Welcome to Gaia! ::

The apartment had been dark, but America hadn't been asleep. Fingers clenching and releasing against the denim of her jeans, the girl had been deciding whether she should go out for a night run or not. Maybe she'd run into those bugs again. Or something even better. Her body felt charged and restless with anger, dissatisfaction, and worse: a wretched sort of homesickness. The kind she swore she'd never feel after moving north.

Tomorrow was her day. The day where she'd always been surrounded by family and big, BIG celebration unfurling from the picnic tables to the sky full of fireworks. Except this time it was let down after let down. This time it'd just be her, alone, unless she wanted to go to the parade and wave a little ******** flag like that was anything fun. Malby said he'd make it up to her. Trucks promised he'd be able to make it by the weekend. But whatever. Adult promises were like dominoes. It only took breaking one to damn the rest.

So when she heard the knock at the door, America felt, for one painful moment, a bit of hope. That kinda Christmas magic you see in movies where love and family and all that s**t comes through and saves the cute girl in her darkest moment. Jumping up, she dashed to the door and flung it open, face bright and smiling, to reveal...

"Mimsy...?!" Shock, disappointment, realization, and intense, heart wrenching affection flickered across her face like a rapid series of slides.

After a moment she was flinging herself at the taller girl, careful of the cake, and giving her a crushing hug. There was, perhaps, a telling bit of dampness, and a soft sniffle to accompany the embrace, but America made sure to give her the slightly choked assurance of, "This is so nice, you're so nice. I'm really happy!"

Taking a deep breath, then another, America did her best to calm down and not be so ******** much in her feelings right now. Finally separating from Mimsy with a choke of laughter, she stood back to let the other girl through, hastily flipping the light switch on. The denial that she'd been moping in the dark by herself was on her lips for only a moment. But naw. there was no need to try and act cool in front of Mimsy.

She gave her water eyes a quick scrub of the arm and took another deep breath before admitting, "I was gonna be alone on my birthday and was busy being stupid sad 'bout it when you knocked."

And then, because she didn't want Feelings Talks for her ******** birthday, she added, "When my Uncle Sampson wanted to run off and join the carnival to get his girl back, he accidentally set my hair on fire practicing that fire breathing stuff."

Grinning, broad as anything, America ushered Mimsy in with a stern, "Okay! Then you're all mine 'til midnight!"

Once in, she began explaining, "Protocols are for other folks, Uncle Sampson follows his vision, you know? Anyway, it all started with this three-nippled carnie..." As the door shut, her voice faded and dimmed, but the light under the door brightened, a thin crack of warmth that stayed throughout the night.