Welcome to Gaia! ::

D-chan nods. "I never felt like a god toward my plush toys when I was a kid...though, now that I think back, I guess that's really what I was. And now, I wonder, if they could come to life, would they think of me as a benevolent deity, or one filled with wrath? It's true, I was cruel to my favorites, but I always made it up to them in the end..." She shrugs a bit. "But so goes life. We can't take it back now...I just hope that I was kind, now that my memory has begun to fade.

"And as for being a parent..." She snickers at the thought. "I never want to be considered a parent, because then they'll start calling me 'Mom,' and I will feel so old." She laughs as she shakes her head, mirthful tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, only to dry at Skyfire's insistent question. "Kurenai...do you remember Rioko?" she asks quietly. "Kurenai and Rioko were very close...boyfriend and girlfriend, I would say. But when we left, Rioko was alone, and he went back to being a rather cold, crude fenthry...and they had a falling out. Kurenai can't get over it, but Rioko's already hitting on other girls. She hasn't eaten anything in days now...Danyeh and Grei are worried sick, even if Grei won't admit it. I have a sneaking suspicion that Grei's more worried about Danyeh, though, because the songfox hasn't been taking care of himself, he's so worried about Kurenai..." She trails off, looking to the icy blue eyes peering back at her from the bookshelf.

Sherbert chirps a bit. Actually, this is much nicer than being poked and prodded by Willow the tiger. The little plush toy is gentle and seems to like burrowing into her feathers, and it doesn't hurt like claws...her feathers puff out a bit more as she draws her talons beneath her, turning into a literal ball of feathers and fluff as she glances back at Naolin. Maybe the plush toy will be a new friend...! That's a nice thought!!

D-chan shakes her head slightly, trying to drive away her ever present worries. It will do no good fretting over them. Best to think of other things. She smiles weakly at Skyfire as she recalls the fenthry's first question. "I have so many because people are nice and give them to me," she replies quietly. "I first had Kurenai, whom I bought...and Kaen, whom I bought...and Koe was given to me...Kaju came from a writing contest...Kura I won...Chevyo was the last egg of his kind found, so I took him on...and both Hoshi and Sherbert were gifts. I suppose it was luck that brought them all to me...but I love every one of them, whether they know it or not. I don't need silence, because they're all quiet enough most of the time, and there's always somewhere to go to find quiet. Besides, I don't get enough company. They're my family...they're the ones who keep me sane," she snickers.

Hoshi looks up from her fierce water battle as she hears the fox-girl's words. She seems to smile, a distinctly avian smile around her beak. So that's how the half-fox feels? Good.

Because she loves her back, no matter how many times she tries to nibble the fox-girl's toes. It's a sign of love. And love hurts.

D-chan smiles a bit. "I was just thinking that, if my plush toys were as alive as I always used to think they were, that they might see me a little differently...though, I hope they liked me. I kept some of them around, which hopefully makes them reasonably satisfied," she mutters. It's hard to keep an embarrassed blush from creeping onto her furred face as she thinks of the toys that keep her company at night. "As for a pony...Naolin is adorable, but at the moment I think I have all I can handle," she chuckles. "That...and I've never been much of a horse person, tell you the truth. They don't much care for me. Besides, I'm flat broke!"

Upon Skyfire's suggestion, the halfling shakes her head a bit. "You're welcome to try, though I have my doubts that she'll listen to reason from anyone," she murmurs. "She's been like this for almost a week now, ever since Rioko turned his back on her...she won't listen to me, Danyeh, Grei, even Kaen...unless something changes, we're out of luck. Either way, she's in the bookshelf." The half-fox points it out before continuing on. "The last time I checked, though, she was asleep. Please don't disturb her?" she begs.

Sherbert holds very still as Naolin burrows into her fluffed-out feathers. It tickles more than anything, and she wriggles a bit, chirping a sparieh giggle. It feels good! As the little pony arrives at her head, the sparieh chirps something incomprehensible back. It's clear that she got the message, though...and as though to seal the deal, she turns her head away from Naolin and begins to hastily preen through her feathers, quickly extracting four in the various colors of her stripes: orange, grey in two shades, and white. These she promptly offers to the plush pony, her wings fluttering and shedding a few more feathers. Looks like it's molting season...

"Wish I could be of more help," D-chan sighs. "Maybe I'll have to grab my friends for another campaign...that could probably get some money in my pocket...and it would keep me from slacking off or getting attacked by demons. Demon hunting is a good way to stay fit, but it's also a good way to get killed," she warns. As Naolin approaches to have the orange feather inserted into her mane, the half-fox chuckles. "They do seem to be hitting it off," she chuckles. "Sherbert is a sparieh...relatively young, too. Not even a month old yet. Her mother had moth-like wings, and we think that she might inherit the same trait...but that's not really all that interesting, is it?" she chuckles, embarrassment evident on her face.

Sherbert puts on her best sparieh smile as Naolin leaves with the feathers. Inside, though, she's rather hurt. Take the feathers and run, eh? Her spirits lift soon enough, though, as she watches Flame braid a feather into the plush pony's mane...and then put the miniature horse down to come streaking back. Sherbert bounces onto her talons, almost losing her footing again but somehow managing to stay up. She chirps excitedly, wings fluttering and tail wagging, as though showering her new friend with compliments.

Grei watches as Skyfire flutters toward the bookshelf where he and his sleeping companions...or, at this point, charges...rest. He looks down at the tiny shell flute in his white-furred hands, wondering if he should wake them...only to shake his head and slip the ocarina into the tiny bag over his shoulder. His cold blue eyes turn back to Kurenai as she stirs, emerald eyes opening slowly. The songfox shakes his head and slips a bit farther into the corner where Danyeh already sleep.

Kurenai sits up slowly, still tired even after her nap. It seems that she is always tired now...too much longing and grief, not enough sleep, she assumes. A flash of brilliant blue catches her eye, drawing her attention to the familiar fenthry approaching the bookshelf. Her dimming mind searches through her memory, looking for something, anything to tell her who this fenthry is...

...and then it hits her. Skyfire. They had lived together for a while...and, if memory serves, had a conflict over Sage in an age long past. But that was all behind them, now, since Skyfire has Sage and she has Rioko...

...well, she had Rioko.

The ruby fenthry smiles wanly and waits for Skyfire to reach her, smoothing the checkered mini-skirt that was as good as Rioko's last gift to her.

D-chan grins and sits down in a nearby chair, gesturing for Flame to take the couch. "Spariehs are very interesting...they're basically just quadrapedal birds with four wings, as opposed to two. They hatch from eggs, just like birds do, and they're too small to do much but chirp incomprehensibly for about a month until their motor and vocal skills improve. After that, if you know sparieh, you're set. They wind up being about the size of a horse when full grown...or, if you're like Kaen and become an elder, about the size of a large Clydesdale," she snickers. "Just my luck, having an elder sparieh around the house...and one with a rather biting sense of humor, no less." She rather conspicuously ignores the question about demon hunting...no need to tell everyone about her rather strange perception of 'fun.'

From atop the chair and Chevyo's egg, Kura watches Naolin and Sherbert with casual interest. So her little friend has been taken. Ah, well. She still has the egg, and from atop the egg she has a good vantage point of the rest of the shop. Her bright eyes watch Skyfire fly toward the bookshelf where she knows a certain trio rests...and she smiles. Her small wings flutter and the kitsune takes off, paws latched to the wings on Chevyo's shell so that he can come along. She lands atop the bookshelf soon after Skyfire, trying to be quiet so that she can eavesdrop.

Kurenai offers a weak smile to Skyfire. "Hello. You seem to be doing well," she chuckles half-heartedly. Her emerald eyes flick to the corner, where Grei's cold blue eyes watch her with calculating perception. "Always alert, aren't you?" she mumbles. The songfox gives no indication that he heard. Instead, he pulls the ocarina from his bag and begins to play a soft, whistling tune that speaks of nothing more than endless mourning. "Skyfire, these two are Grei and Danyeh...two of my friends," she adds haltingly. Are they really her friends, she wonders?

Grei offers the slightest of nods to Skyfire as he plays his little shell flute. The other songfox's ear flicks at the sound, and soon enough Danyeh rouses himself, rubbing the sleep from his bleary eyes. Grei sees his ears droop at the sound of his tune...but really, it seems appropriate. Why change it now?

Danyeh's green-gold eyes almost seem hurt as he hears his companion's song. At a time like this! Has he given up hope, too? And then his eyes light upon Skyfire. Immediately he puts on his best smile...and it is amazingly convincing, even if it is fake. He stands and bows regally, chirping something incomprehensible in the only language he knows how to speak.

"He says his name is Danyeh and it's a pleasure to meet you," the ruby fenthry says quietly. "Songfoxes can parrot songs masterfully, imitating whatever language their song happens to be in...but when it comes to normal speech, they can only speak in chirps and whistles." She shakes her head and turns her attention back to Skyfire. Everything about her seems subdued, so different from her normal manner. "So, how have you been?"

D-chan smiles and nods. "Kaen has a room that he shares with the other little spariehs, but it will only fit two adults comfortably, I think," she chuckles. "The only reason he can get in there at all is because there's a balcony he can land on. Besides that, he spends most of his time in the living room, since there's a good bit of room there. I don't know what I'll do if I get any more spariehs...or if any more grow!" she laughs. "I'm not really cramped by my family...they're all reasonably agreeable. The ones that weren't..." She trails off, staring somewhere into the distance. "I left them with those they liked better," she murmurs.

"They have rodent gargoyles?" the half-fox chirps. She smiles at the cat's joke. "I don't think I could ever eat one of my charges...though my parents certainly thought I would. It's why they sent me off to boarding school and refused to let me have any pets while I was young," she fumes. "I showed them."

Kaju peeks out of D-chan's hair at the stirring Nightstar. She doesn't know many other fenthries...and Koe doesn't seem to want her to know any more!! Flicking her stubby tail defiantly, the little bunny fenthry flies out of D-chan's hair and lands awkwardly on Skyfire's shoulder beside Nightstar. She waves and chatters something...but it makes no sense, as she is too young to form complete sentences at the moment. She tries, though.

Koe tries to catch Kaju before she manages to escape his grasp, only to fail and watch her fly out to the other fenthry. He huddles close to D-chan's neck, uncertain of what to do...he certainly doesn't want to go out in the open and get her. He doesn't want to have to deal with other fenthries...she'll come back...he knows she will...

...well, he hopes she will, at least.

Kurenai brushes a strand of scarlet hair behind one ear, the picture of demure politeness. But it's easy to see that she is putting on the act more because she has not the strength to do anything else. "It's nice having more people around sometimes," she muses. "Other times, though...they try to meddle where they shouldn't, and it can be rather unpleasant." She offers a faint, utterly false smile to the fenthry. "Life isn't so bad. Rioko and I...well, we're no longer friends," she whispers, turning her face to the floor.

Danyeh chirps softly as he curls up beside Grei, shivering slightly. He feels horrible, and lack of sleep is only part of the problem, he knows. He hears Kurenai's words, knows that they are directed only at him, and closes his eyes. She doesn't want his help...he knows that...but he refuses to let her end her life in such a miserable way.

D-chan smiles softly. "Well, sometimes I wonder if Hoshi, Koe, and Kura are really happy...Koe loves to tell stories, so I think that he''s all right, though he does seem to have trouble getting along with the rest of the family; but Hoshi seems more aloof than some of the others, as does Kura; Kura is just so enigmatic that I can never tell what she''s thinking," she murmurs. "But you''re right. They do stay, so I guess they must be happy to some degree. ''Action will be taken when the pain of change is less than the pain of remaining the same,'' after all."

"I''m sorry to hear about your parents," she murmurs. "My parents haven''t forgotten me, but they did make a lot of decisions that I wasn''t happy with...and, in the end, I don''t think they were happy with them, either. They''ve been trying to make ammends, I think, sending me funds, offering to pay for the house I now live in...we''re on good terms. We could be closer, but things have changed too much between us by now. Still, none of us harbors animosity, which I suppose is all I can really be thankful for."

Kaju smiles and stands up a little straighter, her dark wings fluttering a bit. "Kaa-juu," she replies, bowing a greeting. She beams proudly at Nightstar before looking back towards D-chan, who is smiling brightly at her...and a tiny blue face looks out of her hair, pride evident in his deep violet eyes. She did it right! She said her name! Her stubby little tail flicks back and forth rapidly as she grins up at the older fenthry, her pale pink eyes asking him for his name where her limited vocabulary cannot.

Kurenai does not resist as Skyfire lays her arm across her shoulders. Too weak to do much else, she leans her head against the fenthry''s shoulder, the tears welling within her eyes at the thought of what had happened. "I know they''re worried...but I wish they would just leave me alone. I just want them to let me do what I want for once..."

She pauses for a moment before continuing to speak in a soft, subdued voice. "D-chan took us on a long trip to someplace in Gaia. We went with her old friends, we did a lot of things, and we saved up funds for life. When we came back a while ago, the shop was deserted, so we started fixing it back up. That''s when I met Rioko again...but it wasn''t the same Rioko I knew. He looked the same, but he wasn''t the same fenthry inside. He got drunk, he cursed...he was nothing like the fenthry I fell in love with. I didn''t like seeing him like that...so different...and so I told him that I couldn''t see him anymore unless he changed something. He didn''t care...I thought I might still mean something to him, and he just didn''t care..." She breaks off here, shaking with silent sobs against Skyfire''s shoulder.

Danyeh curls in on himself, his fluffy brush of a tail winding around his paws as he brings his black-furred hands up to his face. He''s cold...it takes a long moment to realize that fact. He''s very cold...the songfox blows on his hands in a vain attempt to warm them before he curls tighter in on himself, trying to retain what little warmth he feels he still has left.

Grei sets the flute down, this time for good as he watches his companion shrink into the smallest orb possible for his body. Something is seriously wrong...the silvery songfox skitters closer, laying a hand on Danyeh''s feathery black hair. Green-gold eyes stare hollowly at Grei as his hand moves down to rest on his companion''s shoulder. Unsure of what exactly is going to terribly wrong, the songfox simply moves closer, trying to discern what is so out of place...

May turns the doorknob and enters the preservation society, looking more than a little peeved, her eyes slightly narrowed underneath her pin-adorned cap an mouth twithcing a bit. She puts one hand behind her head, looking about, and doesn't see Kagei or Maine anywhere. She sighs, closing her eyes, and calms down a bit. "They're in here somewhere, at least I know that..." She had sent Kagei to bring Maine home over an hour ago and was rather angry that he had disobeyed her. "He probably found YoYo in here." She joked, calming down a little, and spotted D-Chan and...was that Flame? Her eyes went a bit wide then returned to their original, half-lidded state as she approached the two.

Maine awoke form his little nap atop the rafters, rolling onto his back, still half-asleep in the darkness of the roof. As soon as those two black eyes opened, he felt a shiver run through his spine and tickle the end of his tail. Somehting about being up here made him feel empty and sick. His ears twitched along with his nose, May and kagei were near bye. Another long sniff and he detected D-Chan and a hint of her two fen, and even a very odd smell. One that seemed familiar, a scent that he didn't quite feel like disovering for some odd reason, yet his newfound curiosity drew him to peek over the rafters. His eyes went abit wide, "She looks...familiar." He said to hismelf in his knewly adapted childish voice. His tail swayed.

May smiled in a friendly manner at D-Chan, nodding silently at the offer of tea. She watched at D-Chan retreated to the kitchen, a bit curious about the light-blue fen hiding on her person, she had never seen much of Koe and was both curious and in awe of the adorable cyan fen. She then let her eyes trial over to Flame, she wasn't sure wether or not it was her, but she had to fight very hard not to scream, 'Flame! Your back! How's Skyfire? How's Nightstar? Where where you!?' But, seeing as that would just make her sound hysterical, she sat down upon the couch waiting for her tea. Afterall, who knew if Flame even remembered her, she wasn't exactly a big part of her or her fen's lives.

Maine guided his eyes to his owner, who was surely looking for him, and snaked his way to the other end of the rafters, feet making tiny 'bump bump bump' sounds as he moved, rather quickly, along the wooden planks. This brought back aflood of memories, all very dark ones, that left him stopped in his tracks for a good twenty seconds before grabbing at his hair and continuing to run. "I must have done something very bad..." He thought, aware that a big peace of his memories was missing. "...I wonder who that blue fen is." His mind suddenly swayed to StarFire, he got such an unwelcomnig feeling from her, as if they where enemies.