Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sky was alive, vibrant pinpoints of light strewn across the velvet sky. Looking up at it, I tried to pretend I cared, tried to pretend I could still find beauty there. It’d been… too long since something touched me, too long since I’d found myself lost in this jaded, once removed existence. High above, I thought I saw a streak of silver, a falling star, and then a high, thin wailing sound cut across the night.
The source was easy to find, only a brief walk from my back porch, hidden in the tall grass there. I expected some wounded animal, one more lost creature that needed my attention. There was always room. Anything, anything at all but the appearance of a pale skin infant, face screwed up in fear and anger, kicking it legs and making that heartbreaking sound. I reacted without thinking, picking up the child and finding myself shocked at how light it was, and wrapping it up in my coat. The child’s hair was soft as down and the same pale white as that falling star I’d watched. Brushing it back from the child’s face I was drawn in, not by the strange, complex black markings, but by those serious rose petal eyes. They studied me for a moment, and I felt myself weighed, measured.
The veil that had covered me, had taken the light from the world, was pulled from my eyes, and I saw clearly for the first time in months. I saw my destiny in those eyes.
There would be no turning back.

In any other house with a young child, it'd be a bad sign. The gentle near silence, filled only by the sound of music playing in the background, Dar Williams singing about the Beauty of the Rain. Lathen glanced up, as he found himself doing every second or two, to see if Cygni was still there.

The young Astra was sitting in the center of the room, thoughtful eyes focused on the pile of colorful blocks in front of her. She was building a tower, with care that was amazing for her young age. A base of blue blocks, a layer of purple. Then more blue. Small, careful hands picked out the blocks one at a time, setting them deliberately on top of each other.

"Fa!" She called out, when she had the tower three layers high, and Lathen glanced up again, grinning.


"Well done Cygni, very good." Walking over, he bent down and kissed the girl on the top of the head, ruffling her hair and then swooping her up in his arms, smiling as she giggled at being swung through the air.

"Now, lets go for a walk, shall we?"

Lathen waved to Jerome one last time as he walked out the door, hoping that his family didn't eat the poor teen alive. Smoke had loved the boy he served as agent for when she first met him, and he had been the first person to come to mind when Lathen had found himself needing a babysitter. Asking Brandon was rather out of the question, the kid came out on occasion, but he still had yet to talk. And Lathen was hardly going to start asking him favors. Poor kid just needed to be let alone until he got a chance to adjust.

The silver haired boy in the cloak stood awkwardly within his agents house, the white haired baby cooing in his arms, and tugging at a piece of his long hair. "Well, I suppose it would be best if we attempted to find young Ms. Smoke." He told the little one, bouncing her lightly.
Children were a new experiance for him, he'd been without siblings in his youth and... issolated at that. Why Lathen had choses him was beyond the reach of his understanding, though he supposed it had to do with Smoke.
Walking into the living room, still holding Cygni, he passed the teen that lived in the house... Brandon... streached out on the couch reading something, "Good Evening." He greeted the other, and Brandon raised his eyes long enough to glare at him, nothing more. The three headed dog at the other teens feet raised on of it's heads and wagged it's tail, and Jerome supposed that was response enough.
"Wa' Fala." Cygni complained in his arms, staring up at him with wise, but impatient eyes.
He bounced her lightly again, not understanding the babytalk, and realizing this might be more difficult than he originally expected, the child reaching toward nothing he could understand, twisting in his arms.
"Fala!" She said again, tears entering her voice.
"Flower." Brandon glanced up from his book again, nodding toward the mantle, "She wants one of those flowers."
Jerome gave the boy a surprised look, Lathen had claimed he didn't speak, than nodded, taking one of the lilys from the mantle, "Many thanks." He said to the boy, leaving the room, still searching for Smoke.
"Ms. Smoke?" He called, finding the girls red and gray bedroom, and there she was at last, drawing something. The winged girl flashed him a huge grin, jumping out of her chair.
"Jerome!" She called, flying over, and nearly knocking him and Cygni down with her enthusiastic hug. "You came!"
"Your father requested that I do him the service of keeping an eye on you tonight." Jerome explained, staring down at the girl. She seemed to have attached herself to his arm, fluttering happily, her wings glowing. The overflowing affection was... confusing. Though the child was too young to bring up his usual phobias, as was Cygni in his arms, it was still strange.
What did one do when one babysat?
"Would you like something to eat perhaps?" He asked, carefully.
"Icecream." Smoke grinned up at him, "Cygni likes it too. And Brandon likes the peanut butter swirl type that Father got him, though he didn't even say thank you. Which was rude. Don't you think that was rude?"
"I believe he must have had his reasons." Junkfood addict that he was, Jerome perked up at the mention of icecream, not a thought in his head of the proper care and feeding of children, "Let us go check the freezer."