Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sitting alone on the more-than-comfortable couch sat the very portrait of dejection. Swarthy hands clasped a shockingly blond head, but the owner of both didn't move at all as the TV played out its reality drama.

But it wasn't "The Real World" or "Joe Millionaire" that flickered across the screen; it was "A Baby Story."

But perhaps he wasn't alone after all; beside him, yammering melodically in his head, was a ghostly child, tinted a bright blue and clutching an equally bright spear against her insubstantial body.

"Mmm?"

Clearly startled, Cal snapped to attention, before answering the question after all. He spared only a moment to wonder why people often said "hmm" before proceeding to answer the question they didn't hear. Ah well.

"No, no, it's ... I'm just ..." How to explain. "Worried?" he managed at last. The lines in his face showed up deeper today in his duress, making him look even older than his forty some years. He didn't immediately explain what about, his eyes drifting instead to the ghost that lurked over his companion's shoulder.

"How do you keep from getting stared at like you're insane when you're out in public?" Cal queried instead, nodding toward the baby-to-be. Raidne let out a high trill. Since she'd come into this form, she was almost never silent, but she wasn't noisy in an irritating way, at least to Cal. That was a mercy, anyhow.

"I see," the blond man commented brusquely. He looked at this newcomer intently now, taking in details. This man was his almost total opposite.

"I'm not worried so much about her now," he mused, looking at the Siren who burbled cheerily in his mind, if softly. "But when she is older. And if I'll do what I should. I've never had children, or cared for them," he said bluntly, in a rare moment of openness and candor. "I'm afraid I'll screw something up. Little things, like how to decorate her room. Big things, like what if she gets sick? What do babies need?"

He caught himself up short, ending the spew of words that held almost a desperate edge. She was nearly always on his mind. How did this elf manage to stay so blase?

"I've read books and I watch shows ..." He struggled for a phrase to better explain himself, and at last found a rather obscure one. "In the navy we always called it 'channel fever' -- how you can't sleep the night before you leave port. I know she'll be coming soon, and it seems I can't settle to anything knowing that. I keep playing scenarios over in my head, I keep seeing all the things I haven]]t done instead of what I have."

Did he make sense? He doubted it.

"I have a room that overlooks the sea picked out for her. I want to paint it blue, but isn't blue usually for boys?" His traditional views rose to the forefront.

The elf shrugged.
"Not entirely. I think a blue room would suit her very well!" Kyo nodded with a warm smile.
"Sometimes you just need to go with your gut feeling and give it a try, you never know, right?"

The elf shrugged his frail shoulders.
"I'm thinking of painting Oak's room green and fill it up with trees, from corner to corner. Something to give him the sense of home... hopefully." Kyo sighed. Thinking it would impossible, but he couldn't he wouldn't know until he gave it a shot.

Kyo cocked his head. His Elvin eyes catching the sight of a round sphere fly into the room.
“Huh?” Suddenly a very familiar voice echoed into his sharp ears. Kyo recalled the voice was something he heard once before.
Turning his head, Kyo took in the sight of Neveah; the butterfly woman.
“I’m fine…” The elf nodded.

"Oh, good! I'm glad he didn't hurt anyone..." Whil she did sound relieved, it was apparent by her tone that she wasn't really focusing on their wellbeing right then. Instead, she was staring at both of them while she waited for recognition to set in. It was that Cal person and...the man who'd knocked over the vase? Kyo, was it?

Oh good. She did know them, then!

"Good to see you too, both of you!" She chirped in cheerfully; life was so much easier when she knew someone! But then...Cal asked her for advice. Asked her for advice. First, she stared at him again, confusion in her angled eyes...then she coughed a bit and relaxed her pose, just so she could count on her slightly elongated fingers. "Uhm...Don't forget to change thir diapers, feed them when they want to be fed, and make sure they get sleep." Hey, he said babies. "I wasn't...exactly the best mother ever but...Zah's still alive so I'm doing something right. I guess...the best thing I can offer you for advice is to pay attention to them. You really do catch on to what they want really fast." Of course, she left out 'or they'll deafen you with shrieks until you do learn'. Cal should figure that one out on his own. Oh yeah, she was definately trying to make herself seem smarter on the subject. "Why?" It was an open question, one that no doubt meant "why ask me?"

"Echk." Said the dark-skinned boy from his partial hiding space. He apparently decided to greet people in his strange language, followed immediately by a raised hand that may or may not have been a wave from behind the couch's arm.

Cal started again as he actually focused on the child who'd managed to get so close without his notice. His eyes, usually hawklike, had been casting about distractedly.

The dark child jabbered something and raised one hand in a strange gesture. He didn't know what the child was trying to say, so Cal, typically, said nothing.

The words of these two helped him absolutely none. They were both vague and rambling and uninformed -- three of Cal's least favorite things. When he left here, he'd buy more books on baby care...

Raidne saved him from actually having to reply. Rising a few inches, she drifted purposefully toward Zah, who'd attracted her attention as well. She chirruped to Cal, her mindvoice closely resembling that of a bird.

"Thanks, I guess it was fate or something along the lines of pure luck that I had happened to be here at the right time, no?" The elf nodded. Listening to the conversation about caring for a child. Kyo believed in winging it and following what he thought would best suit the child. He knew he wasn't helping much with the situation of Cal's.

"Hey that reminds me we haven’t introduced ourselves," The elf nodded.
"I'm Kyo and this little ghost is named Oak!" Kyo nodded once again.