Welcome to Gaia! ::

He recognized the handwriting the instant he saw the scrawled characters. No one else he knew wrote with such bizarre, yet legible letters. "Hi Seiji," the note began. There was a lopsided heart hovering above the second 'i' in his name. "Must leave town for a few days. Please watch Toby while I'm away! Make sure to give him lots of love and sunlight! Got to go! Kisses, Mika!" The last exclamation mark trailed off to the side, as if the writer had lost interest in continuing the note.

Toby? She meant the Lotus?

"s**t," Seiji muttered under his breath. Anyone else reading the note would have shrugged and complied without question, but Seiji knew a bit better. He had lived with the girl for a large part of his life after all- she was older than him, but they shared the same Guardian for a period. In public, she presented a very mature, reliable front, but once home, she became the laziest, most irresponsible girl Seiji had ever met. That experience was why he was not the least bit surprised that she had left a Lotus, of all things, for him to take care of. He also did not anticipate her to return within the said "few days." He would be lucky if she returned within the week. Mika tended to get horrible distracted on trips.

He sighed, letting the paper slip from his fingers and float idly down to the floor. As bad as Mika was, she was still plenty more qualified to care for a Lotus. He didn't even have a garden in the back of his home. Even more than that, he hadn't undergone the training that all Guardians were required to take. Well, perhaps that wasn't a really big deal. He could ask around maybe, visit the library and find some information. But still, Seiji frowned. Living in a dish could not be good for it.

Oh yes, and he didn't want to take of the Lotus either. He couldn't forget that important fact.

Well, he had spent far too long thinking about things. Seiji lifted the dish up to the windowsill (making sure to close the window first, of course; he thought having a gust of air blowing his Lotus away would qualify him as the most inept person in the country). Mika had told him that the Lotus needed sunlight, and it would get it much more easily up there. What else did she tell him it needed? Oh yes, love. Well maybe he could buy that a store or something when he went out to get information. "I'll be right back," he said to the Lotus. It almost looked like it heard him.

[ Message temporarily off-line ]

This RP takes place directly after the last journal entry. It is currently imcomplete, and the full log will be posted when completed.

Cerena
Saede
Renault
Seiji

It was an almost extraordinarily peaceful day; the market wasn't as crowded as it usually was, and the normal din that so signified its location had quieted to a mere murmur. This calm, unfortunately, was doomed.

"Okay, everybody, outta the way! Warrior-extraordinaires coming through!" Came the ear-piercing shriek of a pale-haired Milva girl on the loose, and thus Jafar's idea of a 'nice at the marketplace' was promptly shattered and stomped on.

"Vira," He began patiently, easily following her by the sound of her voice; if there was anything good to be said about Vira, at least she parted crowds more easily than the appearance of his walking stick, "We're not--" He caught himself just in time, patience giving away to vast annoyance, "You're not a warrior."

"False advertising!" Vira explained agreeably, hopping a few steps in front of her guardian and twirling around on one foot. Only stopping when she felt she became so dizzy she would puke, she stumbled after Jafar, who had by that time overtaken her. "No, no -- see! People will think I'm a warrior, and then they'll be all like... 'Okay miss great warrior, you, we will give you stuff because you're so great and warrior...-y!'"

If Jafar was actually paying attention to her, much less listening to her energetic babbling, he gave no indication.

"And then," Vira continued, completely undeterred, "I would be inspired by their believing in my greatness that I would actually work even harder to be as great as they think I am, so, you see, it's good for me!" And her tone promptly shifted then to that of a sly kind of melancholy that was all too obviously practiced, "Though... It'd be more believable if I actually had a weapon..."

"Nice try," Jafar replied dryly, "Maybe next time you can do a little song-and-dance number. ...I'd still say 'no.'" He added quickly, practically being able to hear the gears turning in his charge's head.

"Awww!" Vira pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and slumping down, "But Jaaaad! I could do it, really well too, why won't you--" And she promptly walked right into someone, so focused on appearing as dejected as she could that she wasn't actually paying attention to where her feet were leading her.

Again Seed was going to the market to buy some food for she didn't have anything at home that she could use to cook. She had made a list of the ingredients that she needed and it was neatly folded and which was held in her hand the whole time. Lien was again asleep, with her head resting on Seed's shoulder.

Seed bought everything she needed and she placed it all into one bag, throwing away the others. She now had to juggle many things in her two arms; Lien and the food. She was bound to fall, but I think she spoke too soon. Just then a little girl ran into Seed and Seed lost her grip...on everything except Lien.

"Eek!" exclaimed Seed as she dropped everything that she was holding. The paper bag in her hands fell to the ground, and with it was everything she bought. The food rolled on the rocky ground and it was too late to save them. Seed sighed and started to pick up the food that would still be usable. "Well there's no use for this anymore..."

She looked up to see a little girl, at around the age of seven. "Sorry about that...I guess I wasn't looking--Wait..." she looked up and saw a man, he looked very familiar. "...JAFAR?!"

With that, Lien woke up and pushed herself off of Seed's shoulder. She rubbed her half-opened eyes to see what happened. All she could make out was a bright pink flower on someone's head. She giggled and reached down to pull it, her little hands reaching out as far as they could. When she grabbed a hold of it, she pulled it tight, trying to get it off.

Seiji really hadn't intended to bring Tobias with him, but he had gone about two steps out the door before he had been struck with the horrible idea of Tobias waking up alone and managing to find his way to the kitchen and into the cutlery. So he had bundled the Lotus up and found a nice large backpack, and now Tobias was snoozing away in it. Maybe they had... strollers or something of that sort in the marketplace. He wasn't sure. Damn, he really had no idea what to do with Tobias, which really did not make him happy.

Seiji forced himself to stop thinking about that. The marketplace would hold all the answers. The marketplace would save him. He was certain!

He was so preoccupied in his thoughts that he didn't even notice until he had entered the market, and then he only noticed because he heard a loud shriek and was somewhat forced to. Apparently there had been a collision, resulting in a lot of spilled food.

Seiji noticed that there appeared to be two Guardians and they each had a Lotus with them. One was sleepy and doe-eyed like Tobias, and the other was rubbing her head, half-pouting and half-wincing.

Maybe they can help, he thought, and then had a brief worry that he way he was carrying Tobias would be considered by them to be child abuse.

Oh well.

There was no cure for the common hang-over, but there was certainly something in any bazaar that would be marketed to do so. Nonia was fairly certain belief was power in some way or other, and so there she was. In public. Feeling as though her head was an egg that had just been hit by a sledgehammer made entirely out of vodka.

Even with the additional burden of parenthood, some habits died hard. Such as alcoholism.

"Ceasar, stay close to me," Nonia grumbled, glancing down to her immediante left. She had found a rather easy way of keeping track of her child, even if the much smaller Lotus seemed to dislike it. In essence, it was a leash. A thin black cord that was secured around Nonia's charges waist, the other end knotted along the hip of the female's belt. She had thought the plan was full proof, but even then, it was quite hard for Ceasar to actually keep up with her.

But the stubborn little thing had bitten her last time she insisted on carrying him around. Brat, Nonia mentally muttered in a somewhat affectionate way.

Both of the Lotus' attention was diverted quite suddenly by a commotion happening only about a foot before them. Apparently someone had knocked into someone else, and now there was food being scattered around. One piece had even rolled all the way to Ceasar's feet, obstructing the small boy's crawling/toddling along way.

"Hey," the lady warrior hissed, kicking out her foot lightly to send the item flying away from her charge. "Watch where you're hitting each other."

"You watch where you're going!" Vira wailed grumpily in response to someone else saying it first before she realized that it hadn't come from the person she bumped into.

"Vira!" Jafar hissed sharply, inwardly rolling his eyes. If the girl couldn't even manage to navigate herself properly in wide open spaces, how would she ever manage to convince him that she could do so in wooded areas, much less carrying something sharp? "I'm very sorry, please accept both our apologies," He began wearily, heading over to the source of the falling noise.

The familiar falling noise. That promptly shrieked his name, no less. Startled, he took a step back, crushing a piece of fruit beneath his foot. "Seed?" He ventured a guess towards the noise's origin.

"Sorry," Vira had meanwhile mumbled, scuffing her foot against the ground and managing to look properly ashamed (hey, was that a peach, because she was kind of hungry) before promptly being distracted by something yanking on her head.

...It was a baby! "It's mine!" Vira protested fiercely at the sudden violation, hands clasping down over hers in an attempt to pry them loose from her head. "You have your own! --I mean, yeah, mine's prettier, but it's really not your color!" And and and -- over there! Another baby! In a backpack! (The man carrying him had some really nice hair--) AND OVER THERE! She was surrounded by babies! It was a trap! Flee! Flee!

Vira howled indignantly and promptly fled to hide behind Jafar, invisible tail tucked between her legs, hissing and spitting at the non-existant threat of babies. Who was this 'Seed' person anyway and what was she doing talking to her guardian?!

But Jafar had already moved away, ignorant of the danger she was in, bending down to help Seed pick up the food. Vira looked around quickly, searching for sanctuary, and seeing a bush, promptly dove into it.

Haha, they would never get her now! She was just too ninja for them to keep up with!

Seed looked up to Jafar and said, "Yeah! It's me! I haven't seen you in so long! How is everything going? Vira? Wait...is that her?!" Seed had so many questions. She was hoping she wouldn't confuse Jafar, though she was already confusing herself. She walked closer to him and stepped on some fruit along the way. The fruit made a strange noise and splattered all around Seed's shoes.

Lien was still trying to yank the little flower off of the girl's head. She struggled and struggled, but nothing happened. The little girl finally noticed and walked away. Lien could sense some other people too. She turned her head around, both left and right, to see two other children who were like her. One was even asleep! What a baby...she thought. But the girl who she wa fighting with soon hid away in the bushes. Lien reached for the ground, hoping her guardian would let go to let her chase the pink flower.

Seed saw Jafar help pick up the food so she did also. She bent down, making sure her clothes wouldn't touch the dirt and the splattered food. She put the end of her dress and her belt onto her knees and picked up the remaining food, even if it was just going to the trash. "Thank you..." she said softly as the last of the remaining food was in the bag.

This was probably the largest gathering of Guardians Seiji had ever seen, although he supposed he had never really paid attention to that sort of thing so for all he knew, it was commonplace. The more opinions the better?

But really, Guardians were certainly a unique group of people. One of them was dragging her Lotus around by a leash while another looked like she was from some sort of Home and Garden ad. The final Guardian looked like he'd be better off calling men to arms and swinging a sword.

Well, he was the one Seiji felt that he could possibly talk to, so he maneuvered over to where the man was helping the exceptionally pretty Guardian pick up her items. There was a rustling in his backpack, and Seiji realized unhappily that the commotion had awaken Tobias. The Lotus poked his head out of the backpack and looked around, taking in the situation, and then made a strange sputtering noise, which naturally, made the heads turn to look at them.

Change the subject, change the subject... Coughing slightly, Seiji asked the old warrior,

"Are you aware your Lotus just jumped into a bush?"

It was a decent segway, he supposed.


"Things are well," Jafar replied steadily as he returned the last of the food to the bag the other girl had been carrying them in. "And yes," He had to grin wryly at this, "That is[ Vira... Unfortunately for me." This last part was said under his breath, so softly that it was likely no one else (much less the topic of the remark) had heard it.

"And Lien?" He asked politely, noting the distinct soft baby noises made around him. From the sound of it, it seemed there was more than one -- perhaps the commotion had attracted the attention of other guardians... He sighed again, massaging his temples with his left hand. This girl of his was going to be the death of him, whether through an accident or embarassment.

Given the choice between Vira and a crocodile, he'd almost pick the crocodile.

He raised his head when the voice of somebody new met his ears, his hand falling, unsure of what else to do, to his side. He frowned at the question, raised his hand again to rub the back of his neck and attempted to decipher what was just said. Vira... In a bush? He had heard tell-tale rustling, far too noisy to be any common animal, but surely Vira knew better...?

Vira remained crouched in the bush, eying Lien warily with bright eyes. It was only when she caught Nonia glaring at her that she squawked indignantly and began mumbling "It wasn't my fault!" that her position was given away.

"Vira." Jafar growled, turning towards the bush and narrowing his eyes in its general direction. Recognizing the gesture all too well (and what would come if she ignored it!) Vira finally pulled herself from the bush, sulking all the way over to stand beside him.

"Thank you," He said in the direction of the young man who'd brought it up before clasping a hand firmly on Vira's shoulder and guiding her towards Seed.

"I already apologized!" Vira protested, but recognizing Jafar's growling response as a command to 'do it again', she obligingly sighed and bowed a little towards Seed. "I'm very sorry for knocking into you and spilling your food everywhere and being too fast for you to catch," She recited, eyes trailing over the Lotus the female guardian held.

...Hunh. She knew a girl like that once, didn't she? Dark hair.. Dark eyes.. White lotus... No proper sense of honorable roughhousing--

"I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE TO THE ENEMY!" She promptly bellowed, twisting out of Jafar's grasp and gesturing dramatically to Lien.

"That's good." said Seed in reply to Jafar. "Lien? Oh she's doing very good also! Just the other day I brought her to the fields to have a picnic.." she said with a grin, but something else came out, "though the main reason we were there was to get her ahead of everyone else.." Seed shook her head from the thought and gave a weary smile.

When Jafar went away to get Vira, Seed saw that Lien wanted out. She was still squirming and making whining noises. As always, Seed tried to do what Lien wanted, though sometimes she had to control her. "Lien! I can't let you touch the ground! I just gave you a bath!" Lien was speechless. "Is that REALLY her excuse?" she thought, "She would roll in mud to face her enemy." Lien just noticed that the girl..was Vira! She seemed to grow faster than her. Lien didn't care. Size didn't matter. It was all about strenght!

Seed was about to thank Vira for the apology, but she soon took back what she said. Seed gave a weak smile. "Eheheh..."