Welcome to Gaia! ::

She would never truly understand why or how the hatbox had stood out to her that day. Considering how she had been spending that fateful day going through her grandparents’ attic and finding a wide array of rare and wondrous things, it typically wouldn’t make much sense that a hat box – an odd looking to be sure – could be so odd and out of place. Though out of place it certainly was. Enough to make Nita drop everything else to study it a lot more closely. Was it the shape? She had never truly seen one in such a shape before; like a smashed up cone that leaned off to the left a bit. No, odd as it was, that wasn’t it. For it seemed like that smashed look was the way it was supposed to look.

Maybe it was the lock at the bottom? Why on earth would a hat box need a lock? Was it made of priceless gems? Was it truly a cash box? Hard to say for sure if the triangular indenture at the bottom of the thing was a true lock, but what else could it be? It didn’t make any sense otherwise. And no matter how she turned the box, she couldn’t find any other way to open the thing. A frown tilted her lips as she began to shake it firmly a few times, then turned it around a bit, until something either happened or caught her attention. Not getting anything from the rattling, she was about to set it back down when she noticed something at the base, written in a hand she knew well. But there wasn’t good enough lighting in the attic to read it. So downstairs she went, trying not to let the fact that her mother still hadn’t responded to her earlier calling bug her too badly, the hatbox clutched tightly in an arm. Wouldn’t due to drop it, right?

In the brighter light of the hallway, she flipped the box upside down and looked once more for the writing she had seen. Close to the lock was a bunch of symbols that Nita recognized from the puzzles and riddles her grandparents loved to send her growing up. The language had been hard for the girl to learn but she knew enough to read it. ‘Do Not Open’. Eh? Nita’s head tilted in bafflement as she looked it over once more, thinking maybe she had gotten rusty and misread. But she was positive she was right and it said not to open it. Why on earth would they get something that wasn’t meant to be open? Yes, Upa and Mima loved to collect odd things but why this? It seemed rather silly to her until her eyes caught another set… oh, another note. ‘Poppet, Never Use The Key.’

Key? The word was formed on her lips, though no sounds came out. Old habits die hard. What key? Nita was never given any keys, to her knowledge, so why this note? It definitely made the box more interesting since it was addressed to her and she wasn’t about to leave it alone til she had it figured! Biting her bottom lip in thought, she fingered her pendant a bit as thoughts rolled through her brain. Had she been left a key along with the house and not known about it? To find out, she went to her new, and mainly unpacked, bedroom on the same floor. The hatbox was set down on her dresser so she could open her closet to find the last package she had gotten from her beloved grandparents before their untimely passing. Maybe the answers were in there? But the large box yielded no answers.

There was just the regular riddles Upa adored to send her, pictures, some books in different languages she just couldn’t read and that huge stuffed Chinese new year’s lion. No key or hidden messages or instruction manuals. Bummer! Shoving the box back into its corner, she grabbed the box and plopped herself onto her bed with a huge, albeit silent, sigh. This was making her brain hurt but she couldn’t just stop now. This was fun… if frustrating. What on earth was so important about this box that Mima would put a warning on it. She had never really spoken of anything dangerous in any of her stories… yet. But still… it wasn’t fair that there weren’t more clues! Sighing again, she leaned her head on the side of the box and closed her eyes. Okay… one step at a time. Upa always said that she got worked up too easily, so the obvious answers were always just out of reach. Think, girl, think! An odd click made her try to lift her head, frowning when she found she couldn’t pull back very far. Click? Had she really heard that? The more she tried the box away to see, the harder it tugged at her neck, which started to annoy her. But her pendant had gotten stuck to the box! No!!

As she struggled to get it freed, the box began to violently jerk in her hands and then burst into flames! Oh s**t! Screaming, though it was more like a painful sounding squeak, she violently threw the box away from her person, the thin neck chain snapping from the force. But, at that point, it went unnoticed as she watched the box continue to burn away, scorching nothing but the box, until it revealed its occupant and faded away. No smell, no smoke… nothing left behind but the hat. Laying on the ground was a somewhat crumpled red witch’s hat, the type that looked like the kind used for scary Halloween costumes. Didn’t seem like something they would usually get… unless it was a real witch’s hat. The thought alone was enough to dispel her earlier fear of the burning box and pick up the hat to look at her new prize. Since, it had to be hers now right? No way was she going to let her mom get rid of it! Her fingers ran over the thick stitching on the side, the deep grooves that gave it the appearance of eyes and its cloth teeth. Simply amazing! And now came the best part! Putting it on!

She so had to show her mom! Whenever she came back… from wherever she had gone. But she was grinning like an idiot as she faced her mirror and settled the hat onto her head. It wasn’t time for Halloween yet, that was months away, but planning for the outfit now couldn’t hurt right? Naaah. Well, it clashed with her somewhat dirty overalls and shirt she had worn for the day, but the coloring worked well with her. Oh yes, she was definitely liking this hat! But now enough to ignore the odd sounds she had been hearing, but ignoring. Turning to the right, so her good ear was able to pick it up, she headed out of the room and into the hallway. Was her mom home? Maybe that was the shuffling and thumping sounds she was hearing. Damn, she had forgotten her mini-recorder in the attic or else she would have used it to call out to the woman to be sure! No one else was supposed to be there but them after all…

It was hard to say what happened next. Least not by Nita’s standards. She recalled going down into the kitchens, rapping on the walls to let her mom know she was there… and going into the kitchen… and the blood… and seeing her father, her personal Satan, beating up her mother. She clearly recalled seeing him turn to look at her, snarling curses and hatred at her. She hadn’t even stuck around long enough to wait for him to move towards her, she ran. Up the stairs, crashing over boxes and various things, and into her room, trying to seal the door. But nothing would stop that man… she recalled cowering in the nearest corner as he advanced on her, waving his bloody hands and screaming… but that was it. The next thing she was aware of, she wasn’t in the house anymore. No, instead, she was walking away from it. But.. how.. what happened?! Dimly, she could hear the sounds of police sirens going towards the place and something else; the sounds of displeased grumbling. “Honestly, what a damn mess. Couldn’t you take care of this yourself? Pfft…”

Eh? Her good ear twitched as she suddenly spun her head in that direction, the sounds of a loud complaint coming next… and not just from the top of her head. Pain and nausea exploded from her body and she slapped a hand over her mouth. Like that was really going to stop the burning urge she now had and a poor, unknown corner of a street sign got marked in a truly disturbing way. Hacking brutally once it was over, used to seeing the red tinge on her skin afterwards, she weakly drew herself up when she heard a snort. “Now that was very uncivilized. What are you, girl, an cave rat? Street urchin? Puh, I bet no one bothered to teach you manners, hmm?” Where was this voice coming from?? “Oy. Can’t ya talk?” A thick red ribbon, the edges shredded to look like fingers waved before her eyes, making her nearly backpedal in fear. “Damn it, am I stuck with a mute?!” More grumbling and cursing before she reached up and grabbed the hat. “OOOOOOY!!! Let GO of me, ya dense bag of fluff!!!” Squeaking, she quickly did as commanded, finally noticing the blood that covered her hands… and the rest of her. It overtook the fact that a hat was talking to her.. or even able to speak at all. “Holy ‘ell, girl, you freakin’ over a tad bit of blood? It’s either that or death, which one do you prefer?”

Death? W-wha?! What had happened?! Damn, if only she could talk! And she was too scared to sign anything. But, maybe the voice in her head understood because he sighed. “You want to know? Turn around, girl, and go back. But understand this. If I hadn’t done it, you would have ended up as a blood smear on the wall. And that would have ruined everything.” Turning back towards the house, and not completely hearing the sirens as they zoomed past her, she weakly made her way back. But after this, there was no turning back. As the old saying goes, this was the first day of the rest of her life. And this horrid day of rebirth and death would fade from her mind until only one thing remained. Xavier had saved her that day. And that was all that mattered.

((May be edited later yes))

Meeting of Sanqui: THEIR Version

This wandering about was getting annoying... least, if anyone asked Xavier, he'd say so. Though, in all truths, no prompting was needed to get the large hat to complain about their lacking surroundings for a bit now. Nita didn't seem that affected by it all; actually, she found his complaining amusing. It earned her a few smacks about the shoulders and arms (since he couldn't see her face properly without a mirror to smack it) when he felt her shoulders and head shake from her giggles, but who cared about ribbon slaps, right? This new place was so different than the home they had left behind; a house she had seen every now and then in her dreams. Part of her wished to find this place but she couldn't very well make mention of this to him. He seemed hell-bent of something lately. Had been ever since they had awoken in that alleyway behind the Heverhills.

He didn't even know what the hell was tugging him so much, he claimed, but something was here for them to find. And find it they damn well would! Even if it meant that they spent each day wandering around the town to do so. Like today, it was the third day in which they were randomly wandering about and she was getting tired. Well, her feet were, but she was still curious of her surroundings. To an extent. It would be much better to enjoy it if Xavier wasn't complaining so much about it. Though, it should be noted that he had been silent for the past ten minutes, most likely brooding or mentally grumbling but she had heard none of it so far. But now she had a question she simply had to ask. So, out came her trusty recorder and with a few button presses, found what she was looking for. "How." click, click. "Much longer?" click click whiiirrrr.

The sounds snapped him out of his thoughts and he shifted a bit to take notice of where they were this time. Nita had manage to wander into a pretty ritzy looking part of town; where there were several houses spread out from each other, huge lawns, gates and private limos. The fabric 'brow' jacked up as he sneered a bit. "Where the 'ell are we?"

Click click, play. "No idea." There were no mirrors around so she couldn't sign to him. He couldn't see it so it'd be odd to do it. Turning her head from side to side slowly at his directions, she gave him a better look around. At the moment, they were standing before a gate to a home, the sounds of children playing close by easy to hear. Unable to help herself, cause Nita loved kids, she hurried over to see if she could catch a glimpse of who lived in the pretty house. Her little hands clung to the iron gates excitedly as she tried to peer everywhere she could. Such a huuuge estate! It looked like the place stretched out forever!

"Wot are ya doin', fluff-bit?" His tone was grumbling at best, cause it wasn't like he could stop her without smacking her around and she wasn't misbehaving.. per say. Yet. When they stopped at the gate, he looked at the house and snorted. What an ugly place. Gah, another waste of frikking space. Best to burn that piece of rubbish to the grou... hello. Just then, an odd looking tiger came rushing out front from somewhere in the back, a small boy chasing after it. Boy? What a freakish looking kid, what with his skull mask and... was that a snake?? In his Head?! That made him laugh a bit and Nita's gaze shifted upward as her head tilted. What was so funny? "Oy! Turn yer head upright!" He didn't want to see the world at an angle! Once she fixed the problem, he watched the odd child more.

Nita had finally seen the child and though he definitely looked weird, she still thought he was adorable and was cooing silently. Aww! He was soo tiny and cute!! And he had a moving... oh! The tiger had turned its head, noticed them and then stopped moving completely. And then, just like its strings had been cut, dropped to the ground in a shift and slide of wooden joints. The Curio and girl were baffled by it, though Xavier was wondering what kind of magick had been making the thing move. Because, though he had seen several odd things in this stupid place called Gaia, he hadn't seen anything as interesting as that. The boy, who hadn't noticed anything out of the two outside his house just yet, was kneeling next to the toy, shaking it and calling to it. Like he was trying to get it to wake up. Click click, play. "What happened?" Though the question was mainly directed towards Xavier, the small machine was surprisingly loud and reached the ears of the child, who finally looked up and noticed them.

"Good job, urchin. Now he's gonna come over 'ere and chat." Which, of course, was simply the most horrid thing to do. Talking to those of limited intelligence was annoying! Just like trying to talk to her sometimes. And once the child picked up his doll and made his way over, he smacked himself with a ribbon-hand and groaned. "Holy 'ell, why am I cursed this way?!" Nita, meanwhile, looked a bit uncertain as the child drew closer but couldn't resist waving. Even though he had an odd skull plate thing and a moving snake on his head, he was still too cute. Shocked was she when the kid easily waved back, not even seeing bothered by the strangers at his house as he stopped on his side of the gate and stared back.

" 'Lo." The child spoke easily, his bi-colored eyes looking them over curiously. "Who ya?" While he waited for some kind of answer, he shifted the doll a bit so he could look it int he face. "Is this why ya went ta sleep, Ranj?" Up close, he was still a strange one. Nita had never seen a child who had a moving snake on his head and a skull mask. His eye was a bit creepy too... but... he was still cute! But with this came a dilemma. How was she supposed to answer him? And before Xavier could open his mouth and say something mean?

Flailing a bit, she quickly began to sign something quickly before it really hit her that... he looked about two, maybe three! He wouldn't know sign!! Lament was heavy as she went to smack herself, Xavier wanting to roll his eyes - if he had any he could roll anyway - when the child giggled. Hmm? Had she done something funny?

"Nita, yeah? Thatta nice name." He was watching her curiously, moving a bit closer so he could stare at her hands. "Ya know sign too? Mum knows it and is teachin' us."

Well... well... that wasn't expected! Scratching her cheek a bit, she slowly signed. :You know sign?:

The child was silent for a bit as he stared at her moving hands before he nodded a bit, a cute grin curving his lips. "Yeah, not well. I be learnin', yeah? But.. I can understand it kinda... as long as it's slow and stuff... Ah! I'm bein' rude! I'm Sanqui." He planted a firm hand on his chest and stated it proudly, his little chest puffing out with pride. Xavier didn't even need to see Nita's face to know she was melting into a puddle of useless goo and he shook himself a bit in disgust. Honestly, children were nothing but hellish things that whined, complained and made a mess of everything! They weren't adorable, At. ALL!

razz leasure to meet you! Uh... Sanqui.: It was a strange name to be sure, but she supposed that a 'strange' child would have such an odd name. But he seemed rather interested in the movements of her hands so she couldn't help asking, :Want to learn?: Her lips still moved when she did sign so she hoped he could understand. He was the first tot she had ever met who seemed to really catch onto things as easily as he could.

"Yes! It looks pretty and Mum says it's a good thing to learn in case ya meet someone who can't talk.. or sumthin'." He didn't ask if she couldn't talk, it seemed a bit obvious, with the fact she was using sign off the bat. "Tho... uh... she may not like me learnin' from strangers..."

"Pfft, where is this so called mum of yers? Doesn't seem like much a parent if her runt can run about freely like that." Xavier just couldn't keep quiet anymore. Nita was gushing, it was disgusting and he wanted to continue on now, thank you very much! His 'hands' had already shifted to her wrists to tug her away from the gate when he noticed how the child was staring at him hard. Like.. staaaaaring at him. "Wot?! Ya got a problem with me, midget?"

"Yer talkin'... like really talkin'?" His eyes were glittering in what seemed like happiness and Xavier cringed a bit from it, but deep down, he was wondering about this kid. "Is that why yer all white?"

"White?" He snorted in irritation. "Wot are ya talkin' about?"

"Yer covered in white smoke." Sanqui explained simply, like it was common knowledge and suddenly Xavier was the stupid one. Though that part could have been Xavier feeling unsure about this brat and looking for things to make him pissy, cause pissy he was.

"So?!" As far as he was concerned, he was not covered in any sort of smoke or anything like that.

"Awesome! What's yer name?" He was... excited?! The child was bouncing up and down now, wanting an answer to his question. Why wasn't he creeped out? Most of the idiots turned and ran away once he started moving and talking. This.. this midget seemed... impressed? Nita was curious about how Xavier would respond so she looked upwards and waited. Since this was different for her to see. In all the time she had been with the hat, he was quick to insult and faster to dismiss. But no one had ever truly seemed to show an honest interest in him other than her.

"... Xavier." He didn't exactly want to give it out, but he had asked... wait! Wait, who the hell said he was nice?! He was being.. gag.. polite! Ugh, hellus, this was nasty!! "Ya didn't answer me question, midget. Why ain't ya leavin'?"

"Dun wanna."

"....." Nita couldn't help giggling at that and twitching, Xavier smacked her upside the head, guessing this time around cause he just didn't care right then. It wasn't an overly hard smack, he didn't suppose. He just wanted her to shut up! "Get lost, midget!"

"No, I live 'ere and I dun wanna." The skull child was looking at him curiously but he was grinning at the same time. It was like this little beast found him funny! How dare he! "Yer awesome! I wanna talk to ya more." Awesome... Xavier may not be sharp on all sense of current lingo, but he did get that he was being praised. And THAT changed things.

"Really now?" Smirking, a ribbon caressed the bottom of his hem as he pondered this child again. Maybe there was some kind of saving grace to him after all. Maybe... "Yer name be Sanqui, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Hmm... interested in becoming a minion?" Nita's head tilted all sorts of ways in confusion a the question and Xavier growled, "Wot did I tell ya about movin' yer bloody head so much, urchin!? Stop that!" And, with a faint squeak, she stopped and righted her head properly. Sanqui was watching this with a lost expression on his face but he was obviously paying attention. "If ya do, Nita 'ere can teach ya sign and wotnot." And having another soul to do his bidding would be an awesome thing indeed. Never could have enough minions, after all! Especially one who knew true power when he saw it.

"Minion...?" The skull faced child looked thoughtful and rubbed his chin a bit, seriously considering it. "Does it hurt?"

"No." Why tell him that if he stepped out of line, he'd get smacked a bit? Then he'd say no and that wasn't a pleasing thought to Xavier.

"Hmm... sounds like fun! And I wanna learn sign! When can I start?"

Hahaha sucker!! Xavier purred in pleasure, ignoring the waves of displeasure he was getting from Nita and seeing how Sanqui's attention got distracted and with how the hat was bobbing up and down, she was signing again. Ugh, what now, insolent girl!?

"Nita is sayin' that I am too young to do whatcha want. And that I should be older... aww that's no fun!!" Sanqui was pouting but still watching her sign and Xavier was now realizing that having this kid as a minion was now an even better idea! That way he could order his minion around properly and if she simply had to say something, then someone could translate! But something had changed in the child's demeanor. A smile was now on his face and he nodded. "ooooh that works!"

".... wot now?" He was so tired of being kept in the dark about this nonsense and it was stupid he had to ask this tot about Nita's words but how else was he to know.

"She says that she can come by and give me extra lessons and then this minion thin' can be later."

Come... back later?! Nita's head was given another smack as his frustrations mounted. Seriously, she failed as a minion sometimes! He obviously had been too nice to her... would have to change that. "We have thin's to be doin', urchin! We have no time for side trackin' to come out 'ere... wherevah 'ere IS, in order to teach this fluff anythin'!" She had no right trying to dictate anything to him, even if she DID have a point! The tot was too young for anything promising, but one of his rules was always start 'em off young. But the more he thought about it, he figured they did have some time. This area of the town seemed more.. interesting to him.. for the moment, so he debated reconsidering the request. The kid looked disappointed but whatever. Sighing and huffing to himself, Xavier shook himself again in annoyance. "Surrounded by insolence everywhere I go... seriously?! Hellus... Foine. Not like we don't have time right now."

The girl and tot seemed pleased with that and they both were bouncing happily in place while Xavier longed to cause murder. Whatever. If it got what he wanted in the end, he supposed he could allow some extra slack... for now, of course >>. So while Nita sat down on her side of the gate and Sanqui on his to start their first sign lesson, Xavier plotted. This child was odd, to be sure. And he'd get to the bottom of his oddness... and make him work for him. He had gotten Nita for a reason. And now this child was on his hitlist of conquest.