Welcome to Gaia! ::

Winter was upon the land and the annual Gaia snow and ice festival had begun only a few days before. Here in a huge field was a world of ice and snow crafted by great sculptures all over Gaia. There were benches and towers and steps leading up to a real snow mansion you could walk around in. Clear and coloured ice sculptures of all shapes and sizes dotted the landscape and Bishop was super impressed by full scale horses and carriages and small detailed green ice shrubs.

Andrea liked the rock of icing with battery powered lights inside them that made the ice flash colours. The entire pathway throughout the festival was lined with ice bricks that changed colour every fifteen seconds or so.

Rook was unhappily bundled up and seated in a stroller, still unable to walk steadily for long periods of time. The young boy liked the sculptures he saw but disliked the tight fitting clothes he had to wear to keep warm.

The trio were outside the main entrance to the festival with their mother Carol who had arranged for a play date with another patch child who should be arriving soon . The purpose of the meeting was twofold. one to socialize the kids more and two so Bishop could meet the kid she'd been assigned as a secret santa. Hopefully this meeting would let her figure out what would make the best present for them.

Carol waved back at the other woman and smiled. She wondered what Thali'd be like for conversation. Sure there was plenty to look at , but it was going to be a boring time if she had no one to talk to and share opinions with.

Pushing Rook's stroller she lead her group over to the other woman. " Hey there Thali, it's Carol. Shall we head inside."

Personal space was still a concept Bishop had yet to master and bounced over to the blue coated boy " Hey I'm Bishop who're you? oh and that" she pointed to the blue haired blonde girl beside her" is my sister Andrea and he" She pointed at the young grey skinned toddler in the stroller is my younger brother Rook." Bishop wasn't sure what to make of this boy quite yet.

" I can talk myself" Rook said softly, he didn't need to be introduced, he knew how to do it himself. Just becuase he couldn't walk very far didn't make him a little infant incapable of anything. Crimson eyes narrowed a bit in the direction of his sister.

Andrea just rolled her eyes and remained silent for the time being.

Carol nodded " Yeah it looks like it's going to be a nice day, a bit chilly but hey too warm and all this stuff would melt." Carol wondered just how hot it would have to be to melt the coloured snowman a few feet away, he was nearly twice as tall as she was. Walking forward she tried to herd her children in front of her so she could keep an eye on them at all times. They'd be told not to touch anything without permission but they were all young and impressionable.

Rook smiled at the acknowledgment and the tip of his tail twitched.

Bishop grinned briefly at Josh then pointed to further down the main path where there was a small Ice slide children were allowed to climb on and slide down " We have to try that." The small girl wasn't overly find of cold weather but she was so excited she didn't feel it today. Even having her headwings crammed under a hat wasn't too bad.

Again Carol nodded and smiled, probably for the best since she was pausing a stroller, the last thing she want was to run into someones ankles and knock them over.

Andrea perked up at the mention of her favorite drink " Hot chocolate with marshmallows" she piped up.

Bishop nodded " But not till we try the side." grabbing the boys hand Bishop tried to pull him faster towards the object of her attention. Sure there were other pretty sculptures lining the path but you weren't allowed to go on them.

Not wanting to be left behind this time Andrea followed on the boys other side

Rook quietly watched the lighted ice bricks go through their patterns. It wasn't a rainbow repeating itself slowly a new colour in proper order every fifteen seconds. The predictability pleased to boy for no particular reason.

Carol looked at Thali and laughed softly. " Looks like the kids know where they want to go or at least Bishop does. She's a bit excitable and stubborn when she gets worked up" the woman apologized

" They all tend to wear each other out before they cause too much trouble " Carol admitted. " Although they're all a bit difficult in their own ways at times. Josh seems very sweet, have you had him very long."

" Sure," Compromise was important Bishop knew. Plus you took turns decided things like she and Kaimi had at the arcade place. " Do you like to pretend?" she asked eagerly as she wound them through the throng of people , aware that she wasn't allowed to get too far out of her mother's sight.

Andrea rolled her eyes a bit Bishop was gonna be weird again she just knew it.

Carol looked thoughtful for a moment her dark eyes narrowing in concentration. " Eight no nine months since Bishop wandered into my store about three weeks since Andrea did and a around two since Rook's cabbage showed up and he appeared really quickly" The woman shook her head. " Children just sort of happen to gravitate to me apparently. I think it's becuase I run a convenience store. The whole rack filled with candy must be drawing them in."

" They took the cabbage back" Rook added, his mother didn't know why she'd ended up with his cabbage but apparently she hadn't been allowed to keep it after he'd appeared. It didn't bother the boy too much seeing as he had no interest in the thing after it had birthed him so to speak.

" I'm a bird shapeshifter lady knight and I protect people from the evil mole spies with my friend Kaimi." Amber eyes sparkled with glee as the girl talked and the girl pointed to her sister " And Andrea's a solider and a good fighter."

The blond had been dubbed so on the basis if her wearing unremovable dogtags. It didn't bother her any she just wished she knew why it made sense. " I'm also in charge" she warned the dinosaur pirate boy. Pretend or not Andrea's dormant dominant side had been slowly reawakening.

"Carol laughed, "I dunno I tend to find the store more works than the kids, but you're more than welcome to visit mien from time to time and try your luck there" The other woman teased back. "Girls are sweet and I'm certainly finding it nice to have at least one of each"

Bishop nodded and paused as they reached the end of the lined where children were waiting to go on the ice slide. " We're the good guys so we're on the same side." Bishop didn't want to fight with her new friend as an enemy and he did help people.

" Pretty much, it means I'll be a bit more stressed at work and have to work more shifts becuase my employees want the holiday's off but it's not going to be too bad. Later this week I'm going to take the kids to get a Christmas tree.Not really sure if I've settled on a fake or live one yet." Both fake and real trees had several advantages and disadvantages each.

Bishop shook her head " You can see them coming and they're well they're a lot of bad people. We don't know their real names"really she and Kaimi weren't sure exactly who they bad guys were but they knew them when they saw them. They always had a dark sense about them.

Her turn on the slide Bishop pretended the bad guys were after her and she needed to escape. She flung herself feet first down the slide racing away from the evil then waited for her companions to catch up. in the confusing land of ice and snow it would be a bad idea to get lost especially if capture could happen at any moment.