Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Its going to be alright..." Mindsend holds the egg closer to her chest as she reaches the door of the center, and shifts it so it turns in the sling made out of her jacket to spread the warmth, "I promise..."

Swallowing, she rapts her knuckles against the door, then turns to her side, taking deep breaths as she tries to organize her thoughts. First contact with a different dimension and she didn't have a clue what she was doing.

..."Great"...

Jack had arrived at the Center early that morning after carefully situating almost a score of new eggs in the safety of the House. They hadn't had such a large group in a good while, and, what was worse, they were all close to hatching. It was incredibly frustrating. He hadn't bothered to tell Moo, she would just walk down the road and leave them on doorsteps again--and then hell would fall on him from the Council.

At the knock on the door, he dropped the file in his hands and abandoned the little study to answer it. if anyone was bothering to knock, it had to be something important. However, when he opened the door, it was only some other person Moo had dumped an egg on... Though, that egg had just arrived this morning. He frowned. "Where did you get that?"

Mindsend shifts the eggs weight again in her arms, thankful for the sling, "I was north of here and some pixie riding a small draconic creature was being attacked by seagulls. They dropped this egg and the net they were carrying it in into the water during the fight so I had to swim out to get it... And since they were coming from this direction I thought..."


She smiles warmly at him, "I thought maybe you would know where it came from. The baby is still alive, thank goodness, and I figure that maybe the dragon picked stole it for a hoard or something. The Pixie did yell that they leave it, so I figure it wasn't theirs to begin with.."

"A pixie riding a dragon." He raised a brow, but soon just turned and headed back to the study, lifting a hand to rub his temples. He waved a hand in a gesture for her to follow, but soon changed his mind and made for the kitchen instead. "Thank you for saving it. I'm not sure how they acquired it." He had decided almost immediately that she wasn't lying. He had heard stranger things.

"The egg came from the House, though I'm not sure that'll help you much. Would you like to keep it?" Upon reaching the kitchen, he stepped over to a cabinet and pulled out a little metal teapot, which he proceeded to fill with water and place on the stove. "Would you like something to drink?"

Mindsend waves one hand as if fending off the thanks, "It was nothing, I couldn't let it die when there is something I could do about it. Especially when its just due to a sentient beings ignorance. Though..." She looks at the tea pot, "A drink does sound lovely..."

She lifts the egg up slightly so she can rest it on the counter, "And I wouldn't mind keeping it if the mother... Or child, for that matter. Doesn't try to eat me for it. I've had that happen to me before..." She looks to the side and puffs her lip out a little at one corner of her mouth, "...Rou-Ens going to have a field day..."

"Just give the water a few to boil," Jack requested, meanwhile returning to the cabinet to hunt for a suitable type of tea. He set a couple of little bags down near the stove, then turned to face Mindsend, leaning back against the counter and folding his arms. "You agreed pretty quickly. Not that I mind, but do you even know what's in that egg?"

Mindsend laughs, rubbing the side of her head with the palm of her hand, "Well, you see... Um... I gave an oath a while back as an Inter-Dimensional Diplomat to protect the creatures under my care unless my protection puts it into harm or if it forfits it by using my protection of it against me, in order to seal a treaty with a world made of energy beings."

She puts her hand on the egg, "When I saved this egg, it fell into the rules of the oath, so I can't abandon it unless its true mother comes to take it from me, or if its a creature that.. Well... Would eat me or if one of those things that attacks your face, puts another baby into people and then the other baby possesses, eats, or bursts out of ones chest.. Or anything like that at all"

Laughing Nervously, the elf pushes her eyeglasses up, blushing brightly, "And that answers that question. So... In short, I haven't a clue what I'm doing with this egg, but I'm taking care of it... Yep... So.. Um... Do you think you could tell me what the heck I am getting myself into?"


That was easily the most outlandish explanation Jack had ever heard, and he had heard a lot of them. For a long moment he simply watched the strange woman, weighing whether to believe her or not, though, truthfully, he had no reason not to. It was Gaia. Gaia liked to throw situations in his face. That was why he liked staying in the Village when he could.

Finally, however, the teapot whistled and pulled him back to the present. He quickly moved it to another burner and turned off the first, then popped the teabags inside and retrieved two small cups from the cabinet. "If you say so. At least I know you'll take care of it. It's a Jivvin. Like me," he added, as he turned back to her and set the cups down on the counter. "Sort of. I'll show you in a second. They're not too much trouble, though I think that egg'll be a Daewl, so be careful. Don't underestimate its intelligence."


Mindsend leans forwards, her arms protectively around the egg, "A Jivvin.. Like you? Well then, I wasn't going to underestimate the childs intellegence, but now I definately know that giving her a proper education wont be a waste of my time... OH! That reminds me!"

The Elf then pulls a small device, which looked like small mirror with a metal lip with buttons on it. Setting it on the counter, she presses one of the buttons and the mirror like substance liquifies and forms a larger, glowing box, only the top, bottom, and spidery "corners" made from the silvery material.

"I didn't get a chance to scan the egg until now... This wont hurt them one bit." Mindsend then lifts the egg up and slips it in through one of the walls, letting it go slowly, allowing it to hover in the confines of the box. Crouching, Mindsend looks at it carefully as a holographic screen forms on top of it, titled "Species: unknown.."

"Species Unknown, well thats got to change, " with that she presses a button on the device, speaking into it "Species name: Jivvin. Breed.. Daewl?"

The title at the top of the screen changes to match the new data, "Ok.. Oh! Look! The genders female. Her stats seem to be healthy. No damage done to her egg, thats good... Still a little chilled from the water but at a safe level."

She presses a button to stop scanning, then takes the egg out of the glowing light and returns to her sling as the now empty boxscanner returns to its neutral flat shape, "There we go, all safe and snug."

Suddenly Mindsend's smile vanishes, and she turns towards Jack, "Oh my, I never introduced myself.. I'm Mindsend, Storyweaver and Diplomat for the world of Draconia Alpha. Pleasure to meet you. Um.. Is shaking hands a form of greeting here?"

Jack watched in silence as the little mirror device was withdrawn and opened into the scanner, and remained silent while the egg passed through it and the various statistics were measured. This...this was certainly some individual. My, he had been spending too much time in the forest.

"Daewl's not exactly a breed..." he mumbled aloud when he picked up on the classification, though just as quickly he fell silent once more, warily watching the contraption. He half expected both the woman and the egg to just up and vanish if he blinked. Maybe he was dreaming? He was half tempted to give his arm a pinch, just in case, though somehow he knew not to bother.

he snapped back to the present when she addressed him once more, and, in response, offered his hand in greeting. "Jack's fine. I won't bother you with titles you won't understand." Not that he understood hers...And he hadn't exactly meant the remark as a jab against her. There were just certain things she didn't need to know. As far as she was concerned, he was just Jack. "Pleasure."

Mindsend smiled warmly as she accepted the hand, "Definately is a pleasure to meet you Jack." she gives it a firm shake, "Sorry about the formalities, its part of my orders to announce it when making first contact with sentients on the planet when not in an observational visit but a first contact instance. I should likely change my clothing to stuff worn locally to fit in anyways, I always feel like a stick dressed in this uniform."


She laughs, her ears twitching slightly as she reaches for one of the cups of tea and gives it a sip, letting it rest on her tongue for a second before swallowing, "Ooh, thats nice. I might have to find some of that to take home for a friend of mine."

"So, Jack..." Mindsend grins, leaning back and nestling one arm under the sling, " You seem to be taking"Oooh, Im an inter-dimensional diplomat from another world" stuff pretty well, you must have seen a lot in your life." Smiling mischiviously, she takes another sip of her tea, "We might need to swap stories some day when I'm not still in the state of shock that follows suddenly finding out your going to be a mother when a baby is pretty much dropped on your doorstep."

"That's understandable," he assured her with a smile, even if half of her words went clear over his head. "Though I'm afraid my orders are the exact opposite. Very hush-hush, you understand." He rolled his eyes to indicate just how little he agreed with said orders, then released her hand in favor of turning to his own cup of tea.

Lifting the cup, he took a sip. "White tangerine tea. I'd worried that it would be sweeter when I heard the flavor, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's a favorite of mine now." He took another small sip, then glanced sideways to her with a little shrug. "I've seen stranger things, yeah. But most of the things I've seen rely on magic, not such technology. Magic I'm used to, computers are something I've never been good with."

He paused briefly and, chuckling, turned his eyes down to his cup. "Pardon, but you seem far from any state of shock."

Mindsend winks at the Jivvin in front of her before looking deeply into her glass, "My brain is going about a million lightyears per second now. Thankfully, I'm used to my brain going this fast for other reasons, since I'm in a surprisingly wild form of business and often find myself running for my life because something wants to eat me for dinner. Im sure once I slow down a bit and have less to do tonight Im going to end up having my brain crash into a mental blackhole for a while and leave me a drooling idiot for the rest of the night."

Mindsend grins, "Well, Draconis isn't all computers. A lot of the power sources for the electronics are magic and elemental. You sort of need to be willing to branch into science and magic and learn them equally to advance both sides to the point of being common place. Otherwise you end up with a world focusing on one and then denouncing the other."

She takes a larger swallow of tea, one finger swirling in the ring of condensation on the tables surface, doodling absent mindedly and creating illusions from them, which rose from the water then melted away like steam a few inches up into the air, "Thats when people start burning anything remotely magical or calling machines soul stealers and banning one or the other from use. Entire groups of races going into hiding or being murdered. Not a pleasant thing..."

Waving away an illusion of a firebreathing dragon, the elf takes one last swig of her tea and sets the empty glass down, "Thank you for the tea, it was very lovely. I'll definately have to buy or barter for some to take home."

"Join the club." Jack laughed and stepped back to lean against the counter once more, lazily stealing a sip from his cup every so often. "You'd be surprised how common that sort of thing is nowadays, though I dare say I deal with it more than most. Sounds like you do too." He hesitated briefly, then nodded towards the back of the house and the forest beyond. "We don't have much use for electronics where I come from. Oh, most of Gaia's pretty modern, I guess, but there most every thing's powered by magic. It's just how things've always been."

"Personally," he continued after taking another sip of his tea, "I don't see the point in bothering with all this technology in such if life is perfectly fine without it. Generally leads for a healthier lifestyle, I've found. Less stressful, too, despite manual labor and that sort of thing. I'm rambling," he announced with another shrug, and chuckled softly. "Though I guess that's exactly what you were talking about with the two sides, hmm? No problem."

Mindsend laughs, "Well, we rarely use technology on my planet in our daily lives, but since we are a pretty big mix of cultures and sentient species, and its pretty much... A planet with moons that are considered planets as well, we had to develop technology wise to explore our neighboring worlds, and stumbled into other dimensional travel because of it." She wiggles her pinky, still holding the empty cup, "But for storing knowledge quickly when traveling to other worlds and dimensions, or entering dimensions a weak magical resources, its sometimes a life saver that we fly around in cloaked ships and have the techonology to help us in times of need. People get tired, but machines dont."

She rubs her fingers lightly against the sides of her egg, looking lost in thought, "... I think I'll Name her Kailani. I've always liked that name, and its meaning fits both how I found her and how her shell looks..." She smiles up at Jack, "Sea and Sky.. She definately has a story to tell, and I have a feeling that she's going to find a kinship with the elements that could have destroyed her so early in life..."

With that, she flops her head down on the counter as she hugs her unbonded ward, "Though I still haven't a clue what I'm in for."

"That makes sense," he agreed, even if...it didn't. Too much technical whatsis for him, it was difficult to even wrap his mind around what she was talking about. Give him the Village any day, and he would be perfectly happy. Almost any day, at least. He smiled, nodding slightly in response to the egg's naming. "It's fitting. And a Daewl... It wouldn't surprise me if she does have some ties to the air or water. Though it would generally be one or the other."

Mindsend laughs awkwardly, looking slighty aged from exaustion -- It had already been a long day and now that she was starting to relax it was starting to set in, "Listen to me, I'm just rambling on. I really should just get to the heart of the matter I guess, before I forget myself completely and have to be dragged off by my friend back at the ship..."

She leans back slightly, her eyes closing, "I need to know what I have to do in order to care for Kailani properly, before and right after she hatches especially. Some tips things I need to look out for to keep her safe. I dont want to mess up simply due to ignorance..."

"It's not so difficult," Jack assured her, and stepped forward to refill his little teacup. "Would you like some more?" he asked, gesturing towards her cup with the pot, then continued. "Baby Jivvins hatch a bit further advanced than human children. Talk to it a lot while it's still an egg, it'll have a better vocabulary once it hatches. It won't look humanoid. More like..." and he quickly changed to his third stage, giving a quick shake to settle his fur before peering up at her. "This. Smaller, of course. Maybe she'll reach Quen eventually." And he changed back to fourth.

Mindsend smiles brightly as she takes the pot up to pour herself some tea, "Thank you!" She then sets the pot down and stands to look over the counter and get a better look at him while he was in his quadraped form, "Definately a hearty, powerful race, aren't you?"

Glancing at her watch, she hisses, "Oh geesh, I should be going. Rou-En's going to pitch a fit as it is, I definately don't need him giving himself a heart attack waiting by the ship.. Or worse, trying to figure out how to fly it manually.." Taking her tea down in one large gulp, she sets the glass down, "I should be setting camp up close to here, so I'll be around often."

Holding her hand out, she smiles brightly, "I'll be seeing you again Soon, Jack. Thank you for all the help. I wish you the best of luck securing the rest of the eggs. That Pixie might return to give it another shot."

His only reply was a laugh, and he downed the contents of his cup before setting it down and shaking her hand. "I don't doubt it, Mindsend. Good luck with your egg, feel free to drop in if you have any questions, though I can't promise that I'll be around. Here, I'll see you to the door." Releasing her hand, he stepped around her to lead the way out of the room, sparing a glance to the egg before continuing on towards the front door.

Following her host and actually taking the time to look around the house as they passed now that some of her worries and fears have dissolved, she nods, not really caring he wasn't looking her direction, "I just hope the others I meet are as helpful as you are..."

As they reached the door, she stepped outside and her eyes focus sharply on one spot of the empty looking yard. The spot shimmers and a small, hovering, bird shaped craft built for one person drops its cloak like an octopus dropping its camoflage and flew over to them like a loyal steed, "We'll... I'll see you the next time I see you."

Twitching her ears forwards, she puts one hand on her chest and bows her head before stepping onto the wing of the craft and into the cockpit. Attaching a helmet to her head, straps snaking around her body, she salutes, "I hope its soon!"

With that, a force field ripples over the cockpit and the ship vanishes into the distance with a faint "Shhhwoop", leaving nothing but a few dancing leaves in its place.

Over a week had passed since the Pixie first stole away Kailani from the clutch of eggs, and within the sight of the Jivvins Center, a small collection of brightly colored tents had sprung up over night, accompanied by a few hovering crafts that seem to just vanish at times, two elves..

And one rather large blue egg.

It was a calm and sunny day. A cool breeze swept in from the ocean to the north of them, rustling the little flags set around as decoration. The birds from the near by forest chirp and twitter, and the faint scent of cooking food and blooming flowers filled the air.

Inside one of the tents, in a normal looking room much bigger then the tent it was in, Mindsend walked over to her desk to write some information down, as she told stories to the egg strapped to her chest in a customized sling, "Of course, we made it out alright, but my mother.. Well, she pretty much fainted on sight of us when we got back to our dimension, she thought we were some sort of muck-demons. For weeks I was still finding mud caked in places I'd rather not talk about to someone as young as you are..."

Sitting down, she moves Kailani from her sling and into a crate, much like a baby basket, "There we g-uh-oh..."

Mindsend freezes, her fingers just brushing the egg she had settled down, staring at the crack going down the middle of the egg, "... Rou-en..."

Panicing, Mindsend looks around franticly, "Rou-en! Oh Gods and Goddesses I hope I didn't break her egg... ROU-EN!"

"AAH. Geesh, ow.." The lanky plains elf flinches, covering his ears, "Ow, remember, really strong hearing, right? Whats wrong?"


"Th-th-th-the egg, Kailani's egg, I think I m-m-m-may have broken it..." Mindsend runs her finger along the crack, trying to heal it, as another crack crinkles its way along the surface.

Pulling her hand away, Rou-En takes a deep breath, "Pull yourself together, Mind... She's hatching... Wait..." He suddenly freezes, his hair bristling like a frightened cat and his face flushing bright red, "She's... Hatch... Ing? IgottagogethersomefoodandatowelandandandI'llberightback."

"HURRY BACK!" Mindsend then leans over the egg, biting her lip, still not sure if Rou-En was right, "Please be ok..."

Minutes ticked by, feeling like hours to Mindsend as cracks formed around the deep blue and brilliant Cyan shell. Just as Rou-en Ducks back into the tent, a large chip about the size of a human palm, gets pushed away from the egg, and a little muzzle pokes out of the egg, panting at the effort, "Mmm-mmm-ma--tha?"

Mindsend reaches towards the egg tentitively, and slowly pulls away more shell, setting the pieces aside for safe keeping. Amniotic fluid leaks onto the bedding as the baby and parents work at getting the little girl free from her egg.

Snatching the towel from Rou-En, Mindsend cleans Kailani off and lifts her out of the mess of eggshells and remaining "uncooked eggwhites", lifting the child to her chest, cooing softly to her, "there there, Kailani, Aaall done.. Hand me that bottle, would you?"

Rou-En, who was shaking visibly, holds the warm bottle of forumla to Mindsend, who places places it lightly against Kailani's mouth.

Smelling the food, Kailani smiles, "Foo-da!" And quickly starts suckling, not drinking much before yawning with a soft burp, and falling asleep, exausted from hatching, "bub bub bub bub"

Mindsend blushes, stroking the young Jivvin's back, and then walks over to the two beds, and pulls out another, larger crate then the one Kailani hatched in, and lays her down on the warmed, memory foam bedding, "there we go... Sleep well..."

After watching over her for a few seconds, Rou-En swallows "She's.. She... She..."

With a thud, the red headed plains elf faints behind Mindsend, who looks blankly at the wall in front of her before turning to help her hopeless partner into his bed.

Later in the Day, Mindsend found herself looking into the holographic screen of one of her many scanners, her face stuck into the three dimensional view of the area around them, looking at what her flying probe can see.

She moves the insect sized craft closer to the woods, scanning the enchanted forest, her eyes narrow, "Huh.."

"What is it?" Rou-En looks over at the bespeckled elf, a wiggling Kailani held up into the air by strong hands. He then turns towards their adoptive daughter, and sets her down to dart away, making a face as he wiped cold water off of his hands, "I think the environmental control for the tents is on the fritz, its kinda humid in here..."

Mindsend waves a hand at him, nose still buried into the three dimensional image, "I don't think a scouting mission into the forest is a good idea -- The trees are Avoiding my scanner probe. They keep moving backwards." She pulls the probe back, then charges forwards, tricking one of the trees to let the probe past it, and then turns it around the trunk, to find it deep in the woods instead of on the edge of the forest. A few seconds later the hologram fizzled and dropped as the signal was lost. "Ugh, lost the probe. Seems like a protective spell.. Or possibly the woods itself is maneatting. If we wanted to visit we'd have to get a guide..."

"Is it really that bad?" He walks up to the scanner, leaning over her slightly as he activates the recording, watching from a less first person viewpoint -- he never did like pretending he was the probe, "Well would you look at that..." With a click he shuts the recording off, a quizative look crossing his tan features as he looks into the blank space, "Instead of a dead end or answers, we just got a bunch of questions..."

With a grin, Mindsend lifts Kailani into her arms with a nuzzle against her shining blue fur, matted with moisture, "If it was going to be easy it wouldn't be any fun... I love it when this happens. Keeps some mystery in the worlds we go to if we can't figure it out, and makes it more rewarding if we manage to."

She yawns, doing a mental check on the time as she stands up, "Time to get Kailani warmed up. "

"Cold..." The small Jivvin shivers as they pass by an airvent, then leans into the warmth of her adoptive mother, slowly drifting to sleep.