Welcome to Gaia! ::

Muse didn't think the first thing she would be doing upon returning to the island would be attending the Goddess Festival. Especially one over twenty years after she had last been around for one. She literally just got off the boat that morning. The couple sitting in front of her had been chattering the entire time about how they enjoyed their vacation in Nirvani so much a year ago and wanted to go back, and began rattling out all these qualities of the island. It was like a advertisement to move there. They were especially excited for the Goddess Festival. Those words caught Muse's interest, and she was going to follow them to the plaza, but they took a turn and dipped into the inn, stopping Muse in her tracks. What was she supposed to do now? After hours of collecting herself on a park bench(which took her ages to find), telling herself over and over that she was here, she was here, the woman finally worked up the courage to ask the first unsuspecting soul that wandered by for directions to the plaza.

Her only memories of Nirvani were being afraid of her father and constantly being surrounded by her two friends. She didn't remember what the outside of the Sonata mansion looked like, so she couldn't really tell if it changed or not. Every experience here was essentially a new one for her. Nothing and no one looked familiar to her in the slightest, and it filled her with this strange, lonely feeling. She was glad no one knew of her past on this island, or her past anywhere else, really. This was her starting over. Starting over was always lonely. Muse's reclusive qualities didn't make her situation easier, either. The sky was blue, the budding leaves were green. It was warm, no chance of rain. And Muse was back in Nirvani. She took a deep breath, and let it out with a smile. It was hard to be sad when everyone around you was so happy.

She would be fine.

Claire, on the other hand, didn't really want to be at the festival. She needed somewhere to stay though, and didn't know how to go about asking(or telling, really) the remaining Sonatas for allowing her entry into the mansion. She was just as entitled to stay at the place as whoever was still alive. Lilia, probably. Claire was still debating whether her mother's claim of having twins was true or not. She didn't want someone running around with her face. No one could look like her though, that was hard. Lilia would probably not even look like Claire. She would just look like a strange creature that ate Lilia for breakfast.

She had to wake up early to catch a boat here after she heard Muse was coming back as well, so she was grumpy, and not in the mood to talk to anyone. She just wanted a popsicle. She might as well participate in this stupid festival. No one knew her and she definitely knew no one(and wouldn't even if she had grown up here), but voting was fun. She bent over the table where the ballots were and started filling them out.(and also as giving the whole world a gift of a view of her butt).

Who were these people? What kind of a name was Xochiquetzal? And a Sonata? What? Who the ******** was January? Claire was experiencing so many emotions in such a short span of time. Welcome to Nirvani. Claire picked some random names that didn't sound stupid, and turned her votes in. She needed to find January. She scanned the plaza for a blonde, but there were too many. Plus, it was not safe to assume that this "January" would be blonde. Muse wasn't, after all. She was only connected to the Sonatas by name. Maybe January was another barely-related hoodlum like Muse. She needed to find out. Claire approached the nearest person to her, a tattooed girl with hair cropped short, a certain Persephone, and stood near her with her hand on her hip. "Hey, which one of these people is January Sonata?" She asked, pointing a finger to the crowd. There was no way no one would not know who the Sonatas were, right? Naaaah. With another look at the woman in front of her, Claire realized something. "You kinda look like you're moving... Did you just get here?" And already going to a festival? That was dedication.




Muse - Peter Tamaki (!) and Xochiquetzal von der Bach-Xiqui
Claire - Finnian Buckley and Miah Bernadetto

((Please forgive my crummy posts. I sincerely feel like poo today. =w=; ))

"Well, I do try," Gray said, chuckling a bit at the girl's brief loss of composure. She really had turned a rather becoming shade of crimson--and it had been such a long time since he'd managed to get that sort of reaction from anyone. It was both amusing and charming.

"Certainly, your cousin cannot be as lovely and charming as yourself," he said, still smiling. "And since you are the most beautiful girl here and we, together, are the best dressed--by your own admission--would you care for a dance?" He placed one hand behind his back and held the other out for her. Hmm. It was a pity she probably didn't have any money on her at the moment...

Unless she kept some down that ample (and possibly fake--he wasn't sure yet) bosom. He had a sneaking suspicion if he tried to check, he'd get slapped though...

**

"I haven't, really," Chloe said. "Or at least it doesn't feel as thought i have but I suppose by now, I've been here longer than it seems." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. Time really did pass so very quickly. "Certainly long enough that there's no excuse for allowing my telescope to gather dust."

She smiled at him, just sort of blissfully happy she'd found someone sopleasant to talk to. "So if I were to ask for a recommended location from which to star gaze, what would you suggest?" she asked. "I'm sure you know all the best locations since youv'e lived here so long."

**

Sethrian was figuring on leaving soon. No one was talking to him--he w asn't talking to anyone else, and Lyra wasn't around...That, and watching Xeiro try to dance was just getting embarrassing. Even if they had nothing to do with each other beyond the fact that Xeiro was his boss, there was the lingering fear someone might assume Seth was as big a dork as his boss just by way of association.

It was better to leave before that could happen.

He was finishing off the last of his punch and heading for an absurdly over-decorated rubbish bin when he nearly walked right into an unfamiliar woman (Muse). The fact that she was unfamiliar in the first place gave him a pause--it was such a small place that he had quickly become familiar with all the usual faces--especially working in the bakery as he did.

Huh. Maybe she was new. "My apologies," he said, dumping the empty cup into the bin. "Are you alright?"

((ooc;

Gray: Julian and January
Chloe: Peter and January
Seth: Xeiro and Tshila ))

Ed squinted his eyes as he watched the other start to leave, doing his best to take as many deep breaths as he could to prevent himself from doing something stupid. But.. But had he really thrown punch on him? Ed didn't have many clothes and he couldn't afford to have a shirt – even a simple t-shirt – ruined. Not to mention, he looked ridiculous with a pale red stain and.. Well, that was just offensive period. What in the world was the man thinking? He should at least follow to tell him how much of a waste of time and punch that was so he didn't do it again to someone less composed. Steeling himself, he was prepared to do just that when the well-dressed girl he had mistaken to be Rune had come to his aid. Between confronting a crazed redhead and talking to a pretty, hopefully more sane girl, it wasn't a very hard decision.

“I'm fine and, yes, agreed.” He replied, quirking his lip slightly at the comment she threw towards the other man. Insane pretty much summed the man up. He watched her attempt to dab it up, but Ed was pretty sure it would take more than that to fix it. He sighed, “I don't see what that accomplished..” Outside of potentially ruining his jacket and attracting attention from an attractive girl, he supposed. Speaking of which, he moved to take the napkins from her, “I can handle this. Thank you.” Though he only dabbed once more before dropping the napkins in a nearby trash can. He should probably head home and change right then, but.. “I'm Ed Triggs. I work at the library. Are you a tourist?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He couldn't help the beat of pride he felt when the villain admitted to his fear of the masked hero before him. That was definitely not a first, but it was still really great to hear someone say it and this was going in his journal the moment he got home. It was a wonder he didn't blurt out a thank you to the other, but Finnian kept himself in check – he had a damsel behind him to protect! A damsel who had revealed his super heroic identity as she always did. He would have to give her yet another seminar on superhero protocol – which he supposed was fine. Finnian the normal everyday man enjoyed making powerpoints and graphs to explain the ethics of being a masked crusader! He still had to cover up Elliot's mistake, however, so he looked down to her to – he froze for what felt to be a very long second as something made contact with his lip. Was.. Was this villain trying to seduce him as well? But, he was – he – he couldn't do that to him! Super Kuiper lurched backward, scrambling at first to hide behind Elliot, but, remembering the situation, he quickly picked her up protectively.

“Aha! Your wiles won't work on me, Gilded Hellion!” That wasn't the most creative of names, but he supposed it would do for now. “Wherever this Riley's Playhouse is, I warn you that I, Super Kuiper, will find it and destroy it.” He moved to hide behind the tree and lifted Elliot up higher, straining because, well, she was a full-grown woman, however compact she was. Not because Super Kuiper lacked upper body strength or anything. “Quickly, Tigress, use your tiger-grace and scale the tree to escape while no one is looking!” He stage whispered to her, nodding towards a nearby branch.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jacob frowned at the lack of enthusiasm from Zell – but, well, he guess he should have expected that. It wasn't anything new from her recently, after all, but it was hard not to hope she would get over it already and just relax. He withheld a sigh and forced a smile right back at her, “Yeah, I understand. I'm just glad we got this chance to see eachother.” Which was sincere, because he really did miss her a lot. They were only actually dating for a few hours – before that, they had been good friends, he thought. It was natural to miss having a friend around. After all, even if he did have the guys at the gym to fill in any free time he got, any conversation with them was shadowed with the thought that he was only there because Zell brushed him off. He looked at where her hands were a moment ago, his smile dropping a bit as he noted he couldn't even get to hold her hand.

“So, uh, work? What's going on there?” Wow, this was awkward. Talking about work? Really? That was really killing any semblance of a mood going on here, he had to say – this was supposed to be a date. And he was supposed to be a man. Before she could respond, he motioned off to the center of the festival, “Do you want to dance?”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

((

Ed Triggs - Julian Fate & January Sonata
Finnian Buckley - Julian Fate & Tshila Curari
Jacob Waldroup - Xeiro Rameri & Tshila Curari
Theresa Waldroup - Trevor Sevorin & Miah Bernadetto
Xochiquetzal von der Bach-Xiqui - Xeiro Rameri & Xochiquetzal von der Bach-Xiqui ))

"If you soak it in tepid water..." Sethrian said, grimacing inwardly. That was really not the way to start a conversation with an attractive woman.

"I'm fine," he assured her. "You have no reason to apologize. I wasn't paying attention. I can pay for the dress to be cleaned." It really was his fault anyway. It was probably the polite thing to do anyway--not that he'd ever endured any major accusations of being polite, but he did have his moments. "I..apologize, but I don't believe we've met? I'm Sethrian Terkhynna. If you have someone drop the bill off at the bakery..."

Ugh. Really. This was how pathetic he was. His attempts to flirt involved telling her where to send her dry cleaning bill. He was such a loser. It was a wonder he was even brave enough to leave his apartment these days...

**

"No, I live here actually." Angela wondered if she looked like a tourist. Then again, perhaps it was just that she expressed outrage at their crazy doctor's antics rather than just accepting it as part and parcel as a disturbingly large amount of the populous when the equally disturbingly large number of crazy people did something, well, crazy. "And not that it really helps but he chased a pigeon across my lap once," she told Ed, watching him fruitlessly attempt to clean himself up. "The pigeon wasn't so bad but the idiot is much heavier than he looks." She gave him a sympathetic smile (despite that she was inwardly at least sort of glad they had the opportunity to introduce themselves--even if it did mean he had to get punch dumped on him). "I'm Angela Tremaine. I work at the PI's office. My father owns the winery..."

She didn't really know why she added that last bit. Then again, it was either that or try to explain the reason she'd never stopped by the library was because they were rich snobs who just stocked their own library at their stupidly large house, when they wanted new books. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ed. I've been meaning to come down to the library. I've read just about everything in ours..."



((OOC:
Javor; Xeiro & Finnian (...sorry. D= )
Angela: Julian & Xochi
Christine: Xeiro & Tshila
Trev: Peter & Miah
Tshila: Xeiro &...herself00

What with all the dyes used in that punch, Muse didn't think it would come out, but she listened intently at Sethrian's suggestion. "Thanks...! Yeah, I'll try that." She would just have to find a laundromat or something first... But she would definitely not be letting him pay for it, it was her fault! She shook her head side to side in a flurry. "That's not necessary, I can take care of it myself." She nodded once afterward in assurance, though she was really only assuring herself.

"Oh-- Ah, we haven't met. I'm Muse Sonata, it's very nice to meet you, Sethrian!" She bowed her head slightly to be polite. "I just arrived to the island a few hours ago, so there's no way you would know me." Unless he watched a movie or something that she played a part in, but she didn't want to think about that right now. She pushed it out of her mind before the thought turned her face pink. "You work at a bakery?" There were almost sparkles in her eyes at the thought. She was practically swooning. Muse hadn't had a real dessert for quite some time. "D-do you mind if I stop by? But n-not to drop off the bill or anything!" One of her many passions was food, but she didn't really get to eat the good stuff that often.

Claire in truth had just gotten all her opinions on the island from her mother, who had made more mistakes here than anywhere else. She just blamed it on the land. "I guess it's a good place to start over..." She admitted, with a frown. The woman didn't exactly make the best impression of herself in the past, and here no one really knew her. Maybe she should try to make a better name of herself here? Nah, this is Claire we're talking about. She wasn't the best at improving herself but she did understand social situations, and why Persephone would be annoyed that Claire was just trash-talking the island she just decided to move to... "I have... family here, and I need help from them, because I've failed trying to live on my own." She used the term family hesitantly. Though she may be connected to some of these people by blood, it was only blood. Their faces and personality were still a complete mystery to her.

"I'm just assuming they'll take me in, because I don't know what to do with myself anymore." She shrugged. "I have absolutely nothing to offer, so I'm hoping me being 'family' is enough. That's why I'm stuck on this island." She turned back to look Persephone in the eyes. "You look capable, though. I'm sure you'll fit in with... most of the people here just fine." Another shrug. "So what, you have a job lined up or something? What's the plan for you?" Claire started, not wanting the conversation to get any more awkward than it already was. She really needed to up her social skills.