Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tybalt had been antsy for days and days. After his incident in the bookstore and his subsequent promise to Inle, he had begun to learn how to read. He was learning quickly; it would be awhile before he was ready for War and Peace, but he was hardly bad at it. The little pirate had been such a good student that Inle thought he deserved a break, which was the reason for their visit to the shop.

The little bell tinkled merrily, as always, as the pair walked in. Inle moved towards a chair while Tybalt looked around, presumably for something to get into. The lack of people in the shop would have bored him had he not been on a mission to find more shinies to put in his treasure chest, although he certainly wasn't adverse to a little "friendly" competition like the one he had had with Lance. Then again, he wouldn't mind having Vidya there to hunt with, either. With a sigh, he started poking around the shop's aisles, waiting to find something that would merit his attention.

Woman and Tale both turned towards the sound of the door opening, and the small voice that followed. They bore identical curious expressions, and glanced at each other briefly before looking back towards this newcomer.

"Hi there," Inle said slowly. "Are you lost, kiddo?"

Tybalt, meanwhile, was examing this newcomer as he did to everyone else he met. In his short life, he had seen all sorts of Tales; Khia was a shapeshifting dogfoxboything, Vidya had blue skin and white wings, and that damnable Lance looked like an overgrown lizard. However, he had never seen a Tale--if this child was indeed a Tale--quite like this one, with his long neck and short mane. "What're YOU 'sposed to be?" he asked with Tybalt-like tact.

Well, that explained everything, because people were constantly dropping kids off at the shop! Inle sighed; as long as the kid didn't get sick while she was around, she could care less what other mothers did with their kids. He was a Tale, at least, which answered one of her questions. "I see...well, we'll be here for awhile, so at least you won't be alone. I'm Inle, and that rude parrot over there--" here she pointed at Tybalt, who totally ignored her "--is Tybalt. He's a Tale too."

Hmm. This boy didn't seem too bad so far, not like that mouthy, attitude-wielding kid with black wings. He was...nice. Almost subservient in his posture, and nonthreatening in every way. Tybalt relaxed a bit, the feathers he had unconsciously fluffed smoothing once more. "'Hoy," he greeted the other boy, his tone almost amicable.

Inle breathed a mental sigh of relief as Tybalt seemed to not immediately hate this Tale as much as he had the last one he met. "It's nice to meet you, Sylvester. I don't think I've ever seen a Tale...quite like you. And so polite, too." Must be nice, she thought to herself, to have a son that doesn't beat people up upon meeting them.

He was almost TOO nice, Tybalt decided. There must be something wrong with him, something he was overlooking. His claws clicked noisily on the hard floor of the store as he approached the other boy, looking up at him; his eyes were merely speculative now, and no longer distrustful. "You've gotta long neck," he said after a moment of inspection. "'sit hurt t'keep yer head up?"

Inle noticed the change in Sylvester's stance and shifted to the edge of her seat, ready to spring and snatch Tybalt up should he prove to be too much for the other boy. Sylvester was a good deal bigger than Tybalt, but he didn't look to be as scrappy as the pirate was.

She had little to worry about, however, as Tybalt paused his inspection upon being complimented. He couldn't help but preen a bit, his ego being nicely stroked by this odd-looking Tale. "Thank'ee," he said, a proud, content smile flittering over his lips, the wings being complimented shifting a bit as if they knew they were being talked about. "On me head?" He puzzled over this for a moment, before realization dawned on him. "Like Videe? Y'know Videe? She's me first mate!" he babbled happily. He looked down at his feet at the mention of his claws, allowing one to tap repeatedly on the floor. "Aye, they're sharp," he said, a niggling in his mind reminding him of his dream. Tybalt looked back up, deciding not to ponder it further. "Yer neck's kinna neat. Bet it comes in handy, aye?"

Jiro? Tybalt didn't know a Jiro, but he knew Videe and that was all that mattered. The two Tales had that in common, at least. And Sylvester's neck WAS useful, it seemed...too useful for him to just dismiss as something interesting. "'S'nice, yes. 'N I dunno about parties, but me 'n Videe look fer treasure. Th' store's fulla shiny stuff!" Tybalt quieted, looking up at the giraffe, that speculative gleam back in his eye. "Y'should come with us, yer long neck'd come in handy, I bet."

Excellent! Sylvester might be a little too big to go trawling through cabinets with himself and Vidya, but he would make for a wonderful lookout! "We've foun' lotsa stuff! Inna cabinet we foun' shiny jewels 'n coins--" Tybalt-speak for marbles and buttons "--'n we foun' sheets 'o silver onna shelf!" Silver PAPER, that is. "'N we fight monssers, too, like hoards'a bugs 'n big stupid dragons!"

((S'ok. 3nodding ))

Tybalt blinked at the tall child in front of him. He just got invited to go treasure hunting and all he wanted to do was help carry it? He didn't want to help look for it, or fight bad guys for it, or adventure or anything? Hmm...well, something was better than nothing, he supposed. "Err, nope, never been hurt!" The time in the basement with the chupacabra didn't count, because no one actually got hurt. Grounded and scolded, yes, but not hurt. "We do th' hurtin'!" He paused for a moment, reflecting on that before amending the statement. "I do th' hurtin' ackshly. Videe got mad when I hurt the dumb dragon, but she helped kill th' bugs." He nodded sagely, idly hoping the boy didn't think any less of Vidya for it.