Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rivera smiled. "That's a pretty big compliment, even coming from you." She continued to work, not extending his work down his arms, where most of the soreness would probably be. "But I wouldn't let anyone except Kai see my back. That's why I got pretty angry at Kestrel for that alone. You weren't supposed to see me like that." She shook her head free of the memory. "In the end, I don't quite deserve much... I've committed sin upon sin, and murder upon murder... in this life and my past life. I suppose the only reason I haven't died is because... Well, I don't know why. I've been stuck like this for a long time, and I don't age at this point. It's like being cursed to see everyone grow old and die." She sighed, massaging his biceps gently. "Oh well... I get relaxed off of this." Her smile returned and she continued.

August was secretly listening in to Kira and Rivera's conversation nearby. An angel and a demon mixed? she thought How strange. And an immortal She secretly wished maybe she would never die, since death was a thought that scared her. Since Souno was doing something else, and she was so curious, she decided maybe she should approach them, but changed her mind at the last minute. They seemed to be having fun together and she wouldn't want to intrude.

"You've a point..." Kira said quietly. He felt her fingers running along the muscles of his arms and shivered from pleasure. "If I knew about an afterlife... I'd gladly give up immortality and go... But I don't really have any faith or religion..." He said simply. "All I truly believe is what goes on right now, and that death is usually inevitable..." He said casually. I wonder why she's so embarassed about scars... Everyone has at least one scar oin their body... He thought.

Kira felt her hug him from behind. He turned around while her arms stayed around him and stood, putting his own arms around her gently. "You know I love you right? And you know what happened thousands of years ago doesn't matter in the present day..." He said softly, knowing what had crossed her mind. He had heard of special bonds between people where they soon grew able to read each others thoughts and communicate without speaking a word. He knew she had read the thought he had about her scars, and regretted the fact it had made her sad. "I promise I'll never let anyone hurt you again..." He said gently, stroking her hair.

"You two are so sweet."

Saraneth's voice suddenly appeared from nowhere. She was standing directly above them, clad in an american flag two piece string bikini. There was a little white box in her hands, one of the carboard ones from the dining hall to-go foods. She was still covered in plenty of white bandages, but she didn't seem afraid to show them. "You can stop aiming your silencer behind your back, Birdie. I know it's water proof and I know you're probably pointing it at me. I'm not here to wage war." Plopping gently into the water next to them, she opened the box on a flat stone. There were crepes inside the box. "Want some? I had to get them to-go to beat the crowd here."

Rivera took her silencer out of the water to check that she did lock it correctly before replacing it at her hip, the tiny gun attached to the side of her bikini by a mini-clip. "I'm okay..." She sighed. "Don't scare me like that." She spoke to Kestrel with a very unexpected familiarity.

Kestrel shrugged. "They're strawberry and apple flavored. It's not like you have to worry about poison."

"I usually prefer chocolate. That's all."

Rivera stretched a little. "How's your arm? I didn't really want to bite it that hard." Really a strange question to be asking here. Weren't they supposed to be enemies?

Saraneth smiled and popped a cold crepe into her mouth. The filling tasted almost like a milkshake, but thicker and more like custard and whipped cream. "Actually, it's getting much better. Don't worry about the bite. I didn't turn into a vampire since you weren't vampiric enough to taint anything."

"And that's a good thing." Rivera raised an eyebrow.

"For me, yes, a little..." She nodded, still chewing thoughtfully. Saraneth let her curly pigtails float in the water like two wispy tentacles. The strawberry red hair looked pink among the haze. "But also for you. You don't have to worry about vampires coming after you for revenge."

This conversation was ridiculous. Because it was simple, it was utterly ridiculous. Rivera was too casual, Saraneth was too forgiving... actually, both of them were too forgiving. "You know that I know where Kleptos is, right?"

"Yep. Your point?" Saraneth blinked. Something seemed like she knew what was going to come.

Rivera nodded at her, as if understanding. "You still have to pay me back. You've got 4 payments left... you're going to pay one of them. Remember, you've signed in blood to Kleptos, so don't do anything stupid to get yourself killed before you become of any help."

"You want me to set it up."

"Bingo."


All this must be so confusing to Kira... Rivera gave him an apologetic glance, thinking I'll explain later...

Aia walked up to the hotsprings, it was a little late so she didn't expect many people there, and it was the only time that she ever came there. She did see a few people there, but they both seemed to be into a heated coversation, she gave a slight wave, but didn't expect anything back and then walked to the changing rooms. She left her short locks of boyish brown hair as they were, and slipped on a black two-piece. She normally didn't wear such things but didn't really care at this point, she had really just come out of bordem. She glanced around and slowly walked in, staying aways from them so she wouldn't intrupt anything. She closed her eyes as she leaned against the side of the hotsprings away from the people since it seemed to be important.

Kira held no grudge, no feeling of betrayal towards her. He understood some secrets were meant to be kept until the right time. "So... What kind of favor does she owe you?" He asked curiously, his wings gliding through the water to wrap around his front. "I guess you've had dealings with her before..." He said simply. He wasn't sure if Rivera had saved her, helped her complete a hit, or anything else of that nature. He wanted to know. "And also... Don't worry... I don't feel betrayed all to easily, so come over and sit down..." He told her.