Welcome to Gaia! ::

For a moment, the only thing that moved on the hill was that which moved by way of wind. The leaves, the grass, the tiny little flowers trying to survive amidst the cold. But no person, alien or otherwise, appeared for a small bit of time. When Caedus roused himself—because, he did sleep, in his nest of blankets and bedding in the grove of trees in the distance—it was not quickly.

Her voice had awakened him almost immediately, but getting up was another story.

Caedus appeared between two trees a moment later, looking tired but alert. "You have chosen an odd time to arrive," he said, voice a little more gravely than it had been at the meeting. "Most senshi come when the sun sets. Is there an emergency?"

Caedus observed her, head bowed as he looked down at her. He was standing a bit straighter than he had at the meeting, but he was nowhere near what could have been his full height. "…Yes," he said after a moment, though his actual understanding of whatever it was she was talking about was dubious, at best.

But, it was free food, in exchange for information about aliens—of which, he had much he could provide.

He moved towards her at a slower pace, curious but hesitant.

"You seem to have a lot of energy," he noted, squinting his eyes a bit. He reached up one hand to rub at them and then cleared his throat. "But I will try to keep up with you. And your questions."

Caedus cocked his head to the side; he picked up the glass of milk and sipped at it. He'd chugged half the glass in a matter of seconds and seemed to have to pry it away from his face. He reached up a hand to wipe at what must have been his mouth before he spoke again.

"It was amazing. Entirely different from Earth. Your planet is so green, and so full of life. Ours is full of what we imported, but plants do not grow freely as they do here. Everything had a specific place, a specific order. Everything was where it needed to be on my homeworld. Traveling space was unique. I must have visited hundreds of places. Each one had something unique. I collected crystals from them. Sometimes they were for science. Sometimes I just liked to look at them." He shrugged, almost sheepishly. "Living in space…you are living in space as well, you know. Though, I suppose you have not had the same opportunity to explore it. Not in this lifetime, at least. But I hope you will have the experience. There is nothing quite like stepping foot on a new planet."

"Oh. I apologize. I did not mean to offend," Caedus said, watching her cookie dunking procedure. He mimicked it carefully, seeming to apply all his focus on dunking his cookie, and nibbling it, in the exact same fashion as she had.

She was entirely correct: they blew his mind.

He stopped breathing for a moment, just savoring the taste, and when he exhaled it was slow and euphoric.

"These are wonderful. I wish we had these on my homeworld. We did not have natural plants. We built our homeworld, so we had to import everything. We had flowers, and fruits, and trees. But to exist on my homeworld, they had to have a purpose. The trees provided us with the atmosphere conditions we needed to breathe without modified apparatus. Flowers were edible or medicinal, as were other plans we imported and maintained. Fruits were the same. And vegetables. We created hybrids of each. Genetically modified to fit our needs."

"I—what?" he asked, seeming a bit surprised. "Lizard? Do you have lizard people here?"

Slowly, his head cocked to the side and though the shadows of his hood concealed most of his expression, it was clear that his eyes had narrowed in thought.

He confessed, "I would not describe myself as a lizard person, but I also do not know what that entails. It is easier to answer your other question. My world was constructed out of everything. We started with what materials we could get our hands on, but as we grew and expanded we improved. Mostly we rely on technology, and important plants. And crystals."

He was indulging in another Thin Mint. "Crystals are necessary to regulate our living conditions. They are capable of doing so much. Coupled with our technology, we have made incredible progress with synthetic life and construction."

Caedus' eyes narrowed a bit in thought. "Ah," he said after a moment of trying to imagine her description. Finally, he just nodded and concluded, "Interesting," before he helped himself to another cookie. He was careful to dip it and then eat it before answering her question, "The planet was the only successful life we ever made. Synthetically, I mean. And even then, it is not truly alive. It does not think or feel. But it exists, and it thrives in an ecosystem we imposed. It is growing each day. We are careful to maintain it. We do not want anything to get out of hand. But we have some artificial intelligence. Our computers were programmed to run certain tasks. But," he shook his head. "We always double checked. We crafted them to partake in undesirable tasks, but we were always careful to maintain a very specific balance. It is easy to become…overzealous. We did not want to create anything we could not manage."

Caedus stared at the girl for a moment. The first question did not register as invasive, but he seemed more confused with being referred to as a ghost.

"…Is that slang?" he asked after a tentative moment. "…If you are asking if I am dead, no. I am alive. I have a pulse, last I checked." He reached a hand up to his neck and gazed off to the side for a moment before nodding.

"My heart still beats."

He adjusted his position. "We had to make life to take back our own. My species was not granted the most glorious history. Our planet—our true planet—was not our own. We needed one for us to survive. We are capable of procreation, when the mood strikes. I do not know that it differs greatly from Earth's process, but I am a little out of date with the mechanics."

Caedus tilted his head. "Does this planet appreciate your imagination?"