Welcome to Gaia! ::

With all the activity going around Timka sure had very little time to truly attend to all of the guests, but awww, how could she not spare a few minutes to go and welcome the dandy duo to the party, ne? With a bright smile, ears swivelled their way attentively, the Ruska waved at them, and immediately came over to offer them something nice to drink, like the others. As she busily scuppered about she truly couldn't help stopping by again to rise up tippytoes and give her dear fiancé another nippy peck on the cheek there. Giddy much?

In the meantime Misha had kept an eye on his younger siblings, with the gentle attention of a daddy wolf, letting them get to know each other but for now taking the background. Ears alert and eyes open he would make sure nobody accidently ran into the small thingies huddled on the soft floor now.
With a chuckle he wondered if any of the ones he hadn't seen in a while but met before would notice how he'd changed since last time. As it was, he was quite pleased they seemed to be more curious about each other. Just the way he liked it. Now, back to pondering how to get Feodor to melt a little. Maybe Orpheus would get him to join the merry band?

~

Decidedly inconspicuously, not strange but rather rare a manner compared to his usual hard-laced presence, Banning had at last come to join them. With quiet steps, nigh inaudible even for Misha on the padded staircase, he had made his way into the reception hall, and now stood there by the edge, silent, distant. His hawk-golden eyes scanned around briefly, and he nodded to himself quietly as he registered each and every presence in the room, allocating them name and background as he counted. His gaze lingered on Feodor for a short while, but he did not allow himself to let that last longer than a second at most.

He had already gone over all of them by the time Timka noticed him, her ears briefly pricking up. Not sure if starled, not sure if worried. This wasn't much like him, the Boss she and Misha had come to know wasn't the sort of person to keep to the sidelines, not when he had guests to greet. A glance was exchanged between her and the Duke -a question, a calm nod; something hidden within that she didn't have the time for to pry into right now.
Eventually Timka let the befuddling moment pass, handing Verdant his drink and for a moment slipping into confused silence when she glanced over at Banning again. What the...

So much going on, here… Elst sipped at his drink as he took in all the events surrounding him, smiling serenely as Longway gave him a kiss. He hadn’t noticed Banning just yet; he was having enough trouble keeping track of all the easily noticed things all over the place, yet alone someone who was keeping themselves subtle. Oh look, another new pair of faces; a teenager and an essentic he’d never seen before had just walked in.

Aoi, on the other hand, had taken quite acute notice of Banning’s presence; he was unable to see the benefactor of the gathering, but could certainly sense his mind. Odd thing was that he seemed to be keeping to the sidelines, how strange, why would he do that? He never seemed shy before now… but, what is that he was holding. Aoi stretched out the sensors of his telepathy; he wasn’t particularly good at distinguishing colors and the like with his mind’s eye but he could feel out shapes, and it seemed Banning was holding a feather, hm…A quill? Not the right shape for that, no... Couldn’t be the feather of…no, that can’t be right, nah…we’ll think about that later. The Alter allowed his attention to return to the impling before him. “Ah, yeah, it’s been a while, huh. Good to see you again, and to meet the new addition…” He smiled towards Nyx.

Feodor was a little too busy panicking over the possibility of impending hugs to notice Banning’s glance…at least his humanoid half was. The arachnid portion seemed quite observant, in contrast to its counterpart, and…was it looking at Banning? It was hard to tell, exactly, but it seemed to return Banning’s look.

“Master, please hurry. I would not like to be as late as we are already,” the fox-like proto murmured, comfortably slithered around the woman’s neck.

The video game designer continued at her leisurely pace, her long strides more than enough compensation for her speed. An arm clung to the strap of her black messenger bag while the other naturally draped at her sides. “Rushing will only cause more problems rather than solve them,” she answered offhandedly, keeping her gaze focused on the oncoming citizens. “The manager’s decision to keep me in overtime was merely a decision that could not be avoided.”

Her hand slipped into her bag and pulled out a white piece of paper with neatly-printed directions. “The theatre hall should be nearby.”

She felt the proto eagerly whip its tail and Flare softly smiled, her gaze flickering to the fox’s heterochromatic eyes before eyeing the entrance. Somebody’s eager, but that’s not so surprising. I’m quite curious myself. thought Flare as she entered the hall, arms protectively crossed as she eyed the people that loitered the hall, keen to discern the number of those that had entered into contracts similar to her own.

As Fenn’s hold on her neck loosened and it glided to the floor, floating towards a nearby proto, Flare idly followed the fox, taking in her surroundings. Not too many people, but not too little either. She eyed the various creatures that accompanied their contractors. For a brief moment she wondered if it would be a breach of contract if she based video game characters on the wide assortment of protos gathered in the theatre hall. It kindled the embers of creativity in her mind.

"Yeah, I'm glad to see that you're doing well..." Shade followed Aoi's gaze to Nyx, that to see that the proto was mingling well with the other Essentics. "Mom's taken a liking to Nixie too." Apparently, the little proto had picked up a nickname during its short time in the apartment. "She likes to dress her up and stuff."

Nyx nodded, though the it was wondering how it was that Ro didn't have the ability to speak. Had something caused that? Or did the other little proto just not like talking? The proto thought of asking, but was distracted by the appearance of Chéri. It nodded in agreement with Rahk's statement before asking, "What's your name?" She quickly sensed the approach of yet ANOTHER Essentic and turned her head, trying to find where the source of the presence was coming from.

Shade was caught off-guard by the sudden hug that he received and quickly looked in Orpheus' direction. The boy soon smiled softly when he saw who it was though. "Hey Orpheus. We're both fine; we've only been here for a little while." Good lord, he was hyper; had someone given him a whole box of candy before coming here or something.

"Hi, Orpheus!"

My, my, what unexpected eloquence. The young dancer sure outdid the others in terms of chattiness, no matter how awkward he might feel. Little Nyx was doing perfectly well as the little bobble of small girl that she was, and Rahk and Ro were perfectly a-okay the way they were as well. Don't be mistaken, not many had managed to meet before, and apart from Misha they were only about a year old at max. He was the only fully grown one around for the time being, but surely his eldest siblings would soon be ready to follows after~? Aoi, Rhian and her genderless sibling, Orpheus and Uzi...

Thinking about how exciting it would be for all these young Protos gathered around to grow up, find their way and hopefully be able to live out their Purpose, Misha surveyed the 'toddlers' smiling mellowly. How odd, how he found himself needing to talk so little. Everything seemed to be going well, they all seemed to be doing alright, conversation was happening... Only Feodor was a little out of it, but that was no surprise. Skittish ickle spider just needed some time, hm. Lots of it.

After having cast the telamancer another glance, Misha let his gaze travel back to the ones closer to himself, and ended up observing Chéri for a while. Hm, sturdy thing it was, from the way it talked rather clearly male, how amusing. It had only been a few days since his owner had happened upon Life Essentials, and in such a short time he had emerged already? My, maybe that theory about Essentics growing faster when close to others WAS true? That would also explain why Misha'd taken so long to first emerge and make it to Alter stage, almost a year that'd taken.
Shaking off that trail of thought once more -sheesh, he wasn't here to daydream, really now- the bunny Essentic gave his now shorter ears a flick, his forehead chakra flashing up into a mild ray of sunshine for a split second, and he went back to watching the dancer.

___

Timka was kept busy making sure people knew where to get seated and had drinks and crackers and cookies available more than enough, but luckily she didn't get so swamped in new arrivals that she didn't have the time to swoop by for a moment and set down a low table -mere inches high- down on the floor beside the small group of Essentics, and get a nice layout of cookies and crackers and some nicely cut-up vegatables all set up for them. "Enjoy that peepsies~" and off she was again, cat-tail whisking merrily.

Still offside, Banning seemed to be snapping out of whatever funk he'd gotten himself into, facial features drawing into a miffed frown. He did not seem to be pleased about the way his hands fumbled with the feather, trying to stow it away, but continuously removing it from wherever he pondered to put it. In the end, with a more than dejected smouldering glare at nothing in particular, he petulantly stuck it behind his ear and crossed his arms, to finally be able to look around and get an overview over the attendants. If they remarked about the feather he might take an eye out, from the look of it. Screw everyone, nobles are allowed to be eccentric.

Josev took another reserved sip of his drink, enjoying the flavor for a moment before responding. ”Oh, nothing to apologize for, we’re in quite the distracting setting, after all…” He found himself grinning, slightly. “We’re both doing very well, thank you…though Feodor here is finding it difficult to adjust to this vibrant scene…how have Orpheus and yourself been?” Feodor, in the gentleman’s arms, had begun moving a little; he had carefully removed his small blue crochet hooks from the ‘belt’ around the spider’s belly, and the spider itself had begun spinning thread. A new…something was in the works, perhaps a blanket or a scarf?

Aoi was distracted from Shade for a moment, as he sensed Orpheus’ incoming presence, and…what in the world was he wearing? Energy seemed to be practically radiating off of him too; what had Verdant fed him? He was brought back to attention as he thought of Banning again, however, and he looked at Shade, then Orpheus. “Hm, sorry, but…excuse me for a sec, I need to figure something out…” With no further words, he headed towards Banning, stopping for a short moment to give Orpheus a warm hug, before making quick work of getting to the feather-holding man. He paused a moment, however, not at all sure what to say.

Elst remained where he was, on his own, inspecting the crowd around himself serenely.

Rhian was late! Horribly, horribly late, but Mama had needed help with all of the little ones, and the dogs had gotten in the garden and she's wanted to try and help fix that - and try to salvage the clothes that the silly things had shredded in the process - and, well. . . Rhian knew that Lauss wouldn't be coming, he'd been gone for so long. . . so that made the party a lot less appealing to her, for some reason. What use was a party if Lauss wasn't there? Nevertheless, she's decided to come anyway, even if she was ridiculously, horribly late.

"Hello? I'm sorry I'm late," she called out to the general gathering as she entered, looking around curiously as she did , hoping that she would spot a familiar face or two. Maybe even Lauss? No, not Lauss. Lauss wasn't here. Lauss wouldn't be here. . .

No, she had to enjoy this party, drat it! She was the happy one, the ever-happy little flutterby that made everyone else happy! She couldn't mope about forever!