Welcome to Gaia! ::

A rush to leave, maybe away from danger and fear, away from the only home they'd ever known. This place moved differently, worked differently, spoke and acted in ways she couldn't quite get a hold on. Onora smelled it in the air, the way the sky moved and the breeze that kept the silence between her and Morris from becoming too heavy. Different.

In the quiet at the edge of the lawn, Onora gripped the short sword to her chest and stooped to peel the slippers off her damp feet. She looked sideways at Morris, his hands clenched into fists at his front, knuckles pressed again his rain washed tunic. "You'll catch a chill in that," she breathed before glancing farther down the line to the other members of their ramshackle party. The yellowed grass crunched under her bare feet like eggshells.

Three of them were more than just different; they edged on the bizarre, the fantastic. All too solid moving slabs of stone and a boy with antlers and ears that reminded her of a carving her uncle Stephan had once given her. They both of them made the back of her neck itch with a boggling sense of familiarity, though admittedly that could have just as easily been the effect of wearing a soggy wool cloak. Their comrades, perhaps fathers and mothers like Morris might have been, were just slightly less unnerving. The one, a woman, she could stomach readily but the rabbit made her think of fairytales, of sleeping beauties and of wishing fish.

It made Onora's stomach clench uncomfortably and prompted her to look toward their leader. The title seemed too big for the little girl's shoulders, too broad and all encompassing and liable to crush her suddenly. Nonetheless, it was easier to look at Airi than these other people, or even at Morris - easier to look at the large building beyond Airi's thin shoulders and across the wintered lawn.

"Is that an animal?" Onora demanded loudly, slippers in one hand and wrapped sword in the other. She motioned toward the beast in question with the slippers. It was large. And extremely pink.

It had also, apparently, spotted them.

The great animal lifted its head, flapped its two exceedingly large ears and lifted its trunk, making an obscene noise as it did so. Furthermore, it immediately lumbered forward with great heavy strides, far faster than Onora had assumed it capable of. The animal crossed the yard, trumpeting and thundering, its trunk stretched like a hook.

It was like watching a horse leap at a wall she knew was too big to clear, knowing it would catch it legs. Onora watched as the luridly colored animal crashed forward over itself as if unused to the workings of its own body, watched as Airi turned on her heel to face the animal lurching down toward her and-

And nothing at all. Gone, like the air had folded up like a paper fan and hidden Airi inside it, or maybe like the sleight of hand tricks played with a coin.

The animal hit the earth with the force of its weight behind it, the shoulders and tusks goring the lawn. Beside Onora, Morris cursed loudly.

((Quick note: Italics = Czech))

"They are staring at me," Amitai muttered around a vacant smile, splitting his limited attention between these new people--these "Fa'e" and their guardians, he had been told--and Airi, the girl who had brought them all together. Admittedly, his focus was more upon the former than the latter, if only because Amitai only understood one in every handful of words Airi said.

"Blah blah Fa'e blah blah blah on Gaia blah magic blah blah." Why would he want to listen to that when his companions were so much more interesting? There was a girl who seemed to be trying very hard not to look at him and a rabbit-deer-boy-thing who made no effort to hide his stare. Curious as he was about them, he made no effort to approach; the girl looked as if she might bolt if he got too close, and Amitai had already been told he couldn't pet the rabbit-deer-boy-thing, no, not even a little bit, going up to people and petting them is rude, and haven't I taught you better?

"They aren't staring," replied Zaya, who most definitely was, but not at the familiar sight of her statuesque son. Her attention was fixed on this new world they had been thrust into. It was already better than Prague: it was much quieter, for one thing, and so much cleaner, and there was a giant pink pseudo-pachyderm flying right at the nice little girl who had rescued them from that monstrosity of a place.

Wait. Pink elephant?

"Ami, get down!" Zaya yelled, ducking behind Amitai.

"Huh? Why?" Amitai asked, looking up from his perusal of his companions just in time to see Airi vanish and the monstrous elephant's subsequent headlong dive into the dirt. "Oooooo..." Was that an elephant? Why was it pink? Where did Airi go?

...was that an elephant?

Amitai took a step towards it, peering at the beast with eyes made large by curiosity. He had never seen a real elephant up close--though this was neither "real" nor a "real elephant"--and he wanted to get a better look. He was distracted by the rabbit-deer-boy-thing shouting words and running past him. Where was he going? Was he allergic to elephants? Perhaps the boy, who was very small, was afraid that the elephant, which was very large, would make him disappear just like it had made Airi disappear. Well, he wasn't afraid; he approached the elephant with a large, clumsy hand stretched out as if he meant to pet it.

Unlike her not-too-bright son, Zaya knew exactly why the little boy was running. "That's a good idea," she said in thickly accented English, turning to run--or hobble, as she wasn't a young woman anymore--after him. She stopped after a few yards, wondering why she didn't hear the rumble of her son's heavy tread behind her. Zaya turned, wondering what was keeping him, and scowled.

"Amitai!" she called to him. "What are you doing?!"

Amitai paused just within reach of the creature. "I want to pet the elephant!" he called back.

Zaya smacked her forehead with her palm; of COURSE he did, the simpleton! "That's not an elephant, Amitai! Get away from it!"

What? What did she mean by that? He shot Zaya a confused frown before looking back at the elephant--and it was an elephant, wasn't it? It had big ears like an elephant; it had a long trunk like an elephant; it even had tusks like an elephant! Sure it was pink, unlike an elephant, but...but maybe it just had a bad sunburn? If it looked like an elephant, and lumbered like an elephant...Amitai turned back to Zaya. Was he missing something here?

"But...elephant..." he trailed off forlornly, not budging an inch.

"Amitai!"

"But--" Further protestations were cut off as the elephant, which had regained some semblance of footing, grew tired of the pair's bickering and lashed out with its plush trunk, smacking Amitai's hand away.

"RUN, idiot!" Zaya screamed at Amitai as the elephant steadied itself and trumpeted an angry challenge right in the teenager's face.

Amitai, naturally, backed down--not from the elephant, which he still wanted to pet (and it was right THERE, why couldn't he?), but from his mother. "Oh, all right," he muttered, turning and shuffling down the path towards Zaya, completely unaware of the danger he was supposed to be in.

Follow the rabbit, huh? Now that sounds like something out of Wonderland. Fortunately for all of those who have decided to follow this reborn jackalope, he's going in the right direction and not leading you down a hole into a world of crazies. Though, one might say that we're already in Wonderland. After all, where else would you be chased by a pink elephant while completely sane? I rest my case.

The screeching of guardian of the Large Fa'e made Barthy cringe, glad for once than Danny's mum never yelled like that. She only stood – towered, Barthy's internal dictionary of Large Words informed him – over them. That in itself was quite enough for them. She didn't yell at them using strange words either. Perhaps the Large Fa'e only understood these Strange Words. It would make sense, seeing as he did look like he was made of stones. Stones must have their own language, and this lady obviously knew how to talk to them. He must have her teach him such amazing talents!

"Barthy, get IN," Danny hissed, shoving his charge inside the Fa'e HQ when they reached the doors. He was quite aware of his son's inability to think and act at the same time, and so had done the acting for them. Only moments after he and Barthy made it through the doors, Onora and her guardian came flying in, causing Danny to step back. At her question, he shook his head.

"Never seen anything like that in my life," he admitted truthfully. "Does it look like anything you've seen before?"

Once Onora was safely inside, Barthy stuck his head out the door, beckoning for the Large Fa'e to hurry it on up. He wasn't running fast enough! Didn't he know that The Pink was clearly a dangerous, foreign beast?! It was a beast of strange customs, especially when it came to telling people it didn't like that. The teen had always through that sitting on someone was a sign of affection not anger. He'd never thought to sit on someone when he was angry. Huh. How puzzling.

But Barthy had little time to puzzle over such matters. The Large Fa'e was coming far too slowly and The Pink was catching up! They needed to hurry up! His earlier warning to run must have not been in Stone Language, so he'd have to give it a shot in that other language! Zaya's last phrase in Czech came tumbling out of his mouth as though the woman herself had told Ami to hurry up again. There! Now he would hurry himself up!

The reborn jackalope had accounted for the charging elephant and the incoming people. What Barthy didn't account for was the fact that the door would only stay open so long on its own. With a fwump, the glass door shut smartly, causing the teen's face to be pressed rather comically up against the glass. Oops.

He’s coming right for the door, Onora thought, allowing herself to get tangled up in the thought like spider webs in the cellar. The cold winter sun filtered through the glass pane of the door, outlining the careening teen and the animal as they advanced on the building. He’s coming right for the door, Onora’s brain reminded her urgently.

“Oh, damn!” she shouted, turning and catching the tails of Morris’ coat, pulling him with her as she threw herself to the side. The air filled with the sound of impact; bits of wood and glass, plaster and brick and stone, flew like shrapnel and tore into whatever it hit. The wall buried itself, bit by bit, into the floor.

Onora’s breath holed up in her lungs as she beat the splinters and dust frantically from the shoulders of her cloak, staring at the stone boy.

“You just ran through a wall!” Morris said shrilly from her side, clutching at the front of his coat as if expecting bits of himself to be missing, stuffed into the cracks of the floorboards like the drywall.

Fingers shaking, Onora laid a hand on Morris’ elbow. She breathed out long and low, and gave him a pointed look. Morris sobered, pursed his lips and turned his attention instead to the yawning doorway.

The elephant had abandoned it for the time being, swinging around clumsily to face—

Onora glanced around the room, stiffened. “His guardian is outside,” she growled, shaking off from Morris’ side. She was clumsy about walking across the room, trying to shove the slippers back on her feet as she crossed the mine field of debris.

“You,” she spat, swinging her attention to the horned rabbit. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember what Airi had said his name was. Something long. He seemed quicker getting to the house than the lot of them though, and that was important. “Can you outrun that thing?”

For Lady Maladine’s sake, did no one know what the animal was?

"Yes, okay, yes, sorry," Amitai replied to the shrieked accusation--the man had spoken too loudly, too quickly, too frantically for Amitai to really understand what he had said, but he recognized the tone from his lifetime under Zaya's care. Amitai's concession of guilt was more automatic than sincere, however, as his attention was firmly split between his guardian, who was slowly trying to inch closer towards the group, and the evil elephant, who was moving closer considerably faster.

"Don't just stand there, Ami," Zaya hissed through gritted teeth. "DO something!"

The Golem stood there, nervously shifting his considerable weight from foot to foot. On the one hand, he had always been taught that fighting was bad. On the other hand, his Mama was in trouble. On the other OTHER hand...well, he certainly didn't have the mental capabilities to come up with an escape plan. The tone of the girl-Fa'e's question caught his attention, and he paused in his perusal of the problem the pachyderm had produced to glance at her. She looked like she knew what she was doing. She certainly looked more capable to figure this thing out, in any case.

Not that it took much.

"Hey," he said, frowning worriedly down at her. "Hey, what to do?"

Barthy fidgeted idly as the Furless Girl was quiet for a moment. He had learned that it wasn't good to speak when people were quiet because that usually meant they were Thinking. And Thinking, as Danny had told him, was not to be interrupted. It involved a lot of collection of thoughts – though Barthy had never been sure where the thoughts existed in the first place – which was hard work. The jackalope was quite aware of the hard work involved in thinking, and so he kept his mouth shut. He was hopeful, of course, that the person would share their thoughts after they had collected them seeing as he'd been quiet while they were Thinking. His efforts were rewarded when the Furless Girl addressed him and the Large One.

The Fa'e listened intently as the Furless One began what sounded like the outline of a plan. Oooh, he liked plans! Though he wished he had his pad of paper and crayons so she could draw it out for him. He was always better at figuring out things when they were drawn out for him. Luckily for Barthy, Onora wasn't asking him to do anything complicated. All he had to do was run around The Pink and make sure he didn't take it too far away. That he could do. The other part about the Dancing Clops and the Madelines meant nothing to him, however they didn't seem to be part of the plan. He'd have to ask her about them later. When he was waved at Barthy nodded eagerly, and darted off towards The Pink.

Now that it wasn't charging at him, he could get a good look at The Pink. It was such a strange shape, larger than any horse or takin that Barthy had ever seen before. Perhaps this Pink was an animal found on this Gaia place. Seeing as it appeared out of nowhere the jackalope could only assume that it was from Gaia and not from another world like he was. He paused briefly for a moment outside the new door the Large One had given the HQ, before giving Zaya a cheerful wave.

"Don't wooorry! I got it under control!" he declared, before trotting up to The Pink and giving it a solid poke in the leg. He couldn't tell whether it was his poke or his voice which caught the elephant's attention, but it turned its head to stare at him with its beady little eyes. Barthy blew a raspberry at it and took off at a run. Apparently finding the jackalope more appealing than Zaya, the elephant bellowed and swung at Barthy. The Fa'e squeaked and took off at a run, not sure if he was supposed to be relieved or upset that The Pink was chasing after him. Part A of the plan has begun!

Onora smiled, the expression sharp and sudden and somewhat unkind to her long, horsey features. The thought that it was working, this was going to work, and that all these strangers who had no reason to trust her were listening to and acting on her plans… it made her glow with pleasure, put an eager spark of ambition in the teen’s eyes. It’d work; she knew it would.

“Good,” Onora breathed, giving the large Fa’e a light clap of approval on the forearm – lightly moreso for the benefit of her own palm than some paranoia concerning such unsolicited physical contact; mostly. Glancing sideways, she looked quickly to Morris.

His stormy expression sobered her excitement. She could clearly make out the disapproval written all over the man’s features, lurking in the shadows under the creases of her father’s frown and the dark of his eyes. Expression wavering, Onora quickly forced her eye back to the other Fa’e. She wasn’t eager to discuss this; not now. Morris would only be more upset later if she said something that caused him to come apart at the seams in front of these strangers. Later, Onora promised herself. Morris could say whatever he wished to later when neither of them would be embarrassed at his outbursts.

Having turned back to the stone boy, Onora offered him a second, wan smile as she quickly shed her cloak and unsheathed the short, brutally shaped sword she carried. Not for the first time Onora wished fervently that she’d left Talmrin House in something other than her nightdress and stockings.

“If you look up my skirt, I’ll find a way to chop off your hands,” Onora informed Amitai matter-of-factly, not entirely concerned about whether he understood or not. Gripping the sword tightly in her left hand, she reached out and took hold of his offered hand in her right. “Just… – don’t miss.”