Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Wow," Cerena mumbled after quickly scanning over the card and tearing open the package. "See, Lethe?!" She called out loudly to her young charge who was presumably taking a nap, "I told you she was special! She got a giftie!"

Carefully making her way over to where Circe lay glittering in the sunshine, Cerena having carefully sprinkled some water on him that sparkled now in the bright light, she removed the pendant from the package and encircled the leaf with the chain.

The effect was immediate -- Circe obviously liked it, and exuded an aura of glee and satisfaction.

"I wonder what you are..." Cerena sighed, tilting her head to the side and observing quietly.

{He's sayin' I'm on a roll}{With all the girls I know}

"OHNOLOOKITMEI'MLOST." Cerena proclaimed gleefully, quickly going through the motions of eenie-meenie-miney moe at a street corner before skipping off to the left. The familiar routine brought her down an even more familiar dirt path, that would eventually lead to a building where she had found Circe, Eater of Water and Light and Maybe Sometimes Dirt.

The young girl reflexively glanced up towards the trees, if only to make sure no more lively leaves would want to divebomb her or something like that, before slowly making her way towards the building. There was no guarantee that anyone in this place would know what had happened -- would know what Circe was -- but there was a chance... Sneaking up to the front door, Cerena cracked it open a bit and peeked in. "Halloooooo......?"

Circe hummed happily atop his perch on Cerena's shoulder, enjoying the cool breeze as the older girl transported him and saw to his every need. Life was good.

Giggling at the unfamiliar girl, being quite hyper at the time, Anon waved, "I'm here!" Giggling some more, she looked at her daughter who was, in turn, looking at the leaf.

A young blonde girl slowly walked towards the small amount of people. She looked at the ground very uncertainly, because she was still unfamiliar with her new looks. "Um hello..." Ty said and dared to look up as she spotted her well-known friend."

Finally taking her eyes off the leaf as she heard her friend, Shouko beamed. "Ty! You're here?" Her vocabulary seemed to have improved much after the rather drastic trabsformation.
Wasting no time in taking a few steps forward to greet her friend, Shouko hurriedly enveloped the blonde in a hug. She'd missed her.

Cerena visibly relaxed at the sight of the colorful children and the one guardian who seemed there. "Hi!" She repeated, squeezing herself in and softly shutting the door behind her. "My name is Cerena, and I came here the other day and was like attacked by this leaf and I thought maybe you might know something about it? -- She's like alive, well, leaves are alive of course but this one's like human with emotions though it can't walk or talk but it likes sunshine and water which is understandable 'cause she's a leaf and... er..." She lost her train of thought.

"Oh, yes, this is Circe, the leaf..." Cerena carefully plucked the leaf from her shoulder and held it up for easier inspection.

Circe liked the attention and wiggled a bit to show his appreciation. The shock of having something otherwise inanimate move caused Cerena to shriek and drop him, which was not quite as fun, but the flying part was cool at least.

"Hey Sho." Tyyne said in her usual calm voice and enjoyed the hug. "Um, I shall excuse my mam. She's busy at home today..." The blonde looked at the leaf and wondered if this was supposed to be an new Eden. It had to, actually... "It's one like us." The girl said quietly and looked at her new yellow sandals.

"One of the leaves attacked you?! I'm so sorry, we didn't know they were that kind of hyper, I'm so sorry!" Anon's voice was nervous, honestly believing that the leaf had attacked the girl. Lena'd kill her!

Beaming at her friend, Sho was about to say something when she noticed the descending leaf. Blinking and watching it hit the floor, she went over and picked it up. She'd certainly want to be picked up, not lying on a floor somewhere.

"She is?" Cerena said almost worriedly, about to peel the leaf off the floor when the pink-haired girl picked him up. Well. Circe liked that so she let him be, keeping a careful eye on him lest he decide to divebomb another person. Someone addressed her and so Cerena tilted her head towards the other older person there.

"Well, not so much attacked to hurt but was sort of like... 'HEY. YOU. YES YOU. YOU ARE GOING TO BE MY GUARDIAN NOW LOLLERSKATES!'" She nodded wisely before turning her attention towards the two younger girls. "She's like you?" She repeated the blonde girl's statement, "But you guys are.. human. ...ish." Would Circe be human as well? Did that mean another child? Lethe would have a sister!

Circe hummed happily as he was picked up -- the girl was pretty and quite worthy of holding him, very much.

"Yes, I'm here. At home's...a lot of trouble." This sounded nice and not too harsh. Nobody would think bad of her home now, would they ? She looked at the leaf and then nodded slightly, although she was a bit irritated by the very active new guardian. "Well, yes. We...were planted and then...we somehow appeared. Right ?" She seemed a bit helpless and started to play with her hair nervously.

Sighing, relieved, Anon took a breath and smiled, "For a moment there, I thought you'd actually been attacked by one of the leaves." Furrowing her brows, eyes widening as the rest of the girl's words sank in, "A Leaf chose you? Oh my, this've never happened before." Scratching her head and observing said leaf and her daughter, Anon contemplated the possibility that the girl might've stolen the leaf from someone..

Smiling happily at the leaf, Sho held him out so she could see him. He was so, so.. leafy.
Nodding to Ty's statement, she turned to beam at the new parent.
"We were put in an old pot, and then we became like this!... sorta"

"Oh, planted?" Cerena mentally stored this piece of information away -- they didn't really have flowerpots at the hotel room where they stayed, but they had lots of fishbowls and stuff. Maybe she could have one fish move with another and fill the empty bowl with dirt. Anon's words intrigued her though. "How did you get yours, then? Mine kinda just.. fell outta the sky... Maybe she ran away from here?"

Ahh, such secrets he would never tell. Circe wriggled a bit at the girl who was holding him, suddenly wishing his guardian had brought the pendant he was given along. He bet she'd be impressed by such a large, classy shiny thing.

Frowning, Anon discarded the idea of the girl stealing Circe. Partly because she didn't seem the type, and partly because she didn't seem to have the intelligence. But then again, thievery didn't require intelligence.. "Lena, Tyyne's" here she pointed to the blonde kid, "mom founded this Project. I'm her assistant, and as such I was given a Leaf to observe and care for." She smiled, and pointed at the pink-haired girl, remembering when her sweetie was still a little leaf.

Giggling when the leaf wriggled, Shouko cooed at it. It really was too sweet to resist. Holding it close to her face, she nuzzled it with her nose, giggling some more.

"They're both very pretty." Cerena smiled at the two children -- the blonde seemed nervous, but the pink-haired one was friendly and seemed to like Circe. This was a good thing, she thought. "So.. uhm.. this project... What exactly is it...?" She shifted nervously from foot to foot, as if suddenly realizing how undeserving she was to be here. Just her luck, to have another important sort of creature shoved into her life.

Circe wriggled again against Shouko's face, quite enjoying the affection. When he wasn't a leaf anymore, he would definitely have to make her a present, yes, something sparkly and shiny so she would always think of him when she looked at it (and so others would think of him when she looked at it as well.) Perfect!

Anon smiled, "It seems that the leaves are determined to become humanoid 'creatures'" here she rolled her eyes, "And Lena couldn't take care of all of them, so we had to find guardians."


Well, he seemed happy, at least. Shouko gave him a small peck in the middle, as Tee had seemed to like that when he too was a leaf. Perhaps this one would as well..?

"Ohhh," Cerena pretended to understand, and nodded faintly. Well, it made sense at least. "Is it okay if I'm Circe's guardian? --Err, if she was supposed to go to someone else then that's okay.." It wasn't really, she was secretly planning on grabbing him and running while humming the Mission: Impossible theme under her breath, but... Whatever was best for him, right? She just silently prayed that this didn't mean he'd be taken away.

Circe let out a happy, contented hum at the kiss, melting in the way that leaves did. Maybe he'd give her two sparkly things. He wished he would hurry up and regain a more manageable form already, but maybe waiting would mean he would turn out prettier.

Blinking confusedly, Anon pondered what to do with the obviously stray leaf, "Well, I suppose if you take care of it, it could be arranged that you keep it - did you say it was a her? -, but we'll expect you to take care of it." Repeating herself, and sending Cerena the best glare she could (which wasn't all that good), Anon finally remembered to present herself.
"Did I ever present myself?" Had she been an anime character, a giant sweatdrop would have formed itself on her head; as it was, she just looked extremely sheepish.

Was all leaves like this? Shouko began humming, yet again waiting to see if the leaf liked it. The only real experience she'd had with the earlier form of an Eden was with Tee.

Cerena brightened. "Of course I'll take good care of her, I'll guard her with my life! I already have a little girl, I'm new at being a parent but I think I'm doing okay so far 'cause she hasn't been sick yet and she's really sweet, so Circe will have a sister when she becomes all human and stuff!"

A long pause. Cerena was apparently going to say something more but forgot. "Ah, well, no -- at least if you did, I didn't catch your name..."

Circe gladly joined in the humming -- her voice, he thought, was sweet and complimented his very well. He wasn't quite sure what exactly they were singing but hey, he thought they sounded good doing it.

Blinking again, this time at the girl's long speech, Anon hit herself in the head when hearing the reply to her question. "Of course I didn't." insert random mumbling about going senile, "I'm Kat, but my friends call me Anon." She smiled, happier now.

Looking quite confused as the leaf started humming too, Shouko bravely continued her humming, this time making the tone a bit more upbeat.

"It's nice to meet you, Kat!" Cerena smiled and offered a hand. "Like I said before, I'm Cerena." She reflexively swept her gaze to the side to check on Circe. "The pink-haired one is yours?"

Circe changed the tone of his humming to match Shouko's, quite enjoying himself. If only he could sing louder, or sing with words! But that would come someday, he was sure of it, and Shouko did a good enough job for the both of them.

Taking said hand, Kat smiled in turn, "Nice to meet you too, Cerena. Yup, she is. Her name's Shouko." Smiling happily at her daughter, Anon let Cerena's hand go.

Stomping down the urge to giggle, Sho continued. This was pretty fun, after all, it wasn't everyday you found a humming leaf!

An errant breeze jangled the ornaments in Sayuri's lacquered hair and she moved with precise steps, her feet clad in wooden geta, fluttering along under her kimono. The sun was pleasant and she made her way towards the gathered group. She had heard much of this place, mostly from the woman who had purchased a painted flute from her for her child. She hoped to meet the little sakura girl, whose flute had been painted to match her. She coughed discreetly, draping a long sleeve over an arm, and hoped to catch someones attention.

Spinning around at hearing the new voice, Anon beamed once she saw who the woman was, "Sayuri!" quite happy to see her, Anon quickly hugged her.

Stopping her song to look at the new woman, Shouko furrowed her brow at hearing the woman's name. Was she the one who had made her the flute?


Grabbing her pen and notepad from inside her handbag Matisha jumped up on to the steps leading to the Edens Hq. This was her fifth Hq visit in a week but she needed the magazine article done by friday and there was no time to waste. Knocking on the double doors Matisha waited a few seconds before opening them, peering around the door as she stepped in.

"Hello?? Anyone here?" She called out making her presence known, she didnt want to be mistaken for a robber like in the last Hq.

Pushing her newly syed green hair behind her ears matisha scanned the room she had just entered and noticed two people in front of her.

"Great, someone i can interview." She thought and waved a hand to the chatting ladies.

"Hey there, sorry for interupting, but this is the Edens Hq isnt it? I get mixed up with having to visit a new place every week." She said smiling, a tad nervous before things got rolling.

"My name is Matisha by the way, and who may you two be?"

Sayuri giggled at the exuberant greeting;
'And hello to you to,' she smiled, hugging her back.
'She's very musical,' Sayuri commented on Shouko's humming.
'I can see why you needed the flute.'

Cerena smiled and briefly waved to Shouko before turning to inspect the newcomers. One was a beautiful young woman who vaguely reminded her of Lethe, and the other was... talking to her. She blinked.

"Oh, I'm Cerena!" She chirped happily. "And yes, you'd be in the Eden HQ... ...I think." Was that what this place was called, Eden?

Circe was a bit miffed that Shouko stopped and turned her attention elsewhere. Jealousy, maybe? Well, whatever it was, he wanted to be the center of her attention. He wriggled again, hoping this would be enough.

Beaming again, this time because of the compliment to her daughter, Anon laughed lightly, "Oh, yes. We needed the flute to improve her concentration, though." Her smile was half-crooked at that point, remembering Sho's initial awfulness at playing the instrument.

Turning around to the newcomer, Anon held out her hand as Cerena had done earlier, "I'm Anon, I'm the assistant of the founder. How may I help?"

Sayuri inclined her head a little, in acknowledgement of the other people gathered there.
'Oh yes. The learning part takes time and effort. But music should also be a joy.' she gathered the bottom of her kimono skirts and knelt a little near Shouko.
'Hello there,' she smiled.

Having turned her attention back on the wriggling leaf, Shouko was startled as the woman - Sayuri? - knelt down before. Nice of nature, she was quick to recover.
"Hello!" Was the exuberant reply that greeted the strange woman.

"Oh yay, i was worried i had gotten the wrong place."

Matisha sighed a sign of relief as she twirled the pen in her hands, turning slightly to the other lady that spoke and offered her hand in friendship.

"Your the assistant manager? Oh well then you shall do perfectly."
Matisha said with a grin, taking her hand and shaking it vigerously.

" I guess I am making little or no sense, but am a writer for a magazine, Witches and Warlocks, and am doing an article on Hqs of Gaia. Everything from stationary shops to pets. Can i ask you a few questions?"

Matisha smiled, hopeing she came across as un-pressuring and looked for a place to sit.

Circe would have frowned had he had the body parts to be able to do so. What was so great about this other person anyway? Sure she was shiny and big, but he was cool.

But what else could he do? So far he could wriggle, and hum, and neither one seemed appropriate enough to grab her attention. Being a leaf sucked, he decided, and mentally noted to get revenge on this lady as soon as he could.

'Shouko isnt it?' she smiled at the girl, taking in her candy-pink hair and autumnal kimono.
'Oh and whats that you have?' she asked, curious as to the seemingly alive leaf that she held.

Absently stroking the leaf, Sho nodded.
"T'is Leaf! He's cute, and he can hum too." Shouko beamed proudly, happy that her new friend was such a cool leaf.

Circe nearly jumped at the sudden contact. What was the big idea?! He was plotting all sorts of revenge, short of taking over the world and making Shouko his queen --

Wait.

Circe, pleased, hummed lowly, thoroughly convinced that he had won. He didn't even have to do anything, how clever was he!

'A leaf named Leaf huh?' she chuckled.
'And he hums? Well that certainly is a talented little leaf.'
It was a curious notion indeed, but she'd learned not to be too astonished by what went on in Gaia.
'So do you have many kimono?' she asked Shouko.

Matisha smiled as Anon said the answer that she had hoped and quickly walked over to a sofa, beckoning Anon to join her.
Taking down a few notes on her small note pad, Matisha smiled eagerly for the interview to begin.

"I apologise for my sudden apperance, i bet you get this sort of thing happening all the time. But this place kindof just sprung up over night and i just had to include it in the article. So lets get started."

Matisha said with a hint of glee in her voice, momentarly glancing over at the other lady talking with the young girl.

"Is she an Eden project?" Matisha whispered, unsure if the little girl may have known of her origins.

Sitting down next to the reporter, Anon smiled, "Yes she is, Shouko. She has the soul of a Sakura Tree."

Planting another peck on the leaf, Sho turned back to look at the woman.
"He is," Shouko's voice was grave, quite impressed by the small leaf, "And cute." She seemed to be stuck on the cute-leaf thing, for some reason.
"I don't have all that lot, Mama had trouble finding some." She sighd dramatically, already having seen her share of soap-operas.

Sayuri nodded;
'Children sized kimono's are harder to find. Generally they are one sized. And the dresser just tucks and pads to make them fit each different woman,' she showed Shouko the bottom of her pale blue coloured kimono.
'Like the pattern?'
The pattern wove into the fabric was of leaping fish in a stream.

Circe decided that the other woman could stay and be welcome if she always made Shouko this affectionate. Then again, the pink-haired girl had very good taste, yes.

Cerena followed Matisha to the couch, squeezing herself on the opposite end so as not to disturb the pair while she kept a careful watch on Circe.

...Huh. Within only a few days of being born and having only met people once, he already had an admirer? A girl admirer, no less? There was something slightly wrong with the picture that Cerena couldn't quite grasp, beyond wondering what to think about Circe being such a playboy--er, girl.

Gently drawing small patterns on the leaf with her fingertips, Shouko nodded solemnly to the woman's words. "S'what Mama said too," Actually, Mama had said a lot of other things, but none Shouko thought this nice woman would like to hear.
Stopping her 'drawing', Shouko traced her fingers on the fish patterns before beaming at the woman, "Tis beautiful! Fishies?"

Tyyne had been pretty silent as usual and had just watched her friend. She liked doing this observing kind of thing and so it wasn't bad for her to be left aside a bit. But as they talked about the kimono she just couldn't keep her mouth shut. "I think...it's too much colourful."

Lena instead hurried towards the building. Her newly grown daughter shouldn't stay alone for too long. She had said that she wanted to go and then she was already gone ! Children...at least there were grown-ups around...some unknown ones...a lot of unknown ones ? "Hey Anon !" She called and smiled a little bit out of breath at the others. "My name's Lena. Nice to meet you ?"

'Yes they are fishies,' she nodded, glancing over at the little girl that spoke.
'No more colourful then your dress,' she commented, but she chuckled.
'Kimono are meant to be colourful.' she turned at the new voice.
'I'm Sayuri,' she said to Lena.
'Good to meet you.'

"Shouko? Thats a very pretty name, and a sakura tree? How unusual...Am guessing the whole spirit to child thing is a very complex issue. I heard that the children, or spirits if you will, start of as leaves? is this true?"

Matisha said as she hasterly wrote down Shouko's name and spirit type. yet as she wrote a new lady appeared, smiling brightly towards Anon and shouting out her name.

"Lena? Who is that??"

"Hi!" Cerena squeaked, waving at the newcomer and wondering if she should leave. It seemed pretty busy in this place.. And Lethe might be wondering where she was, she'd snuck out when the younger girl was sleeping.

Circe began to hum again at the pleasant contact, briefly turning his attention to the one with golden hair. She was very quiet -- pretty though, her hair was shiny. He preferred Shouko's colors (they matched him so well!) but decided that hers were not bad either.

Waving to Lena, before turning back to Matisha, Anon's expression was clearly relieved, "That, is the founder of this whole Project. She'll be able to answer all your questions better."

Nodding and returning to petting the leaf, Sho smiled at her friend.

Matisha didnt notice Cerena until the last moment, and took a mental note to ask her questions later and turned back to Anon.

"The founder? Oh yay, well that is great, usually the HQ owners are off somewhere saving the world, its great to know that the staff are so friendly around here." Matisha said as she peered over her shoulder towards Lena, pondering on how she could get her for a few minutes to ask questions.

"How long have you had Shouko? What is she like? Is she like any other little girl?" Matisha said as she drilled out questions like there was no tomorrow.

Sayuri stood, accompanied by a rustle and jangle as she straightened up. Her skirts brushed just above the ground once more, and she bowed to Shouko.
'Well it was nice to meet you. Do keep up the musical studies. I'd love to hear you play someday.'
She glanced to Anon.
'It was nice to see you again. Take care.'

"Oh I see." Ty commented, but still you could hear that she wasn't fond of the whole colorful thing. She had this antipathy against all kind of shinies and pretties. The blonde one liked plain colours and simple ornaments and this obviously hadn't changed. She slightly waved at her mother but more concentrated on the leaf now. "We could play that it's our baby, Sho."

Lena greeted everyone friendly and smiled. "Questions ? About the project ? Oh I bet Anon answered them perfectly..." Her view trailed slowly towards the new leaf. It was an Eden, for sure. She looked at Cere and smiled. "Looks like you're the new owner. I should send you a flowerpot so we can see what's inside his little leafiness."

Waving to Sayuri, Anon turned back to Matisha, her ploy obviously foiled.
"Sure she is? I haven't much basis for comparision, and she's very nice. Sweet, almost."

As her mother, waving to Sayuri as she left, though she quickly turned back to her friend and the leaf.
"Yay! You want to be mama or daddy?" Shouko had a certainty that should be a mommy and a daddy and a baby, since that was what the soap operas said.

"A flowerpot!" Cerena straightened, suddenly realizing that this woman was the owner of the Eden project, whatever that was. "Yes, that would be great! I might have a fishbowl I can use, but I think Circe would like having her own.. thingie."

A baby? Well, he wasn't, but if it would make the other girl happy, then who was he to stand in the way of a pretty person and their happiness? Alright, he could play at a baby, and he could probably be the prettiest, best baby anyone ever had.

"I don't mind. What do you want ?" Indeed she didn't care. She could be the quiet friendly mother or the quiet friendly daddy, obviously. There wasn't really a difference, was there ?

"Yes, get it on with that questions." Lena grinned and then turned back to Cerena. "Of course, they're quite special. What do you think would this one need ? An extra comfortable one ?"

"Ahh i see, well she seems very 'normal' to me, if there can be any such thing as normal....although, is that a leaf shes holding??" Matisha questioned as she tried to get a better view of the little girl and her green item.
Matisha was momentarly distracted as Lena said a few words and nodded in agreement.

"Yes Anon has answered a few of my questions, but i shall not ask anymore. Its very tedious work, and i can easierly observe the HQ lifestyle. It seems to be a very friendly atmosphere, although there are somethings i would love to know more about of course."

Matisha said smiling as she placed her pen on top of the notepad, pushing the creases of her black skirt down with her other hand.

Squinting her eyes, Anon tried to make out the form in her daughter's hand, "I.. think?"

"I'd like to be the mommy, I think." Shouko tried to imagine her and Tyyne all grown up with a leaf of their own. It was a very weird thought, not just because the soap operas seemed to think you should male and female..

Cerena thought carefully about this. "An extra sparkly one," She finally decided, "Circe.. likes sparkly things. Like mirrors, and jewelry. As far as I can tell, anyway..."

She overheard Matisha's question and couldn't help butting in, "Yes, that's the leaf I'm guarding over! Her name is Circe."

Was it time to start playing yet? Circe wriggled a bit in his best imitation of a baby, honestly looking more like a fish out of water flopping around. He liked to think of himself as a very good actor though -- well, he liked to think of himself period.

"Good." Tyyne said and looked at the leaf. "You're a pretty baby. But I have to go to work now, I bring you something from there, mom." She waved and walked away a bit to pick some flowers.

Lena eyed the game for a moment and wrinkled her nose in amusement before turning back to her partner in conversation. "Alright, I'll see what can be done and send it to you then."

Matisha turned towards Cerena and smiled at her answer, not in a patronising way, but she questioned what the lady meant.

"Your guarding a leaf? Like a tree leaf? I...I er, well I guess that can be intresting... I guess..."

Matisha gave a slightly worried look, before it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh no wait, of course its a leaf, of course it is. So sorry I completly forgot where I am sometimes, I apologise. Totally forgot what this place does." Matisha said smiling gingerly over her mistake, hoping she didnt come across as too much of a fool.

"What spirit may your leaf take on?" Matisha mumbled hopeing to recover from her lack of knowledge a moment before hand.

Cradling the leaf the best she could, as she'd soon mommies do, Shouko waved to Tyyne. "Something pretty? Come back soon, daddy!"

The Project's main entrance openned suddenly, and a petite woman toppled in, the surprised look on her face enough evidence to suggest that she hadn't been expecting the door to open at all, and had merely tried it to offer security to her mind.

She quickly gathered herself, hard and chiselled eyes searching the occupants of the room as well as the general interior. The greens and blues complimented the soft browns that she wore, but her general exterior was of nothing soft. A tanned, weathered face shielded piercing blue eyes and sunswept hair that had been cut in a delicate fashion to frame her face, though it was still short as a boy's.

The most noticeable feature, though, was the distinct unfilled nature of the left side of the woman's longsleeve shirt, and the absense of a hand. The arm had been cut right below the shoulder, though the woman made no means ot hide it, besides the long shirt.

"Oh, um," she finally said, her survilence having taken only moments. "What is this place?"

"Thank you so much," She told Lena before managing to catch Matisha's questions.

"Is okay!" Cerena chirped and gave the other lady a reassuring smile. "My other guardee didn't quite believe me either. I just kinda.. felt that it was different." The last question confused her though. "...Spirit? What spirit?"

Tyyne had said he was pretty! Overjoyed at this compliment, Circe did a wriggly sort of happy leaf-dance.

Oh, wait, baby. Right.

Trying to figure out what to do next, Circe decided that now was as good a time as any to practice making noises. Babies cried a lot, right? He was too good for crying, but he could try his hand at wailing. So he let out an experimental note of a hum, attempting to sound as distressed as possible.

Her eyes lighting up at the leaf's noises, Sho immediately established that he was humming. Which meant that he wanted her to sing too! And mommies sang to their baby, anyway.
Starting on a slow lullaby, she rocked slightly.

Tyyne had picked lots of flowers and slowly toddled back towards her 'family'. "I'm back home and I brought some flowers." She offered them to Shouko and gave her a little peck on the cheek. "You sing nice. Baby enjoys it..."

Lena raised an eyebrow. "Yes, every single one seems to have some kind of soul inherited. Ty has a Daisy, we have a blue jay, an aplomado falcon, black widow spider, lehman frog, lemur,..."

Taking the flowers, Shouko giggled. "Thank you daddy." She held out the leaf to Ty, wanting 'daddy' to hold 'his baby', "We need to name it, too." Shouko'd look was solemn.

"Oh." Cerena looked wildly over at Circe. "...Uhm." She suddenly felt incredibly stupid. "...I'm not sure what kind of spirit she has -- HI PERSON!" She yelled suddenly at the newcomer, hoping this would be enough to take the attention off her and her lack of knowledge.

Circe silently agreed, craning upwards to peer at the flowers. Hey, wait, didn't he get a kiss too? He curled up slightly in a sort of sulky way.

Matisha caught on to how she may not be the only one who had no idea what the Edens project was about, and re-told the information which she had gained from the interview to Cerena.

"A spirit is what the leaves may develop into or...something like a shell before they emerge into a child or something along the sorts. Am not totally sure on the details, but, the little girl over there was from a Sakura Tree spirit i believe. It makes me wonder what other eden projects there may be out there...and what your small leaf may turn into."

Matisha over heard lena answering the question before she had a chance, although it was always better for the founder to re-tale the true facts.

"Wow a lemur? Spider? Wow this place is getting more and more intrestinh, and my editor told me it was just a place for tree huggers and their leafs."

Tyyne took the leaf carefully and because it seemed sad she kissed it too. "You took good care of it, Sho." She commented and smiled very slightly.

Lena smiled and nodded. "We have to go soon, Ty. Finish your game, alright ?" She sighed and shook her head while running one hand through her hair. "The problem is, I'm too busy."

Beaming, Shouko hugged Ty and the leaf carefully.

Sighing, Anon looked at the playing children, "Us too. Sweetie, finish up your game, and take the leaf back to the nice lady, right?"

Ul walked through the door with two fingers pressed against the right ear peice of the headphones she wore. She was alone, Teagan finally having felt secure enough for her to leave him at the school. She'd stayed there for three hours with him, just holding his hand and letting him know he was doing fine. But he had decided that he would be alright on his own, so she had the day free. "You're sweet just like the sun, but what happens when the sun doesn't stay? The night reminds me when you went away. Now my mind was pacing, heart is racing contemplating things that I lack. Even though you left me by myself, do I want you back?" She was nodding her head to the beat, singing quietly to herself as she waved her free hand to the others and turned to walk toward them.

"Ok, we go. See you Sho. We can...phone now ?" She smiled at the thought and handed the leaf to the pink-haired friend. "Bai !"

"Oh hey Ul, sorry we just have to leave. It was nice to meet all of you, enjoy the Project." Lena waved and made her youngest daughter follow back home.

Making sure their baby was safe with it's real mother, Shouko hugged them. "Mama says we should go. Play again later?" One hug later, Anon and her daughter were on their way out of the door, waving goodbye.

She waved, "Hi and bye then" and flopped down onto the shredded bean bag chair she had dragged in when Teagan had been sick. It didn't seem to hurt him as much, the only problem was he was fixed on finding out what was inside it.

Circe was happy with the kiss, but not so happy with them leaving. Sitting and feeling rather lonely in Cerena's hands, he perked up again when someone else came in. She didn't appear to be an Eden, but maybe she'd be good enough.

"Oh, wait, it is rather late..." Cerena squinted at a clock on the far wall, oblivious to Circe's immediate desire to play more. "I guess we should be going. It was nice to meet everyone! We'll be back soon!"

{I wished upon a star}{It came true}

Cerena paused in her daily ritual of watering the planted leaf, thinking now was as good a time as any for the Talk. Making herself comfortable on her bed and reaching up to rest her elbows on the windowsill, she gave a casual sideways glance towards Circe. "So, hey, how's it goin' for ya?"

Circe conversationally gave a small wiggle, a sleepy gesture he hoped would satisfy his guardian and possibly make her shut up and go away. It was nap time, not time to talk.

"I see you've got some new growths," Cere continued, peering down into the pot and inspecting the leaf. "Some roots and stuff. Think you'll grow soon?"

Circe gave the plant equivalent of a shrug. It was very possible, yes, but he wasn't going to tell her that. Well, the fact that he couldn't in the first place had something to do with it.

"I overheard," Cerena tried to remark casually, "That as an Eden, you have a past life within you... A past 'soul'. Like you know Shouko, that pink-haired girl you were playing with a few days ago?"

Oh yes, Shouko was her name? Lovely girl. How could he forget her? He perked up in interest.

"Her past soul is a sakura blossom, I think." A pause. "I think that means 'pink' in Japanese or somethin' like that, dunno. Anyway... I was wonderin'... What's your past life?"

Silence.

Though he strained to remember, nothing immediately came to mind as to anything related to his past. He remembered finding Cerena... He remembered meeting Shouko, and Tyyne, and being planted, and that was all. He was Circe -- wasn't that enough?

"I guess we'll have to see..." Cerena sighed, reaching up to stroke the leaf. "Maybe you'll be like an armadillo or or or a flamingo or GODZILLA!"

He hoped not.

As you see him wiggling around next time it seems different than before. It almost seems like his motions aren't done by just one leaf, but by several who are slowly doing the same movement. It's a bit like slow-motion on TV or a picture which has been exposed too much...

As the leaf finally gets it's owner full attention it drastically starts to change colours while moving. It seems to prefer the colour scheme of blue and green and changes into a new kind every two seconds.

Out of sudden the slow-motion changes into a ridiculously fast one. The colours are growing brighter and brighter and it almost seems like the leaf melts inside the stream of rainbow colours. Circe seems to burst out of energy and the glow intensifies as well.

The leaf moves so fast now that it's impossible to make it out anymore inside the painted atmosphere...
But as you blink just for a single second it's gone and a young boy is sitting in front of you and smirks.

Circe was quiet as Cerena laced her arms around his shoulders and awkwardly tried to pick him up. He looked to the rapidly-retreating door and absent-mindedly dug his fingers into his mother's shoulders and shifted until he was in a more comfortable position in her arms.

It had been... an interesting day. At least -- today was the first day that he'd been to the "Aych-Quu" and finally got to show off to everyone how pretty he was now! Tyyne had been there, and Shouko -- and a girl named Madeline... She'd been very quiet, almost afraid (of his beauty, no doubt!) but once he'd put his tail away, she'd been more talkative.

It was so good to be able to move and walk and talk (sort of, but that's okay, it didn't matter as long as people understood him) and just to see what it'd be like, he curled his fingers around a light strand of Cerena's hair and yanked. He giggled at the resulting screech.

"Hey!" Cere protested, hurrying along towards her home in case he decided that this was a game he would like to play regularly. "No hair-pulling! It hurts!"

"Hurtzzzz?" Circe repeated curiously, eyes widening in a perfect picture of innocence.

Cerena sighed. "It's painful." She explained, before realizing this probably didn't help. "...It makes bad feelings. Not-good feelings."

Circe considered this and let go of her hair. "Good feeling now?"

Cerena nodded and couldn't help but smile. "Much good feeling now." Wow! She was brilliant! She wasn't a bad mother at all if she could teach him so quickly about good and bad (Lethe had been much more difficult, yes, but maybe mothering was just something she had to practice?)--her thoughts were promptly interrupted by a sharp tug on her earlobe, one that made her pause and then screech.

Circe giggled again. "That bad feeling too! Mum is easily bad feeling! It's okey, I feel good!" He flashed her a boyish grin before squirming down to the sidewalk and taking off unsteadily.

Cerena blinked, rubbing at her ear and trying to process this. Then it hit her: "He-hey! Come back here!" She wailed and began to give chase.