Welcome to Gaia! ::

((The more the merrier! heart ))

Kaeru stopped in front of the shop, smiling to himself both outwardly and inwardly. This was the first time he'd been here on his own, without Youko tagging along. Honestly? He'd been certain his father would insist on coming along the first time, just to make sure everything went alright. He snorted faintly at that... it wasn't like he was a KID anymore. He wouldn't be flooding the bathroom with Legos this time.

Pushing open the door, he glanced around, thankful that at least this time he didn't have to peel out of a ton of clothes, like he had during the winter. "Hello?" he called out, glancing through the room. "Anyone home?"

Sayuri had looked up as the young man entered, tapping the edges of her fan thoughtfully against her other hand; she was sure she had seen this Fourth Waller before, only he had been alot smaller. She nodded her head towards him and smiled;
'Hello there.' she sat forward on her chair, feet crossed underneath her kimono skirts. Aini looked up from the colouring book that she was happily filling in - orange grass, and purple sky over a pink duck. She giggled at the frog boy and stood up, walking over.
'Hello.' she chirped, ears twitching. He was the biggest one of their kind she had seen!

Trio frowned, eyeing the Fourth Wall shop thoughtfully before shifting the bag she carried from one hand to the other. Makana was peering up at it with obvious recognition, her ears perked. She wasn't wearing her glasses quite yet - getting her prescription filled was their next stop, but they weren't exactly on a timetable. And since they were so close...

"C'mon, sweetie," she urged, blinking as the feline padded toward the door before Trio could even indicate which way to go. Well, Makana's vote was obvious. Chuckling wryly, Trio reached out to open the door for the girl, stepping inside after her. "Hello?"

Kaeru smiled to Sayuri, nodding politely. "Hi there," he said, then saw Aini and grinned. He remembered HER. She was the one that was amused when he'd snapped up a fly. "Hi, Aini," he said, crouching down to see what she was doing. "Awesome picture, you colour really well." He was absorbed in the picture, so didn't quite hear Trio come in right away. It wasn't until the door shut behind her and the cat girl that he turned, blinking over his shoulder.

"Hi, Miss Trio," he said, grinning. She'd be so surprised! She hadn't seen him since he'd grown.

'Thanks,' she smiled, showing the white, sharp canines that had grown bigger when she last did.
'You catch flies dont ya?' Aini, coiled her tail around, suddenly a little shyer as more people came in, woman and feline child. Sayuri looked over as well.
'Hello there,' she greeted this 'Miss Trio' warmly, noting that she too had a kid from here.
'I don't believe we have met,' she carried on as she stood.
'I'm Sayuri, this is Aini.'
'Hello..' Aini peered between her tail hairs, her large ears back a little whilst she decided whether she would like these newcomers.

Makana hesitated. That frog looked rather familiar, though quite a bit larger than the one she knew. But he knew mama, so she figured it was probably safe enough to walk toward him, stopping a few feet away. "I'm Makana," she informed the two kids solemnly. "Who're you?"

Trio, on the other hand, was grinning. "Kaeru, is that you?" she asked, shaking her head before turning to look at Sayuri. "I'm Trio. It's nice to meet you," she said, offering her hand for a handshake.

Kaeru puffed up proudly, the motion causing him to overbalance a bit and he sat down quickly to avoid looking completely stupid. "Yup, it's me!" he said, grinning to Trio. "I grew."

It was plain that his grasp of the obvious was still impeccable.

He smiled to Makana then, remembering the little cat girl, but only vaguely. To be honest, he'd been around her sister, Annora, more. But still, he was polite. "Hi, Makana. Dunno if you remember me or not. I'm Kaeru, Youko's son."

As the new trio entered, he swivelled his head towards the door in curiosity. He hadn't met THEM before. Well, he thought he knew the girl, but he wasn't sure. Not like that would stop him, regardless... Kaeru LOVED people, and waved to them. "Hi! C'mon in, the more the merrier!" The girl obviously wasn't from here... but the boy obviously WAS. "I'm Kaeru... and this is Makana and Aini," he said, motioning to the two girls in turn.

And yet more people. Sayuri shook the profferred hand.
'Good to meet you Trio.' when the handshake was done she folded her fan and slid it into her obi, glancing at Aini to make sure she was being as polite and smiled at Makana.
'She's a pretty little thing.' she nodded, looking at the other woman that had entered with two children. She was very sure she had met her before, briefly when the woman had turned up to collect the male child.
Aini dropped her tail, determined to look brave in front of so many people.
'Hello Ma-kana.' she sounded the word out. It was a nice word to say and she smiled.
'I'm Aini.' she looked over at the fresh newcomers, her tail tip flicking, and she looked at Sayuri, checking she was still there. As the woman was, she relaxed a little.

Makana ducked behind Kaeru at the new people, peering around him to watch them curiously, one ear tilted to listen to them even as she answered the boy she was hiding behind. "You're not Kaeru. Kaeru is smaller," she informed him solemnly. The serious words drew a choked laugh from Trio. But she twisted to look at Aini when she was done examining Dodge, leaning over to see the picture better. "You coloring?" she asked, perking a little at the thought. She liked coloring, after all!

Trio watched the newcomers, letting them get in the door before she called out, "Hi."

Kaeru blinked, turning nearly completely around to look at Makana with a smirk. "I grew... just like you will someday," he said, leaning in to nuzzle her cheek a bit, the way Youko did with him. He had been told that most furry-things did that. And while it seemed a bit wierd to him (not to mention it tickled his cheek), he figured that it couldn't hurt.

As Dodge came over to them, Kaeru scooted a bit closer to Aini to make enough room for the boy to sit with them if he wanted to. "Eh, I'm not that big," he said, stretching out his legs a bit. "My dad's taller than I am, and he's short. But he said because I'm a frog, I won't get that BIG, really." Truth be told, he looked kinda scrawny... until you got past the fact that his t-shirt was two sizes too big. His limbs and body may have been slender, but the winter's worth of snowboarding, shovelling snow and just generally being on the MOVE constantly had made the teen's body a lot more toned than one would expect from a frog. While he'd never really be that large, he was far from a weakling.

"Awesome bracelet!" He said, grinning as he held up his own wrists and showed off the horn and bead jewellery. "I picked these up in a gift shop down by the beach. They don't get ruined in the water, which is cool... I have some seashell ones too, but I don't wear them all at once." He took a close look at Dodge's then, his smile widening. "See, yours is the good stuff. I'm pretty sure it cost more than a buck ninety-nine like mine did."

However, he was still proud of his jewellery. They were the first things he'd ever bought with his own money, all on his own.

Sayuri seated herself again, content that Aini seemed comfortable with the new children that had entered, and picked a notebook and pencil out of the small cloth bag she had with her, scribbling down a shopping list.

Aini cocked her head at the interaction between Kaeru and Makana, then bristled a little as Kaeru scooted closer, pushing the crayons to one side as she looked between Dodge and the frog teen.
'I didnt know boys liked shinies..' Aini piped up, showing her own wrist with the golden bracelet that Jacosa had given her as a gift, and which hadnt left her wrist since she had grown and Sayuri had thought her old enough to appreciate it, and look after it. She sniffed the air delicately, then settled again, her quick eyes looking from the frog to the little ram.


(( Has Aini realised she is sitting with 'prey'? *chuckles* ))

Makana watched the others, tucking herself close to the big boy who'd nuzzled her. He seemed safe, and he was really nice and talkative. She'd learned, fairly quickly, that when others were talkative, it meant she didn't have to be. She had no shiny things, but...

"Mama says I'm gonna have glasses soon?" she tried, making the comment sound more like a question than a statement.

Trio watched Makana settle in, and nodded, moving to dig out one of the books from her bag and settle on the couch. She didn't open it, but had it handy, just in case.

Now why'd the boy go away? Kaeru shrugged then and turned back to Makana, grinning. "Glasses, huh? My dad's got those." He leaned in then, whispering. "Yours'll look better, though. They make all kinds of cute ones for kids now, and my dad's blind as a bat without his."

His attention turned to Aini then, and the 'shiny' on her wrist as well. "That's pretty, Aini!" he said, taking her hand and looking at the bracelet. "Were you wearing it last time I saw you? I don't remember seeing it."

Then again, it was hard to remember anything other than the flooding of the bathroom when he 'bombed' the S.S. Lego in the toilet. At least he wasn't that impulsive anymore, right?

Well... he WAS still impulsive. But not like THAT anymore.

Sayuri hadnt realised she had caught the attention of Saedare and she looked up quickly, nodding and smiling;
'Oh yes, sorry,' she chuckled.
'I was so intent on writing down some things I had remembered that we needed to get.' she waved the notebook a little.

Aini blinked at Dodge, then looked at Kaeru. She thought that she would like this frog boy, he smelt sort of nice, but she wasnt sure why. She wriggled her fingers as he examined the bracelet.
'No, Mummy wouldnt let me have it until I grew.' she blinked at Makana.
'What are glasses?' she asked, curious, as she had not heard that word before now.

Makana's eyes warmed with pleasure at the compliment. Really, she was no different than anyone else - flattering words made her feel good. But it was Aini's question that got her bouncing a little. This, she knew!

"They're... um... they sit on your face, over your nose," she explained, remembering how Trio had explained it to her. "And they make you see better. But getting them is really awful. The doctor put these drops into my eyes that made them hurt and I couldn't see anything."

The torrent of words dried up as she finished her explanation, leaning against Kaeru slightly as she reached behind herself to catch her tail and toy with it.

Oh good, the boy was back. Kaeru had gotten a bit tired of scaring other kids away, and was trying his best to behave... at least for the moment. Youko had made him PROMISE not to get any of the little ones worked up. Nodding to Aini, he also motioned to Saedare. "Yeah, those're glasses. The things she's wearing on her face. They help her see better, because her eyes have trouble on their own." It was how Youko had explained glasses to him when he was a kid...

Of course, that was after Kaeru had thought they were goggles and took off with them from Youko's nightstand. It was a good thing the fox had contacts as well, and knew the layout of the house, or it would have been far more amusing to watch him stumble around, half blind.

If the frog minded being the 'stability spot' for the two less assertive kids, he didn't show it. He was having a blast at the moment, and now knew why Raven seemed to like kids so much. They were fun!

Damn, Sayuri had glanced at the wall clock, realising that if they didnt hurry from here now, they would be having crackers and water for dinner. Which meant she would have to take Aini away, which she was never happy about.
'Yes, Tamia,' Sayuri said to Saedare, nodding in affirmation.
'Well I'm sorry to say it, but we must be going now.'

'Oh.' Aini had looked at Saedare. So those were glasses.
'I see really well,' she said proudly, smiling, and showing her little sharp teeth again. At Sayuri's words her face fell, and she reluctantly got up.
'I like you!' she pointed at Kaeru, then ran off to Sayuri's side, clutching onto her kimono and waving at everyone before they left.

(( It was fun while it lasted heh *scoots off to rescue dinner* ))