Welcome to Gaia! ::

Arae sat under the chill December moon in the garden of the tower and basked in the starlight. Her pond had remained unfrozen this week, after Sajhiri installed a heating element beneath it so the fish wouldn't be cold.

She gazed at her reflection in the still water, occasionally broken by a koi rippling through the image. She missed Aleric and hoped he was all right. Christmas had been a pleasant quiet affair, and was time well spent with her bond, but she ached to see her love again.

"This won't take long." Aleric said over his shoulder. He squared his shoulders and reminded himself once again that he wasn't a young boy. He was an ancient and should act like an adult.

But then why did he feel so damn guilty for this? He sighed and dropped down on Sajhiri's front porch, thinking he should knock. Then he felt a hint of magic from the gardens. He took to the air, flying around the back and stopping at the sight of her there. Just to commit the image to his mind before he left.

Arae felt a glimmering of power nearing and she looked up from her reverie. Her smile lit up the night as she spotted the hints of purple and gold in the darkness. "Aleric?" she queried softly, feeling her heart skip a beat in excitement.

"Each time I see you, you grow more beautiful." He said with a little smile and a shake of his head. "I'm not sure how, but millions would kill for that skill if the televisions are to be believed." He landed beside her, reaching for her hands with his smile firmly in place. "How are you, my love?"

His snowboard and staff were strapped together over his back, and a pouch of food hung from his waist. He was ready to leave as soon as this chat was over, but to mention that this soon would be rude.

Arae blushed softly at the poetic compliments from her paramour. She squeezed Aleric's hand gently. "You are too kind, but that is why I love you so, your kindness." She smiled a bit mischeviously with a twinkle in her eye "And your kissing ability of course."

It took her a moment before she noticed his accoutrements. "Are...are you going somewhere, Aleric?" She asked.

He hesitated. "Perhaps we should sit." He said, tugging at her hands as he sat down. "You see... I've been thinking very hard about some things. You know, that we're the only link the feien have left to the past as ancients..." Think, you idiot, how do you make this sound as if you're not rejecting her the moment you got her?

"I prefer to stand, I think..." Arae said softly. This didn't sound good to her, and she felt her stomach churn at Aleric's words. She forced herself not to show it on the surface though as she said quietly "yes, go on."

"And... well..." There he went again, feeling like an awkward boy. Slowly he got to his feet. "There is another link to our past, my love. One that remembers more than myself. I'm going on a quest." He took a deep breath.

"I want to bring a piece of our past back to the feien. Even if it's just a flute. Think of what will happen my love. When some young juvenile looks at such a beautiful piece of feien craft and realizes that they can do that, too." His eyes shone with the idea, his enthusiasm showing clearly. "When they realize that there's so much more to us than living as pets with human bonds. That we are a true culture! A people with a rich and deep history!"

Arae blinked and her breath escaped in a rush of relief. "Oh! Is that all? For a minute there I thought you were dumping me already." She chuckled. "We all must follow the paths we are set upon, Aleric. If this is a path you must walk, you do so with my blessing. Just be careful and take care of yourself. Come home to me when your path returns you here." She smiled gently.

He grinned as relief hit him. "I know that I might be gone for a while... Silva's already warned me of that. But I think I can figure out how to use the human's mail system to write you. And the phone, maybe. I'm not going alone, so it should be safer for me. But I felt I needed to tell you before I did anything... and..." He hesitated. "We should tell Averno, as well."

Arae looked a bit confused. "Tell Averno? I don't think she'll much care that you're going on a quest, my love. She'd likely try to convince you to take me, and the rest of the Menagerie with you to give her some peace and quiet, but that's about it."

She hadn't told her? Great... just great... "I suppose not..." He said hesitantly. "Silva and Soho are going with me. I hope it will help heal some of the wounds developed during the cupcake incident." He said, glancing over his shoulder and into the shadows where his family waited.

Maybe it was best that Averno wasn't told...

"Averno has been acting peculiar lately, and now you talk about telling her about your family heading out on a quest? What is going on here Aleric. Don't lie to me." She crossed her arms over her chest and peered at her beau.

"I was hoping she would be the one to tell you..." He said dryly. The last thing he wanted to do was tell her about Silva and Averno. "There might be... something... between your bond sister and my brother." He said with a slight shrug.

"SILVA!?" Arae laughed out loud. "Don't be ridiculous. Those two hate each other." She giggled. "Oh Aleric, you're so sweet, seeing romance everywhere." She kissed his cheek.

"I guess it does sound kind of ridiculous." He said, enjoying the kiss. He wasn't about to tell her about the scene on the porch. "But just to indulge me, love, would you tell her?" He asked, leaning his forehead against hers.

Arae smiled softly and stroked Aleric's cheek. "All right, I'll tell her. But you just remember to be safe, and don't take unnecessary chances, my love. I want you back in one piece, afterall. And take care of Soho." She notably left out taking care of Silva.

He smiled, kissing her briefly on the lips before pulling away. "I promise." He told her. "Nothing bad will happen to any of us."

Arae watched him depart, with a sinking feeling in her chest. She knew many a quester in her lifetime, and so very many of them died on the path. But she knew as well they could not be dissuaded, and that an ounce of encouragement and a reason to come home gave them all the more strength to survive.

D & D Feien Style =Soho, Silva and Aleric visit the shop and Soho drags Galatea and Hadrian into a real life RPG, with Silva as the baddie, of course^^

There was a splash of drying blood on one of his wings and his left shoulder as Silva reluctantly followed Soho into the HQ. He had wanted to clear his mind, true, but that had involved violence. Not Soho dragging him to the shop yet again. He had barely gotten one good hit in, dammit.

Soho's tiny hand tugged at his, pulling him futily up the stairs and into the waiting room. "This is better than hunting Mister Silva Demon!" She told him as she glanced over her shoulder. "Maybe we can find more people to play with!"

"Darlin... you might not have noticed this, but the only feien I want to 'play with' isn't home at the moment. The rest of them are solely there to irritate the hell out of me."

'But I'm a feien!" Soho said.

"You're family. It's your job to irritate me."

At the sound of voices, Galatea had felt the immediate impulse to tug her tiny stack of papers further behind the lamp, to better hide. But she had spent a moment to bite her lip and steel herself. She was not afraid and there was no point in hiding from the ones that she wished to learn from. It would just be ridiculous.

So, after another moment, the little blood feien stood, holding the papers to her chest as she padded out further onto the end table to look around, ears perked for the voices again. They had sounded familiar. The more she thought about it, the more pleasant she thought it might be to see other feien again.

Silva glanced over at her, already sensing her magic. "Hello, darlin." He said before turning back to Soho. "I'm having a rough day, darlin, the least you could do is let me kill a few things and get drunk!"

"But that's boring! You do that every night." She said with a pout. Although he didn't get drunk every night and they both knew it. She just liked how those words sounded. "And Ice said you have to come with me to--" She stopped, finally realizing Galatea was there. "Galatea! Hi!!"

Papers clasped tight, Galatea offered a small, shy smile and her customary bow. "Hello, Miss Soho, Mr. Silva," she called. "It is nice to see you again." She tried not to peer too hard at Silva as her mind tried to process his words about killing and drinking; they seemed a bit... inappropriate, really.

"See? It's worth coming to the shop to see Galatea!" Soho told Silva, as if her point was proved. She dropped down on the desk, grinning up at the other female cheerfully. "It's so good to see you again! Have you met any new feien? Made any new friends? I need to introduce you to my sister sometime!"

Silva grunted and looked around, then eyed the papers Galatea was holding. Hmm...

Galatea took a breath to buy a moment and then proceeded to answer each question in painfully exact order. "I haven't met anyone new, no. Or made any friends." She almost asked outright if -they- were her friends now but bit it back in time, figuring it would be the rudest question ever. "I have been spending a lot of time with my Captain and reading. I want to make a house," she explained. "And are you here for something? I'm not keeping you, am I?" She glanced over and flushed to see Silva watching her. "Mr. Silva?"

"No, darlin, you're not keeping us." Silva said, glancing at Soho before looking back at her. "You're interested in a house?" He asked. He didn't really have a house, just slept on a stuffed tiger... Soho lived in a fishbowl and Aleric slept in a terrarium. So it was a novel concept for him. "Come up with something?"

Soho blinked, then cocked her head slightly. "And it has to be taller than you, cuz when you grow up you'll still want to live there, right?" She asked, remembering how small her fishbowl had seemed when Silva got in it.

"Oh, of course." A little crease appeared between Galatea's eyebrows as she frowned for an instant. "But I'm not certain how tall I will grow so I have to estimate and hope for the best. It's not very scientific but I guess I have to be prepared in case I grow as tall as Mr. Silva here." The frown eased and she again looked up at Silva before half-shrugging. She brought the papers away slightly and the other two feien could make out a slim cylinder on top of them - a piece of graphite wrapped in embroidery thread so it wouldn't stain her fingers. "I'm not sure either what -style- of home I should live in. Mr. Hadrian lives in a sort of lamp, I believe, and that seems to suit him. I don't know if it would suit me, though." Another shift of her arms revealed sketches and lines of numbers and letters on the uppermost sheet of paper.

"I live in a fishbowl." Soho said cheerfully. "It's got nice, comfy dirt in it for when I'm sleeping, and some plants and animals." She added thoughtfully. "Mister Silva Demon doesn't really have a home..."

"I sleep on a stuffed animal." Silva said with a shrug as he dropped down next to them to look at the papers. "Then again, I've never given a s**t about privacy." He chewed on his toothpick as he started to think.

"You could use some human stuff... a milk carton, a cardboard box..."

"I think I would have to." Galatea slipped down to sit with her legs folded underneath her, absently flexible. Shyly, she began to spread the pieces of paper out in front of herself; they were all perfectly cut, no rough edges, and sized exactly to fit her hands. "Your fishbowl sounds very nice, Miss Soho," she added, looking up and smiling again. "But I do not think that is me either. Or a stuffed animal. If my Captain even had one. Which she doesn't."

She pointed to one of her sketches. "Popsicle sticks," she announced. Then to another sketch. "Something called Lincoln logs and tinker toys." Another. "This design is for a toy called Legos."

Silva nodded. He had dealt with those when he helped Aleric build the playground.

"Have you come up with something you want?" Soho asked, looking curiously at the pictures. "Mister Silva Demon and Aleric are really good at building things!" Although she had a little gift that neither of them knew about. She could mend two things that were alike together.

Silva almost twitched at the mention of Aleric, but said nothing.

Galatea shook her head slowly. "I think simple is best for me but I don't know how much room I will need." She raised her pink-eyed gaze to study Soho's lowered head. "I want others to be comfortable if they come and visit me but I am not sure how many would want to."

"We'll come!" Soho said, glancing up with a bright smile. "And we could talk and play with our hair and have a party!" She added. "So you should have enough space for me, and Mister Silva Demon, and Aleric, and Mister Hadrian, and--"

"Soho." Silva muttered. "If she doesn't want a big house she doesn't have to have one, darlin. Your house isn't that big."

"True." Soho said, chewing on her bottom lip. "Um... what's your element again? Maybe we can work that into it!"

"Blood." Simple and to the point and without any idea whatsoever that it -might- be creepy. Galatea idly fingered one of the sheets of paper. "I am blood."

It didn't creep either of them out at all. But it did surprise Silva. Soho didn't think anything of it at all, not sure what was typical and what wasn't when it came to elements. "So... we could paint the walls with blood!" She said cheerfully. "Mister Silva Demon's good at getting it all over everything."

"No, darlin, blood dries and gets sticky and starts to stink." Silva said. "Speaking of which I need to wash off." He added, looking down at his arm. "Keep thinking."

Galatea blinked at Silva as if realizing for the first time that the blood was not simply part of his markings. "Oh." Without another word, she had risen to her feet and skipped off the edge of the table, disappearing in the direction of a potted plant. Mere moments later, she was back with a piece of damp tissue. She handed it over to Silva with a little bow. "Someone had just filled the water reservoir on the palm there. It is clean."

Then she turned back to Soho. "He is right. Blood does not make good paint."

"Thanks Darlin." He said as he started to clean himself off. "A pet, maybe? They've got blood." He said, thoughtfully.

"Hmm... then maybe just red paint?" Soho asked.

"There are red Legos. I believe I could ask my Captain to get them for me. I don't think she would mind." Galatea's foot nudged one of her drawings absently. "I cannot figure out how to make the roof, though. Walls are easy and I'm not worried about hard work but a roof... It's more awkward."

"You'll want room to fly out." Silva said, moving his huge wing in front of him to wipe it off as well. "You'll only want to cover part of it. You could use something lighter, leaves, or plastic..." He paused, looking thoughtful.

"You could use the popsicle sticks to make it!" Soho said.

Eyes lighting up as the suggestions took hold, Galatea smiled at both of them now. "Yes," she murmured. "That would work. Combining materials. I don't think it has to be weather-proof since it will be in our quarters. Even if it was, I think a covering of glue on popsicle sticks might keep the rain out. I could build a skeleton with... Straws? And then lay the popsicle sticks over top and then..."

Suddenly, she stopped and flushed all the way to the tips of her ears. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm talking too much."

"I do that all the time." Soho said with a nod. "It's okay! And you're trying to come up with something, right? It's good to think things through."

Not that Soho ever did, Silva thought with a smirk. "It's alright darlin. But we need to get going. I left an injured rat in the backyard."

"Aww..." Soho said with a pout. "Well call us if you need any help, okay?"

"If you're sure..." Galatea smiled uncertainly, still pink. "Then of course. Thank you both." She held out her hands towards them. "I hope to see you again. Please take care of yourselves."

Soho took both hands, then pulled the other female into an impromptu hug. "bye, Galatea!" She said as she pulled away took to the air. She waved as Silva nodded and they both flew out of sight.

A bit startled, Galatea nonetheless wrapped her own arms around her torso as she watched them go, standing stock still for a moment. Then she smiled and there was no forced bravery or complete politeness in it. It was an honest smile. They were -so- very -nice-, she thought.

Pleased and feeling warm, she began to gather her blueprints together. It had been a nice meeting and a nice day, after all.