Welcome to Gaia! ::

Alinedra stretched on the lawn and plopped over on her back. Staring up at the sky it couldn't be a more perfect day. Eden was playing in the grass nearby with Gong-Xi, his newly aquired playmate, and work was going well. Looking up at the clouds, she began to daydream and discern shapes from them. Ali could swear the one up and to her right looked an awful lot like a clown with very large feet, but it quickly changed to what then looked like a teddy bear. Laughing, she moved to her side and had her heart stop for a moment. Eden was gone!

Panicking, Alinedra shot up to a sitting position and looked about. Toward the greenhouses, she spotted a bright red spot and noticed it as eden's hair. The little guy had taken off to the greenhouse at full speed. Cursing, Ali threw the blanket they had layed out over her shoulder and took off after him.

For such a small one, he had what Ali could swear was super speed, reaching the greenhouse well before she could even think what he could be up to. She watched as he threw the door open and ran inside. Almost at his heels, and skidding to turn into the door, she came up on Eden giggling with glee, and Observer Kitten with her charge sitting but five feet away. Emberassed but in need of some oxygen, Ali dropped the blanket and put her hands on her hips, trying to unpinch the knot that had developed in her side.

Brushing her hair out of her face while holding on to the wriggling Eden, Alinedra smiled back at Kitten. "Hellion would be correct, but cute is beginning to become debatable." Tussling his hair, he suddenly became interested in what Seveda was doting over. Escaping her grasp, he went to the floor and began talking with her in as well a way as any four year old could.

Feeling Eden seemed innocent enough talking with the girl, Ali turned her attentions back to Kitten. "It's not hard to find the energy for it, but i have most definately had no trouble sleeping since i took him in. " Chuckling, she moved a bit into the greenhouse so she could lean on one of the counters. Straightening the clothes that had gotten mussied in her run after Eden, she couldn't help but feel she was being smothered in the summer greenhouse heat.

" How do you stand it in here? It's so hot these days... hard enough being outside sometimes. Let alone in a humid greenhouse." She asked, grabbing the colour of her shirt and fanning her neck with it.



Meanwhile, Eden had jumped to his knees infront of the girl child much like himself. Used to normal adults, he didn't have much knowledge of any others. Pointing at the paper with his stubby little fingers, he asked "What dat?" In his lazy toddler speech Ali so hated to hear. Scooting closer to get a good look at the paper, he squeeled with delight as he made the connection between the tulips on the paper and the tulips in front of the girl.

Eden beamed at the girl with his casual smile and told the girl his name. As she handed over the sketching materials, he tried to sit in the same position she was, to get what he assumed was optimum ability. After he'd done that though, and stared at the paper and pencil for a moment, he curled his face into a knot and asked, "what i do?"


In the background, Alinedra continued to fan herself. "I tell you, i sometimes wish i could do something to myself to cool off. I never was one for humidity. I love a dry heat." Having accepted that people in the Vale were different, she couldn't even imagine what Kitten was talking about, but went along with it as to not offend. And she did wish sometimes that she could change forms, it had always been a dream of hers.

Noticing a stool under the counter, she pulled it out and sat on it, seeing how Eden had made himself comfortable. Looking down, she noticed Gong-Xi jumping up behind Eden. How his little familiar had gotten in she had no idea, but it never ceased to amaze her how it always found its way back to Eden. She'd assumed it had been just a normal Grasshopper, but she wondered now if she'd have to change her assumption.

"Seveda does seem nice and peaceful. Perhaps she'll rub off a bit on Eden here. I fear only because if he's like this as child, i can't even imagine when he's a teenager..." Cringing at the thought, the red haired woman brushed the hair out of her eyes. Eden of course had a long way to go before he would grow up. Already he should be older than he was. Part of her research was based around his paused growth due to psychological components. Not that she was anxious to have him grow up and "move out" so to speak, but Ali wasn't entirely sure it was healthy developementaly stuck at an age such as his. Bad habits becoming too engrained and what not.

"So, what are your plans for the day?" She asked, smiling at Kitten. Ali hadn't exactly made any plans past playing outside, and with how well the two young ones were getting along, it might not be a bad idea to socialize for once.

Watching Kitten shuffle through her work made Alinedra feel just a little guilty she wasn't off doing her own research, but she shook off the feeling. Eden and Ali were allowed one day a week where no paperwork was involved. It meant she had to do more work the day before and after, but it was worth it for a full day of play and relax time with just each other.

" Oh, we were thinking of having a lunch picnic down by the lake in about an hour. After that, who knows. You're welcome to join us though, i confess i got a little carried away with food." Ali smiled, remembering the basket full of enough food to feed ten men waiting in the cooler of her lab. Half of it Eden's regulated diet food, half of it odds and ends she had placed in there for herself.

In the mean time, Eden was quickly learning what Seveda was teaching him. He now could hold his pencil correctly, and draw shapes that he knew. Throwing a glance back at Ali, he held up the sketchbook and proclaimed loudly, "LOOK! I'm a'artist!" much to the enjoyment of his keeper.

Putting the paper down on his lap again, he turned to the girl sitting beside him. "You like me. Not like Ali." It was a simple sort of statement, one that fit his blunt personality. " But not me? More like Ali." Staring at the girl with large inquisitive eyes, he seemed to scan her for more details, as if something in her face or hair or posture would answer the question for him.

Alinedra started with shock and embarassment of not having introduced herself. " I'm sorry, tongues gotten away with me today," she chuckled, grasping the woman's hand, " I'm Researcher Alinedra Edens. Newly appointed guardian of Eden down there." And before the woman could say anything, "Yes, i realize our names are pretty much the same. Complete coincidence i can assure you. Though not entirely unfitting." Ali chuckled.


Eden, smile in his eye, shook his head a bit. "Smell," he said to the girl, sticking his read locks nearer to her face. Eden always smelled of apples, and knowing that, hoped the girl would catch on. Just to add to the point, he pulled out a red apple from the folds of his clothes and began to toss it up and down in the air.

While watching it bounce up and down in his hands, he continued to talk, and the what was a green apple slowly became a red apple. " A teen..ager? Will i be one? Or just you?" he asked casually. It seemed Eden had no idea of time and it's passing.