Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nightvine was prompt to open the door and let her in. He was excited to not only meet a new friend, but a new kind of phony he'd never seen before!

"Hiya, hope you're hungry," Nightvine said, opening the door for Holly. "Dad taught me how to cook a few weeks ago, so I thought we could have home made pizza! It's weird how Dad trusts me with the stove, but he does. I suppose that's why we have about a dozen smoke alarms in the house."

"Well, I'm honored that you're having your first pizza with me!" Nightvine made a dramatic bow as a joke. "I hope it tastes good! The tomato sauce I had to make the night before. Dad's all about pickling and preserves - uh, that's puttin' stuff in jars so they'll last!"

Nightvine led them through a quiet, dimly lit home. Everyone in the house was either out of town or asleep. He led them to a dimly lit kitchen, which he'd lit with tea lights and pretty candles.

"My older siblings say you should treat a lady nice, so they said to put out nice things on the table," Nightvine said. "So I went to this second hand shop that's open all night and I found this pretty table cloth with stuff sewn on. I think it's supposed to be birds and flowers."

He was nervous, himself, because he'd never invited anyone over. He compensated by explaining everything they came across.

"I'd say hold my hand, but I haven't got any," Nightvine tried to lighten the mood. "Don't be afraid, the house isn't haunted. I'm sure someone would have mentioned it. If anything, there's so many people going through this house all the time that we'd probably scare ghosts out! Just follow me, I'll guide you. My eyes are adjusted to night vision. Dad says it's all them carrots, but I'm not so sure on account of I eat mostly leafy stuff and mushrooms."

"Not sure about seaweed, but we got spinach!" Nightvine said, bringing out some prerolled dough and putting it on a round pizza tin. "Dad and I made about four medium sized dough crusts. He says to put olive oil on first, then anything else you want. So I chopped some peppers, mushrooms, onions... I think we gotta tin of pineapples somewhere!"

Nightvine heard the wind pick up outside and the trees began to rustle what little leaves they had left from last fall. He looked out the dark window.

"Gosh, it's pretty out."

"'Course it's pretty," Nightvine nodded, going into the fridge to look for pepperoni. "A windy night makes me think that's what the ocean must sound like, with the leaves rustling like that. Sometimes I hear an owl and wonder what seagulls must sound like!"

Then it occurred to him that Holly would probably know, but he wondered something else.

"Are there merphonies in lakes?" he asked. "Oh, I found some sliced ham and a little bag of pepperoni! Didja know I had a sister and a niece who live by the sea? One of them has a ship! The funny thing is, my niece is all grown up."

The wind picked up and the electric lights started to flicker. Nightvine's ears pricked up and he set down all the food on the table to look out a window. No sooner had he looked out, he saw a large tree branch split from the big tree beside the house and land onto the power line.

"Oh, no!"

Nightvine stuck his head out the window and saw the tree come barreling down onto the lines, dragging two cables and bending the power line down at an angle. The power went out for two blocks, that he could see.

"Welp, good thing the stove is natural gas," Nightvine turned around, his hair a mess. "Hey, where'd ya go?"

Nightvine blinked a bit, looking around for Holly. Do people disappear when the power goes out?

"Holly?"

Nightvine stepped away from the window momentarily. Looking around and explaining things all the while, in case she was anywhere nearby.

"It'll be a while until anyone can come around and fix our power," Nightvine said. "I have to go to the shed and get the oil lamps. These little tea candles and wax sticks got puffed out from the wind. I can't read the temperature to bake pizza without..."

He stopped and listened. The wind made it hard to make out anything until he heard some small whimpering from under the table. Nightvine pushed up the table cloth and looked in.

"Oh, there ya are!" he said relieved. "Do you wanna stay here or come with me? Whatcha so scared of?"