Welcome to Gaia! ::

Every freshling needs a role model, or so they say. The Academy was swamped in freshlings these days. So many stones had been awakened from the cache, and it had been long enough that students had graduated from the academy and started having their own children. There just weren't enough hands to go around, or to offer the children the quality care that a lot of them desperately needed, and so caretakers had to prioritize on a case by case situation.

Rhys never felt he needed much in the way of mentoring, but his dads had insisted he at least try to branch out and meet new people. His dads were, after all, basically the founders and the reason why the Big Siblings Program had such great success. Smolder had been the first big sibling, and Aten had been the first child whose life had been impacted in such a huge and inspiring way. It seemed a little odd the pair of them were now raising a family with their shared girlfriend now, and with three more siblings on the way, Aten was concerned that Rhys would need someone outside of the family to connect and reach out to. Someone he could vent his family frustrations to -- someone entirely different from those he lived with. Aten's only hope was that whomever ended up choosing Rhys would not be easily discouraged by his at times over-active imagination.

Rhys' little bone claws reached out to grip the edge of the door and push it open, his mutant slit pupils dilating curiously as he examined the room. Rhys had arrived at the room where he was supposed to meet his potential Big Sibling, but there were so many other nightmares and daydreams milling about that the usually confident Rhys was feeling a tad uneasy. While he didn't believe he needed someone to show him the ropes and to check in on him to see how he was doing in school on top of his parents, Rhys was always happy to make a new friend ... and the idea of making a friend with a Junior or Senior seemed an exciting prospect. There weren't many other chances to really get to know one of the older students at the academy on a more personal level, and so Rhys was a little eager to meet his future 'sibling'.

Who would it be? What would their name be, and of what race? Would they be a nightmare, or one of those new daydreams that had just come down from Above? More importantly ... would they be nice? Rhys couldn't wait to find out as he shuffled in to the room, shutting the door behind him tight, mindful not to pinch his trail feathers in the door behind him.

Mouth slightly agape, the boy looked around the room rather dumbly, unsure of where to start or who to approach first. And so, shoving a boney finger in to his mouth, biting down with one tiny fanglet, the hybrid stepped forward into uncharted territory ...

Rhys caught himself in a staring match with a boy across the room, finger still in his mouth as his slit pupils contracted and dilated as he assessed the situation. Clearly he was being challenged to a staring contest. That's surely what the intense stare meant, and Rhys was always up for a fun game. So, the boy tightened his gaze, narrowing his eyes in to thin slits to prevent himself from blinking. But it was always so much harder to stop yourself from blinking when you knew you weren't supposed to! It took all of Rhys' will not to blink, his eyes starting to water and blurr his vision. But as the older student seemed to twitch and suddenly bow, Rhys knew he had achieved victory.

"AHA!" he cried, suddenly springing forward with his arms up above his head as he cried out in triumph. "I have won! I'm still the undefeated champion!"

Still crowing with delight, the little fallen-litch hybrid danced a happy little jig over to his challenger, extending his tiny little bone-claw hands in greeting. "That was really fun! We should do that again some time! My name is Rhys, and you're --- " the boy stopped mid-sentence as he blinked lucidly. What were those things sticking out of the boy's mouth? Were they -- fangs!?

"A mutant!" he cried excitedly, suddenly bouncing on his feet, clapping his hands together. "You must be a mutant too! See! Rhys stopped bouncing long enough to stick a finger back in his mouth, only this time pulling on his upper lip to show off his sharp little fanglets, not even noticing the small slice from his prodding finger as a small amount of blood dripped on to his lower lip.

"Shee?" he asked excitedly, fingers still holding his lip awkwardly. "I hash fangsh too!" Rhys released his upper lip and reached out to grip the boy's hand, grinning from ear to ear, mindful not to cut him with his claws as carelessly as he had injured himself. "We're the same!" he declared. "I've only ever run in to one other mutant before! This is so exciting!"

Rhys pulled back then, releasing his hand, his little heart fluttering manically in his chest as his eyes scanned the junior from head to toy, pupils fully dilated as if to take in as much of his upper classman as nightmareishly possible. "What mix of races you are?" His question could have come off as rude to those who were more sensitive about such things, but Rhys was so proud of being a hybrid that he didn't really stop to think whether or not he might be offending his new friend. "It's hard to tell with your mutations! You don't look like any of the races I've met before!' Rhys nodded his head, as if confirming his own words as he reached for the boys rat-like tail to inspect it closer with his own hands.

Rhys caught himself blinking again. Someone viewing him could likely see his mind switching gears as he processed this new information. He had heard of Goblins before, but had never seen one before, and so it left Rhys with a different sort of curiosity and sense of wonder. All the new questions that formed in his mind made the boy's features slowly brighten again, as if someone was cranking up the dimmer switch to shed some light on the situation. With a toothy grin, the boy found himself jumping up and down again, with each leap tucking his knees as tightly to his chest as he possibly could to really make himself appear springy.

"COOOOL!!" the boy gushed. "That's even better than being a hybrid or a mutant! You came from Above, didn't you!? That's so neaaaat!" Rhys hadn't realized he was still clutching the poor junior's tail as he leapt up and down and promptly released it with a small gasp.

"Ack, I'm so sorry!" he cried. "I didn't realize -- " but his mind was firing off in a million different directions before he could finish his first sentence.

"So, what's it like being a goblin? Yunno, I paint in art class sometimes! I was painting what I thought the sky looked like up in above! I'll have to show you one time so you can tell me if it's accurate or not! It's just a finger painting, but, maybe we can paint together sometime! I think I'd like that! If you paint my wings can I paint your tail?" Rhys didn't exactly convey that he meant could he actually paint on the goblin's tail, but he figured that part didn't really matter so long as he got a 'yes'.

"What, am I the first hybrid? Really? Really really? Wow! Do you not have hybrids up in above? Do the races not mix? I heard rumors that the dryads and the feys are really close but I dunno about all the other races! Will you tell me all about Above? I'd love to go there someday!"

Rhys tapped his claw hands against his mouth as he thought about the idea of having a picture of himself painted. In his head it looked like a crayon drawing that one of his peers might have done, with little stick arms and tiny stick legs with a square body and a squiggly head. He knew, of course, that a painting would look much different.

"My dad took me to a museum once." Rhys piped up, not quite yet answering the question. "There was a lot paintings there. A lot of the ones with nightmares in them looked really stoic or sad. I don't want to look sad. So if you can make me look happy I suppose that'd be alright. Could I show my mom when it's done? How does painting me work? Do you need a photograph?" Rhys chirped quizzically, tilting his head to the side in thought, poking one of his pointy fangs with the tip of one of his claws.

The blood had dried on the very corner of his mouth as the boy scratched at it with his other hand. "The light?" Rhys asked. "What does the light ... is light a different colour in Above? I think I can bring you my picture I painted of what I thought Above's sky looked like the next time we hang out. It's on my fridge at home. My mom put it under a magnet. But then it fell off the fridge one morning and got a bit crumpled. So my dad put it under four magnets instead of one. Dad said it was too heavy to be held up by just one magnet. But it's just paper. So I don't really get it." The boy shrugged.

Already he was moving on to the next question. "What's a medium? Like. Medium sized? Because I'm small, and you're kind of tall but you're not big. So, would working with a medium mean ... working with something that's kind of in the middle between big and little?"

Rhys nodded along as his questions received answers, suckling on his fingers and getting them a touch goobery as he listened and bobbed his head along. "Uh-huh, uh-huh." It was something he had picked up from his dad when Smolder tuned out Cassie's complaints, however, Rhys was genuinely interested in what this mysterious and intriguing goblin had to say to him. He was learning!

"So then ... what you use to make your art is a 'medium' then?" Rhys asked thoughtfully, trying to get clarification without actually expecting an answer. What was that word his mother used whenever he gave an answer she didn't need? Rin-tor-ek? Ray-ter-uk? Ruh-tur-ik? It was a word Rhys couldn't pronounce, and so he found himself shrugging his shoulders once more, though a touch more lazily this time as he started to grow a pinch more pensive.

"So," Rhys began. "If I made a face out of mud, then the mud would be my 'medium'. Or if I use toilet paper to make my living room in to a haunted house, then toilet paper would be my 'medium'?" The boy thought he understood now.

"Hmmn! Do you have a house near the academy or do you live in the dorms? Cuz maybe I can let my mom or dad stay late on a school day so you can paint my picture and I can get my mom to take a picture of me, or I can grab an older one if you'd like! You said you like my wings so maybe I will ask her to take a picture of my trying to fly. I bet she'd like that too." Rhys tried then to flap his little wings. His wings were smaller and not properly shaped the same way as most members of the fallen race. While fallen were generally not as strong at flying as their chimera counterparts, Rhys' mutation made learning to fly an even more difficult challenge.

"Do you think that maybe the person painting the picture was sad, and maybe that's why the pictures look sad? Some of them just looked bored too ... there was one called the Demona Lisa and she looked kinda of okay. Not really happy but not really sad either. It was the most not-sad picture I saw I think. Maybe that person couldn't decide how they were feeling when they were painting the picture."

Galan's latest information went a little over Rhys' head as he started to go a touch cross-eyed as he tried really hard to contemplate what he meant. One again the gears were whirling in his head as he tried to process all the new information he was receiving. He had never had such conversations with his parents before, and definitely never with someone his own age. It actually made him think hard ... well, actually think at all, really.

"When I painted the sky I guess I may have had that challenge too. I painted it the colours I liked that I thought went well together. But I also had never seen the Above sky before so I guess I had to find those colours from somewhere. Is that where someone's ... " Rhys squinted. He heard the world personality used before, and he had gathered it meant what a person was or wasn't like. So at least he knew that. Hopefully. " ... personality? Comes in ... ?"

Rhys pulled his feet together as he tucked his legs closer in to his body, resting his hands over his small feet, idly scratching at one of them. "Demona Lisa kind of scares me." the hybrid admitted as he wiggled his toes from under his hands. "Because I can't tell what she's thinking and she's wearing to much black and just stares right at you all the time and never looks away. It's like she's trying to steal your soul." The boy shivered, having effectively given himself the heebiejeebies. "I'm sure you won't paint me so scary."

Rhys watched curiously as Galan wrote down a series of odd numbers. Rhys assumed it was a phone number, but in truth he didn't own one. While his feathered dad said he thought he should have one incase of emergencies -- which Rhys often found himself in -- his fluffy dad was whole-heartedly against it and his mom was still deciding on her opinion. In Rhys' house, two out of three parents agreeing was always the deciding factor.

Giving a excited little flap of his arms and wings, Rhys let out a joyous laugh. "I don't know how to use a phone yet, but I'll make sure my dads and mum get your number so they can contact you! I'm sure my dad will be really happy to hear I met my big brother today!"

The little fallen-litch got to his feet, dusting off his bared legs and once again managed to scrape his knees with his own claws. "I think I should probably get going now." he nodded his head. "Dad's probably gonna be here to pick me up any time now. He's really nice and doesn't mind waiting if I need to stay later after school, and I kind of want to cuz you're cool, but my mom will be mad if I'm late for dinner. I'll make sure I give them your number and tell them all about this weekend though! I really want to!"

The little boy looked a touch shy for just a moment as he swayed back and forth with his tiny hands in small fists at his sides. He looked a little unsure for a split second, not something that crossed Rhys' face often. But suddenly, the boy leapt forward and hugged the older student tight before snatching up his number and running for the door, only to stop and pause with his hand on the handle as he looked over his shoulder on last time. Then, the boy disappeared as quickly as he had arrived.

He had gotten so caught up in his excitement to tell his parents all about his new friend he sort of just ditched Galan without a word more. It was true that he was going to keep his father waiting if he stayed any longer, and also true that his mom would be rather cross if he showed up late to a cold dinner again. But most of all, the best truth Rhys had was that of a new companion. And that was worth gloating about.