Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Milk?” Amon offered, holding a glass out for her over the baluster of the porch.

“Ambulance?” Miranda suggested, face pale, clutching her cell to her chest and looking as if she been the one to try that devilish sauce. She had, in fact, earlier this day, and it had been bad enough for her stomach to churn in the most unpleasant ways, not to mention her tongue had been numb for at least an hour.

Nephrite, who’d obviously let go of Miranda, was laughing silently, clutching her sides.

"Anais is my name, nice to meet you." She said, her words sounding a little funny as her tongue was still burning. At the offer of milk she turned and smiled in relief. "Thank you" This man she recognised a little, along with a couple of others in the garden. She had seen them going in and out of the shop that had led her here.

"If I fall over in the next ten minutes i'll take that ambulance." It did not take her long to almost down the glass. She took a deep breath and looked to the sauce. "You must be Amon? who sent me the email?" It was a guess, but a good one she thought, seeing as he had brought her the milk so was likely the host. she glanced to Neph who seemed to be highly amused and smirked. "Did you make that sauce Nephrite?"

The wisp was definitely annoyed. He drifted angrily behind Hugo as he left the car. As much space between the two of them Obli could get, the better. If the wisp had been a serpent he would have been rattling a warning to back off. Hugo had merely picked him up and put him in his pocket. His exploration of the new apartment was not complete and it annoyed him to be interrupted. At least those were the sensations he was sending to his guardian. The man was blatantly ignoring him.

If he had been a feline, Obli would have curled up after clawing the hand that petted him.

“Oh, behave yourself, Oblivion,” the man admonished as he walked past the light. His hair changed to black where the light shone and then back to white as they walked under a dimly lit area. “You will like it. Nephrite is here. “ She had a way with Oblivion for some reason and once the wisp found her, he would be happy and find some fun.

Hugo headed for Amon. He was the only person he knew there, the wisp following him. He was just in time to see Anais take a bite of the sambal. Her face turned red causing him to raise an eyebrow. What had Amon cooked for them to eat? He was not sure he wanted to try it, but then why not? Their food on Nyoata tasted bland in comparison to the things he had tried here. But he still planned to tease Amon a bit.

He teased the man mercilessly for a moment. “So the real reason for the party is to kill us with your cooking, Amon? Poor girl. I’m Hugo Farnsworth,” he asked then introduced himself, bowing in amusement. “Where’s Nephrite? Obli is very annoyed with me. He was exploring our new apartment and I interrupted. I was hoping she could settle him down a bit. She seemed to have a way with him the last time.”

Oblivion was not amused by the man’s actions at all. At least it was not daylight. As he moved with Hugo in the darkness, his stone shined a luminous violet causing him to look surreal and translucent. His annoyance made him brighter as he hovered in the darkest spot he could find. His anger was very apparent and it was definitely aimed at his guardian.

(( Man... that was a lot of catching up to do... You guys are moving quick, lol... ))

Athan paused for a moment to set down the jug of tea on the table next to the other refreshments before politely taking Jasa's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he replied, "My apologies for not making your acquaintance sooner."

He arched a brow at the look Amon shot him. He had anticipated a little bit of questioning regarding his attire. Surely no one thought that he only possessed long, flowing robes..? Of course that was what he preferred to wear, but he had decided in this instance that his usual garments would be stifling and otherwise inappropriate.

Simple black slacks, and a gray tunic sufficed just fine. He even went so far as to tie his dreads, which were now bordering on being too long in his opinion, back and away from his face in a low pony tail.

Reyna acknowledged Jasa with a grin and a small wave as she surreptitiously watched Amon's retreating form. She wasn't much for small talk, but she guessed she'd just do what she usually did -- let Athan do the talking and interject with sarcasm when she saw fit to grate his nerves.

'Already causing trouble without me..?'

'Not yet, but I'm thinkin' about it if you don't hurry up and get here, mister.'

'Tsk, tsk. Don't be so impatient,' was Mystic's mental reply. He'd arrive on his own time.

The sparkling irrepressibly wisp swirled within the tendrils of her own shadows as she spun like a dancer towards the garden gate, pausing she turned to face her foster mother radiating impatience.

Trivii followed at a more sedate pace, a current job obstructing her thoughts as she strolled she paused noticing the hurry up mom aura of the wisp she sighed and repositioned her hands on the large bowl she carried.

Corn bread always had a place at the table.

Grinning she tossed a friendly look at Jasa before setting her bowl down.

Nell was off like a shot, twirling, seeing tasting the energies of the others... Ruku she recognized but there were so many new faces!

“I’m Amon, yes,” he confirmed Anais' guess, crossing his arms and resting them on the baluster. “Sorry about getting back to you so late, your mail ended up in the spam folder with some … other stuff.” His dear sister nagging why she hadn’t been invited, for instance. “And I apologize for the weird questions too, they must have seemed pretty strange to you. See, Neph wasn’t quite supposed to give out an invitation to just about everyone she liked, so I had to …” He paused, smile fading for a moment from his sensual lips, his face growing rather serious. “Lets just say there’s a few people I’m not to keen on finding out where I live now and crashing the party.” He shrugged. Anais, for once, really didn’t look the cultist type. They usually didn’t wear pink. In fact she seemed refreshingly normal, which made him feel equally relieved and guilty he’d asked her to come after all.

‘I didn’t make that sauce.’ Nephrite shook her head, and pointed at her guardian. ‘Amon did.’

“Specialty of the house, made with bird’s eye chili. Those are mean stuff.” Amon grinned, looking quite dashing with that deep tan of his and the eye patch. A little like a pirate. He’d asked Geeta for the hottest chilies she had in stock on purpose.

He lit himself a cigarette (really, he honestly deserved a break by now), and looked over the crowd gathering in his garden. Most confirmations he’d gotten had been of the tentative ‘maybe-if-I-can-make-it’ kind, so he was pleasantly surprised by how many had showed up. And quite a diverse group they were, Gaia at its finest. He was glad Jasa had offered to help him handle things, and that Nephrite had roped in Miranda’s aid as well. And – though he had mixed feelings about it – he was actually grateful for Athan’s presence as well. So many of the fiends around – though most seemed to be wisps still – was just asking for trouble.

His face, having grown pensive for a bit, lit up the moment he spotted Hugo and his little companion heading straight for him. He hadn’t been entirely sure the pair would come, complete strangers to this world as they were. “Hugo,” he said, heading down the wooden steps of the porch, giving the other a brief, brotherly hug and a slap on his back. “Glad you could make it. And I’m not killing anyone with my cooking. In fact that is the most excellent, home-made sambal ever. Specialty of the house.” He smirked. “I dare you to try it.” It had not quite escaped his attention that Tek had set aside some of said ‘specialty’ and made off with some of it to no doubt have some unsuspecting person try it. “Neph is right over there.” He pointed at the fiend clad in white and lavender, still cringing in silent laughter mid-air.

Nephrite’s eyes grew attentive immediately at the mention of her name, the gray pupils gleaming almost silver. ‘Hugo,’ she said, floating over, her hands clasped neatly in front of her body. ‘Have you found my flower yet? Look, I have one for you!’ She pointed at a large tray set nearby the food table, filled with many delicate porcelain cups filled with soil and tiny saplings sprouting from them. ‘Pick whichever you like.’

‘Obli, hello.’ She’d spotted the wisp almost immediately, despite his settling in the darkest corner. That luminous violet which surrounded him was unmistakable. Nephrite’s eyes seemed to gleam even brighter, something like mercury, as if they were reflecting some of the glow that Oblivion gave of. She stretched out a small green hand, palm up. ‘Don’t be hiding there, mh? This is supposed to be fun.’

Miranda, for her part, was rather glad she didn’t have to call the ambulance. With how red the woman’s face had grown, and her labored breathing, she’d been seriously worried for a while. The milk, however, seemed to have helped.

She frowned. Amon hadn’t offered milk to her when she’d tried the sambal. Nor anything else. Brows furrowed, she glanced down at her cell, thumb moving quickly over the keys.



She didn’t wait for a reply, tugging away her cell instead as she glanced over the crowd, looking for familiar – or rather – not so familiar faces. It was always the ones she didn’t know yet that were the most fun. Speaking of … Her gaze lingered upon the obviously elven woman who’d just entered from the side, bearing sort of a what-am-I-doing-here kind of look upon her face. She had no idea whatsoever who that could be. Plus, she could spot neither wisp nor fiend nor anything nearby. Curious. “Amon,” she said, pointing. “Do you know who that is?”

Algie had lingered in the house just momentarily. Neph was a bit of a social butterfly and had pawned the gifts off on Miranda and then she had rushed off to check on someone outside. He was blissfully unaware of the sambal incident and instead was just straightening the gifts on a table top where he knew they'd be seen. He was also admiring the house. He didn't know much about architecture but he did enjoy a nice, well furnished home. Perhaps he'd ask for a tour of some kind later. While he was fussing more people showed up though the crowd seemed to gather in the yard. He could smell the grilling and his stomach made a low growl.

It was hard to tell if Bloo was encouraging of Tek's mischief but he certainly wasn't stopping him. The wisp darted between legs when Tek asked to lead him to his bond. In between ankles and trouser legs the little wisp shot and slipped inside the house just as the door was closing.

Algie had been on his way out when his wisp darted back to his side. "Did you see all of your friends?" He didn't receive back the normal feelings of confirmation and remained puzzled for a moment. "Well I want to go see everyone." Bloo remained where he was, waiting for Tek apparently. "Are you coming?"

The sensation was just about returning to her tongue. She listened to Amon and watched him light the cigarette. She was a semi reformed smoker. Unable to kick the habit completely she rationed herself to one cigarette every morning with coffee. Though the road to hell was paved with good intentions and she fell off the wagon when alcohol was involved. She breathed the second hand smoke in and told herself no.

"Well, it tasted really good before it set fire to my mouth." Anais smiled and glanced him over properly. He was mildly attractive, which usually spelt trouble. As he moved off to greet another guest and she decided it was time to mingle.

Food, that was what had been on her mind before and so she headed over to the BBQ where hopefully the meat was just the regular non-spicy kind.

"Hi." She smiled as she approached those stood by the smoking grill.