Welcome to Gaia! ::

The day was blazingly hot. Rhys was lounging on the poolside in a reclining mesh chair, keeping an eye on his two younger brothers as they splashed and played in the shallow end. His tests were becoming harder and after school schedule more and more packed. The brief reprieve from it all was welcome, though the babysitting duty was a little tiresome. It felt as though if he wasn't working on his endless homework load, Rhys was watching over the kids. Stretching out his small wings before tucking them over his torso again. The hybrid had begun to drift off, eyes heavily and lazily blinking as he tried his best to stay awake.

Rhys was losing the fight, five seconds away from snoring when a rather cute girl walked past, grimm tail swishing behind her with her head held high. Rhys couldn't help but to gawk at how insanely gorgeous she was. Unfortunately, Rhys took after his dad and wasn't the best when it came to trying to get a girl's attention. His slit pupils dilating, Rhys watched as she climbed the lifeguard tower, eyes fixed on her posterior.

He had to think fast. How could he grab her attention?

Slowly, Rhys got up, resting his hands on his swim trunks as he as casually as he could walked along the side of the pool, trying to act nonchalant. Then, all of a sudden, Rhys 'tripped' and fell in to the deep end just as a few daydreams walked past, pretending to trip.

Rhys' body smacked hard against the surface of the water, drawing a few looks, including the attention of his younger brother Raa who had stopped splashing his brother.

"Gurrglesputterhrrrk --- !!" Rhys was floundering in the deep end, and from Raa's eyes, it looked as though his brother was struggling to swim!

Panic rising in his chest, Raa gentle nudged his brother and pointed. "We have to save him ... !" Raa chirped worriedly. "Come on, Mali!" Raa dragged himself up the steps of the pool, his dripping wet, sagging fur a mess around his feet as he tried to drag himself across the tiled floor.

Rhys ... hadn't really thought this through. One minute, he was swooning over a pretty girl in her seat of power, and the next he was getting swacked in the face by something soggy and hefty. With a blub-blub of dismay, it took Rhys a few seconds to register what had happened, though the smell of wet fur had captured his attention first.

"Raa---ggffdtttpsssssh --- !!" under the water Rhys went, being taken down by Raa. His younger brother had thrown himself in to the deep end in an attempt to save Rhys, throwing all caution to the wind. Raa had never been a good swimmer, though, with his wings and tail adding so much extra weight. And Rhys could feel every pound of it.

More importantly than anything else, Rhys and Raa were now sinking like stones. All because he wanted to get that damn girl's attention.

I'm an idiot! Rhys thought to himself before his common-sense kicked in. With a few strong kicks of his legs, Rhys grabbed on to Raa's small frame and propelled the two back to the surface. With a loud gasp, Rhys let out a raspy cough from lack of air, slapping his small wings against the surface of the water, just as he heard the whistle of one of the lifeguard's blow.

Greaaat.

The two really were in trouble now, though. Rhys' own wings weren't aiding him any, and Raa's extra weight made it hard for Rhys to maneuver himself back to the edge of the pool.

"Grab on!" Rhys heard a voice call out, Raa clinging tightly to his brother's chest, completely terrified. A floating ring was tossed out to them, and Rhys grabbed on to it. Three lifeguards tugged the duo over to the side of the pool, then grabbed on to Raa to help him out first, the little fluff shaking in terror.

"I ... I wanted to save him ... !" he muttered quietly, shaking like a leaf, scanning the area for Malikah. Malikah was still in the shallows, having crept closer to where the two had been fighting to float. Oh, poor Mali!

"Malikah!" Raa let out a small sob, stepping forward to run. His fur trailed behind him, little wings flapping as he tried to speed himself over. "I want to go home!"

Rhys gave a heavy sigh as he hoisted himself out of the pool, the grimm girl he had previously been trying to grab the attention of gripping his arm tight and yanking him out. She looked cross. Rhys gulped loudly.

"I saw that. Don't be an idiot next time." was all she said before releasing Rhys' arm, leaving indents from her claws on his skin, leaving Rhys behind without another word.

The fallen-litch pouted, arm still lifted as he stared down at the marks on his arms. Rhys gave a soft sigh, looking up to see where Raa had gotten off to, only to see him tottering back towards Malikah ... and seeing all the stares of all the people who had noticed the 'emergency'. Rhys' cheeks flushed a dark, embarrassed red as started following after Raa, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room, keeping his head down.

"Raa ... that was really silly what you did, yunno." Rhys said as he caught up to his younger brother. "Why did you do that?"

Raa shrunk under Rhys' gaze as he was scolded, his lower lip beginning to pucker in to a pout, eyes welling up with tears again. If it has been someone his own age, he would have brushed it off. But this was his brother, after all -- someone he looked up to, and knowing he had made them angry ... it was heart wrenching.

"I'm sorry ... !" Raa croaked desperately, still clutching on to Malikah.

Rhys furrowed his brows gently, peering down at his younger brothers. "Mal ... Raa could have gotten himself killed! He was completely careless! If something happened to him, mom and dad would never let me hear the end of it! And besides, you should never ever endanger your own life, even if it's to save someone else's! I'm responsible for your two ... I was fine, anyways!"

Rhys felt his wings ruffle, feeling insulted as his eyes narrowed in to slits. "That's not fair." Rhys' tone was deadly, all hints of amusement or playfulness in his tone of voice vanishing in to thin air. "Yunno what, you guys can sign up for lessens if you really wanna learn how to swim, but I'm not helping you guys out anymore." His ego was bruised, people were still staring, and now he was being guilt-tripped by his younger brother. And even worse, Raa was staring up at him with large, watery eyes that made Rhys want to cut out his own soul to offer to him to make it stop. With a shake of his head and a heavy sigh, Rhys started to walk away. "I'm gonna go dry off and get changed." he said bluntly, walking away from his siblings as he started to head for the change room.

Raa looked absolutely distraught. He didn't know what to do. Between Rhys' suddenly sour mood, and Malikah scolding Rhys, and Raa's desire to just go home and his soaking wet everything, the day was just turning in to an awful one.

"Ugh ... " was all Raa could manage to say, watching as Malikah squeezed out his tail fur for him. "Maybe you ... were a little harsh ... ? I mean, he was too ... " Raa cast his glance down, staring down at his thin, scrawny arms. He really was all fluff ...

Raa gave a soft nod of his head as he listened to his brother vent. Raa personally didn't see what the big deal was, but wasn't willing to argue that. He didn't really think anyone was right or wrong during their little half-squable ... but Malikah was correct right now. Their dad would be mad if they didn't at least try and make up. Maybe once Rhys' fiery temper cooled off he'd explain what really happened.

"Let's go." Raa squeezed Malikah's hand gently, readjusting his bangs with his other hand, trying to fluff them out so they'd dry how he liked them. "I'm sure Rhys is just embarrassed anyways ... he'll cool off ... " Raa scooped up his damp tail in to one arm, carrying it as he held hands with his brother and headed back to the fitting rooms.

Rhys had gathered his things up in a huff, emptying out the locker he had borrowed from the school to keep his and his siblings things safe and sound. He had shoved everything he had brought with them in to the giant, oversized dufflebag and had stormed in to the stall to get changed, whipping the curtain closed. Barely a minute or two passed by when he saw the curtain move. Rhys twitched, opening his mouth to say 'occupied' in an annoyed tone, but before the words could pass his lips the familiar face of his little brother poked through, and Rhys reflexively covered his junk as much as he could with his hands. While the family was generally fine with nudity, Rhys still believed there were some things his little brother shouldn't see just yet.

"Mal, if you guys don't wanna get left behind, then dry off and get dressed. I'm getting ready to leave." Rhys twisted around, not afraid to show his bare rear to his brother and dropped his hands as he grabbed for his pants to tug them on.

Raa had followed behind Malikah and was listening to the exchange from the other side of the curtain. He wasn't opposed to getting in to some warm clothes, but he did want to know why Rhys was being so weird.

Rhys let out a hefty sigh, slapping his hands on his thighs and letting his head loll back, closing his eyes as he tried to reign in his frustration. "Yaaaaaaaaah?" he asked, turning to look down at his little brother just in time to see Raa slip in under the curtain, knitting his tiny little hands together and peering up at him with his large, aqua eyes. It completely disarmed Rhys.

"Uuugh, yaaah. Yah, I forgive you guys if ya'll will forgive me. I didn't mean to scare you both. Hug it out?" Rhys squatted down infront of them, extending his arms to offer them both a hug.

Rhys couldn't help but to smile at Malikah's teasing, and the smile only grew larger as Raa's whole face lit up. Getting back to his feet, Rhys tugged on a shirt with a short little laugh and handed a towel to each of his brothers so they could at least soak up some of the water. "Let's head out then. We can walk and catch the next portal home." picking up the bag, Rhys tossed it over his shoulders before taking one of Raa's hand in his, and Mali's in the other before leading them out of the change room and guiding them home.

Siblings, man. Can't live with them, can't live without them either. Rhys wouldn't have it any other way.