Welcome to Gaia! ::

Who: Josh, LuLu, Isi, Eiry, Aphi, and Riv
When: A lovely weekend in Spring
Where: Isi's home
What: Catching up with old friends.
Weather: Mostly sunny with a few rainclouds on the horizon.
Status: Complete

There was a knock at the door. Rivener figured that was "The Guests". He hadn't really been told much about it, the discussion having happened mostly between Isi and Aphi. All Riv knew was that someone was coming over, and he assumed it wasn't going to be someone he knew. Therefore, the Scorpion was not really looking forward to being given the task of opening the door right in the middle of one of his favorite TV shows. The knock, however, would probably not be heard by the other family members. Aphismet was upstairs, and honestly Riv wasn't sure where Isi and Eiry were.

Sighing tolerantly, the Sigel floated up from the couch and made his way to the door, pausing by the entryway mirror to run a hand through his hair and adjust his clothes, simply out of habit. He always wanted to look good and make a good impression, after all. Finding himself suitably stunning, Rivener opened the front door.

He blinked for a moment, appearing nonchalant. "Welcome," he said with a casual smile. "You must be Isi's guests? Come in. I'm Rivener." The Scorpion tried to look like he didn't care much, but he was rather floored by the cute little thing in the sundress. Those ears were simply adorable. This girl wasn't a sultry someone like Lucia, she was... hm, she was so cute and innocent. Like Sevilin! Only, a girl. Rivener smiled brightly at her in particular. "Hello," he offered just for her.

"Rivener, is that the guests?" Aphi yelled from upstairs, barely heard.

Riv sighed, turning to the stairs. "Yes!"

"OH! I-I'm coming down! Isiiii! Your friends are here!" Excited to meet someone Isikoro had actually liked enough to invite over, Aphismet bowled downstairs, grinning widely by the time he hurried to the front door. "Ah! Welcome, welcome! You must be- ah, Josh, right? And Lulu- oh, how cute you are!" Aphi chuckled at the lovely Raevan girl, motioning both to come inside. "Come, come! I-er... Hm, Isi should be here soon!"

Josh’s lips parted into a cheery grin for the raevan that opened the door. The boy had not seen Rivener in a while. Actually, he had never been acquainted with him particularly. Consequently, he did not take much notice of Riv’s last second primping or his procuring of a torso. Josh just assumed this was a raevan that appeared unusually flawless in the morning.

“THUMP!”

A noise erupted from a staircase nearby and a hastily moving body seemingly tumbled from it. The sudden bustle that exploded in the Delarian house amused and shocked Josh. As a matter of fact, he had not expected Rivener or Aphismet to be in the house. Perhaps they were visiting too? Josh stifled a laugh and greeted the two in return, “It is a pleasant surprise to see you, Rivener… Aphismet,” He said their names slowly and spared a glance downward at LuLu making sure she taken in the information, “Yeah, I am here to see Isi and Eiry. I am Josh and this is LuLu.” He motioned to the shy raevan behind him.

She was tucked securely behind his arm and she peeked around his elbow to steal glances at Aphi and Riv. Her quivering, purple eyes met with Rivener’s own smoldering, red orbs. She froze at the greeting offered just for her. Her fluffy ears perked forward as she tried to understand this mysterious raevan. He was different, but not entirely scary. He had a familiar swarthy complexion. She enjoyed that. He had glittering accessories adorning his body. She enjoyed that. He wore various reds graduating from crimson to burgundy. She enjoyed that. However, he also seemed dangerous. His whole form seemed sharp… foreboding. It unsettled her as well as the unusual addition to his body. A torso.

She shifted the assorted flowers into one of her hands and twisted her sundress fretfully in the other. Her brows furrowed in thought. She was supposed to offer the bouquet to someone, but who? She gulped awkwardly signaling her confusion. Her soft features scrunched in apprehension as she floated forward uneasily into the house. She thrust her arms forward and pushed the bouquet into Rivener. It just barely made contact with his solid chest. Her low floating height of four feet was dwarfed by his height of six feet.“F-for you.” LuLu’s eyes were closed firmly as if she did not want to see his reaction. A nervous flush graced her brown cheeks.

Josh’s stifled laugh broke free and he stepped into the house behind LuLu, “Dear, those flowers are for Isi and Eiry.” He brushed a hand over her shoulder. He jumped when he felt just how tense she was. LuLu’s face froze in shock and her eyes snapped upward to Rivener, “S-sorry. Sorrysorrysorry,” Her gentle voice chimed feverously as if that was the only word that would take back her actions. Josh cooed consolingly, “It is okay.” He heard another thump coming from the staircase and felt LuLu jerk at the sudden noise. He looked up in time to see a familiar freckled face. “Ah! It is good to see you again Isi!” LuLu peered upward and seemed over whelmed as more people slinked from the woodwork. Just where were they all coming from?! LuLu cringed at the yelling that tore from the small boy in the crutches. LuLu’s face fell into a pout and her small body balled up defensively. Her arms pulled up securely to hug against her chest. She glared meekly at Eiry until she heard the word ‘gifts’. Her face softened, just barely, and she inquired, “Gifts?”

Trying to spirit away the displeased frown from his face caused by Eiry's wanton behavior, Isi stood aside in the hallway, nearly leaning his back against the hall as he motioned the guests within the house. He noticed, as Lulu drifted near and Aphi voiced it aloud, that she appeared agitated, probably from all the noise he was creating. Honestly, he hardly paid any mind to the noise of yelling at Eiry. It became a daily routine of sorts, something that just happened and mixed into the dull base beat of his crutches against the hardwood floor in this odd sonorous melody that made up the background noise of the Delaran home. Never once did he think that it would have an effect on someone else.

Now that he realized this, Isi did his best to smile at Lulu. It was time for an apology. "Sorry for being so loud," he said, to both Lulu and Josh, "Eiry just...He's got a good heart, but he's got too big of a brain. But please, come in, come in. Make yourselves comfortable." Keeping to the side of the wall to let Josh and his frei past, Isi looked over his shoulder to Aphi, watching as he scanned the room and made sure that none of Eiry's tricks spoiled the afternoon. Judging by Aphismet's relieved sag of the shoulders as he made his way into the kitchen, he was sure that Eiry had no time to lay any of his traps or pranks.

In response to Aphismet's question, Isi replied, "I'll take coffee."

"Flowers?" asked Eiry. His pointed ears perked at the sound of his favorite snack and his attention focused on the dark skinned raevan before him. Adjusting the water balloons in his arms and trying to hold his head at an angle where his too-large hat didn't slip any further down his forehead.

Floating nearer, he peered at the flowers and frowned. They weren't dead flowers, full of life and vibrant. Their vivacity was beginning to ebb, though. They were freshly cut, after all. "Little has the final sleep settled upon these flowers. There is nothing there for me to lap, nothing there at all."

All interest lost in the flowers, Eiry turned his eyes up to Lulu and then down to the water balloons in his arms. In his mind, a gear shuddered into motion and a smile slowly spread onto his cheeks.

"No matter," he grinned and he offered his armful of water balloons to Lulu, "Take these, please please! They are for you. And I, in return, will take from thee those flowers bright while you keep the bubbles colorful! My gifts from me to you."

Aphismet smiled at both boys and nodded, heading into the kitchen now that the coast seemed to be clear in the living room. One coffee, one water, and a glass of lemon soda for himself. He placed all three on a small tray so he could carry it in one go and returned, putting each glass down on a coaster before finally sitting as well, motioning pleasantly for Isi and Josh to join him.

A loud POP was heard then and Aphi's eyes glanced over to Eiry. Waterballoons. And now, a damp hardwood floor. Frowning lightly, the chef got up and raised a finger to Isi, quietly offering: "I'll take care of the floor, you entertain your guest."

Sighing, Aphi headed back into the kitchen and returned with paper towels, kneeling to mop up the mess before the floors were ruined.

Rivener had held onto the flowers, and good thing too or he'd be strangling his younger brother by now. Eiry was being a VERY bad friend, impolite and rude and as usual, a pain in the a**. The Scorpion's eyes had widened as Lulu approached the balloons despite the minty frei's refusal of her gift. "Ah-..." he began, but too late; the rabbit's finger had found the rubber surface and was pushing, pushing...

The small water explosion was to be expected, although the young girl didn't seem to have known this would happen at all. She was wet in very inappropriate places and Riv's cheeks flushed just a little bit as he put the flowers down on a nearby end table, rushing to a closet and returning with a towel that he wrapped around Lulu's shoulders, hiding her, ah, newly revealed assets.

"Eiry, honestly. What kind of manners are these?" The Scorpion rebuked quietly although he'd rather scream at the ghostly Raevan like Isi usually did.

Josh had just sunk comfortably into the couch when a resounding ‘POP!’ echoed through the room. As if trained to the unique sound emitted by the sudden commotion, the boy jumped up and nearly leapt over the couch. A knee was already positioned in the center of the comfortably worn cushion as if he was ready to pounce. It seemed as though Josh had already become accustomed to this kind of mishap; perhaps, also accustomed to running across the house to see what mess LuLu had gotten herself into. When Aphi commanded Isi and him to stay, a look of mild dejection crossed his slim features. It was obvious that he was going to fret over the raevan girl until he knew that she was still in one floating piece. He had been a part of enough small incidents with her to know that she could easily find disaster. Toasters in sinks… markers on walls… just a few of the occurrences Josh had dealt with already. The boy flopped back into his seat and relaxed. He looked up at Isi and replaced his expression with a pleasant smile, “LuLu surely did something to cause it too,” he paused then spoke knowingly, “Do not let her face fool you. She has a knack for getting into trouble.”

The boy heard Isi out and nodded in the meantime, even reaching out to take a sip of his water as he listened. He nearly choked on the icy beverage. “W-Wow! An assistant in the Lab?! How did you manage that? And a gardener. You sound like you’ve been keeping yourself busy Isi.” Josh tapped his fingers timidly on his glass, “I can’t say that I’ve been up to much. At least, nothing like that. LuLu has kept me a bit busy, but my mom is good about watching her when I am gone.”

LuLu’s ears shuddered in frustration. She watched Aphismet come into the room and ceremoniously mop up the mess that Eiry had caused. She refused to believe that this had been her fault. After all, he was laughing at her! That pale green clown actually had the nerve to laugh at her misery!!! It was obvious that he had planned this. LuLu distanced herself from the minty nuisance and regrouped next to Rivener. The female frei looked up at the swarthy male sigel with a crestfallen pout that rivaled any ‘puppy dog’ look. Her wings gave a gentle flap as she floated a bit higher. LuLu rose just enough to reach Rivener’s elegantly pointed ears. He voice came out pleadingly sweet and covertly low, “Mister Riv, can you help? I want to surprise Eiry, too.” Her full lips curved into the smallest hint of a smile.

"Uggghhh," Isi moaned, watching from the couch as Aphismet returned from the hallway and slumped against a chair. He ran a hand through his gray locks and grumbled to himself, absently putting way more sugar than what was needed in his coffee. This was an old house, that much Isi knew. An old plantation home passed along Old Maasi's family for a few generations (which accounted for all the ghosts present in the household). A repair, as Aphi very much wanted to avoid, would be too expensive unless the hardworking Delaran family wanted to put in all their saving towards a fixed wooden floor. Dumping in the eleventh glucose filled spoon, Isi realized that his coffee was beginning to spill over and he stopped himself from adding in a twelfth spoonful.

"Where the hell did he ever find water balloons...No, no, Josh. I don't think you understand." Isi leaned forward onto the table so he could carefully lift and sip the overflow from his mug, "Eiry lives for pranks and reactions. It was probably all Eiry's fault and his idea. Lulu may have a knack for trouble, but she is still young and curious. Eiry is a goblin in sheep's skin."

Finally lowering the level of his coffee to a point where he could actually lift it up and lean back onto the couch to get a better look at Josh, Isi tried to relax his tense shoulders. "Well, the Dr. Kyou needed someone to help with the little things around the Lab now that Chloe has left. So he hired Alex and me when I last went to the Lab to drop off a report on Eiry. It just happened to be the right moment, I suppose. It's rewarding, of course, and I'm glad to be of help. I like to do things for others when I can. And a gardener? That's easy. I just take Eiry to someone's dead garden, he eats, it springs back to life, and he and I trim the hedges. It's more of Eiry's work, though. And the money goes to his needs."

Another long sip, "That's nice that your mum does that for you. How is she wit LuLu?"

Satisfied that his prank was a success, Eiry let the last of his giggles roll their way out of his system. He wiped his eyes with a knuckle, and nodded helplessly at Aphi. Eiry had no intention to ruin the floors, that much was for sure. It was just an unfortunate unthought-of side effect of his mischief. It wasn't the driver's fault if there was a pedestrian in the wrong place at the wrong time, right?

Nevertheless, Eiry nodded enthusiasically at Aphi until he turned away. "Heartpromise," Eiry swore, laying a hand across his brest, "Never wilt there be water again on these floors by hand of mine!" Then Aphi had gone, leaving Eiry to turn back to his fellow raevans.

...Who had turned their backs to him. At first, Eiry was amused by this display, but then he slowly grew suspicious. Only such actions would be to keep someone out, he knew. And that someone was him. He knew that stance from when Isi and Aphi turned their backs on him to discuss new ways to get him into the car without too much of a screaming whining hassle like there usually was. Eiry's gleeful smile soon melted off his face, leaving him expressionless. He, out of anyone, would know that they were up to something. He was an intelligent raevan after all. ...Just, intelligent in some ways more than others...by his own choosing. Nativity was a trait he was keeping in his freihood.

So, keeping himself intangible (just in case), Eiry slipped away, intent on finding a certain floating red object...

Aphismet smiled gently and nodded at Josh's first question. "Yes, Lulu's just fine. A little wet is all." The chef settled comfortably after that, listening to the two young men chatting it up. They were both so friendly with one another... It was rather startling when it came to Isikoro. Aphismet was content to just sit quietly and not get involved, basking in his pride for his brother. Isi had friends! No grumpy sourpuss in sight! It was amazing!

Rivener didn't notice Eiry's quiet retreat, too busy keeping his wing up and carefully hiding the conversation from anyone else. Lulu was rather inventive, instantly giving up any idea of touching Eiry and focusing instead on surprising him with a loud noise. The Scorpion grinned and chuckled lightly. "Yes, he can still hear. Good idea, Lulu! Big noise maker, let's see... Well, we could pop a balloon, but he already did that today. We could pop a brown paper bag near him, that makes a big noise! Did you ever try that?"

The Sigel was getting into this a little too much, grinning eagerly and huddling closer to Lulu to protect her. He peered over a shoulder to make sure Eiry wasn't spying on them...

Only to find that the minty frei was gone! "Uh-oh," he whispered with a frown. "He's not here... oh well, I guess it's better this way. Come on, let's go into the kitchen and find a bag." Grinning malevolently, Riv took hold of Lulu's hand gently and tugged her away from the entryway, through the living room and towards the kitchen.