Welcome to Gaia! ::

Riley wasn't quite used to this baby stuff yet. He hardly knew how to change a diaper--though he'd learned REALLY fast, considering. Necessity does that to a man.

The nuns wondered how he'd picked up such a strange looking child, but he hadn't told them about the dream. He figured they would think he was crazy. Instead, he said that he'd found her while walking across town one night, on the way to find some dinner for himself. He'd told them he'd found her in a cardboard box, next to a dumpster. He even added a few elaborate details here and there, so that his story would be more believable.

Little white lies never hurt anyone, he figured. But they were nuns, and Riley wasn't sure if they could tell if he was lying or not. He thought they might know. Really, who finds a baby in a box by a dumpster? It was his lucky day, he told them as he imagined God smiting him with a bolt of lightning for telling such lies.

That particular day though, he had been wandering through town, looking for baby stores so that he could find Janus (which is what he'd named the kid) some new clothes and other assorted baby stuff. He'd fashioned a sling from some sheets that the nuns had let him use, and had Janus slung over his shoulder so that she was easier to carry around.

She.

That was something else he'd noticed once he'd started changing diapers. The baby didn't seem to have a gender either way. She -- or rather, it -- seemed asexual. But she looked like a girl, and acted like a girl, so Riley had given her a unisex name and called her a girl. At least for now.

After stopping in every baby shop he could find, he found himself quite worn out. The nuns paid him a small sum of money each week so that he could feed himself and the baby. They were nothing short of the most charitable people he'd ever met, and he loved them for it. No one could be more appreciative of a bunch of old biddies doing god's bidding.

He finally came along to a Denny's, one of his favorite places to eat. Walking inside, he requested a booth and waited for the waitress to seat him. Janus seemed a bit fussy too, and he was glad it was time to eat.

Riley had barely had time to order food for the two of them when he heard a cheerful greeting from a most familiar voice. It was that weird kid again! The one who'd told him about the relic...and about his new daughter.

His eyes widened. He hadn't been expecting to see this kid here. "Uh, hi," he said, barely greeting the kid, but giving him enough that it seemed like a greeting. "Um...what are you doing here? I thought you lived on a spaceship?" He cocked his head to one side with a questioning look on his face. "Wait, you know, I never got your name last time I saw you. I'm Riley," he said, pointing to the empty booth seat in front of him. "Wanna sit down and have some food?"

"Diyaka eh? Well, I'm glad to know your name now. The last time we met was a bit...strange. I wasn't quite ready for this new responsibility," he said, giving Janus a ruffle of the hair as she pounded her fists on the tray of the highchair. "She is a cutie though, that's very true. The whole experience was very surreal, let me tell you."

He took a sip of his coffee -- black, as usual -- and cleared his throat. "Denny's is a pretty harmless place. I used to come here a lot more when I was a kid -- well, at least the one back at home. All the punk rock kids hung out at Denny's for some reason. Probably the endless cups of coffee," he chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, you are pretty young to be out on your own...though I guess I shouldn't worry too much. You're here with me now, so I suppose you're safe enough."

"So wait, you get paid to tell people like me what's going to happen to them?" He laughed. You always have to pay someone to do your bidding...

"Well, seems like a good job to me. At least you're getting paid, and it's not too difficult, work-wise." He paused and gave Diyaka an eyebrow of interest. "Who's Dartie?"

So far, he'd only met Diyaka. He had no idea who else was involved with this plan to give babies away to people who didn't need or want them.

"Dartsmoore? What a weird name. Who names their kid Dartsmoore? Sounds like royalty to me," Riley said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Wow dude, she sounds hardcore! If she armwrestles and acts like a dude...she'd probably be able to beat me up." He chuckled and made way for plates of food as the waitress came up behind them and began to set down plates.

Janus gave a little screech as she smelled the incoming breakfast food. She was hungry! It was quite unfortunate that the only thing she'd get to eat was a bottle of formula Riley had prepared earlier that day. As he took it out of the diape--messenger bag he carried around, he gave Janus the bottle as she sat in the highchair at the end of the table.

She grabbed it from him and began sucking on it hungrily. It felt like it had been hours since she'd last eaten.

"So," he said, turning back to Diyaka, happy that Janus was no longer irritable. "At some point, can I meet your moms? And there are others like me, right? Other guardians? When can I meet them?"

"OH. Well, that makes a lot more sense. Does she kick a lot of butt regularly?" he asked, taking a bite out of his pancakes and chewing thoughtfully.

Visit the ship eh? That did sound awfully appealing. He wanted to see it again, now that he knew it wasn't all a crazy dream of some sort.
"Sure, I'd like to visit. I need to get better acquainted with my situation here...I'm still a bit -- confused about this whole thing. I'd like to meet some other guardians and kids like Janus too. I mean, you're like her too, right? Where do you meet other kids like you?"