Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Camille - ROLL -> Mordekai/ ANYONE WHO'S NEAR THE CRAWDADS || Tatiana -> Revontulet and Luka || Trox - ROLL -> Shep))

Cam's eyes widened, face half stuffed with the next slathering of crawdad brains. He snorted over his food, shaking his head and leaned against the table he had previously been atop of.

"Y'goddamn righ', I is. Oiled up god an' th'hottes' thing in this place," Cam said, fingers held in front of his face for licking. Despite the fact he was missing a leg, despite that the days in the hospital stripped him of his muscle, despite that the fine layer of smooth un-definition clad his stomach. He faked the funk of self love pretty well- especially with Mordekai's hand picked IPA quieting the voices in his head. He was lurched out of his thoughts upon the sight of a live crab.

"Oh! Tell me we ge'tuh boil tha-," Nope! Hold down the fort. His eyes were still wide and he lifted his bottle in a mock salute, "H'demand a leggov dat thing, righ' soon, y'hear?"

He paused again and looked back at the pile of crawdads, calling out to anyone near. "Now if yous all still havin' trouble widda' fine shell dese puppies got, bringger here~"

--

Tatiana felt a rush of relief upon being called on. She flushed and beelined toward Revontulet with a sheepish grin and a light touch of the Aurora's arm. She smiled first at Luka then at Claire- worried she had interrupted something. The hamsa bit her tongue, violet eyes flicking from Luka to Claire nervously before sliding a bit more to Tatiana's right, away from Claire, yet maintaining a hand on her fellow Frei.

With a quiet smile and a slow outstretched hand, Tatiana attempted to reach out to Luka. Ren had mentioned him by name and he seemed nice enough. She cleared her throat.

"Tatiana," She said, accented, smiling and softly to Luka, before inquiring "Luka?"

--

"They're all infants, are y'kiddin' me?" Harrison barked out with a laugh filling his plate as he contemplated, thumb between his lips, "Yeah I was worried myself. After seeing how they came together- especially after the olympics... That is if we ignore the disgrace of the Leafs... I'm a little more partial to him."

The pilot raised his brows at being given props, peeling open another crawdad, shaking his head more at Cam's demonstration than the conversation at hand. However hockey would probably be the only driving force that would make him go without a meal. Luckily the intermissions helped in the 'Keep Trox relatively healthy' movement at the household. Cam had been force feeding him enough cajun dishes lately, this wasn't too far off from par.

He didn't go for the brains though. Instead he considered the league and Shep joining as he chewed on the meat of the tail, brows furrowed in consideration.

"H'mean, y'always welcome t'our ice time. We book practice skate times all th'time, then games and scrimmages an' th' like. I could definitely get you in for a skate session- email-machine sign up s**t free." He grinned and rolled his eyes thinking about it, "Jus' so long as you can handle the abuse that comes with bringin' th'mean age down t'about 50."

Of course he was joking. He smiled large upon hearing about the win and merely responded with an 'awesome' before digging into his crayfish with a bit more pep.

"I've got it recorded at home and I'm pretty excited to see it go down. They break it down by periods on that?" Harrison asked, peeking over before pulling back and waving his head. "I mean, don't tell me. I like to leave some mystery for tonight. Damn though, second. Better not let it get to their heads. 22 games remaining is more than enough rope..."

There was a lull, enough to enjoy good beer, food and good company. Chuckling at the image of teaching the Raevan's to play some puck. He'd taken Tatiana out on his home made rink once. She was still so wobbly from being a newborn that it didn't bode too well.

"Less weight to throw aroun' I guess. Tatiana seems to enjoy watchin' it with me. But, I build myself a rink every winter. Set up a net, few slapshots before or after work... She didn't take to the ice too well- despite yenno, the whole floating thing. She's jus', off balance in general. Eventually though. I'd see her as some good D."

He laughed, leaning back, watching the crowd move and work their social scene, "That'd be somethin' though... Coach a Lab hockey team? I'd be into that."

((Melanie --> Bonfire | Thanatos))

Melanie couldn't help but blush a bit at all the talk of this "Mr. Right" coming to sweep her off her feet. She could only hope that one day that would happen, when the time was right, of course. The woman shook her head and chuckled softly to herself, ignoring the last bit of talk before the slight distraction.

Then the man began to talk about his past, which was actually quite attractive. She liked his voice, his look, the words he chose to use; everything. Not bad for this being such a "random" visitation.

She kept her eyes locked on the man before responding. "Sorry to hear about your father, but I'm glad you've made your way out of the country and into the city. I've always loved the city. It is pretty relaxing once you get used to it." she began, looking into the green eyes that peered at her. It was then that the secret was spilled. Dr. Kyou was the one using souls, giving these creations life, and giving them away. At least now she knew that much for her reports.

"I'm sorry to hear about the death of the Raevan, but without that death, the new life, Domo, wouldn't be here. So in a sense, it's a rebirthing of sorts. What a wonderful concept." she stated with a smile, looking off at the Raevan who was still at the Arts and Crafts tables with the others.

Melanie's ears perked up when she was asked the next question. She turned her attention to the tall man and spoke, "M-me? Be a guardian?" she paused a moment to think. "You know...I think that would be very interesting if it were to happen one day. But I wouldn't even know where to begin trying to raise one. They are definitely beautiful beings, that much is for certain. So majestic and even some being mysterious. I would like to learn more about them at this point, though." she said, looking off over the different Raevan's that attended the party. They really were all beautiful in their own rights. That would be something to think about, being interested enough to figure out how to go about obtaining a Raevan of her own. Maybe someday she would do such a thing; but that was a big decision to be made.

Melanie snapped back to reality and smiled, rubbing her forehead a bit. "Heh, sorry. I tend to zone out sometimes whilst in thought. Forgive me." she began. "So, tell me, cowboy, what is it that you like to do in your spare time?" she questioned, trying to keep the conversation light and easy.

(( Claire → Ren → Human food tables, Aaron & Justin ))

Claire smiled at Ren, but found nerves dancing up her own spine. Here she was, finally getting to converse with a Raevan, and she did not know what to say! It had been so long since she had been at parties in general that it felt like she forgot how to socialize outside of a workplace setting. There had been such a withdrawl from social settings after her last trip to the doctor's, and now a golden opportunity was slipping past to know more about the Raevans, the Lab, everything, first hand - but her nerves had bested her as more Raevans approached to speak to Ren.

"Thank you," she replied with another blush and bow of the head. "Pardon me again," and with that, she slipped back the way she came, plate held in her trembling hands. She used to be so good at socializing - why was she struggling so much now?

Meanwhile, Aaron was working on a piece of cornbread as Justin explained his non-guardianship. It was understandable to Aaron - as much as he wanted fatherhood sometimes he questioned if he was ready for it or not. A Raevan, it seemed, worked in the same manner for parenthood, but perhaps it was the context that gave him pause. Was this something he was truly prepared for?

"It was Claire who found the Lab -- well, her mom, really. She saw the ad in the paper." He wiped the crumbs from his mouth. It was not for him to divulge the reason for her visit to the Lab - that was far too personal. But as if on cue, Claire returned, looking more weary than he would have liked. Immediately his smile turned downward with worry. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah -- yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going to join you two for a bit." She smiled brightly, but it was not enough to dissuade Aaron, who continued to watch. She took a drink from the Solo cup in her hand and turned to the unfamiliar face. "I'm sorry, we haven't met yet, have we? My name's Claire. I'm Aaron's wife." She extended her hand towards Justin, her shaky smile holding.

((Ethiriel -> Seating | Zul))

In response she gave a small hum, gently squeezing the flip-phone before shutting and returning it to her pocket. She was slowly getting used to the tone each key made as well as where each one was positioned. Henry was trying to teach her what buttons to push and to count how many times she had pressed each key in order to find contacts – with two it was easy enough, but she wasn’t sure how she would handle any more later on if it were the case.

Ethiriel’s smile faltered and her brows knit for a second before she righted herself, lifting her chin in a quick nod. ”Indeed. They are doing well in taking care of me.” she said, attempting to reacquaint herself with smiling. She wasn’t quite ready to call them family, yet.

”I do hope you have been well also. Since I had not heard from you since our visit, I was curious of your well being.”

((Wasa - Craft Table |Lulu, Domo, Lala))

Wasa released her lip, her mouth turning into a relaxed smile as the Sigel accepted her gift. "Wasa." She picked up where Lulu's 'Miss' trailed off, nodding in introduction to Domo and Lala as well. "I'm a friend of Melisande's." Behind Lulu the main building of the Lab stood bright in the afternoon sun, reminding her that maybe she was something more to this community. Somewhere in that building, a soul and her essence were being combined to make her Raevan, a future guest to parties like this one. "Also a-ah... I guess you would call it a Guardian-to-Be?"

She picked up some yellow pipe cleaners, her fingers working with minimal glances as she continued to smile at the seated Raevan. She had done alright. She was having a pleasant interaction with a Raevan other than Pasha. Two long loops of pipecleaners formed a pair of rabbit ears on her newest chenille stem snail.

((Pasha - -> Games --> Food Tables |Cesc, Laz, Xiu, Wasa, Lulu))

"I'll sign us up." Melisande affirmed, excusing herself from Cesc long enough to make her way to the Games list. As she passed Laz and Xiu, Pasha offered a small smile and lifted a hand in greeting. She didn't trouble the incubus with more company…she knew it was an effort to greet her with a smile every week at the Lab as it was. Instead, she let him enjoy his relative peace with a small gesture of hello to the both of them.

She signed up herself and the Stag with a flourish, taking a peek at the other names on the list. Wasa had signed up! She tried to catch the Artist's eye from across the way and beamed at her, pointing to the book before offering a silent mini clap of joy. It looked like the woman was busy with Lulu at the art table, and the Muse brightened, restraining herself from darting over to greet the other Sigel and settling for a heartfelt wave for now if the Rabbit spotted her.

There would be time to say hello to everyone!

"We're signed up!" She confided to Cesc as she reached his side again, still picking at her fruit skewer. Wasa had done an excellent job with them. "It doesn't look like Zul and Etheriel signed up though. Do you think…they're feeling left out?"

It was obvious Melisande wished to greet them, but she looked Cesc for advice.

(( Laz : Food table -> Crawfish | Xiu // Mentions Justin and Cam ))

Lazarus peeked into the basket when Xiu opened it. Surely enough, there were a few vials of deep red liquid in there, which made it seemed a little morbid. It was also a little bit uncomfortable when Xiu asked if he should go for the horse or the cow's blood. As innocent as Xiu looked, if Lazarus didn't knew the white Sigel he wouldn't had guessed that he actually fed on blood.

When Xiu mentioned about the crawfish, Lazarus couldn't help but look over as well. It was an interesting sight to see a big pile of red boiled crawfish just laying on top of a table like that along with some corn, mushroom, potatoes and other food stuff. Without the usual plates and other utensils to serve or display the food on. It even seemed a little... prehistoric.

"Sure." Was his only reply as he shrugged. Why not? Since they were here already. He made no extra comment as Xiu led him over, but he did took note of the people that were already at the table. No one that he really recognize though.

Gingerly Lazarus picked up a boiled crawfish with his fingers and inspects it curiously. It was hard all over on account to the shell. How do you eat this? His thoughts echoed the other guy's words as he set the crawfish back down again, picking up a mushroom instead to pop into his mouth. He would listen in, or watch how other people eat it from a side, before trying one himself. He certainly don't want to embarrass himself in public by eating a crawfish incorrectly.