Welcome to Gaia! ::

They were sleeping again.

And that suited her just fine. Ayanne had had about enough of this place and its strange people who spoke in even stranger languages. She wanted to go home, and return to some inklings of familiarity where there was not and had never been any GMFC or children with tentacles.

This world, frankly, scared her and the way it seemed to be a melting pot for so many races. What if they were all like her? What if they had all deposited themselves here at some point in time and just forgot how to get back?

The mage narrowed red eyes. Well, that was simply not going to happen to her. For the simple reason that she would not allow it.

It had taken a bit, but this morning she had caught the faintest presense of a ley line somewhere within reach, and had been intent on following it to its source.

From the sling on her shoulder, Mal'kyor shifted and gave a small snuffling cry beside his sister.

"Dun start." she murmured absently, not breaking stride. "Not gonna be long now. Its somewhere close."

And it was. She could feel the tingling presense of the arcane source somewhere. SOMEWHERE in these woods...

Holding her hands out in front of herself, she closed her eyes, the beginnings of the teleport incantation on her mind's tongue. Her palms briefly flared with white light, and then nothing.

Not close enough yet, apparantly....

One long blue ear twitched as Aya froze, listening. Years of depending on magic had, somewhat, dulled the keen senses all trolls were born with, but she was not deaf.

She had very plainly heard a voice, and as she stood still now, heard the footfall of someone. ....or something, as it may be.

Mal'kyor shifted again, his tossing making Sai stir as well with a squeal. Ayanne felt her teeth grit in exasperation. Why was it that children always seemed to know the single worst thing to do at any given time and then do it in abundance?

Pinpointing whatever-it-was's location, the mage watched intently, a hand extending palm-out in preparation to incinerate the intruder should they be hostile. She was not in the mood. Not this close to returning home.

The twins, perhaps having sensed her tension, were now fussing in earnest, a duet of squeals and whimpers battering her ears and making it hard to keep a focus on the more important sounds.

Quiet. QUIET.

She willed the twins, for all the good it was doing her. One of them, she didn't know which, twisted in the sling enough to reach up and grab a handful of her hair, giving it a hearty tug and making her growl.

It was times like these that made her believe in every god ever concieved, and that all of them were laughing at her.

A sudden explosion of movement to her left made the mage think without acting. Fire flared in her palm and launched itself at the source, leaving a smoldering crater of black and the stink of ozone and burning mulch in its wake.

From where Rhiannon was, she would find that the unfortunate culprit of said movement had landed nearby -- a charred once-was squirrel.

She whirled on the new source of noise, both twins wailing now, the tiny first entangled in her hair giving another yank.

Ah'm goin' crazy. she thought. Right 'ere, right now, feckin' crazy.

The voice was not one she recognized, but much like the others here, it spoke Common. In spite of what it said, she did not drop her guard, watching as the strange girl moved out of the woods' shadows and into her midst.

A human. .....maybe? Her eyes flicked to the silver ears and tail, taking note of both.

"Who're joo?" she demanded, lips twitching from her small tusks and sharp teeth in a snarl. She looked, for all intents and purposes, like a cornered dog.

A cornered dog who happened to be wearing a pair of squalling infants on its back.

Part of her wanted to do exactly what the twins were doing...just start screaming. Why? WHY? She just wanted to go home. That's all she wanted. No strange meetings with half-worgs, no screaming babies, just HOME.

....and she was not in any state to get there this way. Setting her jaw, keeping a safe distance between herself and Rhiannon for the moment, the mother troll unshouldered the sling, laying it on the ground before her to unfasten it and have a better look at her children and what was upsetting them.

"Ah'm fine." she said in a clipped tone. "An' dey's probably fine too."

Already they had quieted, fascinated by the change of scenery. Sai'tasi blinked owlishly up at the boughs of leaves that criss-crossed overhead to form a dark canopy over the four of them. Mal'kyor was already going through the ardorous process of flipping himself onto his belly to investigate the carpet of squishy black leaves and twigs he'd been presented with.

All signs already pointed to there being absolutely nothing wrong. Nonetheless, keeping a wary eye on Rhi, she fetched up her daughter first to give her a cursory check-over for bruises, soiled pants, rashes, anything out-of-place.

It was Mal that noticed Rhi first of the two halflings, curious green eyes blinking at her from where he laid on his stomach, the handful of twigs and muck he'd gathered in one three-fingered fist to munch on, momentarily forgotten. Who was THIS person, he wondered, and what did they taste like?

Mal did not imitate the gesture. He -did-, however, crack a broad grin in her direction, showing the ivory buds of tusks that were already growing in. If this stranger frightened him any, he was doing a very admirable job of hiding it. Ayanne occupied for the moment, he made a small lunge forward, and then, apparantly puzzled as to why it had barely carried him an inch, began to pull his limbs beneath himself to crawl closer to Rhi.

"Sai'tasi." Ayanne answered after a moment. "An' de one on de ground's Mal'kyor." It didn't matter if she divulged names or not at this point, she decided. She only planned to be in this world another few minutes if she had her way, and, having had to stop and feed her children scant feet from an ogre weilding a meat cleaver in Shattrath City before, she could safely say she'd subjected the three of them to far more potentially-dangerous situations. If this worgen, this Rhiannon tried anything, she was fairly certain she could deal with her.

In her arms, Sai'tasi seemed to have resigned herself to the scrutiny, tolerating having her ears, clothes, and mouth checked agreeably enough. ....at least until she noted her brother beginning to escape and began to fuss anew.

It took him a moment more of wriggling through the mulch, doing a fine job of getting it all down the front of the soft leathers he was wrapped in, before he was finally within reach of the stranger.

Mal'kyor gave a small, happy shriek, green eyes radiating a playful and insatiable curiousity. One three-digited hand worked its way out from under him where it was propping him up and reached for her, only for him to wobble and capsize clumsily to his side with a tiny uff!