Welcome to Gaia! ::

"WAVEN!" Alex darted towards the girl, a wicked smile on his face. "BWAHAHA!! I SHALL KIDNAP PWINCESS WAVEN!!!"

"And from the looks of it, I'm guessing it'll take a while, huh?" Feather replied with a light laugh, looking on at the unfolding scene of the two toddlers. "It wasn't too hard to get Alex's outfit. All I had to do was get him something shiny, and he was thrilled!"

"Not now I'm not!" He smirked, finishing the distance and tackling her playfully to the ground.

"I'd love to!" Feather said with a grin, following after Bird. "Do you have any catalogues, or anything? Since Raven seems sort of tomboyish, so maybe we could look into looser fitting dresses, or something...so she can move around, still."

"NANA!" Alex exclaimed, an idea popping into his mind. He quickly grabbed the arm of the bear, and pulled it close to his squirming body. "Lemme go or...uh...NANA GETS IT! YEAH!" He cackled, trying to recall the wicked voice of the evil villian he saw on TV with Feather last night while they were trying to write out his lines.

"Alright!" Feather nodded, taking one of the books and taking a seat at the kitchen table. She slowly flipped through the pages, peering curiously at all the children's costumes held on the pieces of paper. Her attention was caught by one. She pointed to it, and looked at Bird. "What about this one?" It was a short dress, dark blue in hue, with short sleeves and a rather billowy skirt. It was a simple design. A small butterfly had been stiched on the waist, a small threaded trail following after it.

"Aww...I'm sowwy, Waven! I didn't mean it!" Alex naively cried, gently dropping Nana with a faint thud. He obviously believed her desperate plea. "I'd never hurt little Nana!" The boy frowned, petting the bear's soft fur with utmost care.

"How about..." Feather yawned, flipping mindlessly through a few more pages of the book. "maybe just a little butterfly hairclip, or something? Cute, and simple!"

"AWEEE!!" Alexander pouted, clearly frustrated. "Waven's a meaanniiee! I'm gonna get YOU!" His expression melted into a twisted grin, and he attacked Raven with a barrage of tickles.

"Eh, I just bought it at a costume store." Feather sweatdropped, scratching the back of her head. "It IS a lot cheaper...and it saves time...Sure, it is kind of cheap, but it's awfully cute!"

Raven flopped bonelessly to the ground in defeat. Tickles were her Achille's heel.

"I give, I give!" she crowed, tears of mirth beginning to collect in her eyes. "Awwex wins! He wins, alweady!"

"Must agree," Bird nodded, a silly smile ghosting across her face as she examined the two again. "N'kay, so... we have the costumes, more or less. And the plot." She scratched the back of her head. "Now what? We should probably move onto... the script? Or-- arg. What else; sets... but we need scenes b'fore attempting that... if we even do. What d'you think?"

"Aww...fine..." Alex withdrew, slightly dissapointed she'd given in so early on. "You big baby!" He taunted, sticking his tongue out and wagging his finger. "You act so mean...then you cwy!"

"Well, we only need a few backdrops... the butterfly castle, and the evil mouse castle. As for the scripts...I guess we could just have an overview written out, and Alex and Raven could just make up the rest. They're bright little guys, even if they sometimes don't act like it." Feather laughed, watching the two for a brief moment before turning back to Bird. "I think they could handle it. And we could always help from the sidelines."

Raven stuck her own tongue out, refusing to admit defeat. "Am not!" she retaliated. "Sum'n's in my eye. And 'chu were meaner'n me!"

She blinked. "Never thought of that," Bird admitted. "But! None the less, they can cook up something much better than I. So... that's sort of settled." She looked sheepish, biting her tongue in a ridiculous smile. "Now what?"

"Nothing's in your eyes!" Alex teased, supressing a giggle. "I was only mean because you were mean to meee!" He prodded her playfully. "Now I know your weakness! HAH!"

"Uhm...we could start on the backdrops, I suppose!" Feather smiled, her eyes darting around the kitchen. "I wonder if they've got any paint or paper around here..."

"S'what you think!" she grinned, wiping her eye once more before dropping the facade. "Ju's don' pick on Nana, 'kay? S'not her fault."

"... I think I found some paper the other day..." Bird commented, shuffling through to another room to sort through. "Aha! Found some! I haven't got a clue about paints. Maybe there's some in here, somewhere?" she shrugged, slapping and spreading out the large slabs of paper on the table.

"What if I tickled Nana? Could I do that? I don't think she'd feel it..." Alex pointed out, a slight smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. "She's just a teddu!"

"I could look." Feather replied quickly, and vanished from the room, heading to the storage closet.

Alex's attention was caught by his mother's leaving the kitchen, clearly in search of something, and an odd thump that had come from a table inside the same room. "Should we go see...?" He inquired, rather curious.

Raven looked insulted by that comment, preparing to retaliate in kind until Alexander spoke again.

She blinked a few times, warily scooting away from the dreaded tiara, before examining the two Mommas herself. "Eh... you think it's that play thing?" she queried, scratching her head thoughtfully before agreeing. "Yeah, let's go see."

Snagging Nana by the arm, Raven hoisted herself up and tried her best to move surrupticiously towards them by cover of chairs and tables. After squirming under a particularly low seat, she peeked out from underneath, spying on Bird and trying to spot something strange.

Alex quietly followed after Raven, convinced this was just another part of the game they'd been playing. Sneak missions were...um...fun. He'd certainly seen Feather play enough of them on the shiny TV in their house. He crawled ahead of her once she stopped beneath the chair, clambering on top of it and staring with wide eyes at the paper stretched about on the tabletop. "PAIINNNTT!" He squealed, having been in this situation once before. "Come on, Wavenn! PAINTUPAINTU!"

Raven blinked a few times, wondering where the sneaking point had run off to, before hauling herself and Nana up the chir and onto the tabletop. On these particular actions, Nana fealt like she was made of lead.

Raven immediately decided that once they got home she would need to exercise the teddy and loose some pounds.

But, she filed that away in favor of examining the large sheets of paper. Paint? No, this was paper. Raven had never really seen paint in use before, just pens and pencils.

"Paint?" she voiced curiously.

"Paint! Paint?" Alex repeated thoughtfully, lifting up one of the pieces of paper and looking beneath it, realizing the absense of the colorful substance. "No paintu...? No painting!!" He cried desperately, looking to Raven, then back to the paper. "Whadduwedo?!!"

"I'VE GOT IT!" Feather screamed with delight from the other room, parading into the kitchen with several cans of paint nestled safely in her arms. "It was hidden in one of the back shelves, but I have it!"

She dumped down the various jars in front of the two toddlers, and took a seat herself.

Bird whooped, snatching a can and busying herself with opening it.

Raven cocked her head to the side quizzically, wondering what shiny cans had to do with anything. Judging from the way the metallic cylinders were shaped, she concluded that there was some new type of food inside.

So, when Bird pried open the first one, Raven promptly plopped her finger into the colorful substance, and stuffed it in her mouth.

"... BLEEEGH!"

"Wavennnn!" Alex scolded, bursting out laughing. "You make pittchers with it! You don't EAT it!"

"That's right, Alex!" Feather added, supressing a bit of a chuckle at Raven's putrid expression. "Now, we all have to work on painting a background for your play! A castle with some grass and a sky would work well, I think!"

Raven slowly opened her mouth, and with painstaking care removed the finger inserted in the best possible way as to not brush it against her agitated tongue.

She gagged, finger as far away as possible, and proceeded to spit and crow and carry on, trying to remove the taste, until Bird leapt up from her seated position and fetched some water.

"Here... come to the kitchen and spit it out," she instructed. The toddler only nodded, face rigid as the paint oozed over her taste buds again. She resisted the relexive yowl.

"Sorry," Bird apologized, smiling a little despite herself. "We'll be right back. If you want to start on the grass... or, maybe the castle..."

"Will do!" Feather gave Bird a mock salute, laughing under her breath, and started off on the castle by drawing a quick sketch for Alex to follow. It was a towering structure, stretching over the entire table in all it's graphite-y glory. "Okay...you color the whole thing grey, okay, Alex?"

He nodded, and cheerfully began setting out on his work with suprising skill and concentration for a toddler.

-Of course, the paint still splattered all over the place.

Raven's tongue felt insanely grimy and dry after Bird swabbed it with a cloth. She spat in the sink again, nothing coming out since her saliva had been completely and utterly spent.

"There, that should do it... hey, don't glare at me; wasn't my fault. Now, come on. I suspect Alex has already gotten a head start..."

Raven huffed, allowing Bird to hoist her up and taken back. She plopped down at a respectable distance between the yellow bucket she had been unfortunate enough to swallow, and noticed the blue immediately. "Sky!" she cheered, scuttling over as fast as she could.

Eyeing the glop warily, Raven stuck her finger in again, looking at Alexander. He was slapping it everywhere, pointedly on the paper. She examined her noticeably blue finger before sticking it on the paper.

It left a blue streak. Raven beamed brightly, slopping both her hands into the paint and getting started on the sky.

Alex grinned wickedly, looking up from his work, towards Raven. Might as well have some fun with this, right? His hands, grey and sopping, jerked upwards, pushing Raven's own hands. Grey paint was splotched all over the once clear sky.

Raven's jaw might as well have dislodged itself from her face.

She stared, flabberghasted, before rounding on Alexander. "Wh--what d'you mean by that?"

But after seeing the smirk curling on an all-too smug face, Raven donned one of her own. She declared war.

Letting out a battle cry, she leapt up from her seated position and, hands completely encased in a layer of blue paint, slapped her hands on both of Alex's cheeks, leaving very obvious handprints.

Raven and Alex continued their fun-filled paint fight, and eventually, after much coaxing from their two mothers, finished painting the background. A few days passed, and the night of the play soon quickly approached.

Momma's been trying to make that stupid piece of clothing for me for several days now. Apparently, she can't get the sleeves right.

Pfft. I'd say the whole thing.

But.. I am really excited about the play; s'gonna be so much fun. Momma tells me that, since it's a... um, I think she called it a 'produkshin," me'n Alex are gonna perform it in front of people! Besides our Mommas, of course.

She didn't know who'd all be there, but, I guess that's what makes it a surprise.

Anyway. Back to the dress. The fabric she picked out is pretty, I'll admit-- it's got all sorts of colors of blue I've never seen before --but... I'm not looking forward to wearing it. But she said she'd let me pick out the flutterboo thing that's going in my hair instead of that dreadful thing that 'all' princesses wear, but, we haven't had time to go out and look. I'm thinking maybe the flutterboo charm that the shiny-haired cool person gave to me yesterday.

Ah, crud. S'time for lunch.

Mouse lumbered clumsily up to the Eden Project HQ's entrance. She had in tow a water bottle housing the leafy Sylvest, another bottle containing some apple juice, and a container filled with nice, hot spaghetti with meatballs. Raven and Alex had at last become children, and it was time for a celebration.

Using her foot to open the door, she was greeted by the welcoming blast of air conditioning. "I'm here!" she announced, placing her things on a nearby table.

"I'm scared."

"PLEASE, everyone already knows what happened."

"THEY DO?!!!"

"NOT that, genius. Everyone knows you grew. I heard there's going to be a little party for the both of you!"

Alex pushed open the backdoor of the HQ, and stepped inside, waiting for Feather to enter as well before shutting the door. Both of them, as well, felt the effects of the air conditioning, and were immediately grateful for temporary relief from the hellish heat outside.

After making sure the door was securely closed, the two of them stepped further into the room. "Hello!" Alex greeted, looking around the room for his Eden friends.

"MOUSE!" Feather squealed, hurrying over to the table with a wide smile on her face. "Can I help you with anything?"

If Nana was a real bear, with real lungs, and all the other things that come with being alive instead of stuffing, she surely would've perished.

"Raven... Nana's head is going to pop off if you hold her like that."

Raven ignored Bird, opting to study her arms-- which she couldn't see --and the butterfly that had taken up residence on her shoulder. She had tried, previously, to pry it off, but it just fluttered about on invisible air currents and settled itself on her shoulder again as soon as she was distracted.

And now she was going to see everybody. Raven tried to shrink as Bird opened the door for her-- her grip was too slippery from the appearance of the feathers.

Mouse looked up from where she was trying to make the table presentable. "Feather, Alex!" she greeted. "Oh, and Bird and Raven! You all look awesome. Congratulations, Alexander; Raven." Fumbling with the cheap plastic silverware, she added, "It took me a while to think of a dish that everyone would like- can't believe I didn't think of spaghetti earlier. If you want to help serve it, that would be awesome."

Sylvest jiggled a bit as if in approval of the Edens' new appearances, but soon became still and sank to the bottom of the water bottle as to avoid anyone's gaze. Good thing this little get-together wasn't about him at all.

"Sure thing!" Feather replied cheerfully, about to vanish into the kitchen to retrieve some plates and bowls. However, Sylvest caught her attention first. "Hey, little guy!" She bent down and peered curiously at the bottle, smiling gently. "Don't be scared, we won't hurt you!"

"W-Raven!" Alex chirped, spinning around with a wide grin on his face at both her and her mother's sudden entrance. He bolted over to them, his expression brightening considerably. "Raven...you're more pretty than you were before, now!" He commented, his cheeks turning only slightly pink.

Bird left the two children to themselves for a moment, opting to venture over toward Mouse and Feather. And to unload the extra drinks she had brought for everybody.

"Hi, Mouse, Feather!" she greeted cheerfully. "Thanks. I hope this little guy grows soon, too," she finished, bending down to investigate the small leaf.

"Oh, ah... where should I put these?" she questioned, holding out the liquids in their specified containers.

"Alex!" Raven cried, overcome with a sudden urge to zip up to her friend and envelope him in a hug to large that it could win a world record. So she did.


"Ah, hmm- I think I might have an idea. Sylvest, come up." Mouse requested of her leaf, who obliged. She placed the leaf in the bottle of apple juice. "Now... can I see the sodas and juice you brought? Thanks." Taking each bottle and carton one by one, she made a sort of stronghold around Sylvest so nobody could see him.

Immediately, everyone could feel a wave of relief from the small leaf. "He doesn't like people looking at him, as you know. I think it's partially because he can't see other people yet. If we talk among him, it might help. I know that we'll have to take them away eventually, but hopefully he'll be calm enough by then." Mouse then looked over at Raven crushing Alex's poor ribs and chuckled.

"Tch....!!" Alex was helplessly swept up into her hug, and though it was almost certain his face was going to turn odd shades of blue and purple, he accepted it and returned her one that was NEARLY as strong. He let go after a few long moments, and stepped back to properly survey the changes in his friend. "Your wings...they got so BIG! I'm sure you'll have no problem with flying, now!"

Feather nodded, and quickly scuttled back into the kitchen to get the necessary wares for eating. She returned moments later, with several plates and bowls. "Should we start eating now, or wait until the kids settle in?"

Raven giggled, feeling as if the sun were shining inside her bubbly chest. "So did yours! My wings... they're kinda annoying," she confessed, holding them out for inspection. Nana seemed to cling to her arm for dear life. "Can't use my hands very well; s'too slippery."

The Eden shrugged, the butterfly on her shoulder twitching in a disgruntled manner. Her eyes were snagged by something again. "Hey! You have my feather in your hair!"

Bird grinned at the two as well, slouching against the wall. "I hope Sylvest gets over it. He's probably going to get bigger than the rest of the Eden.

"... Maybe we can dig in before them?"

Mouse glanced up at the clock, and it took a lot of effort to keep her from cursing aloud. "Oh, sh- I can't believe I forgot about this... I'm really sorry, but I have to go to an eye doctor appointment. Bye... I'm so sorry about this!" She grabbed Sylvest and then bolted out of the door.

"They do look really pretty, though." Alex bent over a little to inspect them more closely. He then reached up and felt along his hair, eventually placing a hand on the feather tucked behind his ear. "Yep! And I have to admit, it does brighten my clothing a little bit! And hey..." He straightened, and touched the feather present in her hair.

"You have one of mine, too! And that little flutterboo! Does it follow you around everywhere, perched like that? Did you name it yet?" His eyes glimmered with nothing short of pure excitement and enthusiasm.

"Yeah, sounds good." Feather nodded, and began dishing out the speghetti onto the plates. "They'd probably eat it all if we gave them the chance, anyways!" She chuckled lightly, and passed a plate and a rolled napkin of silverware to Bird.

Raven beamed, redness in her cheeks dimming a little as she moved the conversation away from her abundance of feathers. "'Course I do!" She paused and threw the small butterfly an odd glance. "He's never left since you an' I shot up to be this big... No, I haven't named him. I tried asking him what his name is, and what the heck he's doing on my showlder," Raven scrunched up her nose, "but he doesn't say anything except, 'Well, hi!'"

The butterfly hovered for a moment in agreement.

"See?" Raven sighed. "Nana an' I have debated over a name... but we haven't come up with anything. You have any ideas?"

Bird moved the drinks closer to Feather, in easier reaching distance, and piled a bunch of noodles onto her plate. "... Man. Next stage: teenager."


"Wait a second..." Alex quirked a brow, glancing at the butterfly, then back to Raven, then back to the butterfly again. "You're telling me...you can actually TALK to flutterboos? I haven't heard this!" He was both curious and amused, yet probably more fascinated above anything.

"Oh God. Don't even wanna think about it." Came Feather's short reply, hiding her look of sheer terror as she immediately dug into her own heaping portion of food.

The butterfly zoomed once around Raven's head, conveying a very short message, before heading back toward the nearest blue object. Which happened to be the feather stuffed in Alexander's hair.

Raven looked humored and puzzled all at once; a strange mixture. "Yes, I can talk to flutterboos... not like it makes much sense or anything, but, I can. Anyway... he says...," she snorted, "I won't quote. But he wants to know your name." Raven motioned to Alex's head witha gesture of her hand-- which replaced fingers with feathers. "Go ahead and tell him."

Bird tried vainly not to laugh, which would've resulted in noddles sliding down her gullet and a most difficult time of swallowing. Carefully chewing and swallowing the pasta, she replied, "Yes ma'am!"

"Uh...It's Alex, Mr. Flutterboo-sir. Alexander. Nice to...uh..meet you?" He looked up, only able to catch a few glimpses of the insect's pink wings before simply giving up trying to spot the entire thing altogether. "So...just how did you find out about this power of yours? I bet it'd be really useful if you were going on a hike in the woods, or something. He could be your guide, and lead you to streams and fruit trees and all that kinda stuff!"

Feather looked up at Alex, bewildered by his comment. "PSH, the woods? There's a bunch of weird bugs in there like millipedes and stuff! Count me OUT." She shuddered at the thought, and looked back down to her plate only to see the pasta's similarity to hundreds of slithering worms.

"Eww..."

The butterfly flicked its wings a few times, speaking.

Raven grinned, avoiding Alex's question. "He says he's pleased to meet you..."

The pink butterfly did a few steps, falling off the blue jay feather and onto Alexander's head.

"... and he approves of your coloring." Raven finished. "But what's your name, flutterboo? Uh-- Crimony! Mom! You're supposed to wait for us too, y'know!"

Raven hurried over to the table, snatching an extra utensil and forking a large amount of her mother's pasta. "C'mon, Alex!"

"...right." Alex followed after her, though puzzled by the fact he didn't answer her question. Did some sort of accident happen, or something? He allowed the flutterboo to remain on its perch, even as he took a seat and served himself up a plate of food.

"So whaddyu say?" He asked thoughtfully between bites of pasta. "Do you think it'd be fun to go out into the forest for a day? To go exploring, and stuff like that?"

"Hey!" Bird cried in protest as her pasta was guzzled by the bottomless pit. "Get'cher own, you pig!"

Raven stuffed the remaining noodles down her throat, snatched a bottle of juice, took a large swig of it, and hugged her disgruntled mother before turning to Alexander.

"Sounds like a plan to me! But... let's not depend on that flutterboo."

The creature in question was still investigating Alex's hair, wondering how he had gotten there.

Raven still didn't answer Alexander's previous question. She didn't like thinking about the event; it dragged her down and stomped on her until she was a permanent resident of the dirt.


"I'm sure we could find another. There's bound to be a lot of them in the woods!" Alexander smiled, done with his own meal. How could he eat when there was such a big event to be planned? He decided to drop his question about how she got her power, seeing as she seemed so obviously uncomfortable when considering it.

"Well, Um... Mrs. Bird, would you want to go?" He looked at Raven's mother, a rather odd pleading look in his eye.

"Cuz' um...if you don't... I'm sure I could protect Raven if we ran into um..anything..You wouldn't have to worry."

Bird bit her lip, willing herself not too smile to widely.

"Please, call me Bird. I don't mind if I go or not; depends on you two. And... well, what do you think, Feather?"

Raven adjusted the feather in her hair, tucking the loose strands of it behind her ear again. The butterfly, still wandering around Alexander's head, was quite a chatterbox. It kept saying things like, 'My, my, my-- what do you call this?' or, 'Gah! This isn't a shoulder!' He was very distracting.

"Oh, hey, Alex," she queried. "'Scuze the randomness, but... what are we gong to call him?" Raven referred to the butterfly.

"Hm...how about Kai? No real meaning behind it, I dunno, but I think it's fitting." Alex shrugged, a silly grin on his face as he playfully swatted at the butterfly.

"There's no way I'm going. I like mountains and meadows and stuff, myself. Bugs freak me out." Feather replied flatly, sinking into her chair. "I mean, all those mosquitoes and ticks! ...nasty."

The butterfly whizzed its wings furiously, not quite fast enough to avoid Alex's fingers.

Raven was suddenly struck with a fit of giggles. "He-- he says his name's... Rum!" she crowed. "... But I like Kai better, myself."

"Aw, but tick season's over," Bird cajoled. "And... yes, mosquitoes are something I cannot describe properly since there are children present.. Ah well. Suit yourself." She turned to the children. "So. You want the old bat to come along or go alone?"

"I-I don't really mind, either way." Alex lied, wincing a little. "What do you think, Raven? Maybe you could ask Rumkai for his opinion, too?"

Raven pursed her lips in an attempt to hide a smile. "Mums are too old to venture out of their cozy homes, right Ma?"

Bird quirked a wry smile. "Of course, all-knowing Rave."

"See? What'chu think, Rumkai?"

Rumkai zoomed once around Alexander's head, crash-landing on his goggles. The butterfly looked a bit woozy, legs doing a flamingo dance-type step as he lifted them up and tried to regain his footing.

"... Rumkai doesn't have an input, apparently. So! I guess you're staying, Ma."

Alex would've cheered, whooted, and pumped his fist in the air several times--if Bird and Feather (and Raven, for that matter) weren't in the room. BUT, he'd have to content himself with a few vigorous nods of the head for the time being.

"If you're...sure, Bird! Wellanyways, when do you want to leave? How's tomorrow morning sound? Maybe we could fly to the woods? Well, some of the way, anyways."

Raven grinned and nodded a few times. "Tomorrow! Meet at the edge of it, on the west side?"

Rumkai had flittered over to Raven's shoulder during their talk. He flopped down, exhausted.

"Oh..." Raven had heard the small butterfly's plea. "I need to get Rumkai home... he's tired. Can't be much older than us, can he?"

Bird was already tidying up, seeing as everyone had consumed their pasta. She'd have to send a thank you to Mouse as soon as possible.

Raven gave a large hug to Alex, along with a brief kiss on the cheek, and was out the door with Nana, Rumkai, and Bird.

"S-sure! See ya then!" Alex called after them, waving with one hand and touching his cheek with the other.

"Wow..."

He looked back to Feather, hoping she hadn't seen what just happened.

Thankfully, she was fast asleep on the table, snoring loudly. The boy walked over to his mother and shook her gently, softly telling her that Bird and Raven left and that it was time to go home. She awoke, and he led her out in the direction of their home, a smile plastered on his face the entire time.