Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sita gazed at the colorful advertising paper in front of her. There were so many choices! There were several that resembled some mixture of fruit juices in the form of a popsicle, some ice cream sandwiches, a few that looked like cartoon faces that she did not recogonize (Soljyr didn't have a television set, yet), and even a few that she was confused by. But all in all, they looked delicious. "Uhm.. Dat wun!" she cried, pointing at a cone with what looked like a single scoop of vanilla under a thickened shell of chocolate. She could tell there was vanilla underneath because somebody had taken a bite out of it! She hoped the lady knew about that, and that somebody hadn't taken a bite out of hers.

As the lady was reaching into the refridgerated containers, Sita rushed up to Seth and embraced him, closing her eyes happily with an adorable smile plastered on her face. "Danks, Seth! You'we da bes'!" she said, holding on for a good twenty seconds before she felt the need to back away. She still had a playful smile on her face. "Le's go show, Daddy!" She then gasped. "You haven' met Daddy! You gotta meet Daddy! He's da bes', too!"

Sita nodded rapidly. "Yeah! he's wight ove'..." she glanced around for her guardian, sitting up where she'd last seen him. But he was lying down now, the shadow of the parasol covering up his face. Was he resting? She shrugged and glanced back in front of her, where a sweet dessert floated in front of her eyes. She gasped and quickly reached out and accepted the treat, pulling it close to her chest. The air around it was chilled. Despite her human tongue, she flicked it out and pressed the treat closer. A resounding crunching sound signalled her chomping through the chocolate shell. "Mmm... Thanks, Seth! Le's go meet Daddy now!" she cried out, slithering off in Soljyr's direction already, occasionally stopping to dip her face into the ice cream. It was sticking to her lips and inner cheeks, and as the heat caught up to them, dribbling gently down her chin. She figured Seth was right behind her.

Soljyr heard a call, though it was slightly muffled by the chaos of the crowd. He opened his eyes and sat up, searching the scene. "Sita?" he asked, only to see her squeeze between two people with an ice cream cone wedged tightly in her little hands. As she got closer, he figured that half of the missing ice cream was on her face. He chuckled slightly to himself. "Hi there, Sita. I see you got some ice cream," he commented, and she giggled.

"Seth bo't me ice cweam!"

"Ah, well, thank you, Seth," Soljyr thanked the naga, stifling another laugh as he looked at Sita. "Looks like we're going to need to get you cleaned up before he head out, Sita.. Otherwise that's going to be awfully sticky." Sita only laughed, diving into her ice cream cone again. This time, he figured she actually got some in her mouth.

"Mmm, it's good, Daddy!" she called out with her most adorable smile, showing off all her front teeth.

Soljyr was reaching into the bottom of the basket and pulled out a box of handy wipes; napkins just weren't going to take care of enough of it. He pulled out a few and instructed Sita to hold out her hands as he he took the ice cream cone from her for a moment. On a later thought, he probably should have waited until she was finished...

While Soljyr proceeded to wipe the little naga girl's face, he turned to face Seth. He was curious. "So Seth," he began, "you and Sita have met before? I'm guessing it must have been with her first guardian and your probably somewhat confused about my being here." He hoped that's why Seth appeared to be looking at him strangely. There was no way he could sense it, right?

Soljyr nodded, glancing over at Seth once he finished cleaning off Sita's face. "There, Sita," he commented, standing up and stretching his arms up over his head. The sun glinted off his skin and defined muscles before he reached into the bag and grabbed a white shirt. The sunglasses covered his maroon eyes. He figured nobody could tell he wasn't gaian... Maybe he'd have to be a bit more careful with Seth; his acute senses made him liable to tread where he shouldn't.

"A ride home? Well..." Soljyr shied away a moment. "That's the thing, since we've only been here a short time, I haven't been able to afford a vehicle yet. I'd be fine with walking you home, though," he proposed. If only he could afford a vehicle... Ah, well, that's why he needed to make an impression on his upcoming interview.

"Yeeaah!" Sita yelled, giggling as she helped Soljyr pack everything away into the bag. She retrieved her bucket and shovels and dumped them into the basket. Her Daddy was shaking the sand off the towel. "Tha' means we can see youw home! And youw Daddy!" She gasped. "You should come play at my house sometime!"

Soljyr frowned at the news of his home being on the opposite end of town; he was right, that would take all night to get there. But the idea of stopping off at a place where they could get a lift seemed much less troubling. Hopefully Seth could handle talking with this "friend," because Soljyr was still developing his communication. Then again, maybe this would be a good test... "All right, well, we'd better get walking then. You sure you're not going to get too tired, though?" he asked, picking up the naga girl in his arms where she fastened her coil around the arm and shoulder. He knew she couldn't walk the whole way...

Sita laughed and smiled at the idea of being able to see Seth's home. "Dis weeken'? Yeah! Le's do that, Daddy!" she yelled. How she managed to use so much energy still was beyond him. It must have been the extra boost from the ice cream. No matter, she was going to crash VERY soon.

"So it's just a few blocks?" he verified once they had made it out of the parking lot. "Well, who is the friend of yours that we're visiting? She's not going to be too angry to have to do this, I hope.."

Soljyr frowned. Melee teacher? Bookstore? This woman certainly sounded interesting if she could manage both of those jobs at the same time. They demanded very different abilities, he imagined. Already he found himself somewhat intrigued by this woman. "I guess we'll see soon and find out how this Arytiss will react," he muttered, shrugging.

Sita giggled. "It'll be fun, Seth! Dis weeken'," she confirmed, giving Seth a firm look as though the plans were set in stone. She looked ahead as they rounded a corner now that they were walking on the streets again. The sky was set ablaze as the sun dipped below the horizon, or at least the few buildings around them. Sita had no idea how to measure distances, but the way Soljyr and Seth were talking, it seemed relatively close.

Almost there now.

It hadn't been long since they'd stepped into the bookstore that he was graced by several curses. He covered Sita's ears until he was certain that tirade was over. Sita frowned at him. But it was the strangest thing for Soljyr in the coming moments... His heart beat quicker and quicker, and even the few words that he may have prepared were fumbled. This woman... Despite her harsh words... was astounding. The snowy hair, the crystalline eyes, the porcelain skin... All these assets perched on an elegant, beautiful figure. But this was a strong, independent women as well. And yet, there was some deep connection that he felt he shared with her that made him attracted to her even more. He couldn't quite comprehend it, though. Maybe it was nonsense.

Soljyr had deeply hoped that Seth would be able to clear something up between him and this Arytiss, but he had neglected to do so. So now it was up to Soljyr and his infant communication skills. Great. That was always a safe bet, especially when he was dumbstruck. He looked up at her eyes and tried to address her directly. "Well, you see, Miss Arytiss... My little girl, Sita, and Seth were playing at the beach together and I didn't feel like we, er, I, should let him walk all the way home in the dark.. Especially since Seth spent his bus money on.. on Sita," he began, recognizing he was struggling already. Her eyes were firm, but certainly luminous beyond the tint. "So we were hoping.. that you could give us all a ride. We're pretty new to this.. er.. place, so we don't have a vehicle yet.." He sighed. This was pathetic. She probably thought he was pathetic, too..

Sita giggled slightly. It was kind of funny when Daddy talked to other people for the first time. There was something else messing him up today, too, though, and she was unfamiliar with it. She was awfully tired, though..

She was fierce, all right. Still, Soljyr found that as more of a catalyst than a retardant. Perhaps it was his upbringing in his country that made him attached to that personality. Still, he knew even more to tread lightly. "All right," he answered, walking back out the door they came.

Sita was nodding off a bit in his arms now, the grip on his shoulder slackening. her eyes fluttered every few seconds or so. Nothing exciting was going on, nothing to keep her going up. "We gonna go howme now?" she asked, and he smiled at her and nodded. It was amazing how quick her energy levels dropped sometimes... Just a few moments ago she was bouncing up and down with Seth. He nodded. Yeah, they were going home. But first, he wanted to learn more about Arytiss. It was all so awkward for Soljyr; as though he were from another world. Oh, wait.

"That's honestly better than you thought it would go?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I could have just walked us home, you know. But that woman... She seems real special for some reason," he muttered, not realizing he had said that aloud. He hoped she hadn't heard. He wanted to peer into that softer center, something a little less prickly.