't magic their way out of a paper bag, so maybe there's not so much to worry about after all."

Lenore sagged in slight disappointment - she had hoped for some kind of reward for her show other than her well-deserved applause.

"Well then, wanna see me do it again? I bet I can climb one of th' trees an' get some really good lift," she said eagerly, wanting to impress Malachi even more.

Feeling particularly more cheerful, Crow bounced up and off the swing. Taking off her pilot helmet and smoothing down her wild hair, she leaned against one of the swingset's legs and idly watched Lenore and Malachi, who had wandered off over to the monkeybars.

"Well, I think the kids are having fun bonding," she said dryly, watching Lenore regarding Malachi with her hands on her hips and a slight pout on her face.

Lenore gave an irritated huff.

" Alright, alright, fine. You pick what we're gonna do next." She paused for a second, hardly enough time to let Malachi reply at all.

Lenore hestitated as she saw the look on Malachi's face, feeling slightly abashed at her bratty comment. Kneeling down so that she could be at the proper eye level, she smiled apologetically and ruffled Malachi's hair.

"Sorry, Bah, forgot you can't talk yet. Wanna go back to Mama an' Raw-bid?" she asked kindly, stumbling over Rabid's name.

Lenore gave Malachi's fuzzy head another pat before glancing back over at the swingset. Seeing Rabid sitting on top bar, she could only shake her head in wondering confusion and roll her eyes.

"Raw-bid's silly, ain't she, Bah?" she asked Malachi in a monotone, quirking her eyebrows. This woman obviously didn't know how to perch properly. Swiftly climbing up the monkeybars again and repositioning herself on top, she looked down at Malachi. She'd just have to show her how to do it right.

"Stay here, Bah, I'll be right back."

And with that, she threw herself off the monkeybars again. Gliding up awkwardly and struggling to keep her legs up behind her, Lenore tried to steer herself up towards where Rabid was sitting. As she started to lose altitude, she tried to flap her arms to get more height. So preoccupied with trying to stay airborne, she didn't notice the swingset leg in front of her until it was too late.

Clang.

"Owwwwww!"

Crow was cut off before she could reply by Lenore crashing headlong into the swingset. Wincing in sympathy, she bolted off the swing and ran over to Lenore.

"Len, you okay?"

Lenore sat up, clutching at her nose where it had sprung a bit of a leak. Blood that was such a dark red it was nearly black dripped steadily from both nostrils, but Lenore's eye were wide and dancing behind the thick pilot's goggles.

"Tha' was awesome!"

Crow simply gaped at Lenore for a moment, before clapping a hand to her forehead and digging in a back pocket for a tissue to stem the flow from the kid's nose.

"Len, Songbird, you're outta your mind," she chided halfheartedly. "You coulda killed yourself gliding such a long way."

Lenore gave a snort, making her cough and have to clutch harder at her bleeding nose.

"Pffft, would not. Imma bird, an' birds crash into stuff all the time." She trailed off as she examined a bit of the sticky fluid staining her fingertips, turning the gray skin a fascinating shade of blackish-red. Turning to smile easily at Rabid and Malachi, she stood up a little unsteadily and rolled her eyes as Crow clamped the crumpled tissue to her nose.

"I got a in-juree!" she said, particularly delighted and proud of her war wound.

Crow shook her head and leaned over to Rabid, whispering behind her hand.

"I think that crash rattled her head a little," she said dryly, keeping a firm grip on the sodden tissue.