Welcome to Gaia! ::

Luma stood outside of the familiar rescue with her beloved pet flitterat on her shoulder. She usually volunteered in places like the orphanage but she had been meaning to help pets in need for awhile now. This shelter was recommended to her by a friend as a place in need of all the help they could get so here she was. When she stepped inside it was very noisy, there must be a lot of familiars here. There was no one at the front desk so she called out. "Hello?? Is anyone there?? I called earlier about helping out with the rescues??"

Crowley had a habit of staying longer than he should have. But he really didn't mind since, at this point, he needed all the time out of the crowded dorm he could get.
Volunteering at the rescue was a dream come true, and he knew all the little animals by heart. A special place was held for the little flitterats, and he was currently in the process of very carefully raising some babies that had been abandoned by not only their mother, but their mother's owner. It was hard work, but he made time and was on a strict schedule.
Hearing a voice call from the front desk, guessing that the owner was out, Crowley gathered up the babies in a makeshift pouch on his chest and made his way up.
"Hey!" He called back just before approaching the desk. Oh. Well, he was never good at talking to pretty people, but a volunteer?
"I...Don't know anything about that, but I'm sure Mister Mitch would appreciate the help!" He smiled, reaching int a drawer under the desk and pulling out a notepad. "I'll just need a name and contact information. Er, for emergencies, don't worry."

Oh of course! Luma, Luma Lagoona. I'm from a naiad community near the opal springs. They don't really like me leaving to do things like this. She smiled softly and reached over him writing her crystal frequently on the note pad. Her eyes widdened when she noticed a bunch of baby flitter rats peeking out of the cloth pouch on his chest. Babies!! Oh my goodness they are so precious... I remember when Numa was that tiny! Her flitterrat Numa quickly climbed out of Luma's shoulder bag to inspect the commotion. Heh..she's excitable. I'm sorry, I probably should say hello... Hello! Um. Do you work here by chance?" Luma was so social she often forgets the formalities her parents so often made a fuss over

Writing down her name, Crowley stopped and looked down to his wriggling pouch. The babies were old enough to see the world, and were getting more curious. It made him happy to see them peeking over the edge of the pouch at the older rat, wiggling their noses and twitching their noses.
"Yeah, these are some of the littlest guys we have right now. they were put in a tupperware box and left on the front porch..." His face darkened at the memory of coming in that morning. "At least whoever it was had the decency to put a warm water bottle in there with them."
A sigh escaped him, but he finished writing down what she'd told him, put the notepad back where it came from and straightened up. After a moment, he had an idea.
Carefully he took the pouch off of his body, the baby rats making slightly alarmed noises.
"You want to carry them while I take you to the back? They could use socialization with yours, the only other rat we have right now is kind of a grumpy male.."

Id love to! They seem so sweet... Luma took the pouch and cradled it gentle in her arms. Numa respond to this by diving into said pouch where she was quickly overrun baby flitters trying to investigate. Luma laughed at her pet’s interest in the babies. She supposed it was cuz she had never seen mini versions of herself. I can’t believe someone would abandon such precious creatures. I have 4 flitterats of my own. Numa is my special girl though. I love them all dearly She followed the male behind the counter into the back area. There was so much to look at. She felt bad for all the familiars here and would take them all home with her if she could. I never did catch your name Luma noted doing her best to weive around the free roaming familiars and the piles of various toys and cages. Since I’m guessing this Mitch is the man I spoke to over the phone

"They do it all the time." and he couldn't understand why. What would drive people to abandon animals? Especially ones that were still so small and dependent on others? those were questions he would never find answers to, but he could at least answer his new workmate's questions for now.
"Oh! Sorry, sorry." He held the big swinging door open for her to follow him through. "Name's Crowley. I'm kinda part time volunteering right now, between classes." And to get away from his roomates. But she didn't have to know that.
"Yeah, Mitch is the old guy that runs this place. He's actually hardly here anymore, he leaves it to me and whoever else is around."

"Crowley huh? That's unique, I like it." She waited patiently for a
Gem-Crusted Tortoise to cross her path then continued to follow. "This place is a lot bigger than it looks on the outside. What type of stuff do you do here? I must admit I've never actually volunteered with animals aside from some run ins with pets during my academy years.. I love giving my time when i can but its usually at the local orphanages" Numa poked her head from the pouch followed my a bunch of smaller heads poking over the edge as well. "daww...how precious. Luma looked back up at the other who seemed to not really be paying attention. "Sorry. I know i talk a lot. Bad habit of mine. Mother always said I'm prettier with my mouth closed."

"What? No, no! Don't worry about it!" He had been listening, sure, but it was a little hard for him to concentrate on her AND the animals that were making their various noises his way for food, attention, whatever they needed. Planning to give them their needs after Luma was settled a bit, he turned to walk backwards, smiling again.
"I mean, that's an awful thing to say. Your mom dodn't know what pretty is." That was a compliment, right?
"A lot of the animals here like to be talked to, especially the older ones. So, sometimes I read to them. Silly, yeah, but they enjoy it. The little ones too. Gets them used to people's voices so they dont spook."
Making their way into a large back office, Crowley gestured at a big plush chair as he slid into a chair behind a desk.
"We just gotta wait till dinnertime now. Then if you want, we can go feed them all? It's not hard, promise."

"Oh my community has a pretty clear standard on what a women should be...my mother is gorgeous..just not because shes quiet." she sighed and laughed softly. "I refuse to just be a pretty bejeweled thing to be looked admired...I don't support a lot of my people's beliefs. I'm proud of who I am, even if they think me being hallowed is something I should be ashamed of and hide" She scoffed mocking the village's matchmaker. She loved how she glowed and the fact her fins were unique to her. She noticed that Crowley wasnt really your traditional style naiad either so perhaps they understood the plight. Luma walked into the office and gently sat the pouch down in the plush chair then she plopped down on the floor next to it. A chorus of squeaks erupted from the pouch as it settled, and Numa escaped to the safety of her owners shoulder bag. Luma smiled. "It's not silly, i talk to my flitterrats every night, they are my friends, each with their own personalities and feelings. I'm honestly surprised i don't have a small army of flitter babies by now" She looked up at Crowley. From where she sat in front of the desk she could just make out his eyes. "I'm game for anything really. I'll help feed lovelys. They do sound awfully hungry.. or maybe thats just boredom.". She wasn't really fluent in multiple familiar dialects, she only really understood flitter because she grew up aside Numa so communication came naturally

It was really hard for Crowley to wrap his head around what her community was like. I was almost unheard of to him...then again, he grew up away from the other Naiad.
"Well..I mean, you can be beautiful AND your own thing. Which, I think it's working for you!" He really, really hoped it would be taken as a compliment.
Clearing his throat, he went back to thumbing through paperwork, looking for something in particular.
"They don't mind if you cant understand them, a lot of them just like hearing voices. Like the Vespercats. They're really attentive just to random rambling."
Finally, he found what he was looking for, pulling out three pieces of paper, all filled with words, places to sign, and offcial-looking stamps.
"Before we do anything, I gotta have you read these and sign them. It's basically saying we aren't responsible for if you do something harmful to an animal and get hurt in the process. I don't think you would? But Mister Mitch needs his bases covered after uh..."
His voice lowered, as if afraid someone was listening.
"Well...There was a Demon who thought he could get away with being an a** to some gryftoos. He got attacked one day. I mean, he deserved it, but he tried to sue Mitch..."

Luma smiled at the compliment "Well I'm glad someone thinks so". She pushed her hair back behind her ears. She wasn't sure but she thought he just called her beautiful. Luma noticed the discomfort in the other naiad's voice upon recounting the events. It was horrible that someone would take the time to be here only to abuse the already battered creatures. She looked out the office door to the various familiars "I would never let any harm come to them". Animals need love and nurturing, especially these animals. Luma read over the paper work, she was surprised at the amount of detail needed to cover all their liabilities. Places like these run on donations and the goodness of people's hearts, the fact they need protection from lawsuits....what was the world coming to? Once she read over the forms she initialed and signed in all the required places. She was committed to the cause now. "There you go!" She handed the papers back to Crowley. "Anything else you need?". This was the first time she'd come across someone like her. There weren't really any naiads at the academy or at least in her house. It was refreshing to meet a naiad who cared about something more than traditions and values. She hoped she was making a good impression.

Once the paperwork was filled out and handd back, he just briefly looked over them. It wasn't too much a big deal to him, but as he said, Mitch needed to cover his butt. The elderly man had enough to deal with.
"Awesome! Now we just need to--"
An alarm went off, and Crowley gently tapped the clock on the desk before putting all the paperwork away and standing up.
"Right on time! Alright, so, the only think left is to get you started. It's really easy though." He headed over towards the door, holding it open for her to go through.
"It's food time!"

Luma rose to her feet. "After you, I insist... OH should we take the babies?" Not waiting for an answer she picked up the pouch full of flitters and followed Crowley out into the zoo, for lack of a better description. If nothing else it was very organized. Makes sense though, easier to care of animals if they are all in the same place, with their own kind. It seemed pretty straight forward, there was a large chart on the wall stating portions, and each of the food bins where labeled by species. Crowley explained how to feed them and where the to put the food. Luma enjoyed seeing how excited the pets were to get food and attention. Crowley spoke to each of them by name which was quite impressive cuz...there were a lot. "You must really love these guys huh? You know there names, know what they like, spend so much of your time here just so they get cared for...its incredible." Luma set the baby flitters down in what she noticed was a make shift flitterrat nest in a plastic bin. "heating lamp, nice touch". She smiled. "So they all get to eat, what about you? Did you bring anything for dinner?"

Crowley had taken his time. Each and every creature was treated with not only care, but respect and love. Certain animals were spoken to with certain tones of voice, and somethimes he even hummed.
It wasn't that he was ignoring her, it's that he completely became engrossed in the care of his wards. If someone were to ask him about any of them, he could list off whatever it was they needed to know; Current weight, temperment, background, disabilities, their strengths, how they would interact with families, large or small. Crowley simply knew them from taking care of them.
With feeding also came medication. Some were too smart to have it snuck in their food, and instead Crowley had trained some to take their medication before they got food at all. Some, still in the process, sadly had to be wrangled and force-fed either syringes of medication....or the dreaded pills.

All in all, it went by faster than he though it would, and by the time he was done, it was obvious he was just a little tired.

"YEah, they all have their needs, their dislikes. You'll learn little by little. I actually got started with the rats, since they're small and esier to take care of." He smiled at her as she place the little rats in their nest. "they'll probably end up going home with me, they still need constant care and feedings."

Hands went into his pockets as he shrugged at her question about dinner.

"Ehm...I usually...forget my dinner." He admitted, blushing just a tad. "I go home and eat when I get finished with cleaning...That's...usually..." He had to think. When DID he go home?

"...Late."

Luma smiled at Crowley and hugged him. It warmed her heart to see someone so caring and devoted. Anyone else would probably think them both insane for spending over an hour just preparing and delivering food to each of the enclosures. He had such detailed charts on each of the pets and it seemed like he had love for all of them. "Well!" she said stepping back. "Good thing I always pack enough food for .. well more than just me" She laughed. Luma walked over to the empty table at the back of the room. Reaching into her bag she pulled out an apple, an orange, a grilled cheese, a thermos of tomatoe soup, a thermos of chicken noodle soup and a pack of crackers.

“So uh.. you want chicken noodle or tomatoe?” Luma said splitting the grilled cheese down the middle and dividing the pack of crackers into two piles. “Oh and pick a fruit!”. She definitely over packed but she was so used to someone not having food that she always packed a spare meal. “I will not take no for an answer! Unless your allergic to something then feel free to totally say no”. Unfortunately she had forgot drinks. Luckily there was a soda vending machine by the front desk and.. she most likely had coins. It was at this point that Numa emerged from the apparent bottomless bag and stole a cracker. Numa was quite a fan of crackers and decided to gracefully dive of the table and explore. "Careful numnum if you crawl into the vesper cat cage I will not be there to save you". Luma taunted to curious flitterat. Numa heading said warning crawled back up to the baby flitterrats and parked. I guess they grew on her, Luma thought to herself

The hug had been enough to cause his cheeks to tinge pink, but the offer of food had him finally divert his attention away from his duties. The only thing he had to look forwards to at home was ramen, and he almost felt bad for following her to the table and sitting down.

"Uh, well, I don't really mind either...They're both good to me, so uh..." Well, it made no sense to at least noarrow it down. "...whichever you aren't feeling too much?" But oh, he felt utterly spoiled right now, being able to share a meal? It was something he wasn't used to anymore, not since he was in his junior years.

As Luma divvied up the dinner, Crowley got back up and went over to the soda machine. They'd need drinks, and, well, he had the key to open the machine.

"So, hey, which of these do you want?" He asked after he got the machine's door open, plucking two cans on root beer for himself.

Luma laughed softly. "Okay well you take the tomato then because its the traditional soup for grilled cheese. I'll take the chicken noodle!". She was sifting through her bag for some quarters when she looked over and saw Crowley with the machine open. "Oh.. well I guess that works too!" "I'll take a can of Void. Love me some grape soda. If i spill it ...you'll never know" Luma waved her hands as if suggesting it magic you'd never see a purple stain on all her purple stuff. "Now come sit! You probably haven't had a proper meal in days. I'm gonna have to start bringing you dinner to make sure you eat.". Luma had a knack for taking care of other people. She loved to help and more often then that that meant spoiling others rotten. It made her happy to see other people happy. She grinned and took the soda from Crowley and in return placed the orange on his head. "And thats for you"

Grabbing two cans of the asked-for drink, Crowley made his way back the the dinner table...Different than what he had always imagined a dinner with a friend would be, but it was a good kind of different. With a smile and a soft laugh, he set their drinks down before grabbing half of the grilled cheese.
Luma wasn't wrong, he'd hardly eaten lately thanks to the burden of schoolwork and the strain of having to care for the place without the owner around. It felt good, in that case, to eat something more sustantial than year-old ramen noodle cups.
"Luma, you're gonna spoil me if you do that!" He laughed even louder, careful to make sure the orange stayed on top of his head where she'd put it. "I get by alright usually, don't worry too much about that. Just...Mister Mitch can only afford to pay so much, and I spend -that- on supplies for the animals..." Typical. Admitted he'd rather take care of others than himself.
"I get what I need and that's 'bout it."

Luma grinned. "Well everyone should be spoiled by someone, besides you deserve it for you all you do here. I don't have school anymore so I spend all that free time trying to make a positive impact. But your somehow able to manage so many things at once its astonishing." She plopped down in one of the fold out chairs fishing a swiss army tool out of her pocket, which just happened to have a spoon attachment for soup. After a few bites of chicken soup and some broth dunked crackers she looked back at him. "It must be hard getting by on so little. My family is well enough off but the community prides itself on jeweled women. I always end up selling the stuff thats given to me. It never has any meaning cuz its suppose to sway me like a bribe." She rolled her eyes cutting into the apple with a knife attachment. "I use that cash and donate it or buy food" This was kinda nice. She couldn't remember the last time she just sat down and ate a meal with someone her age. Well she could but, someone she actually wanted to share it with. She hopped this whole thing wasnt too weird for Crowley. I mean what type of person shows up for a new position then pulls a full dinner out of her bag and offers to split it..? Probably not a normal one, but then again who defines whats normal now and days. "Hopefully between the two of us we can start getting you home before the crack of dawn huh?"

"Heh...I mean, it's just a nice thing to do. Make sure all these guys at least have a place to sleep and food to eat..."
Setting himself to eating, he listened to her as he chewed and sipped his drink. It was kind of nice, someone actually appreciating what he did. It wasn't really something that happened often and he didn't ever actually look for praise beyond the 'thank you's of little children who were going home with a new friend for life.
But once Luma finished her talk, he simply smiled.
"Well to be fair, I don't sleep much, overall. crack of dawn is fine by me...Though it'll be nice to have some free time at night. Play some games, read maybe?"

"Sounds like fun. Though I must warn you, I'm the Go Fish reigning champion". Once they both finished eating she helped clean up the mess. The duo spent the remainder of the night talking to one enough. Though the pair had just met there was a clear connection. There wasn't that many people Luma trusted with her personal thoughts but for some reason she felt like she could tell the other anything that was on her mind. Once they locked the final cage of the night time came to lock up. Luma followed Crowley out into the lobby, shutting the lights off as they went. When he flipped the final switch the lobby was dark, except for the light through the glass doors and windows. Luma stood blushing embarrassed as her fins and tail illuminated the dark corner of the lobby she stood in. "I'm really busy most weeks" She admitted "But I'll do my best to be here every other night at least!". Luma ran her fingers through her hair. Originally this was just another opportunity to give back to the community but now it seemed like the opportunity for something else; a real friendship. "Until then.. you have my number if you want to talk..?". The return of a warm smile reassured her that she wasn't being too forward. She followed Crowley outside, through the held open door, and hugged him goodnight. It was here the two parted ways seeing as they were headed different directions but as Luma made her way towards the Opal Portal she got a text. " yum_strawberry " Luma laughed. "Perfect".