Welcome to Gaia! ::

((OOC: Not that I don't love Summer and all. razz ))

Esmeralda sighed and let the knife drop again. She lowered her head and rested it back in her arms. It was dark there, and quiet. Maybe she could just stay like this forever, and no one would bother her again. Maybe she could just keep it all inside, the time and all the special secrets that she and Dev had managed to make. Maybe she would never have to give it to the world. It was hers. Surely she could keep it safe inside if she wanted to?

She stared down at the broken paper-cutter in dull fascination, tracing her finger ever so gently over the edges. Not hard enough to cut, but just enough to leave a faint red line on her fingertip. Surely she could keep it safe inside her, she thought. Keep the secret and all that it stood for.

Then her gaze went to the soft glimmering of the chain in the corner, with the ring that she could see even from here, and she knew that wasn't the way. Setting the paper-cutter down as close to her as she could manage without letting it cut her, she rested her head on her arms again and fell silent, closing her eyes.

( OOC // As I mentioned before, you guys are sillyheads. xD I don't even know why, but I'm having so much fun with this roleplay right now. )


Kahlilia caught a brief sight of the burrs coming out of Phoenix's coat and smiled a little despite herself. How did he get the burrs all over him so quickly? She asked without thinking, as was her unfortunate habit. As she had to curb her shyness eventually, she had to do the same with this. Oh well.

Now standing infront of Ben's stall and coaxing him to eat some oats rather than the grass he had nibbled at all day, Lily giggled. Their supposedly 'alpha male' stallion was actually quite playful and childish at times, striking a resemblance to Benvolio's everyday attitude. What had prompted him to suddenly change, she wondered. Was it the fact Roman had been brave enough to counteract his outer shell?

When she heard Phoenix's snort, she hung her head low to keep from giggling again although she wasn't exactly sure why. Once again, she considered her humor level to be mostly goofy and slightly childish. She could laugh suddenly in a calm moment after a long time of being playful, and she imagined that was what she was doing now. Even so, she was very glad Phoenix was forgiving her after he had seen her handling the hose.









Xavier, however, wasn't convinced in the least when Summer told him she would be alright. There was a slight anger building up again rooting from the confusion and fear that had sprung up so suddenly. When the girl left again, it grew again. What was happening, and why wasn't anyone telling him? What if they were deciding to prank him again?
Oh, no, he wouldn't have it.

Even though his sudden idea was merely on a whim, Xavier threw the slightly bloody jacket back on to the bed and was about to follow Summer into the other girl's room when she came back in. Now slightly annoyed, he asked her, What has been happening? For now, he really wasn't aware of anything, as he had been during the teeny feud between Nanina and Summer, but now he wouldn't let something get past him. Now that he knew when something was afoot, he wanted to know, damnit!

Although Xavier felt the need to repeat his question to Summer, he decided to keep his anger curbed for her. He wanted to be nice to her, because he remembered how stressed she was becoming and how much he truly loved her. He thought about what they had done a little under half an hour ago, and he remembered how they had promised to cut back for their own sakes.
I'll do it for you, Summer. I'll do it for you ...

Kahlilia smiled lightly at Roman's semi-joke and murmured 'guess so' in agreement, because she wasn't able to tell whether or not he was joking. There had been a lot of burrs on Phoenix; had he somehow acquired them while they were training the two stallions? Maybe while they had been talking by the stream he had rolled privately.
Thinking about the streams, Kahlilia remembered Roman's fond words of it. It had been such a serene, peaceful moment between the two of them ...

Yeah, most likely, The girl agreed when she saw that the boy was now standing next to her. Once again, she noticed their height difference when she looked up at him; since in her full height she came up to his shoulders, just by a teense. I'm pretty sure they'll be completely gone by the end of the day. And just as she finished her sentence, Benvolio had his nose poked out of the stall, inspecting Roman with interest. Lily smiled, briefly wondering if this stallion was always so friendly and entergetic about things. Happy-go-lucky, maybe. She wasn't sure.

When she looked back at Roman, however, her smile faded and became a look of puzzlement. Roman, She said, Whats wrong? Are you all right? Her tone had become soft, mildly maternal. Whenever Lily was worried, she usually became a mother figure depending on the extremity of the situation. It was showing again just as it had so many times in the past, but for now it wasn't blinding. Thankfully.

( OOC // No problem. [: )


Kahlilia heard Roman's words and listened to them intently, but she was able to detect the aloofness surfacing in his voice after a moment or two. Having also felt a maternal instinct rising with Ariel in terms of curiousity and slight worry, it was definitely beginning to show. Hopefully, she could control it from doing so, because if worse came to worst she could just about take on the persona of a nervous hen. That wasn't something she wanted. And of course, nobody ever seemed to like such a thing either. The girl wasn't bothered by his words, knowing by first hand experience that there were an abundance of people who could mouth off worse things and feel no remorse. Ah, highschool ...
Just two months ago had she freed herself from its chains. Now it felt like a million years ago. Was that good or bad?

We can try giving them more independence as we go, like people do with their kids, Kahlilia was thinking out loud, remembering a Child Psychology class she had taken for three years of high school. The thoughts of highschool returning again ...
Over time, you start spending a tiny bit more time away - goes from an hour to two, per se. We've spent a lot of time with them so far, but I actually haven't noticed until you mentioned it. As he had, the girl tried a smile, features briefly lighting up as she did so.
Its amazing how much we've gotten them to change and be like they are now, but they're still independent somewhere deep down. Now, her voice trailed off. Maybe everybody is.

( OOC // I actually did take a Child Psychology class Freshman year ... I got a robot baby and hated it with a passion. But that isn't the subject 8D )

Thoughts. Just thoughts, memories, home videos cast in the brain that replayed constantly, rattling and bouncing around as though they were alive. Sometimes just snippets, sometimes whole dialouges. And what happened when the capacity became full? Were the older, scratchier ones deleted as though through a bin, to make room for the newer, happier memories? Was that why some people repeated their mistakes; because they didn't remember anymore?

Before she could chicken out or before Roman could, Lily gave a little smile and put two petite fingers on his hand. Just a comforting gesture, as they had touched one another's shoulders by the streams. Nothing more. Nothing more ...

Roman glanced over at her curiously, as though surprised by something she'd said. After a moment, he asked at last, "How old are you?" Realizing that this sounded rather rude, he flushed a bit and muttered, "Unless you'd rather not say. It's just...sometimes you seem so innocent, and other times you seem so worldly. I was just wondering." Now he just felt stupid, babbling on in an attempt to hide the fact that he didn't know what he was talking about. About to open his mouth again, he realized that that would just compound the problem and went quiet once more. "Well, never mind," he mumbled at last. "It doesn't matter."

He chuckled drily. "Well, that might work," he said in response to Kahlilia's question. "Except it doesn't seem so much to bother him when I'm not around. It's more...I don't know. He doesn't want my attention anywhere else when I am around." As he thought, he nodded slowly. "It's probably not such a bad thing," he said after a moment. "But we could try that thing. I know Phoenix could revert to the horse he was before I came here." He shook his head slowly. "But that's not what I want. It's really not what I want. I want him to be happy, not all closed off like he was before."

When she touched his hand, he glanced up at her in some surprise. But he didn't panic. It was just a gesture of friendship, that was all. She was just being comforting and friendly. He didn't have to worry.

...Damn it, what was wrong with him? Here was a beautiful girl offering him comfort, and his only thought was that he was relieved that she wasn't offering him more? Just how screwed up was he?

Roman glanced away uncomfortably when she gave him that questioning glance. However, his eyes shot back to her when she told him her actual age. "What? No way," he exclaimed before he realized it was sort of rude. Flushing again, he muttered, "I mean, well...Sorry. It was just sort of a surprise." He wouldn't tell her that he'd been figuring her for sixteen. And he'd been afraid to even think that he might possibly be interested, because it felt like robbing the cradle.

But she was only a year younger than him. Only a year older than Ez. And yet he would have put Ez at his own age and Kahlilia at sixteen if he hadn't known better. And now he did. So what was he going to...

Nothing, he told himself firmly. He had a very nice friendship here, and he was not going to be stupid by destroying the tenuous, friendly trust they already had. Instead, offering an awkward grin, he said, "I'm nineteen. We're closer in age than I thought."

Very tenderly, he turned back to Phoenix, who practically had his chest up against the door of the stall and his neck fully extended in an effort to reach him. With a smile, he stepped back towards the horse - it could be seen as a very quiet statement of distance, but if Kahlilia remembered Esmeralda's words, she might understand why. Or it was possibly just him trying to relieve his horse's discomfort. Scratching Phoenix's ears absently, he said, "I hope so. If he went back to that...Well, suffice to say I'd buy him myself before I'd let it come to that." He chuckled weakly. "And I have nowhere to keep a horse."

Summer looked up at him then smiled, "Why do we need to feed her when she is after all a natural born hunter." Summer was like that she believed that if you had a pet who came to you after they where fully grown and could take care of themselves then the pet should keep doing this. Most guys when they found this out about her thought she was just a little wierd but she didn't mind them thinking that for it was their right to think what they wanted to think about her. She was a little worried as to what Xavier would think after she told him what she thought. She then said, "I mean it isn't like we dragged her along I think she's staying with us because she wants the company and took a liking to us. Ya know in a weird way I've always been able to tell what snakes are feeling and sometimes other animals as well." She blushed after having told him that and then asked him, "Do you think I should put some sort of cream or something on my cheek?" She then thought to herself, Well there are other things you can do with, she then cut off the rest of her thought. We had an agreement thinking these thoughts will not make it easy to keep. She was sure her face was on fire but wondered if he could guess the nature of her thoughts, which he probably could since her face was a firy red after having such thoughts.