Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ahh, the banquet. Shae was always so very fond of the food here. In his life, he had always had a hard time struggling to find food consistently, even though deep down he loved food and cooking. The smells, the tastes, the thrill of creating; he was born to enjoy food, and this place always provided.

He laughed a bit as Constance talked about the haunted kitchen ware, but Shae's mind was elsewhere. Whenever they talked about all the new recruits, and all the old ones lost, the young man felt a deep sadness. It hurt him to know that he hadn't been able to protect those that had already fallen, and made him worry for the futures of those that were now under their care. Shae didn't know that he was too young to really understand the situation, but in his mind there could be no other course than to protect them all himself.

Of course, he snapped back to attention with some sense of alarm when Radik proposed he work with Hidiyoshi. Shae was very well aware of how the man felt about him - it was interesting that someone who showed as little emotion as Hidiyoshi could make his feelings on another person so clear.

Clearing his throat, Shae sat forward and said, "Of course, Radik. I'll protect Hidiyoshi and the shield with my life if I have to. It's just that...well, sir, isn't there anyone else that can do it?" He put a hand up. "I'm not trying to get out of working or anything. And I will gladly watch out for them if it's what you want. But someone who's...someone who has a better relationship with the shield time might be better for the job." He knew as he spoke that Radik would make him go in the end, but he wanted Hidiyoshi to know how he felt as well.

Melody shifted uncomfortably as the man began speaking with a woman who apparently was named Lenka. She wondered if there was anyone in the room that she could speak to. The spider that had landed on her shoulder before had scurried happily away to its home. Mel knew it was happy because it had told her so. Being in the forest for so long has allowed her to communicate with animals perhaps even better than she can speak to humans.

She was a bit disappointed that the boy hadn't come to speak with her. He was standing off to the side, not really conversing with anyone. In fact, Mel hadn't seen him say a word since she walked in. Regardless, it would still be nice to meet someone closer to her age, even if he didn't talk.

Treading delicately towards the food table, she tried to ease the awkwardness by eating things. There was a delightful array of food, including something called shrimp. Mel had never met a shrimp before and wondered what kind of animals they were when they were alive. She also thought over whether or not she should try one, but eating animals always made her feel bad because she knew how much pain they went through, which was why she was mostly vegetarian. Not that plants don't feel pain, the trees whisper and sigh before they die, grass moans in the presence of fire. But she had to eat something. And besides, with plants, it was possible to only eat part of it and not kill it, or just eat the fruit which was more of a relief than pain for the organism. Her eating habits had always caused her father grief.

Piling up her plate with a variety of fruits, Mel walked back towards the general places where people were standing. She didn't know how she should speak to the other people. Usually with animals, they would respond as long as she held her hand out to them. Mel wondered if she could greet people in the same way. There was another man (Milos) in the room who seemed to not have spoken to many people. Mel walked hesitantly over to his general direction, hoping that he would notice her first. Even though he was an adult, maybe he would talk to her.

“Three years without shrimp!” Kiwan gasped in horror and began to refill the newcomer’s plate with more shrimp as she ate. “I see, well I applaud your strength in character for keeping away from shrimp, it would be disastrous to give your fiance the kiss of death,” Kiwan replied with sympathy. “Kira, pleased to meet you” Kiwan said upon taking Kira hand into a handshake. “My name is Kiwan Mustafu and my card is the Fool. However, it was not handed to me through legacy, but randomly for I have no family history with the cardholders.” Kiwan was going to ramble on, but then Jade came into the conversation. He could tell Jade was really eager to talk to Kira, though it took him awhile to make the conncetion seeing that both were toting bags. Fencing! Kiwan eagerly listened since he did enjoy various sports, but he realized that there wasn’t a plate in his hands and no munchies to chew on. He turned to the buffet and was about to grab a new plate with the intention of refilling more shrimps, when another plate was placed in front of him by Milos. It had colorful fruits and fresh veggies piled on it. Kiwan turned to Milos with a pout and said, “You are trying to kill me, aren’t you?” However, Kiwan took the plate and with a heavy sigh reached for a fork to stick a wade of rolled up leafy greens into his mouth. He stood there chewing, feeling somewhat of a rabbit, as he listened on to Jade’s and Kia’s conversation.

Suddenly Jade inquired about him and the abrupt question caught Kiwan off guard and he made some coughs and held a hand up to signify that he needed a second to recuperate and make sure there was no greenery stuck between his teeth. “ Ahem! Sorry about that...the veggies were trying to choke me with nutrition.” Kiwan said as he placed the plate onto the buffet table. “It has been a long time. But I still haven’t gotten over the crushing loss from our last duel and your decline to dance with me during the spring time banquet. Then again I had stepped on your feet several times at the dance event before that so I guess you had good reason to decline.” Kiwan smiled broadly. “I have been doing well though, recently visited my home town which brought back an array of memories,” Kiwan slightly grimaced at this but a smile spread across his face as he continued. “Now a little birdy had told me awhile ago that you were coming back in search for a job. What kind of position were you looking into?” Kiwan was highly curious on this subject for it never occurred to him to stay on and teach after he graduated from the academy. The idea intrigued him greatly for it might as well be that or become a wandering surfing hobo for the rest of his life.

"Considering that to be a dance is an insult to dances everywhere, even the one where they wave their arms slowly" Jade laughed, making a funny arm squiggly motion to demonstrate her point. "We went around the room in more of a stumbling motion. Kira, you had to see it. I don't even know how to describe it."

After moments of laughing, Jade took a deep breath and continued talking. "It is wonderful that you went home." She wasn't sure what to say afterwards about this subject. It must have been hard to have gone through what Kiwan did. Jade briefly wondered if her own birth parents were still alive. Had they left her for a similar reason?

Kiwan's question about her job application broke her train of thought. "Yes, I am looking for a job. I was thinking of teaching since that's what I do in Universities elsewhere. Maybe I could teach language, or history, or maybe help younger cardholders learn more about their card. Although, I feel like you, Lenka, and Milos may be more experienced than me in the latter one."

Another person walked up to her. She looked a bit like Jade but no where near as intimidating. Melody wondered why this was.

"It is overwhelming." She replied. "I don't really know what's going on right now at all. Just a week ago, I woke up after being asleep for a very long time and then a man appeared, I think his name was Radik and he told me to pick a card and I picked one. Now I am in a country that I'm unfamilar with, in a building that is quite too big, surrounded by so many people. I've never seen so many people in my life."

As she finished her speech, Mel was about to cry. She hadn't realized how scared she was until Kira came appeared. Then realizing that she forgot to introduce herself, she looked up at Kira and said solemnly, "My name is Melody. Pleased to meet you."

"Have you ever been chased before?" She asked hesitantly. In her mind, she could not get rid of the images of something chasing her. Sometimes she had nightmares about it, and yet when she turned around she was never sure what exactly was after her, or why. But in the back of her mind, she knew that whatever that thing had been searching for, he/she had found it. Mel could never figure out exactly what it was.

Did everything around here always happen so fast? After the Zelda pre-release line had dissipated Vyrkomod had ascended the few steps to join the three figures standing near the entrance way, breathing a small inward sigh as he caught the end of their murmurings, so here he was to be deemed crazy as well. True, Vyrkomod was aware that his mind had been splintered years ago, but...

Nah, he couldn't even put together a reasonable defense that would fool himself.

Now entranced by the philosophical ponderings that arose from the idea of being aware of one's own insanity, Adrian gave only the slightest attention to the introductions of the three older cardholders, subconsciously filing their names away for later reference. Following the trio inside, the young man accepted a plate from Lenka and was suddenly broken out of his intellectual reverie as he noticed the designs on the china. What initially had appeared to merely be a standard Villeroy & Boch design had shifted from a floral pattern to delicate filigree butterflies. Slowly the miraculous creatures emerged from the bone-white plane of the china and erupted in a metallic swarm, fluttering about the room and leaving soft sparkling trails that only Vyrkomod seemed to notice. Carefully he set the plate in a nearby corner (in case the butterflies wished to return) and held a single finger aloft, beckoning towards the impossible creatures in hopes that one would flutter down and alight on his hand. What could they feel like? During their emergence he had felt no disturbance in the air or against his skin as they rushed past him, but now after a few minutes of being corporeal perhaps they-

...Wait- what day was it today?

Worry suddenly grasping his heart, Vyrkomod glanced down at the timepiece circling his wrist. 7AM Monday Morning?! A new card pack had been available for download on the Yu-Gi-Oh network for almost an hour now! Plunging his hand into the pocket of his dress pants, his hand grasped the game system resting there and had almost ripped it out when a memory of his mother's exasperated voice echoed through his ears.

"Adrian... please don't play on your game thing when we have company, it's not polite."

Frozen, Vyrkomod weighed his options. Making good first impressions were incredibly important, and fiddling with electronic devices this early would certainly not be appropriate, but that card pack had Beast Machine King Barbaros Ur in it!
For a few more moments he stood there fidgeting before finally deciding. Surreptitiously the young man began sliding towards a side passageway to the left of the entrance, going up the stairs behind him would be too obvious, though if he couldn't find any wi-fi in the areas beyond he would have to risk it.

((Goodness this guy is hard to write as. Just in case it's not apparent, the butterflies are not actually real. For future posts would it be helpful if I indicated with differently colored text or something what Vyrkomod is hallucinating so people don't take what he's seeing as reality?))

Kira ignored Melody's question "until what" and then refused to touch Melody's card that was held out to Kira but instead looked at it carefully and smiled, "You're the Star. But, I would put away your card. Radik, I assume is the man that gave you your card, didn't tell you much did he? Your card is tied to your life. You don't want to ever offer it to anyone to touch. Or at least I wouldn't."

"And, no I don't know what your power is," Kira sighed. "Usually your power is tied to your card. The Star is a generally positive card so your power would most likely be something positive." Kira shrugged. "I don't know really. I am rambling: it's not like I am an expert or anything."

Curious, Kira then asked, "But what is it that you can do that your father cannot but your mother could?"

Kira looked down at her hands, calloused usually from writing, drawing, and fencing, and dry now soft and smooth under Melody's healing power. Her greenish eyes widened as she admired her soft hands and she wondered, how could this girl not realize that healing was her power?

"Thank-you, I don't remember the last time my hands were this soft," Kira said smiling. Still smiling, Kira asked, "You haven't been around people much. That healing power of yours is quite a gift. That's got to be your power: you're a healer. I'm somewhat envious. A healer will be in high demand here."

Thoughtfully, Kira added in her thoughts, but her being a healer placed her in a protected and more dangerous position in missions...