Again, I only own OCs.

Eli. H. Lee

Gia snuck quietly in the night as the train keep moving. Unlike Alex, she was used to traveling on top of the train and was very familiar with how to get to one cart to another when still traveling.

Her destinations at the moment were the following;

Check up on how Ayo and Vitaly were getting along.

Strangely enough planning of where Ayo was going to stay was still in debate as Alex had continually made it a fact that Rosella was going to have her own cart, though he wouldn't say the reasons. So, while things were still being figured out, Ayo would ironically be staying with Vitaly. The jaguar however wanted to make sure her adoptive big brother and her (technically) cousin-in-law were getting along well due to not only the fact that Vitaly has yet to actually put trust in any lion what so ever, but also because the teen lion also had a mistrust towards Russians (which she thought was an odd mistrust really).

Find any of Vitaly's hidden borscht, probably in the trophy cart, and dispose of it. The tiger was getting really depressed and Gia had a bad feeling he was back on the soup.

Check up and see if she could learn anything about Rosella.

Gia thought it was very odd that Alex didn't mention much of his family. Granted, she did make up a few theories why, with the first one being that he didn't have a happy cub-hood. But that was dumped when Marty told her that her boyfriend had actually just learned of his true family around a year before the ex-zoosters met the circus. In fact, from the lion's friends, Gia actually learned a lot more from another view of what he was like as well as what had happened before meeting him.

But Alex keeping secrets about his family was still somewhat odd to her, especially about these two cousins of his. Why only two? When the news came out of them wanting to come, along with a friend of theirs, Alex had revealed that he did in fact come from a rather big family, despite being an only cub himself. So why were only two cousin joining? And then Rosella having no part of their show also raised a few question to her. And why was it complicated?

Gia stopped and knocked on the top of Vitaly's (and Ayo's) cart before hearing a "Come on in" and jumping in.

"Ciao! I wanted to-a check up on how-a you two were doing," she said, smiling at both felines. The sight that greeted her didn't surprise her much on the other hand. Both males were glaring at each other from their own respective beds. Her smile faded and she sighed. "Look-a, can't-a you two be friendly?" Ayo, not Vitaly to one's surprise, grunted. "So you two are-a just going-a to just glare-a at each other?"

Both nodded in response. Gia sighed and shook her head. "At least…try-a to make-a conversation. Please?" And with that, the jaguar jump up and closed the top of the cart before moving on.

Both remaining cats stayed silent before Vitaly spoke up. "You know durak?" Ayo blinked before shifting uncomfortably.

"No."

"Come on, I'll zeach you."

…..

Strangely enough, Gia couldn't find any borscht. Either Vitaly hadn't any around for once, or he's gotten better at hiding them. Next stop; Rosella's cart, two carts away from the trophy cart.

…..

"Look, I know that he seems… threatening, but if you just give the members here a chance."

"Melba, please, I don't need this talk again!" Rosella covered her ears as she said this, trying to block out the Kongo loa that sat on the crate nearby. A black mamba in shape with an amber glow around her as well as having glowing, pupiless white eyes.

"Well you wanted to come here with Ayo and Aya, especially joining Alex here! The least you can do is be familiar with the circus members. Heck, the Gia girl is pretty much part of the family now!" Melba said, moving her coils so that it looked like she was crossing her 'arms.' The lioness huffed and crossed her own arms while looking away. "Malu-"

"Don't call me by that name!" Rosella yelled, glaring at the spirit. "You know well enough that I've grown to hate that name!" Melba waited as the lioness try to become less tense. A knock on top of the cart didn't help any.

Both paused until hearing Gia's voice saying, "Rosella?" The female in question tensed up before noting Melba's encouraging look. Sighing, Rosella said, "Come on in, Gia…" and urged Melba away before the jaguar entered. The loa shook her head and disappeared into a mist.

Gia smiled at Rosella when she jumped in, only to earn an unsure one from the other female. Looking around, the Italian took in Rosella's way of decorating her cart. "So, you-a are into the 'voodoo,' I see," she said, gazing around some more. "It-a looks very nice-a." The other feline raised an eyebrow at Gia's curiosity.

"Was there… err... something that you needed?"

Gia looked over at her, one of her ears twitching as she stared for a moment. "What did-a you wanted to-a do for an act?" Rosella looked away and played slightly with one of her bracelets.

"I… didn't think about it, really…. I'm not really good at anything… performancy." Gia's curious stare didn't lighten up, instead, the jaguar actually tilted her head and sat down as Rosella's words. "Besides… I.. I don't do well in crowds."

"Shy?"

"…Sort of."

"Why-a?"

Rosella looked up in surprise before looking towards the bookshelf that was in the cart. "It's…. complicated." Gia huffed and pouted as she crossed her arms.

"All of you-a keep-a saying that! First Alex, then-a Ayo, then Marty, then Melman, then Gloria,.." Gia went on listing the names in that annoyed tone as Rosella listened and leaned back against the wall. Ok, so this Gia girl didn't seem so bad. Maybe a little too curious for her own comfort, but she could see herself getting used to her.

"So what-a was Afrika like?" Rosella perked her ears as the new question. The indigo-eyed lioness thought for a moment, wondering how to put the words right.

"You, um… you know those movies they like to make? About everyone living in harmony and that?" she asked, earning a nod from Gia. "Well… it's not really like that. Sure there's… some areas like that, but there's not really a whole lot of them. Granted, you um… you probably might get a.. a better answer from Ayo. I'm a bit... biased when the topic comes up."

"Oh," Gia spoke becoming quiet for a bit before coming up with another question. "What-a about your-a family?"

"Let me put it this way, I'm the seventh cub between my … my parents, with one older twin brother, one older sister and four more older brothers. Then came Ayo and his three littermates… you already know Alex's my cousin, and," Rosella paused for a moment as if trying to think. "Shani and Lani are our two other cousins."

"That-a sounds like a lovely generation of-a the family," Gia giggled though the sarcasm was clear as day. Rosella nearly laughed before looking to the side again.

"Yes, well… to be honest, I really didn't… spend much time with most of them."

"Why-a not?"

"'Birds of the same feather flock together.' If… one were to think on that, then Alex, Ayo, and I weren't really of the same feather as the rest of the family… except for Uncle Zuba and Aunt Florrie, but that goes with events then." Gia leaned forward from where she sat, wanting to hear more on this.

"That-s is why from such-a big family only you and-a Ayo join circus then!" The statement this time made Rosella laugh.

"Yes, exactly. It… it's just easier being around Alex and Ayo compared to the rest of the family. Aside from family, not a lot of other lions would actually… like us, I guess. I mean, or one thing for sure, Ayo already put others on edge, and Alex… well, you're dating him, you probably already know how he likes to perform. And I was destined at birth to be in for bad luck…" Gia's ears perked at the last statement.

"You-a don't seem any different from-a other lions."

Rosella smiled at her genially this time. "Gia… I hope you never go to Africa."

Ok, now I really, really, should get to my other stories! ….

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