Welcome to Gaia! ::

His phone was buzzing, and Gale Gentry did not want to move from where he lay sprawled across his bed, having, once upon a time, been asleep. The incessant, shrill ringing, however, combined with Jinhai's constant squalling and the fact that he could not just let a text go unanswered made him roll over in irritation, grappling for the phone.

The message on the screen was bright and familiar. Gale stared for a moment at the name across the top.

<< Look who's back in town. >>

"Great," muttered Gale, and gave a sigh. He slipped out of bed, smoothed his slightly wrinkled vest, grabbed his coat, and made his way out of his room and down the hall, sticking his arms into the sleeves as he went. Trust Caelius to give them all of ten minutes to make it to the room, so Gale was half sprinting as he crossed the Deus Ex grounds.

When he arrived at Room 201A, he found, of course, their illustrious (or not) leader sitting at the head of the round table (or what might have been assumed to be the head of the table), clearly ignoring anything and everything and surrounded by what might have been every paper in Deus Ex Machina stacked around him.

And another person - an unexpected person, unfamiliar and seemingly asleep. Gale frowned a bit, tilting his head at the "intruder" - who looked nothing like a hunter, in a pair of tan pants and a black teeshirt. Idly Gale rubbed his hand against the back of his neck.

<< Well that's...new. Caelius' friend, perhaps? >>

He has friends?

<< ....okay it was a longshot. >>

Rolling his eyes (with his face turned away from the Death Hunter), Gale chose a seat a few chairs down and slipped quietly into it, leaning back and saying nothing as he waited for everyone else to arrive.

Rep at the very least always had his mobile phone with him wherever he went, the intranet twitter system was still a source of endless amusement for him and it was always nice to have it to hand. If this hadn't been the case, chances would have been he'd have slept through the text. But as it was, his phone was right next to his ear when the text arrived, jolting him awake.

He picked it up with a snarl of frustration, ready to send an abusive text back to anyone else interrupting his ******** needed rest of late. But the name he certainly didn't recognise at all. And the text itself was...curious. Who the ******** was Caelius and why were they calling them to a specific place? It probably wouldn't do to miss out on whatever the ******** it was.

So he got up, and got dressed, dousing himself in deoderant and cologne to /try/ and get rid of the stench of endangered creature off him, mostly to no avail, polar bear had a very ..distinctive smell it seemed. And then finding he had little to no time left, dashed off at a run down the corridor to find this room that was mentioned, as soon as he found it, edging round the door and into the room.

He raised a critical brow at the people already seated. There was one guy who looked pretty ******** irritated, but also got filed in Rep's mind under homo simply by virtue of his unique hair, and the other guy looked like a beach bum. He had to wonder which of them was this Caelius guy, if any of them. Hell, maybe he was the little short guy...though he was sure he'd seen the blonde dwarf at the yeti mission. He recognised Cass too though barely even gave her a passing glance, no woman would be handing out ******** morning people man." he complained casually as he sat down "What's wrong with afternoons?"

Jordan couldn't even really muster up much in the way of surprise that Caelius was back. That the guy would just summon them like he'd never been gone and all was back to normal was pretty much predictable, as was the you better run time frame he'd given for the meeting. There were things you got used to, really.

He found the classroom about a minute early and claimed a seat, glancing around to see who else was here. Someone he didn't recognize sat beside Caelius, walled off by a stack of papers, and apparently asleep. ... This ought to be interesting. Huh.

Sydney wasn't exactly sure who this Caelius was, but she had taken to the theory that everyone practically was higher up than she was, and it was best to be safe than sorry. That's why the mist trainee was slipping into the room, standing to the side as she looked at the round table. She studied the setting as well as she could, then slid into an empty chair, hoping it was the right place.

Her hand reached up, touching her choker, from which Izy was softly singing to himself in the back of her mind. He didn't seem very impressed with the situation at hand, but, well, that wasn't very surprising.

Candace had spent valuable time sitting and just staring at the phone in shock, her eyes wide and her jaw dropped. "Holy s**t...it..it's.." Wait! s**t! Ten minutes oh s**t she only had ten minutes fuuuuuuuck! Candace scrambled out of bed, grabbing her hunter coat and scarf and throwing them off as she booked it to wherever this room was. Was it really Caelius? But hadn't be fallen into some like..hole? With a horseman? She slowed to a walk when she found the room, walking in after a few of the others and almost expecting it to not be Caelius and just be someone using his phone.

It was really Caelius! Holy s**t! Wait, who was that guy? Candace frowned and watched him as she took a seat at the table, almost not realizing he was asleep until she noticed his eyes were closed. Well then...who the ******** was this? Was he not a hunter? Maybe this was a dream. Caelius sending them quick texts with little time to react without being late, the large table, the folders, the quiet awkward atmosphere...but why would she dream up this guy? Sigh. This was real life.

Clerise had been in the kitchen (or the burnt remnants of the poor thing) fishing around in the fridge for a second breakfast when the text had gone through.

The name Caelius was familiar, and not really in a good way. She remembered that some people did nothing but complain about the guy, which was...interesting.

She was at least dressed in something besides horrible sweats, today. Not her full uniform, but at least the coat.

That was something Clerise had picked up on fast: BRING. THE COAT.

"Don't be such a whiny baby, ginger ninja," Clerise chided, taking a seat on the opposite side Gale. "Sup, tinyguy?" She couldn't resist the urge to ruffle his hair a little, because she was obnoxious like that.

Maybe she'd see why this guy was so scary.

<Faster, faster! I swear, Sasha, there are times that you simply astound me.>

We have plenty of time, Nona, good grief.

<Good grief? Good grief? Sasha, my sweet little dove, my gentle and ever-so-timid little bird! If we get to our destination and there are no seats near any of the handsome men and beautiful women of this establishment, I am going to make things very terrible for you! You do not want to upset your Nona, do you?>

Oh my God, Nona, why is everything about ... that?! Oh God, her cheeks were already turning red!

<I do not ask for much.> Nona sniffed. <It has been so long since Nona has brushed against a perfectly chiseled chest, so long! After embarrassing me so during our last mission, perhaps Nona deserves this little thing, hmm?>

By the time Sasha actually reached the meeting room, her cheeks were flushed and the pulse at the base of her throat was working double-time.

While she knew of Caelius she did not know him personally. Perhaps some of the questions she had about the Death division leader would be answered here? As she slipped into a random chair - sorry, Nona - she locked her eyes on the hands she folded gracefully in front of her, wincing every so often as if the sound of incessant shrieking tainted her ears.