Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wildly hoping that the new person nor any of the waitstaff noticed her now bended fork, Ceres looked up with a start. "You mean you would actually pay for me? No, no, no..." She felt herself blushing again. "That would be far to rude on my part. It's a gracious offer, mind, and I thank you sincerely, but I would feel better if I paid for myself. I don't mean to offend, but my conscience would nag me otherwise." She chuckled.
Ceres swished her tail around, and noticed that Thali had not questioned her about it yet. Most people would have asked her about it the instant they saw her. But Ceres' new friend hadn't. Ceres regarded that odd because she was so used to it. Her musing reminded her of Thali's pointed ears that she had seen earlier. Was it a serious condition? Would she offend Thali if she asked about it? Ceres debated on this, and attempted to summon up her courage and ask the new person about it. She may retaliate by asking about Ceres' tail, but since she was used to that, Ceres reckoned, it may make her feel more at ease.
"Um, Th-Thali?" she started. "Do you mind if I ask why you have pointed ears? I-it's all right if you don't want to answer, I'll understand, but..."

Ceres was quite thankful that she got the question out of her system. Perhaps it was impolite, but it seemed that her curiosity got the better of her once again. Ceres was so deeply indulged in her own thoughts that she almost didn't hear Thali when she asked her what she would like. "Oh, just some water right now, thank you," she told the waitstaff.
Constantly trying to keep her cool, Ceres wondered when the food they ordered would arrive. But when she heard Thali's reply to her burning question, Ceres almost lost it. "Y-you mean, you're an elf?! R-really? Bu-but...H-how is that possible? I mean, it's r-really cool, but...really?"
I can't believe it! Ceres thought. I'm actually talking to a real life elf! Still stammering, Ceres continued rambling on. "I cannot believe it! I mean, that's just so cool! I mean, I guess it's kind of hard to believe, but, if you looked at me, I guess you would think anything is possible, right? Right?" Ceres smiled weakly and put her head on the table, out of breath.

Ceres looked up from where her head was on the table. It was true that she had never seen an elf. She only really heard of them from stories. But now she had an elven friend. It was almost too good to be true. But...She still had one question left...
"...Thali?" she began. "I can't help wondering...why you have not...well...commented on me...being like this..." She paused and added quietly. "Being a naga."

Twitching her tail, Ceres blinked at her friend. "Rude? Of course not. I kind of get a lot of comments like that about myself on a daily basis. It's nothing I can't handle." She paused to look around the area. "And actually," she began again, "I don't try to hide it. I feel that one should be proud of who they are, and if other people have a problem with it, then that's for them to sort out."
"But besides that, I came here to, what was it...Gaia, you said? I came here just because I like going to new places." She chuckled. "My family doesn't mind. The only people in my family who really care about me are--" Ceres stopped abruptly and clamped a hand over her mouth. Did she almost give away something personal? Oh, no... she thought. What else might I have accidentally said? Oh... Mercury is going to flip. "Whatever... It's nothing..." she muttered.

Thali's response piqued Ceres' interest. "Why do you not get along with them? They're your own people, aren't they?" But she stopped there, deciding not to press things. She fell silent.
Her tail started twitching uncontrollably. Irritated, Ceres tried to will it to stop, but it continued. Now aggravated, she tried smacking it, but that didn't help. Sighing heavily, she got out of her chair. "Excuse me, Thali. I'll be right back. I just need to go around a bit."
Slithering out of the restaurant, Ceres paced along the sidewalk, thinking all the while. Thali ran away from her home? That's definitely odd... I really shouldn't ask her about it... She might get mad. Then what would I do? A sudden gust blew, chilling Ceres and disrupting her train of thought. Pushing her hair behind her ears, she quietly went back inside and sat down again. "Sorry about that," she apologized. "I was just getting a bit fidgety. I hope you didn't mind..."

It was completely by-chance that the restaurant owner caught a glance of his kid sister through the window. He blinked in mild surprise and glanced around the small shop. There were few people there. Okay, he wasn't kidding anyone; there was only one person in his little Eilian restaurant and he was just sitting in the most hidden corner of the floor, sipping at a cup of hot chocolate. Not that him being nestled in a corner really helped him hide; he was, after all, kinda bright yellow.

"Hey, um..." Mercury mumbled, slithering toward the other male curiously and tapping the tip of his tail on the ground, obviously very awkward as the feathers of his pale-blue spotted orange wings flapped a bit. "A-any chance I co-could set you up with a d-d-date? Not li-like I think you-you need one or anyth-thing, n-no, b-b-but I just, um, I just... I need to get my sister to come back to the restaurant. O-or at least be looked after..." he rambled nervously, the stars that littered his skin going from white to red in a very obvious blush.

Seraophin was unimpressed by the stammering waiter, but didn't really seem to care either way. Instead of objecting for moral reasons or something else that had no merit whatsoever, he simply shrugged his shoulder and gave Mercury a very casual and very charming smile, before drinking down the rest of the hot chocolate. "No need t'arg'e. Where is the pretty li'l thing then?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mercury was forced to keep himself from swooning at the expression with the mental reminder of 'He's a teenager and you're nearly into your hundreds, you don't have a chance in hell and that would be creepy as hell' before smiling weakly. "Saw her across th-th-the sta-street," he replied in that meek little voice of his, brushing the white streak of his hair out of his face and smiling again.

"'Lright then. S'pose I'll be seein' yah in a few days time, just as us'al," Seraophin replied with a soft smile, handing Mercury three dollars for the hot chocolate. "Ke'p the change, server boy," he stated, pulling himself to his feet, tail thudding against the ground when it hit it. It was a moment too late that Mercury noticed that Sera hadn't asked what his little sister looked like. Oh... well? He supposed it would just be because Seraophin was smart enough.

It was little time before the red-striped Eilian was inside the strange building and flicked his ridiculously long, tri-coloured tail. He smiled softly upon catching sight of the slightly younger Eilian, covered as she was with little starbursts, amusing him quite a bit. The red-orange-yellow markings definitely contrasted the grey of her scales in a very eye-pleasing manner. The clothing, however, she could do without. Speaking of doing without clothing, Seraophin seemed to follow that rule rather well, dressed in nothing more than a pair of grey, dirt-stained bottom-covering things that may have once been pants.

With little hesitation, the Betzalel approached the female and tapped her on the shoulder, dazzling smile once again coming into play, pupilless green eyes likely a bit unnerving, though he didn't seem to mind in the least. "A'scuse me, miss, pray that I'm not interruptin' anythin', but I was just noticin' ya from the other side'a this li'l restaurant here, and I couldn't help but be entranced by yah're beauteh. May I ask, is there aneh chance of gettin' together with ya later in the day...?"

"She accepts." Thali said with a nod and a smile towards the--whatever he was. She was always one for romance--though she seemed to have been against it when it came to herself. (Try telling that to her husband.) "Go on, Ceres." She said encouragingly.

Though the male didn't seem to have anything Thali would have found especially pleasing--her new friend was blushing, she could tell he was eye-pleasing to her. Even if he didn't use proper grammer. Maybe English was his fifth language or something, the elf didn't know. She'd never heard anyone speak quite like he did.