Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been raining on and off for the past several days in this area, and much of the ground and streets in the neighborhood shone with the dark silver reflection of the clouds above in collecting puddles. As the rain continued to intensify, dozens of pictures of Roux's form distorted and shattered under the force of the falling drops. Under the shelter of the patio was a collection of weatherworn outdoor furniture: thin metal chairs made tolerable to sit on by cushions with faded plaid decal and a round table that stood straight with the aid of a small piece of wood under one leg. One of the chairs dug into the floor of the patio in protest against icy Raevan made his way under the awning that protected the patio. It proved to be an ineffective obstacle and was quick to topple over.

The owner of the house didn't mind the rain. Her response was quite the opposite; it was a welcome blessing to have some rain around that didn't give her feelings of hopelessness and uncharacteristic urges to sit on the couch watching soap operas while eating half her weight in fudge. Oblivious to her unexpected visitor, she had just finished running a vacuum cleaner through her attic (much to the chattering and squeaking protest of the kikimora that lived there), and was toying with the idea of fixing up some rainy-day cookies after emptying it outside.

She was in fact so lost in these thoughts and her plans for the next day that she didn't seem to notice Roux as she stepped out onto the patio to empty a plume of dust into the soaked ground below it. The wind decided to develop a cruel sense of humor in that instant, pushing several handfuls of it back in the direction it came from -- most of it was heading in the roc's direction along with several flecks of cool water, courtesy of the sky.

"Oh-- ah... I-- sorry! I didn't see you there, I didn't mean to--" the offender started, choking on her words as readily as Roux was choking on dust. She didn't even have time to get angry at him for trespassing when she heard the coughing and jerked her head over to see what she had accidentally done to the Raevan.

And then there was an irate roar... and it suddenly got very cold, with daggers of frosty blue-white suddenly falling from everywhere around him. A few drops of rain were flash-frozen and became small needles instead of gentle snowflakes -- they created pinholes in the floor with small cracking noises. The person responsible for this soon clutched her bare arms and hunched over, becoming even shorter than she already was in an instinctive attempt to shield her body from the sudden drop in temperature. It didn't work very well.

Thin bursts of steam emitted from her mouth as she forced her legs to stagger her body back a few steps toward the door that led inside. "Hey, you're R-r-rroux, right? Chloe's Raevan?" Mouse asked with a furrowed brow. In a display of terrible absentmindedness, the situation he was in had temporarily slipped her mind and her next question was "Where's Chloe?"

That look of sadism... the drawing back of a hand promising gifts of violence... oh god, he was really going to try and kill her, wasn't he? A hard enough blow to the head was all it would take, just topple her to the ground unconscious and let the exposure do the rest, make her a limp statue of frost crumpled pathetically on the wooden floor as the icy Frei loomed over her. A noise that barely could carry itself through the air twisted in her throat as she shivered there, hoping she could dodge back through the door...

...and then...

Gone.

Mouse slowly untied the knot her arms had made themselves into, but then didn't know what would be appropriate to do with them, so her hands just hung in half-open in the air before her chest. Of course... Chloe was missing, how could she forget that? As her face began to thaw it darkened into an expression of concern. "I'm sorry... that must be hard," she says at the floor to the left of the Raevan's ribbon. Shuffling through the door, she waves him an invitation to her house: "Here, you can come inside for a while. I'll make you some iced tea, if you'd like."

It didn't seem like a good idea to prod too much on the issue or start barraging him with questions. Cold as he was, this Raevan seemed like a short fuse on a very large explosive.

Mouse led the Raevan past the living room and into the kitchen, her skin still prickling with nerves as he silently floated behind her. It almost felt like he had taken her hostage and would make her regret anything she did wrong - so much that where she would normally have a witty remark about his apparent disapproval of her interior design, there was only a nervous little smile and a shrug as she noticed his expression. "If you wait by the table, I'll have it there in a minute, okay?" she said, inwardly wanting to hit herself for sounding like a clumsy, apologetic waitress.

For the next several minutes there's the clinking of spoons, glasses and pitchers as she prepared refreshments for her guest, all the while feeling those steely raptor eyes press their cool gaze on her progress.

Since before that, however, the roc might have noticed a small... distraction. As he was led across the rooms, something had been catching on his ribbon, lightly tugging it until letting it go and then coming back to repeat the cycle all over again. During the wait in the kitchen, this was becoming more and more noticeable. The cool blue tatter of cloth kept getting tugged this way and that, accompanied by an odd skittering noise that sounded like hundreds of tiny suction cups being pulled off of a surface over and again.

Mouse was carefully putting extra ice in Roux's tea (he was the ice Raevan; he would like extra ice, right?) when his question hit her ears. "What's what?" she asks for clarification, pulling her gaze behind her shoulder to see what he was looking at and barely suppressing a heart attack. When did Fredmitri decide to get involved, he was asleep the last time she checked! Alright, just be careful... delicate situation...

"Oh, Fredmitri? He's a chimera... Doctor Kyou made him," the chimera's keeper began to explain as she slowly brought the glasses of iced tea over to the table. They were both decorated with a cheerful slice of fresh lemon, though Roux's had almost twice as much ice as Mouse's did. "He likes being called Mitya-- he's very playful, so I'm sorry if bothered you. I promise he didn't mean to annoy you."

As Roux gazed down at the octopuss, he tilted his head curiously and let out a burbly meow. This loosed his mouth's grip on the ribbon, but a pair of tentacle-paws still kept a playful grip as eyes the color of limes silently questioned the winter sky in the roc's gaze.

The clinking of ice muffled out the noise of... was that delight? that Roux had made, and Mouse only saw the angry, predatory gaze he was pointing at her beloved chimera. All she could do was quietly place the glass in his waiting hand and hope for the best as she watched the situation unfold.

Fredmitri's response to Roux's little ribbon test was instantaneous- his strangely-shaped pupils widened into large dishes full of glee, and the chimera flopped about clutching it in his paws, acting like it was as alive as the Raevan it was attached to. He then, with an almost painful slowness, backed away under the chair and curled all of his tentacle-paws upwards in preparation for his next attack.

There was an insuppresible sigh of relief as Roux showed no sign of wanting to harm the chimera, and Mouse chanced walking a little closer to him so she could sag in the chair and let those pensive goosebumps slide off her skin. "Yeah, that's right... Mitya. I captured the octopus and cat souls that he's made of myself. I don't think I could ask for a better pet- he means a lot to me, so please be careful."

Right when the ribbon made the slightest movement, Mitya was in attack mode again-- a tangle of paws and winding tentacles as his 'prey' slithered through the air. He proved to have enough energy to keep this up for quite a while, occasionally backing into a corner or hiding under a chair just long enough to make it look like he was done playing only to dash out at the blue tatter once more. His owner was content to watch with a smile of amusement and familiarity. However, any sign of anger or violence and the kitchen would have suddenly become devoid of the chimera.

After a while the octopuss suddenly tires of this little game. He would ignore any more swaying and fluttering that Roux might have done, instead opting to climb up an empty chair. He made his way up towards the tabletop and wriggled over near Roux with an expecting look on his face.