Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gaia. Calm and serene for brief moments during the day and night, but very rarely for long. Outside a rather quaint looking store boasting simple gold leafing on the frosted glass of the front door that read 'The Stationary Shop', a rather odd air lingered.

This place was oddly empty, but perhaps not so...it wasn't exactly the most active shop, being a store selling blank papers, but that was fine with the proprietors...neither of which were around. Also, the better part of the store was blocked off; the whole place might have been closed down save that Veloren was there, tidying up -- he figured, if he was going to be there, why not try to sell some paper?

The short, pink-haired lycanthropic creature minded the store; sweeping the front steps and cracking his gum while keeping an eye on a pretty little lavender-haired child with wings and his strange gem-necklace.

Veloren hummed softly as he swept the front steps; he was worried for his family, but...he knew that things on Gaia always worked out some way or another. And honestly, Syrie was strong, he would be fine. At least, that was what the short, pink-haired lykin hoped.

When a woman called out to him, he lifted his siamese colored head and smiled broadly. "Oh, hello there! Can I help you?" The lykin was a friendly sort, and usually it was very difficult to tell his gender - he tended to wear girl's clothes; today he was in jeans and a fitted shirt that showed off his lack of breasts.

Defintely male. As was the child playing with his gem quietly. Nothing doing. Ren blinked a bit at the woman, she had moved her hand to cover a gem - was she like his father? Did she have one of those strange Iridae necklaces?

He would like to find out! It might be best to make 'friends' with more of the Iridae people...at the very least, he was going to be his usual, nice self!

The sun was shining and just a few clouds had speckled the sky. Who could ask for anything better than this. It had been a few long... some painful months since Arranos had grown.

Vin had decided to drag his charge along with him to the stationary store so they could get some supplies for Onos schooling. It was probably a good idea to start a little early. Since Arranos was a boy made of gems. It was probably a good idea to start teaching him about what they where made of and how to identify them.

"Ono, we are almost there. You excited?" The elf, who was cluttered in tattoos, spoke to the toddler that had been resting against his back. A while back, Vin finally broke down and gave the boy a piggy back ride.

"Yeah I am." The boy covered in gems mumbled lightly. The thought of having to be taught didn't send any thrill and excitement his way, like it was a necessary evil.

The sight of the stationary shop Vin had heard about came into view. The gold design came into view and caught the elf's eyes attention fairly quickly.

Although Arranos was focused on something else. There was a boy... dressed in purple, if that wasn't enough to catch his eye, then it must have been the gem he was holding. Reaching down he placed his own blue hand around his prismatic gem.

"Ok, it's time to get down. I'm not carrying you into the store, you can do that yourself." The elf whispered. Setting down Arranos gently on the cement and pulled at the boys left hand and lead the blue and gem covered boy towards the shop.

"Indeed, I think I do," Raven laughed quietly, touching it again as she glanced at the bejeweled boy coming nearer. "Not my first experience with an object that's said to turn into a child, though it feels like it'll be one of my last."

But she'd come here for a purpose, hadn't she? To calm down? ...but this was helping her focus on something less upsetting. "I wonder sometimes how common these lost souls are," Raven murmured, more to herself than to any of the individuals about.

Ruka looked up at the woman with the pendant, and then towards the gem-encrusted toddler speaking so loudly and coming towards them. Neither seemed the least bit strange to the lavendar-winged Iridae; he smiled a sleepy, dreamy smile and fluffed his wings a bit at them in greeting.

"There's really no telling, I suppose. I just hope no one gets hurt because of them." A slightly pained but understanding look came to the Lykin's face - his parent had suffered for the Iridae necklace; it was no wonder his thoughts were troubled as he realized there were quite a few more of Rukashel's 'kind' lurking about. "Gaia is a wonderous place, but full of curious and potentially dangerous objects - at least, that's what Syrie says."

Veloren smiled at Kyo's question and shook his head as he leaned a little more on the broom he'd been weidling against dust and dirt. "Not at all, I'm sure Ruka would love to meet him...er..." The Lykin looked a little sheepish - he couldn't tell the child's gender, but he knew that 'Ono' was an Iridae child, just like his younger sibling. "Just let me know when you're ready to check out - thank you~"

Syrie would have wanted the child to get to know his own kind.

Vin slowly came to a stop upon hearing the words of pain and hurting. Looking down toward the ground sheepishly. "Sometimes it does hurt, but it doesn't all the time. It's hard to explain how it feels." The elf smiled, his back towards the group, "But in the long run... it's worth it." Vin nodded as he stepped into the shop.
"Thank you, I'm sure he'll be a good boy while I’m inside."

Ono watched as his guardian walked away, unable to even fathom what they had been talking about. Pain... and hurting, the boy didn't even begin to understand what these words meant. Was it like when you fell down and scrapped your knee?

"Whets the boy name?" Ono asked, staring up at the one wielding the powerful broom of might.

"I see," Raven considered after a long moment. "I'm glad to hear that you're such a good boy, Ruka," the girl smiled. It gave her hope-- in truth, Raven had enough trouble with her children that she'd already seen emerge. Between haunted kids, dna-engineered kids... weird kids... she had her hands full most of the time, but that was all right. She kind of looked forward to seeing another kid in her house. After all, there weren't any more babies anymore...

The Lykin chuckled a little and shook his head; Rukashel certainly knew how to make an impression, now didn't he? "Oh, he's a dream - really..." The unintended pun tickled the candy-pink haired youth; he smiled brightly and shifted his weight from one slim hip to the other, half leaning on his broom while watching the children and listening to Raven. He had no worries that the man called 'Vin' would steal anything from the shop -- besides, Phaid was there (and believe you me, having a large panther-esque cat with human level intelligence watching the shop kept it pretty darned safe).

Ruka lifted his head to look over at Raven and gave her a beatific smile; silver-colored eyes squinching happily. He was a good boy, which was why he smiled at the woman with the necklace before returning his attention to the bejeweled child. "'Ranos?" But the word was clumsy and he didn't like saying it. Much better was the name that Ono offered him after that. "Ono!" Lavender wings fluttered and fluffed; he was pleased. "'Ren." Rukashel pointed up at the Siamese-colored Lykin with the pink hair.

"Pretty Ono." Meaning, of course, the boy's gems. He wavered and reached out for Arranos' arm to steady himself; standing was hard - not as hard as walking was, but he wasn't always stable on his feet despite his very light weight.