Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mara arrived at the bar and smiled, noting that it was already getting pretty full. It had been a risky idea of Marc’s to have a family themed night every Thursday: she had thought that the regulars would have been annoyed, and that families wouldn’t want to bring out their children on a weeknight. But it had worked, surprisingly. Busier and even more chaotic than the average night, but the bartenders seemed to find it easy work serving cokes and juices, and the waitresses didn’t seem to mind so much—it was good for Mara as well. It wasn’t as if she worked the floor, and she felt better knowing that Caspien was getting some family influences from the general public.

“Good evening.” She called out, hoisting the weight of her child from the side of her hip and bringing him up to place him on the clean bar surface. He seemed to enjoy this easy access point to the crowds and the public because he let out a delighted noise that sounded rather like a little burp.

“Mara, Marc’s looking for you in the back.” One of the bartenders called out. “If you want I can watch Caspien while you pop in to talk to him?”

Mara nodded her head. Hopefully it didn’t have anything to do with her wanting to take a couple of days off to register Caspien for a proper day care service… frowning, she tweaked one of Caspien’s well hidden ears, causing the boy to let out a startled chirp .

“Sure, I’ll go talk to him now then.” She looked around- small families gathered in the corners of the bar, talking to themselves and enjoying a quick meal. The band would be playing soon, something easy and light to draw in the very young audience. She didn’t feel too guilty about abandoning Caspien for a while. “Behave baby, I’ll be back in two clicks.”

Clicks? Caspien, now decorated with a gigantic purple bow around his neck watched her with amused eyes as he watched her walk away. Look. People! Sitting and patting the surface of the bar in a mockery of a rhythmic beat.

What was that? Caspien, left all alone on the bar peered at the new arrivals sitting not too far away from him. One of the bar tenders had placed a cup of orange juice in front of him as if expecting the little boy to drink the nasty stuff (it was the blood of oranges!), and so far he had been busy trying to ignore it as if it didn’t really exist.

They weren’t the same color as most of the people in the room, that Caspien knew for sure. And there was something about the overload of clothing that reminded him of Mara: Mara did that to him as well, almost as if she wasn’t proud of his gorgeously fluffy tail or his cute widdle ears. Hah! She was just jealous: he was sure of it! Seeing the way the pink one waggled her fingers at the crowd, he decided they were harmless: in fact, they were his size! Something that was so necessary in his world. It was so unfair, being surrounded by grownups…

Wiggling closer on the bar and doing a very annoying sliding crawl across the smooth surface, he dragged his orange juice along with him, trying in vain to get close… but with stealth! Didn’t want to get caught by the big ones and be sent to the corner, or something ridiculous like that.

One was the color of Mara’s sheets, he knew this for certain. The other the color of the sky. Pretty. Letting out a curious noise that sounded rather like a gurgle, he inched a little bit closer and waggled his fingers back. Look, hers were shiny!

“Caspien.” The bartender started, frowning as he watched where the little boy was going: but he didn’t seem to be in any danger of falling off the ledge, and in fact, he was making his way towards two very unusual looking children. Then it couldn’t be all bad news, then. The boy looked back for a moment, scowling at the thought of being interrupted on this path of finding adventure. But the man didn’t say anything more, and so the little boy took this as a good sign.

Look! It was two girls! It must be. With a happy little gurgle he inched closer until he could almost but not quite touch the closest one. And she was smiling back at him and awesome! How come her mouth was so dark and cool looking compared to his own? He nudged the orange juice as well, frowning in concentration as he did so. Don’t want to spill the blood of fruits all over the ledge, after all. Have to be super careful.

When it was close enough for comfort, he reached out and patted the pink girl. Look! He was here now! They could play!!

It talked! Caspien blinked with amusement, distracted by the form of the things that seemed to be flapping at him. Oooh, they almost reminded him of his own ears, except cooler. So unfair. Still, he was sufficiently distracted when the blue girl fell across the pink one, the face so close to his own. Oh my. It was like magic! And look, this one had things sticking out of her head as well! Tracking the movement of her eyes, Caspien looked down to see that the little girl was staring at his drink. Oh, liked the blood of fruits did it? (Was it only him who thought it was somewhat morbid? They “grew” on trees! Hence were alive!) Twisting his body slightly to be able to reach for the drink properly, Caspien grabbed his drink and offered it to the blue one with a tentative chirp. Peace?

He knew how to play good. He saw children do it all the time at the bar whenever they wanted something. And Caspien wanted to play. NOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOWNOW!

Caspien tilted the glass, frowning as he watched with rapt amusement at the way the blue one seemed to enjoy the drink. That was awesome! And look, it made life easier as well! Just using the face to drink everything? If he could do that with the food as well… well, that would be very useful. He wouldn’t need his hands anymore to assist him! The things you could learn from new people.

The hands reaching out towards him distracted him in a different way this time, and Caspien looked down to see that the hands were reaching towards his new toy. Oh, this one had good taste! It was awfully pretty, wasn’t it? One of the better ones Mara had chosen for him. And it was almost so perfectly symmetrical as well! If there was one thing he was training the woman in successfully, it was tying the bows.

Letting out a delighted little purr, he leaned forewords.

Mara in the meanwhile, left the office feeling a little bit disgruntled that Marc had only called her to talk to her about work: didn’t the man understand that there were bigger things on her mind right now? Going back to the bar, it scared her for a moment to notice that Caspien was not where she had left him originally: but not too much, seeing as he had only moved slightly to the side, to molest two other children.

Mara paused in her step. They were certainly… special. Different. Like her Caspien. And the woman with them didn’t seem to mind at all what the little boy was doing. Having already met another child by Rethe Phonne, she wondered if she would be pushing her luck, but had to ask anyways.

“Rethe Phonne gift you too?”

Mara relaxed. Smiling, she took the stool next to the other woman, keeping an eye on Caspien as she did so. "Thank goodness I was right, and I don't look like a crazy person." she started. "My name is Mara Evans, and this is Caspien, my son." she ordered herself a bottle of coke from the bar: better to stick to something easy, if she was planning on getting any work done tonight.

What unusual looking children! They had such beautiful wings, and the color of the skin! "May I ask what they were, as an orb?" she asked, fascinated. "Did you receive two separate orbs?" Were some people blessed twice?

Although she wasn't sure if she could handle TWO Caspiens.

Caspien in the meanwhile, deciding that Mara's appearance meant that she approved of the meeting wiggled forewords until he was a little bit closer to the twins. The blue girl didn't seem to care at all now that she was slurping away the drink, but look! The pink one was still entertaining. Why was she looking at him like that? Funny thing.

Mara relaxed, smiling as she watched the children. Mason and Madison? They were awfully pretty names. So a single orb had produced them? That was quite interesting. Did it have something to do with the way Cassie had taken care of it, or was it based off the song, or... Mara put that train of thought on hold: it was too distracting, and she had better things to do here, now. Like talk to this other guardian, for instance.

"Caspien didn't really change color or anything: he was already all purple and orange and blue. Like some crazy disco light from thirty years ago." she winced at the thought. "He had been pretty though." she added, not wanting to sound as if she was being a little bit ungrateful. "He hadn't been that noisy either... I've heard of orbs that sing constantly." she reached out and poked Caspien at the tail, causing the orange thing to twitch with annoyance. "But he kind of... mumbled."

"So Cassie, do you live here? In New York?" she turned to give her full attention to the woman now, curious. She looked closer to her own age than the child had: and she would love to have someone with whom she could relate to with this whole child rearing nonsense.

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. Caspien KNEW what boy stood for. HE was a boy. And a girl was not a boy. Sweet smelling soft pretty things were called girls. He was almost sure of it. He frowned, just a little bit suspicious when the pink one reached out again.

Ooooh. They were playing!

Letting out a half purr, he wiggled forewords until he could return the favor. If she was going to touch him, he was going to touch her!

"The circus!" Mara remembered now reading about the circus coming into town this month: they were already here? She eyed the twins: it would be easier for them then, growing up. Travelling and being part of such a spectacular group must mean that they wouldn't come under suspect for their unique appearance so quickly. Although Mara wondered: this woman as a clown? That would be fun to see.

"I work here." she said, motioning to the jazz bar. "Kind of. I help find talent for the shows: it's not too bad, because the hours aren't that strict: it's really almost set by me, making it easier to raise Caspien." she smiled. "It's quite nice, this whole family themed thing... but you should come one night on the weekend: I managed to book a group who are travelling through and they are _amazing".

Caspien let out a happy gurgle when the head wings touched his fingers: look, they were so different! He had never seen something that looked like this before: they moved like his tail, on their own accord but surely it must be more than decoration. It wasn't fair! He wanted nifty ear pieces too. Trying to pet them with his fingers, he leaned forewords, tail flicking with appreciation.

When the boy began to giggle, Mara and Caspien were both distracted enough from their respective 'conversations'. Mara laughed: he was pretty, and honestly she might not have realized he was a little boy if Cassie hadn't said it first herself.

"What are you laughing at, sweetheart?"