Welcome to Gaia! ::

Raphael looked at the blocks thoughtfully as he drew out his plans. After seeing his unusual interest in architecture, Magiale had insisted that she buy him a lego set. Legos were relatively light, and required only a little pounding with his feet to put together, though the precision necessary to do so was almost maddening. So right now Raphael was drawing plans. He'd seen in the books that that's what architects did, so he was doing it too.
After Lorelei had talked about building a house, Raphael had found himself unusually interested in house building. He didn't like troubling Magiale, but Magiale still insisted on giving him lots and lots of books on architecture and building plans anyway. For the most part, however, he'd just look at the pictures. Pictures were pretty.
Raphael looked up from his drawing to glance at one of the lego people. It was like a really really small feien, he thought. Only it didn't have wings. The building plans that came with the lego set were meant for this lego person, though Raphael didn't quite get the logic of it. Why did a piece of plastic need a home? Raphael had a suspicion that it was actually alive, like his little gemstone, but he couldn't tell for sure. So he just left it alone.
Raphael put down his paintbrush and flew over to the flat green lego plane he had placed next to the crate. There were already a few multicolor blocks set up there, some of which had been set down by Magiale. The lego blocks made a very large rectangle around the plane that Raphael could easily walk in. One block was missing, which Magiale said was for a doorway. Thinking of his plans, Raphael flew up to the box of lego pieces. He flitted into it and grabbed one of the long lego pieces. Then he dragged it upwards, out of the box, using his wings to fly backwards. He held it by the little knob things on top, though even that did not provide much of a grip for him. He was afraid for a moment that he'd drop it before he brought it out of the box and dropped it on the green plane. Then he went to one of the walls and placed it there.

The whole process took him a few moments before the block was safely placed.
Tired, Raphael went back to his drawing.

Magiale rolled her eyes.
"Mom, I've already been accepted to college. I'm 18 years old and tomorrow's Monday! Hardly anyone ever goes to school on Monday anyway. Come on, please?"
"Just because the parents of your classmates have lower standards doesn't mean I do. Quite frankly, your grades are falling and your little fairy hardly ever talks to you anymore. I think you're better off staying home tonight."
"My little...? Why are you bringing Raphael into this? I talk to him all the time!"
"How?"
"What do you mean how?"
"He's outside in the backyard. Most of the time you're out partying or hanging out with your so called friends. I haven't seen you go through the back door in months. I pay attention, you know."
"Raphael is fine. My room window points towards the backyard, you know."
"And yet, you spend hardly any time in your room."
"I do!"
"You sleep there. But I've never seen it so clean."
"Mom, I thought you were always telling me to socialize more!"
"Well, there is such a thing as excess. You need to spend more time studying, or you're going to get kicked out of that Gaia University. They have stringent standards, you know."
"I'm not going to get kicked out!"
"Then do your homework. But before you do that, put on your hat and gloves and go visit Raphael. He misses you."
"You - " Magiale said in an accusatory tone. But Mom had already left the living room. This house was way too big.
Magiale didn't like to admit when she was wrong, particularly if her Mom was the one who was right, but she realized, with a pang of guilt, that it had been months since she had talked to Raphael properly. The last time had been when she had helped carry the lego house into the backyard. That had been back in September.
Magiale shuddered. She'd seen him, certainly, but she hadn't talked to him properly since September? That's just depressing, considering they lived in the same house.
She finished wrapping the scarf around her neck as she went to the back porch. Since this used to be their summer home, it was a bit colder outside during the winter than it was in their old house. Not sure about the reasoning behind that one, but that's how this works. Anyway, she was immediately accosted by the biting wind and icy pellets of snow. If she didn't already know about Raphaels love of the cold, she'd be worried about him.
"Raphael?" She cried, unable to open her eyes as the wind whistled straight into them. She had her hand over them as she crunched forward into the snow and off the porch.
"Raphael?" She yelled again. She was certain the wind was carrying her voice away.
"Magiale?" said a tiny, timid little voice right by her ear. She opened her eyes a crack and looked to the side.
There floated the little Raphael, serene and quite comfortable in the zero below weather. The wind going through his hair might as well have been a summer breeze. She stared at him in wonder. She'd forgotten how pretty he was.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, concerned.
"No, nothing's wrong." Magiale said hesitantly, inwardly smacking herself. Her Mom was right. It'd been such a long time since she'd last gone outside, it would make sense that the only reason she'd bother would be if something was wrong. In all technicality, something was wrong, but it had nothing to do with Raphael.
The stood their awkwardly for a minute or so, Magiale shivering and Raphael twiddling his toes.
"So, how have you been out here? Anything new? Your house working okay?"
Raphael nodded.
"It's quite nice. There's a dog next door - he doesn't quite like me so much, though."
"A dog?" Magiale said, alarmed. "He didn't try to eat you or anything, did he?"
"Eat me?"
"Like, chase after you and stuff."
"He...barks a lot, I guess."
"Ah. I was wondering why that dog's always barking in the middle of the night..." she mumbled.
"Huh?"
"Nothing, Raphael. Hey, listen, I'm sorry."
She said it so quickly, Raphael had to ask her to repeat herself. Then he paused.
"Why?"
"Because I haven't talked to you properly in forever. We never play anymore, or do anything together."
"That's okay."
"That's okay? No, Raphael, it's not okay."
"It isn't?"
"No, it's not okay that I basically left you out here to fend for yourself. You should be angry at me for almost forgetting you exist. Okay?"
"I should be?"
"Yes. You should be punching me in the face, in fact."
Raphael looked baffled.
"You can't solve anything through violence," he finally said, quoting Simara.
"If you believe that, you obviously need to read more history books," she mumbled again.
"Huh?"
"Look, Raphael, I'm sorry. I want to make it up to you somehow. Is there anything you need? Anything at all?"
"No."
"That's what I thought. Let's get some ice cream."
"...Okay..."