Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Aw really? I'm sorry." he said, recalling that he'd messaged her as soon as she'd logged in. "I would've understood if you'd wanted to take a pass on tonight and wait for a day off or something..." He doubted, after all, that she laid in wait for him to get online to talk his ear off, as he felt he did to her sometimes since their meeting in the coffee shop.

He bounced Seiji gently, patting his back as he began to fuss "Shh, hey its okay." he told the little one. "We're almost there. We'll get a movie put on for you and we can all take a break, sound good?"

He doubted the child understood him, but when he'd been younger sometimes the only way to get Phaerna to stop fussing or crying had been to hold her hand and tell her over and over again that things were fine, and then go into detail about just how fine they were.

"He keeps you running, huh?" he chuckled. Seiji, though he'd not known him all that long and he'd been well-behaved, seemed to have the potential for being a handful if he wanted to be. "Its not too far now." he assured the both of them, turning up a quiet sidestreet that had been abandoned for the night, its only betrayal of life being the glowing lights in various windows of people who'd not yet gone to bed.

In the near distance, a porchlight glowed, puddling on a driveway and lawn of a two-story house and illuminating the dormant shape of the same car he'd come to meet Nani at the coffee shop in.

"Long as we're quiet coming in, we shouldn't upset anybody. Its hard to hear anything upstairs from the living room." he said, glancing sidelong at Nani as they drew nearer to his home. He tried to picture where she must live and imagined it was probably much more impressive than this.

Zhane balanced Seiji on his hip as he fumbled his keys out of his pocket, watching the exchange between him and Nani and feeling himself grin at it. They may have looked nothing alike, but their bond was unmistakable and it was clear she was a good mother.

Unlocking the door, he eased it open, poking his head into the darkened entrance to see if they would be greeted right off the bat by his mother or father having waited up to ask where he'd been. Seeing no one, he stepped inside and motioned for Nani to follow.

"Sorry, sometimes Dad likes to wait up and grill me." he said in a low voice as he crept past the door leading to the upstairs and made his way to the short hallway that would take them to the living room, swatting at the kitchen light as he passed it to light their way.

Zhane took the hint and brought Seiji back to Nani, setting him on the nest of blankets she'd made him. "There ya go." he smiled, his arms thanking him for the relief. Carrying a backpack around with him when he went walking, he was used to. Kids, not so much.

Shaking them out a bit, he moved to the DVD and Video shelf, his fingertips dancing lightly over the tops of them as he scanned the titles, looking for something they could all enjoy.

Rope, no. Batman, no. One of his mother's yoga and relaxation tapes....he didn't think they were THAT tired from their outing.

After a bit, he paused on one and then pulled it from its place on the shelf. "Fern Gully." he said, looking to Nani for approval. "Heh...haven't seen this one in years. How about you?"

At her question, he shrugged. "I don't think it will." he told her, flashing what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "And if it does, I'll handle it." As she made herself comfortable, he powered on the TV and the DVD player, cracking open the case and inserting the disc. "Its pretty good for a kid's movie." he said, looking behind him in time to see her patting the cushion beside her and feeling himself flush just a bit as he cleared his throat.

Hitting play, he crossed back to where she and Seiji where, sinking down beside Nani as the opening sequence began. "I remember when I was smaller, I wished I could go there."

He looked away from the screen to regard her curiously at her sudden peak in interest at the film. "Yeah." he said. "Its mainly about saving the environment, but...." he trailed off, not really sure where he had wanted to take the thought, and decided it might be better to just let her watch the movie in peace.

Looking down to Seiji, he smiled, seeing that the child was nearly asleep and glad they'd gotten through the outing without any unplanned upsets. The TV going, he was pretty sure his parents would sleep through. A screaming baby, likely not...

As she leaned against him, he felt his heartbeat speed up a bit, but tried not to react otherwise, afraid she'd pull away. Silence spanned between them as the movie went on, both of them watching, and his mind on anything but.

Was he supposed to say something? Do something? He wasn't sure. The only thing he -was- sure of was that Tinania made him feel in a way that he wasn't used to feeling and it was uncomfortable and wonderful all at once.

Glancing down to Seiji, confirming that he hadn't crawled off someplace, he drew in a breath to speak. "I...uhm....I heard they were worried this movie wasn't gonna do well when it came out." he ventured, if only to hear himself speak.