Welcome to Gaia! ::

This probably wasn't what her mom had had in mind when she'd signed her up for school in the Liberty Center, Maddy pondered with the hint of a smile on her face. Not that there was anything wrong with that, as Olivia had probably been envisioning her daughter as some sort of life-of-the-party, Queen Bee when she'd signed the papers, and if anything, that was not a description that fit Madeleine Taylor very well.

On the contrary, eating her lunch in peace (also known as alone) suited her just fine; it wasn't that she had some sort of beef with the other kids, she just liked to unwind and relax in her breaks - and with a rambunctious class like hers, that was out of the question.

And that was how she'd found her way into the playground next to the daycare, practically abandoned at this time of year (it wasn't quite frostweather yet, but it wasn't particularly warm either), sitting on one of the merry-go-rounds and eating her home-packed sandwiches.

She'd noticed the weird kid making his (her?) way from the daycare pretty fast, considering that it was the first time in the whole week she'd spent her lunchbreaks here that she'd seen anyone else on the playground. Not that he seemed to notice her, or much of anything for that matter - seemed pretty determined to make it to the swings.

Shrugging, she went back to her sandwiches. Probably just another kid wanting a bit of peace and quiet.
But after nearly a minute of just that, Maddy couldn't help but glance back at Neflheim. He did seem rather sad.. or angry. It was hard to tell at this range, and the light reflecting off of the ice of his body didn't exactly make it easier - he really did look quite weird, but then again, so did she.

With a sigh she quickly packed the remains of her lunch away, cursing her bleeding heart as she marched over to the other kid, deliberately making as much noise as she could to alert him. No reason to make things awkward by surprising him into dropping his lunch or something.

"So. Hey." She tried her best to lounge in the swing like the cool people people in movies did, but wings and awkwardly growing limbs made that nearly impossible, and a brief struggle - to re-situate herself after a minor setback - later, she smiled at the smaller child and continued.

"I've never seen you around here before. New?"

"Welcome to the Liberty Center, then!" Maddy had been raised polite, and took the offered hand without question.

"Argh, damnit!" cradling her hand to her chest and squeezing her eyes shut to stop herself from crying, she couldn't help but let out a dry sob. Luckily she hadn't touched Neflheim for more than a second, or she'd have bigger problems - as it was, her hand hurt like hell but it wasn't anything cold water and a bit of time couldn't fix.

Breathe, Maddy.. In, out. Okay, got it? Letting out a whoosh of air, still cradling her hand, she turned a watery smile on the other kid.

"I'm Maddy. Do you know where the Daycare's got their bathrooms? I've never been in there for all that long.
"I think we're going to need some cold water for this." She wiggled the fingers of her injured hand, half to reassure herself that they were still there and halfway to reassure Neflheim that her hand was okay.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Don't worry about it, OK?" she followed him into the Daycare where finding the bathrooms wasn't too hard, thanks to Neflheim's knowledge.

Waiting until her hand had properly numbed beneath the jet of cool water, she threw a comforting look over to the younger child.
"That's gotta be a bit of a hassle, huh? Being made of ice, I mean," she made a vague gesture in his direction with her good hand.

"Oh, is your dad made of ice too?" it was a logical conclusion, seeing as her mom had once told her that not all of the children at the Center were unrelated to their parents.

Seeing the poor boy completely deflate at the last bit, Maddy felt her insides twist up in pity. And she'd nearly just ignored him, as well!
"Don't worry about them, Nefl," she knelt down to look him in the eyes, ignoring the sting from her hand, "They're just idiots. But they'll come around when they see how awesome you are, so don't sweat it."

A teasing light came over her face as she tried to diffuse the serious mood, "I can call you Nefl, right? Neflheim is a bit of a mouthful.. it's nearly as bad as Madeleine!" A wink told him she wasn't being too serious.

"Meaty??" a snort, then a giggle, "Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Still though, he sounds pretty awesome." Now that the danger had obviously passed, getting her hand back under the cold tap felt heavenly.

"I wish I could turn gold. It'd be much prettier than having wings and antennae - more practical, too!" she added.

He really was very smart for a toddler, but then again, Maddy had heard that all of the kids that had come from the cabbages were. Her mother had gone into some longwinded explanation concerning things such as genetical engineering and whatnot, but Maddy had become somewhat of an expert in tuning out her mother's rants.
"That's not a reason to hurt anyone else, though, is it?" the question was rhetorical, and was quickly expanded upon, "I mean, you should always be careful of other people and their hurt too. Mom says if everyone followed that thought the world would be a much better place."

"Nah, I like Nefl. It'll be my private name for you!" that was awesome - she'd never had a nickname for a friend that was just hers to use before, so this was a bit of a milestone in the girl's mind.

"I dunno, I guess they're okay. It can be a bit of a bother sometime, no using chairs with backs, and you gotta be careful when you brush your hair or an antennae will get caught. Not to mention, my wings get dust everywhere," she shrugged, in the stage of life where everything looks greener on the other side. "You look cool, though - like a superhero or something! And your dad can touch you, so I bet there's other people that can too."

She nodded thoughtfully at Nefl's words. "Well, I'm sure they'll be alright and you know, I bet you won't forget again anytime soon. So something good came out of this, right?" It had to be tough having to think about and restrict your interaction with other people all the time. Already, Maddy had caught herself from wishing to give the little boy a hug to comfort him several times, and that was only through one conversation! Imagine having to go through life like that..

But at least his dad could touch him, and if he could, probably other people too. This was a world of magic, and in her childlike way, Maddy was sure that there was something out there that would allow Nefl to shake hands with someone without hurting them.

"Avocado? I've never had that before," it did smell good, though! And mom hadn't had time to buy groceries yesterday, so she'd only had one sandwich with her today, "thanks a bunch, Nefl."
Figuring her hand was okay now - the pain had receded to a dull, warm throbbing - she turned off the water and took a bite out of one of the sandwiches.
"These are good!" a thankful grin made it's way onto her face, "You know, I'll have to treat you to one of my sugar and honey sandwiches. Mom says they're disgusting, but they're really not."

"That'd be great - do you think he'd let me see him turn himself gold? I've never heard of anyone else who can do that!" it really did sound neat, and mom would be happy she'd made a friend.