Welcome to Gaia! ::

[prelude to a meeting]

It was about an hour after Cascati made his disappearance that his bond finally walked back in; tired, dishevelled, but a good deal happier after making some vocal contact with Em. The door to the shop shut behind her; her expression soon turned to that of dismay when she saw how empty the waiting area was.

"Casca? Cas?"

He wasn't in the kitchen; she ducked her head into the lounge. He wasn't there either. A grimace crossed Rose's face, mingled irritation and worry, about what might have happened to him; it had been a long day, a long walk, and she just wanted to go home and have a nice hot bath and food that didn't come out of a can. Her eyes hurt. Her hair hurt. She dumped Blinky on the table and cupped her hand over her mouth, just in case he had unrealistically hidden himself under the sofa cushions and needed to be yelled at.

"Cascati!"

With a low click the dark wood door of the office looking into the front waiting room opened and a uniformed man with short brown hair and glasses looked out. His mouth was turned down in a frown of displeasure at the disturbance. Admiral Pavel Antipov, Director of Intelligence (lest anyone forget), had just been working on some paperwork when he heard the noise of a decidedly human-sized visitor entering the building. That alone he could have tolerated. Yelling he could not.

Normally Antipov did his routine paperwork at his office in Fleet headquarted but this particular week he had been having trouble avoiding the unwanted amorous attentions of Dr. Annabelle Castle. The young physician was recently assigned to Dr. M's medical detail and had apparently gotten a rather strong crush on Antipov which the poor girl was completely oblivious of. It felt as if every five minutes Antipov looked up there was Dr. Castle, asking him if he needed some coffee or tea or a croissant from the pastry case in the mess hall. When his attempts to evade her proved unsuccessful he decided to go somewhere she could not follow: the Regional Fleet Headquarters on Gaia. Dr. Castle's security clearance did not allow her access to the realm.

While it was not unheard of for feien to be present in the building this late at night, the idea of anyone making such a ruckus at this hour was intolerable, particularly when the routine reports needed to be done. Antipov scowled down the hallway and called out in his unmistakable Russian accent, "Do you mind?"

Rose whirled around, all big blue eyes and the start of Deeply Sorrowful Tears glimmering in them; this probably would have been enough to move the hardest of hearts except Antipov's. Luckily, she'd gotten used to grumpy men. It was called her last marriage.

"I'm so so so sorry," she said despondently. "I'm sorry, I didn't know anybody was really - was really here this late, because I'm looking for my Feien and I told him to stay here but he's not here - have you seen him?" She moved her hands. "He's about this big, a little bigger than average, and he has grey prellan, and he looks dirty, and he was probably smoking and I told him not to and it's a filthy habit - did Em come by? Or did Simon or something, and did he take him? I'm really, really sorry!" And then, noticing the uniform, a meek addendum: "Sir."

Antipov's eyes hardened as his mind ran through several instinctive calculations. He placed the face with its name, Rose, summoned up his recollection of the associated security files, and plotted out his response. All in the blink of an eye. Which gave him another seven seconds to wait for the poor Rose to finish babbling.

She was an Authorized Personnel so he treated her as such, coolly professional and ignoring her distress. "Emperial has not been here, no. I could check the logs concerning Simon. Your feien is... Cascati, correct?" The name was slightly mispronounced, as Antipov had only ever read it in written reports and his native Russian rendered it differently on the tongue.

She blinked a few times, just like the book that was lying on the table, before breaking into a nervous smile. "Yes! That's him. Cascati. Um... I'm Rose. Rose Lukas-Hein," she added, unnecessarily. It was obviously somebody associated with Em; she just wished she knew who, and that she hadn't been away for so long.

"I'm really sorry," she said again. "I'll just sit quietly and wait for a bit. He probably just popped out to... um..." Rose couldn't think what on earth he'd popped out to do. "See something," she finished, even more lamely.

Antipov sighed slightly, gazing aside at a blank wall so he process some information. While it was unnecessary to do so with a neural net link, Antipov found he still relied on residual visual feed and it was easier to "see" the feed projected against a blank canvas. "Come into my office?" He wasted no time on any pleasantries, gesturing and stepping aside.

She instinctively balked; but knowing that somebody who was with Em wouldn't kill her, eat her, or sell her into some kind of Gaian slavery program that would have her end up in an alleyway in Durem, she followed him docilely like a calf.

"Thank you," she said dolefully, and because Rose was nervous, still came up with the inane chatter despite wanting to hit herself in the forehead: "I'm still so sorry I disturbed you I'm just not used to this new arrangement at all, I left before the shop exploded and I still don't know how that happened and I wonder if Zev's grown any..."

Antipov closed the door and moved past Rose to his desk. The lighting in his office was low, enough to make a visitor uncomfortable, but it clearly did not disturb Antipov in the slightest. He sat down beneath his giant Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik flag and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands together.

"You are an interesting case Comrade Rose. May I consider you a comrade?" As much as it was an honorary form of address it was also clearly a threat.

Poor Rose knotted her hands together and looked at him with Big Blue Eyes. "Yes?" she hazarded timidly. "I mean, um, ... I'm with Em. Fully. Totally. I don't have any agenda. Um, neither of us, if you know what I mean, Diana doesn't either, well, um, not that it matters anyway..."

Her voice trailed off and she swallowed a bit, wishing Cascati had just stayed put. Or that Em would come in. Or Djerod. Or Sally. Or maybe that the earth would open up and eat her. "I'm sorry, sir, I don't know your name."

"I am Director Antipov," said Antipov, unmoving. He considered Rose with a dangerously dark expression. "Your feien was in the shop earlier, I have the security footage of his departure. If you like I will send a security detail to retrieve him." Given Antipov's tone of voice, that sounded dangerous.

Rose considered this. She also considered getting Cascati back flat as a pancake. Despite momentary irritation at him not staying put, she loved him too much to make him into a pancake. "No thanks, Director," she said hastily. "I bet he'll come back on his own, he probably just went for a, ... walk. Thank you for the offer. Um. So long as he wasn't hurt or anything, that's fine, he can take care of himself."

It hurt her overprotective heart to admit that, but after six months trawling around the Mouth of Borovaris, it was pretty true.

Almost nonchalantly (but not quite), Antipov remarked, "It's no trouble. The Fleet looks after its own and our resources are widespread. We track all of the feien on Gaia, as well as their owners when possible." Unclasping his hands, Antipov leaned forward and scanned over several of the files lying on his desk. He reached out and picked up one marked 'Gaia Bond Final Evaluations' on its colored tab. "Your case has proved particularly interesting."

Rose's blood immediately ran cold. Not at any mention of the Fleet; she'd heard Em mention it enough times for it to be familiar, but at the idea that they'd evaluated how well she took care of Cascati. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. They were going to tell her she was a bad bond. They were going to put Cascati in a home because he'd taken up smoking. Her hands shook, she was so terrified.

"I tried," she said, in the tiniest voice on the planet.

"Yes, your results were most satisfactory," said Antipov, not even noticing Rose was so distressed. He flipped open the report to the approarite page; its contents were hidden from Rose by the angle at which he held the folder. "Enough for you to be recommended as a potential bond for one of our feien who is seeking residence on Gaia."

Rose's jaw dropped open; it took her a couple of moments to be able to - with difficulty - wire it back into a normal position, hands shaking now out of pure relief. Another feien? Another - but - well, she was going to be back home, and...

Most of the part of her brain, the part that loved kittens, said: a baby brother or sister for Casca! Another baby! It'll wean him off cigarettes and they can make me the biggest Mother's Day card in the world! It was #1 in Rose's Unrealistic Dreams, but it worked.

"Me? Are you sure?"

"Quite sure," said Antipov, looking Rose directly in the eye. For all his foreboding nature Antipov had a strong degree of honest sincerity in his gaze. "The suggestion has come directly from high command. If, of course, you would be interested in the position. The feien in question is named Burgundia." His fingers sought out another folder on his desk and he opened it, turning it so the file faced Rose.

The file was all text, no images, but contained some basic background information on Burgundia's history with the Fleet, her reason for being transferred, and details of her physical appearance. All the possibility of a complete person was reflected in Burgundia's file.

Rose touched the paper and scanned it. Then she scanned it again. Then she scanned it again, just to make sure, for the third time; by this scanning, she had already fallen so deeply in love with Burgundia that she wanted to take her home directly and read books from the New Age section with her. The only thing that probably would have made it complete would have been pink hair, but Rose could be flexible. When she looked back up at Antipov, her eyes were sparkling.

"When can I start?"

"After you fulfill Command's single requirement," said Antipov. He snapped the Bond Evaluation file closed. It was anticlimatic: the closing of the paper file was less than dramatic. A book would have worked better.

Antipov stood, his chair scraping across the wooden floor, and deposited the file on the table. He indicated Rose should pick up Burgundia's file and follow.

Very nearly skipping, she did so; she hugged it to her chest like it was a wounded animal, feeling faintly guilty for not being able to firstly give Cascati a talk about the new arrival and how much she still loved him and how he was First in her Heart, but she figured with unusual pragmatism that if she gave him a tub of Oil of Olay and strawberry gelato he would just be happy. Happy-hearted, Rose followed after Antipov.

It was barely after Ice had left that a small, inordinately beaming Rose opened the abandoned door; the reason for the smile began with 'D' and ended with 'D', which the first feien on her shoulder found inordinately vomitous and the second feien on her shoulder had no apparent opinion on. She shut the door carefully behind her with an appropriate door-noise, blue eyes bright, keeping up a steady flow of chatter.

"... and this is the shop, Dee, it's where you'll meet all the other Feien, there used to be the other shop opposite but that got blown up. They should put a nice garden there or something. Anyway, this is where you'll meet all the other Feien."

"Are there regulations?" That was the second Feien.

"Not that I can think of," the first Feien commented, and then - under his breath - "unless you count being the dregs of humanity," which Burgundia didn't catch and Rose didn't catch on purpose.

Inside the office it only took the beeping notice in the corner of Antipov's eye to thoroughly disassemble his good mood and reassemble it into the foundations for a headache. If he hadn't been talking to Ice he surely would have been checking the external surveillance and known she was coming. He might have made an exit before she could enter the room.

It wasn't that Antipov had any particular dislike of Rose. It was merely that he did not hold her in high regard, and the same went for her feien. If he possibly could, he would avoid her. He had an advantage. He was locked in his office (bless those intellilock doors) and he could come up with an excuse to stay put.

But blast it, the embarkation area was in the waiting room and now that his desire to avoid her had surfaced, he also felt a desire to leave.

Antipov tried to distract himself with a furious scribble of his pencil. He would wait two minutes. Perhaps she would notice the place was empty and leave.

Unfortunately, Rose's shyness had been momentarily overpowered by incredible good mood at being able to have normal baths again, and the aforementioned housemate; she immediately made a beeline for Antipov's door, knocking on it once.

"Director?" Her voice was light as always, but unfortunately still piercing. "Are you in? Gosh, maybe I should just slip a message under the door or something, he might not be there..."

Antipov went deadly still. As was his habit, he did not have the acoustic shielding up that would have rendered his movements inaudible to outsiders, as well as outsiders movements inaudible to him. Antipov didn't like having it on. He liked knowing what was going on outside without needing to use his neural net link to monitor the security footage. As handy as the thing was, he preferred to actually hear it with his own ears.

And the office walls, minus those shields, were awfully thin. The button to activate the shield was at the other side of his desk and Antipov knew that if he tried to reach it, he would make some sort of noise. He chair would scrape, his wood floors would creak (They seemed like such a good idea at the time! Very stately!), he would rustle the stack of papers in front of him. He sat completely and totally still.

Except the office wasn't actually empty tonight and as luck would have it, the other Fleet member currently present in the office had terrifically terrible timing. Far down the hallway, one of the doors opened and a little blur of white labcoat went sprinting down the hall towards Antipov's door without any seeming regard for Rose's presence there. Dr. M slid to a stop directly besides Rose and immediately addressed the locked door: "PavelIthinkthereissomethingyoushouldseehelloRoseLukas-Hein." Then he gasped for air like a fish out of water.

Rose waved off her Feien; Burgundia immediately retired to the arm of the sofa, wrapping her cloth more securely around her, sniffing once. "This place is dark and empty," she said censoriously, and promptly lay down and appeared to be asleep. (Casca, next to her, considered cigarettes.)

"Hullo," their bondmate said to Dr. M, totally bewildered but by this time not worrying about everybody she hadn't met knowing her name. "Nice to meet you and, um, is the Director in?"

Without answering M banged his hand twice on the door. "Pavel! Pavel!" he croaked, froglike.

The door swept open so suddenly M had to jump back to avoid it hitting him in the face. He backed into Rose, forcing her to stumble a step and politely saving them both from the potential assault of the door.

"Jonathan!" exclaimed Antipov, quite angry. "There is an intercom!"

M blinked behind his thick lenses. When he spoke now, his voice was broken up by raspy breaths every few words. "I thought it better that I see you in person."

Normally Rose, too, would have quailed at the expression on Antipov's face; instead, she just swallowed a bit, slightly undone too at M bumping into her; she smoothed down her skirt and attempted to peek her head over his shoulder, going up on her tiptoes in order to be able to do so.

"Director Antipov, I just wanted to thank you for delivering me to Dj - the Science Director," she said meekly. "I appreciated it. A lot."

Antipov let out a strangled groan, almost a whine really. The intercom wouldn't have helped, of course, since the system was not an embedded one. It would just have been an easier way to tell Rose he was here. Now that he was standing before her he realized he had to play nice. She was, after all, a personal ward of his boss. "You are very welc--"

"Pavel I have discovered a way to increase our database integrity index by one four-millionth of a quarter percent," interrupted M. He had absolutely no grasp of social situations. He also had absolutely no grasp of the word "important" since even without bothering to decipher what M was saying Antipov knew it was something truly insignificant. Dr. M continued, "We should have coffee. Do you like coffee?" The last bit was directed at Rose.

"I like coffee very much," Rose said, even more bewildered, though in actual truth preferred tea; preferably caffeine-free herbal not tested on animals and totally organic, but politeness won out. Cascati, who knew this damn well, was making faces at her behind her back. "And, um, Director, we'll have to invite you over for dinner sometime - " (This was an unfortunate social 'we' that forebode Pavel also being invited to the wedding, and the christening.)

"Do you want me to put the percolator on?" she blurted to M. "I saw one in the kitchen." Her social skills only barely outweighed his. Cascati continued with the faces.

"OOOOooooooOOoooo!" A high pitched squeal of a tiny degree was emitted from the front of the headquarters in the front room. "It's so extraordinarily shinypretty!" Valsharess had arrived, planning on showing Rurik the place she was familiar with but finding everything changed when she'd finally arrived. The tiny feien buzzed about distractedly. "I wonder if Simon-father is here!" She zoomed down close to her companion, who had a sour look on his face, and moved too close into his comfort zone.

"Back off spaz!" Rurik threw his arms up in front of him and pushed the smaller feien away from him. "GOD.. all in my space. What is your deal?!" He sneered and hopped into the air. His wings flapped a few times and he lazily flew away from the other feien. "This place looks lame. Ugh.." He rolled his eyes, seeing people down the hall a ways. "There's friggin people here."

"Yay! People are fun!" Val had been unphased by the push Rurik had given her. She was unphased by his behaviour in general, and found it amusing when he and Gallium teamed up in a fight or against someone else. She could never tell if they liked or hated eachother.

The little bespectacled doctor did a curious thing. He wobbled slightly and his face brightened into a smile that could truly only be described as creepy with the way it displayed his small little teeth. "Esmereldaaa," he crooned as he swayed.

Antipov had the presence of mind to look faintly horrified in embarassment. The last thing he needed was Dr. M not only being socially idiotic, but on one of his off days. "Jonathan!" he said severely, and Dr. M agreeably drifted in the direction of the kitchen.

Antipov was not amused. With a semi-apologetic glance at Rose and another whining groan he closed his office door and followed Dr. M down the hallway. "Come along then," he said to Rose in a tone that could easily be mistaken for politeness.

Rose followed, also obviously mildly horrified, but unable to actually think of a reason why she couldn't go; she followed after Antipov and M like a lamb to the slaughter, gulping as she went.

Cascati, on the other hand - now deprived of a reason to make faces - had sat up at the noises Rurik and Valsharess were making; unknown feien that he couldn't quite place. Burgundia didn't stir, but the Ice feien officiously preened his hair and looked up from the couch.

"Hello, children," he said languidly. "Having an excursion?"

"HI!" Val zoomed in a zig-zag towards Cascati. "Hello largehaired one! I am Valsharess and this is.."

"Shut the hell up. Don't introduce me like you know me." Rurik crossed his arms and landed on top of a chair. He brushed his bangs with his fingers self consciously and made sure there were no hairs straying from his braid.

Val blinked and smiled her always present smile. "He is a companion who now lives in our home. Ignore his abrasive and slightly obnoxious demeanour. He means well."

There was a derisive snort from Rurik's direction, "******** if I mean well." was the only reply.

Dr. M beelined for the coffee maker and began to fumble with the various components with a surety that said that while the coffee maker was in terrible, terrible shape, he knew how to get it to do what it was meant for. Antipov beelined for the round kitchen table. He gladly collapsed into the chair nearest the window and sprawled his legs out in the typical fashion of males viewing sporting events from their sofa recliners. That left four chairs for Rose to pick from, two of which would land her directly next to the Intelligence Director.

Rose sat primly in one of the chairs that did not immediately put her next to Antipov, being sensibly slightly terrified, hands folded in her lap as she watched M with a sick sort of fascination. The coffee machine sounded like it had once delivered caffeinated beverages to velociraptors back in the Triassic age, or whatever age the dinosaurs had lived in, which she couldn't remember quite correctly.

Burgundia, on the other hand, had opened up one crimson eye from her place of languid meditation; Rurik was familiar, visually, not a victim of the light mind wipe she'd gone through. Her elbow was placed quite firmly in Casca's side until he recognized the signal.

"This is my sister, Burgundia," he introduced, faintly unwillingly, and longed to add: who apparently can't introduce herself.

With a hiss and a sputter the coffee maker produced a lightning-quick pot of steaming liquid. Dr. M removed the pot by grabbing it with his two bare hands, apparently immune to how hot it must be, and gently placing it down on a square quilted potholder on the counter. Then he reached up and began to pull down mugs from the cabinet above, straining onto the tips of his toes to reach.

Antipov watched this familiar routine quietly and then stealthily turned his gaze to Rose. He knew M's habits already. His time was better used studying Rose's reactions.

"Oh don't you even try and call me your friggin brother. NOT HAPPENING." Rurik settled himself in a sitting position but he was careful about it, like he'd break a nail or something.

Val smiled at the two new feien. "Hello Burgundia! I am Valsharess, like I said, and that is Rurik." Rurik made an awful face and screamed suddenly in anger, "I SAID NOT TO INTRODUCE ME!"

His temper was obviously nasty and he liked to have things his way. "Can't believe this damn place. First their booting your a** and then you can't remember s**t. What they hell. Might as well just kill me!" He wasn't even talking to anyone in particular. He was his own best company and his own audience and the whole time he talked his hands were gesturing and flashing like the drama queen he was turning out to be.

Valsharess giggled, "Death would be interesting.. I haven't seen that yet!" The odd statement made Rurik yell something else along the line of "And now they want me DEAD!" and scowled viciously.

Cascati sat up a little straighter; he had, at the very least, expected to be bored stiff by any new inhabitants. (He still longed for a cigarette, but Rose had taken the pack off him and Burgundia had started giving him looks and talking about his immortal soul.) Maybe this would be interesting.

However, before he could comment, his 'sister' had propped herself up from one elbow from her supine position to give Rurik a sleepy-eyed look. She'd tied another piece of dark red cloth over her hair, primly, to cover it; the rest of it was around her shoulders, hands tugging it around her body. "I've made your acquaintance," she said, in Rurik's direction. Casca still winced at her accent: Ah've made yo' acquaintance! "I surely saw you at the Fleet."

"I can't say I've had the extraordinary pleasure of either experience, Dee dear," Casca said, languid, and drew Valsharess' hand forward to brush his lips over her knuckles. "I'm charmed, ma cherie." At least she was pretty.

Rurik looked at Burgundia for a moment. His third eye seemed to bore into her harder than the other too and even when he snorted, crossed his arms over his chest, and tossed his head in disgust that third eye still stared at her.

"Not that I'd GODDAMN REMEMBER. Damn Fleet bastards." He obviously had little to no memory of the place and probably for good reason since he'd been looking into contract killers on the internet already.

Valsharess giggled, still hovering in front Casca as her hand was kissed. "You're a flirty flirt!" She wiggled her tiny toes but didn't blush or seem embarrassed. She grabbed his hand back, instead, and lifted it to kiss herself. "A pleasure too!"

Dee drew her material even more prissily around her than ever. "The Fleet were good to us," she said. "They nurtured and bore us with what they could muster. Whatever d'you mean havin' a little sump'in against it? I wouldn't presume, but I do think you're a little in turmoil. And - " and this was said with a little sniff - "you haven't even introduced yourself properly to me. I do call that wilful."

On the other hand, Cascati was trying very hard not to smile. Pretty and mildly hilarious. (He still wanted a cigarette.) "Well, sweetness, you just kissed my hand. Wouldn't you call that flirting?"

"Good to us? They booted my a** out! ME!! Can you believe that? ME! I made sacrifices for them!" Not that he could REMEMEBER them but he KNEW he'd had some hardships he'd handled in the name of the Fleet. "Turmoil? If by turmoil you mean 'I will track them down and reassemble their limbs so they ar picking their goddamn noses with their PINKY TOES.'" HIs head was bobbling and he'd risen to stand on top of the chair, one hand on hip and the other waving an accusing finger.

Val in the meantime totally ignored Rurik. He'd had similar rants at home and she was immune. She was, though, caught by Casca's hair. "I am not a flirt. I merely duplicatedimitated yooou! BUT!" She said the but loud and dramatically as if she were about to impart an enormously important theory on the meaning of life.

The pause dragged on and she hovered around Casca's head, wiggling her fingers...

Finally she stopped, "I want to give you braids!!!"

So much for philosophical insight.

Burgundia, on the other hand, was not so familiarly immune to Rurik; she blinked, though, apparently unaffected by Rurik's wanton display of verbal violence. "I surely wouldn't do that," she said calmly. "It will wreck your karma. All of us are soldiers in God's eyes. You should have expected sacrifices. Why don't you just be glad that you suffered a little bit?"

Cascati, by now immune as Val to Rurik Burgundia's particular brand of Burgundia-ness, just patted his hair slightly fretfully. "Darling Valsharess," he said. "My hair will simply not braid. I promise you. I've tried it before. It turns out an unholy mess. My hair was just not intended for braiding. Why don't you let me braid your hair? Your hair is beautiful, sweetling. You'd just cry if you tried to put those pretty little hands to my own."

Also, you just did not touch The Hair, no matter who you were, but Val didn't know that.

"Karma? Oh screw that." Rurik tossed his head and pressed his bangs again. His third eye was still staring at Burgundia though he wasn't really looking at her with the other two at all. "God can bite my a** too. If the b*****d even exists.. or even gives a s**t enough to pay attention. You know he probably is just flicking us around and laughing cause he's an a*****e!" Rurik looked at the ceiling and yelled it as if God would hear him.

Val smiled again. "Oh I can braid everything.. except for Gallyshinyum. She's metal so it's hard. Difficult. Impossible and ulikely. Yes. Noone has braided my hair before. it is much too short! it can't fall in pretty locks. Rapunzel Rapunzel let down your wavy blue and silver hair!"

Val didn't know the hair wasn't touched so she just hovered behind Casca and stuck her hands in it. Luckily, in the real world, Val would have made a good hairdresser because when she started to run her hands through it, it felt like one of those really pleasant scalp massages you got when they shampooed you in the beauty salon.

"You can braid my hair if you want!" Of course.. now she was occupied in satisfying her lust for hair molestation.

Rose was too occupied watching M to realize Antipov was watching her; she was obviously ill at ease, hands twisted in her lap with her fingers interlocked, fiddling with a garnet ring on her ring finger in an action that seemed to be long habit; it wasn't in the style of a wedding ring, but it was on that particular finger. She bit her lip a little; and only then did she turn her head to Antipov, giving him a rather weak little smile.

It was only the fact that Valsharess' hands were, in fact, very gentle and skilled that prevented Cascati's already frayed temper from making him attempt to flip her over and pin her to the ground: he tensed, but then relaxed, her small hands so far not tangling up what was his pride and joy.

"You're good, sweet," he said, not with a little surprise. Good hands were a beauty and a joy forever. "You have, mmm, nice fingers."

If Dee had seen any of this, of course, she would have immediately berated her brother for being so impertinent with a girl he'd just met; fortunately she was still taken up with Rurik. "God can hear everything you say without yelling, y'know. And if God is - flicking you - that's an awful word - then She has a plan for you. You have to fear Her, you know. Don't you think She's just testing you?" Her crimson eyes were alight as she sat up, now, intent on Rurik, very nearly excited and pink-cheeked. It was a big change from her sleepy-eyed controlled disinterestedness of before. "Don't you think that, surely, you're going through all this pain for something?"

"So," said Antipov, semi-conversationally. "How do you know the Science Director?" He drummed the fingers of his left hand on the edge of the table; his right arm was thrown over the back of his chair.

Over by the kitchen counters, M made little popping noises with his mouth and poured the coffee. He was very exacting about it, adding coffee to the cups until they were all at precisely equal levels.

Rose relaxed slightly, leaving off the ring, which was starting to make reddened indentations in her skin as she fiddled with it. She still, however, kept throwing worried looks in the coffee's direction. "Djerod? I met him when Em took me home with her, after I found her in the Library... With Corvus and her Grimorum. And after Zevulon, too. I used to go and babysit with him. We'd have tea together. He's lovely. He was always so kind to me. Clever, too," she gabbled slightly, knowing that Antipov knew all this already. "He could talk for hours about anything."

"Your hair is shiny! ANd nice and thick and soft. if I was in the habit of doing things at the displeasure of others I may shave it in your sleep and make it into a wig!" She giggled but you really couldn't tell, by her demeanour, if she'd really do it. "I think you might kill me if I did that!" As if it were the funniest thing. She continued to put his hair and run her fingers through it and scratch lightly over his scalp. "I'm so glad you don't have dandruff... snooowy hair!" ..weirdo.

"Oh so now God's a chick? Well guess what. I think god is an ambiguous ******** homeless person." If only cause God was not allowed to be prettier than him. "And yeah.. I'm suffering for EVERYONE ELSE'S ENJOYMENT!" he tossed his head like the endless victim. "I'll get you all! Just wait!"

"You threatening people again?" Amongst the screaming a very tall and skinny adult woman came into the headquarters. She was sporting a bristling black mohawk and blue rimmed glasses as well as a black tanktop, spiked belt and matching bracelets, and some high and sexy combat boots.

"YOU ARE TOP OF THE HITLIST b***h!" Rurik spun and pointed but Halo only laughed a bit. She spied Val doing a massage and made a small finger wave.

"Haaaallo HALO!" Val lifted a hand to wave and point. "Big people in there!"

"Watch out for her cornrows, man.. they're vicious." The 'human' woman winked at Cascati before making her way to the kitchen. She'd told them she might come by hoping to meet some other adult owners. She.. really knew almost none.

Though Antipov may have known it, his emotional conclusions were almost precisely opposite Rose's so it was like hearing the information afresh. "Tea is a common theme in their family," he said, and actually seemed to glower slightly at this statement. Then, with definite annoyance, he half-shouted, "Jonathan! Stop doing that!"

M looked up from where he was meting out coffee in individual drops and frowned. "Fine, if you want the levels to be uneven then I am taking the cup with the most coffee in it." He sounded decently angry in response.

"No objections," said Antipov, looking at Rose.

Burgundia's face lost the excited, intense expression, going back to blank sleepiness; she lay down again, as if exhausted by the conversation, and wrapped herself once more in the rose-red material and closed her eyes. "You're going to hell," she told Rurik pensively. "Will ye not be pious? I, indeed, am a faithful messenger to you... so shew piety towards Allah and obey me. She is the Sublime, the Compassionate."

Cascati's response to Halo was to give her a slow wink back in return; crazy psycho though Valsharess may have been, she had magnificent hands. "Please don't shave it off, my sweet darling. I'm sort of fond of my hair. It's a little pretty, don't you think? I'd have to kill you, I really would, and then I'd be sad, because you're beautiful."

"No objections here either," she said meekly. "Caffeine's bad for you. It can interfere with your sleeping patterns. Um."

Rose twisted her hands again, and then cocked her head at Antipov. "Have you known Dj... the Science Director for very long? I... I haven't, but, well, I haven't been here for very long... It's a little odd to be back in the military again. Um. Well, I wasn't a big part of the military when I was in it, but... Um... I'm sorry, I'm awful at talking."

"Fifteen years," said Antipov, his mind stripping down Rose's ramblings to the bare essentials of her question. "And Jonathan never sleeps."

"Never," echoed Dr. M, shuffling over with the first two cups of coffee in his hands. He looked as if he was about to put them down but then stopped and frowned. He looked at Rose. He looked at Antipov. And without putting the cups down he turned around and started to walk back to the coffee maker.

Antipov groaned and tilted his head back, closing his eyes against the brightness of the ceiling lights. When he tilted his head forward again a moment later he seemed to be in a better mood. "Believe me," he said, "you cannot possibly be worse than Dr. M is at conversation. Or at serving coffee." He actually almost smiled at that, the right side of his mouth twitching upwards.

Halo peered around the corner and peeked into the kitchen and, surprise surprise, saw three people she didn't recognize in the least. She thought for a moment that her current getup might give a bad impression, then realized that she didn't even care.

"Hola strangers.. Am I crashing a party? "

"Been to hell." Rurik smikred and his yelling was suddenly down to a sweet tone. Deceptively so. "They kicked me out. Said I was too much man for them." He flashed Burgundia a very charming smile. He could probably get what he wanted if he wanted to.. but his temper was so bad that he usually never got to follow through.

"I wouldn't look good in a pretty wig!" Val smiled and kept massaging. "But you're as sweet as something reaaallysweet." She scritched seductively at his head, though was clueless to know it was seductive as if she tried it deliberately she'd probably fail. "Like candy! Minus the rotting teeth properties..." Her hands paused and she leaned over his head, looking at him upside down and kissed him on the tip of the nose. ..... only because she could!

"Believe me, my coffee is pretty awful," Rose said, perking up to Antipov's first little smile. Maybe he wasn't so hideously scary after all. "It's bad, bad stuff. I can only make instant, first of all - "

She looked up at Halo in the doorway, surprised - she hadn't seen the other woman before, either - but relaxed at the girl's friendly demeanour, and waved. "Hi! Um, no party, I promise. Or crashing. We're just having a cup of coffee. I'm Rose."

"The Satans did not come down with them," Burgundia said, eyes still closed. "It was not befitting for them, nor were they able. They indeed are far removed from hearing it... And you're not a man, you're a boy."

The nose-kissing was too much for Casca; he broke out laughing, leaning forward to tangle one of his own hands in her short bright hair. Crazy. Ate too much sugar, probably. Uncomplicated. Just so. "You can rot my teeth any day, dearling," he promised her. "You can give me caries and make my molars fall out."

"This is ALL man, lady.. and sexy. That's what. Smile.. Hair.. triplet eyes. All sexy man right here." Oh his tone was firm, confident and without a doubt. Anyone crossing that opinion would get a piece of his angry and violent little mind. "Anyone would kill for this and to BE this." Rurik flipped his braid and took off into the air with lazy wing flaps in search of a reflective surface to look at himself in.

Val let her hands out of Casca's hair and did a tiny buzzing acrobatic (slightly awkward) upside down flip twist in the air so she was in front of the other feien. Her hair had twisted a bit in his hand but she didn't seem phased since she'd adjusted herself so it didn't hurt. It was all flopped in her eyes though. The gold earrings in her ears jingled a bit, 2 in one side and one int he other. They were very cute on her.

"Well it's physically impossible for me to rot your teeth, sillychilly. But the sentiment is understood and appreciated!"

"There isn't even any alcohol," said Antipov bitterly. He waved his hand at the chair on his right, indicating Halo was welcome to sit there if she liked.

"We have coffee," said M, only slightly more diplomatic, finally returning with two different mugs of the stuff. He set down one mug by Rose and another by Antipov and then shuffled back to get more, saying, "There isn't enough for anyone else," even though there seemed to be five whole cups sitting on the counter by the pot.

Antipov glanced at the dark liquid, amost black. "You'll wish you had made instant," he said to Rose.

"Vanity is one of the seven deadly sins," Burgundia muttered to herself, cat-stretching, long white arms sticking out of the red material before she curled them back in. "You're still going to hell."

Cascati admired Valsharess' earrings; he gave one last ruffle of her hair, fingers trailing across to lightly touch her ears and the golden pieces of jewellry, before dropping it at his side. "I don't know, darling. You're very sweet. I can feel my teeth rotting already."

Rose took the cup in her hands, fingers curling around it for the warmth; she took a deep breath of the coffee fumes, which had an exquisite aftertaste like petrol. Then she took a deep breath and recklessly took a long mouthful of it.

After a few heartbeats, she swallowed. Slightly paler than normal, she looked up at M and gave him a slightly crosseyed smile. "It's not bad," she squeaked, which was pretty much the height of lies in the name of politeness. Even worse, she took another sip, which showed her masochism.

Halo flashed everyone a charming grin and made it to the chair next to Antipov in a few long strides. She dropped down into it in an unladylike manner and didn't even seem to care. She sat with her legs wide and hooked a thumb under her spiked belt in a habitual gesture. She was very very comfortable around good looking/evil/intimidating men. She preferred them, really.

"Nice to meet you Rose. I'm Halo Concord. My husband Wren and I both are bonded to feien. I've got the noisy screaming queen out there.. and the weird one with the earrings." The comments were out of complete love though.. ... ... really.

"No booze? Not a fun party at all. We could use some Bailey's in the coffee." She was the type of woman who talked to people whether she knew them or not. She didn't get nervous or intimidated easily. "It's alright about the coffee.. unless those five cups are taken, I'm all good." She winked.. but it was at everyone.

"Oh baby, I AM a sin." He found his reflection in a window and primped and turned to admire himself. "Hell should be fine. I'll find your a** there I'm sure. Anyone so strongly drowning in faith is obviously doing something wrong."

Valsharess shook her head when Cascati's hand left her hair and made her earrings jingle more. "Do you like my earrings? They are gold. real gold. Gallygallyum pierced me and now she wants to pierce Rurik's imaginary nipples! She said if he doesn't have any.. she'll make some! I think it would be great!"

There was a groaning 'Why me...' from Rurik's direction.

"Admiral Pavel Antipov, Fleet Director of Intelligence," said Antipov, finally sitting up in a more gentlemanly positions (which, unbeknownst to him, made him that much more uncool in Halo's eyes) and extending Halo his hand. "That over there is Dr. M, my associate. I am certain he will be persuaded to allow you one of his cups of coffee."

"No!" came M's strangled reply as he fetched two of the five remaining cups of coffee.

"How dare you use such language with a girl?" It was small and angry now, Burgundia sitting up, eyes slits and accent thickening in her distress. "Y'all just love indulging in your own hubris, don'tcha? Why, I guess you think you're somethin' else. Let me tell you a little sump'in sump'in, which is this: you're not more than a little piece of devil dust in the eye of God. You ain't so important, you little c**k o'the walk - "

"Dee, dear," Casca soothed, "don't get so riled, he doesn't know any better."

"Why, I oughta - I oughta - ooooh," Burgundia said, and flopped down again.

He gave a shrug, and turned back to Valsharess. "I do like your earrings, darling. I almost wish I had mine done. In silver, though, gold's a bit crunchy. Do you think she'd do mine?" Rose would probably s**t herself.

Halo slapped her hand into Antipov's as if he were an old buddy. She was well practiced in hand shaking and hers was very confident and firm. "Pleasure! Fleet people eh? Now I feel all spiff and important." She gave him a charming grin too. The fact he pulled himself up impressivley made her think in his own stuffy way that he was slightly cute... in a way that was trying too hard.

"It's okay Doctor. If you don't want to part with the prescious joe.. I am really fine. Nice to meet you though." She watched the little man with a smirk. He was odd. Awesome.

"Oh what? You think you're ******** special cause you are a girl?" Rurik spun and narrowed all three eyes. "You one of those b***h-a** feminist hoes who acts like they are all equal but then wants special treatment? Yeah screw THAT s**t. You want equal treatment then you can take my s**t just like all the wussy men can.."

He spun to the mirror again and rubbed his chest, "And no crazy mendel is going to mar my manly chest of perfection.." He pursed his lips like Zoolander and gave his reflection a sultry look.

Valsharess's eyes lit up, "OH! She will pierce anything! Man woman or child! Dog bird mendel or feien! As long as she can stab it with something sharp.. She is happy! She's learning how to do tattoo's too! But she hasn't found a gun small enough for her hand.... Silver can be done.. yes.." She drifted off in though, muttering to herself under her breath, "Yes!" She met his eyes again with a large grin. "Definitely can be done!"

The handshake slightly unnerved Antipov and he quirked an eyebrow. Quite a strong grip. Dr. M deposited the first of his two cups on the table. Antipov said, "Jonathan, you do not need five cups of coffee."

The creepy little doctor was clearly torn by this. He started to shake slightly.

With a supernaturally calm voice, Antipov told him, "You have two cups here on the table and three cups on the counter. If you go back to the counter I will give our guest one of the cups here. If you stay here I will take one of the cups from the counter. You cannot be in both places at once."

The shaking quieted as M weighed the options. Finally he pushed one of the cups across the table towards Halo. "Fine. But I'm not getting you any sugar." Conveniently, the sugar was already in the middle of the table, one of those collections of packets that gave you three choices of artificial sweeteners and two "real" sugars. What the point of Dr. M's threat was only he knew. He shuffled off to retrieve two more of his cups.

Well, Gallium sounded slightly psycho, but Cascati was used to that. He touched both of Val's ears lightly. "Two holes in one ear and one in the other," he said thoughtfully. "I'd be most grateful to her if she could, my darling. I've always fancied piercings." And cigarettes. He still wanted cigarettes.

Burgundia stood up stock straight, trembling, shedding her cloth from her hair and her body; she took to the air immediately and - before Casca or anybody could stop her - paused before Rurik to slap him through the face. "How dare you say that? How dare you! How dare you - you deny the feminine - you mundane little pest! How dare you, when y'all ain't given me no indication that you ain't in bad danger of screwin' up a sack lunch! How dare you swear at me, you ill-mannered - you ungentlemanly... you misogynistic... you infidelious, you..." Apparently too furious to elaborate, she slapped him through the other side.

Aleric stopped in front of the shop, wondering if he would run into any feien this time. He had shown the bloom to Arae, Bertrand and Ernestine... And Hamada, of course. Not nearly as many people as he planned on her meeting.

Besides, Silva wasn't at home for sparring today, and Nick and Nack had decided to go swimming. He didn't think blooms could swim (despite how often the boys told him they could.) He headed for the buzzer, pushing it and entering the building. He headed for the waiting room to see if anyone was there.

There was a small figure lying bonelessly on the sofa-arm; wrapped in her rose-red fabric once more, covering up her hair modestly. All the anger and tearstains from yesterday's debacle had gone; Burgundia now sat up, leaning on one arm, watching the newcomer and wishing belatedly that she had set up a chaperone: she'd never encountered a fully grown Feien alone before in her life and it seemed a horrific breach of conduct to meet one alone. Even if she was still pouty with Casca and wishing hot death upon Rurik. Anything

Eventually she made up her mind; standing, slow and unhurried, Dee gave a low bobbing curtsey to the purple-prellaned life feien, eyes downcast.

Another child! Aleric smiled, then blatedly returned her polite greeting with a slight bow as he crossed the room. He was very careful to the bloom when he did it. He didn't want to bend any of the petals, after all.

"Hello." He said once he reached the chair. "My name is Aleric, and this is Ruby Soho." He told her. "And you are?"

She bobbed once to him again, and once to the bloom, sleepy eyes widening with interest to look at it; a baby. "My name is Burgundia Lukas-Hein," she said, the name rolling easily off her tongue now. "I'm pleased to meet you, sir." Ah'm pleased ta meetcha, sah.

Dee turned away from him: psycho logic made her relax, because obviously now there was another person present. "Hidee, Ruby Soho," she said seriously to the bloom. "I'm most pleased to make your 'quaintance."

The petals of the bloom moved just slightly, as if responding to her. Aleric blinked as his empathy picked up (a little late) on her sudden calming. Interesting... well, he WAS an adult male... it might be slightly unnerving to a juvenile female.

"I've been showing her around Gaia. Introducing her to future friends." Aleric said, smiling and trying to look harmless. He didn't want her to feel uncomfortable! "She seems to quite like meeting new people. Would you like to touch her?"

He knew for a fact she had been touched more in her short life than he had been. But that was working well for her. Even Hamada said she was looking healthy. He landed on the chair before taking the straps that held her to his chest off.

Burgundia immediately sat down, making herself comfortable; one small white hand reached out to stroke down Ruby's petals, down to the stem. "She's very pretty, y'know," she said gravely. "I'm glad she's a she." A smile suddenly spread across her sallow little face. "D'you know, our names almost mean the same thing? Burgundy's another shade of red, you see. I guess that means we have something in common."

"Red is one of my favorite colors, actually." Aleric said, sitting as well. "My bond named her after a song the bloom seemed to like." He said, watching her pet the bloom. Soho seemed as pleased with this attention as she had been with all the rest.

"I haven't seen you around before." He said, cocking his head slightly. "Although I don't claim to know all of the feien in Gaia, of course..."

"Oh no, I just got transferred," Burgundia assured him, still stroking very carefully down Ruby's petals and watching her react. "A few days ago. D'you happen to know my brother, Cascati? Or even my bondmama, Rose? They've surely been around here longer than me."

Cascati... Rosemilk... "Well... not that I know of, actually. I suppose I should come to the shop more often." He said thoughtfully. "In fact you're the third feien that I've met today."

"Ruby Soho came from the fleet as well. My bondmate said something about her parents being Is... Ve? Antipov is the bondmate of her mother, if that means anything."

Burgundia immediately sat up, eyes glowing. "Oh," she said joyfully, "oh, this gal's my sister!" Immediately, she put her arms around the bloom and hugged, though not hard enough to bruise Ruby's petals. "We share the same daddy, you see! Isaac! Oh, I never had a sister. I hope she's gonna want to meet me when she's out. And she has such a pretty name! Ruby is a nice name for a girl, it's not at all queer or peculiar. It's sweet and old-fashioned." Apparently tired out by her momentary joy, Dee sighed deeply.

"Sister?" Aleric replied. "That's wonderful! I was worried that she wouldn't have any family here, and now I find out she has a sister!" He smiled widely, petting Soho. "Did you hear that, Ruby Soho? You've a sister here already!"

The flowere petals swayed slightly. He looked over at Burgundia. "It's very difficult showing emotion when one is a bloom." He told her, still smiling slightly.

"I can imagine," Burgundia said gravely, and then pulled herself to sit up on her knees and clasped her hands together. For a few moments, her head was bowed; then she looked up and smiled at Aleric again. She was so happy her accent was even worse, all in a rush. "I was just prayin' for her safe comin'-out. Will you come and let me see her, sir? I'd be most grateful. I'd be just moonpied. Has she been baptised yet? Or christened? Not that I'd want to interfere on how you're bringin' her up, I just think it's good for her to start out knowin' God and all Her Mysteries. I mean, if nobody objects."

He blinked. "Well... actually, our bondmate is um... baptist, I believe." He said slowly. He hadn't really thought of religion all that much, although it was an interesting subject. "I'm not sure, but I don't think they baptize until they're children..."

"You're a religious believer?" He asked, fascinated.

"Mmmhmm." Burgundia leaned forward and very gently, very reverently, kissed one of Ruby's petals, voice dreamy. "Orthopraxy and orthodoxy. Everything for me is alive, y'see. Part of the total living universe. My love is alive... my hate is alive... my family is alive, all I feel is alive, God is alive. You can only nurture your spirit if you accept the condition, that everything's livin'... if you only think you're the thing with vitality, with the spark, then you're dead. I'm always looking for God... whatever She can tell me. I believe there is One God and that Mohammad is Her Prophet. Bismillahi r-rahmani r-rahim."

Then she smiled up at Aleric again, joyous. "It's my journey, you see. I just want her to share in it... to touch it, a blessed little. Because she's my sister and we're surely alive together."

"Um... I'm sure she'll enjoy that." He said, not knowing what else he could say. At least she seemed to enjoy being with her sister. Whether she would enjoy her... philosophies had yet to be seen. "so how have you enjoyed Gaia so far?" He asked.

She made a face at that. "I like it enough. Some parts aren't so good. I met the worst person ever yesterday. Rurik! I spit on him! He has the nastiest, vilest little mouth you ever heard and he hates women. He's awful and violent and mean as a snake. Next time I see him? I'm gonna give him whatfor." Burgundia paused. "In a ladylike way, of course."

"Really? I don't see how anyone could hate women..." He said thoughtfully. "Dare I ask what he did?"

"Smacked me upside after I'd given him a whop," Burgundia said truthfully. "But he deserved it, he was callin' me the worst names you can ever call a lady. And, oh, he surely thought he was something! Vainest little so-and-so I've ever seen. Just the worst and the wretchedest."

"And his name was Rurik, was it?" He asked. He would have to keep Ruby Soho away from the child. As much for the boy's sake as hers.

Burgundia nodded firmly. "About so high, white hair that he keeps all fancy, red prellan. He had a sister with him - Val - but she was just gettin' all smoochy up with my brother which wasn't appropriate at all if you ask me because they'd met not five minutes ago but what can you expect, I say they haven't been well brought up at all." She smiled again at Aleric. "So can I come and see Ruby sometimes? D'you mind at all?"

He hesitated for a second, then smiled and nodded. "Of course, Burgundia. I'm sure she would love that." Silva wouldn't hurt her. Not a juvenile female. So there would be no problems. "Perhaps you and she could go to the park sometime, as well."

"Call me Dee, sir, on account of us being almost family." She was happy now, smile coming easily, downright pretty with big red eyes and dimples and hands clasped to her in the rather worryingly sugary manner of a heroine in a musical. "I'd just love to take her to the park sometimes. I can't wait 'till she comes out. I do like having a brother but Casca's such a boy. Ruby and me can talk girl things and be sisters and it'll be wonderful. Thank you kindly!"

"I'm sure it will be, Dee!" He replied. smiling widely. She was such a sweet thing. A little... confused... but very sweet. "But I should really be getting her back to her room. I like to keep her near her element as much as possible. She's an earth feien." He added as he stood.

"I should be getting home too, sir," she said placidly. "I don't want Rose to worry, she worries so easy. Well, it's surely been nice meeting you, Mr. Aleric, God bless you. You have very nice manners and a good way about you. I'm sure Ruby'll take after you."

She leant forward and kissed Ruby's petals again before standing, brushing herself off and rearranging her swath of red fabric. "Ruby, darlin', you be good now. Be happy, too," Dee added officiously. "Happy's important."

The petals waved as Aleric took to the air. "And you as well, Dee." He said before heading out the door.

Burgundia was apparently content to listen to everything Soho said; eventually she picked up a little bit of cut apple, screwed up her face, and prissily bit into it. She made a small noise of surprise when there proved to be more liquid than she anticipated: she mopped down her chin, actually managing to giggle a bit - which was deeply new for her - as she chewed and swallowed.

"Oh, my," she said eventually. "That''s nice. I''ll get fat soon and won''t fit into anything."

"Down a copper mine," Casca said to Silva, with deep satisfaction. "******** up beyond all comprehension, my dear. I do admire you, you know, in your own special little way; you didn''t rise to anything I said. And I was trying so hard. I was hoping for at least a brutal beating. Daddyhood must have gentled you. Do take my ''sister'', too, I''ve been pretty much contemplating suicide ever since she came. Do you like my outfit? I look extremely homosexual. I almost expect sweet butch Sunil to jump my bones, I look so deeply gay."

"No. It was that damn rat that got to me." Silva said plainly. "About the time I realized I had crushed his skull with my fist." It was true, he realized. He had seen the blood on his hands for a few days afterwards. But the blood had only mattered when he realized Soho would be in the same house as he was. His eyes flicked over to the two females, contemplating for a second. "And you''re right. You do look like a f**."

Aleric was silent, realizing just how close to being true their words were. Both males were... lacking something.

"Isn''t it just great?" Soho asked, taking a large bite out of her watermelon and sitting on the table. "And it''s so good that I wouldn''t MIND gaining weight! But Mister Silva Demon eats all the time and he''s SUPER skinny! So I don''t think it''s a problem." She added with a nod.

"Well, at least you''ll be controlling the rat population," Casca said baldly, and took in a deep lungful of the smoke again. His gaze had followed Silva''s to the girls. "First kill. You looked it. But I wouldn''t worry about your ma elle, ducky. She seems pretty sanguine. I half got lucky with my own, Burgundia is exquisitely psychotic. Nobody seems to give a damn any more."

"It''s pure delicious," Burgundia said sincerely, arranging her skirts so she could sit down next to Soho. "I''m going to eat every scrap of it."

She paused after a few moments, still daintily eating the apple with both her hands and still getting messy anyway. "Why do you call him Silva Demon, if I can ask just a li''l bit, Ruby? He''s not bad to you, is he? He doesn''t give you a whop or anything horrific-like?"

"Oh, no! Mister Silva Demon''s very nice to me! But he comes home every night covered in blood. and the first time I saw him I just KNEW he was a demon!" Soho said happily. "So now he''s Mister Silva Demon!"

"First kill?" Silva repeated blankly. "The rat?" He sounded so incredulous that it couldn''t have been faked. "Kid, I can''t even remember my first kill. Must have been a day or two old..." He said, looking thoughtful. "That wasn''t the problem. The problem was I didn''t remember smashing the b*****d''s head." He brought his hand up to look at it. "I prefer to strangle them."

Burgundia made the mental note to talk very quickly to Aleric in private about whether Soho was going to enjoy an appropriately safe home life. "Well, I''ve met your daddy Aleric and he''s a perfect gentle-man," she said. "He was the one who showed me your pretty bloom when you were just itty-bitty."

"Strangling''s more intimate," Casca said dreamily, tapping the cigarette. "So basically, dearling, you have a lot of rat-sex except now you bashed one''s brains in. I always knew you''d turn out to be a psychotic killer. I''m so happy to know you."

"Not intimate. Fun." Silva replied. "Wrap the chain around his neck and ride him to the ground. You might try it sometime." He''d probably wind up dead before he got the chain around its neck. The idea made Silva smirk.

"It''s important that we reduce the rat population before Soho learns her elemental spells." Aleric said calmly. "She''s an earth element, after all." He hoped Dee heard him, he had picked up on her anxiety. He could only assume it was about the males'' conversation.

"You saw my bloom?" Soho asked. "Was it awfully pretty? Right now it''s just sort of... limp looking."

"I''m not into rats, sweetling," the other feien said patiently. "If I have to be in the middle of blood sport, I''d prefer it to have four limbs and be Feien-shaped. Otherwise, what''s the entertainment?" Casca also preferred to be in and out in ten seconds. If he didn''t do things quickly he was pretty much sunk, considering. "I''m sure Soho is grateful for the rodent holocaust."

Dee had relaxed a little: she wiped her mouth again, apple all gone, fussy. "It was be-yoo-ti-ful," she promised her half-sister. "It was just gor-geous. You were very, very pretty indeed."

"Oh good!" Soho said, relieved. "I was worried about that. I''ve seen Mister Silva Demon''s bloom, but it''s hard to believe that he ever fit in it. He''s just so TALL! And then one day I''ll look at my bloom and say the same thing!" She nodded seriously, as if it were a very strange idea. She paused, something hitting her. "You''re my sister, have you met my real parents?" She asked. "It would be nice knowing where I came from, you know."

"Oh, really..." Silva said, a flash of interest in his eyes. "Give him your staff, Aleric."

Aleric pulled the staff off, holding it out to the juvenile feien. This was much better. A physical training session wasn''t likely to get anyone killed. and as he had noted often before, to learn about someone else, the best way was to spar with them.

Silva grabbed his staff, spinning it slowly.

Regretfully, Burgundia shook her head. "I never met our daddy," she said. "We share him, you see. Isaac. You have a different mama in your breedin'', but we''re both Isaac''s chirren, sure as sure can be. I might''ve met him, but the Fleet erased my memory when I got transferred to Rose-mama. Maybe we''ll both meet him one day. I''d like that just fine."

She smiled at Soho, fastidiously rearranging her pink skirts. "I guess we look a little alike, don''t we? Your eyes are just like mine only on account of you having three and me two and our hair''s the same colour."

Cascati looked at the staff in his one hand, laughing as he took it, accounting for the solid weight. It wasn''t a particularly happy laugh. "Darling, it''s not quite my style. You know you''re just going to beat the sheer s**t out of me." That look in his eyes again, taking it in both his hands, cigarette transferred to one corner of his mouth. "So come on, sweetheart."

"It''s a blood sport, kid. Just takes a little more work than a blade to make people bleed." Silva said.

"Perhaps I should be the one he starts out with, Silva." Aleric said, frowning slightly. There was something... off about this spar... Silva''s staff slammed into Cascati''s before he could finish that thought, hard enough to sting, if it didn''t knock the staff out of his hands completely.

Soho nodded. "I hope so! I''d like to know where I came from..." She paused, noting the similarities with a smile. "I really like your hair! It''s spiky like one of those cartoons I watch! Can I play with it? Mister Silva Demon and Aleric''s hair is too short to do anything with."

Aleric''s staff immediately clattered to the floor: nothing loath at the stab of pain, Casca raised his hand. It took barely a second for the collected moisture in the air to condense, fracture the light into a hard icicle of his element: that he could carry. And it soothed what was going to be bruised fingers, too.

"But blood is the point, ducky," he said, slightly muffled by the cigarette; and then he came at Silva wholesale, mindless, not so much a tactical move as attempting to cling to him like a particularly determined and suicidal limpet. His skin was arrestingly cold.

"Oh, of course," Dee was saying happily: she and Soho were like the cuddle channel in comparison to the WWF going on just a little way away. "I wish you would. I can''t do a single blessed thing with it except tie it back, it just falls in spikes. It''s such a waste on a woman, I wish I had your hair."

Soho jumped to her feet, pausing to look at her hands. "Let me wash up first, you don''t want sticky hair!" She said, heading for a small paper cup of water to rinse off in. She came back a few seconds later, dropping down behind Dee and running her hands gently through the other feien''s hair. "It''s much softer than Mister Silva Demon''s!" She said, starting to make braids. Pigtails!

Silva dodged him easily, shoving his foot gently (for him) at the boy''s back to throw him off balance. "Slow AND weak... Boy, if you want to talk as big as you do, you need to learn to back it up." He drawled.

He stumbled: he used the momentum to push himself around, hands on the floor, pushing himself back to career right into Silva''s back. He was worse than weak; he was slow as hell. However, Casca knew one thing, and that was God or the Devil loved him, because he was lucky. He didn''t want to win. He just wanted the hurt. Him or Silva''s, Casca didn''t give a damn.

"I always back it up," he murmured: and he was damn small, which sucked, but there was a lot of Silva. His hand shot out with the cigarette from his mouth and planted the burning end firmly into the other Feien''s lower back.

Burgundia was giggling again: a bit like she''d never giggled properly before, which she hadn''t. Soho was more than a little infectious. And her small hands tickled. "Well, I do try to keep it nice," she admitted "So who have you met out in the big ole wide world, Ruby?"

"Not many people. There''s Mister Silva Demon. He was the first person I EVER met! And I wouldn''t let him go, so he wound up taking me to his bed and I slept there, but he slept longer and his arm is reeeeallly heavy, so Ice had to help me get up."

She took a breath. "And I''ve met Ice, she''s real nice! she''s my bond. And Aleric and Nick and Nack, they''re hiding in Ice''s room because they say they''re freaks, and Sunil and Hitomi and you and Casca!" She finished happily.

Silva cursed, whirling around and hitting out, hard. His forearm was even with the boy''s head, so it would hit him in the temple.

"Silva! Don''t!" Aleric shouted, too late.

Dee''''s opinion of Silva softened: obviously he was not such a bad father if he was affectionate towards Soho, though in her biased opinion everybody on God''''s green earth would probably be affectionate towards Soho given ten seconds'''' worth of chance. At least she had an, um, varied home life. "God love you, Ruby, you do have a lot of people. It sure is kind of lonely back where I come from," she said wistfully. "Apparently there''''s another Feien called Simon who lives there but I haven''''t ever clapped eyes on him, and I''''ve heard all about Corvus but nobody seems to know where he is, so it''''s just me and Casca. I suppose I should be thankful. Gives me a lot of time to have beauty naps and contemplate God. I need a lot of beauty sleep, you see, on account of being pretty." The last was possibly Burgundia''''s First And Incredibly Lame Joke, and was accompanied by another giggle.

Silva''''s blow was more than glancing. Stunned, the juvie flew down hard into the surface of the table, probably concussed: it took him a moment, but he staggered to his feet again, more out of gut masochism than any kind of stamina. He was grinning now, hat having fallen off long ago. His eyes were unfocused. Casca staggered forward like a zombie, picking up his icicle where it had rolled away, heaving himself back towards the adult with a sad kind of inevitability. He was no match for Silva.

"You hit hard, ********," was all he said, jaunty, and then it began all over again.

Aleric rushed to grab the juvenile male before he wound up getting himself killed. He ignored the coldness of the child, his resistance was pretty good. "You will wind up dying." He said calmly. "And death is far too easy of a way out."

"Listen to the old man, boy." Silva drawled. "You''re not even an adult yet. You''ve got plenty more ******** to make."

Soho cocked her head, then hugged her sister from behind. "You can come over any time you want!" She said happily. "Now tell me about all the feien you''ve met! You''ve surely been around longer than I have!"

Casca struggled for a moment, an object in motion, trying to get out of Aleric''s grip; but then he stopped, head hanging down, an impressive bruise already beginning to form at his hairline.

"You would have been doing me a favour, darling," he said, trying to catch his breath still. "You probably would have been doing the whole wide world a favour. Que sera sera, I suppose. Thank you kindly - " That was towards Aleric, now, blankly. "Thank you."

Burgundia thought about it, leaning back so that her hands were propping her up and her head was dipped back closer to Soho. "Well," she drawled eventually. "I met a couple, I guess. I met Valsharess a little, only if you''d believe it I didn''t meet her much because she was getting all cozy with my brother five minutes in, and I wouldn''t say anything bad about her only that struck me as a bit brazen, and her brother Rurik - oh, God help me, darlin'', but he''s a mean low-down evil thing. Don''t you go near him, he''s a little wretch."

"Really?" Soho asked, almost tasting a story. "What did he do? Did he attack you?" She asked.

Aleric reached up, healing the juvenile''s bruise. "I take that to mean you won''t attack my brother again?" He asked, not letting go. "I ask for your sake more than his."

Silva watched silently, reaching behind him to heal the burn as he chewed on his toothpick.

"He did," her sister said, still indignant with the memory. "First off he was sayin'' all kinds of vile things - swearing and carrying on and just making me mad. Now, I''m just a tiny itty-bitty thing, so I gave him a little whop through the face, I admit it - a girl slap just to show him he had no manners. I have tiny liddle hands, wouldn''t hurt a fly. But he goes and chunks me right back. I hate him soo-ooo-ooo badly."

Cascati looked up at Aleric, skin tingling faintly as it was healed by the life feien; his eyes uncrossed, crossed again, and then went back to normal. "Not at present," he said. "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, etcetera, etcetera. Besides, it''s such an ignominous place to die, on a picnic table."

"I can''t believe that anyone would do that to you!" Soho said. "This Rurik person sounds like he needs to meet my Mister Silva Demon." She said, nodding. Oh what a story THAT would make! The ironic thing was that there was a gigantic story going on right beside her and she was too focused on her sister to notice!

"Good point, boy." Silva said. He dropped down to the table, slipping his staff back into its place on his back and heading for the drinks. "There are much better places to die." He made himself a cup of cherry coke.

Aleric let go, moving back in respect of personal space. "And much better things to die for." He added.

"You think Mr. Silva would show him what''s what?" The idea was vaguely enchanting. "See, I''d surely give him sump''n sump''n Clorox wouldn''t wash off, only I''m just a lady and I shouldn''t dirty my hands on him anyway. He''s just a little so-and-so. I''ll make sure he never comes near you, that''s for sure."

Cascati tried to think of good things to die for. It was a difficult list. "Drugs, sex and rock''n''roll?" he volunteered. The hat was put back on on his head, and once more he was the wildly homosexual cowboy of the west. "Maybe a little less of the rock''n''roll?"

"Friends, family, and beliefs more likely." Aleric said, trying not to be amused.

"But sex rates pretty high up there." Silva drawled before gulping down his drink.

Soho nodded. "Mister Silva won''t let anyone hurt me, either. All he does is train and fight and fight and train, but I can get him to cuddle every once in a while! But he doesn''t know it''s cuddling, he thinks I''m just too tired to walk. Which I usually am. I get tired real easily."

"Nobody ever votes for the drugs or the rock''n''roll." Casca gave both adults one of his star-bright grins. "Glad to see you two in agreement, darlings, even if you''re faintly the Odd Couple." Or more like Will and Grace.

"You get tired because you''re little," Burgundia was saying with the affectionate superiority of a juvenile who hasn''t been out of the blossom that much longer. "You''ll get tired less when you grow a little, Ruby. ''Course, I guess then you''ll have to figure out another way of getting cuddles. Probably by that time he''ll give you cuddles anyway. You''re so cute."

Soho grinned widely. "I hope so! I like being cuddled." she said with a nod. She rustled her wings happily, enjoying the ego stroking as much as she usually did. "Done!" she said, finishing off the second braid. "We need something to show your reflection..." She said thoughtfully.

Silva dropped down on the table, sprawling slightly. He had no comment on the relationship between Aleric and himself. It was something he didn''t often put too much thought into. "So your new... sister... How crazy is she?" He asked Casca.

Burgundia shook her head, feeling the braids swing and hit her ears; she turned to smile at Soho, face lighting up, immediately searching out something that would be appropriately reflective. Thankfully, in-between all of the plastic things there was a metal serving spoon: she immediately stood to toddle over to it, peering into the convex side.

"Oh, just look! That''s so pretty!" She shook her head again, watching them swing interestedly. "Oh, they''re darlin''. I''m going to ask you to do this at least once a week. I love it. It''s sure as sure cute." Soho was immediately enveloped in a divehug. "I''m so glad you''re my sister!"

Cascati was dispassionately watching these antics, flopping down and propping himself up on his elbows to watch. "Dee? On a scale of one to ten, she''s at least seven," he said. "And she rockets all the way up to eleven if you say ''God''. Pretty much mad as a hatter, darling. Seems to get on well with Soho, though."

"Huh." Silva said.

"She''s harmless and quite sweet." Aleric said. "And they truly seem to adore each other." He added.

"That''s what you''re picking up?" Silva asked. He had pretty much figured out what the older man had. Some form of empathy if his list of spells was right.

Aleric nodded, smiling slightly as he watched the pair. "Soho is very accepting. I doubt that Dee''s more... interesting beliefs will bother her in the least."

Soho hugged her back. "You''re a great sister Dee! And next time we''ll have real mirrors to look in and pretty things to put in our hair!" She said, already making plans.

"We will," Burgundia agreed stoutly. "We surely will. Oh - oh, I nearly forgot! I''m dumb as a box of hair."

In the little pocket at the side of the dress, she pulled out a tiny braided bracelet: it was made of embroidery floss in red, white and black. "Rose showed me how to make this," she said, very near shyly. "I made it for you. It''s a friendship bracelet, you see. Also, it''ll look real pretty on you, it''s your colours."

"She''s batshit," Casca was saying comfortably. "Believe me. B-A-T-S-H-I-T. She managed to go and smack Rurik in the face - although, all right, he''s a little tit - in about five minutes of meeting him, shrieking her head off. And that accent is, my dears, driving me bananas."

Silva choked, then started to laugh. "She hits a guy and has an accent." He said after calming down. "Hell, sounds fine to me."

Aleric shook his head. "From her account, he hit her back." He said calmly. Silva''s jaw snapped shut and he looked at him.

"Was it a spar?" Silva asked Casca.

"It''s perfect!" Soho said, hugging her sister again before taking the bracelet. She put it on her uncolored hand, admiring it. "How does it look? Now I''ve got something from Mister Silva Demon AND my sister!" She paused. "I didn''t get you anything... but..." She rustled her feathers and one little red feather fell to the ground. "You can have my feather!" She said, picking it up and offering it to Dee.

Casca burst out laughing at that. "Like hell. She made her getaway after that, darling, believe me. Rurik hit her hard. She likes to pretend she''s all ladylike and too sweet to hit things, but she''s been going around muttering his name psychotically and smacking things with cold water. Drives my sweet Rose nuts. Pity," he said nostalgically after a while. "I was never that interested in spells. Oh, well. Maybe they''ll kill each other. Le sigh; I can only hope."

"I''ll keep it for-ever," Dee promised Soho gravely, and tucked it in her pocket. "My favourite colour''s red, you know. And that''s what my name means. Burgundia. Red."

Soho giggled. "So does mine!"

Silva snorted. "Still, hitting a girl..." He drawled, his eyes closing slightly. "We should probably keep Soho away from him. Killing juveniles isn''t a habit I want to get into. Something tells me it might be hard to break."

"I had thought that already." Aleric said.

"I know, it''s surely what I told Mr. Aleric the first time ''round we bumped into each other," Burgundia said smugly. She took Ruby''s hands again in her own and squeezed them. "We match just neat and nice. I just love that. It means something. It''s karma. I had a good feeling the moment I saw your bloom."

"I''m sure there''s an anonymous help group for that," Casca yawned, stretching out on the picnic table: he still ached and the sun helped. "Nobody in the world would miss Rurik. He yells like a girl." Never mind that he had an attractive sister. "It''s so convenient with feien. Just dump the gemstone somewhere and claim that you last saw him taking a fast train to New York."

"You really think I would bother?" Silva asked. "Too much time spent trying to cover s**t up takes away from time better spent doing new s**t." The kid was bloodthirsty for someone that couldn''t actually do anything about it... "Besides, jackasses tend to get themselves killed long before I have to do it." He expected Casca to do himself in any moment.

"Yelling like a girl is not a reason to kill someone. And hitting a girl is merely a reason to teach him better manners." Aleric said calmly.

"We''re the red sisters!" Soho said happily. "Now we just need a sister named Scarlet and we''ll be the red trio!"

Cascati shrugged his shoulders languidly. "I suppose he''ll get himself commended to the earth eventually. I''m not too fussed." So long as any visits to Valsharess were Rurik-free, Rurik could do whatever the hell he wanted in Casca''s book. He tipped his cowboy hat over his face. "Anyway, like I''d commit murder, sweetlings. I''m little and cute and a sweet little juvie. No?"

"Just so long as I have you, I don''t need any other sisters," Burgundia said with almost hilarious seriousness. "We already have two real brothers - they haven''t been transferred yet; Bassus and Boethius. But I guess I already like you best, Ruby. Will your papas let you visit sometime? My bondmate would like you real well, I surely do promise. So I can visit you half the time and you can visit me half the time, it''d be so fiii-iiiine."

"Sure they would!" Soho said happily. "You''re my most favoritist only sister I''ve ever had!" She said happily. "We''ve got brothers?" she asked. "Do you know them?"

"You''re about as sweet as a wolverine." Silva drawled. "And completely full of s**t."

Aleric sighed, shaking his head.

Of course, so far Burgundia was the only sister Soho had ever had, but she still beamed and dimpled. "Why, I do. We knew each other back at the Fleet. I haven''t seen them since I was transferred, though, so their memories might''ve been erased when they finally get their itty-bitty selves over here; but I''ll surely introduce your ownself to them."

"Stop flirting," Casca was saying, face muffled by his hat. "I can''t take it any more, darling, it just gets me too het up. Isn''t his passion for me just so obvious, Aleric-honey?"

Wisely not waiting for an answer, he sat up, hat falling off as he squinted over at his sister. "Dee-dear, are you quite finished?"

Burgundia sniffed and shook her pigtails indignantly, which shivered down her back. "I''ll have you know Ruby and I are most intimate bosom sisters and I''ll never be quite finished as long as I ever live and it''s most terribly rude to try to - "

Her brother cut off rising histrionics early on. "I''ll take that as a yes, darling, say your goodbyes." He propped himself up on his elbows, voice lowering. "Sweet Rose always has us on a specific schedule. She thinks somebody will sit on Burgundia. Probably me, considering."

"Awww!" Soho said, pouting for a second. "But I''ll find lots of pretty things to put in our hair next time!" She said, hugging her sister once again and kissing her on the cheek. "And we''ll have even more to talk about the next time we see each other!" She said happily.

"You sure I can''t kill him?" Silva asked Aleric.

"It would be lacking in honor to kill someone that defenseless." Aleric said. "And most likely lacking in sport, as well."

"Good point." Silva said.

"Silva-darling wants to strangle me intimately," Cascati remarked, cat-stretching as he picked up his hat. Burgundia, deeply pouty, was hugging Soho back and kissing her on both her cheeks before regretfully stepping away and walking back to her brother. "It''d be a special experience for both of us."

"It was surely nice seeing you again, Mr. Aleric," Dee said, more than faintly doleful. She curtseyed to both adult Feien before taking Casca''s outstretched arm, hooking herself into it with downcast eyes. "I''m sure I''ll see you in the future; I''d like to see Ruby often as I can. Goodbye, Mr. Silva. God surely bless you both." Mis-tah Silva.

"Don''t do anything I wouldn''t do," Casca told both languidly, and blew one more kiss to Soho by way of goodbye; Burgundia did it too, waving eagerly at her sister, before Casca tipped his hat and both left the backyard.

Burgundia slept in. That was normal. However, it only really became apparent to her other housemates that this was not a normal beauty sleep by the fact that she was conscious: eyes big and wide up to the ceiling, shaking on her little Barbie sofa, fingers dug into the wicker as her teeth chattered.

"Dee-dear," her brother said, and then - quite alarmed - "Burgundia, darling, wake up."

"I done went and never baptised Ruby," she moaned, eyes unfocused. "She's gonna die unshriven. She's - she's - she's - el shaddai - now, indeed, he's let stray a great host of you, did ye then have no sense? This is Gehenna with which ye were threatened. Roast in it. - Ruby, Ruuu-beeeee... Brother, are you there, say you are, I'm burnin' - "

Her white cheeks were flushed, but when Casca did as he saw Rose do - put one forehead to his own and one to hers - he shook his head, one clammy hand gripping his own. "Dee," he said gently, "you're cold - oh, sweetheart, what did you do?"

"I come an unwilling bride of Christ," she said, teeth chattering, and suddenly with a great wail tried to push him away - "I'm a bad person, I'm a bad person, I'm a bad person. Don't look at me. Don't look at me. I can't abide, not, not the lookin', not now that I - We destroy it utterly. How many generations after Noah have we destroyed? - "

Casca noted his options:

1. Exorcism.
2. Tylenol.
3. Rose.

He took the latter. "Rose! Rose! Goddamnit, what a mess... quickly, now, darling - Rose!"

That was a bad day.

Rose's eyes had deep smears like bruises under them from too little sleep; they were taking it in turns to watch Dee now, because the girl in question had shown a deeply dismaying aptitute for both self-mutilation and masochism when in the throes of a particularly bad cupcake downer. She was asleep now - or what passed for it, anyway; Burgundia, who was once the champion of cat naps anywhere and everywhere, now apparently couldn't even attain five minutes' rest. She was fretful and restful. Cascati had had the bright idea of tying her hands to things, but Rose hadn't gone for it.

"Darling," he said, "sweet Rose of May, go to bed."

"Dee," she mumbled thickly.

"I'll take shift, precious."

"Casca," his bondmate said, big and teary-eyed, "I do love you," and with the midmorning light coming through the curtains Rose pulled back the covers and curled up beneath them in her silly teddybear pyjamas. He stubbed out the last of his cigarette on the windowsill and went to sit by his sister, clutching herself with her eyes closed, only half-conscious. When her eyelids finally fluttered open, he saw tears in the corners of her eyes: ever-dignified, Dee wiped them away.

"Water, cherie?"

"No, darlin'," she said, barely a whisper. "I think I'll be sick."

His sister wasn't, but she did squeeze her eyes shut and tremble and pray under her breath for about two minutes, which was the usual response. She would grit her teeth and clench her hands shut until her knuckles were red, all the while gripping that diamond around her neck, and all he could do was watch.

"I do wish you'd try with the 'ing'," he said, trying to be flippant but failing miserably. "I can't have a Silva in my house, tesoro mio."

"He never told me about Ruby." She was looking away at something else now, the room gone, lips white. "He never said - She did not beget and She was not begotten - I just think about her, how she's doin', and maybe - Cascati, why am I a dullard of first water? Now more than ever? O would I that I were dust."

"I don't think he would have left her if she was at death's door," her brother said. "And by the way, dearling, if I catch you leaving this room again Rose will probably carry you around in a lantern like Tinkerbell. You need to get well."

"I don't think I'll ever get well," she said, and looked like a beatific child in a Renaissance painting. "I'll die without finding Her. Maybe in death I will find Her."

Thankfully, this was interrupted by a knock on the door: Rose, ensconced, sleepily called out "It's not locked," and one of Djerod's maids quickly slipped in. She was holding something very tiny between thumb and forefinger.

"Letter, ma'am," she said. "For Miss Burgundia."

Dee had fallen into something not quite like sleep but too little like consciousness at this point. Cascati motioned the woman over: she deposited the envelope in his hands - very clearly labelled for Burgundia - and left. He, not being the type of person who wouldn't open other people's mail, immediately opened it.

Miss Burgundia,

If you are in need of more cupcake please search the back of the microwave in the Feien Shop. Do this after at 1 AM tonight. If you bring anybody with you or inform them of this note, the deal is off.

Yours sincerely,
the Shabby Man

"Curiouser and curiouser," Cascati murmured, and slipped the letter back into the envelope. "I don't think this is a rabbit hole you'll want to fall down, sweetling."

Soho looked around the shop, a toy under her arm and a thoughtful frown on her face. "Are you sure you don't know where Dee lives?" She asked Silva for the thirtieth time.

"Nope." He said. Damn Aleric, where was he when he was needed? The last thing Silva wanted was to babysit. Again.

Thankfully for Silva's sake, something half-hidden behind the sofa cushions on the top backline stirred; one long arm stretched out, followed by one pale calf: what finally stood up, smoothing back her hair, appeared to be wearing Dee's clothes (though the old pink frock was now awkwardly short, and there was a black ribbon around one arm). She also appeared to have Burgundia's need for cat naps in weird places. However, she was nearly as tall as Silva now.

"Ruby?"

All hurried rush - hurried for Burgundia, anyway - and awoken by her sister's voice, Dee made it to her sister's side in record time and took her wholesale in her arms. It was easier now, as she had a lot more arm. "Ruby!"

Soho blinked, looking up at the tall feien blankly for a moment with a cocked head. "Dee?" She asked. "You grew up??! You grew up!! DEE!!" She shouted, dropping her toy and hugging her sister tightly. "You look so beautiful!!"

Burgundia kissed both of her sister's cheeks, which now involved a slight amount of leaning down, and then smoothed the white hair back from Soho's forehead. There were still black smudges under her eyes. "I do what I haveta do," she said crisply, accent apparently even thicker now that they were reunited. "Learning experience. Now I can take care of you, thank God. Have you been eatin'? You're my skinny little girl. So thin..."

And a lot shorter, but that was to be expected. A rather small little smile - the first one in a long age - drew itself over Dee's lips, and she sighed with relief as she pulled Soho close again, rather painfully needy, ignoring Silva's presence totally. "I thought I lost you."

"It's okay." Soho said happily. "I'm still here! And you're here and everything's okay now!" She tugged away, looking up at her sister. "I got you a Christmas present! That's what Ice says you're supposed to do for the people that you love!"

Burgundia knelt down so that she was more in eye level to petite Soho. The fact that - after everything - Ruby could still be so bright and alive and happy and wonderful almost brought her to tears again, but at least womanhood had conferred some more sense of dignity. "Now, that's not fair," she said. "You know you're my best gift."

Christmas. All that had brought on was fasting all over again. And everything she'd tried to make for Soho had just fallen apart in her hands. What a joke.

"Oh, I know." Soho said with a wide smile. "But I wanted to give you something to hug when I'm not around. I've got Mister Silva Demon and Aleric and Nick and Nack and Ice! So I got you, um..." She dived towards the floor, grabbing the penguin and bringing it back up.

She came back up, holding him out. "See? I got one for myself, too, Mine dances!"

Burgundia took it carefully and looked the penguin over before hugging Soho again, almost too tight like always now, as if to make sure she was still there. "He'll sit on my bed," she promised gravely. "I guess our penguins are siblings, too. This is the gorgeousest gift I ever got, Ruby. It's wonderful. God bless you."

"I'm so glad you like it!" Soho said happily. "Ice said I could help her pick Mister Silva Demon's and Aleric's gifts. We should probably do it soon, since Aleric is out with his ladyfriend. He's been gone almost all day now. And Mister Silva Demon has a girlfriend now, too, and--"

Silva started ignoring her then, not really wanting to hear what all of their private lives she was passing on to her sister.

"There's a talking box under the Christmas tree!" Soho finished. "He... well, it, really, wants to eat all the candycanes."

"Well, I guess you better not let the talking box near all the candycanes," her sister said, heavy-lidded eyes narrowing slightly. Tucking the penguin under one arm, she reached down and popped Soho on her hip like a toddler. "You're heavy, darlin'. I guess no candycanes for you either. - Cousin Silva, if I hear about anything in-app-rop-riate going on in front of Ruby, we'll be having Words."

Its difficult to avoid the one place where everyone else always goes. Its especially difficult if you're a personable feien who has been mostly alone for a long while and is remembering that being around OTHER feien is really amazingly pleasant.

Hadrian sort of tried to sneak up on the shop...only he wasn't good at sneaking or being quiet or not being seen (being that he was the color of a traffic cone) - so really, the best he managed was not saying anything when he entered.

"We're feien, darlin' there's no inapporpriate bits to be doing things with." Silva drawled absently, turning to look at the feien that had just entered. The fire boy... what was his name again? Oh well.

"You could do inappropriate things with no arms and no legs, don't give me that bullshii-iit," Dee said primly, shifting Soho, popping a kiss on her forehead and putting her back down. "I'm not a baby now. - You better not be getting up to a never-no-mind either, Ruby. Are any boys tryin' to be your boyfriend?"

It seemed Hadrian had a gift for walking in at particularly awkward points in the conversation. He nodded, smiling at the shadow feien...what was his name? Oh yes Silva. The one who went hunting, and there was Soho - who had brought up the bloodiness of the hunting. Curious family that.
He began poking around the room, rather then interrupt the conversation - he didn't really feel confident stepping into any conversation that involved 'doing inappropriate things'.

"Oh no." Soho said, shaking her head. "I don't really meet many male feien." She went on. "I don't know why, but Aleric says I'm still too young to have a boyfriend. What about you? You're so pretty I'm sure you could get any male you wanted!"

Silva just smirked and chewed on his toothpick a little.

"Now that's something I'm seriously uninterested in," Dee said, even more primly than before, if it was possible. Cousin Aleric's opinion was obviously one she shared. "There's more to life than - than that. I was thinkin' about living a life of Solitude and Beatitude. I don't need a man. I have my baby sister. Anybody who tells you you need one of those is a big fat liar."

Hadrian found he was unable to leave well enough alone at that comment.
He stepped back from the nook he had been pearing into and turned towards the female - who he had not met but whom was apparently Soho's sister.
"I think," He called, smiling brightly, "Its supposed to be a matter of want rather then need."

"Oh! Hi Hadrian!" Soho said happily, waving at the fire feien. "But I think having a boyfriend would be fun! Aleric does all sorts of nice things for his ladyfriend, like writes her poems and gets her gifts! Just think of it, Dee! Someone else to cuddle with!"

Silva's smirk turned to a scowl. "You're too young for that, Soho." He muttered.

"How d'you do," said Burgundia stiffly, smoothing her hair out again. The expression on her face was a rather more restrained mimic of Silva's. "I don't recommend holding a conversation from behind a wall, it tisn't nice. And you should rather wait until you're all grown up to speak about want. And Cousin Silva is absolutely right, you wait for cuddling until later. And even then, only if you want it, not because someone else says you have to or you feel like you oughta."

Ignoring, or perhaps not noticing, any restraint on the part of the adults, Hadrian flitted over to bow politely to Burgundia, "Apologies, the wall just happened to be in the way when I wanted to speak, and it was faster to go ahead and talk first and move later. HELLO Soho!" With this comment he turned to the juvenile with a big cheerful smile, "Its nice to see you again. And you as well, Silva," he finished, more restrained when directing his comments to the other male.
"You know...she's to young to have a boyfriend the way YOUR thinking about boyfriends, Madame, but you know she's not to young to have a boyfriend the way SHE is probably thinking about it. There's nothing really wrong with trading poems and presents and hugs as children."

"I do think Ruby's accepted enough presents from strangers as it is," said Burgundia, in a voice that had spent a week in the freezer. "I do think she just needs a childhood now. Boyfriends can wait, young man." Her expression changed. "Did you come here all on your lonesome?"

Soho blinked. "Poems and presents! And hugs are always good! I hug Mister Silva Demon and Aleric and Dee and Nick and Nack and--"

Silva just looked at him, remembering his first relationship. He had been barely a month old and he had been well into the other "type" of boyfriend status. "She's still too damn young to make up her mind." Although he doubted she would EVER be old enough to stick to her decision from the way she rattled off names.

Hadrian appeared to miss the point, "A 'boyfriend' wouldn't be a stranger though..." He sounded honestly confused. "And isn't that sort of thing PART of having a childhood?" It had certainly been part of his...he didn't want to think that was odd. He seemed very earnest, it was endearing really. And why was he being called 'young man' anyway? Very odd.
"And yes, I did come here on my lonesome...er...by myself."

"Then you should watch yourself," Dee said. "If you were a juvie, I wouldn't let it happen. These times are dangerous."

She smoothed down her worn pink dress. "Who says you need to have a boyfriend to get gifts and poems? Why can't you just have a friend? God willing, we could all use more friends nowadays. I'd value a friend before I did a lover."

"Your'e my friend, Dee! You're better than a friend! You're my sister!" Soho said happily, wanting to cheer her darling sister up more than argue the point. "But I don't see anything wrong with having a friend that's a boy." She went on thoughtfully. "Most of my family are boys!"

Soho's hair was petted, like she was a good kitten. "I know. I do think you surely need more feminine influence in your life. Bein' raised by bachelors... But there's nothing wrong with having friends-who-are-boys, sweetheart, but they don't have to be boyfriends."

"I've always travelled alone...." Hadrian said, hesitantly, tilting his head slightly. "And I admitt I've never gotten or given a poem...but," And he stopped, to let a little smile sneak onto his face as Soho spoke up, doing a better job then he had of explaining what exactly he had been trying to say. "I like to think boys make very good friends." He said, half to Soho, half to her sister.

Soho grinned proudly up at her sister. "Yeah! I keep meeting girls. And I like girls, but I'd like to meet a boy that's my own age, too, sometime."

"And if he gets too close I can always break his neck." Silva said casually. It solved his problem, at least.

"Mister Silva Demon!" Soho said. "You can't do that! It wouldn't be nice!"

Burgundia had tensed the moment Silva had mentioned breaking necks: however, all she did was turn to Hadrian, bobbing a curtsey before she baldly held out her hand.

"I'm Burgundia Lukas-Hein," she said languidly. "I surely apologize for not introducing myself sooner. I'm not used to... being without a chaperone, so to speak. I see you already know the love of my life, anyway. Are you Ruby's friend, then?"

The fire seemed to not take Silva seriously when he mentioned breaking necks, but he tensed away from the shadow feien imperceptably before turning toward Burgundia's greeting.
"I'm Hadrian." He took her hand, smiling warmly, "Its a pleasure to meet you. I'd like to be Lady Soho's friend, as this is only our second meeting I think I shouldn't go jumping to assumptions."
He appeared to be making an effort to make sure he phrased things politely, which sometimes worked and sometimes seemed a little stilted.

Silva cursed, looking over at Dee. "Sorry. Bad joke." He muttered, running a hand over his face. Dee was important to Soho, therefore she was important to him. And as crazy as she could be, she was decent enough. And what else did he say? Sorry for killing your brother? No hard feelings? He had basically avoided the subject until now, then he opened his big ******** mouth and--

"He's nice! And he can make fire!" Soho said cheerfully.

Burgundia appeared to do a Southern Belle handshake, which was graciously squeeze Hadrian's - though there was a mild shock, since fire blood and cold blood did not make for a mild handshake. "Please surely don't mind what I say. It's been..."

Whatever it had been was apparently hard to put on her lips; she drew away her hand with another nod to the fire feien, putting one hand on Soho's shoulder for some kind of strength. "Don't get me wrong," she said, not looking at Silva. "Never get me wrong." Nevah. The accent always got even more unbearable when she talked fast. "I hate my brother. I hate him and he's burnin' in Hell for what he did. You just took away my sin and my responsibility for - stoppin' him; and I owe you everything. It's just... difficult, to know how to bear this like a woman, so I'll be a little green 'till I wrap my head around coping. Now," Dee said daintily, "let's get off the damned subject fo'-evah."

Hadrian lifted his eyebrows slightly, feeling as if he was an unwelcome extra presence in this conversation. Apparently something very ... well violent anyway...had happened. It explained why Burgundia considered these dangerous times...and it rather fit with Silva too. Usually curiosity did wonders to prod Hadrian into asking about these things, but in this case, he definitely knew it was a bad idea to bring it up.

"You were a ******** kid, Dee. I was the adult. And of all the feien in this whole damn place, I was the one that could do it best." Silva told her, ignoring her comment about dropping it. "Don't you dare think it was your responsibility."

"Mister Silva--" Soho said softly, looking up at him. "I think we need to go now." She leaned forward, hugging her sister's waist. "I love you, Dee."

Burgundia took both of Ruby's hands and kissed them, on the palms. "I love you something awful," she said. "Mind your papas and I'll come visit you soon."

One more kiss, and she dropped the juvenile's fingers, throwing Hadrian a glance of what was very near thankfulness for not bringing it up in front of her sister; then she gave one of her rather horrible, clear and angelic smiles to Silva, the ones more appropriate for a crazy nun. "She created you in weakness, and after weakness was appointed strength; whomsoever wrongs your blood, cut them out. You are absolved of all guilt. God bless you, Silva."

"I have no idea what you mean... but thanks." He said with a nod. "Let's go, Soho." He muttered, nodding to the male feien before taking to the air.

"Bye Dee! Bye Hadrian!" She called happily, waving as she took to the air and chasing after Silva. She caught up easily and soon they were down the stairs and out of sight.

"Sins of the fathers," Burgundia murmured, watching them both go; it seemed more a comment to herself than to Hadrian. "I hope she never grows up."

"Bye Soho!" Hadrian waved, enthusiastically, as the juvenile left. The conversation, however, had left him somewhat confused. First of all, Burgundia had apparently been a juvenile fairly recently - which made that young man comment confusing. Apparently Silva had...killed someone? Burgundia's brother...apparently...whom she hated...it was all a bit jumbled in his head.

"Uh..." He turned to Burgundia, as if to confirm that she wanted the matter dropped or if she might offer some explaination.

(reserved)