Satoshi poked his head into the shop, an ear twitching anxiously. It looked as though some sort of battle was going on here, and he and his cog had only wanted to meet some other Fandangles and their bonded.
"Hello? Is something wrong here?"
"Play, not poke," the cog said, nudging back at Ravija's finger.
"Nope!" Ravi said cheerfully, waving at the new person. "I'm Ravija, this is Zanna," she said, pointing to the other girl, "and it looks like some of the shop's stuff wants to play."
The cog bobbled in the air. It was getting somewhere. "Yesyes, play! Now!"
"Play?" Satoshi blinked, fully entering the shop, his tail twitching slightly. Tadashi flew slowly towards the hyperactive cog, whirling in place.
"What can we play?" the green cog asked.
Zanna gave the boy a wave as she turned around in her crutches, whirlling cog staying behind her as he flashed his center towards the back of the store. Once that was done he spun around to the front of Zanna, heading towards the door anxiously. "We leave. Now."
The teen Simu just shrugged and crutched after it, since it was about time for her ride to be here anyways. Giving another wave to the two she was leaving, she disappeared outside.
As soon as the cog had her attention, a swarm of sprockets appeared from behind the counter, some of which held the handles to a bag, carrying the data CDs and cleaning supplies with them as well. Zooming after the girl quickly to make it through the closing door, the flock zipped through the door crack, Indiana Jones style.
"Tag!" The colorful cog bumped the green cog and then zoomed away from Ravi up toward the ceiling, making a sound like a laugh punctuated by the sharp ticks of a small clock and completing a complex set of gyrations as it went.
"So... what's your name?" Ravi asked.
Tadashi hesitated for a moment. "Why does EVERYONE like tag?" it asked in a plaintive tone, before zooming after the colourful cog.
Satoshi gave Ravi a faint smile, approaching her and keeping just half an eye on his cog. "My name is Satoshi. And yours?"
"Um, Ravija. I just came in to see if anyone was here--" And to play with the carpet. "--and then Zanna came in and then that big ket-thing-thingie zoomed in, and *ZWING* she pinned it to the wall," she said, accompanying her account with overwrought hand gestures.
The cog zipped around the ceiling, dodging around the fixtures making the sharp ticking laughter.
Satoshi's eyes widened and his ears flicked back at the gestures. "Yes, it looked like there was some kind of fight going on in here when I first arrived," he agreed.
At that moment, he ducked quickly as the two cogs flew at him, skimming right over his head.
"I...I'm glad no one was hurt," he added as he straightened again.
Cyrus slipped into the shop and threw a cursory glance about, somewhat relieved to see that there wasn't a large crowd of irritated people as there had been last time. That was good - probably meant nothing else had gone wrong for a while. He glanced toward the Satoshi for a moment, one ear pinning back. "Why would anyone be hurt?" he interjected.
Aana hovered along at his side, a few tendrils of mist winding their way through the air and eventually fading into the air.
Satoshi turned to regard the newcomer. "A cog that was here earlier seemed rather violent," he explained calmly. "Its bonded had to pin it to the wall with a knife, I believe."
"I don't think it was a fight, I think it was that ket-thi--er... big sprocket-like thing just saying hello," Ravi said mildly. "So, you've got these big sprocket things too. What are they?"
"Misteress, I am sure someone might be able to help you..."
"I don't think s- WHAHHHHH SLOW DOWN !!!!"
The fandangle managed to enter the forge as one of the doors closed, its now tiny bond clinging on one of the gears like if her life depended on it.
"SLOW DOOOWWWWWWWWNNNN !!!"
"Sorry !" She said as she stopped, Zero standing up.
"If Karma sees me, im gonna kill you. e.e"
Cyrus blinked a bit at the mention of homicidal fandangles. Sure, Gleam and Rikt were a bit psychotic, but they were sprockets. It was almost natural for those two.. "Well..that's.." He trailed off with a vague shrug, simply glad he hadn't been around to get in the thing's way.
Aana made a sound like rushing water and settled herself atop Cyrus's head, amusing herself with his hair for the time being.
"I really don't think it was going to hurt her!" Ravi said heatedly, annoyed that neither seemed to be paying attention to her. "I think it was just its way of saying hi, and seeing what kind of person she was."
"To be honest, Ravija... I have no real idea what they are," Satoshi said quietly. "I only received mine yesterday."
"See ? Let's go save my dignity. e.e;"
"But we have not looked yet, misteress.... Please calm down."
"Ill'd like to see you..." Zero mumbeled, looking around for someone she could reconize.
Satoshi blinked. "I see," he said. "I suppose that makes sense, if it's some kind of...violence cog?" He shrugged. His was based on light, and that seemed much safer and more logical to him.
Cyrus glanced at the fandangle that had just entered...along with the tiny woman... ...right. Don't stare; that's rude. That's what his mother always said, anyway. The teen reached up to tug on an ear out of nervous habit, though he only succeeded in knocking Aana off his head, and glanced towards Ravi. "Er..okay then. It was only saying hi," he mumbled, eyeing Ravi warily.
"Well, I mean, we have a wrath sprocket and a combat sprocket and a blade sprocket, and they all do those sorts of things, so it makes sense," Ravi said more reasonably.
Zero blinked, not quite sure if it was her that the person was talking to or not. Unfortunately, in this case, small did not equal invisible. "Uh, im Zero." She said. "And this is Wren."
"Hello."
"Hiiiiiiiii!" Ravi's cog said as it zipped by.
Satoshi waved a hand, his tail flicking once. "Greetings Zero. My name is Satoshi." He pointed up to a flashing green cog just as it bashed a corner against Ravi's cog. "And that is Tadashi."
"Pla~~~ay...." The colorful--and as yet unnamed--cog drifted down from the ceiling, having caught Tadashi and been caught multiple times already, and become bored with the experience. It lazily flopped down on Ravi's head and messed with her feathers.
"Hey," Ravi said, smiling at the new and tinier-than-her person as she swatted at the cog on her head. "I'm Ravi. Nice to meet you."
Aana lost interest in her bonded's hair as Ravi's cog zipped by and let out an exclamation of 'Hiii~!" herself. She darted away from Cyrus as though to follow, though lost interest in that as well and drifted towards the sprocket containers.
Cyrus shrugged and glanced at Zero again, still wondering over why she was so small. "Um..I'm Cyrus. And the purple fandangle over there," he gestured in Aana's direction, "is Aana."
"Well, ill'd go shake hands, but...." Zero sweatdropped. "A word of common advice - stay the ******** away from spell backlashes. I learnt that the wrong way last night."
"None of you would happen to know how to fix this, would you ?" Wren asked, which caused her bond to glare down.
"I told you, Wren ! He can fix it, but ill't take a few days !"
So they're called fandangles?" Ravi said curiously. "I didn't know that. How do you get one? I mean, this one likes me, so how much does it cost?"
The colorful cog snuggled up in her hair. "Want cleaning."
"Not now, I'm talking. "
Zero head-tilted. "So there's a few new ones, uh ? Yeah, that would be a fandangle. And they instinctively go with their owners, so if it decided to go with you, well... That's because its yours, really."
Satoshi eyed Zero curiously. "What did the spell do?" he asked before glancing at Ravi. "And I have no idea. Mine was a gift from my bonded Gaian. I didn't pay for it. Is that one not yours?"
"Made me that small." The reploid mumbeled. "Its a wierd spell... I think he ******** up midways and this happened."
"Cool, so it's mine!" She took it off her head and hugged it to her chest. "Your name's Aionios, okay?"
"Ai-o-ni-os." The cog 'tock'ed twice. "I am Aionios."
"Yes, you are." Ravi grinned at all the people. "This is neat. But I don't think Mom's going to be happy when I bring even more home."
Satoshi nodded gravely. "I know something about magic." He raised a hand and suddenly blinked out of view, becoming invisible for a few moments before appearing again. "But I don't know any spells that can grow a person to a larger size, or make them small."
He glanced at Ravi, ear twitching in amusement.
"I can only make my hands warm, otherwise I'd try something. It's really useful in winter though, since I never need gloves," she said cheerfully as Aionios climbed back up on her head and started nesting.
Satoshi cocked his head curiously at Ravi, his own Fandangle perching in his hair. "Make them warm?" he asked. He held up a hand again and a flame erupted from the palm. "Like this?"
...Okay, now Zero felt out of place even more.
"And I... can't even do anything. Sounds like just my luck... Thanks anyway." She sighed.
Cyrus leaned against the counter and eyed Satoshi's displays of magic, arching a brow curiously. "All I can do are a few water tricks." Certainly nothing useful like turning invisible and creating fire.
Satoshi coloured slightly, lowering his hands and extinguishing the flame. "I apologize," he said. "I didn't mean to seem like I was showing off. I was just demonstrating."
"Aw... that's neat," Ravi said, sounding disappointed. "All I can do is this..." She held out one hand and closed her eyes tightly. Heat distortion became visible rising above her hand, and waves of increasingly hot air began radiating off her body. When she opened her eyes, she looked tired and wobbled a bit on her feet before sitting down on the carpet suddenly.
"Hey, you're okay ?!?" Zero spread her wings, going to the girl.
Cyrus blinked at Satoshi and pricked an ear forward. "It's alright. I'd probably show off myself if I could do neat things like..." He trailed off suddenly, distracted by Ravi sitting so suddenly. He frowned and moved closer, leaning down to offer her a hand. "Are you alright?"
"Hehe, oh yeah, I'm fine. Mom doesn't like me doing that, since she's always afraid I'm going to catch on fire or something." She giggled.
Satoshi watched closely, but didn't join the others around Ravi. If she were really hurt, and there was something he could do that they couldn't, he was sure he'd be able to tell.
He shrugged a bit and straightened again, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Well maybe you should listen to her. Doesn't seem too usefull if it's gonna make you fall over like that all the time."
"Yeah, better be careful." Zero nodded, landing on Satoshi's shoulder, as Wren left for some sproket-seeing.
"Well, it's not all the time, just when I try to show off," she said sheepishly. "Besides, I think the carpet feels neat." Ravi laughed.
Satoshi blinked at Zero, his ears flicking back. He wasn't quite used to all of these small creatures invading his personal space, though he was trying VERY hard to get used to it.
He tilted his head at the girl on the floor, shrugging again and turning to Aana. "C'mon, you. We were only stopping in for a minute on the way to the arcade." He glanced back at the other people, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Guess I'll see you later," he said, already moving to hold the door open.
The cog let out a brief whining sound as she drifted toward Cyrus, the sound cutting off as the door swung shut behind them.
Zero didn't seem to catch his uneaseness as she just... sat there. "Still, better be careful and all..."
Bye!" she said cheerfully to Cyrus as he left. "I mean, I think it's pretty silly that Mom thinks I'm going to catch on fire. You can make fire on your hand, and no one worries about you lighting up like a candle," Ravija said, talking to Satoshi. "But I am pretty careful. All these people around who can do all this really neat stuff, like actual fire, and I feel... I dunno." She shrugged, and played with the carpet a bit.
Aionios appeared unnerved by Ravi's change in attitude and rocked uncomfortably on her head. "Happy..." it whined. "Want cleaning."
"Oh, okay. So, you clean them like sprockets?" she asked, looking at the two older Fandangle owners.
"No one worries about me lighting myself on fire because I've had a great deal of training so I don't." Satoshi said with a smile. "I'm a little older than you are, I think." His ears pricked up as he glanced at the clock. "And I must go. Perhaps I will be back later." He gestured to his Fandangle and it landed on his shoulder, then lifted Zero carefully in his hands, placing her on Ravi's shoulder. "It was good meeting you."
"Good meeting you!" Tadashi echoed, the balls in its face whirling happily.
Being carted around that way was WIERD, but Zero let him. "See you !" She chimed. "With the cloth and screwdriver, yeah. I can show you if you want me to."
"Nice meeting you too. Bye!" she waved. "I'd really appreciate it. I only got the sprockets a week ago, so I've almost got the hang of it." Ravi grinned. "I saw where Jerava got them from when I bought the sprockets, so I think I could find the store's supply of cleaning stuff. I mean, it's everclean and everfull, so it's not like I'm wasting anything? Right? Right." She got up as smoothly as she could and walked behind the counter where she started looking for the supplies. "I hope no one comes in and thinks I actually work here..."
