Welcome to Gaia! ::

The door of the office building was pushed open with a soft grunt as Sajhiri shouldered her way inside. She wasn't paying overly much attention to her surroundings, as her eyes were scanning over a piece of paper in her hands. The confusion caused by the note from Karma asking her to come to this address for a 'pickup' was written all over her face, from the furrowed brow to the pursed lips.

A pale face poked in the egress after she passed, a hand adjusting a pair of spectacles balanced on a non-human nose. Saedare called after Jhiri, "Do you want me to give Rebecca her bottle, mother?"

Sajhiri blinked and turned to look at the Aduthule woman and she nodded after a moment. "Oh, yeah sure, hon. I'd appreciate that. If she starts screaming, you can put her in the stroller and head around the block. You know how she hates the truck if it's not moving."

Saedare smiled and disappeared back outside where a large silver truck was parked.

Another pair entered into the shop a moment later, Youko glad that at least this time he didn't have to grab Kaeru by the collar to make him stop and shuck off his coat and shoes. The boy seemed to be used to this routine by now... although he still hadn't gotten used to putting them in the right place. Instead, he left coat and shoes in a heap before springing into the main waiting area and immediately diving INTO the toybox that waited on the other side.

"BANZAIIIIIIIIII!!!" he screeched, sending plushies in a spray around the box as Youko winced and picked up the boy's shed clothing.

Somewhere within the depths of the Fourth Wall building, there was the sound of a door opening and then closing.

Karma came to the conclusion that she was getting to the point where she was, as much as she hated to say it, getting too old to pull all-nighters constantly. But the paperwork was all in order, the phone calls had been made, the eggs had all been checked, and now, she decided, she was going home to take a nap before starting all over again.

The foxcoon slunk down the hallway toward the waiting area, one ear lopped over in exhaustion and the dark rings under her eyes hidden by her mask. As she drew near, however, the sounds of voices caught her ear.

...visitors. Crap. Quickly, she veered off into the bathroom, cracking the tap and splashing her face with cold water in an effort to jolt herself awake. It worked....sort of. It was enough to bring her back to alertness, at least. Too much water, and she'd look like a drowned rat.

Pausing to towel the beads of cold water out of her fur, she headed back out to the waiting area to greet the people.

Andraste petted her belly and stared at the little otter, who was rubbing his nose in a strange manner. "I feeeel...people." He said and pushed one strand of his black hair out of his face to see better.
The mother didn't dare to mention that this feeling could be a result of seeing people enter the building, so she just kept silent.

Jacosa was wearing a funny new pocket, which was yellow and fuzzy and was much too girly for Andraste's likings. He loved it though and there were some crayons and paper inside.

They entered the building and the otter grinned. "Said people are here. HEYO !" He screamed and suddenly noticed that some of them were even familiar.

And, unaware of the other presents, Zero was slowly making her way torward the center on foot, with Ronen carefuly nested in his coat and on her shoulders, which probabely was a fact that no other would be able to reproduce, since, well... Ronen was not exactly a feather.

The plan was to go see Karma... to chat a bit and show her that Ronen was doing well, and then go catch a bit to eat. The reploid had spotted a vegetarian restaurant which would probably fit the dinosaur's tastes to perfection, and the loss of one meal worth of meat wouldn't kill her.

Sajhiri moved to the front desk where she signed in. Sayuri's hello made her turn in surprise. "Say?" she asked in surprise. She'd not seen Sayuri since dropping a few rambunctious gargoyles into her lap around the holidays. "You have some idea what...this...place..." her words trailed off as she lookd down at the little fox walking on it's hind legs. She was no stranger to anthros, but babies made her doubletake at their cuteness.

The Banzaii-ing Kaeru made Jhiri jump before she chuckled and looked towards Youko. "Long time, no see, my friend. Is that little fellow yours?" The addition of the otterling and Andraste made Sajhiri's brow further furrow. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Are all these kiddos from this place?"

Youko snickered, moving to hug Sajhiri lightly as he nodded. "Yep, the hellion in the box is mine. His name's Kaeru and yes, he came from this place. Karma brought him to me just before my birthday this past summer." He stepped back then, lifting a brow as he let a grin spread across his face. "And I'm guessing that if you're here, you're about to get one too. Congratulations!"

At last, Karma arrived in the waiting area, smiling and doing her best to be pleasant as she scanned the people who had arrived, recognizing most but not all. Her eyes fell on the dark-haired woman whom Sayuri and Youko were speaking with and she racked her brain.

She'd made an appointment with someone today amid all of her phone calling and filing. It was fortunate they had all shown up when they had, or she likely would have forgotten about it completely and gone home to zonk out, leaving the poor lady in the lurch. Maybe investing in a planner might not be a bad idea...

Crossing the waiting area, being careful not to step on small tails, flippers, hands, and the like, she approached.

"Sajhiri?" she tried amiably. If it wasn't her, the worst she could do was fix her with a strange look and say no, after all...

Before Andraste was able to even greet somebody, Jacosa had already spotted the fennec fox and squealed. "I-Knee !" He toddled towards her quickly and almost pushed his pocket onto her nose. She so had to see and like it. "Lookit !"
Of course he had also noticed that the cool flying frog guy was there and...there was someone else as well. Someone blue. He stared at the boy for a moment.

Andraste blinked and then waved at Sayuri and Youko. She knew those two. For a moment she turned to her belly and then decided to walk towards the other grown-ups. "Hello." The woman greeted and smiled slightly. "Looks like everyone had the same idea." A chuckle escaped her lips as she saw Sajhiri. Another victim.

And it was at that moment that the blue-haired woman entered the door, and her eyes whidened a bit.

"Well, who-ah." She commented, clearly having not expected to see so many people here. Maybe it would be better to come back later, but Ronen had been looking forward to this... Beside, there seemed to have plenty of kids his age.

"Allright, down weee goooo~~" Zero ducked down, and Ronen gave a surprised yelp at first, but it quickly turned to a little giggle and squees of delight as she disloged the dinosaur boy from her shoulders and helped him take off his coat. "Stop wriggeling, cutie, or ill't take longer."

He pouted a bit, but compeled, his tail waving back and forth calmly until he finally was free, and rushed to the otter boy. "Hi !"

Sajhiri's jawdrop was Stooges-worthy in its comedic potential. Youko and Sayuri's indication that she was here to get a baby left her gobsmacked. After a moment or two she managed to shake off the shock. "You're sure? I mean...well I wouldn't mind another little one around the house. With the rest of the Menagerie all grown up, Rebecca could really use another little one to play with." She glanced out the window to make sure her biological daughter wasn't making her adopted daughter's life a living hell inside the truck. Seeing all was in order, she scanned around the room quickly filling with little ones. "Where in the world do they come from, though? Is there a part of Gaia that evolved differently? Or are they from somewhere else? They're so darling!"

At Karma's address, Sajhiri turned to the foxcoon and smiled. "Um, yes, that's me. I received a message to come here for a pickup?" She looked a little confused, but a bit excited at the prospect as well.

Youko stepped back to let Sajhiri talk to Karma on her own, the grin not fading in the slightest as he fully recognized that 'poleaxed' look. He knew it intimately, it was the same look he'd had when presented with Kaeru. Speaking of Kaeru... He turned then, eyes widening as he darted towards the boy. "NO!"

Kaeru stopped dead, mouth open as he paused in his attempt to catch a fly that was buzzing against the window. It had just been SITTING there, and obviously it didn't have a long life expectancy. "WHAT? I was just gonna taste it..."

"No eating bugs outside the house," Youko reminded him, sighing inwardly. It was bad enough he liked to gross out his sisters by munching on bugs. He didn't need to worry about what the boy was flicking up with his tongue everywhere ELSE.

Karma's smile widened a notch at the response she recieved and nodded. "Yes, follow me please?" she asked, beckoning Sajhiri to come with her as she left the waiting area and headed to the left, down the hallway.

She made a mental note to herself that what she really needed to do was get some new toys for the waiting room. The kids were getting bigger every time she saw them and one toychest with a few odds and ends was not going to cut it very soon.

Jacosa huffed as Aini didn't recognise the most marvellous bag/pocket/carry-around-thing ever. He was just about to speak as the blue one came over. Was he a dog ? No...doggies had fur. A brown paw scratched the small one's head before he started to smile. "I Cosa, that I-Knee. You ?"

Quickly he opened and closed the plush pocket to show Aini how great it is and that everybody was supposed to like it. As he noticed Kaeru though, he was quite amazed. "How does taste ?"

Andraste blushed and nodded slightly. "Yes, I am..." It took her while to say the word. "Pregnant." She grinned and looked at her feet. "Jacosa will get a sibling quite soon."

"Ronen." He answered, pointing at himself, his nose wriggeling a bit at the thought of eating bugs. Bugs weren't for eating, ewwww...

He didn't comment on that, however, as he plopped sitting on the ground, and mimiced Jacosa's movement with a giggle, then peered as he worked with the pocket, visibely more than a bit interested in the sound it made.

Zero decided it was better to keep herself sillent, at least until Karma was done with the other woman, and simpely sat nearby.

Sajhiri gave Sayuri and Youko a little wave, her eyes lighting up, before she turned to follow the proprietor down the hall. The seraph wrung her hands a bit in anticipation, feeling her heart pound. "This is really interesting. I hadn't really thought about another baby, but now that I think about it, my daughter really needs another little one to play with, and I miss having a pile of youngins about. I'm happiest taking care of babies."

She smiled warmly, her eyes flitting about curiously as they passed the doors.

"I'm glad to hear it." the foxcoon replied just as warmly as Sajhiri's smile. "Its always nice knowing the children are going to good homes. I always worry that there'll be a time that one will come through and have no takers..."

Karma paused at the third door on the left, turning the knob gently and pausing to look over her shoulder at the dark-haired seraph, lowering her voice a bit.

"So far, this one seems really cooperative. He came through the rift and went right to sleep. I called you right after getting him settled in one of the cribs, since you didn't list a particular preference on species. He was still napping last I looked" Saying so, she eased open the door slowly so that she wouldn't startle the little angel inside.

The 'little angel' however, seemed to be wide awake and busily gnawing on the corner of the powder-blue blanket Karma had tucked around him the last time she'd been in to check on him and still found him snoozing. He'd apparantly been working hard at it, too...the fibers were frayed and soggy and the little silver lamb didn't even look up as the two women entered.

"They're good," Kaeru whispered, sidelong to Aini and Jacosa as soon as Youko's attention was elsewhere. He WAS a frog, after all.. and frogs ate bugs. HE liked them. As he watched Youko walk away, he waited until the fox's back was turned, then let his tongue zing out, catching the unsuspecting fly and reeling it in again almost as quickly. It was an instantaneous reaction, and within a span of a second, he was sitting there in the toybox again as if nothing at all had happened.

Sajhiri tiptoed in behind Karma, expecting a snoozing baby, and instead found herself staring down at a wide awake ball of fluffy wool. She blinked, both brows heading ceiling-ward, at the mess in the crib and the cause of it. "Looks like I'll need to stock up on chew-resistent teething items, eh?"

She leaned over to scritch the little fellow under the chin. "Just look at you. A little silver lamb! No doubt you'll be a big silver ram some day!" She chuckled then looked ponderous as she glanced back towards the hall. "Just like my truck...a big silver Dodge Ram. Oh!"

She laughed out loud and looked to Karma. "That's what I'll call him...Dodge! He goes through blankets like my truck goes through gas. It's kind of fitting," she grinned.

A tension seemed to pass out of the foxcoon at Sajhiri's positive reaction to the youngling and she gently reached into the crib, shooing the corner of the blanket out of Dodge's mouth. Before he could protest, she'd picked him up, taking a quick peek into the leg of his diaper to make sure he was not in need of a changing, and then offered him to his new mother.

"You want to go say hi?" she goaded the little lamb. They could worry about paperwork another time. She had Sajhiri's contact information, after all, and the papers could be completed by mail just as easily as they could be filled out in the office.

"Ronen. Nice ta meetcho." The otter grinned and his tail flicked from side to side. This one looked nice, but he had some bad things on his back. "Ouch...how did get that ?" An extended finger pointed on the almost spiky things.

Eyes turned back to Aini for a moment and he pouted. She wasn't even interested in his famous bag...A slurping sound was heard from Kaeru's direction and Jacosa turned towards him. The fly was gone. That was a really cool thing to do, but the otter knew that his tongue wasn't able to do it. First he could fly and now he could eat flies...life was unfair.

So he decided to sit down beside Ronen and showed the pocket to him. "Wanna try ?"

His ears perked up though as he heard a familiar chirr. Dark otter eyes looked for the source. Today was best friend day !

Sajhiri's expression melted into a motherly smitteness. She just could never resist the little ones. The flood of Menagerie members was a testament to that. Her tower was filled with beings of every shape, size and species.

She reached out to take the little lamb into her arms, and cradled him gently to her. "Aren't you the handsomest little lamb ever?" she cooed to him. "Hi Dodge, I'm here to take care of you."

The lamb looked up at her, wide-eyed for a moment, until the compliment about his utter cuteness. that seemed to make him comfortable and happy, and he merrily began chewing on a lock of Jhiri's hair.

((Oh yeah, on that, Karma... >_>;;; Permision to throw a form your way sometime soon ?))

Ronen perked a bit, just fast enough to see Kaeru's tongue zoom right on the poor unsuspecting fly, and see it retract as quickly as it zoomed.

...And while the idea of eating flies was still gross to him, Kaeru's mighty tongue-fu impressed him indeed.

"How you do that ?!?" He asked, surprise apparent. "Was aw-som !"

Then his attention turned back to Jacosa, who had just spoken, his tail still wagging, but slower, out of instinctive caution and Zero's learning that he might hurt someone with the spikes on it. The spines on his back weren't that much of an issue... they couldn't pierce or cut. The dinosaur boy gave it some thought for a moment before answering. "Always had tat." He admitted, visibely not really having thought about it before. "Like you have tat." He pointed at his fur, visibely trying to draw a parallel. "And me don't."

...It made sence in his mind, at least.

But then, he forgot all about it when he was presented the pocket. "Sur !"

Karma stood silently, watching the two of them with a satisfied smile. This was, without a doubt, her favorite part of this occupation -- watching new families begin.

After a short time, she spoke.

"If you need supplies or anything, I have them in the supply closet" she offered. The seraph had already mentioned her love of babies, but it never hurt to make sure that a parent was well-stocked. Her supplies might not have been top of the line since she purchased them in bulk, but there were plenty to go around.

Dodge's eyelids drooped sleepily. He opened his toothy maw to yawn loudly, letting out a little contented bleat before snuggling against Sajhiri for a nap. His little ears flicked back and forth, as if still following the sounds of conversation, perking whenever his new name was mentioned.

"Little Dodge, he's adorable, Karma. Thank you so much!" Sajhiri paused, peering at the foxcoon curiously for a few moments. There was a strange sensation she got from close vicinity to the woman. Something she usually felt in Tir Nan Og. Perhaps this was a kithain? But she'd not found a bloodline leading to her in her research yet. She'd have to look into that when she got home. "I think I should have most of what I need but ah...what would be best to feed him. Does he eat human food or would he prefer...ah..wheatgrass smoothies or something?"

Karma blinked, watching the other woman stare at her for a few moments. She managed to keep herself from squirming, but felt a bit uncomfortable as she wondered what it was that was stare-worthy. Had she forgotten to brush her hair? Had she sneezed on herself again?

...and just like that the conversation, blessedly, resumed once more.

"Its mostly a trial-and-error thing." the foxcoon explained. "Some of the kids prefer 'people' food, and others stick to what you'd expect them to eat. I'd definitely plan to keep him on a vegetarian diet, though."

Her eyes fell on the sleeping lamb as she spoke. He really WAS a cutie. Then again, after the traumatizing experience of having Angellica arrive late at night, every baby that had come through the rift since had seemed like the most adorable thing in the world by comparison.

((poor angler fish. The stuff of anthro nightmares!))

Dodge's jaw worked in his sleep, rocking in a circular motion as he chewed his cud instinctively.

Sajhiri smoothed his ears back and smiled warmly. "Vegetarian, got it. I guess lambs drink milk just like human babies, so it should be ok for a while to go that way."

She gazed on her latest addition lovingly. "I know the perfect room for him. I think he'll love it."

"Kaeru!"

The boy wilted slightly when he realised he'd been caught fly-catching again. Dammit, this was so unfair. "But I was hungry!" he wailed, throwing one of the toys in a fit of anger.

"Then we'll go home and get you something to eat," Youko replied, moving to scoop him up before he could start a full-out tantrum. "And a NAP," he admonished, ignoring the protests of the frog as he set the boy down and swatted him lightly on the behind to get him moving towards the coats. He waved to those he knew, and pulled his own coat on, helping Kaeru as well.

It was amazing to him that children moved 10 times SLOWER when they were whimpering.

Karma was about to say something and, instead, stifled a yawn that had come out of nowhere.

"Excuse me." she said, somewhat embarrassed. "I've been up since about this time yesterday and I was on my way out when everyone came in. If I'm going to drive myself home without nodding off, I'd probably better do it soon."

She reached out, gently tickling one of the twitching silver ears. "If you like, I can send you home with the paperwork, or I'll mail it to you...whichever is easier for you. There's no rush to get him into the records as long as it gets done."

Actually, she liked to get everybody into the records as quickly as possible since it was less to have to do later, but she didn't want to create an air of urgency and turn something so lovely into something so....official.

Sajhiri smiled. "I can bring the paperwork home with me. Not a problem. I'll get it back to you ASAP. Thank you again, Karma. Go get some rest."

She slipped back out of the room and back towards the waiting room with her brand new bundle of...er...wool...in her arms.

Karma watched her go and then exited the now-empty nursery to head for her back office. There was no fumbling for the papers this time as she'd learned after about the fourth or fifth adoption that it was in her best interest to sacrifice an entire afternoon making all of the adoption papers into stapled packets.

Grabbing one of said packets out of the wire basket in the corner of her desk, she headed out into the waiting area. Placing the packet on the edge of the counter where it would be easily-noticed, but out of reach of the playing children, she quietly grabbed up her coat and slipped out.

Yeah, no more all-nighters...

Andraste smiled slightly. "It's not so easy, because I can't go to work anymore, but the father...Ranjit...he's living with us now. I'm a bit afraid of the birth though."

Jacosa waved to Kaeru as he left, but wasn't too sad about it. Now Aini had come back to play !

He looked at his fur while listening to Ronen and it took him a while to understand the boy's words. "Cool." It was alright, not everybody had fur and not everybody spikes, right ?

"Is Ronen." The otter explained to the fennec fox and motioned her to sit down with them.

His eyes were sparkling as he noticed Akilah and smiled. "Keela ! Can I hold ?" He really wanted to show his 'little brother' to the others. The otter knew about babies and everyone should know. "I get baby siblin." He stated proudly.

Phew...finally it started to became exhausting. Didn't he know that one was well ? His eyes darted towards Belen and he waved.

Ronen simpely nodded in confirmation and smilled at Aini. He was a bit sad that Kaeru had to go... but what could he do ? He could always see him again later !

It took alot to keep this one down, it seemed.

"Baby sibilin ?" Ronen tilted his head and blinked. Being the youngest, he had no smaller sibilings... more older sibilings you could shake a stick at, but younger ? Nope. So the thought confused him a bit.

Sajhiri moved to the door of the office and she opened it to wave to Saedare outside. "Can you get Naeva's old infant seat out of the back of the truck, love, and set it up? We're bringing home another little one!" Saedare looked surprised, but did as was requested.

Sajhiri picked up the papers from the counter and she settled onto one of the couches to put them in her bag and still balance the sleeping lamb in her arms. She gave a quiet smile to the other 'parents' in the room.

Belen toddled on his hind legs slowly, before dropping down to scuttle about on all fours. He walked suprisingly well for one meant to never leave the water and though he still wheezed from time to time, it didnt sound quite as severe as it had.

He made his way over to Jocasa, climbing onto his tail. He remembered playing with the tail in his bowl and he remembered that the Otter liked water, just like he did.

He grabbed on and made his version of the purring noise Makana made when she was happy. It was a good noise and he liked how rumbley it made him feel.