Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shai turned in a full circle as he walked, looking around with an expression of frank amazement. He clutched a copy of the flier in both hands, and glanced back down at it once he came to a stop in the center of the room the overhead announcement had directed him to.

This was the place! There was light in his smile as he glanced back up, taking in the wild assortment of people before him. "Hello!" It was obvious his greeting was geared towards all, one hand finally leaving the flier to be raised in a modest room wide gesture. Fa'e!

The shards of the Tzohar chimed as he waved, hanging lax at the end of their tethers against his lower back. He had no idea what the actual event WAS that they were gathered for, but it hardly mattered. There were so many new and wonderful faces!

Mik was just examining the 'gun' attached to his vest - he was totally going to own this, seriously - when an odd little toddler made his way over and put himself on their team. Then again, just about every Fa'e looked pretty freaky somehow or another, it seemed. A glowy girl followed and took a blue vest, too. "Hello," he started, but was interrupted by a tugging on his sleeve. He looked down, blinking owlishly. "Oh, you need help?"

No, really? Hesitantly, he plucked out one of the remaining blue vests and set to carefully helping the rat-kid. He sure hoped he was doing it right! Helping someone else was a bit different from suiting yourself up. "Does that feel okay?"

And then someone else came in, and it was someone his own age! Thank God!

Dusty glanced over at the newcomer with a look of clear bafflement. There was being excited, and then there was being too excited- and that dopey-looking smile was just disturbing. Staring solidly at Shai and crossing his arms in a clearly unwelcome manner, he leaned over to mutter in Lethe's ear- "Who's the homo?"


((This is the last post I'm making before I'm going to be coaxing everyone into the arena. The following Fa'e are also in the room, and will be picking up vests at the last second to even up the teams: Guelmy (red team by request), Naolin, and Caoihme. If anyone else wants to join, this is the very last chance to let me know!))

After watching a few other people do it, Bhel figured out the vest. It was just kind of big. He was a big kid, but he was still only a toddler, really. Grumbling, he dropped the gun and struggled with it.

Lucretia picked up the vest and lowered it down over her brother's head, then put on her own. It was kind of uncomfortable on her wings, but then her wings were not exactly flesh and blood like wings apparently were supposed to be.

Glancing down at her silly bulky vest and the gun, Lucretia smiled faintly for a moment before her features faded back to a deadpan stare. Following the trend from the lobby to in here, it was going to be even darker inside - all the better for her, she supposed. It would be like hunting with the silly gun.

Bhel fumbled a little with his own vest, and tried to get a good grip on the gun. He was not really sure what lay beyond the doors, but he had seen enough TV to know what the gun was for, at least. And he understood teams.

... Wait, that was Mitsu, on the other team. He glanced at Lucretia, his sister in name, then at Mitsu, his sister in blood, his little brow furrowing a little. It was just a game, but still. He wanted to see Mitsu again sometime when there was not a gun in his hands.

Waiting out the man's list of the rules with barely-constrained impatience, Dusty didn't seem to be fully listening to what he was saying at all, instead clicking the trigger of his gun compulsively and letting his tail drift back and forth. It wasn't like this was his first time playing lasertag ever, couldn't he just skip the rundown?

When the man was finally done (it had taken him only twenty seconds, maybe, but it was still too long for Dusty's liking), the deerkitten wasted no time at all in scrambling to be the first one in the area. It was only when he'd stepped through the door that he twisted back and, grinning, called to Lethe- "Race ya to the base!" Without even waiting to see if the challenge had been acknowledged, he raced off, determined to win before the game had even begun.

"Nope," the man shook his head to Seung's question. "Feet on the ground at all times, little'un."

If the River Fa'e had seemed abnormally quiet during the speech, it was only because she was still preoccupied with trying to wrap her fingers around her gun -- literally. The ribbons didn't help, lately having tangled around her fingers and making it difficult to separate certain ones; neither did not having feeling or solidity past the top knuckle of her fingers. Finally she managed an awkward grip on the gun, slipping three fingers to secure the trigger and clutching the top half of it tighter than was comfortable -- aiming and shooting this thing was going to be a pain for her.

"Dusty--" But he was already off, shooting off a challenge as always. "He said 'no running!'" Lethe yelled after his retreating back, digging her heels in and gritting her teeth, determined to resume her role as token Good Girl. Yep. This was just fine. So what if Dusty got there first? It didn't prove he was fastest, just that he didn't listen at all. Of course. Lethe didn't have to chase after him to prove she was faster, anyway. So what if he had hooves? He was bigger and, with the fur, less aerodynamic. She knew that without even trying. ...Yeah.

Her feet were itching.

"Come on, Nao," she said abruptly, twisting on her heel and beginning to walk very, very quickly after the catdeer. "If Dusty wins, he'll appoint himself captain and probably make us do something ridiculous like form a pyramid or something." This, of course, completely justified her breaking out into a run for the red base.