Welcome to Gaia! ::

Takan ached. Tanz could see it in his face, in his eyes and in his labored breathing. When his friend threw himself at Tanz he did the only thing he could do, he held on as tight as he could. He could feel his shirt and his neck getting wet, looking down and seeing blood instead of salty tears was a little bit of a shock. But nothing that would make him shove his friend away. He was too precious for that.

Looking quickly around the room Tanz noticed that people were either ignoring them or were trying to find out whether or not they should try to help. Tanz tried not to glare at them, it wasn’t their fault for Takan’s tears, thought he didn’t want to think about what he would try to do if he saw her. Maybe throw his food at her. That wouldn’t help, but it might make Tanz feel better.

Turning his head into Takan’s Tanz whispered softly, “Let’s go upstairs. Then we can go bundle in some blankies.” Tanz smiled, even though his friend couldn’t see it. “That’s my favorite thing to do when I want the world to go away for a while.”

Looking around again, seeing that everyone was doing something else, and his father (or anyone) had yet to come out of the kitchen Tanz made his move.

“The stairs are over there.” Pointing off to the bar where a door was visible next to the barrier that kept the server separated from the customers. Luckily the bar wasn’t opened, so it was a straight get away to the stairs that would lead them to the apartment.

Grabbing Takan’s hand, because it was dangerous to go up the stairs clinging to something (Tanz learned that the hard way after one of Neil’s many screaming matches), he might fall again. No one was working the bar se Tanz just swung the divider open and got the key that was under the potted plan right next to the apartment stairs. He unlocked the door and quietly pulled Takan with him.

Taking the carpeted stairs one at a time, they were steep and slippery if he wasn’t careful where he put his feet.

Tanz finally reached the top of the stairs and opened the second door, the one that lead right into the kitchen and the living room. He then turned to his friend and smiled.

“We need to take our shoes off or else we can’t snuggle on the couch…” Tanz muttered as he tried to take his shoe off by stepping on the heel of the other foot.