Welcome to Gaia! ::

Dear Diary-

I met another Illusionary today. This time, it was in a pair- the guardian/mother pair I've been expecting to eventually see. I got along fine, but I don't think Aure liked Veive.

Love,
Riku

Dear Diary-

Oh, this did not go well. I swear, Aure hates this Mereneth. Melody seems nice enough... I hope that Aure gets over her rock-throwing fit at Mereneth, because I think I could be great friends with Melody.

Love,
Riku

Dragon wasn't exactly fond of having to watch Ean while Ben was getting his annual checkup. Thus, he quickly handed the responsibility off to Aaron. Who, in turn, had things to do, and handed it off to Erik. Now, Erik - it could be said - was one of the scariest things Ean had ever seen. He was dark, spooky, soft-spoken, and more than a little fond of the color black. A goth to the extreme.
Erik was more than happy to take care of Ean for a while, and decided to take him to the park, along with his own teenage son, Aiden. A son, however, that was partially snake. In other words - a Naga. Now, Ean had never seen a naga before, and was quite interested in Aiden's tail. He kept trying to capture it, and chew on it, but Aiden was having none of that, and would yank the tail away before he got a god bite. That venture discarded, the white-haired babe simply curled up in Erik's lap, and closed his eyes, very happy to just be with a member of his family.
The creepy one just continued to read a black-covered book, while one hand rested lightly on the boy's head. It looked, for all intents and purposes, like Erik had captured the swan-baby, and was reading up on how to use him in a potion. Hey, no one ever said the Arrikanez family was NORMAL.

Aurelius was not thrilled. She was outside. Outside, in the sun, getting tanned. Last time she had been outside, some red-headed brat had thrown FIRE at her. It was not a pleasant experience. (She had, of course, conveinently forgotten that she had provoked Mereneth by chucking a rock at his head. Anyway, she had missed. So it was completely injust and patently unfair.) But Kieve was there, and so was Riimom, and it was going to be a boring kind of fun.
That was, until she spotted another Illusionary. She knew him, she knew him! It was kinda fuzzy, but she could remember floating around a head of dark hair and seeing that baby! She gave voice to an incoherent squeal of delight and pulled harshly on one of Riku's hanks of hair to get her attention.

Riku grumbled, rubbing her head and looking where Aurelius was pointing and jabbering at. All she saw was a man in black reading a book, a naga, and a little swan-baby. Perhaps it was another Illusionary, but after her last encounter with one... She started to resume her walk, but then she did a double-take. Holy s**t, is that guy... It certainly looked like he was considering using that child for an ingredient in some diabolical scheme...
She altered her trajectory to end up near, but not too near the creepy man. Hopefully, just by being close by she could avert any evil schemes.

Aurelius had no such thoughts. She knew this guy! So she promptly squirmed her way out of Riku's arms and over to the white-haired baby. "Hi," she said, sitting herself in front of Ean and Erik. Kieve had promptly given chase after her younger sister and picked her up gently.
"I am sorry, sir," she apologized, hefting the baby up. "Aurie is a little... strange at times, I'm sure she didn't mean to bother you." She quickly bowed her black and purple head, waiting for acknowledgement or dismissal.

Erik smiled gently, and shook his head without looking up. Now that he was closer, it was clear that his eyes were completely black. And from the book in his hands - it was clear that he was blind. The book was written in braille. He chuckled, and closed the book, 'looking' up at the girl.

"I don't mind. As a matter of fact, I am quite glad for the company. People do not usually stop and talk to one such as me."

Ean's dreams were interrupted by a loud 'Hi!', and he opened his eyes, tilting his head to one side. He could not yet speak.

"Zz-ga? Goo! Ga goo?"

In baby language, that pretty much translated to 'Hi back. How are you?" He sat up in Erik's lap, and mouthed lightly at the man's hand, to which Erik removed his hand, and replaced it with a pacifier he happened to be carrying around in that sinister looking pack of his.

Kieve nodded, gently setting Aurelius back down. The baby rolled her eyes and waved at Erik before inching up to Ean and poking him gently. She bubbled something that only a child could understand that basically translated to, 'I know you from somewhere.' She didn't tend towards politeness, anyway. "Dar-mom," she said, referring to the dark-haired girl she had been with. "Rem'ber?"

Her older sister sat patiently nearby, keeping a watchful eye on Aurelius. Usually, she was much grumpier, and Kieve feared a much more powerful emergence of the grumps for her current good temper. She was thinking apocalypse. "One such as... you?" She didn't see much different with Erik. Except he was kind of wearing all black. His eyes looked a little funny, too... Trying to seem like she wasn't trying to look at his book, she shifted on her knees to give her a better vantage point.

Erik seemed to know what she was doing, and laughed quietly, turning the book to give her a better look at it. "I'm blind. It's braille. All you had to do was ask. This particular novel was written by a certain Poe. Edgar Allen, to be exact." He chuckled again. "The Collected Works. One of the best books I've ever read - though most people think Poe is... creepy." He paused for a moment, thought. Then laughed again. "You know, I think they're right!"

Ean blinked a bit, and shook his head. He didn't remember her. But then again, it had been quite a long time since he had seen ANYONE. "Ga?" he asked, and pointed at her. He wanted to know her name.

Aurelius heaved a little-girl sigh, then tried to articulate her name. "Aurie," was what came out. She made a face, and tried again, this time with success. "Aurelius," she said, drawing herself up and settling back, looking as dignified as a baby in a frilly dress could. "Oo?" she asked. She wanted his name in return for her own, darnit.

The Doll blinked, sidling around to peer over Erik's shoulder. "May I touch it, sir?" she asked, hooking some of her unruly hair behind her ears. "I've never read Mister Poe, but Mother says I should. She says that his Annabel Lee is essential reading to considering yourself intelligent."

Erik nodded, and handed over the book. "I don't know if you can read braille, but you are welcome to try. Annabel Lee is one of the spookiest, and sweetest in that book - On page 459, I think. It could be on 380, but then again, it could be somewhere else entirely. At times, I have a memory like a seive." He laughed.

Ean screwed up his features, and formed the word, saying it, near perfectly. It is nigh-impossible for a baby to mangle the word... "Ean!".

The little girl nodded. Ean was a good name, and lots simpler than hers. She steamed for a moment over the unfairness of that, but she smiled at the swan-kid after a moment. "Neat," she conceded. After that followed a bit of baby babble, essentially meaning, Do you want to play?

She flipped through the pages carefully, making sure not to leave smudges from her fingers. It made the going a tad slower, but she felt better about not hurting the book. Very carefully and lightly, she examined the dots on one page. "Is this is, sir?" she asked, then started to put together what she'd determined. "It was ma- mah- many and many a year ago, in a kii- king?- kingdom, I suppose- in a kingdom by the sea." Her voice drifted off and she glanced at Erik, as if waiting for affirmation again.

Erik nodded quietly, and smiled. "Yes. I know the entire poem. Let me read it to you:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love -
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes! that was the reason
(as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea."

He smiled. "I think that's how it goes. It's been a while since I've read it, though it IS my favorite."

Ean nodded enthusiastically, and squeaked a bit, batting at Aurelius with his hands. He DID want to play!

The girl smiled and clapped. "That is a good poem," she said, carefully passing Erik's book back to him. "I can see why my mother likes it so much. You read it really well, too." She didn't understand some of the words, like seraphs and dissever, although she guessed a seraph was an angel. But heck if she was going to ask, bothering people was bad and extremely rude. "Uhm... I am Kieve. May I ask for your name?"

Aurelius grinned widely, clapping her hands. Now just to think of something to play. After a moment of hard thought, she clapped her hands together. "Eee-an'-eek!" she declared, thrusting one infantile fist into the air. Yes, hide-and-seek sounded like a good game. They could make the big folk look for them.

Erik smiled, and nodded. "It IS a beautiful poem. And the name is Erik. Erik Arrikanez - at your service at least marginally." He laughed. "Kieve, hmmm? In Juridian, that means 'Sweet Soul'. I'm sure it's an apt name, however. How did you come to be taking care of this youngling?" He motioned to Aurelius.

Ean nodded again, and waited until the adults were all paying attention to Aure, to crawl off into the park, and hide somewhere. They'd never find him, haha!

She blinked and tilted her head. "Aurie is my little sister," she said after a moment. "Our mother is over near the big birch tree." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "Erik is a Scandinavian name, is it not? From Earth? I think Erik the Ninth is the patron saint of Scandanavia." Kieve could remember something from one of Riku's books. The Phantom of the Opera or some Gothic horror novel similarly. "Mother derived my name from the Jewish Chava, which means 'to breathe'."

Aure aided in this by being a very distractive child, giggling and shrieking at nothing for the required twenty seconds. Then she promptly scurried off to find Ean, because it wouldn't be fair if he got to do all the hiding.

Erik yawned a bit, and stretched. He looked very tired. "You'll have to pardon my yawning. I've been a tidbit ill lately, and I'm not quite over it yet. Therefore, I tire easily. Would you mind looking after Ean while I catch a few winks in the grass here?"

Ean called Aure over from his hiding place under some brush. He grinned. No one was ever going to find them!

She nodded, looking around. "Of course," she said, her voice showing the faint curiosity she had gained when she noticed Ean and Aurelius weren't there. Well, wasn't that a little curious...

The blonde scampered to join Ean, sliding into place next to him. She complimented him on his choice of hiding place quietly, then resumed watching for Kieve or Riimom or the dark-man.

Erik yawned again, and closed his eyes, curled up on the grass, and pretty much asleep before anyone had any chance to stop him from being so. He was absolutely fatigued for some reason, and thus - was asleep in seconds.

Ean backed up, further into the grass and brush, laying low, fiery eyes scanning the scene for any sign of adults. He was very good at hide-and-seek, he thought!

Kieve stood up quietly and sauntered vaguely in the direction she had last seen Aurelius in. In her (very limited, admittedly) experience of babies, they stuck together. She paused in her walking, placing a single finger on her chin and thinking. Was that babies? Or was it those annoying onion rings Riku loved so much? She couldn't remember- wait, she was supposed to be looking for babies, not contemplating onion rings!

Aurelius spotted her first, shushing Ean loudly- perhaps more loudly than was necessary, but it didn't manage to attract Kieve's attention. One chubby baby-finger pointed to the wild-haired Doll who was sauntering in their general direction. At the last minute, Kieve turned away, looking elsewhere, and the dragonfly girl heaved a general sigh of relief.

Poor Ean's nose was starting to be tickled by the grasses. He scrunched up his face, and rubbed it to try and get the tickling to stop. However, it was to no avail, as within a few moments... "... ACHOO!" Ean sneezed, and squeaked, moving further back into the brush, and curling there, hoping very much not to be seen. He would NOT be found. He wouldn't!

The sneeze immediately attracted Kieve's attention. Sleeping people usually didn't sneeze, and Mother was too far away to be heard. That left the two babies she was seeking out. Turning back to the bush she had been moving to investigate earlier, she stopped right in front of it and knelt, bending over so as to be at the babies' eye level. "Come along quietly, or I'll have to handcuff you," she said solemnly, tugging Aurelius out of under the bush.

The dragonfly child, for her part, was having none of it. She bit harshly at Kieve's hand, growling unconvincingly. Ean was playing hide-and-seek with her, so the interfering Doll should put her down.

Ean quickly crawled further into the underbrush, and vanished from sight to both Aurelius, AND the Doll. There was no noise to even suggest where the baby had gone. Or IF he had gone anywhere.

This completely surpassed Kieve's processing abilities. Even her charge stopped beating on her head to stare. "Did you see where your little buddy went?" The Doll's voice was soft as she stared at the place where she had last seen the swan-boy. "I think I'd better go tell mister Erik," she muttered, hefting the girl slightly and running a hand gently through the brush. She really didn't want to disturb the man... he'd been sick, after all!...

Her hand brushed across Ean's back, and the baby squeaked in surpise, starting to crawl off in the other direction, the brush rustling as the youngling moved through it at a decent speed. Faster than one would think, really.

Kieve smiled, her face slightly predatory as she settled Aurelius down. "Stay here, or I will tell Mother on you," she threatened, scampering through the brush after Ean. The branches scratched her legs where her black leggings didn't cover them, leaving flesh-colored paint on the leaves. "Ean," she said, her tone cajoling. "Come along, the game's over. You need to come back with me."

Aurelius, being completely contrary and curious besides, muddled off after a butterfly that was going in the general direction of Erik.

Ean stopped, and sat down suddenly, suprised to hear Kieve's voice. It was enough for her to catch up to him at least. He whimpered. He felt kinda strange...

Erik was stil asleep - or appeared to be. For as soon as Aurelius moved into his general reach, he sat up, and caught her in his arms. "Gotcha!"

The Doll knelt down and lifted up Ean, cradling him close. "I am sorry, little baby," she said softly, wading back through the brush. "I did not mean to scare you, but you cannot wander off like that, you know." Kieve made it safely through the patch of bushes, then scampered back to where Erik was sitting.

Aurelius squealed, smiling. This was much better than Hide and Seek! "'Gain, 'gain," she demanded, patting at Erik's hands.

Ean reached for his uncle. "Ga.... Gaaaa!" He wriggled a bit, and squirmed, trying to get down. He wanted to cuddle his uncle! And he wanted Aure to play with him. But he knew that he had to go. He waved byebye to Aurelius sadly.

Erik looked up, and set Aurelius down. "Well, I'd best be moving on. This little one's father is most likely done with his physical by now, and is wondering and worrying." He winked at her. "We SHALL have to meet again, however." He stooped to pick up Ean, and to pick up his book. As he started to walk off, he seemed to become more and more insubstantial. If she blinked Kieve would miss the exact moment - but Erik completely vanished. And Ean with him. Into thin air.

Kieve nodded, picking up her little sister and watching the man disappear. "Do not tell Mother, Aurie, but I wanna learn how to do that," she whispered confidentially, patting the blonde baby on the head.

She sat in front of the mirror, watching her face with an eerie devotion. She was waiting, waiting- she could feel something changing inside herself. And if something changed inside, it had to change outside too. Her green eyes focused on her hair... there it was!

Her hair was growing, slowly but surely. She could see the texture changing and practically feel it grow. Aurelius could see her baby fat melting away, she felt taller- suddenly her clothes didn't fit anymore. They were too tight in her shoulders... and her arms hurt. The elastic was too tight now. She gently patted her ears back and stood. It was much easier to balance without weak little baby legs. "Nice," she said definitatively, flipping her longer hair. "...clothes, though..." she murmured. The diaper definately had to go. But where should she go-

Oh! Of course, Kieve!

Aurelius pulled off her too-small dress and hid under a blanket, then streaked through the "atrium" of the house into Kieve's room. "Kii~" she whined. "My clothes don't fit." Kieve turned, her own hands full of clothing.

"Uh- so I see. Come here, I have some clothes that are too small for me," the older girl murmured, staring to go through the small box of neatly-folded clothes that had been on their way out. "...wait... that was a complete sentance?" She turned and looked Aurelius over, her blue eyes narrowing. And then she laughed. "You grew," she said teasingly, picking up a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt. "Here," she said, politely turning away as Aurelius shed her blanket and got dressed.

The necklace from Kieve went around her neck; it looked a little ridiculous, the fanciful choker with such simple clothes. But when the two looked in the mirror, it appeared that both of them were happy with the girl's reflection. "Do you want to go and show Mother?" the Doll asked, taking a hold on her little sister's hand. "C'mon, she'll be so happy you're bigger now."

Aurelius shook her head, saying, "Noooo, Kii, I don't want to go show Mom yet. I want you to show me how to work this." She had located Kieve's CD player and headphones, pressing buttons slowly to find out what they did.

"Okay," the Doll said, turning to pick up a CD and placing inside. "Mother would probably give you a more up-to-date MP3 player if you wanted it, though..." she said slowly, plugging in a large pair of studio headphones to the CD player. "Alright, put these on over your ears," she directed, then helped Aure sit the ear coverings over her awkwardly-shaped ears. "Then you hit this button, right here." The dragonfly child pressed the button right there, and the sounds of the Lion King invaded her ears. She squeaked and threw the headphones towards the wall; luckily, they fell short.

Kieve watched with a small bit of amusement as Aurelius slowly ventured closer to the headphones and put them back on. Within moments, she was humming along, somewhat off-key, but it was endearing anyway. The older sister smiled. She could get used to this.

Aurelius is a toddler!

Ku and Tsu Arrive

Riimom hadn't seemed so sure about this. Two packages- one large, one small- were sitting in the living room, like Barbie-doll cases. And at first, that's what Aure thought they were- barbie dolls to play with. But then Riimom opened up the boxes and started up the computers, gave Aure and Kieve instructions on how to personalize them to Aure, and left to go work in her stupid lab.

So now Aurelius was sitting here with her sister, regarding these invaders with distaste. "Alright, we'll name the purple one Ku and the green one Tsu," she said grumpily, chewing idly on Kieve's shirt. The doll didn't seem to mind, so she figured it was okay. "And for passwords..." She shooed out her sister, then addressed the pair as a whole. "...Kitten, with the numerals 10 instead of hte last four letters." They nodded obediently, and Aurelius smiled. "'kay, so you guys are computers?"

"Yes, miss Aurelius!!" The purple one seemed quite chipper. Her voice was mechanical and syrupy. "I am an extensive chemical and botanical dictionary!"

The miniature green one looked at Aurelius with a small bit of skepticism in her face. "And I am a hacker-type," she said, observing the dragonfly-child. "Designed to get you any information you so please, provided it's on an internet-accessible computer. Or if you link me up to it."

The three traded glares.

"If Riimom thinks you two'll buy me off those Earth mage lessons, she's wrong," Aurelius said tartly, before stomping off. She wanted to see if she could get Kieve to teach her to read.

Aure attended the Illusionary Halloween event, foregoing traditional trick-or-treating in what was probably a pretty big mistake. Not only did she knock over (and get knocked over by) Mereneth, she also got trapped under shining web and screamed, where the same flame-boy could hear her. And in front of others, too! It was extremely embarrassing; Aure isn't sure she likes Halloween very much.

[reserved for Ean reactions]