Welcome to Gaia! ::

The door to the Stationary Shop opened with a tinkle, and Brenner slipped inside. She yawned widely, casting about for a place to set down her packages. Spotting a convenient table, she shuffled over quickly and set down a pile of books and a bag of... groceries? with a thump. Her last, most important package wriggled impatiently, snorting. With a weary smile, Brenner set the tightly bundled baby on the floor. She collapsed into a chair, looking around for company, as Ezra crawled around her legs happily.

Moments later, the door opened again, this time revealing a woman carrying a dark object with a brightly colored head. In reality, Tybalt was just wrapped in his flag; he hadn't let the damn thing go since he came from the book not a few days prior. His hat was perched precariously on his head, his large blue eyes peeking out from over Inle's shoulder. Inle sat him down near the other baby, and his clawed feet clenched and unclenched out of lack of anything better to do. Tybalt just kind of stared at the other baby, not having seen a creature like it before. As he pointed at Ezra and said, "Wha?" Inle sat down in a chair across from Brenner.

Brenner smiled faintly at Inle, waving. "Hey, haven't seen you in a while." Her eyes widened as she noticed the funny creature Inle was carrying. "Whoa. That's an... interesting looking little dude! Did you get him from here, too?"

Ezra looked up at the two strangers, curious. One was another big person, not very interesting... but there was someone like him, too! He was wearing some funny blanket and had funny big feet. Ezra slithered closer to the strange baby and settled down a short distance away. " 'ho!" he said cheerfully, waving at the new baby.

Inle nodded. "Apparently I can't leave the house anymore without acquiring a new child. I think I'm just gonna stay at home from now on and have some of the older kids run my errands for me, just to be safe. Pavel says hi, by the way. Is that a snake?" she rushed out, her thought patterns seeming more erratic than normal.

Tybalt continued staring, unconcerned about whether or not it was rude. Ezra confused him; where were his feet? "'Hoy," he said after a moment before pointing once more. "Wha?" he said again.

Brenner smiled at the mention of Pavel. "Say hi to them all for me." She yawned again and covered her mouth. "Sorry, long day. I have that problem with pets... I accumulate them."

Ezra made a face at the brightly colored baby, sticking his tongue out. "Ezzy," he said proudly, patting his chest. He pointed at the other baby, making an inquisitive noise.

Inle made a noise of what might've been assent or agreement, or a mix of the two; in any case, she was certainly in the same boat.

Tybalt blinked in nigh-astonishment. Did that...whatever it was just make a face at him?! He couldn't be sure, but in any case he certainly wasn't going to drop his guard around a relative stranger. "Capn Tybo," he replied, his tone borderline haughty.

Ezra waved at "Capn Tybo", sitting back on his tail. For some reason, he was getting the feeling that the strange baby was a little ... cold towards him. Hmmmf. Not quite sure what to do, he idly thumped the tip of his tail against the floor. Tybo's feet were fascinating... but he wasn't going to let the standoffish stranger see him get all distracted and silly. Ezra stared back at Tybo, sticking out his tongue once more.

How DID the other boy get around? Did it have something to do with his tail-and-no-legs? Ezzy didn't seem to mind not having legs...and why did that boy keep sticking his tongue out at him? Was it some strange form of communication? With sapphire eyes focused on Ezzy, he stuck his black tongue out as well.

Adrienne had promised Nyxa that she'd try to get Olivia into the Tall Tale shop, and it looked as if today was that day. Slipping inside, she held the babbling baby close to her, catching sight of Inle. "Inleee! I hoped you would be here. I promised Nyxa I'd bring Liv by here." She grinned and plopped Olivia down on the floor near the other babies.

Olivia instantly caught sight of Tybalt and Ezra, gleefully clapping her chubby hands together. Scooting closer on her bum, she instantly reached out grabby hands for Tybo's pretty feathers before her attention was grabbed by Ezra's tail. In a very ADD-like manner, Livvie instantly dove for Ezra's tail, cooing softly to it.

Brenner waved to the new arrivals, calling out a cheerful hello.

Ezra laughed when the strange boy stuck out his tongue. Maybe he would be a funny playmate after all. The appearance of yet more new people distracted him from his new acquaintance. He turned, just in time to squeak out a greeting before he and Tybo were attacked by Olivia. "Weeek!" he squealed, putting his hands over his eyes as she latched on to his tail.

He laughed? Ezzy...laughed at him?! Tybalt played his game and got LAUGHED at?! The pissed off parrot immediately withdrew his tongue and was about to give Mr. Legless a piece of his infantile mind when the ringing of the door bells caught his attention. His already large eyes widened further at the sight of just who was coming through the door, and he immediately began looking for something to defend himself with. His anxiety abated as Olivia's target changed, and he found himself somewhat appeased to see that Ezra was the target of the rainbow terror's attack. Tybalt allowed himself an uncharacteristic chuckle at the other boy's distress.

Inle merely quirked a brow as Dri walked in with Olivia. "Heeey, kiddo. I didn't know your mom was the proud mother of a book baby. We should form a club, or something. Like Operah, only not as dumb. How is your mom, anyway?"

Adrienne shrugged slightly, "She's on some island somewhere, it's cool. And yeah, she's got a book baby, too." Dri's voice lowered to whisper as she spoke, "But this one is a little.. ah.." She twirled a finger in circles near her temple, indicating that Olivia was a little nutty.

Olivia was in heaven. After grabbing a handful of Ezra-tail, she promply looped an arm around Tybalt's foot. "Liv'ya, haha." She spoke to Ezra's tail as if expecting a response before giving Tybalt's foot a stern glare, little eyebrows lowering in a baby-frown.

Though startled, Ezra thought he recognized the wild new baby. He didn't mind her playing with his tail, everyone seemed to want to do it. "Liv!" he said, patting her solemnly on the head. She seemed to be going for Tybo's foot now. Ezra frowned. He wanted to see Tybo's weird scaley feet himself, but he was getting the feeling that the other boy wasn't very friendly. "Oh!" he said sternly to Olivia, rolling his eyes at Tybo. There was no telling what the jumpy parrot might do if she annoyed him!

Tybalt's claws opened and closed, as if they yearned for something to latch onto. Olivia's arm was a bit out of range, though, as it was on top of his foot, so it appeared he was stuck with her for the moment. His wings folded themselves tightly to his back and Tybalt clenched his flag tighter as he looked down at Olivia, saying, "No feters!" in a commanding voice.

Olivia cooed softly at Ezra, rubbing her cheek sweetly against his tail. "Ezra, Liv'ya." She nodded before giggling wildly, turning her attention back to the brightly colored Tale she'd latched onto, blinking wild violet eyes up at him. "Fete, yes. Liv'ya fete," she pointed to her own, releasing Ezra's tail for a moment. "No fete," pointing at Ezra's tail. Finally she screeched at Tybalt's feet, eyes wide. "FETE."

Glaring suspiciously at Tybalt, Ezra swished the tip of his tail. Feet? He looked down at his tail thoughtfully. Even though he knew most people had feet, he had never really wondered why he himself didn't. Oh well, his tail was prettier than feet anyways.

"Fete no!" he called to Olivia, pointing at Tybalt's frighteningly sharp claws. He didn't trust the parrot, and those claws looked painful. Besides, Tybalt was weird. Ezra stuck his tongue out at the boy again.

Feet? Of COURSE he had feet! What kind of person didn't have feet, other than weirdos like Ezra and his sister Delphina? "No fete!" he said, pointing at Ezra's obvious lack thereof. "Haha, no fete." Tybalt returned the tongue-sticking-outage, opening and closing the claws of his unoccupied foot at Ezra.

Olivia didn't like the tone that Tybalt had taken on, and she released his foot as if disgusted by it. A thunderous expression contorted her small features as she shook a chubby hand in his face, standing up for her pal Ezra. "NO. Bad!" Crooning to Ezra, she patted his scaled shoulder, an endearing look on her face. Olivia scowled at Tybalt, promptly reaching out and yanking on his feathers.

"Wo!" Ezra exclaimed unhappily, startled by the sudden twist things had taken. He might not like Tybalt much, but he didn't want everyone to get in an argument over feet, of all things. He pulled at Olivia's elbow, hoping she would release Tybalt.

Tybalt's jaw dropped, more in shock and anger than in pain. That traitorous little wench! Pretending to be friendly and then immediately turning on him. Pah, this was why he didn't like other people. And hadn't he expressly told her NOT to touch his feathers? His blue eyes took on an icy tone as they narrowed at Olivia, and his arms flailed out, one managing to smack her right upside the head. "NO FETERS!" he screamed in a very angry tone. It might have escalated from there, but Inle moved quickly from her chair to the pile of babies on the floor. She managed to detach Olivia's hand from Tybalt's feathers with minimal damage before scooping him up.

"Say sorry!" she said to him.

"No!" he replied stubbornly, looking at her as if promising grave consequences if she dared to press the issue.

"You little..." she trailed off with a sigh. She needed to get out of there, so she could burst out laughing at her technicolor terror. "We're going home guys, sorry." With that, she settled Tybalt against her and walked to the door. Over Inle's shoulder, Tybalt stuck his tongue out at the group once more, and remained that way until they were through the door and out of sight.

Tybalt smirked in a satisfied manner to himself. If nothing else, those babies would learn NOT to mess with the dread Captain Tybalt.

Adrienne watched the goings on with a mix of humor and horror, gaping after Inle as she left with Tybalt. Slowly she turned to watch Olivia, stunned for a moment before picking the baby up and moving for the door. "Night, you two. I should probably get Liv home and make sure she's okay."

Olivia was slightly taken aback after being decked upside the head, lower lip wobbling as she fought tears. Before Dri scooped her up, she pressed a wet, sloppy kiss to Ezra's cheek, waving 'bye-bye' to him as she was carted away by the Kuatalmot girl.

Bewildered and upset, Ezra watched the two Tales and their companions leave. "Nyy!" he called after Olivia, waving. Brenner called goodbye to the two women and their charges and then scooped Ezra up onto her lap. "Mamaaah," he said sadly, not sure how to explain what had happened.

"It's okay, kid," Brenner said bracingly, hugging him. "I'm sure you guys will get to be friends." She glanced at her watch and sighed. "I guess we should be getting home ourselves, Ezra!" Brenner bundled Ezra up once more and carefully hefted him in one arm, her books and packages in the other. Ezra wrapped his arms around her neck and looked over her shoulder as they left the Store. Oh, well. It was nice to see Olivia again. He would find a way to make Brenner take him more often.

Reserved for something-or-other.

Ying snuck into the shop, casting a glance over her shoulder before slipping inside.

Excellent. No one saw.

And now, today, she was truly a woman, for she had arrived at the stationary store all by herself!

And Hakugen could stick THAT in her bowl of wheaties and eat it.

Ezra was sprawled out on the floor of the Shop, idly doodling in his coloring book. His mom Polecat had dropped him off while she ran some errands. A bit irresponsible, maybe, to leave such a young one on his own, but Ezra wasn't the type to get into trouble. And Polecat was very trusting of the powers of the Shop to watch out over her baby.

The boy looked up inquisitively as the strange Tale slipped into the Shop. She looked almost normal, for a Tale. He waved in greeting, giving her one of his shy smiles.

Perhaps she wasn't as "not caught" as she thought she was.

"Uh," Ying stammered awkwardly.

Ezra blinked at the girl's lack of response. She seemed to be as shy as he was. He waved again, somewhat awkwardly.

"Hi," he said softly. " 'm Ezra."

"Ying," Ying answered quickly, pointing at herself with her thumb. "I came here all by myself." A nod for emphasis. "I'm grown-up."

"M' mom leff me here," Ezra said, gesturing vaguely with a crayon. He frowned doubtfully. "Dunno if 'm growed up."

Ying studied Ezra thoughtfully, and then shrugged. "Dunno either. I'm grown up 'cuz I say so. I can go wherever I want by myself! I don't care what Haku says!"

The boy smiled again, amused by Ying's enthusiasm. "I can be growed up too then!" He thumped his tail on the floor once for emphasis.

Ezra cocked his head to one side, studying the girl. Even though she did seem pretty normal, she had that slight... something or other... to her scent that meant she was a Tale. She had a very cool stick-thing too.

"What're you looking at?" Ying asked quietly, tapping her staff on the floor impatiently.

Was Ying angry at him? Ezra couldn't really tell. "Uhmm.. I was lookin at your stick," he said slowly.

"It's not a stick," Ying corrected haughtily. "It's a staff. Sticks are for poking. Staves are for fighting. This is MUCH better than a stick."

A pause. "...You can hold it if you want as long as you don't swing it."

Ezra blinked. "No, 's ok. I like coloring." His gaze returned to the stafe... stavv... whatever it was. "Why you wanna fight?" Ezra's face wasn't as mobile and expressive as the average boy's, but his expression of dismay was still fairly clear. "Fightin's no fun."

"I don't fight people," Ying argued. "I just practice with it. It's like a dance, you know? I'd show you but we're inside."

A pause.

"And when I do fight, it's so I can protect everyone. So there."

"Protect from who?" Ezra asked blankly. He remembered meeting a mean Tale or two a long time ago... but no one really bad. During his travels with Polecat, he'd been in a few scary situations, but they had never had to fight anyone.

Even practicing with that stick thing couldn't be fun. He wouldn't have fun pretending to hit people with a stick. And as for a dance... "I don't dance," Ezra said, looking down at his tail. "I don't got feets for it."

"That kinda thinking is bad. You think 'who am I gonna protect' and don't learn, and then something BAD happens and you can't do NOTHING." Ying leaned her staff against of the shelves and folded her arms. "If you're not prep... prepar... If you're not ready, THEN what're you gonna do? Nothing."

"Hmmm." Though annoyed that she called his thinking 'bad', Ezra thought she might have a point. Maybe. A small point.

"Well, maybe you're right a little," he said placatingly. "But I like makin things more. Anyway, if everyone tried to be nice, and didn't try to hit nobody with sticks, then there wouldn't be no fightin." He flicked his tongue in an unconcious gesture of disapproval.

Tired from all this philosophy, Ezra lowered himself back to the floor with a sigh and resumed coloring.

That caught Ying's interest. "Making things? Like what? I make robots."

Robots? Ezra looked up warily. "What's robots?" He bent his head to his coloring again. "I like makin models and things. I use to make things with blocks, but that's for babies. Now I build stuff with Legos."

"You know... robots." Ying frowned in thought. "Like... models that move! And go 'RAR' if you put a speaker in 'em."

Hmmm. Models that move. Ezra frowned, momentarily intrigued, and then shrugged. "I can pick up an' move models myself if I want. An' I can make em say RARR too." He smiled up at Ying, flashing his sharp teeth. "Anyway, I like em to stay still while I work on em!"

"Oh, they don't move until I tell 'em to," Ying answered. "One day, I'll bring the supertoaster, 'kay? But uh... I need to go home before someone notices I'm gone, 'kay? Talk to you later?"

Though a little disappointed, Ezra waved cheerfully enough. " 'K. Bye, Ying!" He picked up his crayon once more and bent to finish his picture, content to wait for Polecat's return.

The park had proven to be a nice place in the past. The best place she knew of to observe others, particularly other children playing. Being no good at games like tag and hide-and-seek herself, her sources of amusement came from watching those who could.

However, it was an unwelcomed discover to see what winter had cast over the land. The blanket of white might be pretty to most, but the only thing Onoway could see were all the dead (and very frozen) plants. The few that had survived didn't look too well off, and as no one appeared willing to do anything about she came up with a solution herself: plant transportation.

In other words, she'd dig them up, apparently with her hands, and take them back home, put them in her room and keep them alive until the evil that was cold left. Unfortunately, the task proved harder than originally intended with the ground as frozen as it was.

The young child knelt down aside the flower bed, and had almost successfully dug one up when an unlucky snowball zoomed past her, following soon after a child who stomped thoughtlessly on the near-rescued flower. Sighing heavily, she eyed the now dead thing with dissapointment. Hm...

Ezra was thoroughly miserable. Polecat had bundled him up in jackets and wrapped his tail in a blanket that made him look like a giant woolly sausage, but the awful cold still crept through.

He slithered slowly through the park, shivering wearily. How could those other kids play games in the snow? He couldn't imagine it. But then, he never really got in on other kids' games anyways.

In addition to chilling him to the bone, the terrible snow covered up the ground completely. He couldn't even look for rocks to add to his collection, or interesting animal tracks. Disappointed, Ezra slithered on through the snow.

Ahead of him, another child was kneeling in the snow, fooling around with some of the frozen plants. As cold as he was, it was difficult to summon up much enthusiasm about anything, but Ezra was interested. At least she wasn't running around screaming and throwing the dreaded "snowballs".

"Hey," he said, slithering up to stand beside her, balanced on his heavy tail. Normally he didn't initiate conversation, but he was too cold and bored to be shy. If she wasn't friendly, well, he could hardly feel worse than he already did. "Whatcha doing?"

Chailyn was still sick with a cold, though it had gotten much better. She was tired of being stuck inside and with some work had gotten to come to the park. She was bundled up in a jacket and even had on some snow pants. Her hands were hidden in her coat sleeves, the cold nipping through her gloves.

She toddled through the snow before adjusting her earmuffs. She looked around wrinkling her nose up at the kids throwing snowballs. That didn't seem fun at all. She turned her head spying two tales together away from the others. Curious, she made her way over to them.

"Hi, what are you two doing?" she asked gently.

Zayne wasn't crazy about snow. It wasn't the cold that bothered her, but the expanse of white. White was not on her list of favorite colors. It made her feel empty and blank.

Despite this open dislike of the substance, her Aunt had sent her out of them manor and told her not to return until at least an hour had passed. Without a watch, Zayne took this to mean until sundown. And so, she was in the park, dejectedly shuffling about in her usual ensemble of a bright purple jacket and a set of matching yellow hat and gloves.

In her wandering she noticed a crowd gathering in one area and veered in that direction. So long as they didn't throw things, she might just talk to them. Zayne pulled up behind Onoway, Ezra, and Chailyn and peeked into the group. Having caught the tail end of Chailyn's question, she idn't bother to voice her own. She just tried to look like she belonged there.

So many people arrived so suddenly, it made even Onoway a bit uneasy. It was harder when you didn't have a voice of your own to be in a crowd like this one. So, which should she use? Slyvester had allowed her his, but he was a boy, and it sounded odd. Her 'mother' was too angry, and her sister too quiet.

With a moments thought, she decided quiet was probably better than outraged or male, and so went with that. "I'm moving these flowers," she said in a soft voice, barely able to be heard above the howling winds passing through. "It's too cold out here for them. Unfortunately, it's not working very well. It's taking a very long time, and people are running past stepping on them."

Ezra, too, was startled by the arrival of so many other children. Normally he would have felt uncomfortable in the presence of so many "normal" looking strangers, but he was just too cold to care at the moment.

The words of the flower-girl made him squint dubiously. He could understand someone wanting to save the flowers... but it seemed like a waste of time. And it was so cold, too.

He gave a little wave to the others before turning back to the girl on the ground. "That's mean of 'em to step on the flowers. But how are you gonna save that many flowers, anyway?" He shivered, thinking of digging in the snow himself. If she asked, of course he would help her, but he certainly wasn't looking forward to it.

But then, there were the other children... if they offered first, he would look like a jerk. "I'll help you," he said, trying to keep his voice as upbeat as possible. "M'name's Ezra, by the way," he added, nodding to the other children. With a small sigh, Ezra rearranged himself so that he was closer to the ground, his tail curled tightly around his body to retain as much warmth as possible. He surveyed the dead and dying flowers without much hope.

Chailyn wasn't sure what to think of trying to move the flowers. She was curious about what Onoway planned to do with the flowers once she dug them up. She thought silently to herself for a moment before looking to Ezra and then at Zayne.

"I'm Chailyn," she started giving a smile to them. "What happens after you dig them up?" she asked. She was naturally curious about the girl's plan. "Maybe if we made a circle around the flowers we could keep people from stepping on them?" she suggested.

She really didn't know what to do. She figured she should help but it was hard to decide when she had no clue what Onoway was going to do. She looked at Ezra as he volunteered to help. If he was going to help, she could offer to help as well. "I'll help, too."

On one hand, Zayne didn't like doing work - but on the other hand, she could appreciate the effort to save something of color from the wasteland of snow. Besides, she certainly couldn't be the only one who didn't help.

"I'm Zayne," she said. Naming one's self seemed to be the thing to do. "I'll help too. We can't let all the color get covered up by the white. But we need somewhere warm to take the flowers."

She fumbled with her gloves, sticking them in her pocket, and then knelt by the others and eyed the flowers.

"Well, I figure if I'm unable to save them all, a difference will still be made," Onoway explained to Ezra. "You know, like the story about the starfish. Where the boy goes around the ocean throwing them back in the water." Such a good story. She prefered it over ones about princesses and dragons and things.

Her eyes moved rapidly around at the three, blinking but twice. Wow. Aside from her sister, she'd met only two other around her age. Who knew there were so many friendly ones, as opposed to those who ran around stepping on flowers?

"Thank you all," she said sincerely. "And, my name is Onoway." Motioning toward a large gathering of flowers near by, she said thoughtfully, "I suppose each of you could just try to get those out. Be careful of the roots, if you damage them, the flowers will die anyway."

"When they're withdrawn from the ground, I'll take them home. It's warm there," she answered. "Though, of course you all are welcomed to take some as well. No one seems to mind."

Ezra smiled at the other Tales, feeling a little bit better about his decision to help Onoway. At least he wouldn't be the only one digging through the snow.

"'s a good idea, Chal -- uh, Chailyn," he said, scooting over a little bit to form more of a circle around the flowers. He unwound his tail a little bit to help protect the circle, wincing at the cold.

At Onoway's direction, he began digging carefully around the base of a clump of flowers. "I dunno about starfish, but it'll be nice to save the flowers," he said, scraping out snow from the small hole he had made. Maybe saving the flowers would be worthwhile after all... at least it was fun to meet some nice new children who didn't mind his strange appearance. "M'mom lets me take home plants an' stuff, so I can help give homes to the flowers."

Chailyn blushed lightly when Ezra said her idea was a good one. She gave a smile kneeling down spaced slightly away from other tales so that she could help protect the flowers. "Thank you, Ezra," she murmured softly.

She glanced at Onoway still a bit confused about things. She wasn't sure what to think really. It seemed like a good idea but what was she going to do after they dug them up and got them home? They couldn't just leave them unplanted and the soil was practically frozen under the snow, making it almost impossible to dig up soil to plant the flowers in. Wouldn't the plants be cramped in a pot? So many thoughts raced through her mind.

Still she began to dig through the snow, letting a moat of dirt appear. She tried to use her hands to dig but was finding the soil too frozen. Peering around her purple eyes noticed a stick, which she picked up rather quickly. Cupping it in her hands she stabbed it into the ground but it broke. A subtle pout of disappointment fell over her face before she shrugged.

Now she was determined to find a way to dig up the flowers. It was too bad she didn't have a hammer, the claw would've been very helpful. Instead she went back to trying to use her hands making little progress.

Everyone else began digging, so Zayne selected a flower herself and started digging away at it. Underneath about an inch or so the soil appeared to be frozen solid and Zayne's cold and raw hands didn't appear to be having much of an effect. She glanced around and to her eyes everyone else seemed to be making more progress than she, so she started to concentrate on her hands. If she just had something sharper and stronger than normal fingers... and then to distract the others from her now longer and sharper nails, she asked a question.

"How do you keep a flower alive indoors? I've only seen dead ones in wreathes and bouquets."

So many voices! It was hard to keep up with, really. This was the most people Onoway had spoken with at once, let alone guiding them in a project such as this. "They'll be fine," she assured Zayne. "One of my cousins has a friend who has special abilities with flowers. He can talk to them. I'll take them there and he can say what to do from there." It was a good plan. At least, a better one then just leaving them here to freeze.

With a glance around, she became concerned, however, pausing her work and withdrawing her hand from the ground. It was cold, and the ground was colder. What could be done about it?

"If we had a way to soften the ground a bit this wouldn't be so difficult," Onoway said mostly to herself.

Ezra paused to grin at Chai before resuming work on the frozen ground. With his hard, scaled hands and almost claw-like nails, he was making better progress than the others. Unfortunately, he was also cold-blooded, and he had to take a break to blow on his numbed hands every couple of minutes.

Catching Onoway's murmured comment, he looked up from the trench he had made. A way to soften the ground... hmmm. "Maybe we could start a fire... no, the flowers might burn." Not to mention what his mom would say if she found out he'd been playing with fire!

Suddenly brightening, he stuffed one mittened hand into his pocket and rummaged around. "Wait! I almost forgot!" he said, bringing out a small handful of stones. "I brought some of my rock colle'chun. Some of them're sharp... we can use em to dig with!"

Chailyn returned Ezra's grin as she pondered how to dig in the soil. She pulled off her new gloves and pulled out a pair from her coat pockets. She didn't want her new ones to get dirty and she'd gotten an old pair of Aislinn's to use before Ane bought her new ones. Putting on the new gloves, she tried to push her thumbs into the dirt, using them like a bird's back talon.

"Do they talk back?" she murmured softly. "The plants, I mean, to your cousin's friend." she added to give more of an explanation. She gave a look over to Zayne to see she was doing better before looking to Ezra. Apparently everyone was making a bit more progress than her.

She couldn't very well give up and thus tried to dig more, glancing over at the two beside her every once in awhile. She noticed Ezra blowing on his hands and peered at her gloves. Before she could offer them, he mentioned his rock collection. She looked them over before nodding, "I think those would make digging easier!"

After approving of his idea she decided of try offering her gloves to him. Picking the gloves up, she handed them out to the reptile tale. "You can use my gloves to keep your hands warm, Ezra."

Oh, rocks. Why hadn't she thought of that? Zayne glared at her hands which had reverted to normal and held out a hand for one of Ezra's collection.

She didn't have an extra pair of gloves to offer, but it irked her that the other girl did. So far, Zayne was feeling a bit out of sorts among people. It was a very different sort of group than those she was used to.

"You're very smart!" Onoway commented. It was rare her tone changed, but she sounded a bit more enthused as they were slowly but surely making progress. Rocks. Such a simple but good idea. The ones scattered about the ground were probably too frozen to comfortablely dig with, so the fact Ezra had some of his own would make things easier.

"I believe so," she answered Chailyn after a moments thought. Honestly, she'd never thought to ask. It just seemed natural that if you could talk to something, they could talk back.

"Thanks, Chai!" Ezra said happily, tugging the gloves on over his alread-covered hands. The extra layer helped a lot. He handed out the stones, feeling quite a bit happier about this flower-rescuing adventure.

Onoway's compliment made him blush -- or would have, if Ezra had had slightly thinner skin. He grinned in embarrassment, reflexively putting one hand in front of his mouth to cover his teeth. "Thanks Onoway. You're smart too, it was your idea to rescue the flowers in the first place!"

He set to digging with gusto, chipping away at the frozen ground. This was much faster! He wasn't so sure about talking to flowers, but by now he was all for the idea of saving them. It must be awful to be buried in the frozen earth and snow... just imagining it made him shiver.

Taking a rock in her hands, Chailyn thanked the reptile and set back to work a cold shiver running down her spine. She heard Onoway's answer and it set her mind at ease for now, though curiousity was sure to flare up again.

"Wow, you must be good at digging Zayne." She noticed she'd dug further before getting a rock though she hadn't noticed the girls hands. She was somewhat oblivious to her surroundings trying to focus on digging up the flowers. It seemed to be going much easier now that she had a rock to use.

Tilting her head she noticed she was digging in a circle. She'd have to dig under the flower to get it out. She wasn't sure how to do that without hurting the roots. "How do I dig under the flower without hurting the roots?" she asked looking up and at the three tales.

Zayne gave Chailyn an odd look, but deciding that she didn't have anything to fear from someone who was willing to save flowers - she answered honestly.

"A lot of things are easy when you really concentrate."

A bit cryptic, but honest.

The next question struck her as well, since she had been starting to feel like she would never reach the end of the tiny thread-like roots branching out at every opportunity. Sitting back on her heels, she idly flicked back a strand of long black hair and look at Onoway - the unofficial leader of this conservation effort.

Hm. They'd get things done faster, maybe, but answering so many questions was tough. Admittedly, she was no expert on flowers or parts of them, and perhaps it was the butterfly in her that made her so determined to save them.

"Well, they're far enough apart," she began hesitantly, slowly shifting her eyes from flower to flower. "The roots will be frozen as well, I'd guess, so I don't think they'll break so easily. Pull the dirt up, not the flower, and I think they should be alright."

At Chailyn's question, Ezra took a break with Zayne. He had been getting near the roots as well, and wasn't quite sure how to proceed. He had dug up plenty of plants in the wild before, but that was in summer when the ground was soft!

Onoway's suggestion made sense. "I don' think it matters if you break one or two roots when you dig em up," he volunteered. "Just s'long as you get most of em."

"Oh, all right," she said hearing Onoway and Ezra. She was beginning to feel a bit put off by Zayne leading her to bite down on her bottom lip. She wasn't sure what to think or do, so she thought she would leave it alone.

She went back to focusing on digging up the flower giving a little cough every now and then. She used the rock to chip away at the clumps of dirt hanging to the roots trying to gently coax it out. She didn't seem to be having too much luck and upon digging underneath the big clump of dirt lifted the flower out. Still, she kept prodding at the dirt a little more so there was more flower.

Wrinkling her forehead, Zayne continued chipping away at the roots underneath her own flower. She felt, honestly, that it had started growing new roots for her to dig around simply to spite her. If she wasn't so fond of the colors the flowers displayed in the spring, she would have ripped it up.

Instead, she concentrated on the main root, the largest of the group, and ignored roots that got too tiny to see easily past the puffs of air coming out of her mouth. If a couple were ok to ignore, maybe she could finish this eventually.

Rubbing one slightly grimy hand against her cheek, Zayne sighed as she reached a point past which the main root itself got beyond her size threshold. A tiny whispered, "Yess!" and she pulled the entire thing up and out. Grinning stupidly, she looked to Onoway for further direction.

It was a moment or two before she looked up. Finding Zayne holding a plant, that blank look of hers formed into a rare smile and she nodded approvingly. "Good job," she offered, getting to her feet and brushing her pants off. Snow was still falling, and the flower pots she'd placed off to the side were now hidden by it.

Luckily, not too much, and it took only seconds to brush it away and hold the object out to the other girl. "Perhaps when you get home, you could decorate the flower pots as well," she suggested to the trio around her.

Ezra let out a little cheer at Zayne's moment of triumph. He looked on with interest as Onoway dug out the flower pots out of the snow. It would be fun to decorate one... now he just had to get a flower to put in a pot.

He redoubled his efforts and was soon rewarded when the flower he was working on began to come free of the earth. Chunks of frozen soil still clung to the roots, and he chipped away around them, careful not to break the main root. Once the main roots were all free, he began tugging gently at the flower. Finally it burst free, showering him with cold chunks of dirt.

Ezra let out a yelp as one of the bits of dirt hit him in the eye. He dropped his hard-won flower, rubbing frantically at his eye. The aggravating bit of dirt gone, he grinned sheepishly and picked the flower back up off the snow. "Uhh, I got one," he said, a bit embarrassed, holding out the flower for Onoway's inspection.

Chailyn smiled when Zayne pulled a flower free, though it was mostly to herself. She was nervous that if she smiled or said anything the tale would dislike her more than she appeared to. She gave an almost silent sigh and continued working with her flower.

The flower didn't want to come out of the ground. She gently tugged at it but it just stayed put. She used her fingers to search through for areas she hadn't dug out but didn't find many. As she was about to try pulling it up again, she was startled by Ezra's yelp and jumped back.

A blush covered her cheeks as she looked at the others. "I seem to have a stubborn flower. It doesn't want to come free," she said looking over at Zayne and then turning her head to Ezra and Onoway.

Taking the pot from Onoway, Zayne placed her flower in it with perhaps a bit more emphasis than might have been good for it. Her worth to the group established, she looked around at the others.

Ezra's triumph gathered a smile, now that she had done her part, Zayne felt less competitive with the others - and she even ventured a few words to the group (although she directed them mostly Ezra).

"Maybe we should decorate the pots and then exchange them. So that we each get something to remember eachother."

And then feeling a bit exposed, Zayne hid her face behind a curtain of hair. She peeked out to respond to Chailyn, however.

"Would you like help? Someone could sort of push up while you pull on it?"

She looked around to see what everyone else thought of this suggestion. The more she offered on her own, the more vulnerable Zayne began to feel.

It seemed, to Onoway, when you got people together they came up with good ideas fast, and lots of them. Exchange them, hm? "That's interesting," Onoway commented thoughtfully, wings twitching. "It's a good idea."

Likely more careful than nesscary, she grasped the dirt along the roots of her flower and pulled it out. Reaching over, she clutched her hand around another flowerpot and placed the lucky plant inside. Today was a good day to be a plant in this park.

Only when Zayne said something did she notice the problems one of their group members--or so she'd call them--seemed to be having. "Yes," she answered before anyone else could say much. "We need to help each other, and there's no shame in asking for help. With something like this, especially. The plants won't think less of us if we all help each other."

Reaching for a pot for his own flower, Ezra nodded. "Yeah, if we help each other we can prob'ly get done a lot faster... and then we can get out of the snow," he added, shivering.

Zayne's idea of decorating and exchanging the pots appealed to him. "That'd be fun to trade the pots," he said, smiling at her. "On'y we'll have to get a lot more flowers, so everyone can have a pot from everyone here!"

He slid over to Chailyn, eyeing her stubborn flower thoughtfully. "I'll help, Chai. What should I do?"

"I think that would work, Zayne. I can't tell if I dug enough underneath, though." She gave a smile to the girl before turning to Ezra. She gave a thought shuffling over slightly to give him room to help. "Maybe if you pull it up, I can use the rock to make sure I got all the dirt scraped away?" she suggested.

Honestly, her mind was thinking about decorating pots. They'd each need three to give to the others and her mind was already toying with how to design them. She had an idea for a pot that she could give to Ezra, and one for Onoway but she wasn't sure what Zayne liked.

"Zayne? What do you like?" she asked, seemingly out of the blue. She smiled at the tale putting her hand down in the hole and scraping more dirt with the rock.

((To be continued...))

Running, running, running. He can't remember whether his pursuers are his elders or the others. It doesn't matter. He knows what they will do when they catch him. Catching his foot on a branch, he stumbles and falls. It has been too long, his energy is spent. Blood leaks from scrapes across the bright scales of his legs.

The sounds of pursuit swell as he reaches the river bank. He spends a precious few seconds simply lying there, gasping for breath. The reflection in the water is unfamiliar to his waking self, though colored in the same bright patterns. The colors waver and shift. Now he is human, or appears to be. Not for long.

As Ezra struggles through the river, the people behind catch up at last. Senseless shouts, a struggle, an inhuman hand clutching at his robe -- all this is lost when Ezra wakes with a gasp.

* * *

A fleeting vision, gone before he can make sense of it. Two menacing figures. A grim room. Ezra shook his head to clear it and resumed staring out the train window. He had been gone for too long. Ordinarily a loner, his mom's traveling was okay with him. But maybe the loneliness was getting to him. First the strange, recurring nightmares, and now he was hallucinating? Maybe he was going crazy. Or maybe he had just been falling asleep.

..Construction..

We are building a religion,
We are building it bigger
We are widening the corridors and adding more lanes
We are building a religion.
A limited edition
We are now accepting callers for these pendant keychains
To resist it is useless,
It is useless to resist it.
--Cake - Building a Religion

Perhaps this sense of disconnection is Polecat's fault. It is her fault that Ezra has had little stability and few permanent friends. But it is true that although Ezra has always been alone, he has never suffered for it. The desire to seek out company has never been strong in him. It isn't that Ezra is cold, or that he hates the company of other people, but he is... distant. Ezra is affectionate towards the few he knows and likes, and he would never dream of hurting someone's feelings, but deep down the sense of a disconnect from the world he lives in is growing day by day.

Ezra has a new project. When he was a baby he played with building blocks and construction sets. Now he is into electricity. He has moved past sticking lightbulbs into lemons and making model motors. He likes machines. Robots aren't of any real interest to Ezra, although they represent incredibly sophisticated technology. No, he likes machines that do work. He is a little too young to formulate such thoughts, but in his heart of hearts he resents human interest in robotics; he thinks that such machines are simply expressions of humanity's egotistical self-interest (the thought that he himself might share the same characteristics hasn't crossed his mind yet).

This new project of Ezra's doesn't have a real goal yet, but he believes it will incorporate movement and analysis. He loves nature, and a machine with some scientific purpose is appealing to him. He's not sure what exactly he's doing or where he intends to go with this scientific tool, but he's having fun tinkering away at it. Oh, yes.