Welcome to Gaia! ::

"First I've heard of it, so I'm not really sure if I'll show up..." Xeiashi said as he debated actually going or not. After all, there was important work to be done and such, like...

Well, he couldn't think of something at will, so he shrugged as the thus-constant splashing stopped and a voice -noise?- came from that direction. Then a large human-looking thing flopped partway onto the shore and launched a very fast series of words. Only after a few dazed seconds did he realize that the last part was a question.

"I'm...err...Xeiashi. Nice to meet you?" he directed at the fish...mer-person? In a quieter voice, he asked Alexi "Who...WHAT is that?"

Zain stared up at Xei interestedly for a time, before a lightbulb seemed to go off in his head.

"I KNOW! You two should go to the ball together!" he cried, "Then 'Lexi wouldn't be left without a date! I mean, she COULD go with the plant, but like, who wants to dance with a bit of seaweed in a pot?! Ahahahaha!"

Before Total could react, he reached out and petted him on the head with affection, oblivious to any hurt his comment might have caused. "And I'd better go! Lotsa preparation to do, and I gotta get back before Chi-chi wakes up! Seeya tomorrow, 'Lexi!"

He waved to his friend, before pushing off back into the water, taking his clothes with him. His tail came back up in its arc, smashing down on the surface of the pool again and spraying up in the same direction as before... dousing Thomas, newly-dried, on his way back for some books he hadn't been able to carry from the library.

He dramatically wiped the saltwater from his eyes with a pronounced shudder. "********, goddamn spacey merfolk...!" he raged under his breath, "SUSHI, that's what they'd've been a hundred years ago, a frickin' delicacy...!"

"And NO!" he suddenly shouted at the two humans from across the pool, "Before you ask, I am NOT going to the ball! Not this year, not next year, not EVER!"

"And you can tell Lacine that too, and Adeline, AND Evelyn! Make them stop bothering me! All these women think about are such frivolous things - why, if any of them knew what I was working on, they wouldn't be telling me to 'get a life,' they'd be begging to take part in my research...!" he continued to rant, charging off down the devastated hallway until his outraged mutterings faded into the distance.

Scrambling up the coast of the island, away from the main land was the best idea to travel when you’re trying to keep a low profile, the ebony haired neko found the place he had only heard of in whispers across the circus he had fled from. He was distracted, not noticing how the heel of his shoe got stuck in the sand and managed to trip, falling flat on his face in the sand. He sputtered and spat out sand, his ears twitching and tail flicking in agitation. What a stupid move. How could you let yourself get so distracted that you ended up landing flat on your face? In sand none the less!

Sighing, he got up and brushed himself off, shaking his large sleeves and head. After ridding himself of sand, god only knows how much would be in his heels when he took them off, he trudged towards the new building. Once he reached it, he soon noticed something was wrong. It had an ominous air around it; something disastrous must have happened here recently.

Moving around to what he assumed was the front of the building; he let himself into the large structure. Upon entering, he noticed the scatter of people moving about. He heard splashing and many other different noises, but he kept clear away from where he heard them from. The neko hated water. Moving to a less populated area, he found three women talking, one was like himself, except not from a circus like he was. It was another neko, or at least he thought. He heard the words “ball” and “party” slip out from the conversation, looking to the green haired woman he supposed was in charge of the entire thing.

A party? This might be the place, but I’m not so sure. Maybe that woman with the green hair could help me out… Though he wanted to speak with the new woman, his shyness prevented from doing so. He stood in view, but didn’t make a sound or move to get closer. What if they don’t want you here? Who would want to take in a runaway circus performer? Maybe they didn’t hear about it… Then again, how could they not? Word must have gotten around by now that you’ve been missing, don’t be stupid. The ebony haired neko was battling with himself, no longer listening to the conversation between the three women.

Lacine had lapsed into a very sullen, noticeably guilty silence as Lorika continued to chatter on with the exotic woman.

"That would be wonderful! I really don't know how we can possibly repay you for your kindness!"

She giggled as Yokuan snapped at her sleepy servant - the Overseer knew she'd had to deal with a few of them in recent months! - and then peered around her at the tufts of black and green peeping out from behind the pillar. It didn't seem to be responding to the felinids' strange language.

"Is that another one of yours and Meta's friends?" she asked. Then, she raised her voice. "Hello! You over there! Is there something we can help you with?"

It wasn't certain who exactly she meant by 'we.' Usually, it could've been assumed to mean her and Lacine, but Yokuan seemed to have been accepted into their group so quickly who's to say it didn't imply her as well?!

Lorika clapped her hands together in delight. "My goodness! A party planner AND entertainment all stepping forward at once! This is certainly our lucky day!"

She turned back to Yokuan, smiling. "What do you think, Miss Yokuan? Is a little variety entertainment in-keeping with your grand vision?"

The question proposed to him thru Yugai off a bit. Did he really give off that kind of aura about him? Giving a nervous laugh, the neko shook off the weird feeling and scratched the back of his head. The question was still odd, none the less. Sure he was from a circus, and sure, maybe it was Cirque du Gothique, but no one from the circus ate little kids, not even babies.

”Um… No. I can assure you that I do not eat little kids or babies.” Yugai gave another nervous laugh as he moved to balance himself on one leg, the other sticking out in front of him as he gave a turn around. ”I’m about… 76% safe. The other percent, well… that’s the tricks I do. He gave another laugh, warming up to these people awfully fast. It didn’t seem like they were going to turn him away either. In fact, the one looked absolutely delighted to have him. That was perfect; maybe he did have a home here now. He’d have to wait and see after this ball/party thing they were throwing.

"Err...what?" Xeiashi said incredulously, but before he could say anything else, a large splash arose from the lake and dowsed somebody else nearby.

At first he managed to ignore the steady stream of curses and rants, as the water had gotten dangerously close to the WeedBot and he really didn't want to deal with a short right now. Then the cursing man began shouting in he and Alexi's general direction.

He vaguely paid attention to what he said, up until the word 'work' was mentioned. But yet again, before he could shout out, the man was gone.

"Any idea who the heck that was?" he asked Alexi, hoping that the Ball subject had been dropped for a while. 'He almost seemed like another spellcaster...why don't I recognize him from the Hall?' he wondered in the meantime.

Lacine's scowl deepened, but Lorika laughed at Yokuan's anectdote... which only seemed to upset her second-in-command further.

"Oh my...! That sounds very ominous!" she giggled, placing a hand on Yokuan's shoulder, much to Lacine's displeasure. "Don't worry, Yugai seems a very sweet, gentle boy indeed! I wouldn't like to guess the biggest thing he'd be willing to devour, but I'm sure it's less than a foot!"

Lorika seemed unaware of the dreadful double entendre she was making, but she's such a desperate tease anyway it's difficult to say for certain. She threw Yokuan a wink, and began to move away. "I'll leave you to your preparations. We can talk more tomorrow! If you can't find me around, just talk to Lacine! She'll be more than happy to help!"

From the dark look Lacine shot the other woman outside of Lorika's range of sight, it was quite clear that Lacine would be happier to do anything in the world than help Yokuan.

"What got into you back there?" Lorika asked calmly as they rounded a corner, "A priestess needs to be welcoming to all newcomers, you know."

"I know..." Lacine replied, abashed. She wondered if perhaps Lorika had seen the dirty look she'd thrown after all, and felt ashamed. If she couldn't make her teacher proud, then... "You're too trusting, though. It's because of people like her being just welcomed in, no questions asked, that there were spies during the War. You remember Nikiaal, don't you?"

"If we let just a couple of people ruin the trust and friendship we have for everyone else, this organsiation will quickly lose sight of its principles. I know you believe that too, Lacine. What's really bothering you? Why don't you like her?"

Lacine didn't reply. What could she say? She couldn't tell the priestess that she didn't like Yokuan... precisely because the other woman did.


[Scene end, or after Meta's or Shin's post if they wanna continue. If not, let's move on to torturing Fel and Hyaku!]