Welcome to Gaia! ::

They weren't the strangest couple to ever enter the festival grounds, but they were certainly noticable. It probably had to do with the fact they were complete opposites, she was short, with hair like earth and bright eyes that weren't blue but weren't quite green. She was dressed in pale blues, trimmed with silver butterflies, and her large white wings were accented with draps of fine silver chains and blue droplets. This in constrast with her strictly starkly dressed husband in black dress pants and white shirt, covered by his black long coat, his hair like night, his eyes were cold behind his black rimmed glasses.

She seemed carefree, he seemed too protective, though seeing as he was male and she was obviously showing the first stages of pregnancy, he was probably being an overprotective male who treated the condition as if she was unwell. As for the woman... Well Kara of Winters didn't seem to notice, nor care for that matter. She was just there to have fun.

Which was why she was dragging her husband over to the fish scooping stall. Kara leaned over until her white gold feather necklace nearly dipped into the water. Lau Donovan grabbed the back of her dress.

"Don't do that you're going to fall in," he told her gruffly.
Kara grinned up at him, "Look at them! I've never seen so many fish, I haven't seen a game like this since I was a child."

She motioned for a bowl and a net, with both in her hands she looked eagerly down at the waiting fishies.

"Kara, we are not getting more pets."
"But we can keep them in the indoor pond, Naida and Jair would love to play with them! Naida always said she wanted a pet."
"As long as we don't come back with another kid," Donovan sighed under his breath, even though in truth he really didnt' mind.

He loved his children, even if he thought he had way too many for a man of his 27 some odd years.

Suddenly the hand holding the net shot into the water as Kara attempted to bring up a fish.

Donovan almost got splashed by water as Kara brought the wiggling fishing up and dropped it into the bowl. He peered down at the wiggling gray thing and wondered how badly it was going to be tormented by his granddaughter of a mer (his age and he was already a grandfather, that couldn't be right).

He couldn't help but smirk a bit at the proud look on Kara's face, "Quick reflexes, why didn't you decide to learn fighting?"
"You know my fighting skills are nonexistence," Kara murmured as she handled the bowl over to have the fish bagged.
"You're good with a staff, and even better blindfolded," he chuckled.

She gave him a look, she never lived that odd quirk of hers down.

Now that she had her gray little fishie in a bag, she continued to eye the other fish swimming merrily. She really, really wanted the strange black and blue fishy wtih the runic like markings. However, she knew Donovan would get bored if they stood there all the time until she got the fishy she wanted. So... she shoved the bowl and net into Donovan's hands.

He blinked and stared at them like they were some strange ritualistic objects before staring at her.

"Why are you giving me these?"
"So you can fish of course," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Come on Donovan... please....."

He twitched, she was giving him that look, that sweet puppy look that promised tears if he didn't. Not that Kara ever cried when he said no, but since she was pregnant he wouldn't put it past her to cry. Hormones and all that, after all she had already been asking for strawberries in the middle of the night, one never knew... maybe wanting fish was another quirk.

Donovan sighed and postion himself over the tub of water, "Alright, which one do you want?"

Kara nearly clapped until she remembered that she already had fish in her hands, and pointed to the black and blue one. If it weren't for the runic markings it would have been invisible and it was already hard enough to see.

Truth of the matter was, Donovan had not expected to get the fish on his first try. After all the damn thing was black except for the odd glowing blue rune like marks on the scales. With it being evening and only lanterns to light the festival the odds of actually catching a fish like that in a tub full of water was slim. Yet, he hid his surprise well as he pulled out the very fish that Kara had wished for. He smirked in a smug way as he put it into the bowl and handed it to the stall keeper.

"There, now can we do something else?"

Kara blinked and glared up at him, "That is so unfair, you must have cheated."

"I do not cheat, I have the devil's luck," Donovan shrugged causing his wife to roll her eyes at him.

"You are the devil himself sometimes."

Donovan laughed, and to anyone who didn't know him it sounded very menacing, but that was Donovan, and his family were either immune to it, or was just like him. Once given the fish in a bag back he handed it to Kara.

"Sometimes?"

Kara twitched and blushed furiously at that comment, knowing the reference that her husband was referring to. So embarrassed was she that she moved to whack him hard, but found for once her hand at stopped.

Donovan gave her an all knowing smirk before pulling her close to himself, shoving the teddy he had into her arms, so he was free to take the last ring. They were becoming quite overburden with stuff already, between two fish and two teddies... The man gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Donovan!" she squealed, he normally wasn't like this, Donovan wasn't the type for PDAs, but it seemed like he was in one of those moods.

One of those teasing moods she thought as she grabbed the bear before it could fall.

He shrugged, "We're here to have fun remember?"

And with that he threw the last ring, not caring much where it landed this time.


The prize landed was not a teddy bear, however it wasn't one of the better prizes. His haphazard throw landed on a pin that was for Pocky. Specifically it was for chocolate pocky, which personally Kara liked better than any other flavour. Oddly enough she even liked it better than strawberry.

"Pocky!" her eyes lit up reaching out to the stall owner for a box.

However she found her hands very full, and realized if she tried grabbing it she would drop something at best the teddies at worse the fish.

"Did we bring the bag in case of something like this?" Donovan inquired, though he knew the answer to that, after all if she didn't he would have, but it seemed like the nice thing to do.

"Yea, but I can't reach it, the bag is sitting on my hip."

She tried twisting her body to get at it, but no luck, and looked up at her husband pitifully. This only caused Donovan to roll his eyes as he undid the latch on the bag and shoved both teddy bears inside. Where they disappeared into the void of a bag that never seemed to end.

"Maybe if we put the fish in a separate pocket they might survive," he murmured carefully taking the fish and putting them into his large pockets of his coat, "Because you'll drop them if you keep carrying them."

However Kara wasn't paying that much attention now that her hands were free, instead she was nibbling on a piece of pocky.

"Now what are we going to do?" Donovan murmured looking around.

He absently bit into the pocky that Kara was poking into his mouth. He didn't mind, she tended to do this all the time, and the taste of biscuit and chocolate was quite good. They still had a few stalls to visit, but they still had a lot of time, and from the looks of things their venture into the games had been very successful indeed.

Kara looked back at the pin game, there was only one prize they hadn't gotten yet, and she pointed to it, "Why not try for the bonsai? We have the teddy and a box of pocky we could try for that too."
"Kara, what in the hell are we going to do with a plant? Bonsais are also the most needy plant ever, someone would have to look after it, trim it, shape it and make sure it doesn't die," Donovan pointed out.
"How do you know all this?"

She barely caught her husband grumbling about stupid plants back home, home as in the household he had come from. Kara didn't know Donovan's clan kept bonsai trees, though it shouldn't have surprised her.

"Give it to Yukiko," she told him, "She can display it in her shop to show how good she is with plants, and she would love something like that. She already has a miniature sakura tree."
"I guess..." Donovan mused opening his wallet again.

In truth he wasn't so sure, that was one of the harder prizes to get, and tossing rings were more fickle than tossing darts. He paid up for three more rings, and took them all into his hand. Bringing the first one up, he tossed it far back, seeing as that was where the pins were.

"Now what are we going to do?" Donovan murmured looking around.

He absently bit into the pocky that Kara was poking into his mouth. He didn't mind, she tended to do this all the time, and the taste of biscuit and chocolate was quite good. They still had a few stalls to visit, but they still had a lot of time, and from the looks of things their venture into the games had been very successful indeed.

Kara looked back at the pin game, there was only one prize they hadn't gotten yet, and she pointed to it, "Why not try for the bonsai? We have the teddy and a box of pocky we could try for that too."
"Kara, what in the hell are we going to do with a plant? Bonsais are also the most needy plant ever, someone would have to look after it, trim it, shape it and make sure it doesn't die," Donovan pointed out.
"How do you know all this?"

She barely caught her husband grumbling about stupid plants back home, home as in the household he had come from. Kara didn't know Donovan's clan kept bonsai trees, though it shouldn't have surprised her.

"Give it to Yukiko," she told him, "She can display it in her shop to show how good she is with plants, and she would love something like that. She already has a miniature sakura tree."
"I guess..." Donovan mused opening his wallet again.

In truth he wasn't so sure, that was one of the harder prizes to get, and tossing rings were more fickle than tossing darts. He paid up for three more rings, and took them all into his hand. Bringing the first one up, he tossed it far back, seeing as that was where the pins were.


Despite his luck with the fish, Donovan had no such luck with the bonsai tree. The ring ended up bouncing off of the top pins he had been aiming for, and ended up landing on one of the pins that was meant for a teddy bear. Donovan was having the sinking feeling the teddy bear was the easiest win out of all of the prizes.

"We do have another kid to give the teddy to right?" he asked his wife.
Kara had to pause for a moment, "Mia?"
"Let's not, she'll dissect it."

Well.. maybe not, but something along those lines and Donovan wouldn't put it past Mia to do such a thing anyhow.

"Miyu then, she's a sweet girl and she would like the teddy bear, she's still at that stage in her life... pity it's not water proof otherwise I would suggest Naida."

That was the disadvantage about having mers, it was really hard to get them gifts.

Donovan eyed the panda teddy bear warily, it looked like it had sockets and no eyes. The white fur was a bit matted as well and he held out the thing to Kara. It wasn't as cute as he thought a panda should be.

"This one, can go to Mia, she would love this too much to disect it," he muttered, "It can sit beside her stuffed cat with the murderous grin."
"Donovan!" Kara scolded him lightly, "That's not a nice thing to say."
"She named the thing Alice, and her pet rabbit is named Lucy... short for Lucifer," Donovan replied dead panned.

Yes, they had a very strange and potentially dangerous family, but that is sort of what happens when one has a very, very large family. Mia just happened to be more violent than most.

"Alright," Donovan replied ruefully, "One more try."
"And if not this?" Kara inquired softly.
"We'll walk around before trying again, otherwise I just might throw something harder than a ring at the stand."
"I thought you weren't armed!"
"I brought my business coat by accident," Donovan brushed it off, even though both of them knew that Donovan had a reputation of being glued into his coat, he had never been seen in public without that coat.

Before Kara could rebuke him, he threw the third and final ring, hoping at least it wouldn't be another teddybear. Pocky was edible, teddybears collected dust.

"It's a...."
"Don't say it!" Donovan cut her off.

Kara looked at Donovan and could have sworn he was getting fustered, it made her giggle. Her husband rarely ever got fustered or fustrated. Well, he had been fustrated but nothing so trival as over a ring tossing game.

"Just give us the pocky, anymore teddybears and it'll take over the house," Donovan told the stall owner.
Kara tsked him, "Donovan, we live in a masion, otherwise all the children wouldn't be there, get the teddy bear. I'm sure.... well... that someone will want the teddy bear."
"Even though most of our children are grown?"

She shrugged, one never knew, maybe they could give it to one of the elder children, or even to one of the grandchildren.

Kara, in one of those incredbitly odd moments actually had to drag Donovan away from the stall. Not that she never dragged him anywhere, but it was the first time she had to drag him away from doing something normal. It was oddly comforting to know that Donovan was like any other male, he had is pride even if it was in something as simple as ring tossing. However she drew the line when he began to take out his wallet again, so instead she convinced him to walk with her a bit and grab a bite to eat. They had skipped dinner to go to this festival and pocky did not count as something to eat.

Fortunately Donovan still had his protective streak, and to know Kara needed food got him somewhat away from the stall. He went off to buy food for them both, while Kara wandered the vending stalls. where she came upon one that was selling lanterns. According to this stall it was a mixture between some sort of ritual, a game and sell... a vendor's stall.

"What caught your eye?"

Kara turned to see that Donovan had returned, only he returned with food. In was carrying a tray ladled wtih meat on a stick, buns with filling inside of them, roasted nuts, and some dragon beard candy.

She pointed to the lanterns, "Those, it's... kind of like a game of sorts, but not really. The idea is that you buy a lantern and then when you see a ghost you catch it and send it on it's way at the river."
"Weird..." he muttered, "Maybe it brings good luck or something to send a spirit on it's way."

He wasn't even sure if there were spirits here and if they were he wondered if he should be worried in anyway.

"Want one?"
"Well they are pretty and it would be interesting to try," Kara ventured, "Could we?"
The man thought about it for a moment, and decided it wouldn't hurt to try, "Hell, why not? Here hold this, you'll be okay holding this right?"
"I'm pregnant, not disabled."

She took the tray from him allowing Donovan to pull out his wallet and pay for a lantern, which Kara picked out. Holding it, he realized there was no way they could make the switch without dropping something.

"Come on, let's find a place to sit and eat, and I'll give you your lantern then," he told her ushering her away from the vendor's stall.

Now that they had walked, been fed and Kara was happy looking out for more spirits to catch, what with her lovely lantern swinging from her hand. Donovan felt this was a good excuse to go back to the ring toss bag (after all he hadn't gotten the bonsai yet). He ignored the fact that his wife was giggling at him, they both knew it was a pride thing as he fished out his wallet and paid the stall keeper the gold for three rings.

"If you're bored you can go scouting for more spirits," Donovan told her absently.
But this only made Kara giggle more, "And miss out on you getting the bonsai? Of course not, besides we're supposed to have fun together."
"And you of course find this far too amusing."

It would be lie if she said it wasn't amusing watching Donovan try once again to aim for the pins that would get him the precious little tree. A tree that was simply going to go to Yukiko in the first place, but he still wanted to try dammit. He let the ring fly and watched warily where it would land.

The ring hit the pin and spun around on it like a hula hoop it didn't seem to want to land any time soon, but eventually, the ring lost momentum and landed on one of the rings. It seemed that Donovan had thrown too hard, so instead of landing a bonsai tree he got-

"Pocky, well at least it isn't a teddy bear," Kara offered up some sympathy.

However that did not stop Donovan from glaring at the ring like it was all it's fault. Eventually though he was going to have to give up on glaring at the ring, and he accepted the box of pocky though grumbling a bit.

"Maybe Lin would like some," he muttered thoughtfully.

She did still eat chocolate... at least from what he could remember. Then again she kept growing and changing and experiencing new things. He still couldn't believe she had actually wanted a cellphone, but at least she wasn't glued to it. Thank whatever higher deity out there.

"Perhaps," Kara replied softly, "Don't feel so bad, this has to be one of the harder games to play after all," she patted him on the arm and offered him another ring.

Donovan took the ring from Kara and chuckled, she always did try to make him and anyone else for that matter feel better. Not that he felt overly better, but he was less testy than before. He considered the target before him, playing with the willow ring for a bit.

"Where do you want to go afterwards? More fish?" Donovan asked casually.
"I was thinking maybe try for a few balloons, I saw floating in another tub. Someone might like them."
"Put them into the pool in the house, the mers can play with them Jair and Naida would like that, maybe then they would stop trying to dive off the mini waterfall, I swear Naida is just as bad as Feng."
"Like mother like daughter," Kara giggled at that.

He couldn't help but chuckle, this was true, though at least Naida hadn't done anything worse than jump off mini waterfalls and she was hardy enough to do so he thought to himself. That last thought going through his head he threw the ring and hoped for the best.

"It's a...."
"Teddy bear," Donovan sighed putting both his hands onto the stall counter.

If he had been anyone but him, he would have sworn that the pins were mocking him. Seriously, he could throw a knife and hit the target dead on (literary), he could rummage through computers, he could sneak up on people (who were not elven) and he could damn well easily carry out a hit, but he couldn't get a ring on a pin. Well... even someone as obsessive as Donovan had to fail somewhere.

And Donovan was obsessive.

Kara leaned over holding out a willow ring on her pointer finger, "One try left, or are you going to spend more money on this little game?"
"At least I can claim to have cleaned out the stall in teddy bears," he grumbled taking the ring.

He stood up straight and wondered if he threw it any which way would he get something other than a teddy bear. Probably not, he thought sourly, but there was one ring left and better to use it than to waste it. So, he threw it...

It didn't work, but at least she could claim to at least get a different coloured balloon this time around. She handed the third one over to Donvovan for him to put it away. Kara could not help but stick her tongue out at him before paying for another round. She knew he was smirking at her, probably because he found this so damn amusing she thought to herself.

Great, now she was swearing mentally, Donovan was a bad influence on her.

As if her thoughts summoned him, she felt strong arms wrap around her waist. Donovan was smirking, she didn't need to look to see that. He rested his chin on her shoulder, his breath on her ear.

"So, are you going to try again?"
"It would be easier to try again if you weren't distracting me."

She could feel him shifting a bit, but he was still holding on and if she wasn't her she would have elbowed him in the ribs, but that would be uncalled for. At least she thought so, one of them had to have some amount of decency.

"Distracting?" his breath traveled down her neck, "I think not."
"Sadist," she muttered before trying again.

Again no such luck and instead she yanked out a red balloon, it was a very pretty red balloon but a red balloon nonetheless and not the one she had been hoping for. She sighed leaning against Donovan, it felt good, he made a good person to lean against. Giving the balloon to the stall owner, Kara looked up at Donovan.

"Do you want to try?" Kara inquired.
Donovan chuckled, "And wound my pride more? No thank you, I didn't save it to have it wounded again."
"And what does that make me?" Kara pouted, "I'm having trouble too!"
"Well.... at least I could do something about that," he grinned kissing her on the forehead, "Later..."

She blinked and thought about it, and it took a while for her to process that. Kara reached up and whamped him on the head.

"Donovan! That is evil!" she flushed with embarrassment.
He ducked to avoid being hit right on the head, "But it's so much fun," he protested.

Her husband leaned over a bit to pay the stall keeper for another hook giving it to Kara. He molded her fingers around the rope, just enjoying being this close without it looking too perverse.

"Now come on, if I can eventually after snagging mainly teddy bears, I'm sure you can get the balloon you want," he murmured to her, leaning over as if to help her hook the next balloon.
Kara rolled her eyes before dipping the hook into the tub.


There was a splash of water as the hook came back up with a red balloon. It dangled precariously on the hook, and Kara was careful to hand it to the stall owner lest it fall back in. She sighed though, she had hoped for something else at least, but then again she had most of the colours, except for two, one of them being the one she wanted.

"Red seems to like you at the moment," Donovan's comment was a bit muffled by her neck.
Kara tried to ignore that feeling, "Donovan, we're in public, don't make me whack you."
"You already tried, and I ducked."

Kara pouted a bit as she took the balloon, and thumped it against his forehead. The balloon bounced against his forehead and the rubber skin clung to his short hair so when she pulled away it stood straight up. Seeing this, Kara giggled and reached over to try to static all of Donovan's hair.

"Hey! None of that," Donovan yanked the balloon out of Kara's hand, "Now I'm going to have to style it again."
"Don't, it makes you look cute."
"Kara to you a lot of things are cute."

She gave him the most innocent smile she could muster all the while paying for yet another hook. Kara might have pulled it off too, if Donovan didn't know her very well, Kara thought a lot of things were cute, including kids, animals and soft squishy things.

And yes sometimes even Donovan can be soft and squishy.

Taking the hook once more, and free from Donovan's grasp, Kara leaned forward to give it another go.

Donovan thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but ignored it at first. After all there were a lot of lights around here, so he thought maybe he was just seeing spots, but it kept coming back like a bad coin. Teasing the edge of his vision until finally he whirled around to see what had been bothering him, only to find himself looking at a floating spirit. Dumbstruck for a moment he didn't move until he remembered he was supposed to catch the damn thing.

Since Kara was busy trying to get that balloon he was left holding the lantern, with that in mind he took a swipe at the offending spirit that dared distract him. Catching it within the lantern, he stared at it for a few more moments blankly before looking over his shoulder at Kara who was still busy giving the latest balloon to the stall owner. Deciding that she would be fine without him for a small while he went off to release the bugger in the river so it could leave him alone.

Kara of course had not noticed any of this she was too disappointed in snagging yet another green balloon, this made three green ones, two red ones and one blue one. She mused in how all of this turned out.

"Well maybe we'll have a lot of decorations for Christmas, what do you think Donovan?" she blinked and looked behind her "Donovan?"

The man was no where in sight and she frowned, when did he leave and where did he go? It wasn't like him to leave like that suddenly, but maybe he had to do something. Like converse with nature or the like she thought absently.

"I guess then I'm alone to try again," Kara murmured rummaging around in her purse for more money to pay the stall keeper, the guy must be making a killing off of her at the moment.

Gently taking the hook once more Kara bent over to try grabbing a different type of balloon at least, but her mind wasn't fully on it. She couldn't help but wonder where Donovan went off to without saying anything.

Savvy nodded at their names, "Nice, and how come yer at the festival here? Celebrating, maybe?" Her sleepy eyes danced, though it was more to enjoy the mischeive than the thought of a child; she was a pirate afterall. She let her hand fall to the empty swordsheath at her side, restraining her fingers from gripping it tightly. Children didn't work with that type of lifestyle anyways.

Lyr shrank back a little further at Donovan's approach, but she quickly smiled at his explanation and nodded. "We've taken a couple of teddies from him, too," she giggled, holding up the two she had won earlier plus the one Nek had won but had grown tired of carrying.

Taking Lyr's momentary distraction as an opportune moment, Nek quickly retracted her arm and stepped a few paces back from Lyr, breathing out a small sigh of releif. Her shoulders slumped and she straightened her whip to sit back and watch the conversation, content to keep herself out of it.

Lyr's puppy dog eyes returned to stare at Nek when she retreated, causing Savvy to dance over to Nek's side and shove her back towards the people. "We managed to get some candy out of the booth, too," she added to Lyr's statement, trying to keep the group from losing themselves again.

A small jerk of her arm informed her that Yelsa was beginning to wander off again and she pulled on it hard to yank him back to reality. Why was she all of a sudden in charge of the group, she wondered, other than the fact that being the captain of a ship would naturally make her a leader in situations like these as well.

Nek suffered herself to be led back to Lyr's side, knowing it would only be worse if she tried to resist more. It surprised her a little when Lyr only smiled and focused her attention back on the couple. A small grin tried to take over the corner of her mouth and she had to stifle it, fixing her scowl back in place and looking up to the rest of those involved in the conversation.

Kara smiled a bit, "No, just spending time together, and spending time out," she added the last as an after thought.
"We actually have a lot more children back home," Donovan explained.

Now that made him double think for a while, after twenty adoptions they were finally having actual children (granted to be fair Kara adopted most of these children way before she ever met him, but still). It was odd thinking that all of them was theirs, but they were, and he wasn't going to deny that.

"So it's good to ditch the kids every once in a while."
Kara gave Donovan a look, "They're not that young, and they're just fine."
"Yes, yes they are, but I do like a bit sanity every once in a while," Donovan added, "Besides you wanted to get out before you ended up bedridden and out of your mind with boredom."
"I won't be out of my mind with boredom!"

Donovan just gave her a look that said just you wait. Kara was always doing something, and he knew this, being bed ridden because of large pregnancy was not going to go over well. Not to mention having to deal with her co-worker and pregnancy was not going to be a pretty sight.

"So," Donovan glanced at Savvy, "Are you the babysitter?"

Nek rolled her eyes at the mention of more kids; one adult woman acting like a child and holding onto her arm was enough for her. Though it still wasn't as annoying as Moonlight could be sometimes. Speaking of which, Nek wondered when she was going to pop up. The excitable assassin slash theif was usually right where the action was, and usually right where she could ride on Nek's nerves, so it was odd that she had not shown up yet. Nek began to think Moonlight might be laying in wait somewhere to ambush her, which made her get a little twitchy.

"You have a lot of children?" Lyr asked, her eyes widenning again, "It must not get lonely at all at your house then..." Which made her thoughts flit back a little from her excited mode and back into the quiet and stoic-seeming woman she was. Her writing was all in her head, and usually expressing itself through her hands and into her keyboard, leaving her face somewhat devoid of emotion except for her shyer tendancies. Attempting to get back into her moments ago happy and playful mode she brought out her water balloon and bouced it happily, waiting for a smile to return to her naturally rather than forcing it.

Savvy giggled and nodded, watching Lyr Mal play with her balloon out of the corner of her eye. "It seems like I'm the designated desicion maker right now," she replied, "Though the only person I really have any say over is my crew." Yelsa attempting to walk away again while she kept hold of his tunic made her frown and turn to him for a moment. She grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hauled him back to the group, sitting him down at her feet and giving a look that he was clear not to misunderstand. Standing straight again she pointed to him apologetically, "Unfortunately this cloudbrained guy is the only member of my ship here."

Yelping a little when he was unexpectedly dragged back and sat down, Yelsa remained with his grey and yellow eyes glued to his paper until Savvy spoke again. "I'll have you know that poetry is not 'cloudheaded'," he sniffed, trying to strike a dignified pose from his position on the ground and only half succeeding, "At least I don't lay on the spars all day and daydream about things no one else knows about." Though she was his captain, he hadn't been one of the original three to get the ship, and so there wasn't much he actually knew about what she was thinking at times. Of course, when Savvy went up in the rigging in a bad mood at random times int heir journeys even Kraken and Jildegard, the other two of the original three, seemed mystified as to the reason.

He realized it was a little unfair to bring it up in front of other people and so merely twitched his whiskers and stuck his nose back to his paper and pen, "You shouldn't make fun of things you don't know about is all."

Savvy sighed and gave him a small smile. "Alright," she ignored his comments about her and the spars and gave the couple in front of them her attention again, "He may be our ship's doctor, but he's also a poet whom our chef likes to get into rhyming battles with." A grin spread across her smile and she attmepted to laugh, "Except the only thing she rhymes about is food."

When she had found her happy self again Lyr Mal tucked the balloon back in her bag and pounced on one of both Nek and Savvy's arms. It seemed like the pirate and her poet had come into a little tizzy that left them both sad, and now that Lyr had gotten her sparkling puppy dog eyes back she was determined to bring them both back into the merriment as well.

Nek jumped a little into the air at Lyr's reattachment to her arm, half expecting to see Moonlight giving her a toothy grin when the cave-guide looked down to find out who it was. Her face turned a little red at the discovery of Lyr looking up at her wide-eyed in startlement, and she forced herself to shrug and look away until her face was back to its normal color, refusing to offer an explanation for the jump.

Her smile turning to cover for her early plastery grin, Savvy burst into laughter at Nek's reaction and moved to grab for her other arm. "Are you having fun yet, little miss grumpy pants?" she asked, her golden eyes brimming with glee at the cave-guide.

"What-no!" Nek hopskipped away from Savvy's outstretched hand, momentarily forgetting that she was once again in Lyr's grasp. Lyr came with her, and since she was still holding onto Savvy's other arm, Savvy came, too. They all crammed to a hesitant stop and tried to regain their balance only to cling to each other more and fall over in a heap. Growling, and stuck at the bottom of the pile, Nek propped herself up on her elbows and glared at the two laying on top of her. "Is there a reason I should be having fun?" she scowled, though it was a poor scowl at best.

"You are, you are!" Lyr giggled, pointing from her crumpled position underneath Savvy, who was laughing too hard to comment on the situation.

Yelsa merely watched the trio fall, alerted to the movement by the pressure on his tunic fading when Savvy let go of it to reach for Nek. A sigh escaped his mouth as he shook his head and grinned up at the couple. "I don't think there is a babysitter among us, would you be volounteering for the job?" He chuckled as he remembered Donovan's statement about boredom, "They'd at least make some sort of entertainment, though I cannot say what they would do for the sanity you said you were trying to find."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Donovan replied as he absently paid the stall owner for a hook.

He didn't really want to play, but he wanted to do something to keep himself busy, since it seemed that the larger group was having a enough trouble keeping themselves out of trouble. As he was given the hook, Donovan leaned over a bit to dip it into the tub.

"We have 20 children, we don't need more," Donovan replied.
"They're all adopted," Kara explained, after all she didn't give birth to 20 children!, "And you're forgetting the grandchildren Donovan."
"Oh yes," he paused for a minute in what he was doing, "I believe we have 14 of those."
"And six greatgrandchildren," she added.

Donovan hummed a bit as he sagged a balloon.

"So you see," he told Yelsa, "We do have enough children, well... almost..."

Kara watched the trio with wonder, they seemed to be worse than some of her children put together, not that they were that bad, it was just some of them shouldn't be put into the same room. Like the violent ones for example.

"Are they going to be alright?" Kara asked.