Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Nice to meet you, Ivy," Amaris beamed, unaware of her slip-up. She noticed his uncomfortable looks above her head, though, and followed them, her eyes crossing slightly as she made a show out of looking up at Mitsu. "Hey, you bein' grumpy up there? You know what happens to grumpy kids when I'm around!"

Mitsu immediately squealed, half-frightened, half-excited as Amaris let out a triumphant growl, grabbed her around the waist, and promptly turned her upside-down. The little girl shrieked out laughter and, grabbing her pet by the tail, took him for a ride as well.

"Sorry!" Amaris panted, continuing to beam as she shook the Fa'e for good measure. "She's not usually so grumpy! The heat and the people, you know? Doesn't like crowds, I'm sure if you saw her some other time - hey, watch it!" she intercepted, dodging a flailing foot. "But, uh, I won't hold you up, you look like you're very busy. Are you busy?"

Lil had innocently just taken her book out of hiding when the young man headed off. Although it immediately found it's way back under the booth as a shrill she could only think was that of a banshee's ripped through the air. Her eyes were in a tizzy as they frantically darted around the area, trying to find the source of the noise. Had someone just seen her neglecting her duties? Was reading a book while working so wrong that someone actually had to yell at her?

Her fears were placed to rest though as her eyes fell upon the young woman who had released such a holler. All Lillian could do was sit there in shock and just gwauk at the girl. How could such a scream come from someone who looked so reserved? She was carrying a parasole for pete's sake!

"Um....are you okay?" Lillian asked calmly from where she sat, able to recover decently now that she knew nothing was wrong. The teen pushed her chair out and walked around the booth to check up on the girl. Now she stood alongside the young man who had ventured over to probably see what the ruckus was. Even with all the sudden happenings, Lil did manage to see the other woman dart off. Whoever she was it was clear didn't like such a crowd. Even though there were only three people now that had gathered at the zoo.

Happy to share some knowledge with them, Lillian tried to pipe up as soon as she overheard Josh's question. Although the other girl beat her to the punch in knowing exactly what it was. "You're right....jeez. I had no idea what it was when I first saw it."

Josh’s pout fell as the parasol was pulled away allowing the sun access the his flesh again. He could already feel a sunburn forming on his reddening and utterly bare arms. Josh looked over his shoulder at the other girl who approached them. He immediately remembered her as the petting zoo attendant… who had just left in the middle of a question. “Oh, I’m sorry I walked off! I should have at least stayed for your answer,” He piped up embarrassedly.

Josh’s face perked up and his chocolate eyes grew brighter at Lil’s explanations and Namini’s knowledge of the small animal lurking in the cage. “Wow, that is amazing the Lab also makes chimeras like these!” He spun back around to meet the gooey eyes of the butterfox again. It let out an excited cry at getting so much attention from the visitors. "Oh, I'm Josh." He answered breezily.

Namini smiled at the attendant's approach, though blushed immediately in modesty and embarrassment...for she was sure the reason she approached her was because of her scream from earlier.

"My brother studies animals every day, since he's trying to be a veteranarian. It was recently that he learned of chimeras. He shows me the pictures of the chimeras and I grew a big interest in them I suppose. Especially cute ones like this butterfox!" she explained, drawing her fingers from the fence as the butterfox found a new joy in chasing its tail.

"I-I I'm sorry for the-the ruckus I made before!" she suddenly burst out nervously to the attendant, bowing a few times in apology.

Namini looked up for a moment at her and smiled thankfully. Repositioning herself, she blew some stray auburn bangs out of her line of sight, back to the side where they had originated. Holding out a spare hand to the attendant, leaning towards her so that her parasole now covered Josh once again, she smiled.

"My name's Namini Nao, ma'am. But you can call me Mini, same for you sir," she said happily as she glanced over at Josh for a moment with her sapphire eyes.

Julian touched upon a critical weakness; her hair. Her eyes dropped from his, as he removed the glove slowly with his teeth. What in the blue hell was she doing? Did countless months of pining over someone else, finally push her over the edge? How would she ever explain this to anyone else, when Natsuki couldn't even explain or justify what she was doing? It simply felt good to have someone want her.

She didn't mind his bandaged hands catching in her hair, and her eyes drifted shut. When he growled and released her, she felt her heart sink, and Natsuki knew it wasn't supposed to feel like that. The tension weighed heavily upon her, and as the glove fell from Julian's lips, Natsuki's knees weakened beneath her. This conversation was completely going into an expected tailspin.

"I'm not going to apologize for following you, Julian," Natsuki said with resolve, moving her hand from his collar, to run it through his hair, pushing it from his eyes. She wanted to remove his glasses, but they were another weakness, so it was double jeopardy as far as she was concerned. When he punctuated his statement with another brief kiss, her eyes merely narrowed. It was reassuring to know that he knew as little about what was transcending as she did, and this merely wasn't an elaborate plot.

Natsuki, however, wouldn't let Julian off the hook so easily. Had she been a larger and stronger woman, she'd turn the tables and trade places with Julian, pinning his back to the side of the booth. Unfortunately, for him, that was not the case. Improvising, she pulled him foward, cradling his neck with one hand and using his jacket for leverage with the other, her body leaning heavily into his. The kiss lingered, but a hunger trapsed behind it.

"Where do we go from here?" She asked, dragging her lips against his, a bit worried about his response.

Sam stopped struggling long enough to stare at Bard as he reached into his invisible box. He stared at the man, oookay so he was magically inclined, still didn’t really feel threatening besides the fact that he wanted to pin Sam to a wall and get his business on… maybe. It was beginning to look like both Rivener and Bard were doing all this to make fun of him. As Rivener dropped the sexual act Sam’s discomfort was slowly replaced with anger and annoyance.

Sam gave a huff and then started the well rehearsed name speech, “My title technically is Xavier Alexander Black Jr.,” the junior was too quiet to even hear by anyone not straining to hang onto every word Sam said, “but I don’t consider that to be my name and if you ever call me that I will personally rip out your face and pour salt on your open wounds. Call me Sam, not Sammy or Sampson or whatever else you lunatics can dream up, it’s Sam.” Sam relaxed a bit more when neither of them men started being all… sexual again.

“As for the lab I learned about it a couple months ago during that winter party thing. I just kinda hung around the place and then disappeared. Festivals usually aren’t my thing. I saw you there Rivener” Sam made a point that he knew the raevan’s name in case he had to call the police on him, “Although you certainly weren’t attacking people with your sex vibes then.” Sam finished with a huff and felt rather better.

Aphismet did indeed blush at being reminded of all the promises he'd broken. The blush darkened at Alex's claim that their rendez-vous was a Date. W-was it? Aphi bent down slightly to talk to Ty, plopping Munchies back on his head so that she would still be within Alex's reach. "I'm really sorry, Tyson... It's been one thing after another, work, Rivener, ghosts, doctors, Isi... I seem to be busy all the time," he finished with an apologetic chuckle. By now his words had been directed at the two of them. "I still intend to go to the park with you and Lil someday, Tyson. And we're still going to paint sometime, Alex. I- I just don't know when that'll be." He smiled sadly as he got back up.

Munchies enjoyed the attention. The woman had praised her, she could tell by the tone of voice, and so Munchies was extra content. A curious eye peered down at the boy, though, from atop Aphi's head. It was a tiny person! The gwee tilted her head, but simply watched the small person, wondering if it was the same thing or not...

Rivener lifted an eyebrow at seeing the purple-haired man reach into thin air and retrieve something. How... interesting. Riv was about to ask how he did that, when the other man interrupted with his rude introduction.

The Scorpion turned a dissaproving frown on the man, lips drawn tight. "Your title? TECHNICALLY? Listen you," Riv said, in no mood to be barked at rudely by anyone, "if you don't want us lunatics to call you anything but Sam, then you shouldn't introduce yourself as anything BUT Sam. Saying anything extra leads us to believe that you want us to use the Xavier name. Subconsciously, maybe." Rivener suddenly half-smirked, leaning with one elbow on the counter. "Besides hotshot, what are you going to DO if we call you Sammy or Sampson?" By Riv's torrid eyes, he was practically daring the man to do something. A sudden snap of his wings drew attention to his stingers, which practically twitched to be used.

He motioned No Thanks to Bard's drink, but he finally spoke to him, now that he'd offered his challenge to Sam. "Since you don't know anything about the Lab, perhaps our friend here," he glanced pointedly at Sam, "can inform you."