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Growings part two: Isilya~



((she was a gift from jer on elena's b-day. I seem to have misplaced the original image tho.))

Growings...part four! Rasalus.

Cee hesitated to call what she was doing "walking the leaf" because it sounded silly, but then, life had been turned on its ear and many things seemed a little silly after her encounter with the Walkers. She was still shaken by the whole thing, not to mention the sudden disconnect from Jenner...but taking her new baby leaf out for walks, now that they knew what it was, seemed to calm her nerves somewhat.

The dead woman idylled through Barton West Field, wandering down the path in the general direction of the gazebo. It was a nice day, and while it had been going crazy before, the little green leaf tucked in one of Cee's buttonholes seemed quiescent now. As she walked, Cee murmured to it, telling it about the day's conditions, the people they passed... After all, talking worked with infants, didn't it?

Elena sat on a park bench near the path, book spread across her lap, although she was really watching as Isilya and Capri played with each other on the ground below. "Watch it," the girl snapped, her temper already short as they tumbled across her feet. Marking her place with her finger, Elena bent over to seperate the kirin and the cat creature. "Where's Cer at anyway?" she asked, looking around for the older E-mouse who was supposed to be watching her and the younger pets.

While looking around, she saw a woman who was obviously dead - this didn't particularly bother her, as Gaia was, if not filled with such, at least had a healthy representation of the undead types. What gave the Tall Tale pause was the fact that this woman was quite clearly talking to a leaf. She wasn't going to say anything to someone who was certainly crazed; she was talking to a leaf and Elena didn't know of anything that could come from a leaf. That decision was taken out of her hands as Isilya ran across the path and stopped in the middle of it, looking at Elena mischeviously and without any care for her imminent danger.

Assuming that Cee was crazy was probably not too far off the mark, though to be fair, talking to the leaf wasn't her at her craziest. She was in the middle of a narrative about the gazebo when Isilya zipped out underfoot, making the dead woman draw up short. "Oh, hello there," she said, no longer talking to her, err, leaf. "Where did you come from?" She hunkered down to be on a level with the creature, reddened eyes curious.

The leaf at her collar twitched as if waving.

Isilya chirped curiously at Cee, cocking her head to the side and flapping her wings in greeting.

"Sorry about that," Elena said coming over to kneel next to Cee and Isilya. "She doesn't normally run away from me," the girl explained. Usually, she would have offered a smile to try and win Cee over, but really, she didn't feel like smiling. Eyes narrowed thoughtfully, Elena glanced at the leaf. Had she seen that thing move on it's own?

Couldn't have, it must have moved when Isilya flapped her wings.

Right?

"Oh, it's all right!" Cee hurried to explain, smiling up at the girl. "I've got troublemakers of my own at home; honestly, they've done a lot worse than running off to talk to strangers!" Albedo, for example, was notorious about being the stranger most children warned their mothers about.

Getting up from her crouch, Cee looked down and dusted her knees off, then looked up again and offered Elena a hand in greeting. "I'm Cee, by the way, and this," she indicated the leaf, "--err, well, this is the leaf. We're calling her Kaimana for now. Uh, me and the kids that is--I know this will sound crazy, but apparently she's going to turn into a kid one of these days." The zombie gave a nervous sort of laugh. "--oh, and sorry if my hands are cold, uh--dead, and all. I don't eat brains, though!"

The leaf gave another little wiggle as it was introduced, before doubling up and appearing to pull itself out of the buttonhole it had been stuck in.

Elena looked relieved at the woman's statement, standing up as well, although she didn't bother dusting off her long skirt. "Um, well, that's good, I guess," she added with a little laugh, still unsure about this woman and her strange leaf. Isilya had no such problems, and chirped again, scooting closer to Cee in a clear attempt for petting.

"I'm Elena," the Tale replied, dropping a curtsy before shaking Cee's hand, grimicing a little at the clammy cold of her hand. "That's Isilya in front of you, and Capri's," Elena's statement was cut off as the little cat-like creature darted between her legs, poofing the skirt up. "Right there," she finished, smoothing her skirt back down. Elena cocked her head to the side as Cee explained the leaf. "Well, then, hello Kaimana?" Elena said, still looking dubious and privately quite sure that the woman was completely bonkers and soon enough the nice people from the mental institution were going to come and take her back.

Especially since she was dead. Well, that made sense. "How can you be dead and still walking around?" Elena asked curiously, not having heard of zombies...or realizing that the vampires who lived in the house were technically dead as well.

And then the leaf moved of it's own volition and Elena jumped back a bit, startled. "Does it do that a lot?" she asked, holding a hand to her chest in a somewhat silly attempt to calm down.

Having freed itself--herself?--of the buttonhole, the leaf gave another gleeful squiggle before squirming off of Cee's shirt and fluttering toward Elena. As the dead woman was leaning over to give Isilya the requested petting, she didn't immediately notice her "child" running away. "Oh! It's...well, uhm. Sort of a long story and a little embarassing, since I really wouldn't be dead if I weren't being stupid last Halloween. Uh, I'm--well, a zombie basically--aww, who's a cute little ki-rin?" The last was directed at Isilya, before Cee straightened up to look at Elena again. "And--oh, not again!"

She took a hurried step forward, reaching out to try and catch her wayward leaf. The leaf, on the other hand, steadfastly refused to be caught, slipping between Cee's fingers and forcing the woman to juggle it. "Oh--all the time, she was really--erm--hey! Don't do that, come back here!" Squirting between its guardian's fingers once more, the leaf gave another noble lunge toward Elena, only to get captured between Cee's two hands. "--gotcha!"

The leaf managed to poke a tip out from between two of Cee's fingers, wiggling in a decidedly sassy manner. "Don't you take that tone with me, young lady," the zombie told it, struggling to keep a straight face.

Elena kept a perfectly straight face at this somewhat nonsensical explanation - she hadn't left the House on Halloween, and the zombification of large portions of Gaia's population wasn't exactly a topic of dinnertime conversation. Isilya, however, was paying very close attention to Cee and arched her back to meet the woman's hand, chrring happily at the compliment. Well, darn, no petting. Isilya quit her noise making and went to hide underneath Elena's skirt, poking her head out to watch as the zombie tried to catch a leaf.

Elena watched as well, entirely taken aback. Right, that was decidedly not something leaves were supposed to do, and if the people from the nut house did eventually show up, the fact that it was waving and trying to escape would surely keep her out. "I hope mum never gets a leaf like that," Elena murmured, blinking in surprise as Kaimana wiggled at her. "Um, did you name the leaf? And how do you know it's a girl?" Elena asked, trying to think if she'd ever been an inanimate (well, not that Kaimana was inanimate, but the idea was the same) object. She didn't think so; mum said she'd come from a book, which was an inanimate object, but it wasn't like she'd been the book or anything. Arya had been a glass shard though, the thought of her sister making Elena wrinkle her nose unhappily.

Once more, the leaf began working her way toward freedom, though in much smaller spurts now that Cee was watching. For her part, the zombie eyed her handsful of disobedient vegetation for several seconds, before looking up at Elena and offering a relieved smile.

"It's a little crazy, I admit. I think I like it a little better than having my kids pop out of books or gems or--well." She smiled a little sheepishly. "Totems. Not that I don't love them still the same, but the leaf is living--oh! I did. I, uhm." Now her expression was a little guilty, her eyes straying away from Elena's face. "It's sort of a long story, but Albedo--one of my other children... He's got a feel for these things."

As if the mention of the insane Mozou had been some sort of sign, a dark, winged shadow flickered low across the path, before swooping up to perch unannounced on Cee's shoulder. "But trusting him with these things? You should not be," Chang-E croaked, rustling a wing and eyeing Elena thoughtfully. "New friends?"

"Oh! Yes--well, I guess." Cee glanced sidelong at the Nightmare, before smiling at Elena and her companions once more. "Elena, this is Chang-E--Chang-E, Elena and Isilya, I think it was." As she gestured to each of the named people in turn, her leaf took the opportunity to leap from her hands once more, making a determined--er--flutter for Elena.

Hey, she knew someone who had come from a book. "I came from a book," Elena offered during a slight pause in Cee's speech. Maybe this other person who'd come from a book was a Tall Tale too. That thought brightened Elena's disposition a bit. Meeting Tales was...interesting, to say the least. About to ask if Cee knew a Tale, and mostly ignoring the bit about totems, whatever they were, Elena didn't even get a chance to open her mouth before Chang-E showed up.

Elena curtsied to Chang-E, wondering if Olorin, who looked slightly similar in a general sort of 'oh, they're probably the same species' sort of way, would ever be that big. "Yup," she said in confirmation of Cee's guess at the name. "It's nice to meet you," the girl said before attempting to catch the leaf. "There she goes again," Elena said in a belated warning.

"Oh!" Cee clapped a hand to her forehead, the very picture of embarassment. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean--it's just that...oh, it's a long story." She stammered to a stop, rubbing at her face with her free hand. Chang-E snorted at his dreamer's behavior, ducking across her shoulders to avoid getting a faceful of forearm.

"A grandchild, my dreamer has, who came from a book," the Nightmare explained--then paused to watch the curtsy with undisguised, if mild, amusement. "To meet you as well, it is good."

The leaf's daring escape got a more open look of amusement, one that turned into a low, grating chuckle as Cee slapped her other hand to her face. "Oh, I give up!" she declared. "I guess this means she likes you!"

Indeed, it did seem like the leaf had taken a liking to Elena, as it pointedly made itself easier to catch for the Tale. And appeared to do the plantlike version of a victory dance at its achievement.

"Oh," the dead woman said, a little muzzily. "Maybe you've met him then?" For some reason, this mention of her "grandchild" caused her to look startlingly guilty, then shuffle and glance away. Elena's comment to the leaf made her look back, though, and smile herself.

"I know, I'm such a spaz. Somebody calmer must be a relief." The leaf gave an almost-shrug at this comment, before wiggling cheerily at Elena. Oh, she smiled! That seemed to make it, if anything, happier.

Chang-E cleared his throat after a moment, a startlingly loud sound from such a small creature. "To interrupt, I hate, but a message for my Dreamer, I have." He raised a claw, displaying the rolled-up note clutched in his talons. "Back home, we will, probably, go."

Cee blinked, reaching up to retrieve the note from her Nightmare--he relinquished it willingly--and unfurled it to read. Chang-E snorted and bit her on the ear in response. "Ow! What--"

"Attention to your company, you should pay, Dreamer."

"I might have," Elena said noncommitally, privately sure she'd never run across this woman's grandson. Then again, Tales didn't exactly resemble their parents or other relatives, so who knew. With a mental shrug dismissing the matter, Elena looked startled when Chang-E spoke.

"I should probably be going home as well," Elena said as a cell phone began to ring, the noise coming from the bag she'd left on the bench. "That's probably my mum calling to remind me," she added with an eyeroll. "I'll have to see you again once you've come out from your leaf," Elena said to Kai with another smile as she opened her hand to let Kai flutter her way back to Cee (or whatever), while making a mental note to never allow her mum to find a leaf such as this. Gathering up her belongings, Elena offered a half bow to Cee before moving at a fast clip out of the park, trailed by her pets.

It was quiet, and lonely, out in the meadow where Donny lay on his back, staring up at the bright blue sky. Every so often his Pegasi would stick it's face in view, sniffing the boy to make sure he was still alive before trotting off to hop around and poke at moving things with his muzzle. He had found a porcupine earlier, but was quick enough to hop away before the pricks on it's back were able to puncture his soft nose.

Donny was unaffected and uninterested in his steeds antics. It was merely his time to think, and thinking was hard. It took a lot of time, and trouble, and he didn't like it very much; but it had to be done some time, and that time was now.

The visions hadn't bothered him lately, and for that he was grateful. The sense of foreboding that they had brought stayed with him however, as had the confusion that had come with certain little things he found himself doing.

He rose a hand and wiggled his finger in the air, as if rubbing away a stray little white fluffy cloud in the sky that hid the sun. Though he knew it really shouldn't, the cloud responded to his touch, and he erased it from existence.

If he told his parents this, they would probably think he was crazy. Or worse.. they would say he was lying for attention. How stubborn and useless they were. It was a cumbersome burden to love them.

A muzzle stuffed itself in his way, and he closed one eye, glaring at his Pegasi with the other.

"Will you stop that?"

The steed huffed indignantly and trotted off after some shifting shadow, quickly forgetting what he was told.

The next thing Donny would see would be a face, covered in shadow as the sun shone down. The eyes, of course, would likely be a dead giveaway, as they glowed and glimmered with a faint hint of amusement. Mostly, though, they just looked tired. If that wasn't enough of a hint as to the identity of the face, the hair would almost certainly do so. Bound back in a braid, which was all that kept it from sweeping across the other's face, the hair was deep blue, nearly black, but sparkled dimly with pinpoints of light arrayed like constellations.

"Hello Donny," Elena said with a slight smile as she moved her head out of his line of vision.

Of course, she hadn't been nearly this cool and collected when she'd first seen him lying in the meadow. He was rather hard to miss, after all, with his wings sparkling much like her hair was now doing. So, for several moments, the girl had stared at Donny, completely amazed at how he had changed and grown, much the same as she had.

Back to the present, now: Elena rocked back to rest against her heels, kneeling on the ground next to Donny, careful to avoid being on his wing, or one of his feathers.

"And Freya too," Elena said with a wave towards the pegasi.

As the sun was blocked out, Donny immediately assumed it was Frey up and in his way again, and closed his eyes in annoyance. He let out a soft growl from the back of his throat that died away when he heard the voice of a girl above him instead. He opened his eyes, slitting them to focus on the face. She looked familiar, and her eyes tugged at his memory, but it was her hair that gave it away.

"Elena?" He whispered as she moved away.

The horse stopped it's idle nibbling on grass and rose it's head sharply at the voice once she said hello, and he snorted indignantly.

"Freya? I assure you I am not that feminine, little one."

Donny was temporarily distracted from the surprise of seeing Elena's change by his steeds annoyance, and he giggled in amusement. "Freya freya freya~" He chanted in an attempt to further bother the horse. Frey responded by trotting over to his rider, turning tail to him, and sitting down on Donny's stomach. The little winged boy cried out sharply in surprised, and squirmed under the pegasi's weight.

"GET OFF ME, OFF!" He pushed the young horse until Frey finally gave way and stood back up straight, smug with satisfaction.

Donny, now a disheveled mess, went red with embarassment. To have done such a thing in front of another tale, really. He'd have his revenge later, he would make certain of it.

"Don't mind the loaf, Elena. I think it's a fitting name. I will be calling him by it from now on, to be sure."

The horse turned tail on Donny again, who quickly rolled out of the way.

Elena smiled again at Donny, scooting back a bit so he could stand or sit up if he wanted. Looking over at Frey, she made a seated bow. "My apologies," she said in a tone of regal embarassment. "I misremembered your name."

And then Frey sat on Donny. Elena clapped a hand to her mouth in shock, and to stifle the chuckle she could feel welling up. She was quite sure that Donny would not apprecaite being laughed, which was a sentiment she very much shared.

Looking back and forth between the two, Elena gave a small shrug. "It was a mistake on my part, but," here she shrugged, "As you will." She had a feeling the other Tale would do as he wanted regarding the matter anyway, but at least she'd made it clear that it wasn't her intent to insult the pegasi.

"I see you've grown," Elena said, idly flicking a hand towards him. She eyed him consideringly. "I must say, this change really does display your features better." Another smile, but this one smaller, more private. It wasn't like she'd seen him for all that long before - but he certainly did leave a lasting impression.

Donny had spent very little time with Elena the one day he had first met her. Though she had seemed pleasing then, he hadn't made any final decisions on her. It was fortunate, then, that this second meeting presented Donny with further inclination to approve of Elena, by her obviously intelligent remarks.

That is, complimenting him of course.

He gave her a pursed smile, touching at wickedness. "Well. Yes, I would have to agree." He murmured, rolling onto his stomach in order to push himself up to sit on his knees in front of her. "But of course, you would be an excellent judge of such things, seeing as how you've grown up to be even lovelier than you were when we first met." He boldly reached out and took a length of the star kissed locks between his finger and thumb, holding it up nearer to his view. It was as if he had no real sense of awkwardness when it came to proximity or touch. "I've always admired this particular feature most, you know. It reminds me of.. well, me."

There could be no greater compliment.

He let her hair go and set his palms on each upper leg, sitting back on his haunches. "What brings you out here? Surely my presence didn't woo you out today."

He smiled as if joking, but in truth he wouldn't have doubted it. He was sure he had a magnetic presence, irresistable to most if not all.

"Not a major accomplishment," Elena said self-depreciatingly. "But being taller certainly does have it's perks," she added, pausing as he held a lock of her hair. Elena had no problems with touch either, and her hair certaily didn't, sparkling brilliantly at the touch, as if Donny's touch had awoken the night sky, neatly contained within a few strands of hair.

"I think that's everyone's favorite," she replied quietly, although a miscehvious smile lurked around her face at her next words. "Perhaps that's because everyone thinks of you when they see it." She was teasing, of course, but there was nothing more than that slight grin to indicate she was being anything but serious.

"The overwhelmingly cheerful and cloying behavior of the people I live with drove me outside," she admitted freely, feeling a little of the same dislike for her housemates that Donny felt for his parents. "It grates on my nerves after a while," Elena added, tapping her fingers lightly against her thigh, the tattoos giving off a cool breeze as she did so. "Of course, once I saw you, I had to stop and say hello."

"Of course, of course." He murmured, nodding sagely in agreement. It was unclear as to whether he was agreeing with the sentiment of people loving her hair for it's reminiscence of himself, or agreeing with the need to come say hello once she'd seen him.

More likely it was both.

"I don't necessarily mind the more cheerful of my family members, in my own household. It's the ones who don't listen to me that I hate." He made an almost childish face of disgust, his angelic features squirming innocently, before falling back and flopping onto his back again. His wings made a comfortable nest underneath him, large enough to spread and accomodate someone his size on either side, should the need arise.

"You could always come visit me and stay over sometimes if you're feeling icky in your house you know!" He responded, cheerful at the idea. "My mom and squishee let me have friends over all the time. Lyris and Tybalt have come to stay before, and some of Viddy's other friends too." Sleepovers had always been a part of his life, he saw no reason for that to change as he grew.

He opened his mouth to sing the praises of his house and neighborhood, but quickly shut it. The first thing that had come to mind was the lake out near the backyard, but he didn't want to mention it; it would simply be another reason to go and watch other people do something he could not. He hated the lake when they went with other people, the only time he could ever enjoy himself was when he went alone, and skimmed the water as he flew by.

No, he would not mention the lake.

"..On second thought, there are a lot of cheerful people at my house. It might not be as good of a getaway for you as I'd thought.."

Elena was quiet while Adonis spoke, her fingers splayed lightly against her thigh. "It's not so much the cheerfulness that bothers me," she said seriously, eyes dark and thoughtful, "More that everyone seems to be so relentlessly happy, when there's something wrong." Here she frowned. "It's like everyone knows something bad is coming, but they don't want to tell me, and they're just forcing themselves to act normal," Elena said in a burst of words, fingers now tightly clenching the fabric of her dress as she tried to express what exactly was bothering her about her family.

Consciously relaxing her fingers after a moment, Elena smiled weakly at Donny, smoothing her dress while she did so. "Not even for a short visit?" she asked softly, dropping her gaze. She so rarely got out of the house to go visit anyone - mostly when she left to come to Gaia it was to go shopping, or to what she had been doing before, wandering more or less aimlessly through the outskirts of Gaian towns. Come to think of it, the only other house she'd really seen was Mehiyal's and that didn't count. After all, she technically lived there.

But, back to Donny. "Doesn't matter," she said. "If you don't think I'd like it," she said, punctuating the sentence with a shrug.

The clarification of the situation at Elena's household made things a little clearer, and more confusing at the same time. Donny shook his head slightly, golden curls flopping with a trained and yet effortless beauty that befit him. "No, you'd like it. Everyone does. You're welcome to come stay over! I'm sure Viddy would be very happy about it too. I'll let my mom know and she'll tell me when it's okay to come over. Then I'll let you know. How's that sound?"

His eyes dropped to the half-smoothed wrinkles of her dress, where she'd clenched it. His brow furrowed just slightly, such as a young child might when they're trying to wrap their mind around something complicated, before reaching over and pressing down on the wrinkles repeatedly with the flat of his hand, in a stronger attempt to rid Elena's dress of them. After all, if you strive for perfection within and around you, you accept nothing less.

Elena immediately brightened at Donny's words, lifting her head back up to smile softly at him, her eyes glowing faintly. "That sounds like a very good plan," she said in reply, insides a bit whirled and churning. She'd never really done anything like that. Occasional dinner visits to Nima's house aside, that is. Also..."You'll have to come over and visit my house too," she added with a firm nod.

A low chuckle escaped her when Donny attempted to smooth the wrinkles on her dress. A brief tug on the side of her dress smoothed out most of them, and a quick brush over with her hand got rid of the rest. "Much better," she said softly, looking up at him with a grin. "Don't you think so?" she asked him, her tone of voice once more light and teasing.

The offer brightened his careless grin. "Sure! I can do that."

He felt strands of his hair tugged back and looked behind him, confronted with the wide muzzle of his mount as Frey chewed on his hair indignantly. Donny pushed the muzzle away, but his hand slowed and stopped, and his head cocked at a sudden, probably bad idea.

He turned back to Elena, his curious gaze turning mischievous. "Hey, would you like a ride?"

A loud snort behind him confirmed what he'd already figured. "I should hope you don't mean on me, little pet! No one rides on my back but you, no one!"

Donny's grin only grew, as he waited for Elena's answer before he would attempt to try and convince his steed to do his bidding. And he would convince him, if Elena so wished.

"Good," Elena replied with an equally wide smile. It changed, subtly, into something more indulgent as she watched Frey munched on Donny's hair. "A ride?" she echoed, eyes wide. "I'd love one!" the Tale exclaimed happily, eyes bright and a more natural smile on her face.

Smile and eyes dimmed, however, at Frey's words, and Elena glanced down at her hands momentarily, a wicked smile cutting across her face before she looked back up. "I don't want to be any trouble," she said hesitantly, looking between Donny and Frey. "And I certainly wouldn't want to offend you further, Frey," she added with a faint blush.

Donny noted how humble Elena made to sound as she spoke to them, and his eyes side glanced to his pegasi for a reaction. It was the perfect response to woo his friend into submission; he would know.. he'd used the same method countless times. A swell of pride surged up inside him as if he had anything to do with how clever Elena was.

He didn't. But that never stopped him before.

He turned and stroked Frey's muzzle softly, receiving a quiet and reluctant sound of contentment from the pegasi.

"Now now, Frey is a noble and gracious steed. He would never deny a ride to a true lady, would you Frey?"

Frey's head jerked up slightly, before closing in on Donny. His larger eye met with Donny's face as he sized up the boy, contemplating his next move. A moment later he rose his head up and turned it to the girl, bending forward slowly to as to sniff her. His response was questionable at best.

"Well... just this once. And.. she must hold on to you, not me. I don't want her pulling on my hair. Not as if that ever stopped you from-"

"It's settled then!" Donny interrupted, hopping up to take Elena's hand. "Come on, I'll help you up onto him. He's a bit high for me still, I usually fly up, so I'll take you with me."

Elena drummed her fingers idly against her leg as she waited for Frey's reply. She was nearly certain the pegasi would say yes; after all, who could say no to her and Donny at the same time? When Frey moved towards her, Elena kept her gaze on him, and looked back with an innocuous expression upon her face. Head tilted slightly to the side, the Tale's eyes lit up (literally), and she clapped her hands together happily. "Thank you very much, Frey," Elena said solemnly, composing herself into a more dignified stance. "I wouldn't dare tug on your hair," she assured the pegasi. "I don't like it when my hair is pulled on either."

Elena took Donny's hand with a smile, and lightly pulled against him to stand up herself. "Two flights?" she murmured. "I'm honored," she said with a half curtsy, her hand still held by the other Tale. She looked at Donny, waiting for him to make the next move.

Of course she was honored. Who wouldn't be? He tugged lightly on her hand to coerce her to turn around, and without hesitation he wrapped his arms around her waist with a secure hold and hopped up into the air. A strong gust of wind behind them signalled the extraordinarily large wings in motion, and they rose a few feet up into the air, until their feet grazed against Frey's back. This meant it was safe to descend, and as he moved just under Frey, he slowly slid Elena into a seated position on the pegasi's unsaddled back. He left enough room in front of her for himself, and when he felt she was comfortable he finally let go and rose back into the air.

"There see Frey? She's lighter than me, and probably doesn't squirm as much."

"At least we agree on something, little one."

Donny giggled as he dropped down into a seated position, his head tilted back to keep an eye on his wings. Once he had plopped down, his wings bent in and he lifted his arms in the air as if he was on a rollercoaster. The large wings wrapped around him, their edges coming back around so far that they were able to tickle at Elena unknowingly.

The pegasi shimmied his body to fix any kinks that two small bodies resting against it may have, before stomping on the ground impatiently.

"Are you done with your little show?"

"Show? What a-AHHHHH!"

Donny slammed the back of Frey's neck, and was barely able to stop himself from sliding off the pegasi, as the steed had jumpstarted without notice. He pushed himself out of the locks of hair and fur, glaring at the back of Frey's head menacingly.

How dare he make Donny look bad. How dare he.

Frey didn't need eyes in the back of his head to feel the gaze piercing from behind. It was enough to make him smugly smile.

Elena let out a soft gasp of surprise as Donny lifted them into the air, making sure to hold herself as still as possible as she didn't want to be dropped from even the minimal height that they were at. Even though the flight was short, Elena had an expression of pure joy upon her face. After all, it was more than she'd ever flown before. She looked around a bit before Donny adjusted his wings, noting how different things looked from higher off the ground. It was something she'd learned when she grew, but this was a much more drastic change and oh! Donny's wings did indeed tickle at Elena's hands, causing her to move them back slightly, while nervously wondering how exactly she was going to stay on. She couldn't very well hold on to Donny and since she'd never ridden a horse or horse-like creature, she was unaware of the trick for riding bareback.

When Frey took off, jarring Donny forward, Elena squeaked and pressed her hands firmly against Frey's back as an odd means of staying put. Of course, the fact that Donny had slammed hsi head caused a smile to ghost across Elena's face. She didn't bother to cover it; how would Donny know she was grinning at his misfortune? Besides, moving her hands seemed liked a bad idea anyway. "Are you okay?" Elena asked, keeping all traces of amusement from her voice.

Donny rubbed his head slightly before adjusting his seat and looking down at Elena's gra- .. lack of grasp? He blinked, then turned around, and realized Elena hadn't even been holding on when Frey pulled his little stunt.

His head spun back around to Frey, bending in slightly and hissing in his ear. "Do you know, the lady hadn't even held on before you tried that trick, you inconsiderate clog?"

Though Frey snorted in indignance, within it was an obvious hint of regret. He didn't want the little one to fall off him and die, that would have taken all the fun out of things. Still, he wouldn't admit he felt bad about it.

Still peeved at his steed's actions, he turned to Elena with a sour face. "I shouldn't have taken you up here if he was going to be like this, it's very dangerous for you. You have to hold on to me, or you're going to fall off when he takes turns. They're sharp."

Without much thought he reached for her hand, waiting for permission before pulling it around so that it hugged at his waist. Attempting to hold on to Frey, he fretted, would get his new friend killed. Or worse. Her pretty dress would be ruined!

Falling off. Oh, yes, that would have been bad indeed. Hand tugged on before she could really forumlate a reply, Elena allowed it to be tucked around Donny's waist, scooting up a bit closer to wrap her other arm around and lightly clasp her fingers together. Well, while this was certainly much safer, she couldn't see much. "You know, this might have worked better if I'd been up front," she murmured into Donny's ear, placing her head on his shoulder to get a better view of what was going on. "Too late now," she continued, peering about with interest. Looking at the ground did nothing more than cause her stomach to drop slightly, although it wasn't very long before she was trying to find any landmarks she recognized.

"Things look so different from up here," Elena said, having failed to find anything she knew on the ground as they flew. "Are we going anywhere in particular?" she asked, mostly unconcerned about it. She was not a trusting individual, but she felt a certain kinship with Donny, so she felt safe with him, and didn't particularly think he was the sort to just up and kidnap her.

Not that she'd blame him for wanting to - she was a princess, and princesses typically got kidnapped and held for ransom.

Donny perked for a moment in thought, realizing that Elena was right; she probably should have gone up front. He was just used to holding onto Frey, and Frey was used to him, too.. but Elena wasn't big, so perhaps it wouldn't have been a problem after all. And besides, Donny didn't really need to be on the pegasi at all.

"No it's not." He murmured back to her quietly, and took both her hands off of his waist, placing them firmly on Frey's sides. With that, he lifted both feet, and hopped right off the horse in mid-flight. He leapt up into the air behind them, and was promptly whisked away by the wind. His wings billowed out behind him, looking suspiciously like dark stormclouds creeping up on him from behind. They flapped viciously in the wind to catch up with Elena and Frey, until he was just above him. There he coasted like a bird, keeping pace with the two just below him.

"I don't have a destination." Donny called out through the wind, as it whipped his hair back against his temples. He never did. They just flew until they were tired.

He bent his head down and looked at Elena, and grinned giddily. Flying was his most favorite thing to do, ever, and it showed on his face. "Did you have anywhere you'd like to see from up here?"

Keeping her hands firmly where Donny had placed them, Elena's heart beat a little faster as Donny launched himself off of Frey's back. A little unsure of herself - she'd never ridden a horse, let alone a pegasi - Elena turned her head to watch Donny fly behind for a bit, her hair tugged loose from her braid and streaming behind her. She kept her gaze on him as she adjusted his flight, so when Donny ended up above her, she smiled and risked removing a hand to tug a strand of hair off her face.

"No, not really," she called back, grinning almost as widely. His enthusiasm for flying was contagious, and this was clearly something that Elena would be pestering her mother about. "This is wonderful," Elena said gushingly, not at all caring that her hair was going to be viciously tangled when they landed. Being here, right now, was perfect and she never wanted to go down to earth again.

Donny had been addicted to flying ever since he could. It was the only reason he never felt hindered by the large, overwhelming wings that would often get tangled in things or bump into people. He didn't care. They were his freedom, his soul. Flying was a secret addiction. Therefore, when he heard Elena gush, he shared her sentiment. He knew exactly what she meant, and he felt the same way. Except.. except it was kind of better when you had someone to share the moment with.

Frey could see the shadow of Donny looming over him, and locked himself into auto-drive, just kind of following the movement of the shadow. His mind began to wander, thinking of better days, frolicking on the shoreline with his fellow pegasi. He wondered where they were now..

The shadow tilted to the left, and the pegasi followed mindlessly.

"Frey, cloud."

Frey blinked as he heard his name, pulling out of the reverie just long to see it before he received a face full of white condensation. He and Elena floated through the small white fluff for a moment, before emerging on the other side, just a little wetter for the wear. Elena would be spared for the most part, but Frey's face and wings were now soaked. He looked like a wet cat, and sulked accordingly.

Donny giggled.

Elena was caught up in the moment, but when she got back to ground (whenever that was), it was certain she'd have even more wing-envy. Arya likely would bear the brunt of her sister's jealousy, but that was distant in the future, and the Talk didn't even spare her younger sister a second thought as the trio continued their flight.

"Cloud?" she echoed Donny, looking down from watching him fly above. "Oh!" she gasped as they flew through, getting her legs wet. "I never realized they were so wet," Elena called up to Donny with a smile. "They look so fluffy from the ground." Giving Frey a reassuring pat, since she felt bad for the pegasus, Elena continued to watch Donny fly, her eyes sparkling and happy.

"They do look like white cotton candy don't they?" Donny answered, nodding in agreement. He had at first thought that was exactly what they were, until he had grown to childhood and been able to visit them himself. He had learned just the same way Elena had, that they were not fluffy, or edible, or candy at all. They were wet and sticky and furthermore wet.

"We should head down now that Frey's gotten you all wet," Donny began, and his pegasi turned it's head at the boy, snorting angrily. "Before you catch a cold!" He turned to his side and the wind carried him off suddenly, dipping down and farther from the two. Frey's descent was more gradual, as he dipped down and flew towards the city's tiny blinking lights.

Elena chuckled. "Now I want cotton candy," she said in a teasing tone, kicking her leg forward a little to unstick her dress, careful to not hit Frey. A brief shiver passed over her after doing so, since the air hitting the cold, wet leg made it even colder, and Elena nodded agreement with Donny's suggestion to land. "And some hot chocolate," she continued, more seriously.

"Thank you," she said quietly to Frey, resting a gentle hand on his neck for a moment before watching the lights below grow larger as they flew lower.

They reached land quicker than might be expected, but Frey grazed the grass for a few moments before touching down. Donny landed with a thump behind him, then pushed up into the air once more, just enough to grab Elena from behind and carry her off the pegasi. "Cotton candy and hot chocolate. That sounds gooood." Good and sweet, and teeth rotting, just the way he liked it. He drifted down to the grass and landed, setting Elena on her feet and waiting until she was ready before letting go. "I dunno where to get cotton candy right now though. Hot chocolate, that one's easy, but cotton candy! It's too cold for any fairs.."

As he pondered this, Frey took a step back and shook himself dry. He was careful not to hit the little prince; he'd never hear the end of it.

Elena held herself still as Frey landed and Donny got her off the back of the pegasi; never having ridden before, a graceful dismount would have been beyond her, and she really didn't want Donny to see her as being anything less than graceful and elegant.

"A good cafe would have cotton candy flavored things," Elena pointed out. "Although I don't know if that would make a good hot chocolate flavor."

Written on the inside of a cheesy Hallmark birthday cake card...

Everything was all set. Several rows of brightly colored streamers were hanging along the ceiling; all things sharp and pointy were carefully put away or padded with soft foam; a cake, just small enough to fit in the cramped oven, was baking along with no apparent problems.

Ilistala was napping in her mother's bedroom with the door shut and blinds closed. Blitz would stand guard of his keeper's door for a while, then slink out to sniff at the hot oven and pester Ioyla. Icky, having spent the entire morning chasing a roll of papier-mache and eventually eating it, was camped out at Ioyla's feet. He would poke his head up every once and a while, yelp quietly, and go back to trying to digest synthetic materials.

"Goddamn, man, this s**t is boring," Ioyla muttered when Blitz trotted into the living room. The Mozou shrugged, leaning against a wall and snuffling.

"Quit complaining. It's not that bad." Blitz arched a brow when Ioyla huffed an exhasperated sigh.

"Can't ya justagree an'feel sorry for me? Ke-riest."

Yes, indeed everything was all set, including the predictable bickering between an animated clay figurine and young demon. All that was left were the guests.

Stala's first birthday has begun!

A whine preceded the group up the stairs, as Elena was in full royal pout mode. She wasn't unhappy about coming to see Ilistala. It was more the 'why'd Anarya have to come along?' whine that was becoming, on the one hand, less common as Elena did more things without her mother's attendance, and on the other, more and more annoying as the girl added complaints to her already long list. "And this place looks a little icky," Elena added as they reached the correct floor, Jer not wanting to trust the elevator.

"Not everyone has a house like ours," Jer said dryly, not at all disturbed or discomfited by their surroundings. Anarya, the main cause for the complaints, didn't say anything, just looked around her with bright eyes, tail wrapped around her arm as the girl sat comfortably on her mother's hip. "We're here," Jer said quietly, looking at the somewhat battered card in her free hand. Elena shifted her gift to a one handed grip and knocked on the door firmly.

The noises behind the closed door, which started once Jer knocked, were quite strange: an excited squeal, loud crashes, confused barking, and muffled cursing, plus a hearty laugh from some creature not exactly human.

Several moments later, the front door swung open, and standing in the doorframe was one giggly, bouncy Ilistala. "Hi!" she chirped, balancing on the heels of her feet to peer behind Jer and the noticeably taller, noticeably prettier, noticeably older Elena, checking for anyone else. No one but the bright girl in Jer's arms! Yay!

Stepping back to let the group in, the scene behind Stala could be only one of two things: humorously sad, or sadly humorous. In the rush to answer the knocking door, Ioyla had tripped right over her feet and crashed to the floor, her face buried in the mass of short, scrawny limbs. Icky had begun barking, and Blitz, still chilling by the wall, was still laughing at Ioyla. Ilistala took that oppurtunity to steal the prize from her mother and answer the door herself.

"Presents?" the little one queeried, leading Jer and company into the hallway, where, still, Ioyla lay crumpled on the floor.

Jer quirked an eyebrow at the cacophony of noise that erupted when Elena knocked, but didn't say anything. Her daughter stepped back from the door somewhat apprehensively, but relaxed when Stala finally opened the door. "Hi Stala!" Elena chirped, suddenly much more cheerful. "Happy Birthday~!" she continued, stepping into the not-quite disaster area that was the living room.

"What she said," Jer said, choking back a laugh and hiding a grin from Ioyla, who probably wouldn't have seen it anyway.

"Birfday!" Arya said, flapping her wings enthusiastically. "Happy!" Elena rolled her eyes as Jer set the Shattered girl down, who immediately fell on her butt and started giggling madly, feathers dropping and disappearing as she continued to flap her wings. If she kept it up, odds were she'd eventually overload the a/c and wouldn't that just be fun.

"Presents, yes," Elena said, ignoring her clearly insane little sister. "But for later, okay?" she continued, looking around for somewhere to set the box down.

"I'm...okay!" Ioyla called, finally crawling to her feet once Stala had let everyone in. Brushing off her knees, she swiped a messy lock behind her ear and grinned. "Don't tell no one I tripped, kay, Jer?" She coughed, stepped over the fallen coffee table, and joined Ilistala near the hallway. "You too, Elena," she added.

"Mommy, shush!" Stala hissed, turning and placing one stiff index finger over her lips in an exagerated maner. Ioyla giggled, bent down to place a kiss on Stala's head, and moved to the kitchen, beckoning to Jer for her to follow. Grown up time, yay!

Finally registering that there was another kid in the room, Ilistala turned to Arya, eyes wide. "Pretty wings, yes," she commented, reaching out to gently stroke the younger Shattered's wings. So warm! It reminded her of hot pizza, fresh from the box.

"It's kay, Lena," the toddler continued once the topic of presents was noticed, "I gots a present! See?" She suddenly lifted her skirt, baring her new present: My Little Pony pink cotton panties, complete with a lacey trim and a frilly pink bow right in the middle. Blitz coughed and decided to hang out with Icky over by the couch. Definately not a good idea to show off some new underwear....

"Nooooooooooooooo!"

Ever since Akina had managed to get Brimstone out the door of their small house in Barton, which had been a battle all in itself, this is how it had been.

"Noooooooooooooo!"

If Brim could blush, his face was bound to be bright red by now, as he had been screaming in protest for the entire ride into Aekea. In fact, the only moment of silence had come when Akina's green coupe had entered downtown Aekea, passing by the power plant Brim had asked to visit weeks ago. There was still a smudge on her window where Brim had accidentally oozed out of absentmindedness.

"Brimstone," Akina barked, raising her voice beyond what she usually did. The sheer fact that she used his whole name was enough to make the toddler pause. "We are going to Ilistala's birthday party, whether you like it or not, and if you continue to act like this, then I will embarrass you in front of everyone. And no more TV." The neon-haired toddler had opened his mouth to retort, but at the threat of losing his precious television time, he silenced himself, apparently ready to 'play nice'.

Approaching the apartment listed on Brim's invite, the elf smoothed her son's hair out of his eyes and knocked on the door. The moment his mother's back was turned, of course, Brimstone quickly pushed his hair back so that it fell in his face; hey, he had only agreed to not scream, after all.

Jer held a hand over her mouth as she watched Ioyla stand up. "I won't, I promise," she said once the urge to laugh was gone and lowering her hand. "Be good you two," she said, resting a hand on Elena's head before she followed the demon into the kitchen.

"Of course," Elena chirped, still ignoring the giggling loon on the floor.

Arya's wings twitched at the touch, and the girl abruptly stopped giggling. The wings quivered and held still, a few feathers dropping off to spark against the floor before disappearing. With a hiss, Arya's tail unwrapped from around her arm and lay on the floor, staring at Stala with unblinking black eyes.

"Stop that," Elena snapped to her sister. "And that's nice," the Tall Tale continued, cutting off as Stala decided to show off. "Very nice," she choked out, embarassed for Stala, although the other girl likely wasn't at all concerned about it. "Maybe you should put your dress down, someone's at the door," the girl said, regaining her composure, although her cheeks were still stained a slight pink, grateful to whoever was at the door for providing a distraction.

Although the kitchen was just a few feet away from where the girls were standing, the fact that it was a seperate room alltogether made Ioyla feel relaxed and comfortable. Bending down quickly to check the cake once both women were in the kitchen, Ioyla stood just as quick to yank open the fridge door, glass condiment bottles rattling in the process.

"You want a beer or somethin?" she asked Jer, rooting around the upper-level. Obviously too impatient to wait for some kind of answer, she turned back to face Jerava, one bottle of alcohol in each hand. Ioyla popped the top off one and took a small sip, doing the same for Jer (sans stealing a few gulps), holding it out for the elf woman. It was clear she would not take no for an answer.

Meanwhile, Ilistala continued to happily show off her panties, half because she was proud of her new present, and half because her mother hadn't caught her. Yet. Stala knew she would be in trouble if she was found to be flashing her undies, but it's all about the risks!

"Tail has snakeyhead on it, yes. Like...like Ofie!" The Shattered toddler dropped her dress to clap her hands together and first wiggle them in Elena's face, then Arya's, as if her hands and arms were a living, breathing snake (and that Elena and Arya would have any idea who Ophi was). "Pretty wings," she added solmenly.

Stala went quiet, then, as her somewhat-sensitive earing had picked up something: it sounded like that Kina lady Ma had met earlier! Yay! Squealing, Ilistala rushed over to the door and yanked it open, much like Ioyla had done with the refridgerator door earlier, to find Akina and Brimmyhead pouting.

"HI!" she yelled, immediately lifting up her dress again. Some hello, huh?

"Oh my," came Akina's surprised reply at the sight of Stala's, well, nether-region. Brim, on the other hand, just fell silent and wide eyed for a moment, cocking his head to one side in confusion. What was she doing? Akina had warned Brimstone about how rude it was to flash people your privates after a certain incident with Naraka a few months ago.

"Stalaface grooooooooooss..." he decided at last, turning his head away but still peeking out of the corner of his eye. Had she no shame!

Lifting Brimstone from the ground, Akina shuffled him to her side, smiling awkwardly down at the flash-prone girl before her. "Is Ioyla here?" she said at last, hoping to ease things up. Her fingers gripped a little tighter around the wrapped gifts she had in the bag she held. One was an unwrapped bottle of Elvish wine that Akina had bottled herself. (After noting Ioyla's preference for wine, she hoped it would be a welcome house-warming/nice-to-know-you gift.) In the much smaller wrapped box, there was a pair of hair clips sporting red and orange fire daisies.

Still standing on the threshold, the elf and neon-hair Shattered waited for an invite in, sliding into the room once it was made.

"Sure," Jer said, taking the drink with no hesitation. Nevermind that the elf didn't usually drink; this was Ioyla's house and Jer didn't want to be rude. Besides, a drink sounded good, what with the morning she'd had.

"Snakey," Arya said equally solemnly, wiggling her hands right back at Stala. For her part, Elena was grateful Arya had stopped laughing inanely and that her tail hadn't bit anyone. Last time that had happened, the victim (poor Aurion) had had a nasty sunburn around the area.

"Stala," Elena breathed out, blushing furiously red, completely embarassed. "That's not proper," the young elf scolded, setting a hand on her hip to stare at the Shattered girl sternly. She was going to teach at least one of the little kids she dealt with manners, darnit! Nevermind that it was a losing battle in most cases...thought that counted, right? Right? Blush rapidly fading as Elena decided that she was the only beacon of civility and culture among the three in the room (which...was true enough), the Tall Tale dropped a curtsy to Akina and Brim. "Miss Ioyla and my mum are in the kitchen," Elena offered helpfully. "Oh! My name's Elena, and this is my sister Anarya," she said with a bow of her head and a wave of her arm to indicate the other firey-headed child.

"Hihi~" Arya chirped, spinning around to face the open door, waggling her wings in greeting.

The silence that followed from Ioyla after Ilistala lifted her dress was quite long. While Stala still stood at the door, panties blazing, Ioyla heaved a mighty sigh and pinched the bridge. "Scuse me," she murmured to Jer, slipping past her friend to stretch over Elena and Arya and scoop Stala up into her arms, who protested by whining and jerking around.

"Oh!" Ioyla said once it dawned on her that it was Akina and her kid, Brimstone, "damn, I'm sorry! Please come in~" The demon kicked the door closed once Akina and Brim were inside, then put Stala back on the floor to take the arm of the older woman to lead her into the kitchen.

"I got, uh...water'n juice. And beer. Who don't like beer? I tell you, someone says they don't like beer is fuc--freakin lyin." Ioyla nodded and pulled another bottle of beer out of the fridge for Akina, wiggling it. "Oh!" she said again, probably interrupting someone; "this is Jerava, and Jer, this is Akina. Say hellopleasetameetcha'n alla that crappy manners~"

But for Ilistala, the introductory formalities were the last thing on her mind. "Brimmyhead!" she squeaked, hopping up on one foot to wrap two extra-warm arms around Brimstone's shoulders. The possibility of sinking into the artificial Shattered's body was promptly ignored, as were all other reactions that could happen, instead taking Brim's hand (much like her mother did) and leading him to the pack of children over yonder.

"Brimmyhead, Lena. Lena, Brimmyhead. Arya!" Introductions out of the way, Ilistala clapped her hands together and hopped around. "We play, yuh? Hidenseek?"

Akina was mid-introduction to Elena when Ioyla tore into the room and took charge of the situation. Brim was still staring in confusion at Ilistala's crotch, and thankfully, he was too young to really treasure the moment. The pair shuffled through the door as both were torn in separate directions.

Letting herself cave in to peer pressure, the elf took the beer from Ioyla and murmured, "Oh, thank you." Pulling out the bottle of wine she had brought, the elf extended it toward the demon girl saying, "This is for you." Before she could really settle though, her attention was thrust toward the unfamiliar woman. Someone new? How lovely. "Nice to meet you."

Back with the children, Brimstone strained away from Ilistala's hug, though he managed to stay solid even as she grabbed his hand. The boy didn't really like being called "Brimmyhead", but he was feeling a bit shy for some reason. "Hi," he murmured, looking away and ignoring Stala and the other kids completely.

Jer took a pull on her beer as Ioyla reached over Elena's hastily ducked head to pick her daughter up. "Hope I don't have to deal with that," Jer murmured into the bottle as she held it at her lips, looking at Arya with a bemused expression on her face. Dropping the bottle from her mouth, Jer nodded at Akina. "Nice to meet you as well," she said with a sort of philosophical expression on her face. If she hadn't wanted to meet people, she wouldn't have come to the party, right?

"Brimmyhead!" Arya squealed, clapping her hands together. That was a great name! Why couldn't she have a name as awesome as -- oooh he had wings too! Arya scooted closer to Brim, wings hastily folded against her back.

"Hello," Elena said with another curtsey. "Your name isn't Brimmyhead, is it?" she asked almost plaintively. That wasn't a proper name at all. It was likely a nickname of some sort, along the same lines as her 'Lena' appellation. "Hide and seek?" Elena asked, looking at Stala curiously. "Is there really enough room here to play that?"

Like an ecstatic child just receiving the gift of their dreams, Ioyla nearly snatched the wine from Akina's hands, shaking the bottle gleefully. Oooo, alcohol! Yay alcohol! "Thank ya kindly, Kina," the demon squeaked, twirling on her heels to stash the gift in the overhead cupbord.

Now what? Ioyla emphasized her abrupt boredom by sliding her thumb and fore-finger across her chin, tapping her cheek and humming and looking like a complete fool. "Damn," she suddenly mused, humming some more, "did anyone bring board games? Scrabble? Clue? Twister?" There was a brief pause as an idea struck. "Naked Twister!"

Oh, hell no, Ilistala would have said, had she been older, not so awkward with words, and actually listening to her mother ramble on about nakedness and Twister. Why was Brimmyhead acting so funny? He surely wasn't shy when she had first met him! Huh!

"Yuh, nuff room," the Shattered toddler replied, taking ahold of Brim's hand and shaking it. She donned a most common expression found in the Infriti household: apprehension. Brimmyhead wasn't supposed to be quiet, he was supposed to be...funny! "Wake up!" Stala demanded, driving her point home by drawing Brimstone's arm up to her mouth and licking the back of his hand. Yup.

In the kitchen, Akina laughed a bit as Ioyla snatched the wine from her hand. It was only their second meeting, and yet, the elf already felt that she really knew the impulsive demon that stood before her. "It was my pleasure," she responded politely, still unable to shake old practices.

But it was what the demon said next the truly confused Akina. Clue? Twister? The elf didn't know what Naked Twister was, but she imagined it to be a far more sinister version of whatever the original Twister was. Scrabble was the only one the she understood as it had been something she had played often to improve her English when she first got to Gaia. "I have a deck of cards in my bag," Akina volunteered quickly, hoping to get out of playing the naked game.

In the other room, Brimstone was still sitting silently, speaking only to correct his name with a flat, "Brimstone. I'm Brimstone." The nuclear Shattered was quietly wondered how long Akina intended to stay in his place. There was a sci-fi movie marathon on TV that night, and he was already annoyed enough that he had to miss any of it, let alone the whole thing. Honestly, he was just going to march right over to Akina and-----

WHAT THE HELL.

Wide radioactive green eyes turned sharply to Ilistala, mouth agape. "STALAFACE!" he shouted before diving headfirst at his dear host, fully intent on making her wish she had never licked him. Damn, if only he had known (or had enough control on his powers to), he would have definitely turned the outermost layer of his skin to acid to burn her tongue off. Then she'd be sorry!

Flailing at Stala, Brim was experiencing one of his frequent moments of short temperment. How fun. Let's wrestle.

Jerava made a mental note to not purchase any alchohol for Ioyla. Ever. A brief tail twitch was the only indication of the elf's general level of awkwardness at being here; Jer did not have friends that invited her over for their kid's birthday parties. Then again, there were few enough people on Gaia that she considered friends, let alone friends with kids. "Cards, yes," Jer said equally quickly following Akina's suggestion. She'd heard of the games Ioyla had listed off - and Naked Twister was something Jer would only play under two circumstances, neither of which had been met so far today. "What kind of card game?" she asked, hoping Ioyla would not suggest strip poker.

"If you're sure," Elena said dubiously while Arya went back to burbling obliviously; the Tall Tale made a mental note to ask her mum to make sure any future siblings (though hopefully there were none) were at least intelligent enough to not make complete fools of themselves in public. Honestly, Arya was so embarrasing. "Brimstone," Elena repeated automatically, her mind still detailing why exactly Anarya was a waste of space. "I'm Elena, and it's a pleasure to meet you." she continued, not noticing right away that Brim was now diving at Stala and that Arya was now quiet, watching the unfolding fight with bright eyes, clearly fascinated by this whole thing. "What?" she said, none too intelligently herself, while her mind tried to catch up. First things first, however: Get out of the way! Huffing indignantly, the girl stalked over to the couch and sat down abruptly, arms folded angrily. Didn't anyone have manners anymore?

"Strip poker!" Ioyla chirped, almost as if she were reading Jerava's mind. But she soon squashed that idea once the thought of exposing naked elven and demon bodies to small children seemed almost illegal. And, besides, Ioyla would probably win. ...by cheating, of course.

Placing a fingertip to her chin, Ioyla adopted a thinking expression, most common in children's programs and silent black-and-white movies. "Hmm," she mused, "what about...go fish? Slap jack? Fifty-whatev'r-number-card-pickup thingy?" Family friendly! Nothing higher than a PG rating allowed. Snore. And yet, even in deep thought (which was hardly deep at all), Ioyla failed to notice the potentially violent scene unfolding just a few feet away.

"Brimmyhead!" Ilistala cried once she and her friend were rolling around on the floor. She flailed and kicked and pinched whatever she could get her chubby little fingers on, be it Brimstone's sorry excuse for flesh, or her own. Which was her own skin, most of the time.

"OW!" she yelped, having eventually rolled about enough to bump into the wall. Climbing to her feet, Stala tenderly rubbed her wounds, which included several inflamed red patches of flesh and a small scratch on the bridge of her nose. Humph! Brimmyhead sure didn't like affection! Stala quietly stomped over to the couch to join Elena, picking up Arya on the way and dragging her across the floor. It wasn't nice to leave everyone out!

Once at the frayed, torn, and sometimes uncomfortable lump of wood and cotton stuffing Ioyla liked to call a couch, Ilistala plopped right next to Elena, patting the cushion on the other side for Brimstone. "Come along~" she sing-songed, apparently forgiving of the scuffle. After all, it was her birthday--she had to show some kind of maturity.

Akina's eyes went wide at Ioyla's suggestion. Strip poker? The elf was most definitely neither drunk enough nor extroverted enough to engage in a game such as that. So, it was with a hint of panic in her voice that she quickly cut in, "Oh, yes, go fish or slapjack would be wonderful, I think." Truth be told, the elf did not know much about any other card game aside from those. For a moment, blue eyes flickered to see Brim and Ilistala wrestling, but honestly, the elf had no doubt that the fiery-shattered girl could hold her own against Brim... though she still watched them like a hawk out of the corner of her eye.

"Grawr!" Brim cried aloud. A war chant perhaps? Stalaface was being a real t**t today, and it was time she was punished for her insubordination. Granted, this did not go as well as the nuclear Shattered would have wanted... at all. Fleshy though she was, Ilistala was also a bit more difficult to get a hold of than he had imagined, leaving Brim to snap his teeth at whatever skin he came into contact with, that is to say, generally his own.

Not hearing Elena as they scuffled, Brim was fully invested in the fight at hand. Grunting and fuming, curls of smoke began to lick off of Brimstone's skin as his body began to heat up, but just as he started smoking, Brim and his temporary growth Ilistala bumped into the wall.

The ball split apart, and Brim regarded it as a victory for him though he sported a series of white bruises across his dark skin. "Jerk," he spat under his breath, wanting the last word. Ilistala, of course, could brush it off, but Brimstone was going to hold a grudge... as long as he could remember it.

So, dragging his feet, he plopped down on the couch where Ilistala had patted with his arms folded across his chest. Cheer up, emo kid.

"I think you mean fifty two card pickup," Jer said to Ioyla, covering another smile with a sip of beer. "Go fish, however, sounds fine to me, as I don't particularly like cleaning even my own house." Another sip of beer. "Shall we start?" she asked, taking a seat at the table they were currently standing around, setting her beer in front of her, having successfully ignored the fight in the living room. Hadn't sounded like Elena or Arya were involved, thus it was none of her business.

"You're both rude," Elena informed Stala and Brim after they joined her on the couch. "Stala, are we going to do something or just sit here until the cake is done?" the girl asked, her normally pleasant demeanor having disappeared as she watched the two children roll around on the floor. Not only was that rude and undignified (you'd never catch Elena doing anything like that), well, mainly it was just rude and undignified. Elena thumped her feet lightly against the side of the couch, narrowly missing Arya's head, who was burbling nonsense at Stala from the floor in front of the couch.

"Fight 'gain," Arya demanded, poking Stala's leg with a finger. "Bored," she whined, turning to poke Elena's leg, wings fluttering again. Elena twitched her skirt away from her sister, and ignored her.

"Yes, zactly, fifty-two card pickup," said Ioyla to Jer's correction. There was a very slight hint of bitterness in her voice, but it was soon drowned out to sudden glee: a timer she had placed atop the oven, one that had been ticking away quietly for about an hour, went off with a shrill ring, which led to Ioyla's squeal of delight.

"Hold that thought, bitches!" The demon whirled around the small kitchen, narrowly avoiding Akina and Jer's faces with her gangly hands. Virtually in the exact same spot she had been standing in only several moments ago (even after all of the asinine spinning), Ioyla bent down, yanked open a cupbord drawer, and returned to her standing position with two oven mitts, which she proudly slipped onto her hands. "Party games are gonna hafta wait: the cake's ready~!"

She opened the oven door, head bopping and smile dazzling, and out came the cake. It was a nice size, round and spongy, with bright green frosting and numerous sugar decorations; most notably the strange blue-colored hearts and yellow-tinted apples. Besides, who baked a cake with the frosting already on?

Ioyla Infriti, that's who.

Ioyla spun around again, aiming to scoot out of the kitchen and place the colorful cake of sugary doom atop her table. It was obvious she was quite pleased with her labor of platonic love, even if the chances of it tasting like anything other than death was slimmer than the chance of winning the lottery. If allowed to squirm past the two elven guests, Ioyla would dump the monsterous thing on her table, waiting for everyone else to get the hint and come have some damn cake.

Meanwhile, back on the couch!

Ilistala had taken quite the liking to Elena's new tats. They were so pretty! And her hair, so shiny, what with all the constellations and stars and...and...other stuff! Jealousy licked at the pit of her heart, but Stala pushed it down to admire the princess' arms some more, quietly drawing her finger across her cool skin.

When Brimstone joined the pair, Stala was ready to start playing. Yay! "Kay," she mumbled, pulling herself to her feet...but not before catching the scent of sugary delight. Ilistala's attention waned from party games to the cake, where it sat, colorful and majestic, next to her insanely proud mother.

"We play after cake! Yes!" The little toddler took off for the table (although the distance between the couch and table wasn't exactly an amazing definition of distance), arms splayed behind her back, airplane-style. "Yummy yummy cake time, food time for me~" she sang, circling the table and eventually climbing into her chair to bounce and giggle with excitement.

If Elena and Brim hadn't already removed themselves from the couch and started the amazing journey to the birthday girl, Ilistala would pound the tabletop with two chubby fists and cry: "Come ONNNN!" What a sweet little girl.

Pictures of fifty-two cards flying about the room filled Akina's head as they spoke of card games, hoping beyond hope that a nice game of Go Fish! would ensue instead. Fortunately, cake interrupted any further card ventures. The elf stared curiously at the cake as Ioyla proudly brought it out of the oven. It looked... interesting. "Oh, cake," she said softly, tossing her gaze over to Jer.

In the other room, Brimstone's nostrils had just picked up the sickly sweet smell of cake next door. He heard Elena and Arya's comments, and turning to both, he flatly said, "Cake. Cake now. Be rude and fight later." Hopping to his feet, the toddler began to waddle after Ilistala, drool practically spilling out of his mouth.

Crossing the room, Brim walked over to his mother and poked her in the kneecap, giving her a pick-me-up-woman stare. The elf smiled and scooped her son up into her arms, plopping him down into a chair and running her hand through his hair. The young Shattered reached in vain for the cake, threatening to smash it to delicious bits, but Akina reacted in time to bat away his heads, uttering a stern, "Brimstone. No."

Jer was about to comment on something when the timer went off. Mouth opened, she closed it with a barely audbile click and eyed the creation coming out of the oven with a certain amount of trepidation. "Oh, good," she said with a somewhat sickly smile. "Cake. Looks good," she continued, surprisingly enough meaning it. It didn't look poisonous, and perhaps Ioyla knew what she was doing when it came to cooking. Not really willing to risk the cake completely sober, Jer took another drink of her beer, catching Akina's glance and returning a brief quirked eyebrow.

"You've already got the rude part down rather well," Elena said to Brimstone's back before getting up off the couch herself. "Come on, Arya," she said with a sigh, bending over to pick Arya's squirmy little body up. "And if you give me another sunburn, I will freeze your stupid little tail's head off," the Tale muttered darkly under her breath, causing Arya to suddenly stop all movement and whimper slightly, deep in her throat.

"No freeze," Arya said plaintively, holding her arms out to Jer to get away from her apparently psychopathic older sister. Jer settled Arya in her lap and gave Elena a stern glance. There would be much talking about this later, oh yes.

"It's a very nice looking cake, Miss Ioyla," Elena said brightly, ignoring her mum. "Stala's lucky to have a mum who can cook as good as you." Yes, butter up the one with the food. Good plan! Jer rolled her eyes slightly and ran a finger down Arya's back in an attempt to soothe the toddler. Of course, cake would probably cheer the Shattered girl right up.

Ioyla? Know what she was doing in the kitchen? If she were to hear such a thing, Ioyla would have laughed. Loud. And yet, still, there the colorful monstronsity sat, looming and ominous and all-around evil-looking. Ilistala watched with a curious expression on her face, her hands folded pleasantly in her lap and her stubby little legs swinging back and forth above the frayed pile of cloth Ioyla liked to call a rug.

"Yes," the tiniest one said, resisting the urge to pound on the table like a barbarian--or like Brimstone, if you wanted to use shorter words. She squirmed in her chair with muted excitement.

Ioyla, however, was diminishing: at first, it was triumph that her cake was finished and looking spiffy: almost like a sick rainbow! Then it was impatience: what the hell is taking these kids so damn long to get to the damn table? Sheesh! Finally, it ended up as mild boredom: what's on TV tonight...?

At any rate, Elena, the dantiest yet consequently slowest one of the group, was finally at the table, and it appeared that everyone was ready to eat. Finally. Ioyla brandished a large knife and began cutting away at the cake, picking up slices with the side of the knife and her fingers and placing them on paper plates stacked up next to her arms. All in all, she cut seven pieces--one for each party-goer--and still had enough for leftover dessert. Awesome!

"Dig in," Ioyla commanded, and forked a large green chunk into her mouth.

Moments later, she spat it out onto the floor, chasing the glob of half-chewed cake with a string of curses: "AW JESUS CHRSIT WHAT THE ******** THIS s**t IS NASTY MAN EW WHO BAKED THIS b***h."

Beautiful.

No sooner had Ioyla dropped the cake before Brim than he was facefirst in its gooey-ness, slurping and gnawing at the plate as if he had never eaten before. Akina stood behind him, cautiously poking the strange glob of food with her fork and wondering if there was a potted plant or dog nearby that she could pawn the mess off on. Not wanting to be rude, Akina scraped the tiniest bit of what she presumed was icing off the cake and dabbed it rapidly on her tongue, perhaps in the hope that the faster she moved the less she would taste.

It's a shame she was wrong.

Nearly in time to Ioyla's cursing, Akina sputtered for a moment, placing two fingers to her lips as she quietly spit the "icing" back on to her plate. Hopefully, since Brim was eating so much, Ioyla wouldn't notice Akina's rejection of the mess.

Unphased by the terrible taste, Brimstone pressed on in engulfing his piece, looking up only after he had perfected his cake beard. "Cake," he murmured quietly, as if reminding himself that this was what it tasted like. Poor kid, he'd never eat cake again.

Oh well, he wrinkled his nose once before turning back to his guardian to stare curiously at her. Did she like her cake too? The elf just stared back with a soft smile, partially disgusted at the fact that Brim had eaten his whole piece. She grabbed a napkin from nearby and took ahold of Brimstone's face, despite his attempts to break free. One hand pushed his hair out of his eyes while the other attempted to scrub the cake debris off of his nose, cheeks, and chin. Akina managed to get most of it off, and after smelling the cake for that long, she couldn't do it anymore. She'd just have to worry about finishing the job later tonight when Brim took his bath.

Unsure of what to say, Akina just stared at her plate, wondering if anyone would notice her quickly tossing it in the trash can. Brimstone, on the other hand, was ready to get this show on the road. "PRESENTS!" he announced loudly, looking for wherever they were stashed. Brimstone had seen enough birthday specials on TV to know that there were always presents involved, and deep down, he hoped that Ilistala would give them to him.

Or maybe he could just steal them. Ilistala was pretty small after all, and he had TOTALLY won in the wrestling contest so... it was on.

Arya was the only one who really moved while Ioyla cut the cake; the Shattered girl had no idea what was coming and so she was kicking her feet against Jer's legs wondering why her mum looked so worried. "Mum okay?" she asked as the cake was put in front of her.

"I'm fine," Jer assured her, taking a very small piece of cake and staring at it, hoping that someone would take a bite -- ah, there we go. Ioyla had taken the first bite, and obviously the cake wasn't very good. Jer set her fork down and pushed the plate away with a finger, making sure to wipe Arya's fingers off from when the todler had poked the cake in response to her mum's taking a bite off.

"Good thing we ate before coming over," Elena murmured quietly, feeling a bit sorry for Stala. Maybe her mum should have bought a cake. Or they could have brought one, or something. But Brim seemed to like it? So maybe it wasn't that bad? Elena took an even smaller piece of cake than her mum had and immediately regretted putting it in her mouth. "Could I have some water, please?" she asked after a moment, having mostly stopped herself from making a horrid face.

"Presents!" Arya echoed Brim, clapping her hands together excitedly.

Ilistala didn't care if the cake tasted like dog poop--it was cake, goddammit, and she was going to eat it. In a frenzy that could possibly rival Brimstone's, Stala scooped large bites of food into her mouth, swallowing before she was even done chewing, until, finally, her plate was clean and her belly was uncomfortably full. "Yum," she grimaced, wiping a tan arm across her mouth. Bright green icing was smeared across her face like pastel war paint.

Ioyla, however, was another story: the demon, in a fit of bitter disappointment at her lame culinary skills, had gone so far as to sweep the remainder of the cake into her arms and dump the whole thing in the trashcan. She wouldn't be offended if the others refused to eat it; after all, it was horrible.

Brimstone's sudden suggestion caught Stala's attention, and in a big way. "PRESENTS!" she mimiced, hurling herself off her chair and running around the small apartment, much to the chagrin of Ioyla's downstairs neighbors. "PRESENTSPRESENTSPRESEEEENTS!"

Gee, guess it's time to open some presents, eh?

Noting how everyone seemed to be on his wavelength, Brimstone immediately threw himself from the chair so that he could run around too. In fact, he would run faster than Ilistala could. So, with thudding, awkward steps, the neon-haired Shattered began to stomp around the room, leaning forward and sticking his butt out for increased aerodynamics. "PREEEEESEEEENTSSSS!" he screamed alongside the birthday girl's own shouts. Little did he know that none of these presents would actually be for him.

Furtive radioactive green eyes looked around for the first inch of a present. He would get to them first to stake his claim! Oh yes, he would! So, flying across the room, Brim checked each corner for presents, hoping that Ilistala would trip and fall so that he could have the upperhand.

Meanwhile, Akina smiled sympathetically at Ioyla as she gratefully dumped her plate into the trashcan, watching in disgust as Elena tried the cake after Ioyla's outburst. The taste of the mystery cake reminded the elf of a mixture of poop and death in her mouth. (Not that she would ever digress just how she knew what poop and death tasted like in the first place... Right-o, so, presents now?)

Having grown immune to Brimstone's outbursts, the elf merely walked out into the room with the prancing toddlers, turned to Ioyla, and said, "I think they might be ready for present-opening." She cracked a grin at the demon as she nabbed Brim with one hand to prevent him from running around any more. "Come on, B," she whispered in his ear so as not to embarrass him in front of his new friends. "Try to contain yourself a bit. It's Ilistala's birthday, after all. Let her have her moment with her presents."

Her presents? HER presents? What was this treachery! Brimstone was lured here with a promise of cake and presents, and yes, there was cake but... no presents for him? A cruel pout fixed itself upon his lips as the toddler folded his arms and went jelly-legged in protest so that Akina could not make him stand. Not wanting to look like her toddler was in control, the blue-eyed elf quickly took a seat where she had been standing by Brim and pulled him into her lap as if that had been her intention all along.

Elena sighed as her request for water was ignored. The foul taste was, perhaps, her punishment for ignoring her better instincts and taking even a small bite of the cake. Picking the bag with Stala's gifts in it up (oh, yes, she'd been carting that poor thing around for awhile now, and it was looking a bit battered around the top), Elena followed the rather hyperactive (and certainly crazy) Brimstone and the slightly less hyper Stala into the living room. "Here Stala," Elena said, holding the bag out to Stala. "Happy Birthday!" Nevermind that her cake was horrid, and one of her guests was insane (and it wasn't Arya!), it was still Stala's birthday and Elena was determined to make the best of these trying circumstances and make sure that at least some part of the day was good.

Jer had picked Arya up and was currently standing in the living room, toddler held firmly in her arms. "You're the same age as Elena now," she said to Stala, though the two certainly didn't look the same age. "She's still older," the elf added, shifting Arya a bit as she wiggled to get on the floor and attack Stala's gift bag. Jer looked momentarily distracted as a thought crossed her mind -- Elena had grown two months before her first birthday. Did Tall Tales mature faster (appearance wise) then whatever Stala (and Brim and Arya?) were? Would Arya still be a toddler on her first birthday? Dismissing that for later consideration, Jer smiled at Stala and waited for her to open her gift.

When Akina awkwardly sat down on the ground, Ioyla bit back the urge to chortle and snort like an immature fool. "Nicely handled," she said, wheeling back on the balls of her feet to scurry into the kitchen and busy herself there. Suspicious!

Like a moth to a flame did Ilistala Infriti zoom to the offered bag. She tackled the poor thing, squealing, giggling. She ripped the top off with unrestrained excitement, all three gifts tumbling out to the floor in front of her, forming a lopsided semi-circle: a wand of some sort, an orb, and, possibly best of all, a pair of hairpins. Win!

She looked up into Elena's face, absolute adoration shining in her eyes. "Thank you!" the toddler said, bundling all three of Elena's gifts into her arms and pressing them to her chest. It had been her first birthday, after all, and her first gift.

...speaking of which! The Shattered turned to Brimstone, eyebrows cocked to her best effort. Well? her look said quite clearly, where's my present?

Perhaps there would be a gift from the Tokuwa family, perhaps not--it didn't matter at that moment, as Ioyla suddenly came back into the living room area with a small box in her hands. Even more suspicious! I wonder what it could be. It is a mystery.

Seeing the present-opening begin, Akina began to slyly feel around in the pockets of her jacket, finally pulling out a card and small box. She would not forget a gift, no way! Smiling sweetly, the elf kept her arms locked tightly around Brimstone, knowing far too well the hungry gaze in his eyes as he stared at all the gifts.

What the heck? Hairpins? Brimstone was not pleased. If he was stealing a gift, it was going to be a good one. Not some lame hairclips. Sure, they would look pretty on Ilistala but--- huh?

Radioactive green eyes narrowed in boredom as the petulant child stared at the card his mother had made him make earlier today. He giggled to himself at the memory of how mad Akina had gotten when she realized he drew a racecar running over Ilistala. Thankfully, the elf covered the racecar with a big flower, but Brimstone knew what was really there. That was all that was important.

Noting Ioyla's approach with the present, Akina did not want to be the last gift opened so, as smoothly as she could manage, she hopped to her feet and set the box and card before Ilistala, uttering a quick, "Happy birthday!" before hightailing it back to her seat.

Upon opening the box, Ilistala would find a handmade red necklace laced with a braided ribbon and set off with a sparkling round pendant. At the center of the glass pendant, there was an etched flame that seemed to glow different shades of red and orange and appeared to move when the light hit it at different angles. It is also warm to the touch. It is likely some Elven craft that Akina had from "back in the day", but it is not clear from first glance.

Elena mentally forgave Stala for being so rude and messy about the presents. It was her first birthday gift, ever, and thus Stala deserved a bit of leeway in the opening gifts department. Next year, however, she'd better be more mannered about it, or there would be a private conversation between the two girls.

"You're welcome," Elena said with a smile and curtsy. "The wand's for fire magic, which I thought would be a good fit for you," she explained, although Stala seemed most taken with the hairpins. Which was fine - Miss Nimaina did excellent work with jewelry, and Elena had been tempted to get more than a few pairs of the sticks for herself.

Then it was Brim's turn to offer a gift, and Elena waited attentively for the present to appear. When Akina offered it to Stala, the Tale was nearly as impatient to see what her friend had gotten as she had been for any of her birthday gifts. Peering over the younger girl's shoulder as she opened the box, Elena's mouth opened in an O of awe and wonder. "That's a very pretty necklace," she said softly, running a finger over the chain of the one she was currently wearing. Oh, yes, Elena was indeed rather competitive and this was a good necklace for Stala, not Elena, who preferred cooler colors to reds and golds.

Omg, what is this?

Daytime was usually a trial for Aiden to deal with when he was with Khalindra. However, the young star child had been calming down or at least trying to surpress her crankiness. Perhaps she was getting used to the harsh rays? He'd been taking her outside enough in the hopes that she'd grow an immunity.

In all honesty, it was probably the little parasol and the long sleeved clothing that she'd taken to wearing. They gave her more shade than she had before. Her dress had changed, though.

Rather than the usual victorian clothing, she had been enthralled by the long, loose skirts and peasant-style tops that she saw in one of the windows when they were shopping sometime in the last week. Abandoning the pretty princess clothing, Khali had begged her father to buy her some of the colorful skirts and a few long sleeved white shirts that were just the slightest bit poofy.

He did, gladly. Those victorian era dresses were expensive and difficult to lace up. So now, the star child was dressed in a long skirt that went down to her ankles and flowed in colors of dark purple and a slightly brighter red. Silver and gold threads were embroidered through it.

And her disposition was a great deal happier. Today, Aiden was being dragged to the stationary shop by a very enthusiastic young child. She had been learning to read and wanted to show off to one of her friends. Anyone! Maybe Angelus was there...or Armel! Or...SYLVESTER! That pretty stuffed animal boy that bought her a book.

"Daddy, daddy come ON please?" She was pleased that Aiden had listened to her and left Emi at the sitters. She couldn't get him to leave Selah, though, and he was currently holding the copper haired child in one arm while being dragged by the other.

"Khalindra, we're there. You don't have to pull me anymore."

The door was pushed open and a very happy looking star child rushed in.

"I'm here!"

Elena was already in the building, sprawled over a couch, looking rather dead. Khali's exuberant cry caused a wince to pass over her face and she sat up slowly, pressing the back of her hand to her head. "Yes, you are," Elena replied, her eyes scrunched closed. "How nice for you," she added in a dry tone her mum would have been proud of. A small chirp chided the girl and Elena opened her eyes, tugging a small dragonish creature off the top of the couch. "I didn't ask for your opinion," she told Hadar, holding onto the Kyuu by it's tail as it spun slowly in the air, wings spread to maintain some semblance of balance. He chirped again and waved a wing at Khali and Aiden.

Elena sighed and looked towards the door; she'd been napping and Khali had woken her up. "Stupid baby sisters who can't sleep all night," she muttered under her breath before she figured out who was at the door. "Ah," she breathed out, nodding her head regally towards the smaller girl, "Hello again Khalindra. And Aiden, yes?" she asked, tilting her head to the side a bit, causing her hair to fall over her shoulder.

Sylvester was in fact "here" as well, but not "here" as in, in the room. He was in one of the back rooms, where he and Rhea had once played Hide and Seek, and he was sleeping. He started awake as the front door's little bell clattered, and sat up quickly, still half asleep. Someone was here.

It took the Tale a couple of minutes to get into a standing position and wander out into the main room, but when he did, he couldn't help but smile. "Hi Khali," he said, holding his hand up to his mouth and yawning. He gave Khali's author a short wave, and nodded to the sparkly, irritable girl on the couch. How long had he been asleep?

" I keep telling you it's not my fault " Tiwaz grumbled sending a crimson glare in her mother's direction. " It was Riycan's idea in the first place all I did was hold the candle and spill the ink." It wasn't fair, Ricyan was the one who'd wanted to see if he could make invisable ink that only came out when you put heat near it. Tiwaz had agreed to help and accidently spilled the ink pot and dropped then candle when the flame had burned her fingers, how was she to know ink was highly flammable.

" I don't care who's fault it was you were both involved and you're both being punished, Riycan has to clean everyhting up and you are buying him a new journal from your allowance " Talon's tone brooked no argument as she lead her daughter towards the stationary store she'd been born in.

Tiwaz strode sullenly into the store muttering under her breath. She stopped short at the sight of the other's, Sylvester in particular, the last time she'd seen him had been when she'd met the horrid twins and that had not been good experience. Warily she moved towards them saying nothing just yet.

Khali's silver eyes blinked at Elena's words, though the smile didn't waver from her face, "Yes, it is nice for me," she chirpped before looking around the shop. Was she the only one there?

If she was, that was okay. The princess had amused her greatly when she had first met her...Even if she did scold her and take her father's side. Of course she realized she had been an undeniable brat, too, so she supposed she deserved that.

"Hello again, Miss Elena."

Aiden shifted the copper haired child on his hip, who was currently wiggling madly with an attempt to get down. She hated being confined to her father's arms. Why couldn't she move? Her little wings fluttered madly and Aiden sighed, setting her on the floor.

"Yes. A pleasure to see you again, Elena."

Khalindra was about to say something else when Sylvester wandered into the room, her smile blooming further, "Sylvester!"

The child took off running, skirts swirling around her legs, and flung herself onto him, hugging his legs. The stuffed animal! He was there! She could show him how she could read and..."I can read!"

"She can read a few words and write a few letters," Aiden corrected, crossing his arms, "She likes to embellish."

Turning her head, Khalindra glared, "I can read," she insisted stubbornly. She didn't notice the new people entering the shop, too busy being involved in the staredown that she had started with her father.

Ah. Well, at least she was remembered. Elena curtsied to Aiden and eyed the child he'd set down on the floor warily. More babies? She couldn't seem to escape them! "It's nice to see you again as well," Elena finally mustered a response in the name of politeness. Another nod at Khali and what? What was going here now? Elena's sleep fogged and deprived brain was having a hard time keeping up with everything going on but it looked like there was...a giraffe? Right, okay, Elena was obviously still asleep.

"That's still...kind of reading?" she offered, trying to forestall any argument and argh! More people! Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Why was it whenever she wanted to be alone, people always found her? Offering a weak smile towards Sylvester the not real giraffe because giraffes didn't walk around town, Elena turned to face the door and the new arrivals. "Hi."

Sylvester stumbled a little and grabbed onto the edge of a nearby bookcase as he got a legful of zooming Khali. "Kind of reading, yeah," he agreed. He still couldn't do much more than read and write his name, but he had a sneaking suspicion that if he sat down and looked at it, english wouldn't be terribly different from the one language he already knew. It just seemed like such a waste to sit and read things when there were movies to watch. "That's cool. How'd you learn so fast?" he asked, trying to break up the staredown.

The last time he had seen the strange red-eyed Tale currently sneaking around the door, she had been more than a little pissy. She was scary too, and that was partially the reason he even remembered her name. Tiwaz the Terminator. "Hey Tiwaz," he said, kneeling down to be closer to Khali. The little Tale was the perfect size for a human shield, and Sylvester wasn't afraid to admit it to himself.

" Hello" Tiwaz responded tonelessly to the older girl, nothing else had been spoken to her by the girl and so she offered nothing more in return. Her gaze felt once again to Sylvester and she gave him something between a smile and a smik " Hello Sylvester they aren't around are they? An who's the girl?" she asked nodding towards Khali.


Talon hadn't brought Tiwaz here to socialise but it couldn't hurt to let her do so. Besides, it gave her a chance to judge how her daughter related to those of an older age. At home most of her children were seperated by only a few years, whereas here there were children of all ages for Tiwaz to interact with.

"Fine. SORT of read, but I can still read," she answered, relenting. It wasn't worth an argument, but it was an important accomplishment for her! So she couldn't say otherwise. She looked up at Sylvester and pulled away from him.

"Angelus helped me, and Daddy..." she paused as he knelt closer to her and greeted the new person she hadn't even noticed. The girl turned her golden head and locked her silver eyes on the darker child entering the room.

Hmm.

"He--" she was cut off by the girl's speech and blinked, "Khalindra," she answered, giving her a look that purely said 'You don't know who I am?' and was almost indignant.

"Who are you?"

Yay for not caring about who you're talking to! Elena was all for a little apathy right now, as she was far too tired to be her normal polite and attentive self. Good thing Lance wasn't here, she'd have been mortified if he'd seen her in such a state.

"It's a start," Elena said to Khali as she twitched the skirt of her dress into a semblance of order. Turning to face Tiwaz, Elena straightened and mustered all of her (considerably) royal bearing. "And who would you be?" she asked imperiously, as Hadar unwrapped from around her wrist to escape the extreme cold escaping from her tatoos.

They? Oh right. Probably Elana and her brother. "Nope, not unless they're sleeping somewhere too," he said, voice trailing off as he spoke. These girls were getting a little... icy. He didn't feel the need to give Khali's name again since she had done such a good job of it herself, so he just stayed where he was, crouched on the floor.

" If you had been listening you'd know who I was," Tiwaz responded coldly to the two inquiring girls. It was clear to her that she probably wasn't going to like this older girl, who so obviously thought the world revolved around her. Khalindra she'd tolerate for the time being, she had some of the older girls attitude but gave off no presence than demanded respect.

Ignoring them she smiled at sylvester " Good" was all she said before turning her back to them . After all she was here for a purpose.

"It's only polite to introduce yourself," Khalindra countered, raising a brow at the darker girl. Immediately she decided she didn't like her very much and moved closer to Sylvester, small head nuzzling into him before she whispered loudly, "She's not very nice."

Her head turned to stare at the one she dubbed "Mean Girl" and blinked her silver eyes. Had she been that rude? She was sure she hadn't been but she couldn't be sure. Not with her crankiness often clouding her judgement.

She hoped not.

Sylvester's eyebrows furrowed under his hair. He really didn't feel like breaking up a fight between the girls and was silently grateful when Tiwaz turned her back. "Um, sure," he said to Khali as quietly as he could, hoping that Tiwaz didn't hear. She sure looked focused about something.

"What are you looking for?" he asked Tiwaz, patting Khali on the head. Why did he just ask that? He should have just kept quiet.

"It's redundant to give out information already known" Tiwaz retorted not bothering to face the girl while answering, secretly she wondered how long her mother would let the verbal sparring go on. She was enjoying herself to be sure, it was always fun to argue, even if the other person is really annoying.

" I need to buy my brother a new journal since his was wrecked, even though it's not my fault" Tiwaz said turning her head slighty so she could see the only male tale in the room.

Khali furrowed her eyebrows at Tiwaz's words. What was...Re...done...dant? Curious, Khali leaned up and whispered to Sylvester, "What does Re-done-dant mean?"

Khali was usually not afraid to ask questions, but Tiwaz made her feel slightly uncomfortable for some undescribable reason and...Well, she'd rather not ask her anything that may make herself look stupid.

"She just means she thinks she'd be saying it twice if she told you, since I said hi to her and said her name and then you asked her name again and stuff. No biggie." He sighed and flopped the rest of the way to the floor, gathering his legs under him and stifling another yawn with the back of his hand. Sylvester looked up at Aiden and Talon, suddenly feeling very old. He was never having kids.

Feeling proud at having won that argument, Tiwaz continued her search all the while occasionaly glancing back at the others just in case one of them pulled something sneaky. It annoyed her that so far two of the three times she'd been here she'd found the visit less than pleasant.

"Oh. Well, it's not always bad to repeat things," her silver eyes narrowed in on Tiwaz and she simply shrugged, "She should learn some..." she searched for the word that her father always used with her, "Manners."

Aiden raised a brow. Even if he agreed, he did NOT want to get in the middle of a chick fight.

Even if said chicks were children. Women were scary sometimes.

Elena rocked back on her heels slightly. "Yes, she should," the older girl said softly, a wicked smile cutting across her face. "My dear, I'm sorry I didn't hear your name mentioned earlier. I thought I was still asleep and I try not to pay that much attention to things I think are figments of my imagination," she said to Tiwaz in a honey sweet tone with an apologetic nod towards Sylvester. "Now, would you care to repeat it, or shall I simply make one up for you?" she asked, her hand on her hip and eyes glimmering coldly in the light. The temperature of the room has dropped slightly overall, and significantly around Elena herself. The skin around the tatoos on her wrists looked like they were covered in frost, while the marks themselves were the same bright blue that glaciers were on their deepest levels.

Sylvester had wondered what Elena had been doing, staying so quiet for so long. Apparently, she was bringing out the big guns. He leaned forward onto his knees, glad his Tale shield was still present. "Her name is Tiwaz," he whispered faintly to nobody, the tiniest flicker of anger drowned in Elena's sudden chill. He was reminded of little Elana's handshake... had that only been yesterday? Sylvester didn't want to butt in. He just wanted to sleep.

Frost-covered tattoos were pretty cool though.

Tiwaz shrugged manners meant little to her at this point and would probably continue to mean little until she felt a need for them. " You were able to say hello to me and speak with Khali more than once using more than one or two words, either you were paying attention to what you thought were figments or you're lying, which is it" She asked wondering how the girl would explain her slip up.

She was aware of the temperature drop, particularly in the membranes of her wings were the blood was thinnest. Tucking them to her back where they could rely on her body heat she turned to give Elena her full attention. She was probably in for a fight and having made no allies she was on her own. She wasn't going to make the first move though, oh no she had enough problems as it was without being accused of starting a fight. She just stood there and attempted to lock eyes with Elena to show her she was not intimidated in the slightest.

The cold temperature didn't bother the star child much at all. Truth be told, she barely noticed the temperature change. Khalindra supposed that it was a large advantage to be a star child at the moment.

However, the animosity that seemed to be brewing in the shop was not something she wanted to be stuck in. But she didn't want to leave her friend, either, by requesting to go home.

"...Can we go somewhere else?" she asked quietly to Sylvester. Maybe that play room that Angelus showed her?

"You seem to have misunderstood me. I was asleep when Khalindra first arrived and I woke up then. Then," here Elena furrowed her brow, trying to remember what Khali had called the giraffe boy, "Sylvester showed up and I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't still asleep. Your arrival, however, assured me that I was indeed awake." A pause, for emphasis. "I certainly would never dream up anyone quite so rude as you." Elena met Tiwaz's gaze firmly and after another pause, laughed. "Don't get above yourself dear, you're beyond a certainty not someone I'd lie to. Not worth it," Elena finished dismissively.

"Yeah, I guess... wait, what time is it?" Sylvester said, remembering that he hadn't been home for more than a day. He slowly got to his feet and reached out for Khali's hand. "We're gonna... yeah... okay," he mumbled, realizing that no one cared where they went. Had Elena really thought he was a dream? That was a first.

Tiwaz shrugged the dismissal away, Elena's opinion of her mattered not to her and she was quite content to let the girl feel she had won that round. It wasn't worth risking damage to her wings to continue anyways so it was best to drop it. Still in the back of her mind part of her wondered if the tension between them wasn't somehow caused by residue left by the twins, heck Elena's name was even similar to Elana's.


"I...don't know," she answered, looking around. Clocks weren't her thing. She didn't know how to tell time and wasn't planning on learning any time soon. Well, maybe she would, now.

"Outside?" she suggested, sending a glance towards the door, "Or somewhere else...Just...Away."

"It's Four," Aiden supplied, hearing Sylvester's question.

Tiwaz's indifference towards Elena was more than returned; the older girl had decided based on their last exchange that Tiwaz wasn't worth bothering with. Khali possibly was, and Sylvester was currently an unknown, so Elena toned down on the chill from her tatoos, although the coldness remained in her icy blue eyes. "Four? Already? I must have been asleep longer than I thought," Elena said to Aiden, twirling a bit of her hair around a finger. "It's so hard to get a good night's sleep with younger children around," she continued, smiling at the man in a conspirital fashion. "But I should be returning home, my mum probably needs my help," she sighed here, and tugged gently on Hadar's tail. "Goodbye Khali, Aiden. It was good to see you again. Sylvester, we'll have to meet again under..better circumstancs." Elena pointedly ignored Tiwaz as she walked out the door of the Stationary Store, Hadar flying behind her, the starry markings on his hide nearly as bright as Elena's hair currently was.

Sylvester waved at Elena's departing figure, frowning slightly at how late it was. "Actually, I don't think I can stay either," he said to Khali. "My mother's going to start looking for me, if she hasn't already." He bent down again, and gave Khalindra a hug before addressing Tiwaz. "I guess I'll see you around too," he said. He wondered if she would ever want to see him again, actually. He seemed to bring bad luck, at least as far as she was concerned.

The star child hugged the giant plushie before he left and looked over at Tiwaz. Well, she didn't want to stay with her there. Bad manners were so unbecoming. She was reminded sharply of Tybalt and shook her head.

"Daddy, can we go home now?"

Aiden nodded, picking up the half asleep child that had managed to curl herself unnoticed in the corner, "Selah looks like she could use some sleep anyway, yeah?"

Khalindra nodded and moved towards Aiden, her skirts swishing around her ankles, "Bye, Tiwaz," she said politely before the entire family left the shop.

At least Khali showed some manners. Even if she didn't like someone it was only the nice thing to do to say farewell.

" Bye Sylvester I do hope to see you again" Tiwaz said, she wasn't sure if this boy was a good one or a bad one but it wasn't his fault there were problem people around him all the time; well at least she didn't think so, the next meeting would tell for sure.

"Bye" Tiwaz replied somewhat startled by Khali talking to her again, perhaps there was hope for her after all.


" Let's go mom I couldn't find what I wanted" she muttered somewhat annoyed that they'd have to go someplace else to find the replacement.

Talon nodded and said nothing, while she didn't fully approve of her daughter's actions, she could feel that there had been more going on than was being understood. Opening the door she followed her daughter out.