Welcome to Gaia! ::

The shadow on the bed looked... tired. If a shadow could look tired. Maybe like he - at least it looked like a He - didn't feel well.
At the outset, everything that came out of the shadow's mouth was gibberish - but it slowly, slowly started to fade into natural English.

~S'iidai n'dai rii'sadai. N'iirisai... es'sedaii... N'rii k'tai mr'see that n'vair ari'tasi hard, if you n'kai.. I would appreciate if if you would tell me your name, Master. We are going to be with each other for a very long time, after all. ... Quaint place. Small, but cute. I almost expected you to be a girl.~

(In which Thali vents her feelings, and Loki is upset)

Loki felt replaced.

It wasn't that he was petty, or particularly possessive when it came to his friends, but the tall, brown haired fae, was rather upset. He had always been Howl's favorite. He had always been the one Howl turned to before. And now Howl had found a new friend--and apparently had very little time for anyone else. Loki wouldn't have minded if Howl hadn't asked to hang out with him--as long as his friend could come too. The boy wasn't even sure what her name was, but his older cousin was continuely describing her as pretty and smart and nice.

Loki didn't think she was nice.

Loki didn't think she was nice at all.

If she had been, she wouldn't have been stealing his cousin from him. If she had been, she wouldn't have been hogging all of Howl's time. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair. They were supposed to be best friends. They were related! Howl wasn't supposed to replace him like some broken toy. He and the wizard had always been close; always, always. Why was this new friend of Howl's ruining everything for them? It wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair. Mom often said things in life weren't fair, but she had had her happily ever after. She had reached her goal in being with Matthias. Loki was still stuck somewhere between the first and second page of his story, and already events were causing him to backslide.

It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair. He wanted his friend back. He wanted to be able to play with Howl. Or talk with him. He wanted to be able to talk to his friend without Howl once bringing up that annoying red-headed best-friend-thief. He felt that if he heard another thing about her, he'd accidently end up killing something. His hands tightened on the pillow he was holding. He would have liked doing that to Howl's friend. To have his hands tighten on her shoulders, to shake her and inform her that he was Howl's best friend, not her, and she wasn't allowed to steal him. He had met Howl first. She couldn't have him!

It wasn't fair that Howl seemed to have the time to go out to ice cream with his new friend. It wasn't fair that when Loki asked him to do the same thing, he said he was too busy, or he had too much spellwork to do.

(To be continued)