Welcome to Gaia! ::

TJ meekly followed along behind the massive man and his huge shaggy bull, which he had called Kolo. They made their way to the back of the stables and to the very last stall there, which was a huge stall, befitting the massive mount.
"Would you like me to brush him down?" TJ asked. "Bring him feed? Check his shoes? How much does he eat? Does he even wear shoes?"

"It's not you're fault." Sven said. "Valenti handpicked our assignments. He did this on purpose. I never realized the boss had such a twisted sense of humor..."
Sven did as best as he could in the sweltering heat, but he knew nothing about smithing. He didn't even carry a weapon other than his ID dagger, and he wore no armor either. He ended up largely playing gopher for the smiths and apprentices. Bring that hammer, now those tongs, no not those tongs the other ones, a bar of iron, that's copper you fool.
Sven felt like he was in a daze, everything was becoming a blur. He found himself reaching out with his power, trying to find some bit of moisture in the air that he could turn to ice, it felt so dry. Alas the heat of the forges all but vaporized any moisture in the air. Sven eventually noticed a source of moisture that came not from the air, but off of his very own body. His sweat. Which was rolling off of him and soaked into his clothing. Sven reached out with his ability and froze the sweat to his body, forming a thin layer of ice and frost. It felt so good. He suddenly felt alive again. He began to perform his duties better now that he no longer felt like fish out of water. He did keep a portion of his mind concentrated on constantly refreezing the ice and frost that coated him as the heat of the forges constantly melted it. It was tiring, but he even started to think of it as good practice, a way to work his mental muscles so to speak.

"God damnit!" Kait snarled. "Shut up and sit down." She snatched a kerchief for her own hair but didn't bother with an apron. She then sat down at one of the stools. "All we have to do is wash the clothes and sheets and whatever. Well, there's not an endless number of them. So we're gonna do this, and we're gonna do it fast. And then we'll be done. We'll just get it done as fast as we can and then we can get the hell out of this godsforsaken place." Her gaze snapped over to Mathias. "You hear that, boy? You better work your a** off! You damn well better keep up, or... I'll come up with something."
When Kait finished her tirade she set to filling up a tub and started working some article of clothing over a washboard as though she were trying to personally punish it for her being there.

"Hey, Matt!" A voice called from the other room. "Come here a second."
Matt dropped his dishrag into the water and dried his hands off on a towel. He walked into the other room where the cooks were hard at work at their, also never ending, job of preparing and cooking various food items. He recognized the voice that had called out for his as belonging to one of the female cooks, a woman named Angela. Angela, who was a fair bit older than him but who still looked damn good in his opinion, was standing in front of one of the big ovens. Matt walked over and saw that she had several pans of various pastries sitting in the oven ready to be baked.
"What's up?" Matt asked.
"Looks like somebody forgot to cover up the new firewood last night and it got all damp. I can't get it to light. I've heard you're pretty good at lighting things though, so I figured I'd ask for your help." Angela said.
"Oh, sure, no problem." Matt said. "Just stand back a little."
Angela took a step back and Matt reached his hand into the oven and held it over the firewood. He concentrated and focused on producing a single orb of fire in the palm of his hand, then he brought up that orb's heat. He moved his hand over the damp firewood for a while until he stopped hearing the hiss of vaporizing moisture and started to see wisps of smoke rising off of the surface of the logs.
Matt stepped back and flicked a little flame into the fire where it took hold on the now-dry logs and started crackling to life.
"Thank you, Matt." Angela said and placed a hand on his arm. "The rumors were true after all, you are pretty hot."

Others were having significantly less excitement with their new assignments. Gene and Malkin continued to perform their duties, which turned out to be mindlessly boring. Pick up trash, empty garbages, sweep, mop, dust, wipe, wash. It seemed like everywhere they went there was something that needed to be done, and none of it was the least bit interesting. Malkin still found some small entertainment whenever he passed by Gene. He was confident that no matter how bad his day was going Gene's was worse. One other thing that brought Malkin a small bit of peace was the thought that he was now going to, and cleaning, parts of the Corps. that he had never previously seen before. Especially in the Executive Tower, where Hunters and Guardians were not allowed to simply wander at their leisure. He was developing a far more thorough understanding of the layout of the Corps and its building as a whole than he had had previously.
Digo was simply bored, though he was learning that there were apparently an unlimited number of ways to make and prepare coffee. And that the higher up the hierarchy one is the less likely they are to get up out of their chair and deliver a document to the person in the next room over, even if that document is only a single page of paper. All in all Digo felt that his new assignment was simply to enable the exceedingly self-important members of the Corps. executive branch.
Will was similarly bored. His new job was simply to wait until a person arrived at the Arena Tower and to take them to the level that they wanted to go. This part was a little strenuous since raising and lowering the elevators was normally a two person job and he was performing the task solo. But the trips up and down were few and far between. He did his best to perform the task in a timely manner, though, but soon discovered that it was a rather thankless job.

"Uhh..." TJ faltered. "Well, let's just say that I managed to make the General angry. And this is my punishment." She suddenly straightened up as though standing at attention. Her voice picked up slightly in pitch as she spoke again. "Don't worry though. I'll do my best to make sure that he's taken care of properly"

TJ was starting to get the idea that this guys wasn't nearly as scary as his appearance implied. She leaned in close to him.
"Myself and around a dozen or so others left in the middle of the night on an unsanctioned rescue mission. We destroyed an enemy stronghold and defeated several of their strongest warriors on top of successfully rescuing our kidnapped comrade. I think Valenti actually went a little easy on us for that. But we did leave with a respectable portion of the Corps. forces in secret. Actually against orders even, since Major Arcos caught us as we were leaving and ordered us not to leave."
TJ finished her story and waited, wondering how this rugged giant would react. She suddenly wondered if she really should have told him so much. What if he was more straight-laced than he appeared? What if he was a firm believer in rules and law? He seemed like the sort of man who's wrath should be feared.

"My name is TJ." She said. She hesitated then, still not sure of what this giant of man's thoughts or motivations were. "Why do you want to know who all went on the mission?"

TJ watched the giant go and then reached for a brush. She looked at the brush in her hand, and then at the size of the auroch that she was supposed to brush with it.
"Crap, this is going to take forever." She said.
TJ put the brush back down and went to go get feed for the beast instead. She figured she could brush him down while he ate, since it was probably going to take a while anyway.
"Hey, Kiro." She called as she walked across the stables. "Did you recognize that man?"

Raegar left the stables and patted his chest, feeling the leather sack full of sealed fiends. Initially it was going to be his next stop, but there would be time for that later. He turned toward the arena and headed toward it, moving along the massive structure. Perhaps he would need to visit there as well before he left again...if there was time.
He opened the door to the Assignments Office, leaning down so he could enter in through the door. He made his way to the front desk and stared down as the Corps member who had the unfortunate duty to greet him this morning. Raegar towered over them.
"Is Valenti in, I need to have words with him."

Raegar eyed the young man as he walked passed, his eyes peering out through the bear's. As he entered Valenti's office and closed the door behind him he pulled back the bear's head from his own, revealing the aged bone of the skull beneath it as it fell behind Raegar's head. His brown hair fell about his head like brambles framing in the warrior's face. A deep scar crossed his face from hairline to curl beneath his jaw. And his days old scruff of facial hair was marred by it and the old burn on his right cheek; an X that marked him as an exile from his home country.

He approached Valenti giving a nod as the man addressed him. "General Valenti." Raegar's shovel-like hand scooped up the General's in a firm handshake one befitting a warrior. A sign of respect. "I've been busy with the hunt. Yourself?"

"Its to bad in the corps hands are so tied by...whats the phrase, red tape? I can understand that." Raegar nodded, "To business then. In the northern woodlands, there is a growing problem with fiends. Now nearby settlements haven't been affected terribly yet, but what disturbs me is that the fiends seemed to have formed a pack, much like wolves. However, the size of this grouping is actually growing and the territory they hunt is expanding. If things continue as they are they could wipe out entire settlements." Raegar face grew a little more grim as he continued. "I can't give a solid estimate of their numbers, but from what I've seen there are close to thirty running together. And while I'm an able warrior that is too many for me to handle alone."