Welcome to Gaia! ::

The park was abuzz this afternoon. Elysha guessed a lot of families and groups shared the same idea of finding it a good day for a lunchtime picnic at the park since laughter of little children playing tag and other games filled the air and picnic blankets occupied by food and people dotted the grassy green expanse. The upbeat atmosphere had her smiling as she took in the sights and sounds during this refreshing walk.

Then she heard a series of sounds she found peculiar all of a sudden that caused her to pause in her steps and look around curiously. It reminded her of the sound of a kitchen knife being sharpened, but she could not recall any barbecue she attended where such a sound was present or could not presently smell anything being barbecued around here for that matter.

She found that the sound increased as she neared a tree not far away. She walked on to look behind the tree's trunk from the direction she approached it and immediately saw a guy whittling. She had only ever seen someone whittling through a television screen before, not in person. And thus seeing the fascinating activity live apparently made her forget she has ended up staring at that moment.

Elysha held her breath for a moment as she clasped her hands nervously to her abdomen, surprised at herself for staring and only realizing she was now that she was being addressed by who she was staring at. "H-hello," she waved one of her hands with her greeting that was a cross between being given brightly and with embarrassment. She need to apologize. "A-are you making a giraffe? Amazing, your work is amazing." The apology, remember to apologize, she reminded herself internally. "I-I," her eyes looked downwards in shame for her rudeness before telling herself as well in reminder that she should not avert her eyes during an apology. She tried again one beat later, with her eyes raised to meet the man's gaze, "'I apologize for staring." Upon noticing the tremble of her clasped hands against her abdomen, she smoothed her palms at her sides stiffly as she went on with a small, abashed but sincere smile, hoping she hadn't notably upset him with her added rambling speech along with her rudeness, "I've only seen people whittling on television before now or read about whittling in text. When I saw you whittling, right here, n-not just through a television screen, I found it so fascinating."

When it seemed to her that he was indeed not upset, Elysha gratefully took a few, small steps closer since there also was not a so very large distance to cross. Then, she knelt down onto her knees. "These are a lion and a penquin? Your zoo is growing splendidly," Elysha beamed in amazement as she reach out with one of her hands before hesitating with her next words. "I-I can have one? May I please have this one?" She picked up the lion and watched him while awaiting his response and then absentmindedly ran her index finger along the mane from forehead to shoulder much like she would when picking up a living pet of a friend she pet-sits for.

"Y-yes, and thank you so much! I would really like to learn, please," she was pleasantly surprised by his friendliness, his kindness, and his offer to teach her and shifted from her knees to being seated and ready to watch him work.

"Hello, Khaleel," she waved a hand to him again from her seat, this time more brightly and with less nervousness, "I'm Elysha. Oh, wow, welcome! Yes, I like this city. I lived in Curacao for two years while I studied there before I moved here and I have come to think of Curacao and Destiny City as both places that are welcoming." Her arms took a moment to gesture to their surroundings as her gaze swept around them with her movement while she spoke about places she has come to know to some extent. And then she transitioned to resting her hands on her lap enclosing the lion again between her palms upon next returning her focus more to Khaleel as she cheerfully asked her next question, "And you, Khaleel, how do you like it here in Destiny City? Are there features that strike you about it more than others? Admittedly, one feature about Destiny City that I often find myself drawn to is this park. It's beautiful and I already have a lot of memories here."

Elysha wanted to offer something, too. And in the juggle of her mind she began considering what she would be able to give as a token of her gratitude. She hadn't taken any snacks with her and her thoughts were presently at a blank after an initial try at thinking of a useful skill she was capable of offering to teach him similarly.

Her smile felt like it would not wear off for a very long time. Elysha loves art and delights in seeking out art in many forms to admire.

"Wooooah," she breathed the word softly and gave a nod as she received Khaleel's instruction. "Your skill is so impressive," she grinned as she kept her voice low in hopes not to disrupt his focus as he worked with his knife.

Then she gave another nod in agreement, "I like the refreshing feeling while taking in nature's wonderful scenery."

"Umm," she hummed in a near whisper as she took a moment to construct the start of her response while she lifted the lion up and gently picked up the penguin as well. "Sometimes when I walk here in this park, I am walking with dogs I pet-sit from time to time," with these words Elysha angled and moved the penguin and lion so that they looked to be taking a walk on the path some distance from this spot. And then, they both were brought to her lap to nap as she remembered again that she was receiving a lesson.

She held in a laugh at her own weirdness while she blushed apologetically for the moment of distraction and she then willed herself to quickly be intently focused again on watching Khaleel whittle as she continued her reply, "My other more regular part-time job though is working as a medical clinic receptionist. I like that I am beginning to apply the knowledge taught by the health administration master degree program I am taking online. I am also studying for my first med school board exam and it is the larger portion of the loan I am receiving from my health administration program that has been helping me attend med school as well and address matters of room and board. I don't know if I can afford to continue my med school studies since the loan has already accumulated so much so far and the latter half of med school is more expensive though I am still considering an attempt at the first step exam. I am very thankful for my academic journey regardless of the intimidating debt I have gained and I believe I can happily continue to strive to use all I've learned to be a good health professional either as an administrator or doctor so long as I continue to work hard and improve at working hard."

And there she went rambling again, Elysha self-consciously rubbed one of her forearms with her opposite palm. "Um, please tell me about yourself as well, Khaleel, such as about your work and the things you like," she beamed curiously as she kept watching him. Her usual oddness aside, there is so much she's thankful for today!

Because she was in a similar living arrangement not long ago, Elysha's thoughts went to wondering if Khaleel was also studying. She was about to ask him if he was a student here in Destiny City perhaps as well as what are his favorite features of Jordan. She was finding that she was having a lot of fun getting to know him and hoped they could be friends. She continued listening to him brightly.

Then puzzled surprise appeared on her features at his latest question. And there was a hint of curious concern as she carefully gave him her answer in hushed tones, "Um, Khaleel, there are magical fighters I have been hearing about since I came to Destiny City. Their fights, I don't know much from how long I have been here, but they strike me as dangerous to various degrees. And I am wondering if maybe there could be some of these magical fighters hiding around in the city to watch for other magical fighters' activities. I'm also wondering, will anyone saying they are for example a super hero or something similar be suddenly confronted and checked for evidence to support such an overheard statement? I'm admittedly scared if there are strict rules or something that dictate dealing out consequences for impersonating magical fighters or actually being magical fighters? There seems to be some kind of large scale fight going on perhaps? I am finding it a bit similar in comparison to gang wars maybe but I believe I don't have a lot of knowledge to go by on both counts to think very accurately about such possibilities of course."

She gave an apologetic smile with embarrassment again, "Um, sorry for rambling weirdly again, I guess these magical fights that are seemingly famous here in Destiny City scare me to an extent."

"Kh-haleel," she reflexively whispered with nervousness in response to his first words in reply. Abruptly tensing as well with somewhat fearful surprise momentarily, she remained frozen in that instant as she resisted looking around with any part of her aside from her eyes and drawing attention in their direction at the last second. She couldn't help but hope they wouldn't be ambushed by a magical attack all of a sudden.

Then her gaze was drawn back to Khaleel as he went on. The words he spoke next visibly relaxed her as her stiffness dissipated as though in a silent sigh of relief while a smile returned on her features to replace most of the worry written on it. She gave a nod as she beamed in saying, "You really are amazing and admirable. Um, and I am admittedly wanting t-to learn more about the magical battles that happen as well. I, I feel, I feel out of the loop and perhaps an easy target, so I am interested in being more informed to, to avoid walking straight into danger obliviously so to speak."

When she gave her worry a bit more thought, she felt that perhaps the magical fighters out there that she has been hearing and reading about are unlikely to pull an ambush all willy nilly.

"Hm," Elysha went on to say as her thoughts buzzed around in her head, "do the magical fighters perhaps have a similar system of there being new recruits and more seasoned personnel?" She the chuckled as she added, "A part of me is wondering if they exchange business cards with colleagues and such and if there are some that specialize in training others." If there was a magical phone book somewhere to contact informative sources that aren't quick to jump into taking offensive approaches to initiate battle, Elysha partly and inwardly wanted access to such a phone book. And part of her felt like a shivering, scared puppy.

She gave her head a mental shake as she pulled her thoughts back on track, "Oof, I'm sorry I keep rambling weirdly." And then, curiously Elysha asked next, "Khaleel are you a student as well?"

This time, Elysha's eyes clearly went wide as she stared at Khaleel while her thoughts took to racing around frantically in her mind. At least it only took her a few seconds to realize the state of her expression and she blinked several times and proceeded to pretend to rub her eyes for a moment. "Oh! U-um, my apologies and please excuse my expression just now, I-I thought I saw a shooting star behind you, Khaleel, and it surprised me." Perhaps there was a slim chance that it may not have been obvious that she was actually staring at Khaleel, not behind him. Elysha felt both afraid and inspired at the same time and decidedly went on to cautiously say, "B-but I honestly t-though I am new to learning about the magical happenings going on in Destiny City, I think that cats who give cellphones may very well be integrated into this city."

He was likely like her, she thought of the possibility with hope as well. And Khaleel is fearless in comparison to her! Elysha was envious of him in this regard. She also wanted to be braver and she thought next that she had a shining role model of bravery before her now. And so there's no time like the present is there? She could start taking a step now towards becoming a bit braver with a little risk that could be taken with as much carefulness as she could manage to have accompany it. "A-actually, Khaleel, I don't remember much of one night. But I sometimes have unclear dreams recalling what happened in a summary of sorts. Most often the version I dream is running from a being with multiple arms and a magic spell that ends the dream from a magical fighter accompanied by a cat. That night, t-there was a magical fighter w-who seemed new and afraid too, and she was with a talking cat. S-so this is why I believe you. T-they managed to ward off the being that appeared suddenly though. I was afraid then."

And then she added in a whisper, "A-and I remember the magical fighter's name." She then wrote on a post-it note she took from her small should bag, and handed the small sheet of paper to Khaleel: Sailor Altair of Scalpels. "That's what she called herself," she said, still in a whisper, "Khaleel, have you heard of any other individuals like her?"

Next, no longer in a whisper, she beamed, "And, Khaleel, I wish you the very best in your academic and all your pursuits!"

Sailor Altais and his friend cat Nico, she repeated the two names over and over in her head. She did not want anymore forgotten memories of importance out of fear or whatnot. The feeling of surprise returned to her, but she was cautious now to endeavor toward keeping her expression from shifting so obviously again. "T-thank you, Khaleel," she smiled widely, then started to add with a small chuckle at knowing that her next words would be sincere yet with a mixed in attempt at being said a bit humorously, "A-and, your work is really amazing; I'll definitely cherish them and please sign me up for your fan club. Though please don't feel that you have to give me another." Her eyes drifted down to the lion and penguin she had subconsciously taken a hold of again to rest in her palms. She couldn't help the sudden grin at the sight of them and she took a second to lightly bounce them together a few times side by side on one knee before returning them as they were in her hands again upon looking back up at Khaleel while a part of her was narrowing down the places she wanted them situated to be easily caught sight of and queried for moments of entertainment not unlike what just transpired amongst her and her gifts.