Welcome to Gaia! ::

Deep in the recesses of the Battle Fleet Regional Gaia Headquarters something stirred. It was a small something, not immediately noticable to the general public, but this tiny stirring sent ripples of implication through the whole of the building and out into the surrounding streets. It began with the memory of a grumbling stomach. The memory happened to reside in the mind of Dr. (Jonathan) M. The stomach had long since been removed. Where it was now was anyone's guess; M himself did not know.

Even without a stomach, the odd little man was subject to the mental pangs of hunger. He felt them now, pulling him out of his office and into the hallway. He checked to make sure he was not about to be ambushed, of course, and shuffled his way across the corridor to the kitchens to begin a pot of coffee.

The coffee maker was probably the cheapest thing in the entire office. Stained, cracked, leaky and several times repaired, it was held together more by the hopes of its devoted constituency of coffee-drinkers than anything else.

There was one thing which could be agreed upon by everyone who partook of the near-mythical coffee maker. It made really, truly, horribly bad coffee. It also made coffee with far more caffeine than could be readily explained by the laws of physics, logic, or even Starbucks. And it made it really, really fast.

The machine had been purloined from the offices of the Intelligence Division. By order of the Supreme Commander itself, it was supposed to be disposed of. By interpretation of the Intelligence Division, Gaia was a trash dump. So the coffee maker found itself a new home where it could be appreciated by the person who loved it the most.

Dr. M leaned forward and stroked the plastic side of his coffee maker with his fingers, mindful not to agitate the tape holding together the large crack down the side. He looked deliriously happy as he admired it, breaking off his caress just long enough to drop in a new filter pack and turn the machine on. With a fizz and a sputter the water began to heat and the pot started to brew.

After getting the location of the feien "store" out of her sister's rather disagreeable feien Sunil, Chandra had scooped up a bored looking Marx and set out into the night. Not only was his manner bothering her, but Chandra tended to be more active at night anyway.

And this was how she found herself at the door to the Fleet HQ with Marx lounging comfortably in the ruff around the neck of her cloak. She tested the door and was surprised when it opened easily under her pale hand. Shrugging and then enduring a sigh from Marx, Chandra slipped into the HQ.

Unlike her sister had done before her, Chandra didn't say anything to the empty hallway that greeted her. Instead she simply began to explore, looking for signs of activity - not that she expected any. It wasn't until she got close to the kitchen door that she heard the coffee maker begin to sputter. Poking her head into the room, she ventured a quiet, "Hello?"

Dr. M looked up at the voice, his face instantly settling back into its normal appearance of mildly distressed neutrality. As quickly as he could (and with a speed borne from hours and hours of practice) he shoved his hands into the oversized pockets of his lab coat and spun around. Antipov had taught him never to show your back to your enemies, and also that enemy meant anyone and everyone.

Unfortunately, shoving his hands into his pockets did little to conceal their nervous shaking because his lab coat, previously spotless, was currently adorned with a combination of tears, rips, burns, and lots of dirt. It looked as if it had been in the middle of the arena at a monster truck rally. So too did Dr. M, his face covered in charcoal smudges, particularly around the area of his nose.

M's mouth pulled into a tight little frown, lips pursing. He did not speak at first, merely regarded Chandra warily and waited for her to make a move.

Taking the silence from Dr. M as a sort of default invitation to enter the room, Chandra stepped just inside the doorway. As she studied Dr. M, she suddenly was at a loss for words. His coat was filthy and so was his face, which made her wonder where he had been previously. However, she didn't like asking questions - and if he was anything like her, she had a feeling she wouldn't get any answers.

"I am Chandra and this is Marx."

After she had introduced herself, she decided to remark on something neutral.

"I see you are making coffee. Would there be enough for me to have some?"

Marx seemed content to simply sit in the comfort of his feathery perch and keep his silence for now. This trip, after all, had not been his idea.

Athan skidded to a stop on the street corner and tore a hand back through his dreaded hair a bit frantically. He grumbled under his breath when he caught sight of the fiend he'd recently awakened again, glittering darkly in the moonlight. His chasing after the little creature was rather comical to watch, and he was suddenly quite thankful that Reyna or anyone else he knew was there to witness it -- but particularly Reyna, and Wren. Yes. He'd be damned before he let either of the two demons see him chase after one of his own creations in such an undignified manner.

He nearly caught up to it once more before it darted away suddenly. "Oh come on," he murmured, glowing green eyes narrowing in a tic of irritation, "This little game has grown quite tiresome. If you don't come back I shall send you right back into the abyss you were locked into!"

The shadows around the orange piece of coral quaked visibly at that threat and he sighed as he was hit with a sudden wave of fear through his bond to the fiend. It skittered away quickly and dashed in through a door that had nearly closed behind someone.

He frowned and pressed a hand to his face in an effort to suppress a groan. Great.

Dr. M began to buzz. "Eeeeeeeee," he went with that peculiar vocal vibration of his, his mouth slightly open. He broke easily into speech: "Eeeee, I suppose so, it makes about ten cups. That leaves two I won't drink." His head nodded jerkily. He seemed not to notice that he was so terribly dirty or even that he had yet to introduce himself.

"It would be polite to introduce yourself." Marx finally spoke up, standing and looking down at Dr. M. He let the end of the statement trail upwards a little in tone, making it half a question. Perhaps he shouldn't have spoken, he thought - sitting back down.

Chandra simply blinked at the odd little man in front of her. She couldn't believe he was going to drink eight cups of coffee. It appeared to her as if he had already had too many.

And then she felt a little tug from the wisp currently hiding in the shadows under her cloak. In the past this had signalled another one of her kind somewhere around - and Chandra studied Dr. M even more curiously as if he might be the source of this disturbance.

"You," croaked Dr. M, staring at Marx from across the room. The coffee maker let out a brokenhearted chirp; it was done already. "I'm Dr. M." A hint of annoyance crept into his voice. He backed up towards the brewed coffee, still keeping his eyes on Chandra and Marx and his shaking hands in his tattered pockets. It was probably going to be fairly hard to pour out the coffee standing like that with his back to the counter.

He sighed and tentatively slipped inside the building and hoped desperately that the fiend hadn't created too much mayhem already. Truly, he was thankful it was no more than a mere wisp at the moment. He peered inside of the room he entered, quietly scanning the area for signs of other people or the wayward wisp.

If he could get away without encountering anyone or being accused of theivery, all the better. He took a few steps forward when he saw the little wisp dart around a corner, nothing more than a flash of orange and dark shadow. He tried to focus on his bond to the creature in an effort to pinpoint its location exactly, but found that instead of one, he felt two different wisps.

"Impossible," he muttered before falling silent when he heard voices. So much for not coming in contact with anyone. "Hello?" he called quietly, truly not wanting to disturb anyone or really draw a lot of attention to himself. He continued onwards before pausing in the doorway of the kitchen. Chandra was there. That would definately explain the second presence he felt.

Chandra took a step towards Dr. M as he backed himself into the counter.

"Would you like some assistance?" She asked mildly, quirking an eyebrow in his direction. He didn't appear to be quite right, or particularly capable of pouring the coffee himself - even though he must have started it brewing earlier.

Marx resisted the urge to say anything at all. If Chandra was taking care of things, it really wasn't his place to say anything. Even if he did think she could be handling things better.

And then as she felt the tug from the black pearl, which was now peeking out from under the back of her cloak, and heard someone familiar say hello - she turned her head away from Dr. M and stared at Athan.

"Hello, Athan." She managed. She hadn't expected to see him here.

"Hello," he replied with a sort of strained smile before his green eyes flickered towards Dr. M. He was quite the character, and not the sort he'd imagine seeing Chandra associate herself with. Then again he had to admit that he didn't know her that well. He frowned nonetheless as he realized his thoughts were straying just as the little coral fiend had. It left him distracted and fidgeting a bit nervously.

"You.. haven't per chance seen another wisp.. other than Pearl?" he asked, brow furrowed in worried lines, "I'm afraid it might have followed you in the door."

"I have not," she said, looking down at her own wisp. "But I have been preoccupied with interacting with Dr. M." Her she turned to look at the odd little man again. "Dr. M, this is Athan. Athan, this is Dr. M."

Introductions produced, she really wasn's sure what to do next and fell silent.

"I see you have... reinforcements," said Dr. M. he sounded quite unhappy about this revelation. His right hand dug through his pocket for something which must have fallen out through the large hole there. For the first time he looked down, realized he was missing a large portion of his pocket (not to mention the rest of his coat), and that if this was an enemy it wouldn't matter if he was facing the person or not. He was compeltely difenseless.

While a greater man might have panicked (for surely there was no man lesser than Dr. M) the little man merely shrugged, pulled his hands from his pockets, and turned away from Chandra to retrieve the coffee cups from the cupboard above his head.

Athan fell quiet after that and found himself simply staring at Dr. M quizzically. "It's.. a pleasure to meet you," he finally spoke up when he remembered his manners. His head tilted to the side slightly as he squinted over at the man as he reached for cups out of the cupboard. Strange, strange little man -- though who was he to talk? He was chasing a floating stone into buildings he likely had no place being.

As though beckoned the wisp in question appeared, swirling about his feet in small circles before drifting up to eye level. "Tired of playing hide and seek?" he hissed as he reached to snatch at the fiend before grumbling when it darted just out of reach.

One, two, three. M lined the coffee cups neatly in a row. He reached over for the pot, gently eased it free, and poured out three perfectly equal servings of coffee. He completely missed the sight of the wisp.

"Reinforcements?" Chandra questioned, giving Athan a confused look - to see whether he knew what the odd man was referring to. "I do not understand. I simply came here because I have a feien." She guestured to Marx, who was blatantly staring at Dr. M.

"Sunil said this was the equivalent of a feien headquarters."

Dr. M took the first two cups of coffee in his hands and turned back around to face them, saying as he did, "Yes, we are considered a sort central agency for the monitoring and--" He nearly fumbled the cup as he spotted the strange anomaly in the air. His mouth fell open with curious surprise.

Athan merely shrugged at the look Chandra shot him. He had no idea what the building he was in was about, nor what a Feien was. He speculated that what she was referring to was the small fairy that was sitting on her shoulder. He squinted at it for a moment curiously before turning his attention back towards the wisp that was skittering about. Perhaps if he didn't move as though to snatch it up he could catch it off guard.

"It's a Fiend," he informed the other man at his look of surprise.

As quickly as he could manage without spilling any of the precious liquid, Dr. M slid the mugs back onto the kitchen counter and freed his hands, never taking his eyes off the wisp. It wasn't easy. The small thing moved quite quickly and M's eyes had to dance a jig behind his glasses to accomplish the feat. Tentatively, he took a step in the wisp's direction.

By now, the black pearl had crept its way up the back of Chandra's cloak and appeared to be watching the other fiend as it teased Athan.

Marx was staring at the cups of coffee Dr. M had turned around with and wondering whether it was his place to aks whether one of those was the requested cup of coffee for Chandra.

Chandra, noting the look on Dr. M's face, looked to see Athan attempting to catch a fiend she hadn't seen before and turned back around to make the best explanation she could offer to the odd little man.

"It is a shadow fiend," she said. "I have one. They appear to be spirits of some sort which have been trapped in gemstones."

He watched with a vauge look of amusement as Dr. M gazed at the fiend dancing about in the air. He hoped quietly that the creature would decide to behave itself. He could feel waves of curiosity filter through his bond to the creature, and despite his best efforts he couldn't suppress the small smile that tugged at his lips at that.

"Perhaps.. you can catch it. I've been trying to all evening," he said quietly as though he were afraid he'd cause the creature to skitter in fear at the sound of his voice. He had threatened it previously.

"I see," said Dr. M, lying through his teeth (but convincingly). "A form of energy-based life?" He edged closer still. "Intelligent?"

The Black Pearl, which had been encroaching on Marx's shoulder space - skittered back down to vanish under Chandra's skirt at Dr. M's movement in Athan's direction. With a sigh, Chandra tried to radiate comfort down the bond that fed back only some sort of regret and fear.

Marx stood and balancing against Chandra's neck, turned so he could watch Athan - even if Chandra was going to watch Dr. M.

"I assume so," Chandra said in response to Dr. M, blinking. "The Pearl acts of her own accords if that's what you mean."

Dr. M frowned, tilted his head to the side, and immediately scurried back to his coffee cups. It looked as if he had abandoned the effort, but then he held out one of the cups towards the fiend in the air. "Would it like some coffee?"

"Yes. They're quite intelligent," Athan added to what Chandra had already stated, "This is their most basic form. Once they've been bonded to a guardian they're then capable of taking on a more humanoid form." He crossed his arms over his chest and watched as the fiend floated midair, tentatively moving a little closer towards the doctor out of curiosity. "They're quite inclined to create mischeif and general mayhem, as well," he added with a frown as he stared pointedly at the creature as though to admonish it with his own feelings of irritation.

His frown washed away at Dr. M's offer of coffee. "It's actually incapable of eating or drinking much of anything," he told the little man with a faint smile, "They are sustained by energy from their bonded."

"Like feien," Marx observed. "We don't have to eat."

Chandra had been wondering why Marx had been bonded to her, but it had seemed like a rude question to ask since it carried the implication she didn't want him around. This comment cleared things up and she started to wonder if Marx would be bound to the same rules as the Pearl which seemed to stick to her like glue.

Dr. M immediately began to rattle off a stream of information. "The juvenile feien perpetrates an electrical connection between itself and a larger creature, thereby removing the necessity of food consumption as a way of energy procuration. The juvenile feien has a fully developed digestive system and can eat if it chooses. In its adult form, however, the energy field is insufficient to maintain the feien and traditional food sources must be sought. There have also been noted certain benefits to food consumption with regards to magical ability and power." He continued holding the coffee cup up in the air in the fiend's direction.

"Interesting," Athan replied as his gaze drifted away from the fiend that was now buzzing about the offered coffee cup curiously and settled on Marx. He'd known of the existence of fairies and the like, but he was not familiar with this particular breed, for lack of a better term.

The coral wisp bumped tenatatively against the cup with a small 'clack' as it's carved surface met against the ceramic cup. The small noise attracted Athan's attention back towards it and he smiled faintly as he realized it was preoccupied. He reached out with one hand and snatched up the creature with a triumphant smirk. The inky darkness that surrounded it swirled in protest about his hand as the stone quivered against his palm. "Serves you right," he muttered out loud.

"Fascinating," Marx said, his tone making it questionable as to whether he actually meant what he said or was just being polite. He did however, tuck the information away.

Chandra also tucked it away for future knowledge, but supprssed the desire to ask more questions about feien. And noticed, for the first time, that Dr. M didn't appear to have a feien with him.

"Hmm," hummed Dr. M, and put the coffee mug to his lips. He drank.

And drank.

And drank.

And in the space of about fifteen seconds the cup was completely emptied. Dr. M went back to the pot to pour himself another. "Are there many such creatures here on Gaia?" he asked.

"Thirteen so far, this one included. Their number will continue to grow as I awaken them," he replied simply before falling quiet with a troubled frown, though he didn't voice what it was that bothered him aloud. "The stones that contain them are spread across several different dimensions," he spoke up after a moment, "It makes finding them a little tricky... and a bit of a hassle."

Marx, obviously starting to get bored, settled back down into his nest and leaned back.

Chandra, feeling her own energy start to wane, bobbed her head at Dr. M and then Athan.

"I believe I need to be going. It is late."

She attempted to slip her way past Athan and back out into the hallway.

"Ahh, I specialize in dimensions," said Dr. M, turning about with a fresh cup of coffee. He headed for the round kitchen table. "It's a fascinating line of research. Have you encountered many problems with the instability matrix of portals?" Apparently the good doctor assumed that anyone who spent time finding stones across several dimensions must be as vested in the technical science of dimensions as he clearly was.

M let out a small, contemplative hum at Chandra's departure. His mind was on the other two cups of steaming coffee still sitting on the counter.

Athan nodded his head towards Chandra as she headed towards the door. He glanced idly over his shoulder as though deciding that perhaps he should leave as well. He felt a bit out of place. His attention was quickly caught once more by Dr. M in reguards to traveling through demensions.

"I.. am afraid I'm not so familiar with any of the technical aspects reguarding the instability matrix of portals, but I have encountered a few.. problems when traveling through them," he replied cautiously, "Most of those problems consist of accidentally losing small items when passing through them." There was also how taxing it could be, but his health generally wasn't at the top of his list of things to worry about.

"Hmm, sounds like you need to adjust the frequency range of your transportation unit, or perhaps your personal harmonics." Dr. M nodded sagely and downed the second cup. The act of drinking coffee gave Athan enough time to escape.

"Perhaps," he replied before glancing down at the fiend in his hand that had resumed its futile struggle at escaping. "It is rather late," he commented in a distracted sort of fashion, "I best be heading home now that I've caught my wayward creation." He inclined his head slightly and left the good doctor sitting at the round table with his coffee. He'd certainly had quite the evening.

Noting that his audience was gone but more importantly that he was in need of more coffee, Dr. M rose from his seat and went to retrieve one of the already filled mugs. It was gone in an instant, its identical companion following a moment later. M paused a moment mentally check his consumption. Four cups. He eagerly refilled all three of the cups in front of him as an an afterthought grabbed one more mug from the cupboard and filled that, too. Gripping the four steaming cups carefully in his hands he headed back for his office.

Thankfully there was no one around to observe the trick of how he managed to open his office door while carrying two cups of coffee in each hand.

"Are we leaving yet?" Lorelei piped up as she landed upon Athan's shoulder. She folded her wings about herself and settled herself close to his neck, somewhat hidden by his dark hair. She was feeling rather antsy and wanted out of the house. She had every intention of holding her bonded to his promise to taking her with him to work every day. It was far more entertaining than spending the day alone in Athan's overly large abode. What's more, Reyna was fun to talk to. The fact that her bonded didn't seem to like the woman that much tickled her in a small way as well.

"Yes, yes.. we're leaving now," Athan grumbled under his breath as he shuffled through a stack of papers before grabbing what he needed and dashing out the door. Once outside, it was a simple matter of opening a portal, stepping through, and then entering into the shop via the backdoor.

Almost immediately the small fairy pushed off from Athan's shoulder and flew towards the front room. Athan followed in quick strides to open the door for her but didn't follow after her. He hadn't any interest in dealing with Reyna so very early in the morning. Particularly since he hadn't yet had any coffee.

Lorelei, on the other hand, was quite content to approach the disgruntled demon and did so with a bright smile on her face as she landed upon the woman's desk. Reyna paused for a brief moment and smiled in return as she glanced up from a small amount of paperwork.

"Deciding to make it a habit of visiting me every morning?" she asked, a small amused smile on her face as she idly set down her pen and watched the fairy explore her desk as she was typically wont to do.

"I might," Lorelei replied as she poked through a small desk organizer that had colored paper clips and thumb tacks in it. She picked up a blue paper clip and toyed with it for a moment in silence. The wire was fairly malleable and wasn't too difficult to bend. She glanced up at Reyna who was watching her intently and held up the now ruined paper clip. "Can I.. have some of these?"

"I don't see why not. I've got a couple of boxes of them," Reyna replied, amusement written across her face.

"Cool."

A long span of silence ensued before the demon decided to speak up, curiosity getting the best of her. "What are you going to do with them?"

Lorelei glanced up, eyes wide as though she'd been caught doing something red-handed. "Huh?" she murmured as she paused in her rifling through the items on the desk with a piece of pencil lead in hand.

"The paperclips. What are you going to do with them?"

"Oh," she replied before sitting down atop a rather large stack of sticky notes that were displayed in a spiral, "I don't know yet."

Reyna snickered faintly under her breath. "Okay. Well. Help yourself," she answered before pushing away from the desk to trail into the back room to steal a cup of Athan's coffee for herself. The strong smell of it was terribly tempting, particularly since she had decided to skip breakfast despite Mystic's offer to cook.

The fairy beamed brightly and continued snooping through the various items on Reyna's desk. Perhaps there was something else useful like the paperclips. She'd been contemplating building a small house of some sort, but she'd definately need supplies and a plan before undergoing such a project.

With a grunt of effort she pulled open a small plastic drawer to another organizer and found an unopened package of even smaller sticky notes. They were made to tab pages and the like, but for her, it was the perfect writing tablet. She grinned and set it aside with her pile of paperclips. Reyna had said to help herself, afterall. She giggled under her breath and continued with her pilfering of the demon's office supplies.

By the time the woman returned with a cup of coffee in hand Lorelei had gathered twenty-two colored paperclips, two sticks of lead meant for mechanical pencils, one package of small sticky notes, three silver thumbtacks, and a stray piece of string. Reyna snorted with amusement as she sat back down on her stool and scooted back up to the desk.

"Little scavanger," she teased before taking a sip of her coffee.

Athan trudged into the front room and paused to peer down curiously at the small mess of items the fairy had gathered. "... gathering supplies are we? And for what, pray tell?"

Lorelei simply shrugged before setting herself down in a comfy spot and began carefully linking all her paperclips together as to not lose any. "I'm not certain yet," she spoke up since the two seemed intent on staring at her.

"Need some help?" Reyna murmured as she pointed towards the paperclips. It would be infinately easier for her to do it.

"No. I'm good," she replied as she continued with her work. She preferred to do things herself.

Athan disappeared back into the back room to grumble and mutter over his assortment of paper work that was in need of being finished. He'd managed to get behind since he hadn't bothered leaving his house in a couple of days, but really Athan's idea of being 'behind' in his work simply meant he was no longer ahead of schedule and was simply on time.

Neither Lorelei or Reyna paid him any mind, though. Sometimes it was best to simply let him be. Either way, the demon was far more interested in paying attention to the small fairy. She was.. interesting. The fact that she was bonded to Athan was comical, but she was, for lack of a better word, cute. That thought made the woman pull a rather disgusted face, but she didn't bother to voice her thoughts out loud. She was beginning to decide that her Shadow was correct -- being a mother to Samara had made her soft.

She sighed and shook her head before downing the rest of her coffee and setting the mug aside. She squinted over at Lorelei as she pondered over her thoughts for a moment. "You know.. I've got a lot of random crafting junk at my house that needs to be sorted through. I could maybe give you some stuff," she stated quietly before bending down to rifle through a desk drawer. She pulled out a tissue and laid it flat on the surface of her desk, and without asking took the fairy's newly aquired items and put them in the center of the tissue.

Lorelei opened her mouth to protest until she realized what it was the woman was doing. She bundled up the small trinkets and tied it with the piece of string to keep it closed to form a small satchel. "Thanks," she beamed as she scooted the small package across the desk towards the edge where it could easily be seen. She'd have to remember to ask Athan to grab it for her on their way home.

"Definately getting soft," Reyna muttered under her breath as she pushed away from her desk and headed towards the back room to snatch another cup of coffee.