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Keita's explanation on Malady was good enough for her, after all some just said they saw it, while the rest of the populace only thought of it has her imaginary friend.

"Mal's an it, not a he or a she," she clarifies good naturedly as she sat down beside him. He was different from the other boys she'd met, he wasn't like Loki who seemed to enjoy making people feel bad. He wasn't like Clare or Demian either. There was something about the way he answered her that made her feel calm.

"Is your sister like owls and racoons who only come out at night? Um, what're they called, nok uh noctrnel?" Paestri asks as she taps her cheek in confusion.

"Is being sun-touched like being sun-kissed?" Paestri asks, not at all bothered by the intensity of Keita's eyes. "Wow, you can stay out as much as you want and never get caught? You must be a very fast runner or know really good hiding places!" she is thoroughly impressed with the young boy.

It was Malady who was rendered nervous and fidgety, it muttered and mumbled, trying to tug at Paestri to inch away from him.

"Too close!" it moaned.

"I like being inside, especially when it rains." Paestri states, she had very little opinion on nature since her only experience with the outdoors is the park. That and her family isn't the rugged, outdoor-sy type either. "But how does the forest tell you stuff? Does it have a voice? Or lots of voices that say the same thing at the same time?"

She wasn't mocking Keita, the curiosity and genuine interest in her eyes were proof of that. Paestri just hasn't met anyone who had so much passion for the outdoors.

"So you can't talk to animals just yet, but you can tell what they're thinking? Is that like being a... uhm... what is that word again, Mal?" She asks, glancing to the wisp that had settled on her lap.

"Heck would I know, I ain't able to read your mind." It muttered. "What you think I am? Some sorta psychic?"

"That's the word! Psychic! Is your sister like you? I mean, can she know what animals are thinking the way you do? And who's the Lady?" The pink-haired girl continued ask, there was something about Keita's voice that made her more comfortable than normal. Something she couldn't quite identify, yet.

"Can I touch your horns?" She doesn't know why, but maybe if she can just know his taste it would help explain things.

Paestri giggled and playfully scritched his ears, smiling at how soft they were. Gently, she brushed the tips of her fingers against his horns and 'hmm-ed' softly. It was a thoughtful hmm, as if trying to figure out if she recognized his taste.

"I find it hard to understand people if they don't talk. My mom says not everyone sees things the same way, and we shouldn't just assume that what we know is normal or the right thing. But she also says I should trust what my gut thinks, except I shouldn't trust hers because hers are usually wrong." She laughs at this.

"So the Lady doesn't go out of the forest but she manages to help run the forest? Maybe she has lots of messengers? Or maybe she can talk to the animals and stuff with her mind?"

"Bleh, she sounds like a hermit to me but without the cave." Malady sneered.

Gist: Paestri gets a Feien Bloom

The padding of wooden sandals down a concrete path was an unmistakably loud sound, "clomp clomp clomp" following the girl as she trailed the path down to the Legend headquarters. Kimiko, after hearing of what the innocent-looking Legend had caused at the recreational center a few months ago, had decided it was best to not send her to karate lessons once again. And the ghosts were not allowed to go with her on any further trips if she was alone, until she had fully shown that she could act responsibly with the two troublemakers tagging along for a ride.

Mayu grumbled something fierce as she marched up to the tall building and clomped her way in, shutting the door quietly behind her as she looked around the building for something that she could occupy herself with for the rest of the day before her guardian or one of her older siblings would come to fetch her.

The sound of a tin can bouncing across the leaf-covered stone path announces the Legend boy's entrance. His head is tilted down, his eyes fixated on his shoes, his shoulders hunched, his hands deep in his pockets. When the can slows down, he gives it another forceful tap of his heavy boots, propelling it forward another half dozen feet.

He growls under his breath as he walks. Every other word is some sort of profanity or curse. His soured expression certainly matches his colourful vocabulary.

He brings his foot down on the tin can the next time he catches up to it, earning from it a satisfying crunch. For the first time since travelling the path, Ink looks up. On closer inspection, his left eye is swollen, his right eyebrow slashed and scabbing over. He tosses his white-blonde hair from his eyes and narrows them at the front door, still not sold on whether or not he should bother.

"Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full or rye, four and twenty black birds baked in a pie." Paestri sang cheerfully as she skipped down the street. She was out shopping really, though not the sort of shopping one normally does as it involves money. Still, she carried with her a small basket filled with little plastic jars. Some were full, but most were empty. Inside these little containers were all sorts of things, multi-colored sand, butterflies with fiery patters on their wings, and what seemed to be a shrunken head made out of gummy.

Malady was curled atop her head like some wispy turban, frowning. "That doesn't even make sense."

"No, it doesn't but it's alright." She replies, stopping as she sees a blonde boy near the Legends HQ. He does not look familiar (as she hasn't seen or heard from Ink in ages) and therefore Paestri does not bother to greet him as she skips past him and up the stairs. Opening the door, she calls out a bright "Helloooo~"

He sat in the entry hall of the legends headquarters, one small arm waving slowly around him, his face a look of irritated puzzlement. What the infant was doing was strange. He'd sit, wave an arm around a bit as if trying to grab out at something, let out an irritated huff, move a few feet in a random direction, and then repeat the process. It was almost laughable to watch at first, but one look at the infant's sightless eyes made it perfectly clear that he had gotten himself lost.

Well, Iya had willfully done it. His guardian had brought him here today, only she got caught up in the boring thing called 'reading'... whatever that was. So he had wandered off, hoping to find something a bit more interesting.

Only now he'd gotten himself lost in this big room without any walls. That was beginning to wear on the irritable infant's nerves. Worst part was-- no matter how far he crawled, he couldn't find any stairs or walls or markers that would let him know when the room would end. Stupid room.

He was about to just give up and set off in a fit when a voice distracted him. Some new girly voice. "Bah!" He snapped grumpily at the voice, his sulky frown deepening.


Hearing the crushing of a tin can muted from behind a closed door and then the opening of said door accompanied by a greeting, Mayu spun around from where she had been standing to look at the door, hands on her hips as she took a moment to realize who it was.

"Paestri!" she greeted, letting her hands fall to her side as she sauntered over to the other Legend to give a fond hello to both Paestri and the "thingamabobber" sitting atop the pink-haired Legend's head. Giving a small glance to the open door, Mayu called a hello to Ink as well before turning to her friend to examine the contents of the basket which she was carrying, oohing and aahing at the colorful objects inside.

".. well ******** this s**t," Ink says rather loudly, narrowing his eyes as what he perceives as a pink monstrocity prances on by.

As if timed perfectly, his long-empty stomach growls a fierce complaint. He slips a hand out of his pocket and presses it against his gut, as if to quiet the noise. He scowls and lets out a sigh, suddenly reminded of his reason for coming. Free food.

He stomps the entire way up the steps, across the porch, and down the hallway, completely and blatently ignoring everyone as he makes a beeline for the kitchen.

Paestri points to the various objects, explaining what they were "This is Indignation." she says, lifting the jar containing a proud-looking half-octopus, half-feline beast. "It was kind of hard catching this thing."

She notices Ink enter and blinks, "Who's that?" she asks, not even bothering to tone her voice down. And she catches another sound, a grumpy voice coming from somewhere. "Did you hear that?"

"Cute!" Mayu replied, clapping her hands together as she listened intently to Paestri's explanation of the contents of her basket. Looking up as Ink stomped past, the Legend's eyes followed the blonde boy to the kitchen before looking back to Paestri with a shrug.

"I don't know," she replied, shaking her head to the girl's second question. "Hear what?"

Ink tears through the kitchen cabnets unceremoneously, stealing from them whatever looks remotely tasty. With easily two shopping bags worth of food items set out on the counter, Ink then moves on to the fridge, finding it surprisingly less stocked than he remembered.

"Guess things look bigg'r when you're lit'le," he mutters to no one in particular.

Nevertheless, he shoves aside cartons of milk in favour for the harder drinks that are hidden in the back. He reaches in, trying to reach around items to minimize the effort in having to move them, and finally grasps the thin neck of a beer bottle. He smiles at his prize, setting that, too, on the counter, before going in for more.

Paestri scans the surroundings a bit, "Iunno, I just thought I heard something." she shrugs. "Where are your ghosty friends?" she notices, looking over Mayu's shoulders.

"Let's go check it out then, I think?" Mayu said, looking about the room in a surveying glance. "It might just be that kid in the kitchen, though I'm not sure. Let's see if there're any more people in this house first!"

The Legend spun about on the heel of her wooden sandals, wobbling slightly as she made a slow pirouette on two feet. "You want to see if that guy wants to come, too?" She pointed her nose toward the kitchen door, quite excited at the prospect of having discovered something to keep her occupied for the day.

Voices! Iya had thought he'd heard three, but right now he could only make out two. he frowned, but nonetheless crawled towards where the voices were. It was annoying and echo-y in the room, but he thought he could tell pretty well where the voices were coming from. Strangers or no, at least it would lead him out of this big stupid echo room.

More than once, the little cybernetic infant got lost, turned around by the echoes. Stupid room! Finally he got fed up, plopping down irritaply with a noisy "Hmph!" Stupid room. If it wasn't gonna let him out, then he could just wait!

Ink shuts the fridge with unnecessary force, and some of the contents clang together because of it. He struggles with the cap on his beer - a classic one as opposed to a screwed one - and eventually just decides to bang it off using the granite countertop. What does he care if he damages it?

He takes a generous sip and leans back nonchalantly against the fridge, finally paying mind to the other people in the house. He leans and peers down the hallway as he takes another swig.

Paestri set down the basket first on one of the plush armchairs before heading towards the kitchen with Mayu. "If he doesn't mind, why not?" was the chipper response. She heads into the kitchen, a friendly smile on her face, which was a stark contrast to the scowl on Malady's.

"Hi there, did you make a little sound earlier?" she asks with a smile.

"No, he was making a mess, that's what he was making." Malady muttered.


Ink barks a laugh. "Lit'le sound? Pink, d' you need your ears checked? If y' heard something lit'le, t'wasn' from in here."

He throws his head back and takes a generous swig from the beer bottle, barely tasting the liquid before consuming it.

...Great. Now the voices were moving. Iya was perfectly used to that thing happening at home, but he was in the big stupid echo room! How was he gonna find his way out if the stupid voices kept moving?! Already he didn't like the people who had the voices.

Turning his head this way and that to determine the source, Iya finally guessed their new location. This time he wasn't going to let them move and trick him! Now armed with a new sense of determination, the infant set out again, attempting his best to go in a straight line.

Paestri's eyes tapered into jovial slits, "'Kay then, Mayu and I are gonna go look for the source. Wanna join us?" she asks, not at all bothered that the blonde boy was drinking beer. "Or are you going to be sorting the groceries?" She continued, gesturing to all the food that Ink had taken out.


There it was, as tall and as big as it was the first time Naeva set eyes on it, but somehow smaller than ever before.
Standing in front of the Legend HQ, covered by the shadow of the great building Naeva breathed a sigh of relief, she had made it. Recovering from her ordeal only a few weeks previous this was her first time venturing out of her home, away from the safe walls of her room and the presence of Matisha.
Although the older witch was no where to be seen there had been permission in this little outing Naeva had decided to take and she wasn't going to waste it. Though out her young life Naeva had been brought to this place, played, cried, laughed and abandon in this very building and now in an older body and with sharper wits she wanted to discover just what this building had to offer.

Taking another sharp breath Naeva pushed the doors open, the warmth of the hall rushing out to meet her like a greeting from an old friend. She wasn’t sure what she would find, if it was good or bad. But she wanted to find it.

Despite the infant's attempts to maintain a straight line towards the voices, Iyachtu's lack of vision and unfamiliarity with the room soon got him off course, and he veered listlessly away from the voices. He had thought he was following them still, but the echoes kept throwing him off-course.

After a short bit of crawling, Iya's hand fell upon an unfamiliar piece of wood. Cocking his head curiously, the little cyborg stopped, curiously poking at it. Oh. A table. It was a small end table, from the feel of it. But hey! Tables were usually set up by walls! Encouraged by this little bit of practical knowledge, Iyachtu grasped the edge of the table, pulling himself up on wobbly legs, one hand holding onto the table for support, the other held out to see if he could feel a wall and get the hell out of this stupid room.

Yet after a good circling, the infants hand failed to brush the flat surface of a wall. The table (as he had just pieced together) was set out more towards the center of the room. Frustrated, and with his legs aching from the unfamiliar act of standing and walking, Iyachtu plopped back down on the ground angrily.

At this point, most children would have begun to cry. But Iya never cried. He simply got angry. His patience finally at an end, the blind infant let out s creech of rage, kicking the table with all his might and knocking it over.

"STUPID!" He shrieked as the furniture fell over with a satisfying crash. "Stupid stupid!"

Naeva walked in to the heat of the building, slightly apprehensive of what lay inside but the warmth was inviting and her curiosity bit at the edges of her mind until she was soon gracing the hallway with her presence.

Taking in the smells and sights of a building so familiar yet distant Naeva had no time to notice the small child barely meters away from her, its strange but unmistakable aura radiating anger as she got closer to its form.

*BANG!!!!!!!!!!*

The crash of the table did more than make the trainee witch jump as she yelped with surprise as she stumbled back into the wall that bounced upon her back.

"Oh my god...what the heck was that?" She screeched as she peeled herself of the wall, unsure if she wanted to find out as she gingerly moved around the table as if the item was on fire.
Sighting the small child she breathed a heavy sigh, angry at such a small being making such a terrible noise.

"You know if you where at my house Matisha would have knocked your head straight off for doing that...who are you? Where’s your guardian?" Matisha spoke softly in case the child was frightened by her appearance.

"Stop doing THAT, Neva !" A large teenage otter all dressed in black shouted as he entered the building known as Legend Headquarter. A small girl was tugging on his long dyed hair and didn't show any kind of reaction to his shout. Jacosa didn't know why he had volunteered to take her to this place so she could meet some others of her kind, but the teen already regretted his decision.

"Pfrororrr...." Neva mumbled. The boy sighed and looked around. Oh, there were people.

Another voice? Iya cocked his head, infantile rage calming somewhat as he listened. Footfalls accompanied the voice, meaning a person was here. It was a stranger, but right now he was too irritated to care. The attack on the table and the person's arrival had improved his mood a bit, but It was easy to rile him up, and hard to placate him completely.

"STUPID!" The boy snapped, pointing accusingly in what he thought was the direction of where the table lay. There. Now the stranger knew that it was the table's fault! It had tricked him, after all. He wanted to vent out a bit more, but with his limited vocabulary he merely stuck his fingers in his mouth and mumbled "Stupid," once again.

At the question, he cocked his head curiously. Who was he? "Iya," he mumbled, words slightly obscured by the digits in his mouth. "Who 'ou?"

Naeva smiled at the little boy despite the little one's display of anger at the table, the object was currently sprawled across the floor, its wooden frame slightly splintered through the impact of the fall.
The child’s finger pointed wearily above the item that lay upon the ground, his small hand not directed in the table's path as if he hadn't even looked where it had fallen. Naeva glanced at the boys face and realised his eyes had the same calmed look her guardians right eye had, he was not quite looking at her and it suddenly dawned on Naeva that the child may have visual problems.

"Iya you say? Well Mr Iya I have never heard of such a grand name before. My name is Naeva, Naeva de Bayonne - Embers, but you can call me Nee if you want. If you don't mind me asking, but why did such a handsome fellow like you have to tip over the table? Am sure it's not as stupid as you say?"

Naeva kneeled down, trying to get to the same height as the child but her fast growing body had seen to it that she wasn't going to be; instead she opted to be slightly above, trying her best to radiate a calming and friendly aura to the child.

Jacosa would have scratched his head if he hadn't carried the baby in his arms. It was really an interesting scene to see this boy close to the table calling stupid and then this...woah, interesting girl. The raging hormones of a teen started to get active as his thoughts were interupted by his little sister.

"Neee ?" It was probably clear that she was meant by the girl's words and so the baby tried to make out the source of the sounds. And there was another voice she knew already. Wasn't that that metally one ?

"Err...hey...can I help ?" Jacosa mumbled.

Frowning, Iya fiercely shook his head. NO. The table WAS stupid! But he didn't argue his point any further. Instead, he focused curiously on the strange girl. He was wary, since usually soft talk like this led to baths or being picked up or something equally horrible, but for now he was giving her benefit of the doubt.

"Nae'a," he parroted as best he could, pulling the fingers from his mouth and wiping them off on his pants. It seemed his mood was lightening somewhat, but the sound of another female voice quickly darkened his mood. He knew this one. "Stupid," he grumbled at the girl, obviously not having a wide enough vocabulary to display his displaesure at the new arrival.

Naeva took a quick glance behind her as the young otter voiced his question, a small girl cradled in his arms as Naeva took note of both of them as she stood back up to greet the other forms.

"Hi there, my name is Naeva, Nee for short. Am just trying to communicate with this adorable little tyke, he seems to have taken a shine to furniture in the most destructive way."

Peering back down to the child she smiled, again hoping he could sense that she meant no harm, her abilities to sense Aura's and sending message though thoughts and feelings where still untrained and Naeva could only do so much.

Her trail of thought was halted as a beeping broke the sudden silence, the bag Naeva had slung over one shoulder continued to sing as the mobile phone vibrated against her side, a contraption Naeva hated and somewhat feared but it was a necessary addition to her bag, or so Matisha has told.

"Oh? Oh excuse me; this must be Matisha checking up on me...again! I haven't been gone five minutes!" Naeva continued to mumble, more to herself than the people surrounding her as she stepped to one side to answer her phone.


Ink laughs to himself, taking another generous sip from his beer bottle. "Groceries.." he mutters with a smirk, shaking his head in continued amusement. He collects the items on the kitchen counter nonchalantly, though his mind wanders back to the pair of pink girls, not really caring much where they went, but glad that they're gone.

And glad for the fact that they didn't catch on to his actions.

Gripping the bottle between his teeth to free his hands, Ink ignores the rush of liquid in his mouth and the slight buzz that has finally started to take its effects on him. He puts his weight on one leg mistakenly while shoving boxes of cookies into his backpack and his balance wavers; he jerks back, the bottle slipping out of his teeth and shattering on the tile floor.

"Well ********," he gurgles before swallowing hard. He dances around the pieces of glass and growing pool of beer, his eyes constantly flickering up at the doorway expectantly. He knows people are still about, and no doubt they heard that.

He knits his brow and turns back to the crowded countertop, increasing his speed in filling his backpack with goods with the intention of leaving as soon as is possible.

Snapping the phone shut with a frustrated growl Naeva shook her head furiously at her guardian’s antics. It was bad enough she had a head full voices and messed up images, but she had little more than a basket case looking after her and it was doing nothing for her patience’s. The tale-tale signs of her temperament started to flare up as she grumbled in to the main room, the small child in the hall forgotten as she stormed into the larger area, her mind firmly set on Matisha and her stupid phone calls.

The sound of smashing glass jerked Naeva into consciousness, her eyes resting on the kitchen a trail of profanities following closely behind.

"Is everyone destroying things today? What is it with this place?" she mumbled as she decided to investigate, she was a slave to her curiosity and it would always win.

Mayu jumped as she heard the crash of the table, followed by another crash of breaking glass on a tile floor. Having been caught off balance by the sudden barrage of noise to her sensitive ears, the child made a desperate grab in the air as she stumbled forward on her wooden sandals, which wouldn't have been a problem for her save for the fact that they lifted her at least an inch and a half off of the ground. Oh, damn those sandals...

The Legend tumbled to the floor rather hardly, her sandals flipping up before landing elegantly in a pile upon the ground beside her. This just added to the cacophony of sound that was already taking place, the child letting out a large groan as she pulled herself up from the floor to inspect her arms and hands for cuts, which she had placed in front of her to take some of the damage from the fall.

She muttered something fierce as she plopped upon the floor once again, slipping her sandals back on despite all of the pain they had caused her.

Gingerly stepping into the kitchen Naeva observed the scene that had unfolded before her, a brightly coloured girl with crisp silver hair lay sprawled across the floor as a similar aged blonde boy continued his words of profanities, little snippets of other colourful words adding to the concoction as the girl collected herself.

"If I knew this place was going to be like this I would have brought my Runes, nothing like a bit of protection from clumsy folk."

Offering a hand to the girl Naeva managed a smile, she was unsure of other people but she had a strong feeling she knew this one.


Ink glares at Naeva upon her entry into the kitchen. He looks at her with utter disgust and, as if she contaminates whatever she touches, pulls away the food closest to him on the counter and shelters it under his arms.

"What d' y' want, girl?" he snaps rudely. The cut above his eye drizzles fresh blood, but he doesn't feel it; the cut must have torn open again in the excitement. Nevertheless, he doesn't make for a very friendly face.

"Thanks," Mayu replied, grinning as she took Naeva's hand and got herself up to her feet. She looked down at her knees as she finally noticed the broken glass shards scattered about the kitchen floor, breathing a sigh of relief as she realized that she had missed them completely in her fall.

"Someone should really clean that up," she stated, already shuffling over to the counter to grab a rag to mop up the puddle of beer. She looked around the room of faces, first to Naeva and then to Ink.

"Anyone know where they keep the brooms?" the Legend asked, already squatting down to mop up the liquid with the rag, avoiding the broken bottle carefully.

Naeva shocked at the statement, suddenly was lost for words as she stared at the blonde haired boy, returning the look ten fold, the instant sting of hurt from the snide remark was soon washed away with pity.

"Sorry to bother you, but with the way things where sounding it seemed like you have been throwing a tantrum, thrown our dolly out of the pram have we?"

Turning back towards the girl Naeva shrugged her shoulders in defeat.

"Am sorry I have no idea, I must admit this is my first time here from being small so I have no idea where anything is."

"Tantrum?"

Ink shoulders his backpack after having closed it most of the way, then toes a piece of glass with his boot. "Nah, girly, them things are fer spoiled brats who wan' too much from their 'rents," the Legend retorts mildly, straightening up against the weight of the stolen food. "An' I got neither too much nor 'rents t' whine to, so yer way off base, chicky."

He finally pays Mayu some attention, but quickly regrets laying eyes on her, made obvious by his sharp inhale and scrunched up face. Pink. The mere colour disgusts him.

Shuddering visibly, he points to a vertical cupboard near the kitchen's entrance. "In there," he growls, tossing his head with an air of superiority. "But I'm not doin' it."

The Legend turned her nose up in a huff as she watched Ink's face contort, tossing the soaked rag into his hands as she got up to fetch the broom and dustpan. The broken glass crunched beneath her feet, and she was thankful that she had chosen footwear of the wooden persuasion, however hard they were on her feet.

"Well, I mopped up the beer," Mayu frowned, taking the cleaning utensils out of the cupboard and holding them up. "And I'm not sweeping all of this glass up."

[Sorry guys this will be my last post of the night, midnight over here and I have work in the morning, not so bad, starting at 12!! ]

Sneering at the thought of being called 'chicky' the legend soon made a metal note of the boy, like herself he seemed to old for his appearance and although that may have given them something in common Naeva wasn't about to go out of her way to find out. Not wanting to carry on the bicker Naeva followed his direction to the cupboard, although he seemed to have ended it long before with the look he gave the girl, a look that Naeva managed to get the softer side of.

*buzzzz.....buzzzz....buzzzz.* The familiar buzzing sound once again echoed around the room, the same feeling Naeva's hip was getting use to rang out as her eyes rolled back and a sigh of frustration flowed from her lips.

"For Dis Pater's* sake! What does she want with me now?!!" Naeva pulled the phone once again out of the bag, smiling apologetically at the girl before hastily moving out of the kitchen to exchange raised words with her bothersome guardian.


[*god of death and the underworld]

Ink shrugs indifferently, trying his best to look sideways at Mayu instead of straight on, as if looking at her directly is as damaging as looking at the sun. "Then it'll jus' stay like it is," he responds as he stretches his arms and readies himself to leave.

"Bwrreeee~~!!!" A high pitched squeal makes Ink cringe, more especially in recognition as to who the noise belongs to.

"s**t, she found me!" the blonde haired boy mutters, ever-changing eyes darting around the room, quickly calculating the best possible exit.

"...Wow."

Mayu raised a brow as she watched Ink pull the door handle straight off, already busy sweeping up the kitchen having given up trying to persuade the boy to do it. She balanced herself on one foot as she examined the bottom of her shoe for any pieces of glass stuck to it, leaning herself and the broom against the counter as she picked off the small pieces stuck to the hard wood. It would not be a very pleasant thing to fall, she assumed, glancing over at the pile of shards that she had made besides her which she was ready to sweep into the dustpan and throw away.

Hobbling on one foot, the Legend made her way slowly over to the door to see what the boy was so intent on getting away from.



Ink stares stupidly at the piece of the doorhandle in his hand. It was only the thumb piece that actually detatched, but it certainly disabled the door even further. He flicks the piece over his shoulder, adding to his previous mess.

A vibrant green head pokes around the door frame, standing at the height of perhaps a young cat. Perking up her thin, round ears, Suds looks around the room, beholding Mayu first - whom she coos at, pink being one of her favourite colours! - and seeing Ink second.

"INK-EE!" she screams at a terribly noisy frequency, her round eyes growing even larger and wider in excitement.

The boy doesn't even look up. Instead, he is busy trying to shove a piece of wire - goodness knows why he has that in his pocket - into the lock. Maybe if I ignore her, she'll go away. Or better yet, disappear. Although he knows this to be false, it doesn't hurt to hope that maybe this time it'll be different.

Suds scampers across the tiled floor with unrestrained elation. Every paw that hits the tile makes a soft squeak. Without watching where she's running, she manages to miraculously miss every shard of glass with every step - save for the last. Her blissful gurgles are abruptly silenced as her right hind paw slips across the broken piece of knob and she meets the ground in a painful faceplant.

Placing her shoe on, Mayu cooed happily at Suds in return, enraptured in watching the cute little creature run across the room. She clamped her hands over her ears as the animal-creature-thing began to scream again, watching her scramble across the floor before slipping --- and falling --- upon the hard tile floor.

The Legend clasped one hand over her mouth in surprise, other still held over her ear, walking over at a fast pace to squat down and pick up Suds in her hands, holding the colorful creature up to see if she had gotten any cuts from running across the broken glass so quickly.

"What a cutie!" Mayu exclaimed, giving a wide, teethy grin to Suds before looking up to Ink. "Is she yours?"

Suds is physically unharmed, it seems, though now on her back, she rubs her nose with a whimper. Tears well up in her eyes, and she arches her spike-dotted spine to hug her knees and rock a little.

"Sudsy gets ouchieeee," she wails, nuzzling gratefully against Mayu's hands.

Ink curls his lip in disgust, exhaling loudly. "Appalling," he mutters, putting his hands on his waist. He speaks a little louder and with obvious contempt. "Unfortunately, tha' repulsive beast and I are.. related."

He swallows as if the word tastes bad just to say. He turns back to the door, but, deciding it's a rather senseless cause, whirls back around. "Y' can take 'r home t' yer fam'ly if y' want. I heard she tastes like chicken."

His companion thankfully doesn't hear him. She extends her leg and wiggles her toes to give herself a giggle before pointing to a smudge of red on her heel. "It hu~uuurts," she sniffles as she tucks her tail against her stomach.


"Aww," Mayu crooned symphathetically, petting Suds gently on the head and giving her a small kiss on the nose. "Appalling? She's adorable!"

Twirling on her toes, the Legend waved Suds about this way and that way, being sure to hold her tightly as not to drop her. She pretended not to hear the 'tastes like chicken' comment, continuing to spin around the room in complete ignorance of the crunching glass below her feet --- and she had just cleaned the bottoms of her shoes, as well.

"Poor baby!" the girl cried, cradling Suds in her arms before placing her upon the counter to examine the red on the creature's heel. After thinking for a while, Mayu pulled out a pink band-aid from her purse, sticking it upon the cut before giving Suds another pat on the head.

Paestri watched everything with a smile, for some reason or another she didn't quite feel the need to help clean up. Mayu didn't ask for her help, nor was she all that concerned for Suds as she fell. However, upon seeing suds she realizes who the blonde boy was.

"Kevin? Is that you?"

Demare stopped at the doorway for a moment, placing his hand on the knob as he thought about what he was doing. It had been several, several months since he'd been here last, and it was probably likely no one was here just like usual. He saw the lights from the main road, however, and thought it might be a good idea to see what was going on. After all, maybe he'd run into people he knew.

Not that... anyone would recognize him right away after growing up.

The teenager actually felt strange being where he was. Being much taller now, he was more cautious of where the top of doorframes were, having hit his head several times in some of the stores he went to. Eveything had a different view now, as well. He had to look down at most of the people he spoke with, it was harder to find clothing that fit properly, and with his wings being larger he received a lot more stares than usual. How utterly... AGGRIVATING.

Finally, Demare opened the door, ducking his head a little bit as he stepped inside of the headquarters, closing the door behind himself. Things didn't really look that different, but he knew that people were here for once. Mostly because of the stench of alcohol clinging in the air, and the broken table... What was going on??

Ink straightens up suddenly at the use of that name. His eyes a sharp emerald colour, he gives Paestri a cold, expressionless stare.

"No." He can't help but grit his teeth as he replies, nor can he bear looking at either female in the room without feeling his stomach in his mouth. "That's not my name."

Suds croons softly, one of her quieter noises, as she pulls her face closer to inspect the bandage. Her antenna dance across and tickle her toes without her knowing and she falls back in hysterical laughter.

"Sank you, pretty tree laaa~dy!" she purrs up at Mayu, her thin tail flicking to and fro across the countertop.

"You're welcome!" Mayu chimed in return, adding to the laughter in the room as she tickled Suds's stomach as one would do with a baby. Picking the creature up from the countertop, she rocked Suds gently in her arms before stepping over to the door to hold her up for Paestri to see.

Looking over the pink-haired girl's shoulder, the girl noticed a new person stepping into the building whom seemed much older than any of the three of them in the kitchen. She gave a wave before turning back to Suds, wondering why the new arrival looked so familiar to her.


"It's not? Huh, I guess there's just two rainbow colored cuties running around." The dark-skinned Legend cocked her head slightly before focusing her attention on Suds. "Hi hi, Sudsy." she cooed, gently tapping her nose. Noticing Mayu's wave, Paestri glances over towards the direction of the tall new arrival.

She stares at his wings, very familiar wings, only much larger. But other than that she doesn't seem to know him. She flashes him a smile and a wave, perhaps smaller than Mayu's and turns back to Ink. "So what is your name?"

Demare unwrapped his scarf from around his neck, holding it in his hands for a moment before making his way toward the kitchen where he could hear noises coming from. Flicking his scarf over the back of the couch on the way, he slipped his gloves off as well and stuck them in his pocket, running a hand through his reddish hair. Was that Paestri in the doorway?

His bi-colored eyes also caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar blonde boy, appearing to be someone of more aggressive nature. He could almost FEEL the annoyance emitting from the child, as if something in the room were causing him problems. Just as he was about to greet the girl he knew, he noticed another pink child in the kitchen and froze.

Mayu...

...What was that thing she was holding in her hands? A rat???

Suds settles right down in Mayu's arms as if meant to be there. Ink never does this for her! She silently wonders why not.

Ink tosses his head back. The cut above his brow has begun to scab over once again, but for the most part, his white-blonde hair covers both that and his now-sapphire eyes. "M'name's Ink, girly, don'chu ferget that."

He flashes Demare an annoyed glance before storming over, crushing glass, to Mayu and snatching Suds out of the girl's arms by her frail spiral antenna. His soul companion makes an air-splitting noise in pain, and Ink barely catches himself before he drops her out of surprise.

With a low growl, he shoves Suds into a deep pocket of his overcoat without any compassion for her as a living, breathing creature. He shrugs a shoulder to better balance his stuffed backpack, his eyes narrowed and cast down at the tiled floor.


Mayu cried in surprise as Suds was snatched out of her arms, making grabbing hands in the air as the sudden weight was taken away. She clamped her hands over her ears once more as Suds began to cry, frowning as Ink stuffed her new friend into his coat pocket.

"Oh my," the Legend managed, letting her hands fall to her sides as she stared at the pocket which Suds had been forced into in dismay. She couldn't believe it! How could anyone treat such an adorable little animal like this?


Snapping the phone shut with a frustrated growl Naeva flung back her arm with the object still tightly clutched in her palm and with a burst of rage threw the item into the wall. The phone crumbled instantly as if it where made of nothing more than flour, the tiny bits of metal and plastic showering the floor adding to the mess that had begun in the kitchen.

"FOR DIS PATER SAKE!!! I can't stand that woman; she treats me as if I were a child! I may not know everything but my bones tell me I have seen more moons than she!"

Shaking her head repeatedly Naeva turned back towards the colourful girl who was still in viewing of her little outburst.

"I apologise, it was my guardian, she is starting to panic about this Christmas when she should have been preparing for the Winter Solstice she completely ignored me and went shopping for presents! If I had decided to visit the market over this time and had not bothered with a ritual my herbs would have never grown in the summer! And her garden needs all the divine help it needs!"

Throwing herself down on a nearby kitchen chair Naeva stamped her feet in anger, to think she could be lowered to the extent of having a tantrum was even more outraging and the young legends mood bounced of the walls for all to feel.

Paestri cocked her head at the display of anger Naeva made as well as Ink's almost brutal treatment of Suds. "Does Suds like it in your pocket, Ink? And what's Winter Solstice?" she asked, turning to Naeva then Mayu. She always considered Mayu to be far smarter than the other Legends she had met, after all, Mayu taught her how to use the Internet. Which still wasn't enough reason for Huni to get a computer, not that Paestri minded.

Malady felt sorry for Suds and floated towards Ink. Not too close though, it kept a good arm and a half's length away from the blonde. "How can you stand to be treated like that?" it asked the question directed at the colorful creature, though it didn't know whether Suds could hear in Ink's pocket.

Paestri couldn't quite believe that the sight before her was real. Where the large building that had served as the HQ was now nothing more than a pile of rubble. She walked up to the fallen structure, poking protruding bits of wood, wondering what had happened. "Why's the HQ all broken?" she asked no one in particular.

Muttered the Intangible that clung to Paestri like some make-shift scarf.

What a first impression.
Wiralu had not yet made her entrance into the HQ, that building she had relied on directions from Breena to find. Well, it seemed she had followed them to the letter, so this pile of rubble, apparently, was the centre of activity for those of the same birth as Breena and Jenivive. There was a potency to the place, a sense that all was not right, and with suspicion, the old woman eyed it, before turning her attention to the squirming toddler in her arms.
"Yes, my darling, we are here. We are here."
For Jenivive, this was not her first trip, for Breena had taken her there once before, though it was rather different then. There had been a building, then. In a string of nonsense, she tried to get this point across to Wiralu.

"Let's get out of here, maybe lightning'll strike or some really bad mojo will latch itself onto us and screw us up over again and again."

"Oh hush Malady, if something like that does attach to us, it shouldn't be too hard to get rid of it. Or stuff it into a pickle jar." Paestri giggled. Nevertheless, there was nothing for her to do here, she doubted anyone would still be living in the HQ. With an almost cheerful smile, she turned around to go elsewhere. Perhaps straight home? Her decision would have to wait as she spotted an old woman carrying a toddler. A rather familiar looking toddler. "Hello, good day to both of you." She greeted with a polite nod of her head, braids bobbing from her motion.

Malady simply stared at the couple, crimson eyes tapered into suspicios slits. Were these people like Paestri and those who could see it? It hoped not, it wanted to go home.

A child's voice filtered over the winter breeze, catching at Wiralu's ears and leading her to quirk a brow. A child amongst this rubble? How strange. But then, who was she to pass judgement on the strange and the normal, given her own life and experiences. The little pink-haired child gave off a feel not her own, an odd sensation Wiralu could not entirely like, but she nodded at her anyway.
"Good day, my child. And how do you come by this place?"

Jenivive, not so well versed in the world as her guardian, nor of a disposition to question that which she was presented with, grinned amiably at the girl, waving a pudgy hand at her and the thing around her. She enjoyed company, and children were fun. Breena was, and so was the boy she had met here, and all the village children. Yes, children were nice.

"I came here by my feet." Paestri giggled, not thinking her answer odd, rarely did she consider how others would perceive her. "I used to come here a lot because this is where I get to meet lots of new Legends." she explained. Her icing-pink gaze rested upon the water-like scarf that the infant wore and tried to recall where she had seen that very same thing.

"That thing around her neck," Malady whispered, an ethereal tendril extending to point at the scarf, "It's not alive, is it?"

"Doesn't that scarf make you wet?" Paestri asked as she walked -practically skipped- towards Jenevive.

The whimsy of the girl struck Wiralu, so contrary as it was to the energy coming from her vicinity.
"Ah, you know of these Legends, then. Tell me, are you one yourself?"
Intriguing. She did seem to have that air of similar creation to her own dear Jenivive, and the dark Breena, whom she gave lessons.

In her arms, the babe cocked a head at the shadowy Malady, stretching out a hand towards him, echoing his own movement. She did want to play with it, oh yes.

"It is an illusion," Wiralu answered for the infant.
"A good one, I must say."
Indeed, the scarf wrapped about Jenivive was her own darling, it's soft folds giving the picture of waves crashing about her, her own piece of the ocean, always at hand.

Paestri gave Wiralu a bright smile, as if deriving pleasure from merely being asked. "Yes, I am a Legend, at least my mommy told me I am." she adds with a thoughtful cant of her head. Whether she understood the significance of being a Legend was uncertain.

Malady frowned at the mimicry, was the infant mocking it? It stretched out further, just slightly out of Jenevive's reach, and wiggled its tendril tauntingly. "An illusion? So we don't need to worry about drowning, then?" It snorted.

Paestri ignored her Intangible's comment, and if no one made any remarks about Malady she saw no reason to point it out. "Did she make it, or did you give it to her as a gift? Or..." Her hand idly reached up to her locket, "Did she just find it?"

Another of that kind. It was an intriguing concept, so unlike the magical children that were the Theos. They did not house their spirits, they merely... were them. Wiralu smiled indulgently.

Intrigued, Jenivive did not give much thought to the words of the strange thing waggling at her, instead choosing to read into it's actions as an invitation to play, and accordingly she, too, stretched out her hand further, attempting to touch that strange creature.

"I do not know," Wiralu answered the girl.
"When I found her, she had it. I think it is as much part of her as hair or fingernails are."

The Intangible found it quite enjoyed this little game. It would move closer just enough, and suddenly yank itself out of the toddler's reach. Somehow, it reminded it of things past.

"Sort of like Malady?" Paestri found herself asking. A sudden blankness invaded her eyes as she realized Wiralu might not be able to understand what she was talking about. But it was too late to take back her words, besides it didn't really bother Paestri if people thought her slightly touched in the head.

Malady, on the other hand, was visibly upset by Paestri's question. Its tendril shot back into it with a sudden snap, and it started to expand. It was no longer a scarf, rather it appeared to take on the form of plated armor. Granted it was a smokey, wispy sort of armor that couldn't possibly be of any use. "Shut up, don't say another word about me. If she starts asking you if you're on any medication just let me answer for you." It snarled.

Paestri complied, pressing her lips together in a wide smile as some semblance of mental function returned to her eyes.