Welcome to Gaia! ::

There were benefits to having someone who could float, Nell was finding out. The windows in the living room, while giving an amazing view of the beach and letting in a wonderful amount of light, were a pain to clean. But now she didn't have to mess with ladders or long poles since Dair didn't seem to mind terribly much at being sent up near the ceiling to clean those hard to reach bits of glass. But the cleaning was coming to an end, the apartment was as close to spotless as it could get while still being comfortable, and the last remnants of the cleanup were being cleared away.

Nell was a bit ashamed that it took her so long to extend an invitation to Claire, especially after hearing that her own Raevan had come home months before, but she at least figured it was better late than never. It only dawned on her that morning that with everything else going on, she had forgotten to mention Dair at all. Well. Nothing like a surprise, she guessed. So it was probably for the best that when she heard a knock on the door that he was still in the back, putting up the broom and dustpan.

"Coming!" she called, making a quick trip into the kitchen to pull a pitcher of lemonade out of the fridge on the way to the door.

"Hey, Claire! How're you?" A hands passed over her head self-consciously with a grin before she noticed the little one hovering behind Claire. She couldn't quite help the quiet "oh!" that slipped out when he spoke or the excited grin that spread across her face.

"Hey, there! You did? Well, " she knelt down and gently scooped the planter out of his hands, holding it up to her face to get a good look at it. "Isn't that nice of you! I think I have a perfect place for this lil' guy! Why don't y'all come on in, I actually have a surprise for you too." She stepped to the side to let them both in, nudging the door closed with an elbow before bustling in after them.

"Make yourselves at home! Can I get you anything to drink? There's, " she held up the pitcher of lemonade with a smash laugh, "this or I have some different juice or water...Could you grab the bag out of my in your way back?" This last bit was directed over her shoulder towards the back of the apartment as she set the plant on a table by a window, turning it so it was Just So.

And then Dair drifted around the corner, holding up the gift bag as if silently asking if it was the right one. His hair had been scraped back into a messy ponytail and he had opted for an oversized sweater instead of what he had been born in, and he speed abruptly when he noticed the new people that were there.

"Why don't you come and give it to Lorin, " she suggested gently, tilting her head in the direction of the younger-looking Frei.

"I'm sure it'll be the prettiest plant around, then! I'll make sure to keep you up to date about it, okay?" Her smile turned rather sheepish at Claire's comment. "Sorry, I just realized this morning that I hadn't, things have been a hectic the past few days," She watched Dair's approach for a few seconds before scooting over to the kitchen, grabbing a few glasses before digging around in the fridge to see if she had any grapefruit juice.

Dair, meanwhile, sunk a bit lower, nodding a greeting to Claire before returning his attention to Lorin. He certainly looked much younger than him, though the leaf-like wings and antennae immediately put the thought of 'plant' into his mind. Was he one of the other plant Raevans that Ethiriel had mentioned? The initial impression of familiarity let him relax a bit though, some of the tension and nervousness leaving his posture.

"Hello," he said, his voice a quiet rasp that still made Nell wince a bit whenever she heard it. "My name is Dair." He floated a touch closer, seeming to forget the bag in his hands until Claire spoke. With a quick look over at Nell (who nodded encouragingly) he held out the bag to Lorin, unable to keep himself from smiling in return at Lorin.

(He's so cute!!! Nell mouthed at Claire from the kitchen, pointing to Lorin with a cup-filled hand.)

"That's good," her voice floated out of the kitchen with a laugh of her own. "Though honestly I wouldn't have minded keeping it for myself, it's so squishy." Seeing his happy pirouette killed any hesitation she had about letting it go, though. He looked so happy, and she could always end up buying herselfone later. Or a couple more. She eventually scooted her way back into the living room, carefully juggling a few cups in her hands. A glass of water was handed to Claire, a smaller juice glass set on the table for Lorin for whenever he wanted it, and she held onto a glass of lemonade for herself.

"It's nice to meet you too, Lorin," he watched with a bit of hesitation as he unwrapped his gift, worried if he would like it. True, he hadn't been the one to pick it out, but it still would be awkward if he didn't like it. Lorin's enthusiastic 'thank you' banished any worries he had, a smile of his own replacing the rather worried look he had just a moment ago.

That smile faded a bit when th tables were turned on him, though. What did he like? His nose scrunched up as he thought, his fingers absently picking at the cuffs of his sweater. "I like...the rain and forests and...sweaters? I think..." He hadn't been around for long enough to have gotten more than that figured out, but it was a good start for likes, he thought.

"How...how many frogs do you have?"

"Oh, don't mention it! Wish I could have gotten around to inviting you over sooner, but..." she trailed off a bit as she glanced over at the two raevans, unable to quite keep the smile off of her face. "Glad it happened when it did. I haven't had the chance to really take him out to meet people yet, so it's good he's got a chance to make a new friend."

Dair, meanwhile, listened patiently as Lorin thought, his head turning slightly to look back and forth between him and Claire as they spoke in turn. There was a brief moment of thought once Lorin had come to a decision before he gravely inclined his head in acknowledgment of his choice. "I will look forward to it, then." He glanced over at Nell, a bit unsure of what to do after pleasantries were exchanged, but all he got was a wink and thumbs up.

Well.

"We went to the forest the other day and I found some interesting things, did you want to see them?" His voice was a bit unsure, this was entirely new territory he was venturing into after all, and it didn't really involve bees or frogs so it might not go over so well with his new acquaintance.

"He seems to be doing alright now, though!" Which was a bit of a worry she had had about Dair as well. He was so quiet and held back, such a marked difference from any of the children (or teenagers, for that matter) that she had grown up with and around, that she wasn't sure how he would act around others. But although there was some awkwardness, they seemed to be getting along well enough.

Dair watched Lorin carefully, not quite sure how this suggestion would go over, and was quite surprised at the rather enthusiastic response he received. A cautious grin slowly grew on his face, and he looked over to Nell when Lorin went to hand off his bee, silently asking for permission to show Lorin around. With a laugh, Nell waved them both off, giving Claire a rather surprised and pleased look. Well! Now she was glad she let him keep some of the stuff he picked up on their latest trip out to the forest!

"They're up here," he said, pointing up to the loft space above the kitchen as he began to float up to his room. There wasn't much in it aside from the basics yet, a bed, a bookshelf, a small table and lamp, but lined neatly along one of the shelves was a variety of things. A large pinecone, a small pile of acorns, a few interesting pebbles, a large piece of a shelf fungus with a couple of cicada husks perched on top. Essentially anything that crossed his path that he thought was interesting that he managed to stuff into his pockets (without mentioning to Nell until they got home, of course).

"Oh god, he's been doing a lot better than I thought? I was expecting it to be a lot more..." she trailed off with a thoughtful hum, her gaze following the raevans as they floated off. "Difficult. I had some trouble with his essence, I so I guess I was expecting more of the same, but he's really easy-going about most things and almost takes care of himself." There was a bit of a pause as she took a sip of lemonade before she grinned. "I always think I'm doing something wrong because he's so quiet, all the kids I've been around have been really loud, so this is a bit out of my comfort zone." She looked back to Lorin and Dair once more, a small, fond smile spreading across her face.

"I think it'll work out though. How about you? Lorin seems like he's a dream to take care of."

It was clear that he was a bit nervous about having someone new poke around is room, his fingers absently picking at the hem of his sweater and his shoulders rising up towards his ears as he watched Lorin look around. But his shoulders relaxed and his fingers stilled at his eager question.He nodded, floating a bit closer towards the bookshelf. "Yeah! I want to go back, there was a lot of things, but they wouldn't all fit in my pockets." Maybe he needed bigger pockets. Or more pockets... "I can ask Nell if you could come along next time if you wanted?"

While she was slowly becoming more comfortable and assured in the decisions she was making (largely in part to the numerous panicy texts sent to her father), there was still a lot of shaky ground that she was making her way across. She often found herself wishing for an instruction manual, or at least a support group. Though perhaps these meetings with other guardians was close enough.

"Maybe it'll go the other way and he'll rub off on them! Though I don't think he'll be starved for choices for playdates," she said with an amused huff. "I don't know if I just didn't notice before, but raevans seem to be popping out of the woodwork everywhere lately. It'd be nice if there was another party happening soon so he would just meet them all at once, might be a bit overwhelming but it'd sure be convenient." She grimaced, her expression akin to that of a kid who was caught with their hand in a cookie jar.

[color-darkolivegreen]"I do," he said gravely. Pockets were one of the things he had started looking for when he had the chance to get new clothes, and the fact that he tended to layer what he did have only maximized the number of places he could squirrel away bits of nature to bring home.

"Yeah!" Or, he at least assumed he could. There was plenty of space in the car for a few more people, let alone Lorin, and Nell seemed to be excited that he was meeting people, so she shouldn't have a problem with it.... "And I think with two of us we could find even more stuff." Already his mind was reeling with ideas of where and what and how, and had turned slightly back towards where their guardians were, as if he were going to ask them if they could go now.