Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rivener held up his cell and made sure he had the right house. He kept glancing between the screen and the view, like he couldn't make sense of the two. The note had said "remote island" so Riv had imagined something overgrown and gloomy, scary. Like some old abandoned place. But the scene in front of him was shockingly utopian, with a quaint little white cottage surrounded by palm trees, nestled on a sandy beachfront and looking like the epitome of awesome places to live. The Sigel turned to glance over his shoulder: Yeah, that was the sea right there. Doucette lived on the beach. Damn. Why hadn't he thought of this when he was looking at places to rent with Zul?!

Again he checked the number. There were very few other homes on the island but he wanted to make sure this was indeed the right one. Yes, it was. Yes. Yes, he checked again and it was still the same number on the house as on his phone. Raising his eyebrows, Rivener clapped his cell closed and put it in his pocket, floating towards the door slowly and taking in the sight. It really was unfairly gorgeous here. The palm trees were rustling in the breeze and gosh, maybe Riv could ask if HE could live here. Grinning, hoping Doe would need a babysitter often, the dark Sigel made his way to the door and straightened himself out, running fingers through his hair and smoothing out his usual red-and-black vest.

One sharp, black nail pressed the doorbell. Riv waited outside with one fist on his hip, looking over his shoulder at the sea again. Yeah, this really was quite nice!

Rivener didn't hear anything from inside save a faint background noise he figured was the television. Maybe they hadn't heard him? He'd been pretty sure he'd detected a chime sound, but maybe they were out. Or sleeping. Or deaf. He looked over a shoulder again, admiring the view, and suddenly the door was opening.

When Riv turned back he was met with a daintly little felame with flowers and stones in her hair, and fluttery wings on her back. There was no mistaking that she was a Raevan, and Rivener grinned toothily at her, showing his fangs. He raised his eyebrows. She looked so pretty! And when she widened her eyes and smiled, which Riv assumed was because she was happy to meet another of their kind, the Scorpion chuckled and rustled his wings, not saying anything either. They both had a good long moment to assess one another.

She had a beautiful gradient thing going on with her hair. Riv liked that a lot! It was all the rage in humans at the moment, but none of them could get the gradient this lovely. She had a pretty red decoration on a thin chain necklace, seeming out of place in all the blues and turquoise and white, but Riv thought it made a nice little accent. The shoulder details of her nearly-roman outfit were nice! And those wings looked like pieces of stained glass, how pretty! But it was her bright, bright blue eyes that were his favorite. He kicked himself internally for being a romantic sap: they reminded him a little bit of Zul's.

Doucette's voice chimed out from inside and Riv peered over the blue-shaded girl's shoulder, finding a silhouetted woman sitting at a table inside. "It's Rivener," he replied, then settled back down to where he'd been originally standing. He offered his hand lightly to the girl while tilting his head in greeting. "Rivener. Pleased to meet you."

Rivener grinned again as his hand was taken after a long consideration. This little Frei was looking him over like he was a fresh new discovery; she must be young indeed. Her curiosity was encouraging! It must mean she'd not been stifled or run into many bad experiences yet. So when she took his hand and then proceeded to explore his wrist, which bore the usual hard metal bracer, he let her. "Revontulet." He repeated it a few times in his mind so he'd remember. It was an odd name, that. But pretty.

Doucette's rather dramatic reaction culminated in her rushing to the door then, and Riv smirked at her in amusement, though his eyes were sharp and scrutinizing. He scoured every inch of apparent skin for ANY sign of a bruise. If he saw even just one, he'd take Revontulet away, escort her to the Lab, and tell Dr.Kyou that this was NOT a safe home for a young Raevan.

Luckily for everyone, Doucette seemed perfectly fine. Rivener relaxed a little and smiled more whole-heartedly, his eyes losing that hard edge. He floated inside slowly once the ladies gave him the room for it, leaving his hand in Revontulet's care so she could keep exploring his jewelry if she wanted. "Good to see you too, Doucette. I'd love to come in. I have to say I'm rather jealous of your house. It's really wonderful out here, and it looks really cozy here and-... Is that a pug?" He blinked as he saw the little dogs. What was with almost everyone having pugs? Vyn, Melisande, now Revontulet... Who else owned one of these little smush-faced creatures? Although these two did seem well behaved.

"Anyway!" He decided he would ignore the dogs as much as possible, so he turned back to the women with a broad smile, though he once again turned an edged look towards Doucette. "You'd said you would tell me when your Raevan was born, Doe."

Rivener raised an eyebrow at Doucette's flailing hands and ranting words. She was really quite flustered, wasn't she. A touch of a frown graced his features as he heard her mention being very busy with a new job: too busy to spend enough time with Revontulet? The Sigel's jaw tightened. He knew first-hand how lonely it was when your guardian was away working all the time, especially in the first few years of life. He'd have to make sure to mention that to the red-head.

Riv did realize her gesture wasn't an offer, really, but he decided to take a seat anyway, moving to a couch and sitting, his belts pooling under him and the ribbon coiling about his rune like a spring, giving him the look of being ready to pounce at any moment. His wings rustled to make themselves comfortable. He kept one arm out to drape along the back of the sofa so the young Frei could keep poking at his jewelry if she wanted- what an odd fascination she had, but far be it from him to stifle any young one's curiosity. Her reply to his question about the dogs drew a toothy grin from the Scorpion.

"Dolce and Gabby? Cute names. They look very nice." He chuckled happily, staring at her hair as he talked: it did a rather mesmerizing color-shifting thing in the light, almost. "But I think they are pugs, too. Pugs are a kind of dog. Dolce and Gabby are their names. Like you and I, we're Raevans. But our names are Rivener and Revontulet." Suddenly he REALLY liked her name, when he put it beside his own like that. Riv and Rev. How amusing! "Do you like having them around? They're friendly?"

"And Doucette," he turned his attention back to her. "What new job would that be, that you're talking about? I hope it's not keeping you TOO busy. Your new family member here will never quite bond with you right if you're not around enough." Was that a little bitterness in his voice? Ah, perhaps it was. He recovered himself with a polite smile and hoped she hadn't noticed- this was about the Aurora girl, not about himself.

Rivener's eyebrows arched at Doucette's job. A kindergarden teacher! Well, that was DEFINITELY safe as work went, and short hours... and ah, she even took Revontulet with her? Very good. The Scorpion smiled, clearly pleased with this. His wings rustled. "That's very nice of you, to take her along." He could also see the pride in Doe's every movement when she looked at the Aurora Frei, and slowly the Sigel's mood dropped from guarded judgement to relaxed contentment. It seemed good, here. Just the fact that the guardian wasn't showing bruises was a great leap forward. The house was comfortable, the property amazing, the time they spent together was good... Yeah, Doucette passed. Rivener gave his approval, though he was never an official representative of the Lab or anything.

"Well, Doe, my offer still stands- I want to be involved if you'd let me. Babysitting, tutoring, anything you want for her, I can try to provide. I'll admit I've got a bit of an ulterior motive, too: I REALLY like your yard, hahah." Already he was eager to go lie out on the beach sand to warm himself. Maybe later, after he left, he could detour a little further on the beach and indulge before going home.

Suddenly Revontulet spoke, long after the question had been posed, such that Rivener had thought she wouldn't reply at all. He looked at her with a broad grin, still enjoying the way she'd reacted when he said her name earlier. And now she was declaring her own judgement complete, too: She liked Rivener! The Scorpion chuckled happily and tilted his head, red eyes glittering with amused joy. "That's very good news! I like Revontulet, too. I have a question: Do you prefer people to use your full name all the time? Or can I call you Rev for short? In exchange, you could also call me Riv. But it's up to you, if you prefer full name, then I will use your full name."

Rivener smiled over at Doucette's standing invitation to come over whenever he wanted. He'd have to do that. But when she mentioned the sun might do Revontulet good, the Scorpion looked over at the girl, admiring her pale complexion. "Oh, I don't know. Sun isn't alwasy good for us. I know a few, in fact, who were made of ice and disliked the warmth of the sun quite a lot. Maybe she's not a sun person, that's alright." He was not expressly aware of what elements made up the gossamer-haired Frei, so he couldn't make an informed decision about whether the sun WOULD be harmful, but when in doubt, he figured they should believe Revontulet's feelings on the matter and respect them. "Besides, she wouldn't look as delicate with a tan," he concluded with a chuckle. Pale skin did suit her.

The girl chose that moment to give her final word on the matter of Rivener's nickname for her. Apparently she wanted to keep using HIS full name, but he could understand that- there was something infinitely interesting about forming words when you were young, and Rivener was more fun to say than just Riv. Still, he was pleased that she would allow HIM to call her Rev. Only him, apparently. He grinned. "Rev, then. Agreed." He chuckled, noticing that she was still touching him. Was she testing things? If she really was as new as Doe said, then maybe she WAS just trying out the texture of his skin. Considerately, he slowly extended a wing so she could touch the sharper edges on that: he made sure to kepe any trace of poison out of his stingers, of course.

"So, would you like that, Rev? If I visited more? I can help you learn a lot of things, you know. I've been alive a long time. That's why I have a fuller body." He motioned to his elongated torso. "When you get old enough, you'll grow too! But that will be in a while."

Rivener grinned at Doucette's mention of the girl liking the night more. "I can understand the feeling," he said with a chuckle. "I much prefer the night myself, but I was lucky enough to have part of my self be more comfortable with the sun. So I end up liking both in different ways. But since I feed at night, I prefer that. ...Does that mean Rev feeds at night, too? What does she eat?" Seems like something he should know if he was going to babysit her often. Wouldn't do to inadvertantly starve her while she was under his care!

He could feel her fingers exploring his wing, and a few times he almost told her to be careful, looking over when he felt the sharp stingers being pressed rather hard. Every time, though, her skin was unblemished, hardly even dimpling under the sharp wing tip. Hm! Whatever was she made of, that she had such beautifully delicate looking skin, yet it was such a tough material? Diamonds? The girl peered over his shoulder at the mention of his body though, and she asked if she could touch, which brought a soft chastising from Doucette. The Scorpion watched the two interact until Rev's eyes turned to him again, and he let out an amused laugh.

"It's alright, Doe. She asked, and it's polite enough. I have no problem with it. Yes, Rev, you can touch. Anything but the ribbons or rune, okay? That's very very not-okay to touch without permission, on ANY Raevan." And only Zul had THAT permission. But anything else, Riv had no trouble with. Actually, a thought occured to him then: "Does that mean I can touch you, too?" He WAS curious to see what her hair felt like, and what her wings might be made of! They looked delicate, like Xuelian's... But WERE they?