Welcome to Gaia! ::

Of course, Reese wouldn't be alone for long, not if the small group coming down the hall had anything to say about it. In the lead strode a short, slender young woman, roughly twenty years old in human terms, with pale skin, delicate features and a long waterfall of thick, almost midnight-blue curls. Dark green eyes sparkled wryly from behind blue-framed glasses, and she was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt. Although it wasn't her voice that would reach the little boy first.

"But - But MOM - "

"No buts, Jewel." The young woman paused, framed in the doorway of Reese's current room, and ruffled the bangs of the small girl trailing along behind her. With multi-colored skin and stripes of vivid color running through her long, dark hair, the child would have been pretty if she hadn't been scowling. Vivid, spring-green eyes glared defiantly up at her mother.

"But I don't WANT to come here." Jewel almost whined, voice petulent. "Why do I have to come HERE? You have the Center, I could go to school there with Alexia and Lana and Aura and Cayanne, and all the other Tenjutsu kids. Aunt Ri even has Dragons! I could get a dragon from her, you know I could!"

"Yeah!" Piped up the second child, smaller than her 'big' sister. Purple glasses framed large, chocolate eyes; like Jewel, Anitia was an anthromorph, although her particular animal was a bat. Short, pale brown fur, impossibly soft, covered her little body, while incredibly wide ears perched atop her thick mane of true hair swiveled this way and that. Her arms were wings as well, currently folded carefully at her sides, small tail poking from the back of her jeans.

Standing beside the bat-child, another little girl with coal-black hair and ghostly-pale skin nodded solemnly, scarlet eyes focused intently on their mother. "It might make things easier." She commented in soft, precise tones. The fourth and fifth members of the youngster brigade were also female; a hazel-eyed redhead who nodded earnestly, and a slightly taller blonde with golden-brown eyes and the air of a panther. Both were nodding, apparently agreeing with their siblings.

"That isn't the point, honey." Their mother shook her head, a wry grin tugging at her lips. "You're from here, and there are certain responsibilities that come with that."

"But they think I'm FOOD!" Jewel half-wailed. The blonde grinned toothily. "Hey, I say you let us come with." Her eyes flashed yellow for a moment, pupils slit like a cat. "Anybody that thinks my sister's lunch can come play with me."

"Shalimar - " Rune sighed, though she couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't meant to bring all five girls along - she'd specifically told Jewel they would only take ONE of her siblings, maybe two - but Aiku had refused to be left behind without Anitia, and bringing Shalimar anywhere meant Emma came along for the ride. Pausing, she glanced into the room, surprised briefly as her gaze fell on Reese. "Oh, hello. I don't suppose you know where the office is?"

(*whines* Damnit, my router was fried, but I thought this post went through - I hit the stupid button enough times. *thumps head* Thank gawd I saved it.)

Rune grinned, resisting the urge to ruffle the little boy's bangs. He was so utterly adorable! "That's alright." She assured the small child gently. "I'm Rune Traverse. These are my daughters - "

"I'm Shal!" The blonde grinned from ear to ear, bounding forward to stand nearly nose to nose with the seahorse boy. "Act'ally, it's Shalimar, but you can call me Shal for short. You're real cute."

The redhead rolled her eyes, and the rainbowed, originally-scowling youngster brushed at her own bangs, the frown melting away as she studied her fellow D-Corp child with a steadily brightening expression. "I'm Jewel." She offered. "Sturgonfish. This is Anitia," the little bat, "Emma," the redhead, "and Aiku." The black-haired girl with scarlet eyes. "Are you here with your family?"

Rune grinned, slipping back through the door to wander down the hall - unknowingly, in the same direction as Edge. The girls would be safe enough together, and it would do Jewel good to meet someone here that wouldn't think of her as food.

Shal hopped backward and clapped her hands in delight. "We have an uncle Reese." She proclaimed. "Big brother is named after him, too. He's a dragon boy!"

"Sea horses are the dragons of Chinese Mythology." Emma piped up, amused by her sister's antics. She looked a bit shy - from her expression, probably assuming she sounded like a nerd - but went on anyway. "Well, baby dragons in the zodiac, anyway. I read it in a book."

"And homework is boring, annoying stupid stuff." Jewel added promptly. Anitia giggled at her big sister, Aiku raising a single slender brow. "Homework is school studies or work done at home." The scarlet-eyed child spoke in her soft, oddly precise tones. "Usually to re-enforce what was learned while in the class."

"Like, when we do math class, the teacher gives us pages of other problems to solve at home." Shalimar grinned. "And then we bring 'em back to class, and the teacher shows us how we were s'posed to do 'em and if we got them right." She paused, head tilted in unconscious mimicry of Reese's own thoughtful pose. "Who's Wilbur?"