Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Well..." Lillian tilted her head to the side and examined the new owners names with their paired creature from where she stood. It wasn't too big of a challenge for her to read the winners paper upside-down, thankfully her writing had remained in a read-able state. "If you're Jae Eun, then yep!" It was all set! Miss Eun was one of the only people to have won a fox fish anyways.

The teen looked the young woman over one final time before she exited her stall, strolled over to the animal pen, and retrieved a glass water bowl with something in it's clear waters. Inside the marine home was Jae's new Fox Fish, continuing to swim merrily even though it had been moved suddenly from it's former "safe spot".

"Here you go! It's a sweet little fish...erm...fox fish I mean." As she handed over the nicely crafted bowl, the teen didnt forget to add in a snippet of info. "One thing to just make sure of is that you keep its water fresh and clean." Lillian didn't have to worry about adding the obvious such as to love it and to feed it. This Jae gal seemed to be ready to shower her new pet with a ton of affection already.

Ashlynn forked over her token $4 and accepted her shaved ice, eyeing the abundance of ice in the cup. In fact, if she wasn't careful, she end up with that ice all down her front... To forstall that, the red-head licked up some of the treat as she stepped back, relinquishing the booth to whoever else cared to approach.

She had many things to think of, not least of which was the varied conversations she'd heard while waiting. Interesting... she'd need to make some notes in her book when she got back home. Turning on one low-heeled foot, she turned and glided back to where she'd left her car, dropping the barely-touched treat in the garbage.

Next time she visited the shop, she hoped to find better data to add to her research. It was imparative she gather as much as possible, as soon as possible. Yellow eyes flicked back for a moment, sliding right over a poofy, black-haired man, before she slipped out of sight.

"YES!!" Kyou thought excitedly as he grabbed the little plate and fork specially prepared for them. He can now finally indulge himself into the wonderful desserts laying before him. How long was it ever since he had any actual good food? For the past few months he had been submerged into his new currently unspeakable researches and preparing the festival. He haven't ate a cake in at least 2 months!

First he came up to a delicious looking white cake overflowing with strawberry toppings and whip cream. He dug in almost at the same time as Aphismet, eagerly taking a spoonful of the delicious dessert. When he consumed the contents on the spoon, his tongue felt alive again! The sweetness of the whip cream went together very well with the slightly sourness of the strawberry topping. The texture of the cake was just nice as well. Kyou couldn't help but took 2 more bites from Jae Eun's strawberry shortcake.

But he must not eat too much first, there are more food awaiting! He came up to a very impressive looking carved watermelon next. It looked extremely dangerous to pull a slice out from the middle of it, so instead he took one from the top. Although the food carving technique is very intricate and impressive, but it just tasted like a regular watermelon. It even lost some of it's juicyness from the prolonged exposure to the air. Sighing sadly for the effort in the carving of the fruit, he decided that this wasn't the best entry in the cook off.

Moving on, they came up to probably the most mouth watering dessert Kyou had seen just yet! "Natchi's Famous Lady Lumps eh?" Kyou thought, "I'm sure Tsu would love to have a taste of this!" he snickered inwardly. He eagerly dig his spoon through warm berry toppings, cutting smoothly through the cool vanilla ice cream and slowly through the layer of brownie at the bottom, until he heard a soft 'click' as the steel spoon hit ceramic surface. When the spoon entered his mouth, the taste was just so overwhelming. The heat of the berry topping clashes with the coldness of the ice cream, creating a rollercoaster of taste in his mouth. Kyou felt like he just died and went to heaven! Settling back into his brand new sneakers on the ground again, he took several more mouthfuls of the delicious dessert before moving on.

The next table doesn't have a dessert on it, but there seemed to used to have one. There were left over chunks of fruits laying there, along with an empty yogurt bottle. When he looked around, wondering where the dessert went, he saw Shuura walking around with a cup in her hand. And he knew what had happened. Crushed, Kyou moved on to the next table with an actual dessert on it.

He came up unexpectedly to an Asian dessert next. Mochi! How delightful! He haven't had these in ages. Though he must bring himself to wonder why was the dessert named "Sudden Death!"? Well, Isi and Eiry must've had their aesthetic reasons. Waiting courteously for Aphismet to have a bite first, he took a yellow one next. The sweet mango taste of the mochi was very refreshing. Very light, and definitely different from the rich tastes of the desserts he ate before this. Perfect for a hot summer day! He gave the dessert a gesture of approval by taking up the green tea mochi next and consumed it whole.

In the next table stood a gorgeous white cake that almost looked like a wedding cake, just lacking the layers. Kyou almost didn't have the heart to cut into it. But thinking that he couldn't eat it that way, he dug in relentlessly. The rich chocolate taste melted into his mouth first, before the refreshing berries and jams came next. The exquisite combination mixed together very nicely, making Kyou wanting for more. He figured he could come by again if he wanted another slice, so after he finished his current one, he moved onto the last entry he see on the table.

"Summer Kiss?" he muttered to no one in particular, "Sounds very refreshing!" He picked the little cake up and popped it into his mouth whole. The delicious mousse immediately melted into his mouth, the mixture of the delicate summer berries was perfect. The almond sponge base goes very well together with the mousse as well. It tastes lighter, which neutralised the overwhelming sweetness of the mousse. It's just the correct amount of sweetness for Kyou's liking. He couldn't help but scooped up another one into his mouth, craving for the tantalizing and teasing sweetness.

"Well, I think that's about it." he said to Aphismet as he surveyed the cook off table at all the fantastic desserts he just tasted. He haven't had so many yummy desserts in his whole life, especially with this type of variety! It was really hard to pick out a favourite amongst all the entries. Because to Kyou, everyone of them is a winner. But he had to choose, and he needed some help with that. "Which one is your favourite?" he asked the cook, thinking that he might be a better judge at this. He had picked out 2 of his favourites, but he just needed some guide in choosing the winner.

As they walked toward the cook-off and food area, Natsuki beamed. Of course she would have an entry in the cook-off! What the heck was this guy thinking? Her telltale smile spoke volumes of her love for cooking and feeding people. "Naturally, but I don't know if I stand a chance. People's tastes are different, so it's often difficult to find recipes that pleases everyone," Natsuki mused, years of experience hinting that she clearly knew what she was talking about. The closer they walked to the booth, the cafe owner began nibbling her lip and wringing her hands nervously, as she caught sight of Dr. Kyou and Aphismet hard "at work" in the judges' area. All the other entries looked fantastic, leading Natsuki to nod in approval of the presentation.

"Man, I wish they would have asked me to judge the cook-off. I love eating food as much as I enjoy making it," Natsuki giggled, patting her belly lightly, at that her stomach growled again. "Maybe we should hurry over the food before we die of hunger." She hadn't heard Jun mention how hungry he was, but she cincerely hoped she wasn't the only one pining for something delicious to fil the void within her. Looking around, she caught sight of the food booth, and lead the way.

Junsu cackled with delight as Natsuki admitted her love for food. "At least you're honest about it! Wow, a lot of those look good!"

A very familiar dessert caught his eye, and he couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the white-boy-afro judge take three spoonfuls of it. Well, at least Jae hadn't tried to cook actual food.......she wasn't as blessed in that area.......

Seeing the food booth, he remembered the Raevan he had met there earlier. The one with the nice hair!

"Alright! Just what I was thinking!! ..............Say, you wouldn't happen to be psychic, would you?!" he teased, motioning as though to try and hid his forehead from Natsuki.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that I was?" Natsuki laughed, pushing some lose strands away from her face. As they arrived at the booth, Natsuki's brilliant smile merely intensified when she saw Tariel talking with another, more developed raevan. Sliding up beside Tariel, Natsuki waited patiently to give her order.

"What do you feel like eating, Jun?" Natsuki asked, fanning herself lightly. She had to keep her eyes off the gleaming brilliance that was Tariel's golden armor in the sunshine. It was almost blinding. "I hate to interrupt, but could we place an order, please?" To avoid startling Tariel, Natsuki chose to wait and see if the sumi ink black haired warrior would recognize and remember her.

Licking the last bit of yogurt off the back of her spoon, Shuura dumped the finshed parfait cup and spoon in the nearest receptacle (which happened to be an empty chair at one of the booths she passed by) and had almost reach Vyn when the smelly booth she had just walked past began shouting at her.

"----CONGRATULATIONS!!!! YOU ARE THE 100TH PERSON TO WALK BY THIS BOOTH! YOU ARE NOW THE LUCKY OWNER OF A CHIMERA!!!"--- The person squawking through a loudspeaker at her was obviously one of the lesser-known random festival volunteers who just seemed to pop out of nowhere at the most un-opportune times. He seemed extremely flustered and agitated to boot, and all but shoved a furry bundle into her arms.

"Wuh--" Shuura barely had time to react before said bundle started to get a bit too friendly with her. She prevented the thing from digging further down her shirt by the simple expedient of plucking it out by the tail. "Wtf?" She stared down at the friendly ball of fur wriggling happily in her arms. "I don't want this! And what the hell ARE you anyway??" The "chimera" creature looked like some odd combination of a fox with tabby-cat like stripes, with a certificate of ownership attached to its collar.

"Meuu?" the thing whined plaintively, dangling somewhat awkwardly by its tail. The strange long-black-fur thing had smelled so nice!

Holding the thing well away from herself, Shuura had to think fast. The last thing she wanted was to have yet another annoying thing to deal with in the apartment. Better find a way to get rid of this, and quickly. That left the black market out--finding a good price and a willing buyer for these things would take too much time. It didn't look edible, either. "You there," she demanded, sending her best glare towards the lanky booth-attendant. "Call the lab's helpdesk and get me the owners' directory."

The helper looked extremely frazzled. "B-but that sort of information is strictly confidential!"

"I'm an owner myself, I can have access to it," Shuura hissed back impatiently. That wasn't exactly true, although it might be. She wasn't entirely, but lying had never troubled her conscience before, and it wasn't now. "Besides, I don't want their personal information. I just want the names. Well, what are you waiting for?" she snapped none-too-politely.

"W-well...." it was obvious that the poor man was easily intimidated as he scurried to do as he was ordered. "Um...miss....who are you looking for specifically?"

"Any name, I don't care. Just give me the first one of the list."

A pause as the man listened carefully. "That would be a Ms. Aki Ana, Miss...spelled A-K-I space A-N-A."

Shuura rolled her eyes. "Right. Do send Ms. Aki my congratulations, she is now the new owner of this....." with some difficulty, she managed to extricate the foxykitten-thing from her grasp and shoved it back at the man, "...thing."

"But--" the man's protests were cut off.

"If I'm the owner I can do as I like, and I'm giving this to her," Shuura interrupted irritably. Grabbing a pen, she quickly crossed out her own name and scrawled in Aki Ana on the owner's certificate. As an added thought, she also quickly scribbled on a note on the back.



Wrestling the chimera from the man's hands into a cardboard box, she quickly sealed the box and, after a moment of deliberate hesitation....very reluctantly punched a small hole for air in the top. "Send it on to the Lab now, care of Ms. Aki Ana, and they should forward it on to her." Although she smiled disarmingly at the zoo attendant, her tone booked no arguements and she quickly stepped away from the chimera booth before any other weird creature could be shoved upon her.

---

Vyn at that moment had finally noticed Shuura and, throwing a last gaze at those around her, she nodded a small farewell at Sevilin before gliding away softly, seeds clutched tightly in one hand. As she passed by the booth she saw the bent figure of Gage, whose agitation she mistook for sadness. Did he feel as bad for the flowers too?

As the thought flitted across her mind the shadow Raevan paused barely long enough to spare a softened glance at the green Raevan before drifting smoothly on and out of sight. Tattered ends dragging on the ground now and then, the Rosy Frei had began feeling increasingly weak despite having absorbed energy from the tall red-haired walker's shadow, and an increasingly intense pain was pricking across her skin sharply. As she reached the spot where her guardian stood it was all she could do to hold out the seeds for Shuura to take before gathering herself as closely as possible into the nearby shadows.

Aphismet smiled and nodded, walking over with Kyou and also announcing his congratulations. "Miss Namini, wherever you are, you won the Cook-Off!" he called over the crowd. "Congratulations! Now, everyone is invited to taste the Cook Off entries. Please be courteous and er, leave some for everyone else," he hesitated as he watched Kyou gobble up almost everything. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, time for me to go! I'm very warm, and I promised Rivener I'd get him out of here as soon as I could." He smiled and bowed his head at Kyou. "It was an honor!"

Aphi walked over to Rivener's booth, finding his Raevan in a surprisingly agreeable mood. "It looks like you didn't hate it so much after all," he said teasingly.

Riv glared. "Okay, it wasn't so bad. Stop gloating before you make my good mood disappear."

Aph laughed. "Okay, okay. We can go home now, if you want."

Riv glanced over at Laz, and for a minute he wanted to stay... But he could see that his Idol was busy admiring that golden girl. He pouted. "Alright, we can go." He hopped over the booth's side. "Laz, I'm leaving! Take care of any customers that come by for drinks, wouldja?" He smirked, assuming that Laz would be okay with it.

The two "walked" off, stopping by Isi's booth on the way. Aphi informed his brother that he was going home, and that Isi could come back any time he wanted. Aph wasn't the kind to worry about his little brother; isi was more than able to take care of himself. "Don't get in trouble," he finished with a smile, tousling the kid's hair teasingly.