Welcome to Gaia! ::

Dorian raised an eyebrow at Verdant's comment about liking long hair, and absentmindedly started twisting a few tendrils of his own hair around his finger in thought. Hm. So there were different KINDS of nymphs? He'd never had much to do with nymphs before now, so the entire concept was new to him, as was Verdant himself. Watching Orpheus in the sugar, he smiled, wondering if this was what it felt like to watch after troublesome children. Probably. It was a warm feeling though.....Marianna would've loved the atmosphere of the---he flinched and his eyes got suddenly cold. No. He wouldn't mix her with this life. This new chapter was a chapter of begginings, not a continuation of what had been before. He'd never hurt Marius that way.....the way he'd hurt Claudia before. Though truthfully, he only remembered the one time and only because he'd seen it on the security camera's of work, since he'd had to almost completely remake Claudia's body because of his actions. He shivered ever so slightly and tried to pull a fake smile to Verdant with a nod, but it didn't quite reach his eyes, eyes that were still cold and distant.

Turning to the flowers, he sighed and brushed his fingertips over a white carnation, her favorites. They had to get out of the house if he was going to keep thinking like this. Taking Verdant back out to Ellie, he smiled at how Marius was still dutifully keeping watch, and patted the proto on the head.

"If you'd like to do something else, Ellie, we can. But if we're going to go anywhere we'll need to go soon. Besides, I'm sure our little darlings would LOVE to cause trouble without us here," he chuckled, but it was an almost fake sound to his and Marius's ears. Most people didn't hear Dori's real laugh, and that wasn't changing right now. Everything was such a mask. Marius looked up to Dorian with concern, but only got another pat on the head for his trouble.

Verdant smiled back at Dorian once more before blushing deeply as he came to a realization; he felt... much less lonely when he was around Dorian. He made him smile, sincerely smile, and that was something he'd been doing less and less as of late. Well, he had all day to be with him and Ellandra; the three of them were sure to enjoy themselves.

The nymph followed Dorian back to Ellandra, that warm smile still plastered on his face. It quickly disappeared when Dorian spoke. "Yeah, don't give him any ideas. There's a reason I don't have any glass cups at home, right, Orpheus?" The little wyvern had managed to break each and every piece of glass in the apartment- how it happened was a mystery to Verdant, but he knew it was Orpheus because he apologized after the nymph caught him trying to dump piles of crystal into the trash can in the kitchen.

Orpheus stuck his tongue out at his older brother before attempting to lick all the sugar off of himself. It was proving to be very difficult, mostly because all the sugar was on his face and his tongue wasn't quite long enough.

Ellandra squeaked as she was led out the door, caught a bit by surprise at Dr. Cromwell's sudden actions. But mostly, she was silent and just let herself be whisked along - after all, it was a nice day, and she had nothing to complain about. Especially not now that her nausea was nearly nonexistant. Even though she'd had absolutely no idea abut the shopping part of this expedition, she couldn't deny that it did sound rather . . . pleasant. As long as the two men she was shopping with didn't ry to alter her wardrobe too drastically, anyway.

She couldn't see herself wearing anything like what either of them wore.

Ever.

Also, the brunette was a bit worried about leaving the three little protos all on their own, but, if Dr. Cromwell said it was all right, then it probably would be. "So, um . . .where are we going, exactly?"

And now the epic shopping trip was underway! Although he did feel a bit flusted on the inside that Verdant had so willingly leaped onto his arm pretty much, holding onto it as if he was hanging onto Dori for dear life. Ellandra was a little more sedate, holding onto his arm loosely, more like a content bystander's hold than a vicegrip. He was a bit jittery leaving Marius alone with the two other proto's, but figured that he was more than responsible enough for all three of them, he just hoped Orpheus didn't disturb Claudia or something like that. She'd been so odd lately.

Walking Ver and Ellie to the elevator and taking them downstairs, he led them out onto the street and down various roads happily, his hair swishing with the movement and light spring in his step. He was content just to lead them to their destination, but he wanted to chat too, that was to be expected. Dorian couldn't keep his mouth shut for more than ten minutes and that was up riiiiiiiiight aboooooout..........

"SO! Ellie, you're obviously married, what's your husband like? What does he do? Do you have a doctor for the babies already, or would you like to pop in every once in a while for check ups? The lab I work at has a clinic on the lower floors...........AND VERDANT. Where do YOU work darling? Or are you working exclusively on music right now? I'm sure that must be fun with someone as lively as Orpheus around, hm?" he chattered on, meeting his usual time limit.

Verdant chuckled as Dorian's chatty side emerged again; he had just been thinking that it was very quiet, despite the hustle and bustle of the people roaming the streets, each person needing to go somewhere or nowhere. Maybe it was the nectar talking, but he felt today would be a great day! He was in the company of his best girl friend (and her nausea-inducing bundles of joy) and Dorian... yes, Verdant was especially happy to be in his company; to be seen with such a handsome, intelligent... sexy... delicious man...

"Oh! What? Sorry, I was just... er, well, I work at Elysian Gardens, the nursery on the outskirts of the city. It's a beautiful place, not too far from where I live. My boss and his son are amazing; I couldn't have asked for better employers or friends. I still sing and play at different little nightclubs and bars, not really sure I want to mainstream myself. And Orpheus is a bundle of fun, always saying something funny or cute; it's hard to practice when you start laughing half-way through the song." The nereid certainly hoped that Dorian nor Ellandra could see how flushed his face was; where had that damn thought come from anyways? He was lucky not to have dwelled on it for too long or else he'd be walking with a limp...

Ellandr tilted her head, simply listening to Dorian's speeh and nodding at appropriate times. She supposed she ought to understand more of his work descriptio than she did, but truthfully she was really only half paying attention at the moment. She was focused far more on the children within her womb and what they might be like when they grew up. They were still such tiny little things, incapable of surviving without her. . . but it wouldn't be all that long before they entered the world, and not much longer after that before they started growing up, and forming personalities. . . what would they be like then? For that matter, what would they look like? A soft "Hmm..." escaped her mouth as she idly pressed a hand to her belly while she thought. She noticed neither the noise nor the action, so lost in her thoughts was she.