Welcome to Gaia! ::

The light jangle of coins knocking together in Brimstone's pocket added a certain pop to his step as he crossed the streets of Barton Town. Akina was at work, but she would be home in an hour or two. He had to beat her home if he ever expected her to leave him home alone again.

Peeling past a man in a long trenchcoat, Brimstone raised an eyebrow, but kept moving forward, waiting for the familiar blue and grey sign to come into display. Sure enough, a few more blocks and there it was, proclaiming in big, bold letters "The Corner Book Shoppe" with little curls at the end of each letter. The young Shattered liked to come here whenever he got the chance; they had one of the best science fiction sections in all of Barton. There was a better shop in Durem, supposedly, but Akina didn't let him go there alone so The Corner Book Shoppe would have to do.

The little bell at the top of the door jingled as Brimstone went in, and he avoided eye contact with the shopkeeper. She hadn't quite trusted him ever since he accidentally 'oozed' a book on his last visit. He had tried to explain to her that it wasn't his fault, that the part of the book he was looking over was just really funny and he couldn't control himself, but she just pushed her glasses lower on her nose and demanded he pay her the $2.00 the book cost.

There was a little coffee stand in the far corner of the store, and Brimstone could smell the rich, earthy aroma from where he was standing. Still, he turned in the other direction and headed toward the back few rows, hoping to pick out a few books to kill his boredom at the house since the cable had gone out two weeks ago.

Deep in the row of books, Brimstone had just selected two new Star Wars spin-off novels when he felt a familiar prickling at the back of his neck. It was the kind of feeling an antelope must have right before the lion pounces, but unfortunately for the nuclear Shattered, his reflexes were nothing compared to a nimble antelope. So, as Shauna made herself known, it was really no surprise when Brim threw his two books high into the air, staggered backwards into a shelf, and slipped on the cover of a discarded book, landing him right on the floor with a girlish squeak.

A light blush quickly rose in his cheeks--not that anyone could tell under his black skin--and his eyebrows pinched together. Puffing out his chest, he started harshly at Shauna and demanded, "What is wrong with you?" Yeah, he recognized her too, though the memory was fuzzy and faded at the edges; but did she really have to sneak up on him?

Fixing an annoyed expression on his face, Brimstone folded his arms, waiting for an apology or a hand-up or something else that might help him recover his dignity.

The book made a soft thud as Brimstone snatched it from Shauna, and he quickly stuffed it into the crook of his arm. She could judge his literary taste all she wanted, but he wasn't the crazy person sneaking up on someone in a bookstore. As the fox Shattered leaned close, Brimstone recoiled, knocking his head into the shelf behind him so that it made a light knock.

He tried to pretend it didn't happen, saying, "Who says you were innocent?" Brim hated the theory that children were incapable of evil. He, himself, has been perfectly aware of his own ability to do 'bad' whenever he wanted. He melted things on purpose, hid things, tormented the ants and caterpillars and roly-polies that populated Akina's herb garden. Yup, definitely not innocent. Still, it wasn't worth trying to explain to Shauna, he reasoned.

However, when she drew attention to the lack of prominence of his wings, Brim folded his thin arms across his chest. "I still have them," he said, letting a note of defense leak into his voice. "I just bring them out when I need them. I'm advanced." Truth be told, the nuclear Shattered had been just as shocked as anyone to realize that his pale, smokey wings had magically disappeared after his weird aging process. Still, like a person might know they have a stomach or a heart or an appendix, he knew they were not gone; they were just in hiding somewhere in his body. When left at home alone, Brimstone would try to summon then from his shoulderblades, but as of yet, there had been no progress.

And he wasn't exactly please that Shauna pointed it out.

"Is this a habit of yours, this attacking people in bookstores?" Already, the Shattered was feeling his prickly emotions settle back down after the scare, and all the little beads at the back of his neck evaporate. But he didn't want to let her off that easy. What if he had knocked a bookshelf over? What if he had hurt himself? What if he had hurt her? There was really no telling, he thought, what he was capable of. The idea pleased him.

Still clenching his book, Brimstone let his radioactive gaze wander away from the Shattered in front of him. Extended eye contact tended to make the nuclear Shattered nervous; it was like he could feel part of himself seeping away into the other people. It was disarming. So, with Shauna at such close proximity, Brim tried to flatten himself as much as possible, digging his back against the hard shelves of the rack of books behind him.

He felt the brush of fingers against the back of his head and stiffened, shooting a glare at Shauna. It wasn't often that people touched Brimstone, not really even his own family. Perhaps they had just learned better after a year of burned forearms and smoke clouds. If he was tense before, he was a rigid board now, keeping a wary eye on the older girl. "I'm fine," he growled, feeling a low dip in the back of his pre-teen throat. "My head is fine."

The Shattered wanted to stand, but to do so would require him to move Shauna away. He thought about just pushing her backwards off of him, maybe kicking with his legs so that she would leave him alone, but he knew she had better reflexes than him. Plus, a quiet part of Brimstone was happy to have a little company, a face to talk to. It had been so long since he had seen Ilistala, and outside of her, he really didn't have any friends.

His thoughts were derailed, however, when he felt Shauna's fingers again, this time brushing the hair from his eyes. A rock formed in his stomach, and he felt his skin heat a little. This was a new sensation for the Shattered, one that he had only become aware of after his latest change. It was like every girl on the street was suddenly more apparent to him, talking to him with their bodies, and he hated them for it, for making him think about them. It made him feel dependent.

And now there was an older, beautiful woman leaning over him, smiling at him, touching his head and his face.

"Stop touching me," he said, only half-meaning it. He dropped his gaze to her leg, visible as she crouched, and tried to distract himself with their conversation. "I don't have to prove anything to you. You tackled me, remember? I have to be on the defensive around you."

Clearing his throat, he tried to push down all the thoughts that were racing through his head. Think of anything. Think of anyone. Ilistala popped into his mind, which didn't make things any better at all. Brimstone groaned under his breath, still glued to the book rack. "I'm not worried, okay. You're just nutso. Normal people don't pounce on the unsuspecting." He paused. "What do you mean kin?"

He bit the tip of his tongue, forcing himself to focus on the conversation.

If Brimstone's cheeks were flushed before, he was beet red now. Luckily, the magic of having dark black skin is that no one can tell. So he ignored Shauna's observation as best as he could and narrowed his eyes to let her know how he felt. He'd have to get better at staring at girls without them noticing in the future.

And now she was rambling on about them being a family. Blah, blah, blah, whatever. But when she said Stala's name, he stopped mocking and started listening. Sure, he felt little pulls toward people Akina told him were just like him, but his pull toward Ilistala was definitely stronger. Did that mean that they were more like each other? Maybe something in their chemical makeup recognized the other? It made some semblance of sense, he thought.

Hoping to get the fox girl farther away from him, Brimstone replied, "Yeah, I know that feeling." He paused then, dragging a stubby nail over the cheap carpet of the bookstore, still thumbing the cover of his book with his free hand. "You're a really excitable person, you know. I mean, you seem really excited about lots of things that aren't exciting. Like pouncing and family, for example." The nuclear Shattered tried his best to put on a pre-teen angst-worthy sneer, but the end result just looked like he wrinkled his nose up.

Still on the ground, he leaned toward the fox girl and added, "And could you let me up now before I get you charged for battery and assault of a minor?"