Welcome to Gaia! ::

Nika scrambled up the tree behind Shiva. Not at all affected by the fact that she had beat him to the tree, even if it was only by a little.

He tested a branch by pushing on it gently before he sat down, facing Shiva. He twisted around an immediately spotted the ship she was pointing at.

'I'm not sure,' he shrugged, 'Maybe it's delivering something?'

Rhia raised an eyebrow, at first not really believing what he had said. She looked Io over, not really seeing anything different about her than she had on other species back home. Except the shorter woman was wearing a strange mask...

A mask.

"Oh, ********." Rhia spat, lifting up the black and white mask and shaking it in front of Loki's face. "You're telling the truth? You knew about this and you still gave it to me? Me? Of all people! Gods, how stupid are you?"

Her tail lashed in the air angrily and her eyes flashed crimson. How she wanted to throttle the little beast! A low, throaty growl emanated from her, her lips peeling away from her fangs as the sound escalated into a soft snarl, but she held onto her temper as best she could. She didn't really want to hurt him, but damn, would it feel good! Only later on, of course, she would regret doing something to him, so she had to quell that feeling now.

"You don't understand," She stated as evenly as she could, trying to be reasonable even though her eyes still blazed and her body was still tense. A muscle worked in her lower jaw as she clenched her teeth. "You don't want me raising a kid, I'm not... child friendly."

Jonah began to take a step forward, keen on finding his guardian and perhaps taking a relaxing bath. He tripped over the bag it madwe a rather loud noise. He plopped to ground he stuck his hands out for support, making them even dirtier.

The noise startled Pam, who had been exploring her new house. She just had to be nosey so she went around back, looking around to see where the noise came from she caught a glimpse of a very handsome boy on his knees. Her heart went out to him and shivers went down her spine. She found it hard to breathe as she stared at the poor child.

Jonah looked up and saw the woman staring at him. He looked around to see if anyone else was around. Then he got up and brushed himself and pretended that nothing had happend.

"Hello?" Pam smiled at the boy. "Are you okay?"

Jonah nodded sharply and smiled back at Pam, 'Never better. I suppose you're my gaurdian, are you?'

"Me..." Pam looked around wildly, looking to see if he was talking to somebody else, "Alright, then..."

Rhia was squeezing the little mask exceptionally tight, and she loosened her grip on it when she realized this. No sense in breaking the damn thing in two, right? Though the sneer had left her face, she still looked extremely pissed off and ready to smack someone.

"You don't understand," She ground out again, not sure what else to say. She looked down at the mask and ran her thumb over its nose, her brow creasing in thought. She couldn't just open her mouth and tell Loki everything that had happened in her past, everything she had done. Everything she was still liable to do. That would not be wise, and besides, she just met him and she technically didn't know him yet. She had never opened up to anyone before, not even her closest friends. But still...

"Do you do this with everyone that comes here?" She asked, looking back up at him and, though she still seemed to not want the mask, she showed no signs of handing it back over. "Just shove a mask in their hands and say 'here, it's your responsibility now'?"

The right corner of Rhia's mouth twitched, but she was silent for a moment. Lucky to get this far, that was something she had heard too often in her life. In truth, she was one of those beings; she was beyond lucky to have survived the war that wiped out ever last one of her race except for her. Sometimes she still puzzled over why she had been spared...

She looked down at the mask in her hands, still a little unbelieving that it held a life inside it. She sniffed softly and ran her tongue over her lower lip, the tip fiddling with the piercings there for a moment before speaking in a milder tone. "So... it's a boy? You called it a he."

Loki looked at Gee for a second, suddenly worried. What if he was wrong? He turned, looking at Io, who shook her head. It almost made him jerk as her voice drifted into his mind.

The boy approves of this one. She said, nodding towards Rhiannon. He's starting to become aware... slightly.

Loki nodded, turning to look at Rhiannon. "Yeah, it's a male. And yeah, seems he's chosen you. And now that that's decided, I have an ionic gate force field to build." He turned, heading back for his post. She would have to find somebody else to shove the mask off on if she still wanted to get rid of him. He had work to do.

Chae had finally gotten over her giddyness, and realized that a ship had landed.

*Great* she thought. *leave it to me to miss THAT*

She must have been more perturbed than originally thought. Which was pretty damned bothered.

Walking from the house, she saw the small group gathering, and beyond two forms swinging their legs from a limb high up in a tree.

Smiling slightly, and partly mortified that they were so elevated that they could fall, she began to walk across to join the others.

"Ice toss that young'n to you?" she asked the stranger. "She has a habit of doing that, without explanations. I spent the first few weeks here thinking it was an elaborate joke made to all new arrivals."

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I'd rather stay up here... she answered wistfully. but that would be hiding...right?