Welcome to Gaia! ::

Noting that the green Raevan had glanced at her nervously? defensively for a moment, Namini allowed her eyes to find comfort in looking at her feet. The blush that had crept onto her naturally pink cheeks from eavesdropping now spread across her entire face like a virus and corrupted everything from her ears to her nose. Deciding it was best not to raise her eyes to meet the other's, she somewhat blindedly walked towards the refreshment booth and also the attractive Raevan she had seen before. As she walked forward, it seemed perfect timing since the green one and the Raevan from before, Rivener, were apparently ...leaving? Floating past her, Namini couldn't help but release a sigh as soon as they were out of her sight.

Gathering the courage to lift her eyes now, Namini noticed a purple haired man take Rivener's place in the drink booth. Maybe another iced tea would help calm her nerves? That's when she felt her stomach growl quite loudly, and if it were possible, she felt her face redden even more. It was decided, she'd have to fill her stomach! But goodness it was hot. Putting her parasol down for a moment, she tied back her auburn waves and, shamelessly and ..yet innocently, she grasped the edges of her sundress and lifted it above her head. By doing so she quickly revealed a cute, frilly bikini top and white shorts. Shaking her head in relief, she smiled sweetly before slipping the shirt into her bag.

"Much better!" she admitted as she unknowingly seemed to direct it at the Raevan. Closing her parasole, Namini decided it was just best for now to carry it. Approaching the counter, she immediately spotted the small menu of the ice cream booth. She hesitated though in voicing her question to the fairly intimidating Raevan who attended it. That's when she overheard the pair talking.

"So his name's Lazarus.." She couldn't help but flash a smile to Lazarus gently as she felt a sudden burst of confidence.

"Excuse me, is it all right if I place an order?" she giggled sweetly.

Lazarus half opened his mouth and about to reply when a customer came to their booth. He swallowed his reply as Bard tended to the new thirsty customer, he don't want to disturb them. Not feeling like talking at the moment, he stationed himself back at the ice cream booth and waited for customers. The bell was ignored for the mean time.

Bard's questions repeated in his mind though. Maybe he was kind of distracted today. But it's probably because there's no customers to attend to and he don't really had anything to do.

He was listening to what Bard was saying to the customers though, and he smirked quietly at how bad Bard is selling the drinks. He could definitely do better.

His confidence and skills were tested though when he finally had a customer. "S.. sure thing!" he babbled as he saw what the girl was wearing. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he spoke. "W..what do you want?" he said nervously as he picked up the ice cream scooper behind the booth. God he needs to stop the stuttering that he had been doing all day.

Josh nodded and continued on explaining to Alice, “Well, I’ve been to a few of their events. I found out that the Lab does experiments involving essences and souls. They create creatures with this method.. Or so I’ve heard.” The boy followed suit with Alice and raised his hand in the air making sure to sweep a few wayward strands of brunette hair out of his face while doing so. It wasn’t that he found himself interested in the man on stage; it was quite the contrary. Julian had already made a bad impression on the teenager. However, Josh always found it fun to compete in competitions… even if the prizes were mediocre. After all, it could never hurt to try.

Ki grinned, although curiosity tugged at her attention, demanding she quiz the other on her odd statement. "Newborn? Helluva ra--er, very developed for a young'un." she observed, admittedly curious.

"And...scientists?" Now, this was getting interesting. "Just...what is...?" she gestured vaguely in the departing Tari's direction, not even sure how to describe her. One of the she-pirates better, or perhaps worse traits was that she found it difficult to rein in her curiosity, once piqued--especially when the person she was quizzing seemed to offer information quite freely.

"She popped out that way," Kali said dryly. In truth, she was slightly envious. Not that she wanted pathetic human males drooling over her, but her cleavage wasn't that impressive and she was immensely older than Tariel. "Certainly, her mind doesn't match the maturity of her body - what little of a body she has at the moment."

She was curious about the pirate lady. The festival wasn't close to a port, so what had dragged this woman from her ship if she wasn't even aware of what this was for. "They call them Raevans. A few strange doctors created them, some mix of magic and sorcery I wouldn't dare to think of trying. By all the lores of magic I know, it shouldn't work, and yet it does."

And HOW it worked. The dozen half-formed bodies floating around the festival were proof enough of that. Fantastical, colourful and as varied as anything found in nature.

"Technically they are experiments, so we have to keep close contact with the doctors and have check ups every so often. Though that's hard now, since the labs blew up. That one," Kali jerked her head in Tari's direction, "was a few strands of maiden's hair, still growing around a sakura tree several hundred years after death. I added an angel's soul, and the doctors did whatever they do... And voila - a quarter of a body, along with ribbons and a rune. The others have different essences and souls, but it's all basically done the same way."

Crossing her arms, Kali studied the other woman. "If I may ask, how did you end up this far from a ship without knowing what it was for?"

There was no booty here. Maybe once Tari or the other busty Raevan near the flowers grew some hips, but until then, no booty.

Richard stood beside Julian, a toothy and broad grin decorating his facial features as he looked into the sea of bidders. He had been very confident that the young man, even if he was quiet and appeared stern, would be capable of bringing in a good number of bids. As he suspected, he was right.

"Do I have ten? Twenty? Thirty? Fifty?--"

With every number he announced, someone would raise their hand or call out a number and increase the amount being wagered. It didn't take long though for some hands to start disappearing back into the crowd. Groups of little girls were the first to lower their hands. Followed after them came the preteens, whose parents wouldn't allow them to even think about going on a date with a twenty-some odd young man. After them, the teenager's hands fell to their sides. Many of them either did not have enough money or weren't about to spend it on a single date with a man they would never cross again.

That just left the adults and some elderly women hollering and raising their hands for Richard to see. Mentally the young man was cringing for Mr. Sweet's sake, dreading that the poor man had to go out on a date with an old woman.

As the amount of money got closer and closer to the maxium of two-hundred dollars; Richard had begun to think that his friend on stage would be going on a date with someone fifty years his senior. Before he called it quits and announced the winner, in a last attempt, he squinted his eyes out into the crowd for any chance at a sign of hope. Soon though, as the patrons faces began to mesh with the color of their clothes, the hope deteriorated, and he began to wish he either had worn his glasses or cleaned his contacts. To have the inability to see while doing an auction was not good...especially when a good date was at stake.

Suddenly, the young man could've sworn he saw a hand move in the crowd and decided to finish up the auction. What did they have to loose now?

"We have a winner! For two hundred dollars this person right here has won a date with Mr. Julian Sweet! Congratulations!" The announcer, who had to cover up the act that he couldn't tell the age or gender of the person, clapped his hands together and addressed young Josh to come up to the stage.

Richard did all he could to hold back a laugh when Josh got closer and therefore clearer for him to see. Now he could tell that the person was a he...a teenager in fact! Boy, would Mr. Sweet have an interesting date! Although he had the feeling the other would be consumed with finishing the date and not savour the time to just relax.

"Now, why don't you two head off the stage and introduce yourselves? I need to get back to my job. Enjoy your date!" Richard told them both as he scooted them along, knowing he had to get back to his job. Pronto!

Though she hadn’t cared much for the winning, the fact that she’d been out bidded so fast was mind-boggling to her. Seemed once things got started people weren’t quite as shy and she’d be damned if she was going to give up so much gold! However, sun-kissed fingers slide her shades down to peer over to this boy, a single purple brow lifting curiously at the creature that stood quite tall next to him. It was totally out of this world, nothing she had ever seen in her lifetime that was for sure. Although she wasn’t ogling persay, she quickly placed her glasses back up over her eyes so as to hide her peering at them and to not be rude, gently clapped for the winner.

Leaning backwards in her chair, Ebony wrapped her arms behind her head to gaze up towards the sky in quiet thought. In a half absent-minded gesture, her hand snatched the white lily that still sat nestled on her left ear and brought it to her nose. She took in the soft, lush scent with serenity, remembering the Raevan of whom had given it to her. 'What was his name?' Oh, right…she had forgotten to ask and had as usual forgotten to introduce herself. It didn’t matter, after all she would most likely see him again. At least before she left that is. She still wanted some seeds for her garden.

Lightly twirling the flower between her thumb and middle finger as the sun glittered down upon its lovely white petals. “Hmmm…what now?” Suddenly she was feeling unusually lazy and didn’t want to forfeit her shaded seat to venture back into the crowded masses. At least, not just yet that was. A loose, obviously bored sigh filtered out from those pale lips.