Welcome to Gaia! ::

Third had been to the clinic just days before -- not with medicine in mind but because it had been what the address imprinted on the underside of a wilted cabbage leaf had led to. Though she wasn't quite sure what she was expecting from a facility that apparently manufactured children packaged in flora; certainly not that everyone seemed so happy. That a hospital was part of the main facilities did not go unnoticed, nor did the scar over her new daughter's left eye; and realizing there was no better place to take things to be fixed than their source she made up her mind to visit again. Wrapping Nexus up in her favorite blanket (red and elaborately embroidered with dragons, a gift from her brother meant for other things), she boarded the Invincible to be dropped off in Alternate Gaia and entered the clinic shortly after Orli and Eshaa did.

Nexus did not mind the journey so much as her mother was not very well trained thus far and would not let her Outside as much as she wanted. Being kept in an odd wooden cage that shifted from side to side upon her mother's command and not her own, surrounded by fluffy things and swimming in blankets in textures she didn't approve of -- she had not much in the way of hobbies thus far, being only a few days old, but she knew this bored her, and the chance to get away from her crib was a commodity she wholeheartedly believed she deserved more often.

Sensing her mother had stopped moving for now (indeed, Third had located a seat near an exuberant little girl with beautiful, if illogical, hair), Nexus set promptly to work trying to squirm out of her blankets and her mother's arms. She wanted down, she wanted to crawl, she wanted to drool on things and possibly shove them into her mouth if she found them agreeable to touch.

"Shhh, Nexus," Third said quietly to the little girl for a lack of knowing anything better to say. Nexus was not very inclined to listen to her, though; if anything, she made louder noises and seemed offended by the command. Third's tail swept anxiously between the chairs of the legs, the only hint at the woman's nervousness: it was possible that it was a mistake somehow, that the child was not meant to be hers, or that they might now find her unsuitable as she could not even take command of her own charge...

Having no patience for her mother's worries, Nexus began to fuss, angry incoherent babblings interspersed with loud siren-like whines that began to rise in volume.

To Third's amazement, Nexus promptly quieted upon the greeting from the other girl. Her struggles to get free had positioned her on her back in her mother's lap, kicking fiercely up with her legs -- motions which she immediately stilled and tilted her head back to stare at the approaching girl with wide eyes.

"Grehjop," she said imperiously, and untangled her arms from the blankets to reach out to her with wriggly fingers. It appeared for a moment that she wanted to be picked up, and Third was inwardly reveling at her sudden ability to be social -- but then the dark girl arched her back and aimed her arms at Orli's spaceship, making it very clear she wanted it and wanted it now.

"I think she means to say 'hi'," Third said to the other girl tonelessly, misinterpreting her daughter's greedy gestures for those of greetings.

Third managed a smile -- a quirk of the corners of the lips than anything too obvious -- grateful for the small girl's assistance in entertaining her own. "This is Nexus, she appeared from a rogue cabbage so I imagine she doesn't know the ways of the world very well." The unspoken question underlying this was were you the same way? but Third still found it hard to ask questions of anyone, much less a young girl.

Though she had remained quiet while Orli went to fetch the toy -- more to allow the other girl some privacy and peace to say her goodbyes than out of any real interest in 'being good' -- Nexus started to whine again when it became apparent that the star girl was just not going to hand it over. She would have this neat thing, by hook or by crook! "Igieo," she yowled, and continued to make grabby fingers at the plaything to make it clear that she was not content with merely looking.

(Third remained blissfully ignorant.)

So her hypothesis was correct. This was the gathering place of the cabbage children after all. And, given the fact that she seemed to be here with a woman who barely resembled her -- perhaps the owner of the original cabbage? -- perhaps there was proof to the theory that these cabbages did not appear by mere accident.

Realizing suddenly that her own name was called, the woman offered another barely-there smile and set Nexus down on the carpet. She was only a small thing and everything looked childproof anyway, she couldn't get into too much trouble. "Please excuse me, I shall be right back. Be good, Nexus." Tail swishing, she retreated to the reception desk to deal with the necessary paperwork.

Relishing her newfound freedom, Nexus immediately sat up (with the telltale wobbling of a child who was still not quite used to being vertical without support yet.) That they both had yellow hands was an idea that had not occurred to her yet; yes, the baby said through unintelligible babble, perhaps we are related. Not as sisters though, that was ridiculous, Nexus was far prettier and did not need to rely on lights in the hair to get attention. Cousins, perhaps. Whatever the case, this meant that Orli's property would have to remain her own -- unspoken rule.

However, the waiting room was large and filled with things unclaimed by anyone, and her mother was not looking. Falling forward onto her hands with an emphatic umph!, the cabbage baby eagerly crawled away to a nearby table with magazines, pulling one down onto the floor and beginning to tear pages (or bits of pages, rather) away from it to shove into her mouth. She had only very few teeth, but they made such pretty indentations on objects that she was sure others would appreciate.

What? Couldn't she see that she'd already marked this one as her own? If this 'Orli' wanted a magazine, there were still plenty she could have (and even some with far prettier pictures than this one!) She stubbornly held onto it with what little strength she could manage, but Orli was bigger and stronger and thus the magazine was eventually surrendered with a rrrrrip.

Oh well. Not a problem. Grasping the end of the table and pulling herself up to an even wobblier standing position, Nexus groped blindly along the table's surface and, happening upon an issue of National Geographic with polar bears on the cover, went to work 'personalizing' that instead.

Nexus had, apparently, decided in the meantime that magazines were a luxury to be appreciated (in pieces) by all. The toys, however, were still fair game, particularly the big loopy wire ones with pieces to move about on them. Crawling eagerly over to the nearest one, she grasped firmly onto the edge of the table and pulled herself up to be able to inspect it more closely; grasping the nearest plastic piece, a large red bead strung through the wire, with shaky baby coordination, she found that she could not yet manage to pull it along properly so as to make it go through the loopyloops.

This was a problem easily solved. "Reeee," she called imperiously to her play companion, turning around on toddling legs to be able to address her properly. "Ree. Girhoei. Ree." There was a lot of gesturing and babble involved, but hopefully she made it clear that the other girl was to amuse her for threat of Loud Unhappy Noises.