Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mara was always early: it was a professional fault really, years of working with others and needing to make a good impression meant she was paranoid about making it on time. Plus, she had been unsure as to where the bar actually _was_. It had been an online gamble: she’d read good reviews and thus had recommended it. It hadn’t been as difficult as she had expected, and as she parked her car she felt quite smug with herself. She was better at navigating in this city than she had first thought. Dammit: she was good.

Getting out of the car and collecting Caspien who had been tamely singing along to the radio in an off key symphony, she looked down at the little boy for a second: Marc had taken him shopping, resulting in the most ridiculous little red and gray ensemble in the world. Marc had claimed it had been Caspien who had chosen the outfit; but surely a baby couldn’t decide things like that.

In slate gray and red, a little crimson vest having replaced the almost obligatory bow, she frowned as she stepped towards the tavern. She wasn’t too early: and maybe Kaydence was the type to be early too. Stepping towards the doors she took one moment to make sure she had everything. Phone? Check. Car keys? In Caspien’s mouth. So check. Wallet? Check. Wait. Since she was older, was she expected to pay as well?

She’d worry about that after they’d had something to eat.

“You’ll be meeting Dae Hyun again, Caspien.” She frowned. “Remember, behave this time. No molesting random strangers or grabbing at other babies. Alright?”

The little boy looked up at her and cooed. “Rinky tinky tinky!” he exclaimed.

She’d take that as a yes.

The day had been mostly quiet. Which was nice for Cian as he was still getting used to his new found fatherly instincts. Every few moments or so, he'd make his way back down to the end of the bar where Ivy was sitting. She'd always perk up and coo at him, but instead of an actual baby's coo it'd be length of synthesizer notes and it never failed to make him smile.

At first he'd intended to keep her covered, but the more he tried the more cross she'd get until she dissolved into pitiful little tears and he ended up feeling terrible. So, the young girl sat in her normal wraps and let her glorious wings and tail spill out from her. Nearly all the tavern staff were trained to explain exactly where she came from to any of the curious customers... Which of course was nearly all of them.

Glancing up at the door as he heard it creak open he spied not one but two people, both girls, and both with babies... what were the odds? Though to his mind the one of them looked a mite too young to be breeding. But upon closer inspection he saw that the child he could see... did he have cat ears? What manner of kids were these? Of course... it wasn't really like he had room to cast doubt with his own child flaunting her otherworldly charms at the moment.

Giving his sweet girl one pat on the head, he hollared out from behind the bar. "Welcome to the Bronze Butterfly then." The next shift of staff wasn't due for another half hour so he was pretty much by himself besides the cook, Jenny, in the back. "Feel free to take a booth if it's your fancy or come and sit at the bar. I'll grab you some menus in a moment." He didn't bother to hide his accent but he refused to make it any thicker than it actually was. Jack had said that people came to the bar to hear an Irishman but that didn't mean he had to sound like a turnip.

Kaydence grinned at the sight of Mara and quickly sidled up beside her, shifting Dae to one arm. Using her free arm she attempted to smooth out her tri-colored tresses. No need to look like a slob. “Hiya, Mara,” She chirped, letting her gaze dance around her new surroundings, taking everything in. Her heart was racing a little, at the idea of being in a tavern, and she was quick to note where all the possible exits were- in case she and Mara had to make a run for it.

Being a rich Daddy’s girl, she had never ventured into such structures on her own. She never found the need to ‘get her drink on’; there was ample alcohol left around the house unguarded. The open availability of liquor made it unappealing to her senses, so she’d never found a need to come to such places. The place didn’t look seedy, from what she could guess, though, and the man behind the bar seemed cheery enough.

It was enough to sooth her nerves for a moment, before she turned back to her new friend. “Uhm,” Okay, hell no, did she want to sit at the bar. Why would she want to do that? Was this woman mental? Sure, she’d been questioning it at the library, but no-- woah, what the hell was behind the bar? “Yeah,” She murmured, distracted. Maybe if she squinted her eyes enough, and stuck out her tongue far enough, she could make out if that thing at the bar was real?

Crystal was making funny faces again. Not that this was entirely abnormal. The lady who carried him tended to have the funniest faces, ever. Most of them were rather unintentional. But while she was busy making said faces, he could not, in fact, see the grabby thing that he knew was there. He could hear it’s annoying call and he had to make sure it didn’t bother him again. The only way to assure this was to watch him at all moments.

So, he did the only thing he could do to make the funny faces stop and make his mother-woman move. He reached up and grabbed a fist full of her hair. Before she could react, he gave a sharp yank, and she gave an equally sharp yelp before trying to pull his fist away from her hair.

“Yeah,” She repeated, her voice breaking a little from the abuse she was forced to endure, courtesy her son. “The bar looks like a good place to sit,” she tried to shoot a silent message with her eyes before moving to the available seats she could see.

Woah-woah, wait. Back this train up! He was moving away from the grabby thing. He couldn’t decide if this was a good thing or not. On one hand, they were leaving it, and he didn’t have to deal with it. On the other, he couldn’t see it, and it would be unacceptable if the thing took his toy when he wasn’t looking.

He was about to make a loud fuss when his orbs locked onto the purple kid that his mother was leading him too. Well, hold the phone. She looked an awful like him…

“Mweoda?”

Mara relaxed. As long as Kaydence was willing to sit at the bar as well, that was all that mattered. She smiled, nodding her head at Cian. He was kind of cute! Was he younger than her too? The way things were going with all these people she was meeting... probably. She followed Kaydence to the seats and too the one further from the child: closer inspection revealed that it was true. This child was unique. Different. Like... their own. At least she wasn't seeing things: that was all that mattered, wasn't it? That she wasn't going crazy?

"Rethe Phonne?" she asked, with a note of wry amusement. It would really put the feather in the cap: another guardian! Although she had never seen a child as unique looking as Ivy: the twins almost, really. But what other child had wings, tails AND what looked to be a halo? An almost professional interest overtook her: did the halo glow in the dark? Was it in fact connected to her? Was it solid? Could she touch it? Hide it? Play hide and seek with it?

She needed to spend less time with her inquisitive son, and more time with other grownups. She was starting to think like Caspien!

Picking at the menu she gave it a quick glance: not that she was really interested in eating now: this was far more interesting. Could she fly? Did she do tricks as well? None of the children she had met so far were as... animal based as Caspien. They all seem to be more magical, with feathers and wings that resembled angels and demons. Funny, that.

Caspien was originally completely put out when the big woman took Chrome Heart far away from him. No one seemed to understand the special relationship he had with this boy! .. the boy didn't seem to understand the special relationship he was having with Caspien. Still, everyone else was so engrossed with something else that with an irritated flick of the tail he turned his attention to what the grown ups were looking out. What could be more important than...

Woah.

What was that? It looked like Chrome Heart, but different... better! And look at the noise she was making and the way she was looking at all of them! She was PRETTY. And he was certain this one was a she. (He was still somewhat traumatized with his experience with the twins, whom he had presumed were both girls.) She had a halo!

He wondered what halos tasted like. Hers was black: maybe it tasted like licorice... mmm licorice. With a gaze at Chrome Heart, he shook his head. He was on better things now. Sparky cold blue boy was YESTERDAY'S NEWS! This was all about today. The present. This all about a girl who probably tasted like licorice herself.

Wiggling in Mara's grasp, he frowned as his ears twitched, reaching out with one hand. He wanted to touch that thing! GIMMEGIMMEGIMME!

Well he really shouldn't have been surprised to hear that name come from the girls mouth, but it still caught him slightly off guard. Oh sure, he'd had a fair few number of people know what he was talking about when he'd drop the name. Normally after they asked why Ivy was such a strange baby, but he'd yet to encounter anyone who even knew someone with, yet alone had another kid from the man. "Aye, Rethe Phonne indeed lass. Gave me the best gift I didn't know I wanted."

He smiled genuinely and leaned on the bar, shifting Ivy to be on the side facing all the new people. "Tis a pleasure meeting both of you, Kaydence, Mara." He said with a nod for each. "And lovely to meet your children as well. I'd never expected to have one let alone two children of the same kind as mine drop in from the world."

Cian was surprised with himself. After having Ivy around, you'd think he'd be used to seeing a strange and wonderful child, but he still found himself glancing at Caspien with piqued curiosity. The boy did indeed have cat ears and a tail, and the longest most golden eyelashes he'd ever seen. The little man seemed to be quite curious as well and forgive him, but Cain couldn't help but think of the cliched pun. He wished he could get a good look at the other babe, as that little blue arm intrigued him, but he couldn't find a polite way of asking to see this Dae-Hyun. Maybe Kaydence's child was also animal based? Were most of them? Come to think of it that online group seemed to have animal children as well. Was his girl different than even them? Cian schooled his face into a pleasant expression as Kaydence berated her child... like a puppy. It wasn't his place to judge how others would raise their children and it would be bad manners to show his amusement at her reaction.

Ivy was just delighted with the new people. Everyone seemed to be looking at her and that one even was reaching out for her. Something she very much approved of. She did want to see more of the one hidden away, he made an interesting sound and the mystery had her wishing she could reach out and tug on the blanket. But it was almost always better to let the come to you, unless you were the Da, then it was always alright to ask for hugs. Still, the two older women were entertaining and the furry one with the tail looked like he wanted to meet her. They all talked like Katherine did, with the straight and flat style.

Coyly, she twitched her tail to extend toward Caspien's reaching arms. She'd rather reach out and touch him too, but it was just too comfortable for her sitting in her father's arms. She'd bother with getting more personal later. Maybe after the blue one emerged.

At the man’s recognition, something in Kaydence broke. With a heavy, relieved, sigh her body went lax from all of it’s tension and she held Dae more loosely. He was like a comrade in war then. A brethren, of sorts. He wouldn’t let anything happen to them in his own establishment, right? They had to stand up for one another.

Yet, even though he was just like them- she knew- she was a bit shocked that he knew her own son was like his daughter. For a moment she almost went into panic mode again before she realized he must have witnessed Dae’s blue arm when he had reached out for Caspian. This thought soothed her, and she smiled warmly, once more. “I agree. I guess we’re not as rare as we thought, huh?” She joked and, deciding it was something akin to safe by the bar, gently unfolded the blankets surrounding her own child.

She hadn’t understood how Mara had let Caspian go, without any form of covering him, but it seemed as if Ivy was also free of restraints and open for everyone to see. Was she, then, the only one who attempted to keep Dae out of public eye? Was she ashamed of how her son looked?

No, she decided. It wasn’t that. Because, while it took awhile for her to get past his odd looks, she had found herself admitting he was a truly beautiful boy, in a unique way. So what was it?

Mentally shaking off the thoughts, she lifted the babe in her arms to sit him next to Caspian. Mara seemed to have a good idea, and she would be the first to admit she stole good ideas. It was easier to learn by example than by leading the way.

HAHA! He won! He was closer to the grabby thing now, who was- WOAH. WHO WAS TOUCHING THE GIRL WHO LOOKED LIKE HIM!

His eyes wide he turned to his mother-lady. DO SOMETHING! Stop this from happening!

But Kaydence’s attention had already turned back to the bigger person. Therefore was completely useless to him in her mindless state. She was, really, not worth much when her attention wasn’t on him. How was she supposed to do things for him when she didn’t watch him at all hours? This was why he had to keep her up at night! The woman never learned! He wondered if grabby had this much trouble training his carrier.

Then again, the thing seemed to get a lot less than he did. He got cool toys. So he figured grabby thing was too dumb to know he had to train his mother.

Well, if his carrying-lady wasn’t going to do something, obviously he had to. Never leave a man’s job to a woman, obviously.

So what to do?

His sparks hadn’t had the response he wanted last time. And his mother-woman always yelled at him when he hit with his hands or bit. So what did that leave him with?

OH YES.

His tail flicked, once, twice, then smacked the Grabby thing’s arm. Stop touching the one that looks like him!

Mara grinned. It felt good. Easy: it felt as if every time she met another parent it was getting easier to sit down and confess. She shook her head as she thought over the song: she didn't know it, but maybe Marc did. Someone she worked with might, or she'd just look it up on youtube. "Caspien..." her grin widened. "Is based off Disney." it was unfortunate to admit it: in fact, there seemed to be something wrong with having to admit that her little boy was based off of something so naive and innocent... well, in terms of animation plot. "It's off a movie called the Aristocats, when Disney animation was still pretty?" maybe they didn't know. If Kaydence didn't she was going to put it to generation gap. If Cian didn't... she was just going to feel old.

What happened next wasn't too fast for Mara to react to: but she was clearly too distracted at the possibility of speaking _of_ their children to respond. When Dae's tail smacked squarely into Caspien's arm it hit with enough force for it to hurt.

What the furry did Chrome Heart think he was doing?! Caspien was busy holding the tail in two hands, but the one that was afflicted let go immediately. With a noise that sounded really more like an enraged yowl escaping half way before getting stuck in his throat, he snatched at the offending piece of reptile and swatted at it.

That hurt! He was too beautiful and too important to be hurt! Scowling, he grabbed at the tail. Stupid chrome heart. Just because he'd reached Licorice first, was it? Curling his hands so that the offending spikes wouldn't hurt him a second time, he flexed his hand, staring at his arm. No, he wasn't too hurt. It hadn't been too painful. It was more his pride that had been completely bruised.

Chrome Heart probably wanted _Caspien_ all to himself. That was probably it. Didn't like the fact that he was molesting some other pretty girl. But there was enough of him to go around!

With no other anatomy to really retaliate with, Caspien let out a gurgly noise and reached out to bite down on the tip of the tail. Lets see how chrome heart liked _that_!

Mara stared at the episode with a grimace. s**t. Well, what could she say to a girl who had no control over her child? In fact... what could she say since she didn't exactly represent a woman in charge of her child either? She sighed: she'd get Caspien a muzzle next time. Or maybe she'd just keep him out of harms way when it came to interacting with other boys. She offered a weak smile.

"Boys will be boys?" What else could she say really? This was terrible... and they had just met this obviously kindly man right now! From tomorrow, she was sending Marc out with the kid.