Welcome to Gaia! ::

Howl was more than a little offended when he realized Darcy was laughing at him. He hadn't done anything funny! He had meant to compliment her, and she was laughing at him? "No, I am quite sure I would remember setting eyes on such a beautiful face. Your eyes are like sparkling emeralds--the stars do not even begin to match your beauty. You are--"

"Howl, Darcy's obviously not interested," Samantha interrupted him with a small smile. "Go on, I'm sure you'll find someone else to bother." She watched her younger cousin sulk towards Jaella. "Sorry about Howl; you probably more about him than I do, though."

Howl wasn't so much sulking as he was thinking--he had seen Jaella before. But where? He couldn't remember. He couldn't even remember what they had talked about. "Hi Jae," he greeted, briefly wondering how he knew her name. "Beautiful as ever, I see." Would she reject him too? Hm... It was worth a try.

Reiya gave Aaron a smile. "I've been good; nothing exciting's really happened lately. Sammi's still trying to find a way to make you go to a movie with her, you know," she warned him. "I think that's one of the reason's she's hanging out with Darcy--she's playing hard to get or something."

"It's something I can stand though I don't like the cold very much", Ivy sipped her hot chocolate. "I hope Eve enjoys herself, it's been a while since she's gotten out of her playroom at home".

Eve smiled, turning towards Hunter at the question. "You can get snow and shape it into in a castwe. I make them every chance I get", Eve decided to not come to the lights. She crawled back to the other boy, wanting to build a castle or a snowman.

( guess who got distracted ^-^)

"Doesn't have to be a a castle." Iggy interjected. He was after all making a mansion. As the small boy began to form his first wall several of the soul lights floated over to the other nearby children casting shadows over the snow as they did.

Darcy smiled at Adrian. "I'm glad you all could make it." she said, chuckling a little. "No need to be so formal, though." Not that she didn't appreciate it; she was glad that someone was polite enough to show respect. She'd all but ignored Howl; his words had about as much weight as half a feather in her mind.

The girl's emerald eyes glanced at Samantha, a small hint of a smile twitching at her lips. "If I hadn't known much about him, I wouldn't have summoned him." she said, her tone warm with amusement. Her gaze fell to the little witchling, her smile widening a bit. "Thank you, child." she said with a little hint of a laugh, sounding a bit too old for her age. "And yes, technically this is my party, though it's for everyone to enjoy." she explained. Ah, the younger experiments were always so endearing!

Speaking of little ones.... Darcy offered a small smile to Kaito. "Hello there." she greeted, waving a little.



Aaron smiled, nodding his head in greeting to Adrian. He sighed at Reiya's warning. "But...I thought I told her..." he started, trailing off. He had to resist the urge to face palm. What part of no didn't Sammi get? He glanced around, then back to Reiya. "You three are here by yourself?" he asked, a little confused. Didn't most minors (his sister and himself excluded) usually chaperoned by parents?



Jaella giggled, hugging Howl. "Thanks!" she said, offering one of her bright, sunshiney smiles. "You grew so tall!" She then gave a glance around, before whispering in a conspiratorial fashion. "I've been keeping my present. I haven't found her, though I've been bugging Mom about it."

Samantha couldn't help staring at Darcy for a moment. If she had known what Howl would be like here, why had she summoned him? Oh well; the older girl undoubtedly had a reason for all that she did. At least, that was what Reiya had told her. "So--you knew he'd be like this--his way with girls before you brought him here?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Then Sammi remembered; the book. Of course Darcy had known. "So um. Why didn't you bring Sophie, too? That is--if you don't mind me asking."

"You did; but she took it as a challenge," Reiya said with a smile and a shake of her head. "Sammi's stubborn, and she doesn't like giving up easily. She likes losing even less." There was a pause, in which Reiya considered what she would tell Aaron. Should she explain that her parents didn't exactly know where they were? "Um. Well, we are alone," Reiya admitted guiltily. "We didn't tell mom where we were going. She thinks we went to bed early. Howl's dad gave him permission--but that's only because he knows Howl won't go running off looking for Sophie anymore. He's forgotten her."

Howl returned Jaella's hug and smile, before listening to her speak. "Wait... Promise? I don't remember any promise," he confessed with a frown. He had a feeling this was another one of those Sophie jokes. He didn't remember asking Jaella to look for anyone; though he didn't remember any of the conversation he was sure they'd had. "Who do you mean?"

Kaito giggled at his father's kiss before looking over at Darcy and Aaron. He smiled back at Darcy, his fangs flashing as he waved back to her. But before he could do much else or even mutter a hello, the boy was pulled away by his sister. "Dei!" Kaito stumbled after her with a groan.

What's was she up to? "No! No!" Kaito was suddenly wary of the lights and grabbed his sister's hand away from the orb. His eyes flickered to Iggy and he stared hard at the other boy. He didn't seem dangerous...

"They can't hurt you" Iggy reassured the other children " They're just souls" oh they could surround a person and entice them to follow him but the souls weren't dangerous and no one got hurt if they touched them. " They feel tingly." At least to him anyways like when his foot got numb when he lay on it wrong. Right now the little will o the wisp child wanted attention but he had no plans to lead anyone anyplace special be it good or bad.

From a distance Blaice smiled as she watched her little one building things from snow and sort of having fun with others. this was what childhood was supposed to be like.