Welcome to Gaia! ::

Onasilos padded along the bank of the pond in the park he’d found while wandering this vast city, holding his shoes in his hand and letting his feet feel the cool water. It had been a very long time since he’d felt cool water gently lapping against his skin without having to worry about what may be tainting it. There were small fish, or some other creature, that came to investigate his toes as he wiggled them in the silt and mud. He marveled at them, stooping to try and get a better look by the fluorescent lights nearby.

His clothing was getting wet, but he hardly minded. It was cool, but even the cool air itself was a novelty to him, the way it caressed along his face and teased the hairs on his ears and tail. There did not seem to be any people out, and he supposed that was for the best. He did not know if it was actually permissible for him to be walking in the water or on the grass. There were tended paths that wound throughout, and–for all Onasilos knew–that was where people were intended to stay.

After a few more minutes of watching the eddies around his legs, Onasilos left the water and trodded back onto the grass. He found a bench and, seating himself, decided to let his skin air dry before putting his shoes back on. He wiggled his toes again, not in mud and silt but in the grass and dirt near the bench. There was some detritus on the ground, and Onasilos wondered if perhaps it was really not so big a deal that he’d been walking in the water. With a small sigh under his breath, he stooped again but this time to pick the garbage up and place it in a nearby barrel that was clearly meant for that purpose.

He was intending to sit back on the bench again once he’d finished this, but then Onasilos felt water hit his face and arms. It took a moment to realise what it was–rain had not fallen on his world in many, many years. In that time, the scant few drops fell faster and more numerous, until Onasilos was covering his head with the cloth around his shoulders and looking this way and that for something to offer shelter.

A pavilion nearby would do nicely. There were more benches there, and Onasilos could wait out the rain without getting any wetter than he already had.

“Oh!” Onasilos had heard the music, but had ended up relegating it to pleasant background noise. But now it seemed, judging by the instrument he was holding, that this man in the suit had been the one playing the music. A knight, Onasilos realised as he got closer. Of…

He had been bad with Moon Kingdom names in his prime. They seldom did any business together, so he had very little cause to memorize them in favor of the dozens of people and leaders he saw on a much more regular basis. But he did recognize their symbols.

Nep…tune?

He was pretty sure that it was Neptune. He had entertained several travelling Neptunian musicians back in the day.

Taking his scarf off of his head and rewrapping it around his shoulders, Onasilos sat next to the Neptunian musician. “Thank you sincerely for the invitation. I have not seen rain in quite a long time, and I got carried away.”

He decided to lay his shoulder scarf out to dry on the table on the other side of him, immediately disliking the feeling of the cold wet fabric against his skin.

“My name is Akhaef, senshi of Onasilos. You?”

There was a pause, and then the laughter dropped out of Onasilos’ voice. “I feared as much.” He turned to gaze out into the park. “I had hoped, with so many people around, that Chaos would be nothing but a bedtime story for scaring small children.”