Welcome to Gaia! ::

There had been a scare on Vix, when Axle woke up with a strange color of skin and the knowledge that he was going to die from having sex with a strange creature. Again. He had gone to three different doctors before one of them finally realized what the problem was. He was allergic to alien hair.

But the scare had stuck with him. He hadn't gotten laid in almost half a year. That didn't mean he couldn't party, though, and he was proving it the best way he could. He slammed his empty mug on the table in front of him, smirking at the dwarf across from him. "Beat you," he said.

Ker wiped the foam off of his beard, putting his own mug down before he said. "You haven't beaten me until one of us is knocked out on the floor, Cap'n, and you know it."

"Get us another round over here!" the white haired air pilot yelled, earning laughs from his crew as the ship cook slammed down two more gigantic mugs in front of him and the first mate.

"If you die from alcohol poisoning, I'm not going to care," the cook drawled, much to the amusement of others. "You don't outdrink a dwarf, cap'n, you know that."

"I can damn well try," Axle said, grabbing the mug and downing it.

Which was why, he realized a bit groggily, Ker was carrying him to his quarters now. Somehow he had lost about ten minutes there, blacked out, or knocked out, one of the two. He grunted, noticing that his legs were being dragged from the knee down along the ground, since Ker was so short.

"I'mnodwunk," he protested, trying to stand. The world twisted around him and he gulped loudly, hoping not to puke all over Ker.

"You'redrunk," Ker said. "An--I--I'mperpectwy sover. Omer. Whaddevar."

The thing about being carried by a dwarf was, you didn't have to worry about falling. They could carry as much, if not more than a full grown man, and if you did fall, well, you didn't have that far to fall from. That, Axle told himself, was why he wasn't still trying to stand. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was 99.9% sure that it would be impossible to do in the first place.

But then Ker tripped over one of the mislaid boots on the floor, his shoulder slamming hard into Axle's stomach as he barely managed to catch his balance.

Axle's stomach gave in, spewing up all the beer and more that Axle had eaten and drunk that day. It went all over both of them, sticky and foul smelling.

"Awww s**t," Axle moaned as he was dropped to the ground. Ker just stood there, looking soggy and disgusted, as well as swaying back and forth.

"We gotta change," Axle said, reaching for the buttons on his shirt. "You change too. You reek, man."

"An' whose fault is that?" Ker asked darkly.

Axle grinned crookedly at him. "I... dun feel so good," he said then. And he promptly fainted, yet again. It seemed like just a second later when his eyes dared to open again, slowly focusing on a tiny, but well shaped female body from behind.

Without a thought he let out a laugh and grabbed her. Like it had been mentioned earlier, Axle hadn't gotten any in a while.

But that, he thought cheerfully, was about to change, too.

A villain. He was clearly a villain, Missy thought with a sharp look of anger on her face. And yet he walked into her house as if it belonged to him, and greeted her husband as if he were a brother! She shot a dark look at the leather clad man with the long white hair sitting on her couch, drinking a beer. That much leather was murder! And what was with the goggles? He obviously wasn’t flying a ship, so why was he wearing them?

The last thing she wanted was for Chris to get a look at that strange outfit of his and get ideas. There was no way she was going to let her little boy—well, not so little, especially now that he was a teenager—wear anything that was made of the skin of a dead animal! She pulled open the microwave and grabbed the bag of popcorn, pouring it with a bit too much enthusiasm into a bowl. Pieces went flying everywhere. For once, though, she ignored them.

“Haven’t seen you for a while,” Tyler said, leaning back in his chair and looking at Axle. “Not since you were discharged back when we were kids.”

Axle snorted, running a hand over his long, good looking face. “I didn’t want to come back,” he admitted, glancing over at the kitchen where a clattering noise was coming from. “Your wife?”

“Yeah,” Tyler said.

“You lucky b*****d.”

“You’re not lying,” Tyler said. “So what are you here for?”

“What? Don’t think I can just show up without a reason?” Axle asked. “To say hello to an old friend? Catch up?”

“You look like a pirate,” Tyler said. “Not someone that visits a middle class household for no reason.”

“Airship,” Axle said. “I’ve got one. I do some light transportation over on Gaia. Legal, before you ask. More often than not, that is.”

Tyler didn’t say anything, just waited. When it became apparent that he would have to start from the beginning Axle took a deep breath. “Look,” he said finally. “I have my own ship, my own crew, just like a little family, you know? We get drunk, we piss over the side. It’s clear cut and easy to understand. At least that’s what I thought until I woke up with—“

“Let me guess,” Tyler said. “Some sort of disease?”

“No!” Axle snapped. “With my first mate,” he muttered, looking down and covering his face with his hand.

Tyler just stared at him blankly. “I never knew you liked—“

“Stop,” Axle said, lifting up a hand, “before you say it, because I know what you’re gonna say and it’s half right, but not completely. He’s a dwarf.”

“So you are—“

“Not ‘he’ as in male, ‘he’ as in dwarves don’t use other pronouns,” Axle snapped. “At least that’s what he told me when I was hurling into the privy the next morning. I worked with him for five years and never even guessed.”

“Well something must have noticed,” Tyler drawled.

“He’s cute,” Axle muttered. “I always thought it was because he reminded me of a kid, with his size. But—“ he cursed. “He’s got a beard, dammit! Do you know how creepy that is?”

“That’s definitely more than I needed to know,” Tyler said.

“Vodka,” Axle summed up. “Lots and lots of vodka.”

“You’re two different species,” Tyler said. “I doubt you got… him pregnant, so what’s the problem?”

“I asked him that,” Axle said. “He said that he’s near a hundred years old and still doesn’t have a family of his own. He said that the closest he came to a family was me. You know how sad that is?” He jerked as a bowl of popcorn was placed on the table in front of him by a sad looking redhead.

“That’s so sad,” she said, looking close to tears as she dropped down next to Tyler. Tyler wrapped his arm over her shoulder, tugging her closer. “I bet she’s in love with you.”

Axle looked at her in surprise. She hadn’t liked him one bit just a moment ago, he thought before shaking it off. “I doubt it,” he said finally. “He’s just feeling his oats. He wants a kid, too. Said he’d quit and go back to the mines—“

“No!” Missy said. “She can’t do that! Just because you’re not able to do it the normal way doesn’t mean you can’t have a child! Look, I’ve got the paperwork somewhere for a shop—it’s where we adopted our son, Christian. And they have this program where you can put your own genetic material into the cabbage to have a child! It’s just—“

“You got a kid?” Axle asked Tyler blankly.

Tyler grinned, just a bit wickedly. “He’s a teenager now.”

“Wh—what? How?”

“He’s a cabbage kid.”

“How old is he, really?” Axle asked.

“Almost two years old,” Missy said. “He grew up a little too fast, actually.”

“You’re saying I could raise a kid in a year or two?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Tyler said.

An evil grin crossed Axle’s face. “That ain’t so bad,” he said. “It’d shut him up, too, now wouldn’t it?”

A villain, Missy thought once again. He was an utter villain.

They bought a plot of land near Axle's friend's place. They were going to park the airship there whenever they weren't driving around. Ker had no idea why that was. She also had no idea why she was going along with this crazy idea.

Oh, wait, yes she did. The instant that the dwarfs back home found out that she had had--had relations with a human, they would ban her from the tribe, giving her a small bag of gold and kicking her out the door to seek her own fortune. Not that Axle knew that. Axle was a moron who had no clue how dwarfs worked.

But then, oh, yeah, it gets worse. Now she had a vegetable that was supposed to turn into a dwarf. A cheap way of keeping her around to do the bookkeeping and fix the motor whenever it broke. Yeah, she knew Axle better than he thought. But it made sense. She was a useful crewmate that could make things more profitable.

That made sense, sure, but this made no sense whatsoever. She glared over at where he was smoking a cigarette, naked and barely covered by the sheets. "Why," she finally asked. "Are we here again?"

"What?" Axle asked, glancing over at her. "Wasn't it good for you, too?" He blew out a long stream of smoke, looking damn smug with himself. "I like the beard. I never thought I'd say that in my life, but damn--"

"This isn't a proper--it's not--you just don't DO this!" Ker muttered, feeling her cheeks turn bright red.

"Sure we do," Axle said. "We just did. Twice."

"Dwarfs aren't like this!" she snapped.

"So?" Axle asked. "Who gives a s**t if dwarfs are like this or not? You're like this. All that matters, if you ask me. And I haven't had any outbreaks yet!"

She snapped, jumping out of the bed and grabbing her ax. "So that's what this is about?" she demanded. "Sex without outbreaks? I'll make it so you don't have to worry about that ever again, if that's the case!"

"Wait-wait-waaaaiiit!" he yelled, scrambling backwards with hands up, then slamming them down over the sheets that barely kept him decent. "Now, Ker, you know that's not how it is! I just--we--"

She tightened her grip on her ax, then slowly lowered it, glowering at him dangerously. "I'm taking the vegetable," she told him. "And going back to the mines."

"What?" he asked. "No way! It's my vegetable too!"

"Ha, like you care if another dwarf is born," she muttered. It wasn't that she cared how the dwarf came into the world, actually. Dwarfs didn't find out how baby dwarfs came into the world until they were in their mid sixties, sometimes later. A vegetable was as good an explanation as any.

"You can't," he said.

"Why can't I?"

"Cuz there's a chance he won't be a full blooded dwarf," he said. "They took my information, too, remember?"

"So?" she asked.

"What?"

"Exactly."

"What?"

"So what?" she repeated. "If he's part human that just means he'll be a little taller than the average dwarf. Doesn't matter other than the headbanging part. As long as I raise him to be a proper dwarf."

'I didn't know that," Axle said.

"Now you do." And then she realized, abruptly, that she was standing in the middle of his room wearing nothing and holding her ax. She hadn't even thought about it. Heat flooded her face and the back of her neck and she moved the ax so it covered her chest. It was too late, of course, but he didn't say a word.

A booming knock made the door shake, alerting them both to who it was. "Cap'n?" Mortar called through the door. "I brought the lichen back."

"That's good, Mortar!" Axle yelled back. "Put it in its room!"

"Aye aye, Cap'n!"

Axle looked down, cursing as he realized his cigarette had burnt a hole in his sheets. "Come back to bed, Ker. We'll fight it out tomorrow."

"I'm fine with fighting at night," she muttered darkly. "And why in the hell should I come to your bed?"

He gave her a knowing look and she felt the urge to cut something off of him once again. The a**. She would never, never let him know she faced banning and had nowhere to go back to. Never.

"I'm just saying you shouldn't have told her all of that," Axle said as the two of them stormed into their ship. He had the cabbage in his arms, but he was paying absolutely no attention to it. His focus was on the dwarf woman that was turning to glower at him irritably.

"And what should I have told her?" she demanded. "That I've spent five years in space and on Gaia, and I don't know what her kid is? Everyone knows what a starmaker is if they've been past the Milkyway!"

"Yeah, but now she's paranoid about the fact that he's going to live so damn long!" he told her.

"Don't cuss in front of the ******** cabbage!" Ker bellowed at the top of her voice. As a group the crew dispensed from the main room of the ship, each having somewhere they suddenly had to go. "And whether or not she knows, it's still going to happen, right? She might as well know!"

He sighed, juggling the cabbage slightly as it grew heavier. It wasn't that much heavier, so he didn't really notice other than his physical reaction. Something tugged at the collar of his trenchcoat, so he reached up with his free hand and idly moved the tiny hand holding his coat away. "Not now," he said, still focused on Ker. "Look, you could have lied to her!"

The tug came again, almost making him fall forward, and he finally looked down. There, sitting in the cabbage in his arms, was a very impatient looking baby. Her tiny, pudgy hand was wrapped around the collar of his coat, and she had pulled him down far enough that they were eye to eye.

He blinked.

"Dwarfs don't lie!" Ker bellowed, not noticing his new little predicament. "I swear you're an idiot, you damn--"

"Not in front of the baby, honey," Axle said very calmly.

"Not in--what?" she demanded, thrown completely off guard. "You mean the cabbage?"

"No, I mean the baby," he said, breaking into a grin, even though he was almost bent over still. "Strong little thing, aren't you? Why don't we let go of Daddy's favorite coat, huh, baby?"

She grinned at him suddenly, making him gasp at the pure look of mischief on her face. "Da--"

"She's already talking!" he said, glancing over as Ker raced to them. He sat down on the couch, still in the baby's grasp. "Go on, say Daddy," he said encouragingly.

"Da--" the baby said again, her expression narrowing as if in great concentration. "Daaaa--"

"Daddddyyyy," he prompted.

"Daaaaa---"

"Daddddddyyyyyyyy."

"Daaaaaamn!" she said triumphantly. "Damn! Damndamndamndammmnnn!"

"I blame this on you," Ker said, still smiling and using a cheerful voice.

Axle gave up.

Toy Store!
Players: Ice Queen, Trinityblue
-------------------

Finally things felt right to the little luck dragon girl. Her hand touched the snake arm ling that was around her in an idle motion. Who knew that they actually had personalities? And that they were the source of good and bad luck...

Thinking of the bad luck one, Bastian, just made her unhappy. She didn't like him, but she wasn't about to take him from her sister, either. She couldn't handle it. But there was no point on thinking of that now. She had a little gift buy!

She walked through the toy shop, looking for the plush toys.

"Okay, but we can't tell your mother about this," Axle said, giving into the baby tugging on his jacket and pointing at the toystore.

"You can't tell who about this?" Ker asked, since she was right next to them, pushing the empty stroller.

"Nothingggg," Axle said, lowering his voice comically. "Let's make a run for it!" he said to Jordan, breaking into a jog and slipping through the toystore door before Ker could reply. She sighed and shook her head, heading for a bench outside the store to sit down. Shopping for baby things was exhausting. "You can sit down, Mortar," she told the troll carrying all the things.

"Oh t'ank da gods," he muttered as he dropped down like a rock.

Ah ha! Plushies! Rhye had found her goal of the toys. Her dad was actually waiting outside the shop for her. They had just had a 'work day', where she went to her dad's work place. That had been fun! She got to meet people, after all. She was usually shy and quiet when it came to meeting people.

And her sister hadn't been around. So, she thought a gift would be nice for her. She also had a bad habit of not paying to much attention to the world around her, or the people around her.

"Would you look at that!" Axle said as his baby girl pointed at the train that was right in the middle of the toyshop. It was an entire diorama, one that went all over the ship, through tunnels and over hills. She looked enthralled, and he was so busy noticing that that he almost didn't notice the silver haired girl he was about to run into.

"Whoops!" he said, pulling to a stop before he hit her. Then he cocked his head, staring at her curiously, and a bit rudely. "Excuse us," he said a bit belatedly. "Jordi's just seen her first train." And was trying to drag him towards it.

Rhye stepped back, looking up at the man and child curiously. Then she smiled. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going either." She then looked at the little girl and the train and grinned, stepping out of the way as she looked over at the train set. "Isn't the train great?" she asked the child.

The girl glanced over at her, giving her a toothy grin, then jumped as the train hooted its horn. Her eyes rounded in surprise, then she yelled, cheerfully, "Chu chu!!"

She did that a few times before tugging at her daddy's coat. "Down!" she demanded.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Down!"

"It's fine," Rhye told him. "They train isn't that high up." She didn't think the little girl could get to them anyway. And besides, she usually didn't talk to many people. It was time to change that, right? She stepped closer to where they were. "So you like trains, Jordi?" I'm Rhye," she added, smiling at them both.

Instead of going straight for the trains, because her balance wasn't that great just yet, the tiny little girl (barely over a foot tall) toddled over to Rhye and reached up a demanding hand. "Come!" she commanded, pointing at the trains.

"Jordan, say please," Axle said, inwardly shocked that those words had actually come from his lips. This little kid was messing with his head!!

She was so cute!! Rhye beamed at her, even if she didn't say please, and held out her hand for the little girl to take. And she was soooo tiny! She didn't even notice the father's reaction. "Okay!" she agreed easily.

"Pease," Jordan added belatedly, even as she tugged Rhye towards the trains. To tell the truth, Rhye was just her balancing toy, but she didn't bother to mention this. Her smile came again as the train came around the track again, tooting its horn again. She started giggling, almost falling over with it.

"Chu chuu!"

Rhye knelt down so that she was at a better height for the girl. She grinned at the giggles. "You really like trains, huh?" Then she looked up at the father. "Are you going to get her a train now?"

He sighed. "We live in an airship," he said. "Why trains?" He shook his head. Jordan ignored him blatantly.

"Chu chu! Chu chuuuu!" she called, watching as the train went away and trying to get it to come back. "Chu chuuuu!"

"Maybe something more her size," he muttered. "Mind watching her for a bit? I'll just be over there, looking at those... car things." He motioned vaguely to the corner, which was in sight of them.

"An.. airship?" Rhye blinked at that. People lived in such things? Now she wondered what it was like, only to be pulled back to what she was doing by the girls 'chu chuus'. "It'll come back, Jordi, watch!" she said, pointing at a tunnel that the train would come out of in its rounds.

She watched closely, as if thinking the girl was a liar, but then lit up like a candle when the train came out of the tunnel. She raised her arms and waved her firsts joyously as it sped on past.

"Okay," Axle said, wheeling a tiny little train car over. "This is the smallest they get, think it'll work?"

Jordan turned, breaking into a brilliant grin and tugging Rhye to the new toy.

Rhye followed-- actually she was dragged and had no other choice but to follow, or suffer a child unhappy. Not that she wanted to get away or anything, Jordi was cute! And soooo tiny! She was just like a little doll! Just.. not dressed up as such.

"What did you find?" she asked the girl's father, looking up at him.

"It looks to be a box on wheels," he admitted as he eyed the contraption. "But I suppose it looks enough like a train for her--"

Jordan climbed on, straddling the little train joyfully. It was just the right size for her! "Chu chuuu!" she said, rocking back and forth. The train moved a bit and her eyes widened as she realized the use of wheels. A devilish grin crossed her face and Axle suddenly realized the problem.

She was out like a shot before he managed to grab her, racing along on the little train, hell bent for leather. "CHU CHUUU!!!"

"Ah! Jordi!" Rhye exclaimed and took off after the little girl. If she broke something (or herself) there would be big trouble! And what if she rammed into someone? Not all people were tough like Chris! The little girl would probably hurt herself more than Chris if she ran into him like this.

She went out the door, sending off the alarm and making the teenagers behind the counter panic. But before she could go too far she ran into what looked like a rock. "Chu chu!" she said as the rubber train bounced back lightly. She ran into the rock again. "Chu chu!!"

"Oh, lichen!" Mortar said as he turned to look at her. "Dere you are!"

"We have GOT to get her that," Axle said.

Rhye pulled to a stop just before Mortar and looked up at him. He was HUGE! Huge like Chris! No wonder that didn't hurt him! She then walked up to where the girl was bumping into him.

"Hey, hey, Jordi, don't go bumping into people," she told her. Well, if they were going to get her this, they'd better make sure their house was bump proof! "Do you like your little train?"

Jordan gave her a wide grin, her eyes crinkling with it happily. "Chu chu!" she said joyfully.

"And I'll take that," Axle said, pulling out his credit card and paying for it. "Thanks," he added before heading out as well.

"So that's your daughter?" Dyer asked the dwarf curiously. They had started chatting while their kids were inside. "She looks like a handful."

"You're telling me," Ker said, shaking her head with reluctant amusement.

"Dad! Isn't she cute??" Rhye said as soon as she realized that he was here too. Her fluffy tail gave a little swish behind her. She glanced at Mortar again before heading back to the toy store. "I found what I wanted, let me get it and I'll be back," she told her daddy before racing back to the toy shop.

"So she's your daughter?" Axle asked as he walked out, pocketing his receipt. "She's a lot of help," he said as he fought the strange feeling of jealousy at the sight of Ker talking to the sharp, yet good looking man.

"She's one of them," Dyer said as he watched Rhye go. "My wife and I have twins, we adopted them. Ker says that your little girl comes from a cabbage, too?"

Wife, Axle repeated, wondering why he was suddenly relieved. "Yeah," he said. "She does."

Rhye came bouncing out after she bought the stuffed toy and candies for her and her sister. She was in a good mood now that she had met someone else new. This was a goood day! It was so nice to have a good day again.

Poor Kash... She shook that thought from her head as she beamed up at her dad.

"Liberty, right?" Ker asked Dyer as Dyer casually pulled Rhye into his side, ruffling her hair fondly. "I'll look into it."

"That's where Tyler works," Axle said, having heard the name before. "I think."

"Is he the starmaker's dad?" Dyer asked. "Christian?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's him," Axle said as he picked Jordan off of the train. "You're gonna break that on Mortar, honey, wait till we get home."

She pouted, trying to reach the train again. Bumping into Mortar was fun!

"Chris is fun! Jordi will like him. He's big like the guy holding all the bags," Rhye put in, enjoying her father's treatment. She liked being cuddled, after all! "So, she's from a cabbage too? That means' she's going to go to school sometime with Kash and I."

"Looks like it," Ker said.

"Chuuuu chuuuu!!!" Jordi wailed, desperately trying to get to her train. "Chuuuuuu!!!" she was close to tears by now.

"And it also looks like it's time for someone's nap," Ker said. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Maker."

"Call me Dyer," he said. "And likewise."

This, Jordan thought with joyous giggles, was the best idea she had ever had! Or something like that. At the moment she was busy enjoying the grated ramp that led to the lower part of the ship. Her train bounced wildly with the metal holes, threatening to toss her off the train. She loved it.

The train hit a flat spot on the floor and skid, almost slamming her into the wall. She giggled as it finally stopped, then promptly fell over, landing on her bottom on the metal floor, her diaper padding her from harm.

Curiously she looked around, taking in all the huge boxes that surrounded her, and how the light above her seemed to be flickering off and on, as if the lightbulb needed changed. She stood, still a bit uncertain in her balance, but since there wasn't far to fall she didn't mind.

She started toddling through the maze of boxes, her eyes huge with curiosity. No one had told her that this was down here! Well, actually no one had told her anything, so she guessed that wasn't that big of a surprise. Or she would have, had her attention not been completely dominated by the glowing, sparking machine in front of her.

It was the power core of the ship, not that Jordan would have known that. It looked like something out of a bad sci-fi movie, complete with tons of buttons and a gigantic glass ball mounted on a metal pole. There was a ball of light in the middle of the glass, and it sparked and fought against the glass that held it in. It was shiny!

She toddled forward, her tiny hands outreached, her eyes focused on the big red button that looked as if it shouldn't be pushed. Of course, Jordi being Jordi had to push it! She had to! It was BEGGING to be pushed!

And... it was three feet too high for her to push it.

She stared up at it, her eyes focused on how bright and red it was, on how it seemed to be lit up from behind, and she jumped, her hands reaching up as far as they could.

She didn't even get close.

Now usually in a story the baby would somehow get to the button, the count down to something huge and drastic would begin, and her valiant father would come along just in time to save the day. It was a time proved method that had been used in one degree or another a million times. But those babies weren't barely over a foot tall.

And they didn't have fathers like Axle Pryor.

"Jordi!" he yelled as he came down the ramp, his hands in his pockets. "Jordi! Where'd you go, sugar--oh, looks like someone had a bit of a crash, huh?" he said.

She turned, looking at him as he stepped into the room with tear-filled eyes. She jumped, reaching yet again for the button that taunted her so, to show him what she wanted.

"Oh, you wanna push the button, huh?" he asked.

"Button!" she repeated. "Button!"

He hesitated, looking both ways for a moment before he picked her up and held her to the button. She let out a little squeal of joy and promptly slammer her hand on the red button.

"Self destruction sequence in ten seconds," a voice droned over their heads. The lights turned red and started throbbing as an alarm rang out. The voice was doing the usual count down, as was expected of these situations.

"Ten. Nine. Eight."

Jordi was yelling with joy at the "party" her arms in the air. Had she been a little older she would have been counting down with the voice. As it was, she pretended she was. "Moo! Bawk! Chuchuu!" she called out joyously.

"AXLE!!" Ker bellowed from the top of the ramp. "Did you push the button again!??!"

"Three. Two. One. Have a nice day!"

The sound that blasted over the speakers was that of the greatest explosion in... well, weeks. The lights flared brightly and even Jordi covered her ears, expecting them to explode at any moment.

Then everything was back to normal. "I love that button," Axle said as Jordi looked up at him. "Hey..."

She cocked her head at him, waiting for him to go on.

"Wanna press it again?"

RP Log
------------------

Entertainment: Jordan meets Rook in the play area at the mall.

The Dwarf Don't Swim: Jordan meets Vox at the park.

Zoo Time
Players: Trinityblue, Ice Queen
--------------------------

After their weekend on the island, Kaeden was now back at school. He hadn't missed it what so ever, but at least today was different. At least today they weren't stuck in classes, but at a zoo. The only thing was: he got separated from the rest.

Now he was wondering around, looking for his class mates or at least someone he knew. Would he be left in the zoo over night? That.. that might be cool! He could eat hot dogs, and pop corn and things like that.

At the moment, he was headed for the petting part of the zoo.

The tiny little girl was picking a fight with a ram. It didn't help that her father was dying from laughter and her mother wasn't around at the moment. No, Jordan was at her best, glowering up at the ram dangerously.

"You bit brudder sister!" she bellowed, her tiny hands in fists at her sides. "You no do that! Is mean!"

"Baaaa!" the ram said just as irritably.

Kaeden stopped, looking at this scene for a moment. A tiny, little girl was telling off a ram? And the guy that was probably her dad was laughing about it. He didn't blame the older man. It was funny!

So, he walked up to them. "What the ram do?" he asked curiously.

"He bit brudder sister!" she told the boy, turning to jab a finger at the gigantic cabbage in a two seat stroller. "He say sorry! Now!" she demanded, turning back to the ram.

"Baaaaah," the ram said, obviously deriding this suggestion. As if he would apologize for biting a vegetable!

Kaeden was grinning now, seeing the humor in it. Cabbage kids, huh? That explained her short size! He looked over at the goat. "Think it apologized?" he asked the little girl, trying not to laugh as well.

"Hmph," she said, obviously not willing to agree that it was an apology. She gave it one last warning look before heading to the stroller to pat her cabbage. "Is okay now brudder sister, I made him sowwy."

"Brudder sister?" he asked now, watching the tiny girl. Hey, he was bored! Might as well find out what's going on! It will pass some time, after all.

"It's because we're not certain which it'll be," Axle said, picking up his little girl and kissing her loudly on the cheek. "You did a very good job protecting your little brother sister," he praised her. "But next time be a bit more careful."

She squirmed, giggling at the kiss and trying to get away all at the same time.

Family, right. It was so odd to see other families like this. He was glad not to have it, actually. It would just be embarrassing. "Right, so, cabbages kids? They gonna go to the School?" he asked, looking back at the cabbage.

"Not yet," Axle said. "Jordan's too young for school and we can take care of her during the day so we don't bother to send her. Name's Axle, by the way. This is Jordan and... the cabbage. And you are?"

"Kaeden," he answered, looking up at the man. "I'm here on a school trip. But kinda lost them, so, I'm looking around till I find my class," he explained. He didn't look at all worried about being alone in a strange place, all by himself.

"Well Kaeden, you want to walk with us until you find them again?" Axle asked. "I doubt Ker would mind--"

A short, muscular dwarf stepped into sight, clad in leather shorts and a white t-shirt. It was impossible to tell if it was a male or a female, because it had two long braids of a beard down its chest.

In other words, those that didn't know dwarfs would think she was a male. "And what won't I mind?" the dwarf demanded in a deep husky voice.

"Er--" Kaeden responded, looking at the dwarf. NOW he was weirded out. Was that... a guy? It had a beard, and he had only seen guys with beards. But... if this was Ker, wasn't Ker supposed to be a girl? Wasn't that how families worked?

Wait. Cabbage. Cabbages meant it didn't matter. It still weirded him out, however!

"Mama!" Jordan said, reaching for Ker urgently.

"I'm abandoned so easily," Axle said with a sigh as Ker took the little girl from him.

"Pretty much," Ker said. "And who's your new friend, kiddo?" she asked her daughter.

Jordan looked blank. Obviously she hadn't been paying attention to the introductions.

"Uh, I'm Kaeden," the skunk boy answered, still looking at the dwarf oddly. Mama? So... was it male or female?? He still didn't know! A little kid could still call someone mama even if they were a he.........

Right......? He wasn't sure anymore!

"Don't worry, kid," Axle said quietly. "It took me five years before I figured it out." Then he raised his voice. "Kaeden here got separated from his class, so I offered to let him walk with us until we found them again."

"Or we could go look for them and keep him from getting in trouble," Ker said logically.

"Train!" Jordan said, oblivious to the problems at hand. "Chu chuu!"

Kaeden gave him a blank look. Then it clicked. Ker was a girl?! NO WAY! But then, he also didn't know that about dwarves. Maybe she had been a cabbage kid that was now an adult too.

Kinda like how Chloe, Jake and Tock were. "But, if I go lookin for them, then I'll miss the other things in the zoo," he said as if that made perfect sense: if he was here, he should enjoy it. "Sides, they're here some where."

"Will your parents get mad when they find out?" Ker asked.

"Trraaaaaiiiin," Jordan said, pointing as the little zoo train went past. "Train train!" It was obvious what she wanted to do next.

"I--" Kaeden started, then blinked. "I have no idea. Chloe'll probably get mad if I get left here," he said. Then he looked at the tiny girl, who seemed to fit better in her mother's arms. He was still getting used to the fact Ker was a girl.

Anyway, she was going on about a train. He looked at it, a little reluctant to end the hunt so soon. "Well........ The train's an idea. I guess we could go on it, around the zoo, and I could get an idea of where they are."

"If we get on it now she's never going to let us get off," Axle said, shaking his head. His daughter pouted at him, her big brown eyes threatening to fill with tears. "Okay, just to the next section, though, got it? Then we see the lions."

"Otay," Jordan said. "I saved brudder sister!" she bragged to her mommy.

"You did, did you?" Ker asked. "And how'd you do that?"

"The goat wanted to eat it," Kaeden said and stuffed his hands in his pockets. The fact he wasn't supposed to hang around with strangers didn't even hit him. They weren't strangers, since they had cabbage kids.

He waited for the family to gather their things to head for the train to follow them.

"Kids under three get on free, right?" Axle asked as they got to the counter. "Both of these are under three years old."

"What? He looks ten, at least!" the lady at the counter said, pointing at Kaeden.

"Yeah, but he's a cabbage kid. That means he grows a lot faster than normal kids, right, kid?" Axle asked. "How old are you?"

"A year?" the skunk boy offered up. He was bad with things like that. He was a kid, what else was there too it? "Maybe two."

But this was new: you could get away with things that dealt with ages, if you did it right, being a cabbage kid! It was a good thing they didn't deal with height!

She sighed. "Okay, okay, just don't mention this to other people, got it?" she demanded as she handed over the wrist bands. "You're just lucky that I know a few people with kids like that, you know."

"Thank you kindly," Axle said, grinning at her and handing out the bracelets to everyone. Then he boarded the train, taking the stroller up as well and offering Kaeden a hand.

"Chuu chuu!!" Jordan cheered happily.

"I'm good," Kaeden said as he climbed into the train. he was an island kid. They were used to climbing in this and stuff like that. Not that Axel knew, of course, but that didn't make much difference.

But he did turn to Ker who was carrying Jordan. "Need any help?" he asked her. A little part of him wondered why even offer. He ignored it.

"You want to carry her for a bit?" Ker offered, handing over Jordan, who didn't seem to care in the least. She was on a train! SO COOL!! "Chu chu! Chu chuuu!" she said, joyfully.

"I'll, uh, get her on the train?" Kaeden said. He wasn't sure about little kids, but took the tiny girl anyway, so that she could see things. She was so short, the sides would prevent her form seeing.

Okay, this was weird.

Jordan grinned up at him and reached up to pat his cheek fondly. "Train!" she said, pointing at the train they were now on. "Yay!"

"You'll probably want to sit next to the railing," Axle said. "But keep a firm grip on her because she might want to explore." Ker now had the cabbage on her lap and was making herself comfortable.

"Yeah. Then I could also look for my class," Kaeden said as he took the railing seat. Then he hooked his fingers on Jordan's clothes to have a hold on her. Last thing he wanted was to be responsible for a kid falling.

She turned, sitting on his lap with a tiny "plop". She looked quite happy right where she was, but that wasn't too surprising. So far she hadn't minded any of the people she met other than that one baby. And besides, she was on her most favorite thing in the entire world.

Axle sat across from them, his long legs taking up most of the space between seats. "So Kae, you go to that Liberty school?"

"Yeah," the boy replied, having no real manners enough to add a 'sir' to it. "And so do my friends. It's good." As far as schooling went. He still hated it, and preferred to go else where. But they were going to the island on the weekends... so, he supposed he could suffer it.

"That's where we're going to send Jordi when she gets old enough," Ker said. "Our neighbor's boy goes there, as well. Do you know him? His name is Christian." Although they hadn't met him yet, either. But it would be interesting to hear how others felt about the starmaker boy.

Jordi was happily watching all the animals as the train started chugging down the track.

"Christian?" Kaeden tilted his head, trying to-- Blue eyes lite up as he remember the guy Polly was friends with. "Oh! I know him. big guy, right? Yeah, he's cool," he replied with a grin.

"We haven't met him yet," Axle admitted. "But we're looking forward to it. He's been on vacation this week."

Jordan, the only one who had met Chris, didn't remember a thing about it, since she had been a cabbage at the time. But for some strange reason she started to sing softly to herself. The words made no sense, but she seemed happy with them.

"Elllyfants!" she said abruptly, pointing at the huge mammals as they rode past them. It was official. Trains were AWESOME! You got to see elephants on them!

"Huh?" Kae asked, then looking out to the elephants. He did a double take as he spotted the kids in his class there among the crowd. "Wellll... Looks like I know where to go, once this is done. That's my class," he said, inclining his head towards the group.

The train pulled to a stop a few seconds later and let them off.

"Nice to have met you, Kaeden," Axle said as he took Jordi from the boy. "I'm sure we'll see each other again, since you and Jordi will be going to the same school."

"Bah bye!" Jordi said, waving at him then trying to climb back into the train from her father's arms.