Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Revived!
wow a whole year O: ))

The whole troop had come once again to enjoy the winter weather. Rime had stayed home this year, citing too much work, and sent Alida out as the head of the group. The teen demon ushered the whole lot of down the path to the snowy park... well, most of them. Avery was already out in the snow, and had been as soon as they were close enough for him to run ahead.

Avery, standing up from where he'd flopped, saw someone else playing in the snow. He gave up his snow angel to jog over towards her, brushing snow off the red sleeves, waving one black-gloved hand at her. "Hey! How are you? My name's Avery, wanna play?" Sure the blue girl was older than him, but that rarely stopped Avery from anything.

Alida, meanwhile, stood in the snow, hugging herself in her dark gray kneelength coat. She was a little doubtful of going out in the cold this year... she remembered sledding last time with a bit of apprehension. Looking around, though... she saw another girl sitting off to one side.

I think that's Sere, right? Hm... I wonder if she's mellowed any? she thought, and flipped open her notebook to scrawl a hello message before walking in Sere's direction.

Sybil ran after Avery as best she could, in her over-bundled state. She was still sensitive to cold, so she wore many layers. But, before she could get very far, she tripped in the snow, which was knee-high to her. Her hands went out automatically in front of her, but she still gave herself a facewash. The poor, wet, and now cold little girl pushed herself up, looking like she was about to cry.

She looked about for someone, so she could cry in earnest to them, and two people came into her vision almost at the same time, though neither were facing her way. A guy in black, and a boy in purple, who she recognized as Ritsu.

A wail rose up in her throat, and she turned on the waterworks as it cut across the air, wordless and telling the whole world of her need to be comforted.

Ritsu had been picking his way carefully through the snow, not wanting to fall down... he knew he was too clumsy, but he was trying to get better. At the wail, he stiffened, just about startled to death, and it took him a second to unfreeze himself. That had been Sybil...

"Sybil-san?" he asked quietly, and saw her, half-lying in the snow, big tears rolling down her face and leaving freezing trails behind them.

Avery grinned, glad to find someone who was as excited about fun in the snow as he was. He watched her make the snowball, and then let off his usual string of questions.

"Aren't you cold, with no gloves? And are we gonna be on the same team, or is it just gonna be us? Do we get to make forts? I like forts, but we can run behind trees and sisters and stuff, too, if you want. It's up to you!" He took a breath, and then knelt down to collect his own mound of snow to pack into a ball.

((yup, mute.))

Alida shook her head at the angel's question. Why would she come and gawk at her...? She offered her note, and waited until it was took before scratching out another one.

Sorry about the awkwardness, but unless you know sign language, I don't know how else to handle this.


I don't really want to be here, but I'm the oldest, and have to look after everyone else while Rime is working. I guess I don't mind it so much. she finished with a small flourish and a wry smile, and handed that over as well.

Sybil meanwhile, had gotten the results she wanted, though she continued to sniffle as the snow was brushed away. When asked how she was, she nodded, still looking rather miserable.

"I fell... it's cold... I don't like it very much." she said, stating the obvious, but that didn't make it any less truthful. She wanted to play with everyone, but the cold made her feel sluggish, and she was bundled up so much against the cold that she could hardly move.

Ritsu was about to start Sybil's way when someone else got there first... he almost considered stopping and letting the other handle it. He'd be better at it anyway; you're no good to anyone. Why Sybil-san likes you, I don't know... he thought to himself, feeling a bit dejected.

But she did, and there was the rub, because he didn't want to let her down. So he dragged himself over anyway, feeling a bit hesitant.

"Uhm... excuse me... is she alright? I mean, Sybil-san, are you okay? I should have been watching you, I'm so sorry..." He was getting better, able to cut off his own rants now, at least verbally. He was still working on internally.

(( sorry~ got busy with other things, and forgot how long it'd been! ))

Avery squaked, and turned to dive out of the way, but not quite fast enough. he took a snowball in the shoulder, but when he came up, he was grinning and fired his own hastily made snowball back at Aqua.

"TOTAL WAR!" he cheered loudly, and ran laughing behind the nearest snowbank.

((Actually... she had a bad experience in highschool, and doesn't wear the hat anymore, despite what the picture shows. ^_^ ))

Alida nodded, but gave Sere a withering look at the mention of her hair. She had nothing against it, in fact, she rather liked it.

She took back one of the pages, and turned it over, writing on the back, Yes, completely mute. And if you didn't want to come, you could have told them so, couldn't you? Obviously they don't need someone to watch them. and she rolled her eyes as she handed it back.


Ritsu nodded cautiously, then said, "Well, friends yes, but she's my sister... adopted, but... Uhm..." and then ran out of things to say. He tugged his purple hat down father, and shuffled his boots in the snow.

Sybil pouted. "He's my Ri." she stated as if that explained everything. And as soon as Zuko sat down, the little half-breed went over by him, raising her arms to be picked up.

Ritsu had blushed at this statement, and so stammered a little when he explained. "Sybil-san has a little python in her, Rime-san thinks, and so she is even more sensitive to cold than most."

Avery had peeked out from his hiding place, and ducked back just in time for the snowball to go whizzing overhead. "Missed me!" he caroled, and ran to the next snowbank, throwing one, and then another at her as he went.

"Take that, and that... ooop--"

The second one went rather wild, being thrown with his off hand, and was heading towards a purple hatted figure....

Before the ball was thrown, Sybil had snuggled down into the warm lap, and listened to the conversation, soaking it all in. She dimpled at being called pretty by someone other than her mom.

Ritsu had just opened his mouth to respond, but instead, there was a paff noise, and his eyes bugged out as the snowball hit him on the back of the head. A strangled gasp was heard from him, followed quickly by the start of an apology.

"Wh--? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--" he broke of his automatic first response with an audible click of the jaw, and he stared at his feet.

"Sorry, Ri! Didn't mean to get ya, was aiming at her!" Avery called from where he was peeking around.

Ritsu continued to stare at the ground, but nodded ever so slightly, his face turning slightly red. He looked like he was about to throw a fit, but it was a huge improvement over even just a few months ago, when he wouldn't have hesitated.

"We'll get 'im, later, Ri." Sybil spoke up, with a sly grin. She knew where Avery kept his comic books. When she deemed that Ritsu wasn't going to go into an apology rant, she poked her warm 'chair' in the arm, and asked, simply, "What's a sun elf?" It wasn't something she'd ever heard of.


Alida shrugged, and handed yet another note over. You seem mature enough to me. Well, not that either of us are grown ups yet, but whatever. And except for poor Ri, they look like they're doing alright.

There was always that positive spin on things in whatever Alida wrote, even when she was feeling bored, cold, and had a million other things she'd rather be doing.

Avery yelped, and was clipped slightly by the snowball, not having moved fast enough after shouting his apology. "Sneak attacks, huh?" he growled playfully, and launched himself over the snowbank to tackle the water girl. "HAAA!" he shouted.


Alida smiled at Sere's statement, a bit quizzically. Who? Him? her one word questions were flashed over Sere's way, and referring to Zuko. To herself, she was thinking, I know I'm supposed to watch them, but they're having fun and I'm not, not really. We could at least take a walk, maybe find a cafe somewhere, where it's warmer. But she was also responsible, and that meant she wouldn't leave just because she felt like it.


Ritsu ducked his head at the gentle admonishment, and hunched a little, saying quietly, "I'm always in the way! If I had been over a little bit, it would have missed me, and..."

Sybil, meanwhile, huffed a sigh, and slid down from the lap which had gotten nice and warm to plod through the snow over to him.

"I'm sorry, Sybil-san, I guess... I..." he trailed off as she poked him in the ribs, a little harder than normal to get through the padding of the jacket. No one knew why, but it acted as an off button for his apologies.

With a nod of satisfaction, Sybil grabbed his mittened hand with her own, and pullled him over closer to Zuko. "Okay, all better now?" she asked, and Ritsu nodded quietly, still looking a little forlorn.

Sybil climbed back into Zuko's lap, trying to remember what he'd said. She'd only just begun to understand before, after all. "So... is it like how Mom likes cold, 'cause she's an ice dragon, but Uncle Iggy likes heat, 'cause he's a fire dragon?" she asked, looking up.

Avery was, by chance, horribly ticklish, and even the mere gesture of tickling was enough to send him into a fit of giggles. He was too busy trying to protect his ribs and attempting to squirm away to launch any sort of a counter attack, and he was quickly becoming breathless from laughing.

"N.. Not... fair.. Aqua!" he managed to get out before dissolving into laughter again.


Alida smiled at her brother's antics, which could be heard for blocks, more than likely. Then she wrote another note and handed it to Sere. So, if you don't need to be here, and it looks like everyone else is well occupied, why don't we go get something warm to drink from that coffeehouse over there. It'll get us out of the cold, anyway. I don't really like snow, or any of the activities that go with it. Alida gestured in the direction of the cafe she'd noticed on the edge of the park.


Ritsu nodded, and decided that the golden demon next to him was right. Then he realized he didn't know the other's name. "Uhm... I'm so sorry I didn't ask earlier, I can't beleive how rude I was... What's your name? I'm Ritsu, and this is Sybil-san...but I think you know that already... I always say too much, I'm sorry..."

Sybil hadn't realized that she didn't know this guy's name, and she looked up at him, waiting on his answer.