Welcome to Gaia! ::

Feeling tired but satisfied, Tourma walked into the women’s locker room at the gym closest to her house. Since the twins had been ‘born,’ the gym and her jobs had been her main place of hiding, as she could get work done and steer free of her parents’ newfound adoration.

Plus there was always room for a little extra exercise nowadays.

Peering about the area where the scales were, she noticed that it was empty and quickened her stride. Gingerly, as if afraid of breaking the little machine, the Skullmonkey stepped one foot, and then the next onto it with her eyes clamped shut. Only after a few deep, hopeful breaths did she look down and open her eyes.

They immediately squeezed shut again, but she didn’t move. A muffled whimper left her lips and she repeated the series of motions, this time her eyes staying open, transfixed by the numbers between her feet.

They had to be wrong. She had been following what her coaches had told her to do, and then some. She had been going above and beyond! How could she still weigh above… ‘No,’ she told herself, the ‘scale must be broken!’ It was the only thing that seemed to calm her down, but deep down Tourma knew it was all a lie.

Angrily, she brushed away the tears on her cheek with too slender fingers as she stepped back off the scale. As she turned, the teenager caught sight of her image in a nearby mirror, and she simply stared. A hand traced over the protruding collarbones slowly, moving south to trace over her ribs through her shirt, and then finally stopping after her fingertips lingered on one of her hipbones. To her, she had been running her hand over unnecessary curves, regardless of what the mirror showed her.

Focusing on her face, the young girl noticed that her cheekbones were more prominent, and her features more distinguished. She ignored how sunken her eyes seemed, blaming the shadows on lack of sleep. Even her hair seemed thinner and unhealthy, hanging dead at her shoulders, but of course who’s hair ever looked beautiful after three hours of exercise?

In the end, she was unsatisfied, and she turned around sharply and retraced her earlier steps through the gym doors. More work needed to be done, and she definitely didn’t need lunch.

The Skullmonkey was laying on the driveway in a sports bra and a pair of jogging shorts. Streaks of grease were scattered across her, including one on the tip of her nose. Though she had called Tinania earlier, the unexpected dropping by of an earlier Jivvin had set her to working on his bike and distracted her.

Not that she minded, as she hadn't seen the fool in almost a year, but clothing had to be changed and now an entirely new shower would be needed.

Wiping her hand on a spare towel, Tourmaline grinned sheepishly at her visitor and waved off the apology. "I'm the one who should apologize," she said, motioning to her appearance, "I had an unexpected visitor and-."

"I just had to see my niece the moment I got back from Europe," a male voice interrupted, causing Tourmaline to roll her eyes and mouth an 'I'm sorry' to Tinania. He was dressed in a pair of beat up and torn khaki shorts, which were riding low on his hips. His bare feet had a distinctive flip flop tan, but other than that and a faint sunglasses line, his skin had a rich brown color to it.

He flashed the fairy girl a smile and offered his hand to her, "But Tourma here didn't tell me she had such beautiful female friends."

"Oh do shut up," the teenager commented as she pushed herself to her feet and tucked some hair behind her ears. "Tinania, I'm sorry but this is my twit of an uncle Dariusz, and Dari... Hands to yourself." She smiled, but a look of warning passed from her to the Jivvin, who only winked.

She laughed and brushed off Dari, "Not a problem. Dumbass here just busted another one of his bikes, and I can't say no to a poor bike in distress now can I?"

"Why can't you just say it's because you love me and I'm a nice guy?" He muttered as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Because you're an a**?" She stated without looking towards the male in question.

He pouted, "But I'm such an adorable a**."

Again, she ignored him. "He's just a bit older than me, but you know how Gaia tends to make weird family ages." Shrugging, she began to wipe at the grease stains with a clean towel. "Hey, I hate to leave you alone with him, but I need to shower to get this s**t off of me. Is that okay? I'm sure Mum'll make you sandwiches or something, and uh... Supervise you two."

Tourma gave Dari a rough stare before nodding and smiling towards Tinania before motioning her into the house. The Jivvin ducked in afterwards, intentionally not bothering to let the other lady go first.

"I'll be quick. Feel free to punch him." With a wave, she disappeared up the stairs, leaving the two to their introductions.

He watched her for a moment, walking slowly around her much as a predator would check out a prey, or something even more tactless. He let his tail tip brush the back of her knees along the way. A simple twitch of the corner lip upwards was the only display of amusement that he gave away, otherwise he appeared rather serious.

"You must think I've never been blown off before? Never been teased or given the run around for a nice round, or two..." He grinned, "Well you get the point." He leaned down so that his lips were an inch from her left ear, and kept it so that none of their bodies were touching. "I know you want me." The whisper was rough and low.

Dari chuckled, sharply pulling back and heading towards the kitchen. "Did you eat yet?" A simple, innocent question with a casual tone.

During her rant, he rummaged through the fridge and began pulling out various veggies. Then he washed and began cutting them methodically, grinning to himself. It continued to widen throughout her speech, and by the end it was practically bursting from his face.

If her words damaged or chinked his ego, he also hid it pretty well. "You didn't answer my question darlin'," he replied simply to her retreating form.

The sounds of cooking and the smell of various spices wafted out from an open window, as did the sound of the cook singing. It sounded like a folk song of some sort, and it definitely wasn't in English.

He continued to sing while he took down three plates from the cupboards. The song had a mournful tone to it, and though Dari didn't have the voice of a trained vocalist, it had it's own charm. At the very least, it didn't grate the ears.

Before the song (or was it a new song?) had ended, the tall Jivvin walked outside to where Tinania had been admiring his bike and offered her a plate. "Tourma's a vegetarian, so it's all rabbit food. But it's a grilled vegetable panini and a quick cucumber tomato salad. Don't worry, they're safe. I made one for me and Tourma too."

Pausing, he gave her a slight smile, "Though mine has pork in it too, because I'm a greedy man." In all aspects of his life. Hey, at least he was consistent.

For now, he'd let her have control, or at least the illusion of it. Yeah. Sounded like a plan to him. "Good huh?" He commented, tail swishing behind him proudly as he began eating off of the second plate he had brought out. Mmm, sandwich bliss.

"Well, it's a long story that boils down to it not being ridden while I was gone, and a slight misunderstanding it had with my land lord falling under it." Dari coughed and stuffed a forkful of salad in his mouth right after quickly muttering a 'Ofcourseitwasanaccident' under his breath. Swallowing, he flashed her a sheepish smile, "Ex land lord, actually."