Welcome to Gaia! ::

“Better strength perhaps?” laughed Xiu good naturedly. “To me at least, you and Rivener seem to possess incredible strength. None of the freis I’ve met seem to have it,” Which was true. Xiu had seen Rivener lifted a fully grown obese human off the ground and had personally felt the brute strength of both the Sigels once. Being restrained by Rivener was no joke. His grip was only minutely softer that a metal clamp and well…Xiu was lucky that his wings took most of the impact of Lazarus’ throw during the infection. The cupboard was damaged rather badly and Xiu’s wings felt about ready to drop off after that event. The frei gave a soft shudder at the recollected memories. Sigels were definitely a LOT stronger.

The talk had then moved on to Christmas and Xiu nodded. “There’s still time,” said Xiu indicating the calendar posted on the wall. “And no, not yet, Lazarus. I have a Christmas list ready though,” replied Xiu. “Will probably be getting the gifts when Hazeline drives into town,”

“And yes, there are a few gifts planned but the rest will be bought when I see them and think them suitable?” said Xiu with a shrug. “I just wish I knew them better to get more appropriate gifts…,”

“Yes, I was…too young to do much last year,” said Xiu with a soft chuckle. “I got…lost in the shopping complex back then. It was also the first time I met Zul and Alex,”

There were also a couple of others about. Ethan had not had Vyn yet but they had met before the Christmas shopping. The frei was amazed that it was already a year since the last time he celebrated Christmas. Well, he was better prepared for it this year. He had allowance money to spend for one!

“I think it will be fun to Christmas shop for friends, or people won’t be doing it right?” the frei reasoned cheerfully. “And umm…what does….Hazeline like?” Xiu said looking thoughtful. “She likes…books… and umm…coffee… but…those are like work related…right?” said the frei doubtfully. “We have plenty of both here anyway…,”

“To tell the truth, I…do not know what would be best for Hazeline,” said Xiu looking embarrassed. “Maybe something pretty? Girls are supposed to be fond of those, right?”

Xiu tilted his head slightly at the question. “What do I like? There are plenty of things I’d like, sadly, but as to what I need…,” Here the frei beamed. It was good that Hazeline had explained to him the things that one wanted and the things that one needed. That alone had narrowed down the frei’s priority list. “There are two things that come to mind actually…,” admitted the frei sheepishly. “The first would be a bookmark; my first was…blown away during a particularly windy day at the park, while the second…,” Xiu drummed his fingers lightly on the tabletop as he tried searching for a suitable way to phrase it. He found none. “The second would be a ribbon… for my hair,” admitted Xiu while trying to keep a straight face. It failed, and the frei laughed. That had probably sounded girly but it was the sad truth. After a year’s worth of wear and tear, the ribbon which had held the white frei’s hair in place was starting to look threadbare and the edges were beginning to fray. Try as he might, Xiu was having a rather hard time finding a suitable replacement. Apparently grey was not the ‘in’ colour of any of the seasons.

“By the way, Lazarus,” said Xiu once he had done chuckling. “If it isn’t too much of a bother, I’d like to get a couple of addresses from you, to send the gifts. I know the raevans but…I do not know where they live,” said Xiu looking sheepish. “That is…if it isn’t against the lab’s policy, of course,”

“You think so?” Now it was the white frei’s turn to laugh. “I guess others have thought of better gifts but these are the ones that would be most useful to me,” admitted with frei with a smile.

“And thank you Lazarus,” said Xiu looking delighted as Lazarus agreed to give him the addresses he required. “Let me just write their names down then,” said Xiu whipping out a piece of paper and pencil from one of the drawers and making a neat list of owners and raevans. Giving the piece of paper to Lazarus, Xiu smiled gratefully. “Thank you. I’d really appreciate this,”

The Sigel had then requested leave and Xiu nodded. He had seen the Sigel giving a glance at the clock and was himself surprised at the lateness of the hour. “Don’t mention it. It was a pleasure having you here,” Saying so, the white frei then took a set of keys off the table top and floated down the stairs with Lazarus. Unlocking the front door, the white frei turned to the Sigel. “Guess I’ll be seeing you around then? Take care of yourself, Lazarus,”

Xiu was surprised. The Sigel was actually…thanking him? Well, Lazarus had thanked him for the coffee earlier but the manner in which he was thanking Xiu now was a little different and both the Sigel and the frei knew it. “Truly, it was nothing, really,” said Xiu looking a little flustered. Perhaps it was just him but it felt odd having a raevan of higher seniority acting this way. “I enjoyed your company too, I really did and umm…yeah…,” said Xiu stopping himself before the words became even more jumbled up. “Goodbye, Lazarus,”

And it would have ended just there only…Lazarus had commented on his eyes, stating that he preferred them blue. That caught the white frei off guard for the second time in such a short duration. However, the white frei recovered quickly enough. “Many people seem to think so too, even if it is not verbally spoken,” said Xiu with a smile. It was true. With red eyes and a red rune to match, Xiu found that more people were acting guarded around him. Perhaps it was because red was a rather aggressive colour and…Xiu suspected that he did not carry that particular look too well. Returning the Sigel’s farewell wave, the white frei watched the departing figure of the Sigel for a moment longer before quietly closing and locking the front door.