Welcome to Gaia! ::

Through the window of the shop a dark blur zipped inside. Averno skidded to a halt in her landing on the countertop, and her eyes darted back and forth warily, looking for any other occupants. Once satisfied she was alone, she darted over to the basket Sajhiri had dropped off two days before and landed on the lip. Peering down into the basket she grinned gleefully at the remaining cookies. "Some left, thank the bloom!"

She happily hopped down inside and began breaking off feien-fist sized crumbs of sugary iced goodness and chomping on them.

First a pink iced heart with "Love Me" in red icing was quietly and methodically devoured...only in the areas where the iced words were. Averno mumbled through a mouthful of sugar cookie "Not going to let her embarass me like this. Just need to eat off all the mushy sentiments before anyone else sees them..."

Silva headed into the feien shop, looking around curiously before noticing the cookies on the counter. Usually he would have ignored them... but they seemed to be... talking to themselves.

He smirked, taking to the air and flying over, curious as to who was inside the basket thing. Because he was pretty sure he recognized "their" voice. He landed on the edge, peering down into the basket, chewing his toothpick in satisfaction. This was just too good.

Many long minutes later, the feien groaned and climbed out of the basket, feeling bloated and sick from so much sugar. She made a few test flaps of her wings and decided she felt too heavy to fly right now. With a small burp, Averno moved over to the spells lists and began to study them thoughfully, waiting for some of the icing to burn out of her system.

"Well that was interesting." Silva finally said, follwing her to the list. "Never knew you had a sweet tooth, princess."

"AAAAGH!!!" Averno shrieked, wheeling on Silva with her plastic rapier drawn in a flash. "WHo the hell are you and why are you calling me princess you lanky, red marked...er..." She blinked a few times at the familiar tone of the voice and the features. She narrowed her eyes and peered at the other feien. "Do I know you?" she asked.

"I'm hurt, princess." He siad, holding his hands up in a placating manner. "Don't you remember your old friend? Sure, I've gotten a little taller, but hell." He was biting back a laugh. Trust the princess to be the first feien to threaten to skewer him. "I'm assuming you will sooner or later, too."

"But tell me, what's with the cookies?"

Ah, the red marked one who she never quite got the name of. "I see...I'm guessing you didn't gain any MASS when you grew. You look like a beanpole. I'm surprised a stiff breeze doesn't knock you over." With a snort she sheathed her rapier once more. "As to the cookies, my bond forced me to write idiotic sentiments I never have and never shall feel for others on them. I came to destroy any evidence of that stupidity before any other Feien saw them. My bond is not very bright when it comes to such things."

"Ahh... poor kid." He replied, not really meaning it. "Guess you never thought about tossing them out the window, huh?" He smirked slightly, wondering if all that sugar would give her a rush soon. "Birds woulda done the dirty work for you."

He didn't even mention his lack of mass. He rather liked his size. Too much mass made one too heavy to move quickly. And his speed wasn't at the point he liked it in the first place.

She gestured at the human sized cookies in the large basket. "Do I look like I can carry something that big to you!? They're larger than I am. I could have just poisoned the bloody things and left no witnesses instead, but I wasn't in the mood to have to explain bodies."

He shrugged. "So you eat them instead." He replied, looking amused. "That makes sense. If you can move afterwards." Then he shook his head, looking her over. "Where it all went I'd rather not know."

He went silent for a little while, trying not to laugh. "So wha'd they say?"

Averno planted her hands on her hips and glared at Silva. "It's not as if they tasted bad. They were quite delicious if you must know. And I didn't eat them entirely. Just the parts with writing."

At his question her face colored a bit. "As I said, idiotic human sentiments their kind express to one another on the ridiculous holiday they just celebrated." She didn't seem terribly willing to divulge said sentiments.

"Holiday... holiday..." He frowned, trying to think of the last holiday he had celebrated. It wasn't Christmas... or Halloween... it was too late for that. "Doesn't ring a bell, princess. I guess Ice didn't celebrate it."

Or it could be that she just hadn't told him about it. She was still pissed, after all. "What was it about? More candy?"

Averno scowled. "Sajhiri called it Valentines Day, and it's all about love and cards and candy. You're supposed to give gifts of sweets and such to those you fancy. As I fancy no one, I thought it was a stupid, wasteful holiday propagated by human sweets and card merchants who wanted to make money off it."

"Love and fancy, huh?" he repeated, as though he had never really thought of the words. "Hell, no wonder she didn't tell me about it." He said, almost laughing. But there was a strangely cold look in his eyes. "Love is bullshit."

Then he turned slightly, looking thoughtful. "But hell, if you can make a profit off of it, who am I to complain?"

"Love is some diseased state of mind. It distracts from purpose and focus. I think it's meant do derail beings from their goals so that species don't advance too fast. I mean, just look at my bond, preparing to have a baby has addled her entirely. She can barely remember to cook dinner, let alone continue on her more important tasks." Averno idly examined her nails, polishiing them on her chest as if it were capable of making them gleam, or clean the icing out from under them.

He nodded, smirking slightly. Princess was the same as she always had been, thankfully. If she had started preaching love he would have been shocked. And it took a lot to shock Silva. "Good to know you have some sense. After the cookie thing I wasn't so sure."

Yep, that was going to piss her off.

The much shorter fairy glared up at Silva. "You're asking for a trouncing, bub." Averno gestured to the basket. "Go have a cookie yourself and see what I mean. That icing stuff isn't bad at all.

"I'll do that." He replied, smirking slightly. The trouncing comment had made him bite back a laugh. "You'd need to get some stilts to trounce me, princess." He said, hopping onto the basket, then into it, grabbing a half eaten cookie and bringing it out.

Then he walked over to the edge of the counter and sitting down as he ate. "Not bad. Got cherry flavored?" Then he paused, looking at the cookie to try and see if any of the writing was left.

That particular cookie seemed to have the remnants of "U R HOT" on it. Averno drew her rapier and rested the tip lightly on the floor at her feet. "You might be surprised how little I would require to trounce you. As you've never given me your name, I'm forced to invent one for you. Beanpole should do."

"You..." Silva read, smirking slightly as he figured out what it had once said. Then he glanced up, shrugging. "Hell, princess, never knew you had a Jack complex." That he had heard the story of Jack and the Beanstalk when Ice read it to one of the brats in the house, he didn't bother to mention.

"I won't even pretend to know what you mean by that, Beanpole." She gestured at him with the rapier. "I'll have you know I've been practicing my fencing every day almost since I was out of bloom. I've studied the masters, including my personal favorites, Saviolo and Capo Ferra!"

"And I just beat s**t up." He replied, still eating his cookie. He finished it, then turned, looking at her for a second. "I'm not going to spar with you, princess. If you aren't strong enough to carry the cookies to the window, then you're not strong enough for a fair fight. And I don't use weapons against females."

"I should be going now." He muttered, standing and looking over at her for a second. "You know... love might be bullshit... but there's no harm in getting a little now and then." Then he stepped off the counter, catching himself before he hit the ground and flying out the door.

Averno looked both confused and furious at his words. "I am NOT some weak thing you overgrown, egotistical, peacock!" She harumphed then added "And get some WHAT!?" Ah, ignorance is bliss.

Silva stepped into the shop, a thoughtful look on his face. He had seen something... interesting that morning. Something he wasn't sure he should be happy about, or not. But for some reason he couldn't help the little smirk that played on his lips.

It would mean a return to the problems of the past. And his rivalry with Neruo... whether they got drunk together or not. But... That was how things went, right? But hell, maybe she wouldn't even remember him.

He wondered if he was that forgettable...

Patience needed some time away from home. With Shiro on a trip and a new baby in the house and all the magic practice she had been doing, she needed out! So she decided to make a stop at the feien shop.

Fluttering to a stop on the window sill, she looked in. She noticed Silva and flew over where he was. Her glowing eyes had to look up at him, since he was a full two inches taller then herself. She nodded her head and greeted him as she had many other feien she had met before.

"Hello there. I don't think we have met yet. My name is Patience. Nice to meet you."

She waited patiently for his responce, but never let her eyes wander to far. Though she was trying to not pay attention to his short but nice cut hair. He also had a ponytail that didn't escape her notice.

He turned, looking at her with a slight smirk. "Patience, huh? Nice name." He was being honest, but there was a tiny drawl on his next words. "Must be hard to live up to." Then he turned, looking back at the scrolls so she felt free to look at whatever she wanted. He didn't mind.

And he was, regardless of what he had been thinking, in a damn good mood.

Patience almost snorted at the comment, and then he turned away from her. Wait, wasn't there suposed to be a return gesture to a greeting and name giving. She crossed her arms, her eyes flickering eerily for a second as she got a bit annoyed.

"...And you are?"

His drawl had not been lost on her, she had a fondness of accents she had picked up from Shiro has he watched alot of Foriegn films. It interested her, though his attitude did not. But atleast she got a better look at his ponytail.

"I am... impatient more often than not." He replied, almost thoughtfully. "Been called worse, though. Tend to be arrogant, as well." He smirked again, enjoying himself. "I guess I lack in virtues, little Patience."

" And it appears you lack manners as well. And enjoy dodging the present subject."

She didn't mine to much being called little, though she was taller then Morgan and several other feiens she had met in the past. Though his obvious enjoyment is avoiding her question's meaning aggrivated her, though you coulnd't tell it except for her crossed arms and glowing eyes.

"OW!" A grumbled string of sailor-like cursewords followed the exclamation coming from the window. On the sill a dark-winged feien woman stood rubbing her head achily where she'd accidentally smacked it against the windowframe. "Have to remember to start ducking." Averno muttered.

She shook off the pain and launched off the inner edge of the sill, flapping her leathery wings then arching them to catch the air and let her drift lazily down to the surface of the counter. Her wings folded behind her as her feet settled on the ground, a long seven and three quarters inches below the top of her ebon-tressed head.

She glanced around and her eyes rested on Silva and the unfamiliar feien. With a small smirk she idly moved towards the posted spell listings to browse them.

He wasn't responding. With a huff, Patience turned away and stalked off. She didn't need this on her day off. She flew off to the other side of the shop to look at soemthing else, but kept an eye on the feien.

A little girl no older than twelve stepped into the door of the feien fairy shop. Normally one might be inclined to inquire as to her business, or perhaps why she was wandering around unaccompanied, but upon closer observation answers to both questions became quite obvious. Seated on her shoulder was a fairy, and quite a large one at that, if one was to measure the length of his body and not his wingspan.

"...It just strikes me as odd," the fairy was saying. His voice was a bit nasally and whiny, the sort of tone that can quickly become rather annoying if the personality is found matching. The fairy in question was in good luck: while his voice betrayed a whine, his sentiments did not. He actually seemed quite patient with the mass of yellow hair that surrounded him, threatening to choke him at any moment, and offered no complaint to its intrusion upon the limited space afforded to him by the girl's shoulder.

The yellow-haired girl replied, "I don't know, it's none of our business." The object of their conversation was quickly lost. They had arrived. The little girl's bright blue eyes scanned the room and instantly alighted upon the forms of the other feien present. She made a small noise of interest but remained standing just inside the door.

The fairy on her shoulder seemed suddenly very relieved at the shield of yellow hair surrounding him, even if it offered little camouflage to his dark blue-marked form. "The noticeboard, it's over there," he whispered into the ear of the girl, pointing. She she turned her head to look it nearly knocked him over, but he was expecting it and managed to dodge.

With a look of steely determination, the little girl strode over to the noticeboard. She couldn't help but to cast a few curious glances at the unfamiliar feien. Her passenger did just the opposite, avoiding looking at his brethren. Instead he focused on the board most intently.

With the enterence of the girl, she had turned her attention to watch her with muted curiousity. She had still been annoyed at Silva, but with this new girl in the shop and she now noticed Averno by the spell list, she was calming down and her interest was taking over. Sitting on a shelf nearby, she watched the shop and it happenings with curiousity. She was not able to see the other feien on the girls shoulder since on the other side of her. Perhaps if she was closer she would have noticed. So instead she just kept her glowing yellow eyes scanning the whole room to watch what was going on.

The newly grown fairy woman moved a bit stiffly and awkwardly as she approached the spell listings, still not quite used to her suddenly very long limbs. Her ears perked at the sound of an entrance, and she glanced over her shoulder at the little girl and the fairy on her shoulder.

Violet eyes narrowed as she took them in. The world seemed to change perspective entirely when your height doubled, but she was relatively sure humans hadn't suddenly shrunk in her sight, and that the girl was, in fact, a child. The feien did not seem to be a juvenille however.

She put on her best smile, and dipped her head in a nod towards Patience as a greeting. No need to make a bad first impression, there would be time for snarking later. Her wings twitched with the forced pleasantness of it all, but until she could improve her magics and her rapier skills, she'd decided it was best not to annoy any more feien. Except Silva. Because that was just fun.

The dark blue feien drew out a notebook -- several pieces of paper bound together with a piece of red string -- and a piece of lead. He'd starting off using quills and ink, but his tendency to break off into illegible scribbling...

Leaving the safety of the girl's hair, the fairy began to look at the information on the board in earnest. He took several notes. His human charge read over the board as well. "Oh, that's cool!" she said, reading over a spell list. She continued glancing over at the other feien from the corner of her eye. "Simon, can you do that?"

Her fairy companion, now noted to be Simon, glanced down at her finger. "No, that's beyond my skills in magic." He went back to his note-taking, going over the general shop information in particular.

The nod to Patience was not lost. It was actually a welcome sight compared to Silva's snide comments earlier. Patience got off the shelf and headed towards Averno. She touched down nearby and nodded her head towards Averno.

"Greetings."

It was with a faint grumble that Maq entered the shop by window, his wings billowing out behind him. Errand boy again it seemed, and just as frustrating as before. He hadn't gotten a chance to speak with Sinrei as long as he'd wanted to, but at least he was comfortable in the knowledge that Tera would be spending a good deal of time with her in these first few days.

Starting to cross the room, he drew up short in the air. Several beings were in the shop today, including a human. This was rather new.

Silva finally looked up from the board, still not sure who this Tera was and how her presence would affect his status as the shop manager's feien. He smirked as he realized the green feien was gone, then caught sight of the black feien she was talking to. Huh... It seemd a lot of people had entered while he was reading... It wouldn't have happened if the damn scrolls had pictures.

After a moment, Simon looked away from the board. "Would you say the distance down Wimpole Road was closer to two-point-two or two-point-three miles?" he asked of his human friend.

"Just say it was a little over two, it's not a cartography test," the girl replied. Now her reading of the noticeboard was nothing more than a disguise. She was far more interested in the conversation of the nearby feien than their spells and abilities! Her first chance to observe other feien interacting!

Simon didn't count, of course. He was just Simon. The girl shuffled slightly closer to Averno and Patience, pretending to be looking for some minute detail of information hidden among all the scraps of paper.

Averno smiled down at Patience. "How do you do? I don't believe we've met," she extended a hand to the other fairy in the manner that her bond greeted others, "I'm Averno." She peered around the smaller Feien to try and get a better look at Simon, whose horns were rather intriguing to look at. "I say, the shop is certainly busy today, isn't it?

Black leathery wings twitched at the sight of Silva, but she was mostly sure he didn't recognize her yet. A grin played at the corners of her mouth as she weighed playing with him a bit, but she stayed it for a few moments as she looked at Patience once more. "I don't believe I caught your name?"

There was something about the black feien though... it seemed to mess with his head. Sure, she was pretty hot, but that wasn't it--

"Princess!" He finally said, irritated by how surprised he sounded. "You grew up, huh?" He headed for them, sure he would get a dirty look, but not caring. She was one of the few feiens he knew that was close to his own sight so far, Neruo being the other.

Returning from the frigid wasteland known as Maine had put Sunil in an excellent mood, so it was on a positive note tha she and Ruya re-entered the feien shop for the first time in ages. Sunil touched down on the windowsill first, annoyed at having to wait for Ruya to catch up.

"You didn't have to come you know, if you didn't feel up to the trip." Sunil said slyly, "accidentally" kicking Ruya in the leg with a grin.

"I'm not an invalid Sunil." Ruya said, grimacing as Sunil kicked her.

Both of them surveyed the shop for a moment from their perch, a little unsure of how things might have changed in their absence.

After a quick scan of the others, it wasn't difficult for Maq to decide who he wanted to meet first With a lengthy stroke, he made his way over to the green and the black Feien, friendly smile on his face.

Simon startled at Silva's sudden words and dropped his notebook and pencil lead. He tried to back up into the safety of Careli's hair, only there was no Careli, and he was suddenly very confused-- And just like that, the familiar shade of red spread over his face and shoulders. He bit his lip and closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly at his sides.

While Patience was waiting to see if Averno would respond to her, she made note of everyone there.

There was Silva, who at the moment wasn't exactly someone Patience wanted to try speaking to again is he was going to be annoying. She was waiting to for Averno to return her greeting, and was quite impressed on how well her hair looked in those curls. Also another feien had arrived, she had not seen before. And the one studing the spells and taking notes was called Simon. Atleast that's what the girl had called him. He was quite tall too.

Patience's thoughts were broken when Averno had actually responded. She brought her attention back to the taller feien. Patience looked at the extended hand and brought hers up to complete the greeting.

'Nice to meet you Averno, my name is Patience. And yeah, this shop seems lively today."

Patience watched the larger feien's attention drift to Silva and she watched a grin form. Maybe she knew him.

"It looks to me like Silva grew up. Unless of course there is some other adult feien who happens to look just as ugly."

Without waiting for a reply from Ruya and with absolutely no regard for the conversation she might be interrupting, Sunil launched off the windowsill and down into the shop to land over by Silva.

"Silva? Too bad you're still alive."

Ruya remained perched on the windowsill, her lips pursed in a thin line as she watched Sunil jump back into the thick of things.

Averno's eyes flitted towards yet another Feien having entered. She'd never met Maquinar before either...the day was certainly turning out to be a wealth of new faces. She found it oddly suiting for the "new" her. Now if she could just get the hang of her newly distributed weight and the difference in distance to the ground from up there.

At Silva's exclamation she silently cursed at not having played around with him for a bit before recognition kicked in. But a familiar face, even it if was one she found arrogant and full of himself, was better than an entire room of strangers. "And a good day to you as well, Beanpole. Yes, I've grown. How observant of you." She forced such a sickly sweet smile as to almost make her words not sound sarcastic.

She smiled back at Patience again, and gestured to Silva. "This is Beanpole, if you haven't met. He's been in a state of refusing me his name, so I've take the habit of arbitrarily giving him one." She flitted her eyes towards the approaching Maq, nodding to him.

Silva cursed, then smirked, nodding at Sunil. "I could say the same, Darlin. Long time no see." And now everyone knew his name. He turned, ignoring that fact and looking at Ruya. "Going to come say hello?" He asked casually.

The noticeboard was completely forgotten now. The human girl's attention was riveted (quite rudely) on the assortment of feien. Simon was completely forgotten.

Which unfortunately did not ease Simon's embarassment as he drifted down towards the floor to retrieve his notebook, glad to be ignored by the other feien at least.

Maq had just nodded back to Averno and was in the process of saying something when Sunil's sudden appearance caught him off guard. Something twisted in his chest, and he found himself glancing back in the direction she had shot in from. Ruya? His breath caught momentarily, before his grin returned and he lifted an arm in greeting to the Feien still on the sill. "Your Bond let you loose, huh?" he called out to her.

"Oh, so it's a normal thing for him to avoid giving out his name, and I thought it was just me. Beanpole. Interesting name..."

Patience responded, a small smile peeking across her lips as she looked at the slightly miffed seeming feien. She took in everyhting that was going on, and was trying to keep track just in case something happened. But man, there was alot of feien in today. And since there was so many conversations going on, it was hard to keep track if anyone said eachothers name. And everyone here was new to her.

Sunil pouted, crossing her arms over her chest as Silva turned to speak to Ruya.

"You want to talk to her? No accounting for taste." Sunil blinked a little as she realized who Silva had to be speaking with. Shiny black hair, tight curls - who else could that be?

"What? Did every friggin' juvenile feien grow up while I was away?"

Ruya sighed, trying not to look uncomfortable at Silva's question and made her way closer.

"Hello Silva." No harm in saying his name, since Sunil had already managed to blurt it out to everyone present. "How have you been?"

Maq's comment drew Sunil's probably rude seeming stare off of Averno and over to him. An uncomfortable weight settled in her stomach and she narrowed her eyes. Suddenly she wasn't in such a good mood.

"Finnally let us come home, more like." She sneered at Maq. "Surprising to see you, Maq. Can't really say it's a pleasure. I don't suppose your sister is a long on this little trip?"

Silva...so that was his name. Averno let out a soft snort. "I think I prefer Beanpole, it suits you better..." She flicked a hand towards his lengthy physique as if to demonstrate the suitability of her moniker. She controlled her expression to look dead serious as she deadpanned her response.

The Darkness Feien couldn't cover the sudden surprise on her face at Sunil's arrival, however. "My goodness...Sunil? It has been a while. The tavern has been closed for a goodly bit, but I'm sure Sajhiri may be considering reopening it. Will you be available for work again?" She looked hopeful. In spite of Corvus' vocal dislike of the female, she was very tough and strong, and Averno certainly felt safer with her keeping order in the tavern.

She idly glanced over at the horned fairy retrieving something he dropped, marking off "possibly clumsy" in her internal checklist of 'things to exploit later.'

Sunil's stare was once again drawn back to Averno and she forced a smile.

"Of course. I imagine my bond will want me out of the house as much as possible. Nice hair."

God that probably sounded stupid. Sunil glared back in Maq's direction as if daring him to say something about it.

"I'm better now." He responded, smirking slightly. "Neruo's missed you." He said, unwilling to admit that he had, as well. "You might check in with him." Oh yeah, that was a great idea. Shove her over just as soon as she showed up. Smart, man, very smart.

He glanced over at Averno, trying not to laugh. "Jack complex."

"Depends on which sister you mean, Sun." It was easier to watch Ruya, but he made himself look back at the blue Feien. "Tera picked up a new bloom long after you guys had to leave, and it emerged the other day."

One ear kept turned towards Ruya, in case she had any trouble with this "Beanpole" character, but otherwise his attention was on Sunil.