Welcome to Gaia! ::

Excitement rippled in Caoimhe's chest on the second-floor balcony. She could hear the twitter of voices -- disinterested as they might sound -- slowly gathering around the pool. This would be amazing. This would be wonderful. This would be EPIC. In a fit of excitement, she did a little hop into the air, clapping her hands like a kid. The door opened behind her, and Caoi whipped around, expecting to see Gristla again. The round face of Helen filled the doorway instead. "Hey, Caoimhe," Helen said, shifting into the room. "Carmichael sent me up here to check on you. I... honestly, I don't know what for." The older woman tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and raised an eyebrow.

"I am going to rock their faces," Caoimhe said.

"You're going to... what?"

"It means I'm awesome," she explained, sliding her sarong into her hands. "Could you take this downstairs and bring it to me after the entrance maybe?"

Helen nodded and grabbed the sarong, slipping out as quietly as she came. She must have run into Carmichael on the way because only a few seconds later the cue music started -- a drum roll. Oh yeah, old school. Down below, Caoimhe could hear Carmichael trying to rile up the crowd saying things like "Are you ready!" and "It's go time!" and "Party harr-tay!" and equally over-excited things.

Stepping out to the edge of the balcony, Caoimhe hopped up onto the ledge as if she were simply climbing the next stair. Her feet pressed down hard, steadying the girl on the railing. The pool loomed below her, but she did not look down at it nor her gathered guests. (Girlfriend was a professional, duh.) Instead, she raised her arms directly out in front of her and then pulled them in a neat arc over her head. The drum roll continued to tap out a gradual crescendo. Taking a breath, Caoimhe raised one leg and leaped into the air, tucking her knees to her chest. The somersaults were graceful -- almost artistic -- and the fluidity with which she moved could have rivaled any Olympian. It was inhuman -- so many twists and turns in the space of air.

Of course, Caoimhe was Caoimhe. A pretty, graceful dive was not enough.

At the last moment, she screeched, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAAAAAY!" and stretched her arms and legs out. Pretty much a full-on face plant into the pool -- the most epic belly flop of all belly flops. Caoimhe was quite small, but she had done a excellent job. Water ricocheted away from her body, likely wetting the closest Fa'e to the pool -- and totally drenching Carmichael... which was totally on purpose.

She surfaced with a grin, hair sticking to her face in uneven clumps. "Hi, everyone!" she said in greeting, still beaming from what she considered to be a brilliant stunt. Oh -- who were all these new people? Well, she only knew a handful of Fa'e and only considered one or two actual friends. It wasn't really that surprising. "There is a ton of super yummy food and all kinds of games and Carmichael has to do whatever you want and -- what are you doing? GET IN THE POOL!" My, my, she was certainly a bit excitable today. But why shouldn't she be? This was the best day she had had in a long time! Everything had been sad and hard, and though Caoimhe had decided to finally chase down her past life, she had also decided that it could wait until AFTER her party.

Treading water to the shallow end, Caoimhe wrenched a handful of hair over one shoulder and waited for everyone to start having fun~

Silver just gave a hearty laugh at the entrance. The girl had style, he'd give her that. He hopped down from the railing he was perched on, and walked towards the pool, stopping near the shallow end and looking in. "hmmm. I dunno. My fur tends to poof like nothing else after a swim, and I doubt you want the smell of a wet wolf around the party..."

Nyoka grinned at Addie. Yeah, she was just an adorable little thing. She was about to 'kneel' down so that she could be eye level with the girl, so she could investigate this snail, and let her see the snake should she want. But, then, there was the announcement, and that spectacular belly flop ... and then the wave.

"Ah, heck," she mumbled, catching herself quickly before she swore in front of Addie. Yeah, she didn't want to be responsible for that. She reached down to pat Addie's hand, and brushed her damp hair out of her face. "Yes, that was a nice flop, wasn't it?" she said.

She caught what the birthday girl told Silver, and wondered if she should even bother ... well, she was here, wasn't she. So, she raised her hand and gave the girl a wave. "Happy Birthday," she managed, hoping she'd heard before she decided to swim away....

Kia was very much awestruck! Drumrolls, it made her heart pound hard with anticipation, and then the mystery voice over speakers, and then...and then... An awesome dive into water which had Kia holding her breath, afraid and amazed? She immedantly LIKED this Caoimhe and was suddenly eager to get in the pool!

It didn't take much to get Kia going. Or to get her to strip off and jump in a pool. She forgot all about her vow to 'not scare the Mik fa'e so much' and was instantly tugging clothes off, not that that part was difficult, in her gold edged purple tankini, gold jewery still on, golden curls loose, diving in with obvious enthisaum. Forget bad feelings... it was a party!

Kia surfaced and smiled brightly, doggy paddling to the edge of the pool with an awkward 'not quite a good swimmer yet' style, and stuck her tongue out at Silver.

"Hi, I'm Kia." Kia didn't wait for Silver to react, she'd already turned to Caoimhe and held out a wet brown hand with the free hand that wasn't clutching for dear life to the pool edge. "This party is awesome already!"

If this was how it STARTED then it was going to be so awesome! Kia had clearly forgotten her bad mood.

Ah yes -- people! Strange people, sure, but people! Normally Caoimhe would be annoyed by her current vantage point; she was just eye-level with all the non-swimmers' feet. But the cool embrace of the water and the quickly retreating adrenaline rush from her dive/flop kept the girl in happy spirits. The first stranger to approach was a snake... girl? Wow. Cool. Kind of. Caoimhe didn't think she would want to have snakes living in her hair, but she certainly stared at them for what was an unreasonable and rude amount of time. "HI!" she shouted at Nyoka, waving a hand.

A boy around her age approached next, and though she typically got the weird rumblies over male Fa'e, this one didn't seem particularly hulking or beefy. Yep, she could handle it. She paddled over to Sei and grinned. "Only my second time doing it. You should really try! Just step on the railing and -- GO." Of course, Caoimhe knew that she was the Most Supreme Diver out of all the Fa'e, but she would be happy to have others flip-flopping right after her. She'd even give him pointers!

Before she could inquire further with the boy, Caoimhe heard another Fa'e approach -- at last! A fellow swimmer. The girl was no good at hand shakes so she did a sort of awkward fist bump with Kia in the water. "Caoimhe," she said, each word bouncing off her tongue with Celtic flair. Come to think of it... she hardly knew ANYONE'S name here. Clearly that had to be immediately corrected. "I don't know anyone's name," she said outloud. It was mostly to herself, but she flickered her gaze between Kia and Sei as she spoke.

Well, this would have to be corrected. Placing either hand flat on either side of the pool edge, Caoimhe hoisted herself out of the water, taking a few sloppy footsteps toward the crowd. Gross, now everyone was GIANT compared to her. Sigh. Sometimes, being 4'9" was just incredibly inconvenient. Especially when trying to impress older people! "Does everyone here know each other?" she said, voice making up for what might lack in her physical size. "I don't think I know most of you." She jutted a thumb into her collarbone and puffed her chest out. "I am Caoimhe. That's KEE-va." People were ALWAYS getting her name wrong, and it annoyed the girl to no end. Sheesh, was it that weird? Really? She could probably find someone with an even weirder name.

In fact, she just might do it right then and there. "Can we do the... I don't know... the thing where we go around in a circle and say our names and hobbies or whatever?" Caoimhe had watched enough Nick Jr. in the early morning to know that that was simply how it was done.

(( I'm sorry, I was in the process of trying to get Damien's journal in order once more and lost track of everything else.... x_x ))

Nyoka shook her head to let Sati know that she was, indeed, right. Though, she had not shared her enthusiasm for company. Well, in a way, maybe. She had come to the party with some selfish intentions, like hoping to see some of her friends again. Speaking of ... she caught a voice that sounded a little familiar, and the flash of gold and deeply tanned skin. She glanced into the pool and noticed that Kia was here. She offered her a wave of greeting before her eyes flicked toward Caoimhe. Introduce themselves and give out vital information such as hobbies? The gorgon inwardly groaned, even if it did seem like a reasonable request. She'd never met the 'birthday' girl, so she could only assume that the invitations had been sent out to all of the other Fa'e, as well. Of course she would ask them to supply their names.

"I'm glad we both decided to get out again, as well. Otherwise, I might've missed my chance to meet this charming little girl," she said, grinning at Addie a moment.

She'd noticed Caoimhe's staring, and her greeting, though she did not take offense over the former. Instead, she huffed out a breath, and glanced at Sati. Well, she supposed she would get the ball rolling ... though she wasn't telling anyone what her hobbies were. Sadly, they didn't exist to her, at least right now. So, in a firm voice that masked her uncertainty over the whole situation, she said, "I'm Nyoka," she refrained from teaching the others how to pronounce her name, as Caoimhe had done. "Nice to meet you, Caoimhe," she added, trying her hand at another smile.

At least it was getting easier....

Mikhail stayed well away from the pool. There was no way he'd be getting in, and he preferred to avoid being splashed as well. At least he wouldn't be alone, however - Sei and Dsuty didn't seem any more inclined to go swimming than he was.

"I'm Mikhail," he said, opting not to add his hobbies. That was lame.

(( This has slowed to a bit of a halt so sorry to those that have not done the introduction thing. Let's just assume it happened? Okay! ))

Caoimhe did a lot of smiling and nodding to her gathered party guests, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. There were so many people here! Of course, she had sent out far more invitations than she had actually gotten guests, but for a girl who had maybe one or two friends, this was a veritable buffet of friends for the choosing. "Okay, awesome. Well, food is inside. And there is a ton of it. Beach is just past the pool. There's a hot tub and a volleyball court and music and Carmichael has to do whatever you say. Welcome, welcome!" Doing a kind of wiggly dance, she peeled through the group of people, still dripping wet, and and came to rest in front of Dustin -- near Sei and Mikhail.

"Come swimming! Are you even wearing swimtrunks?" She reached out as if to lift Dustin's shirt, but paused. Her eyes flickered to Mikhail and Sei. "Wait -- did any of you bring swimming stuff? Oh, come on!" Swimming pretty much made Caoimhe's life make sense. The selfish Fa'e could not rationalize how anyone could NOT want to swim. And as such, she pursed her lips and folded her arms across her chest like a petulant child.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone waving in their direction, and, of course assuming it was for her, she waved back. He wasn't a Fa'e... so who was he? Leaning forward toward the gathered group, she voiced her confusion. "Who's that guy?" she asked, jutting a thumb in his general direction and keeping an eye on him. He was lurking by the presents table. Caoimhe had to protect her material interests!