Welcome to Gaia! ::

Albus trotted into the courtyard alongside Laura. He looked almost as if he had been drugged. His eyes were part way closed and his face was entirely relaxed. He might have been seen letting out a yawn as he walked in. He was fairly exhausted, as he had worked himself to unconsciousness last night. It wasn't the first time, either. It left him fairly relaxed, which was a definite improvement over his mood before.

Laura herself was quite happy. Albus's mood had improved considerably over the past week. Maybe he was simply too tired to be angry or maybe he was genuinely happy, but either way it was nice to see him finally changing back to who he was in the mere moments before they properly met each other.

"Hm? Isn't that your cousin, Albus?" Laura glanced over at Zori.

Albus followed her gaze carefully. He let out a great wide yawn before replying. "In-law, yeah. She married Alexander."

Laura smiled. "Let's go see how she is."

"No, let's..." Well, it was too late for that. She was already gone, her feet pattering towards Zori at somewhere between a walk and a run. There wasn't much of a choice now.

"Good afternoon~"

"We were just going for a walk when we noticed you." She smiled, trying to be sociable. Ah, wait, she probably doesn't know who I am. Laura's face went straight to a sheepish sense of surprise. "Pardon me, my name is Laura. You're Zori, are you not?" It was best not to assume names, although there was little doubt that that was the case.

Albus called out from behind her before the little furball ran into him. "Albus. Before you ask, Albus." Having an identical twin brother was not exactly a convenient thing. People tended to mistake them for one another fairly often, so he had a tendency to introduce himself to anyone he met, even if he had already met them. Well, obvious exceptions aside, anyways. His team could tell whether it was him or Atra from the less obvious indicators like gait, physical posture and habits.

Albus looked down at the little Eevee that ran into him. He barely even felt it. She was extremely small and very obviously a new born. And given her markings, it was pretty obvious who she belonged to. So obvious, in fact, that he couldn't even be bothered to ask; it was like wondering if a Lapras could swim or not. The answer was obvious.

So instead of any of that, he merely stared straight back at her. He broke off eye contact after a few moments to turn his head upwards and shoot out a very tiny puff of flames. He didn't really mind kids. They were cute, as long as they kept quiet. Though, the same could be said for how he felt about any social contact. People were nice, as long as they weren't loud and moronic. Preferably quiet or intelligent. Hopefully both.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Zori." Laura maintained a polite tone and posture. She didn't really mind meeting with the Leafeon. Although she was something of a narcissist, the Leafeon was her hopefully-maybe-eventually-cousin-in-law-in-law. In a roundabout way, she was speaking to someone who was both family and royalty. At the very least, they were equals to one another. "I love your markings. Are they from your family?"

"They're from the Tribe of Everlasting Balance. She's related, although it's complicated." He answered the question in the place of Zori before letting out a stifled yawn. "It's good to meet you as well, Zori. I've yet to meet Alexander since his return, though from what I've heard he finds the family somewhat intimidating." Normally he wouldn't have spoken as he did, but Zori was family. He owed her at least that much courtesy, even if the connection was tenuous at best; she was royalty. Just as he was.

Laura sat down, content as she was. Her tail curled around her front legs, which remained straight. "She's beautiful. How old is she?" She watched as Albus shot out a small stream of water that went above the baby's head and hit the ground behind her. After a few moments, the water began to freeze from the impact site. The ice crawled up the warm funnel of water until it finally met Albus's lips and stopped. The ice itself was crystal clear and perfectly smooth; a product of the pure water that the ability generated and the abnormal freezing process. The water that had washed down it as it froze quickly removed any roughness by temperature alone; after all, it was coming out of someone who had to keep his temperature low just to have a drink of water. He stepped back slowly before he continued the jet of water in order to create a stable arc of ice. Any less and it would be prone to falling over, and given the size of the small Eevee that could easily be fatal.

He stepped back slightly, looking mildly amused. Children were interesting that way; they didn't necessarily understand what was going on. They were unique. It was hard to predict their reactions. And it would likely be quite the reaction, considering the perfect arc of ice that was just above the Eevee. It wouldn't be long before it started to melt.

Albus chuckled as the water droplet pegged her right in the nose. It was cute, to say the least. He continued to observe her antics with a smile on his face as she stumbled around and went after the water droplets. "How old is she?" He asked the question as a mirror of Laura's. She had to be quite young, from how she was acting. She was still having trouble with motor control as well, so she couldn't be very old. Pokemon learned to walk, run and even kill from a very early age; you didn't live long in the wild if you couldn't. In all likelihood, it hadn't been very long since she was born.

Noticing that the young one was thirsty, he quickly set above improving the temporary structure. A quick spout of water and a bit of energy thickened and chilled the structure considerably, temporarily cutting off the water. But that was only for a moment. Just as soon after, he created a pillar of ice that hung from the middle of the arc and stopped near her head. A small bit of fire had it smooth and dripping as the flames suddenly stole from it it's shape and form.

Laura merely sat near Zori with a grin on her face. It was the brightest Albus had been in a while.

Still under a month, huh? "It must be hard being the mother of such a young child." They were always so rambunctious at that age, regardless of species or gender or parents. Some of them were even little uncontrollable typhoons of destruction that would wreck anything in their path.

Albus, meanwhile, opened his jaws wide in a very long, loud yawn. He quietly settled down besides the much smaller Eevee, seemingly intent on taking a brief nap. The sun felt nice, he was tired to begin with and using his abilities just made him moreso. Still, there was a faint smile on his face as he hunkered down. Kids really were nice. They were happy and quiet unless something was actually wrong. And damn if they weren't cute. Albus was a fairly stuck up person, but that didn't mean he was bereft of a soft spot.