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You're Not Supposed To Be In Here

Gist: In which Magda is caught in the act

Gone To Pieces

Backdated to be May 30

It had been almost a month since Quilt ran into the blonde Rusty and the violent, hook-limbed infant Hoss. The pale-haired man had all but forgotten about their encounter so had the notion of becoming a 'father' the way his own 'mother' became a parent. Not that he wanted to be one, at least not the way his 'mother' would come to explain how a couple normally became one.

That conversation had not been very pleasant and it was something Quilt did not wish to recall even for a brief moment. While he may not like hugs and kisses and affectionate touches, it didn't mean he had a high tolerance for the awkward. That was his eccentric 'brother' Sim's forte but that was neither here nor there.

Once again, Quilt was outside, though not on behalf of anyone. He was taking a brisk walk in the empty fields near the outskirts of Barton to cool down from the sparring session between his 'Uncle' and 'brother.' Why the terms he used to refer to the members of his family required quotation marks, Quilt couldn't say. It just didn't feel natural nor right if he referred to them without it.

He cleared his mind of any further thoughts, focusing instead on the rhythm of his steps, the speed of his pace. In fact, so intent he was that he nearly missed the sight of an incoming projectile. Nearly.

There came a loud blast as what appeared to be a pod-shaped craft crashed in the distance and minor tremors quaked the ground. Quilt was stunned by what just occured. For all of two seconds before he dashed towards the smoking wreck.

Rusty perked up at the sound. He remembered it... The blonde looked down at his grumpy baby. Yes, he remembered that sound well...

"Well, thould go thee." Rusty sighed, starting off towards where he'd heard the crash from. Hoss brumbled and went back down into his backpack. Sleepy.

The impression the pod had made on the ground was no deep crater but it was certainly noticable. Smoke wafted from the craft, the heat of entering the atmosphere had charred the base. A dark, almost opaque sheen tinted the bubble of a window, limiting sight of the form in the vehicle. He was curious, most certainly, but he was also cautious as there was the potential for the passenger to be a scout sent by a derange horde of creatures.

When he spied a familiar mop of blonde hair approaching in the distance, the patch-skinned man realized the pod's passenger could very well be an infant. And so he hops down the depression in the ground, the way one would from the last step on a flight of stairs.

Of course having no experience or exposure to anything extra terrestrial, Quilt isn't certain how to open the pod to retrieve the criminal inside. And so he waves to Rusty, hoping the other man wouldn't mind showing him how to work this complicated contraption.

Rusty gave the man a little smile as he came up to the pod. Yup, it looked like the one Hoss had landed in.

"When Hoth landed-" Rusty said softly, looking at the pod. "It opened, and he wath inthide." He shifted his backpack and looked at the pod. "Maybe it'll open...?"

"And it'th nithe to thee you again, Quilt." Such a sweet smile.

"It's nice to see you again." Quilt nods, "I see your child's not giving you any trouble today." he gestures to the drowsy infant.

Prompted by Rusty's narration of Hoss' arrival, Quilt taps at the pod. Perhaps there was a button on this thing somewhere? The sound echoes inside the craft's chamber and a faint hiss emenates as the bubble rises to reveal the passenger within.

Magda yawned, completely refreshed from the long journey she had taken. Her eyes blink at the halo of light surrounding the figures looking into her ride. Her hand rises to rub at her bat wings and finds they are missing and eventually she notices that her skin was pale. Not to mention her arm was short. And stubby.

Brows furrow in confusion as she attempts to rise, only to find large, strong arms picking her up (albeit a bit roughly the way one inexperienced in carrying something so small and delicate as an infant would). She opens her mouth to protest, to demand what was going on.

Rather than angry eloquence, from her mouth pours out infantile babble. "Nmaa uoin!" She squeaks, completely bewildered as she scans her surroundings before realizing the kicking legs dangling beneath her were her own. What is going on!? her mind races, gray eyes turning towards the blonde individual.

Quilt feels the infant stiffen in his grasp, he senses her confusion and fear. And he smiles in delight and relief, No desire for cuddling or hugging, thank you so much.

Peering into the pod he spies a dossier and bends to pull it out. Only to find a dismembered hand was clutching the folder on the other end. He drops the offending object in shock, mis-matched eyes taking stock of the fact the appendage was scuttling about the ground before stopping tentatively in front of Rusty.

Afternoon At The Museum

Getting let into a museum whilst wearing a royal blue zoot suit and black t-shirt had to be the most strange thing Bailey Bacardi had gone through in his time on Gaia - stranger than that barbecue even! Honestly, people were telling him some place called 'the Roxbury' was the other direction. Whatever that was, he wasn't heading there. At least he hadn't been wearing a hat, they'd probably have yelled at him for that too.

Hangs in his pockets, the red snake boy stared at the paintings around him with something akin to intrigue. He didn't look particularly awed or interested, but that was mostly just due to lacking anything that got particular expression from him. The boy actually thought most of these paintings were nice. He was getting a bit fond of looking at these pretty scenes of fields of flowers and women with parasols. Though, he didn't understand why everything had to be made of dots.

Quilt knows developing a child begins very early on in their life. He also knows that they are still far too delicate physically to train in things he is far more familiar with. For now, his adopted mother suggest to stimulate the child's mind, even if said infant was originally a fully grown, intergalactic criminal. Still, no matter how old she had been in her earlier incarnation, she must be unfamiliar with the ways of Gaia and thus Quilt has a valid excuse to bring her to a museum.

Magda is annoyed. Annoyed because she is currently in a most inconvenient body, one that falls to pieces without her control or consent. And one that forces her to be carried around. It is obvious she misses her old form and her persimmon-colored skin, her current complexion is far too drab to be of any fun. Gray eyes note the paintings and the sculptures but her interest was drawn more by the young lad with red skin and dressed in royal blue.

As Quilt begins to move away, Magda releases an ear-piercing squeal, indicating that she did not want to go just yet.

Bailey looked over at the sound of the squeal and took notice of what seemed like a rather disgruntled baby. Yet something...something was not quite right about her. Walking over, the child greeted the two with a question.

"Hello. Is everything all right over here?" the ex-criminal asked, hoping he wasn't intruding.

Quilt winced briefly but was otherwise unaffected by Magda's squeal. If any he was more concerned if she had disturbed the other few patrons milling about the museum. Instinctively he thinks they have at the young boy's approach.

"They are, in a manner of speaking. I must have just done something she didn't like." he replies.

Magda glares up at Quilt, Damn straight you did. I miss seeing colors everywhere. Gaia is so damn bland! she mentally glowers. Her eyes rests on Bailey once more and she coos to him, pudgy fingers clasping open and close in an attempt at pantomiming her desire for him to draw nearer. She can't help it, his skin reminds her of home and of all the delicious things she had eaten there. Things she will never be able to eat again.

"Hard to understand things with babies - particularly if they've got the consciousness of adults, or so my mother tells me. Something about me giving her dirty looks when she was carrying me about." the boy mumbled a bit, laughing lightly at the thought, and inadvertently revealing his status as a transferred criminal.

At the child's motion, the boy walked forward a bit more and waved at her. Though, for some reason he was a bit apprehensive. Something told him he should be careful lest he get bitten.

Quilt quirks a brow, it would be too much for him to assume that Bailey was in the same situation as Magda but the possibility was there. "Oh? Were you previously from space before coming to Gaia?"

Magda narrows her gaze up at Bailey, so he was like Hoss. The carrot-haired infant isn't certain if she likes this or not but since the older boy doesn't possess anything particularly sharp on his person (clothing aside) she is less worried. Considering how her body has a mind of its own, decided it wanted to get a feel of Bailey's skin and has just severed her left hand.

Said appendage practically leapt off her wrist to cling to Bailey's sleeve.

Naturally both guardian and criminal's expression are an exact mirror of each other's dismay.

"Yes I waaaaaas..." the last sound was drawn out due to him suddenly glancing down and raising an eyebrow at the hand which had decided to cling to him. He honestly wondered if he should be freaked out by this turn of events but by this point he was just wondering why he wasn't at all shocked.

"Mhm. Well, that was unexpected." he commented before carefully removing the small hand and returning it to the child. "I do not believe I've met anyone whose appendages disobey them in that manner previously."

It was Quilt who retrieved the appendage from Bailey, hastilly pressing the wrist against the stub where Magda's hand ended. The flesh fused back together seamlessly, as if it had never been apart before.

"You are not the first to experience Magda's wandering limbs." Quilt tells Bailey, "But you say you were also from space? I take it that you are also a criminal who has been exiled to Gaia?"

Magda rolled her eyes at her guardian's question, "Oyus'ee." She babbles. Frowning once again as she is reminded just how inconvenient her current form is. Even if she can understand what everyone is asking or telling her, how is she supposed to respond in kind? She can't even write her answers, given her limited motor functions.

"Ee o niu umee." The infant huffs, lower lip sticking out sourly in an attempt to explain to Bailey her body's disobedience is new to her. Even if the older boy couldn't understand her words, he could relate to her plight.

"A few." he answered before the red child had to return his attention to the gurgling criminal before him.

"Well I'm very sorry but I can only concentrate on one person at a time and as I can't comprehend what you're saying yet, I'm more inclined to notice your carrier's questions first." he told the little one, raising an eyebrow once again. That was getting to be quite a common gesture with him.

Quilt wonders just how many other criminals the boy has met, the fact that he doesn't know said individual's name finally dawning on him.

Magda narrowed her eyes at Bailey's reason, huffing and blowing her carrot-colored hair away from her face. So it was his guadian's fault that the older child wasn't focusing on her? She reaches up, yanking at her guardian's jacket, "No mo' 'a'kin!" she orders.

Quilt ignored her demand, if only because he doesn't know what she was saying. "I'm Quilt by the way, and I believe I've mentioned this is Magda."

"I'm Bailey Bacardi. A pleasure to meet you both." the boy explained, grinning down at the child.


"You'll probably have a much better time in weeks or months to come. From what I've gathered, we aren't stuck that small for too long." he told her with a nod.

Magda would have liked to respond to Bailey's introduction herself. But it looks like she'll be stuck as an infant for the next few years to come. At least that's what she thought until the older boy mentioned not being "stuck that small for too long."

She blinked, trying to understand what he meant by it.

"Oh? It won't be long until she's older?" Quilt asked. He himself had his growth in spurts but he doesn't remember clearly, considering he had disappeared when a child and then returned an adult. "At least you won't have to put up with not being able to speak for too long, Magda."

Gray eyes widened, was she to understand that aging was accelerated here on Gaia? "Iun wanna g'o o'd!" she wailed.

Bailey laughed. "You won't be growing super old, Magda. I've been on gaia about a year or so. It's mostly just regrowing back to one's old self, so to speak. Or, at least that's what I've gathered." he said with a shrug.

Bailey's words don't provide any comfort to Magda. Well, they do, a little, but something about having a new body with new variations of hormone levels still causes her lower lip to quiver and her eyes to water. It was not a full-blown tantrum as she was not flailing her limbs or bawling at the top of her lungs.

Her cries were not loud, just audible those a few feet away.

"You're not an infant, Magda. Why are you crying?" Quilt sounded confused and a tad annoyed. It wouldn't do to have a fully grown adult upset to the point of tears, even if she was currently in a tiny body.

"C-ca' hu-he' eet." she hiccuped, cheeks burning, feeling completely mortified. And the more upset she felt about her embarrassing situation, the harder it was to stop herself from crying.

Independence

Gist: Second growth spurt and Magda demands she be given her space and freedom to do s**t on her own without Quilt breathing down her neck all the damn time.

G2G, GTFO!



Magda tilted her head up at the voice booming out of the intercoms, whoever was talking must not be fluent in Gaian given the rather vague instructions. Her brows knitted together, oh she most certainly had questions, particularly those pertaining to how the ******** were they supposed to leave with the damn craft off-ground or worse off-world. When the ship began to rock, Magda didn't so much as wobble. The shaking wasn't intense but it was distracting.

She wondered just how distracting it was as her gray eyes fixed on Tek then on her limp hand he was holding. Only one way to find out. She decided.

Without warning she shot forward, past Daemyn, her attention locked on her prize, her remaining hand outstretched towards Tek.

Tek wasn't watching Magda at the moment, he was too busy looking up at the speaker system as some weird guy announced they could leave. Okay. Great. How?! He startled when the ship jolted a bit; but what caught his attention, out of the corner of his eye, was a hand outstretched towards him.

s**t!

On instinct he lept back, snatching the hand just out of her reach. "Notta chance! We're not on land yet!" He snarled out before he moved to pass both her and Daemyn, rushing out of the room and heading back the way he came, having every intent of heading back towards the main room where they had all started.

Damn it! Magda was so close! She almost, almost had it. s**t, why did he have to have good reflexes? She cursed beneath her breath and took chase, yelling after him She didn't bother to hide the panic in her voice this time as the numbness that begun at her wrist had spread up to her elbow.

She pushed herself to run faster, managing to catch up to Tek and once again she reached out. This time trying to grab at his shirt to turn him around and show him what she meant. The skin around her stub was tinged a faint blue.

Nothing to do with his holding it? Yeah. Right. It's the only reason she'd been acting so stupid over it this entire time! Well, it wasn't the only reason. But it was still damn applicable in his own head! A special head that was. Magda's attempts to catch him worked, and all of his snarling retorts died on his lips when he saw the odd colour of the empty stub.

"Huh." He snorted, his ears lowering in thought. With some careful consideration he lifted the captured hand to look at it; yup, it was here too. Definitely wasn't there before. Well, now that meant he had a choice; either keep it on principle, or be nice and give it back. Keeping it meant that she'd learn to control her limbs, but if her hand died it would be his fault, and that would be bad.

"G-D-I...Here." Frowning, he held her hand out to her, letting it rest on his palm, his fingers holding it only loosely enough to not let it fall. "Well th--"

Quote:

Reghen hurried through the odd rooms in this section of the ship, stopping to listen for voices every so often. He pointed all of the wandering people he met up with toward the escape pods located around the outside of the ship, but didn't stick around to make sure they used them. He also failed to steer people clear of the single ICRS transformation pod on board, but, to be fair, he didn't know it was there.

Once he had pointed enough people to safety to feel less guilty about his involvement in this whole ordeal, Reghen hopped in a pod himself. Designed to launch three minutes after detecting a passenger, the escape pods resembled slightly larger transformation pods. While they wouldn't be particularly comfortable for some of Drolic's adult guests, a brief, cramped ride was probably preferable to dying.

Tek cut himself off when the man came by to point them in the direction of the pods; despite usually never fleeing from things, dying was certainly not high on his priority list. So with an unintelligible garble of words or just letters, he attempted to grab Madga's still intact wrist, making a break for the escape pods back to Gaia.

"C'mon, Stupid girl!" Was his less than polite urge to get her to move faster.

What was it with people not wanting Magda to get her hand back?! Here Tek was, literally having handed her hand back (the puns will eventually end, won't they?) and she was about to fuse them back together when that tall pale man from before arrived. The next thing she knew there was finger-pointing towards escape pods, which was a good thing, then the string of gobbledygook pouring from the winged boy's mouth, and suddenly Tek was dragging her by her good wrist.

Instinctively she gripped her still detached limb tighter, the fingers flopping gracelessly from being jostled, the odd numbness receding just slightly.

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" she snapped, baring her teeth.

When they arrived where the pale man said the pods were, gray eyes widened at the sight of the other party goers scrambling into the vehicles. There was the brief sensation of deja vu before she found herself becoming well acquainted with the interior of one of these ships. And by herself she meant her face and by well acquainted she meant shoved against.

"DE FFFFF!" she snarled incoherently.

Tek snorted with a roll of his eyes at her snarl, looking around to see what the others were doing. He was mildly surprised of course, to find that once inside they all just...sat down. The doors closed on their own! Huh. With much more grace himself, he moved inside and sat down. It was comfortable as a whole, but the whole thing was ruined by how close Magda was to him. This was a small pod, after all.

"Graceful. Stupid." He snarled lightly, rummaging around to buckle himself in. It slipped his mind that he was at fault for her lack of grace, as inconvenient as that was. If Magda didn't want to get plastered against it again, she'd do the same. Red eyes moved to stare at the door to the pod, watching it close a few moments after it realized that nobody would be joining them, and he seemed happy with this. Despite the ship going down, this was a step in the right direction! Buckled in and safe, he leaned back, folding his arms over his stomach and the buckles, frowning in great discomfort. These things were clearly NOT built for those with wings. Or tails.

"Oh ******** off," Magda glared, twisting herself to face forward with an irate huff, scooting as far away from Tek as she possibly could. But given their cramped space, the proximity between them was more than unpleasant as far as the freckled girl was concerned. Without wasting another second she fused her hand back to her wrist and (barring the still visible tint of blue and the cold, clammy feel of her skin) her arm looked like nothing had happened. Of course complete dexterity wouldn't return for another few minutes until her blood began to properly circulate, so she fumbled with the buckle as best as she could.

It made for the perfect excuse if she 'accidentally' ended up jostling her elbow sharply against Tek, along with a patently false look of innocence.

She managed to settle herself in just as the door to their pod slid shut and the entire thing began to rumble from the engines. Then G-force promptly slammed against her as they were hurtled from the ship and back towards (hopefully) Gaia.

Magda's rebuttal was met with a rather silent, one-fingered statement from Tek. His Middle Finger knew what it was talking about, and he figured he should just let it do the talking for him. At the 'accidental' elbow jab, he holted, hissed, and turned to give her a string of curses...but that look. Yeah. Right. She was innocent, and he was born yesterday.

"I hope your seatbelt breaks." He settled for grumbling under his breath, taking to ignoring her out of favour of looking out the window into the vast nothing. So long as he didn't look down, anyway. When the pod launched Tek grunted in pain, the force slamming himself even further in his seat than he always was, painfully pressing against his chest and crushing his wings.

His fists clenched so hard that his nails left nasty grooves in his hand, but before he knew it the pressure was gone; a milisecond of weightlessness followed by the force of suddenly slowing down. His chest and neck now crushed painfully against the restraints; but hey, at least his wings were a little better!; he waited for the inevitable hard stop.

Which never really happened.

The pod landed easily, like a ship pulling against a dock, but Tek just sat there for a moment. His chest hurt. His back hurt. His tail hurt. His hands hurt. He felt sick to his stomach. Just...ugh. Not good. Cheery little lights came on to tell them to unfasten the restraints and he did so with an ill sounding grumble.

Moments later the door opened, and Tek pushed past his 'friend' to get out first, stumbling out dizzily into the fresh air. Well...at least now he knew he would hate roller coasters. Coughing, Tek rubbed his hands against his face, then looked back into the pod, hoping to see Madga in some sort of pain.

Strictly to make himself feel better, of course.

It was a very good thing her seatbelt did not break because the sudden inertia they were experiencing would have flung Magda against (or at least too close to) Tek. And she would have to bathe in disinfectant afterward if she ever wanted to feel clean again. Hell, she was going to have to scrub her hand extra hard when she washed up for the day.

Magda could have sworn her first trip to Gaia had been much less uncomfortable. Of course she'd been asleep -anesthetized actually- at the time so that doesn't really make for a good point of comparison but she does anyway. At least the landing itself wasn't all too turbulent, even if she felt like she got worked over by an overenthusiastic masseuse.

When the lights indicated they were free to get out, Magda wisely decided to let Tek out first. Well, no, not really, she just didn't trust her legs enough and was simply trying to gather her bearings.

"What are you staring at?" she frowned, flexing her hands and wiggling her toes to test her motor reflexes.

Elsewhere...

Quilt had no idea what to expect when he saw several pods (larger than the one Magda arrived in) fall back to Gaia. He never left the beach, knowing full well that if he came back without the girl there would be hell to pay and he didn't feel like adding any more to his tab.

So when a particular cluster had landed nearby and he recognized some from the large ship, the patch-skinned man began checking every single one within sight.

"A whole lot of nothing. Looks an awful lot like some limb-losing b***h I met." Tek snorted, feeling much better to feel sand under his sneakers. His mismatched wings stretched out slowly, shakingly, to try and knead away the pain in the muscles. Ugh, that was some ride...very, very uncomfortable. "Are you planning on living in there? Get out." He ordered, really unsure of why he was caring. It must have been the rattling crossing wires in his brain, he figured. Red eyes moved again, looking at the man that was searching the currently fallen pods. Huh. He looked...familiar.

"There's someone wanderin around, checkin out all the pods. I think he was there 'fore it took off?" Which meant he wasn't sure if it was a Guardian...or if it was some alien psycho looking to take them back. Or to interrogate them. Still under the influence of rattled brainmeats, Tek extended a hand to her as though he were - GASP - going to help her out.

Magda snorted none too delicately while she continued to check if everything was in working order. Cramped as it was inside, the point was Tek and his snide mouth wasn't in it with her and that made it so much better. "What? No one ever tell you it's not wise to rush a lady?" she grumbled before finally conceding to exit. If only because she needed to stretch her legs.

She quirked an orange brow at Tek's hand and was about to tell him where he could shove it when he mentioned someone wandering around. Coupled with the vague suggestion of Tek remembering him, Magda shot to her feet quickly.

"Does he have white hai-oh ********, someone should tell the world to stop spinning first," she hissed.

Perhaps she got up a little too quickly because suddenly she felt light headed as the blood rushed downwards and she actually had to reach out and -ugh- accept his help. As if he hadn't been holding her hand -the very same one he'd taken hostage- long enough.

Quilt moved from pod to pod surprisingly fast. It wasn't as if he didn't know who he was looking for and most of the other passengers were adults. He doubted they would know what happened to Magda and so decided to just keep searching.

Finally, he came upon one where a dark-haired boy was helping someone currently obscured by his wings.

"When I see a Lady, I'll be sure to remember that." Rolling his eyes, he stubbornly kept his hand out for her. Why he did this he had no idea, but it seemed like a good idea; thus, he was doing it. "White hair? Yeah." He glanced back for just a moment, but found himself startling and ready to catch her if she were to fall. It was a natural reaction, not a desire to actually - ugh - help her or anything. Stupid reflexes.

He'd he having a shower in disinfectant himself. Maybe take a steel wire brush to his hand, and whatever part of her she had touched during this whole trip. On second thought, might as well just scrub everything down. Well, almost everything.

"If the world won't do it for me, it sure as hell won't do it for you." He hissed out, helping her out of the pod despite being out of sorts himself. It hit him then that Magda might know this patchwork creeper looking at the pods, so he looked over his shoulder; lo and behold, he was coming up to them.

"Yes?"

He was touching her. Touching her. Why wasn't she bolting away from him the way she wanted to? Her head throbbed. Oh. Right. That. She figured she'd stand him long enough to let the dizziness pass and why not get back at him for digging his nails into her skin while she was at it? Of course she opted to use her unsteady legs to "excuse" her tightening grip on him. A corner of her mouth curled upwards at his own admission of dizziness. Misery certainly loves company.

"How would you know? The world might think I'm deserving of special treatment," she huffed, and inclined her head to level a haughty gaze at Tek.

Only now he was looking over his shoulder so she couldn't help but try to see what he was looking at as well.

"Magda, that wouldn't be you, would it?"

That voice! Rolling her gray eyes, Magda muttered just low enough for Tek to hear "Oh sure, now he shows up."

"The only thing you deserve is a white room, and a jacket that makes you hug yourself." Tek returned almost lazily, as though this had gotten way too easy, and he just wanted to play a new game. Glancing back at her when she muttered, he returned his attention back to the white haired man. Oh. That's where he recognized him; he had shown up with Magda, but left for some reason. Great, her Guardian was here! He was officially off the babysitting hook.

"Oh. So you're here for her? Here, take her. She's dizzy." He said bluntly, like he didn't want to get thrown up on just in case, but it was completely his responsibility as his Guardian in the event it were to happen.

"More like repulsed," Magda sneered back as she straightened herself. Folding her arms across her chest, she glared at the patch-skinned man staring back at her with his bi-colored eyes. "You're a lousy Guardian, you know that?"

The grim line that was Quilt's mouth pinched tighter. But rather than addressing Magda's point, he turned his attention to the winged boy. Having not been around for the scuffle that started this whole mess back in the ship, Quilt mistook the suspicion on Tek's part as protectiveness on Magda's behalf. Inwardly, he gave a sigh of relief that at least there had been someone to keep an eye on the girl.

"Thank you for watching over Magda in my absence," He nodded, ignoring the widening of the aforementioned girl's gray eyes. "Let us help you find your Guardian. It's the least we could do."

Magda wouldn't have been surprised if she tasted sand from the way her jaw fell open at Quilt.

Tek had a nasty retort on his lips, but it was promptly silenced with the patched Guardian...Thanked him? His red eyes widened in a way that mirrored Magda's, disbelief clear on his face. He was thanking him? For watching over Magda? Did he not...Oh. That's right. This Guardian wasn't on the ship when they started to fight, was he? Heh heh.

Of course he was being thanked.

"You're Welcome. Someone had to." Tek sighed, suddenly seeming a little older or at least more responsible. "TBH she needs personality coaching. IDK how you put up with her." He spared a glance at Magda, though it was far from innocent; he flashed a grin, only happy to make her life miserable.

When his Guardian was pointed out though, he startled and stared at the man again. "Eh?! Er, uh, Nah, S'okay, I'm here alone, don't want to-" Oh, damnit, what was that word again? The opposite of nuisance; well, not opposite entirely, but nicer...Ah! "inconvenience you."

"W-w-whaaaaaaat?!" Magda screeched at the older man, "You cannot be serious!" she huffed, her gaze bouncing back and forth from Quilt to Tek and back. "He so did not watch over me! He had my hand the entire time and wouldn't let go! How is that watching over me?!"

While Quilt did not know what exactly had transpired between the two children, he was familiar enough with Magda's personality to claim she wasn't the most responsible alien-turned-child he knew. Not that he knew a lot but still. She was overreacting, which meant she was being defensive, and when she was being defensive she felt guilty about something. Or at least that's how Quilt understood the orange-haired girl's reaction. She may have been an adult before she came to Gaia but she never acted anything but an immature brat. And so he will treat her like one and thus ignore her whining.

Quilt looked pointedly at the young man's polite refusal, half-wishing Magda would be as well mannered. She could act the part, she just tended to decide otherwise. "It's no inconvenience," he shook his head, his face still a careful neutral. He doesn't smile much, does he? "I'd like to thank your Guardian as well. Maybe he or she could give me a few pointers on how to keep Magda in line."

"I heard actually being around could have something to do with it," Magda glowered beneath her breath, her expression an ugly frown. "Tek not wanting to inconvenience us? Right. And I'm a Sparkle-Pony."

It's A Trap!

Tek was bored. Very very bored. Both of his Brothers were out, his 'Father' was who knows (and the hell cares) where, and his 'Mother' was under the impression that he needed to get out more. Apparently, to her, 'out' meant 'Shopping', and since Tek insisted that he had more than enough clothes, shopping soon translated to 'Walk around and pick up future clothes for your Nieces and Nephews'. He didn't know why; he was pretty sure that the whore his Brother knocked up would never willingly bring those kids over anyway. Despite his usual asshattery, he couldn't bring himself to bring this up to Switch; she had experienced a very rough past few weeks, a little bit of delusion might help save what sanity the poor woman had left.

But, still, he was bored. Very bored.

Arms folded firmly across his stomach and his wings tucked just enough to avoid hitting them on anything while leaving them out wide enough for people to have to walk around him, he started to gaze into the shops that they passed, only half paying attention to his Blue Haired Guardian. Tek watched the shops, grumbling out the occasional opinion on the idiots gleeing over the newest fashions, or the ones he passed that had no sense of fashion whatsoever.

It was the only way he could get through this trip.

Magda was on a mission. A super top secret, no-one-must-ever-know mission because it would be detrimental to her reputation and dignity, otherwise. Unfortunately, her current companion was making it extremely difficult to both keep a low profile and keep her sanity intact. After the nth time of bodily dragging her Uncle Sim away from the display window, Magda was at her wit's end and was sorely tempted to just leave him where he stood.

She'll apologize (insincerely) to him for "reducing him to a nervous wreck" after she accomplished her mission. Which was, apparently clothes shopping. Oh, but not just any type of clothing! She was in need of jeans. Classic, comfortable, worth-every-penny jeans. So why the need for secrecy? It wasn't as if she had anything to be ashamed of, right?

Right.

When her uncle (who really looked no older than twenty) suddenly came to a halt for the nth time that day, Magda made good her unvoiced threat and wandered off on her own. It was for the best. Sim had... questionable tastes when it came to fashion. The former criminal had discreetly walked up to a salesperson (she really couldn't tell if they were male or female with what they wore and how they kept their hair really long) and asked "Where do you keep your jeans for boys?"

Switch had paused to abruptly that Tek nearly ran into her; luckily, he stopped at the last moment. He nearly bumped his nose into her, and while it had mostly completely healed (leaving his nose with it's previous perfection, much to his disappointment), he was still very protective of it. Faris breaking his nose was to date the most painful thing he had ever experienced. The Criminal was all set to let his Guardian have it, but she piped up before he could.

"Hey, innit that your friend?" Switch said, pointing across the hall and into one of the stores. With his ears suddenly perking, he looked around, trying to follow her gaze; but with a mall full of people, that was hard.

"What are you talking about? I don't have any---" He paused, finally catching sight of the shock of orange hair. Well, she wasn't his friend, but she certainly was a person of interest. His lips split into a wide grin, and he pat Switch's arm. "Oh yes. That friend. Right. My friend. Hey Na? Mind if I go..." Damnit, how did kids put it? No wait, how did his Brother put it? "...Hang out...with her? I'll catch up with you, I promise!" There was something to his grin, but Switch shook her head and made him promise to meet her at a certain time. He agreed and headed towards the store she was in, just in time to hear her ask for a men's section. If it were possible, that fanged grin of his widened.

While it was oh so tempting to go confront her now, he decided to hang back, to wait until she was more or less alone...for some reason, it was more fun that way. He was smart though, staying outside of the shop for now, but close enough for his keen ears to mildly hear her, and of course to keep his sights on that hair of hers.

The salesperson gave Magda a disinterested look at her question, not even bothering to personally usher her towards the rack located in the distinctly male half of the shop. And while such service would have usually warranted a sarcastic remark of thanks from Magda on an ordinary day, she was relieved to be able to go about her merry way without anyone asking nosy questions. She knew what her size was, if only because she used her other uncle (the one who had normal clothes) and his pants as a point of reference.

She gave the shop's interior a quick look-over, in case someone she knew had gone inside, completely over-looking the possibility that someone she knew was outside because people should be too distracted by the faceless mannequins on display, shouldn't they? With a wordless nod of thanks to the salesperson, who only gave a shrug and a mumbled "Whatever" in response, Magda marched towards the rack of jeans and began to idly rifle through them.

"Deep pockets on this one, oh, cute stitchings on that one," she quietly murmured to herself, unaware that she was being watched. If she even had an inkling she would have gone straight for the deconstructed shirts rather than the jeans. They would have been a lot less telling. But she didn't. And she was going to have to remember the folly of her ways the next time she went clothes shopping.

It was so hard to not blow his cover. So hard. Once he had to cover his mouth to stop the laughter when he realized that she wasn't going there to meet anyone. That she was actually there for herself. Otherwise, why would she be looking at them? Stepping as softly as he could, he casually navigated the store, staying as behind her as he could.

Drawing in a casual breath, he finally slipped up behind her close enough to somewhat loom, one hand in his pocket while the other cupped beside his mouth, lightly blowing on the back of her neck before finally taking his snark at her.

"Finally giving up on being a girl?" He questioned, his amusement clear in his voice; it was easy to hear his wide grin well before he would see it!

Magda had sensed someone approach her but she figured it was someone who worked at the store who was going to either make a sales pitch, divert her attention towards the female half, or direct her to the changing room. She was about to make a snippy question regarding the other person's ability to understand what personal space meant when she heard that voice.

Immediately, she went rigid, in the quintessential "caught in the act" pose, complete with wide-eyed shock and disbelief plastered all over her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she hissed through a grin that was in no way friendly, "Can't a girl appreciate clothes for the opposite sex?"

Tek snorted, leaning back and putting his hands on his hips when she turned to face him, his head tilted slightly back and to the side...just enough to stare down at her with an extremely haughty grin.

"Wow you really gave up, didn't you?" He drawled out in response to her constant cursing, enjoying every little bit of this. Oooh was he ever enjoying this. Now if only he had a cell phone! That would have made this moment absolutely perfect. At her question, he hummed curiously, making a big show of crossing his arms, and then tapping on his chin in thought.

"Normally I'd say yes, but because it's you..." Tek started, his arms going back to cross in front of his stomach. "...And because I heard you ask for this section...No, no you can't."

The grays of Magda's eyes flashed angrily, though the patently false grin was still on her lips. She had decided against hastilly shoving the pair of jeans she held in her hand, incriminating as they were, back into the rack because doing so would only be an admission of guilt. And while she had done her best (clearly it wasn't good enough) to hide the fact she was indeed shopping for clothes of the opposite sex, the best thing to do in this situation was to treat it like it was No Big Deal.

That or strangle Tek with one of the pant-legs. But how was she going to dispose of the body?

"I'm sorry, I don't speak crazy," she dismissed with a huff, making an equally big show of contuing her perusal of jeans. "Besides, how am I to appreciate male clothes if I'm in the female section, hmm? It's not like I have a specimen to work with," she then gestured to him, "Case in point."

Tek's wide grin faltered for a moment at her dismissal and then at her little burn. Still, nothing she said was going to rain on his parade, not after finding her (to what he thought was) seriously checking out boy's pants. Nothing was going to stop him from teasing her relentlessly! At least, not until he decided to stop.

"You speak it every day, Ginger-b***h...or has your brain finally turned to much too?" The mix matched Criminal still lingered around her, following her if she went to switch racks, leaning with her if she leaned a certain way. Apparently he had every intent on pissing her off. "You're so full of s**t. I bet you're looking to buy them. Find yourself a girlfriend? Going Butch?"

Magda should have just continued to ignore Tek but the winged criminal was making it increasingly difficult to do just that. What could she do, he was very talented at getting under her skin. She doesn't understand why exactly, maybe it's because he's the first person who wasn't all "I'd love to stay out of your way" since she got here? The apples of her cheeks turned a bright crimson in frustration, and while she would love to simply buy a pair or two and get the ******** out of there, Tek's presence was seriously hindering her.

"If listening to you hasn't already turned my brain to mush, nothing will," she snapped, "And what do you care about what I do or do not wear? Can't stand the fact that I'd look more like a guy than you already do?" she sneered back, recalling that to be as much a sore point for him as her gender-ambiguity was hers, "Or is there another reason why you're still here, invading my personal space?"

Tek was enjoying himself. Just as long as she didn't try to punch him, he was probably going to continue enjoying himself. Suddenly, shopping had gotten a whole lot more fun; and that was probably thanks to her face flush. Uncrossing his arms, he moved to try and poke a clawed nail at her cheek, deadset on harassing her.

"Oh stop that, you and I both know that's a lie. Lookit yourself, you're blushing." He knew it wasn't a blush, he knew she was pissed, but when did knowing the truth ever stop him? Never, that's when. "Mmm...Still doesn't change the fact you're going to buy boy's clothes."

Her question was met with another one of his 'winning' grins (clearly, in this case 'winning' meant...he was winning, not charming). Why was he still here? Why indeed.

"Because you're my friend." He announced in a voice that was...rather happily sinister.

Magda's nostrils flared as she visibly tried to keep her temper in check. The last thing she needed was her literally launching herself at him in an attempt to strangle that annoying grin off his face because body parts would end up flying and she was certain it would be hers rather than his that would be flying. No more limbs taken hostage, thank you very much!

"I happen to be living in a very testosterone filled household. Of course I'll be buying boy's clothes. They just won't be for me," she evenly stated, though it sounded a half-octave shy of a shriek.

At his "friend" remark, Magda made a sound that was half-strangled and half-disgusted, with neither half particularly soft. "Oh that's rich, along the lines of with friends like these who needs enemies, huh? Thanks, but I'll pass on your so-called friendship," she narrowed her eyes before proceeding towards the shirts in an attempt to shake him off, futile as that may be.