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"Walk too long," Elena said grumpily from Jerava's arms, squirming around, nearly causing Jer to drop the small girl. "Want home now," she demanded imperiously, stopping her squirming to stare coldly at the woman carrying her. Jer sighed and shifted Elena to a batter grip.

"Sorry sweetling. The walk's so long because I don't have any doors near here," Jer explained, flicking her tail up to pat the girl's head reassuringly. Elena shook her head and stared at the tail, although this was not the imperious and distant one she'd directed at her 'mother'. "I'll have to remedy that soon," she added as an afterthought to the silvery object floating above her head.

"I suppose," Laure added with a resigned chime of her jewels. "Although I still think returning her would be a better idea," the Fandangle added with a darkening of the sapphire-like jewels that floated around her. Elena's face darkened and she shot a look full of distaste at the 'pretty shiny'. They'd gotten off to a bad start as the trio left the Stationary Store - Elena had seen Laure and immediately declared the Fandangle hers. Somehow, she'd gotten a hold of one of Laure's gems and refused to let it go. While Laure didn't feel pain in quite the same way as Jer or Elena would, being separated from one of her key components had caused her something akin to the feeling. Jerava had finally tricked the gem free, and Laure had stayed out of reach ever since.

"No, I'm not going to 'return' her. I wouldn't even if that was possible, which I don't think it is," Jer said in a somewhat clipped tone. She could already tell that this was going to be a major problem. She'd just have to do her best to keep them separated - although Laure was almost always by her side, and Elena was already showing sign of being clingy. While she mused about how best to work this out, Jer neatly moved through the pedestrian traffic that was thinning out as it got closer to supper time. She wasn't paying particular attention to the people she stepped around, although several of the ones going in the opposite direction stared at Elena, who returned their interest with a haughty sniff.

"Jerava, look at her hair," Laure hissed in an undertone, earning her a very cold glare from the person in question. Jer sighed, patted Elena on the head reassuringly and looked down at her new charge's hair. What she saw nearly made her misstep and run straight into a large cluster of people standing around and chattering. Instead of going around, like she would have preferred, Jer darted through the group, muttering apologies as she did so.

"Her hair!" one of them said, pointing at Elena's head. "It's glowing!" His companion dug an elbow in his ribs to make him shut up, and then proceeded to scold him; Jer rolled her eyes, as the gentleman in question had a decidedly catlike appearance. But Elena's hair was indeed glowing dimly in the fading light, although it did stop when they walked under the streetlights that were now flickering to life.

"Interesting," Jer commented as she halted in her forward progress to duck into a doorway and shift Elena to her hip as she dug in her pocket for a key and wait for another large group to head down the sidewalk. "Almost there," she said to Elena, who had been reaching her hand out to grab the door handle. "Just need to get the key out, that's all," Jer continued, stepping back into the flow of traffic. Laure had darted ahead slightly, then doubled back to resume her post above Jer's head as they walked on, trying to sort out, at least a little, her thoughts and feelings on having to share Jerava with such an obvious brat.

"Home now!" Elena said, thumping her little fists against Jerava's side, a surefire precursor to a temper tantrum. Jer, of course, didn't know just what kind or how bad an Elena tantrum could be, but somehow the elf knew it would be bad. Jer ducked into another doorway and sat down on the steps, facing Elena towards her on her lap.

"Look, kid, walking through town takes a long time, even with the few shortcuts I know that won't get me completely lost." Jer sighed and rubbed a hand over her face as Elena stared at her with a look of blank incomprehension and growing irritation. "Basically, Elena, what I'm saying is that you're just going to have to be patient and wait a little longer. And screaming in my ear isn't going to get us home any faster," Jer added quickly as Elena looked about ready to do just that. "So," Jer said, looking at Elena solemnly, "Think you can keep calm long enough to get home?"

"Kay," Elena said sulkily, crossing her arms as Jer picked her up and resettled her on her hip, tail wrapped around the girl to keep her steady. "Walk fast," Elena demanded as Jer merged back into the traffic, poking the woman in the side to insure compliance.

"Ow. Watch it with that," Jer said in warning, not about to tolerate being abused by a child. "And I'm walking as fast as I can without running into people," she added, dodging around a large man, quite possibly a draconic type if his tail was any indication, with an easy sidestep into an empty pocket created by someone turning onto a side street. "This is way more fun than driving," the elf commented to Laure, who shook her gems lightly in either laughter or admonishment. "And down this street," Jer said after a moment, taking a right turn into what was clearly a residential area.

"I don't think Nima's home," Laure said as they arrived at the house. "Lights aren't on, anyway," the Fandangle added.

"Fair enough," Jer said amiably. "That's why I have a key, after all," she added, carefully setting Elena down so she could unlock the door.

"Home now?" the girl asked, wrinkling her nose and clinging to Jerava's free hand as the elf opened the door with the key she'd brought out earlier.

"Almost," Jer said soothingly, nudging the door open with a shoulder, and standing still as the unbonded Aereas swirled about her. Elena squeaked a bit and ducked behind Jer's leg before Laure flicked a light on and shooed the Aereas away. "Just up the stairs," she said to Elena, suiting words to action and guiding the girl up the steps as Laure turned the lights off and skipped ahead to turn the hall light on. "Down this hall, and into my room," Jer finished her quasi-tour by opening another door and gently nudging Elena in first. "One last door, and we're home," she promised, shutting the bedroom door behind her. Elena, however, didn't hear anything her Author had said once they arrived in the bedroom. There was a shiny gold box on a table, making some kind of beam of light project from it. The projection was a door, and Jer stood in front of it, Laure tapping Elena on the shoulder.

"Don't want to leave you behind, I guess," the Fandangle said grudgingly, darting away before Elena could grab any bit of her. Jer had opened the door by this point and was waving Elena and Laure through. Elena couldn't see anything beyond the door, the sun was too bright and offered poor contrast against the dark of the room they were still in.

Through the door, and Elena was blinking heavily, as the sun was still so bright and she couldn't see anything until her eyes adjusted. "Jerava, isn't the sun supposed to reflect outside conditions?" Laure said grumpily as Elena stared around her. They were standing in a stone pagoda, of sorts, and as Jer closed the door behind them, Elena could see Nima's house slipping away. The door was now light wood, with intricately carved detailing on it and the frame, rather than the plain door they'd come through.

"Yes, it is," Jer replied thoughtfully, gently taking Elena's hand to lead her from the pagoda onto the lawn. "Someone's been tampering with the weather program again," she added with a frown as they started to walk up the path towards the large villa at the top of the hill. "And I can't fix it properly until we get up to the house," she added with a nod of her head towards Laure. "Forgot the remote." Laure flickered her gems in admonishment at Jer, but didn't say anything as they continued to walk. Elena was silent as well, drinking in the sun drenched scenery and the landscaping that someone had obviously spent a lot of time on. The trio walked quietly onwards, when suddenly the sun went down, plunging the group into darkness.

"Autocorrect?" Laure asked dryly as Jer muttered to herself.

"I'm not sure," the elf replied with a shrug of one shoulder, looking around and nodding in approval as the trees sparsely lining the path became softly illuminated. Elena took this all in silently, with wide, dimly glowing eyes. Her hair, of course, was illuminated as well, patches of hair that waxed and waned as they walked under the trees. Elena looked about and admitted that this was a much better house than the one they'd first entered, even without seeing the interior of the villa they were closing in on. Once again silent, they arrived at the front door, a massive construct of dark wood and metal, looking very much like the entry to a medieval castle. Jer tugged it open with her free hand, Laure floating behind her, curious about what the reaction of the sprockets would be to the new arrival.

Once the door was open, a veritable swarm of sprockets came flying out, some headed to Jerava, and some to Laure, but by far the majority went to hover around Elena curiously, who overcame her surprise at these mechanical devices by reaching her hand out to try and grab a few. "Mine!" she said as they darted away, chattering at each other in Binary.

"No," Jer said firmly, scattering those around her with a wave of her hand. One, a bright neon green, stayed close by and Jer was obviously paying at least some attention to what it was saying in its very dry, monotonal voice. "If you behave," she continued after a moment while Elena stared at her, absolutely dumbfounded, "And if you show that you can properly take care of them, then maybe I'll buy you some." Jer finally swatted the green sprocket away with a muttered "I'll take care of it," before examining the sprockets that were still clustered around Elena, although they were staying out of range of her hands. Before Elena could attempt to come up with either a comeback or a tantrum, two sprockets made a sort of bobbing motion at each other and settled within reach of the toddler. They made no effort to evade her hands, which quickly snatched them from mid air. Jer arched an eyebrow at this curious behavior; the two sprockets in question were both Celestials, traditionally aloof and prone to ignoring even their bondeds.

Elena, however, was now quiet and had a look of intense satisfaction on her face. "Mine," she said quietly, causing the sprockets to chime indignantly that they were not, they were simply there to reassure her. Jer's eyebrows were now practically up to her hairline, as this was completely unprecedented in her long experience with the mischievous elemental batteries. Elena nodded her head reluctantly in agreement with the sprockets and after a moment released them. "Hungry," Elena said to Jer, eyes bright and intense.

"We've missed supper, but there are bound to be leftovers," Jer said wearily, picking Elena up to head towards the kitchen. "Laure, I'll meet you in the lab after we've eaten and she's settled in a bit." Laure bobbed assent and followed after, heading down a set of stairs that a casual observer would have sworn had just appeared as the Fandangle reached them. "Alright sweetheart, let's figure out what you like," the elf said to the girl, her voice fading as they continued down the hallway.

"You'll be fine," Jer said softly to the two sprockets she held in her hand as she ascended the staircase to the upper level of her house. "They were just trying to scare you," she added, running a thumb reassuringly over the surface of the one that was shivering more. It quieted a bit at her touch, which the elven woman viewed with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was good that the sprockets were calming down, as Elena likely wouldn't understand how to deal with them and ease their fears. Indeed, the girl might instead act just the way they were currently afraid of. On the other hand, Jer only had seven days to get them used to Elena before they bonded with her instead, and having them seek her out for reassurance was not a good way to get them to stay with Elena.

"Mum?" Elena called out from her room, having heard her mother's voice echoing slightly down the hallway. Poking her head out, deep blue hair falling over one shoulder, the girl let out an excited cry when she saw what Jer was carrying. "Shinies!" she crowed happily, darting back into her room to put down whatever it was she'd been holding when she first heard her mum. Jer chuckled softly and continued down the hallway, stopping at the doorway to her daughter's room. It was, oddly, a mess, paintbrushes and paper all over the floor, not to mention the paint liberally strewn across the table, chairs, floor, walls, and even splattered across Elena's favorite plush toy, Mr. Plush.

"What happened?" Jer asked breathlessly. Elena was normally a very clean child, quite fastidious about staying out of messes. And this was by far one of the worst disasters to befall the house, cleaning wise; not even the sprocket spaghetti incident was close to how horrible this was.

"Was painting," Elena explained patiently, as if Jer was the child and Elena the adult. "Clean up easy," the girl reassured her mother, who was still staring around looking slightly shell-shocked. "House do it," she finished with a firm nod and a wave of her paint covered hand, sending droplets spraying towards Jerava, who took a step back to avoid them.

"The house can't clean up after itself," Jer said, blinking slowly at Elena. "That's why it needs us." Among other reasons, but some those were a bit complex, even for Jerava, and Elena certainly wouldn't understand them. Elena frowned and tilted her head to the side, tapping a bare foot squishily into a patch of paint.

"Nono," Elena said firmly, tapping her foot again. "Just have to ask," she added, closing her eyes and poking the floor with her big toe. The paint under her foot was the first to go, looking as though it drained away into the carpet, quickly followed by what was left on the floor. Paint covered furniture was cleaned off, paint fairly slithering down the legs of the table and chairs, draining away into the carpet as well. When it was all gone, a handful of minutes later, the only things left with paint on them were Elena and Mr. Plush.

"Elena," Jer said patiently, looking around the room with a strange look on her face, "Do you know why we don't clean the house this way?" Elena straightened her head, opened her eyes, and looked at her mother curiously. "It doesn't actually clean anything - whatever went away, like the paint, just goes somewhere else that now needs to be cleaned." Jer frowned in thought. "You'd better hope this mess didn't end up in the kitchen."

Elena's face fell, and her eyes filled with tears. "Didn't mean to," she wailed, sitting down abruptly on the floor, making a squishy sound as the paint on the backside of her dress got on the carpet. "Just wanted to help," she hiccupped out, a clear sign that a full on tantrum was about to start. Jer pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand, and swiftly went to kneel next to Elena.

"It's okay," she said, trying to calm her daughter down. "We'll get it cleaned up. And you as well," she added, wiping a paint smear off Elena's cheek with her thumb. "But first," Jer continued, bringing her other hand out from behind her back, "I have two new friends for you." Opening her hand, Jer released the sprockets, who chittered at each other in confusion, then floated cautiously over to Elena. The girl's eyes were wide and the tears cleared up as quickly as they'd appeared.

"For me? Elena asked, holding a hand out cautiously. Over the past few weeks, Elena had learned, reluctantly and often the hard way, that just because she wanted something, didn't mean it was automatically hers to take. Jer nodded an affirmative and Elena beamed at her mum. Finally! All this good behavior had paid off. Keeping her grateful and happy expression up, Elena was mentally sticking her tounge out at her mother, annoyed that it had taken so long to receive shinies of her own. "Thank you mum," Elena said, offering a regal nod of her head in addition to the verbal thanks. Jer smiled in return, and stood up.

"I'm going to go find out where the paint went to, and get something to clean the floor here," the elf said, nodding at where Elena was currently sitting. "Then we'll get you cleaned up." Elena stood up, the sprockets staying close to her, having come to a mutual agreement that Elena felt right, while Jer didn't.

"Kay," Elena said to her mother's retreating back. She looked at the sprockets carefully now, poking the one on her left. "Names," she said to them firmly, waiting to be told what they were. They did a spiral sort of dance around her, whispering in their own language who they were. Elena had her head tilted to the side, not noticing that her hair was spilling over her shoulder into a large patch of pain on her dress, listening to them. "Siri an' Sa," she said finally as they stopped, one on the left side of her head, the other on the right. "'M Elena," the girl said to them as she stood there, waiting for her mum to return.

"You really didn't have to bring her," Laure said sotte voce as she preceded Jerava into the Forge.

"Did too!" Elena exclaimed from her 'mother's' arms. Jer rolled her eyes and set the toddler down on the floor.

"If I hadn't brought her, we probably could have heard her screams from here anyway," Jer replied to Laure dryly. The elf massaged her forehead. Elena had already managed to find a horde of Celestial sprockets, and was happily listening to them chatter at her.

"Well, at least she's staying quiet. For now," Laure said, staying near Jer as she walked around. "Is something wrong?" she asked her bond sharply as Jer rubbed her forehead again.

"Just a headache," Jer said absently. "It's nothing to worry about." Jer glanced at Laure. "Be careful, though, we still don't know why the sprockets went all wonky last week." Laure flickered in agreement.

Aislin marched in just a few minutes later, a rather large glass jar full of sprockets under her right arm, and apparently not in the best mood.

She walked straight to the counter and put the jar on it rather ungently with a loud 'clang'.

"I have a complaint," she said, her voice raised and demanding for attention. It wasn't until now that she noticed certain... oddities. She blinked. Once. Twice.

"Must be one of those weird dreams," she mumbled to herself.

"That happens sometimes," Laure said, spinning to face Aislin. Jer shot Laure a glance and examined the jar.

"What seems to be the problem?" she said brightly, her eyes twinkling slightly. "And, may I ask, how did you manage to get them all in the jar? It's quite an impressive accomplishment."

Elena, meanwhile, was staring at the other new arrival. "Hello?" she said cautiously in the sudden silcence created by the lack of chatter from the sprockets. "You okay?"

"Well, if you're a treasure hunter as long as I have been, sooner or later you're bound find something that's actually useful." She pulled an object out of her bag which looked like a crossover between a laser pistol from an old science fiction movie, and something very very... ancient?

"I call it the 'Floating-Nuisance-Immobilizer'," she said, and without further explanation she aimed the strange weapon at the celestial sprockets floating near Elena and pulled the trigger. A swirly beam of runes hit them, and for a moment nothing happened. Then - suddenly - the sprockets came raining down.

"They remain stunned for maybe three minutes, but that's more than enough for me." Ais patted the cork lid of the jar with a self-satisfied smile.

"As for my problem... All of our sprockets suddenly went completely haywire during the last week. If possible I'd like to have them repaired, or replaced."

Elena whirled to face Aislin. "Not nice!" she howled. "Mean lady!" she said, glaring at the woman. "Make better!" she insisted.

"Elena, they'll comeback on their own," Jer said, peering at the device curiously. "Just wait. Why don't you make them comfortable?" she suggested as a means to forestall a full blown tantrum. Elena glared at Ais once more, then set about arranging the sprockets on the floor carefully.

"You're lucky," Laure said. "Imagine being in a house with over 200 haywire sprockets," the Fandangle said mischeviously. Jer shot her another glance.

"Well, as far as I've been able to determine, there's nothing wrong with them." Jer shrugged. "Nothing to repair, and honestly, the idea of breaking in a new set of sprockets terrifies me," she finished with a wry grin.

"So I figure this happened to ALL the sprockets? Oh dear... Though I have to say, the new appearance is neat. Those holes are... tempting." She gave the sprockets who had been chattering inside her jar a mean grin and instantly their volume turned out quite a bit. Carefully she put the strange weapon back into her bag.

~~~

Elsewhere, somewhere deep in the labyrinth-like corridors of the forge...

"You are lost, admit it," Arif happily chimed.

Sesostris glared down at his weave sprocket. "I'm not. I'm just exploring the enviroment," he declared. "And don't forget we are here because of you."

"I coooould find the way for you, but only if you admit that you are lost," Arif teased.

Sesostris looked sceptical. "Yesterday you didn't even remember my name," he retorted.

"Mean lady," muttered Elena, as the sprockets woke back up. Laure spun lazily in the air, watching Ais and Jer.

"Again, as far as I can tell yes, it happened to every sprocket," Jer said with a shrug. "I don't know why, of course," she continued with an eyeroll, "But I am intriguied by what this might mean for the future.

~~~~

(With Seso and Arif)

~~~~

"Lost you say?" said a silky smooth voice. "I, too, am lost. Perhaps you can help me find my way?" the voice continued. A device came out into the open, shaped like a cog wheel, and colored in deep blues, with red and white markings scattered seemingly randomly across it's surface.

"I'm not lost," Sesostris protested, "I know exactly where we are, it's just this impossible place that keeps changing around. The shop room is exactly in that direction." He pointed onto the wall to his right. "Only... the door isn't," he added sheepishly.

"Well, he doesn't know the way, I call that lost," Arif sneered.
With a little 'Fwop!' he sprouted a silverish long leg. Interesting... "Seso?" 'Fwop!' "I think-" 'Fwopfwop!' "my legs-" 'Fwop!' "are coming back." 'Fwopfwopfwop!'

Seso looked down at his sprocket rather intrigued. So it was going back to it's original shape? Or not. It certainly didn't have crystal fur before the change occured.

"Erh, what did I just say?" Arif asked, surprise in his voice, looking more like a mechanical spider from second to second. And he was growing.

"You just kindly and politely offered us to show the way," the silver haired demon replied with a smug face. He had actually been waiting for Arif's next memory lapse.

"Ahaah~! Nothing easier than this!" With that the sprocket/spider picked up a golden thread from the ground with it's front legs. "We just follow this." Cheerily humming to itself it tickled away, following the thread while rolling it up to a ball in the process. And still growing.

Sesostris exchanged a confused look with the Fandangle (or at least asumed he did) and shrugged. "No use to try and make sense of this place. Lets just follow him as long as he knows what he's doing. What's your name, by the way?"

~~~

Aislin sulked. "Man, and some of them were just starting to get really useful... Now they don't either remember who they are, or what they just did, and they are either overdoing, or underdoing it. Like Q - he was supposed to try and repair the coffee machine, and he made a espresso maker out of it!" Something tugged at her bag, but she was too distracted staring at the weird... person up at the ceiling.

"How convenient," the Fandangle said, eyeing the Sprocket curiously. "Does it do that often?" it continued, still in that same silky smooth voice.

It looked at Seso in slight bewilderment. "Name? I have no name," it paused. "It is up to my Bond to name me," the Fandangle said proudly. "I would not want to take that choice from her." It tilted to the side, looking at Seso as they followed Arif. "Do you have a name I might call you by?"

~~~~

Jer chuckled and massaged her forehead again. "I know what you mean. I've had some of mine for quite a long time, and now I have to get used to them, and vice versa, all over again." She shook her head. "They don't even act the same anymore."

"The memory lapses, or changing into a spider and finding the way via a golden thread that wasn't there before?" Sesostris asked with raised eyebrow, but didn't wait for a reply. "The memory lapses started up last week, and since then his powers have been jumping up and down abruptly. I wonder if that's a huge power jump up right now..." he mused. "Just call me Seso. And the spro-, erh, spider over there is Arif." And he was still growing...

~~~

"Headache?" Aislin asked with a sympathetic voice. "I have a lot of those recently. Luthenep dragged in a new companion. Oh, he said to say 'Hello!' to you if I should see you, by the way!" She called to Laure over her shoulder. "Any how, that new friend, or pet or whatever, it looks like a harmless little floating gem, but you wont believe what havoc it wreaked! Unfortunately it's exceptinally good in hiding, I'm still waiting for a chance to zapp it with my secret weapon." She patted her bag, just to notice it was empty. "What the...?!"

"Verrrry interresting device," a creaking voice sounded from below. It belonged to what looked like an oversized greenish sprocket to Aislin, and right next to it lay her disassembled Immobilizer. "Especially this enerrrrgy crystal," the green Fandangle continued, completely oblivious to the impeding doom, "it would be perrrfect to build a bo-"

"YOU!" Aislin yelled furiously, looking around for something, anything, to threaten it with. "Fix it! NOW!!"

"Either, actually," the Fandangle said in the same slightly purring, very urbane tone of voice. "A week, you say? How...fascinating." It continued to follow the pair along the path outlined by the golden thread. "By chance, do you know where we are headed? You see, I seem to have...misplaced my bonded." The odd markings flickered slightly. "Not that she knows I'm coming."

~~~~

"They seem to be getting worse," Laure said, going closer to Jerava. "A floating gem?" she continued, more to herself. "D'you think Luthe would mind if I stopped by to see him?"

"Is, uh, that yours?" Jer asked with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that there were any new Fandangles, though," she continued, slightly unnerved by it's appearance.

"Looks like a radiation sprocket," Laure said with a giggle.

"Hopefully we are headed to the main shop, though with this place you never know. It seems to be warped even more than usual. It's fairly easy to 'misplace' something in here." He picked up a furious scream from somewhere ahead. That voice was familiar... "I think we are getting closer though," he added with a grin. "Who is your bonded? And how does she look?"

"I hope we make it there, before this place gets any smaller..." Arif muttered, squeezing through the next door.

~~~

"Come by anytime you like," Ais replied to Laure's question. "He wont mind at all, in fact he's constantly talking about you."

"I'm not a rradiation sprrocket," the strange Fandangle said with a dignified voice. "I'm a forrgechemical sprrocket." Pause. "No, wait, I'm not a sprrocket at all!" Slowly it inched away bit by bit from Aislin. "Arr, that woman therre is making me all nerrvous!"

"It sure as hell isn't mine," Aislin snorted, still looking around for something to use as a weapon. Well, that broom over there would do. She grabbed it and raised it over her head, preparing to let it come down with some of her breaking spells, hopefully creating a nice little crater and scaring the s**t ouf of that... thing.

"Kekeke, that is a baaad idea," the strange Fandangle snickered.

With a 'Woosh!' the broom went upwards, and Aislin was too surprised to let go of it. "Oh shiiiiiit!"

"I am not sure," the Fandangle admitted regretfully. "I do know that she is in the shop presently, however," it continued. "And, Arif, may I point out that you are the one getting larger. This place appears to be the same size." It looked aorund. "Of course, one cannot always be assured of these things."

~~~~

Laure flushed dark blue. "I'll definently have to come over, and soon," she said firmly. "And I didn't say you were a radiation sprocket. I merely said you looked like one." She tilted to the side. "Although, you do sort of resemeble a data sprocket and a toxic one as well."

Jer shook her head. "Well, then I have no idea who is supposed to get that one." Before she could say anything else, though, Aislin shot straight up. "Oh dear."

"Well, that's your point of view," Arif replied sceptically and turned around to look at his pursuers. "It appears you are right though... Oh, and Seso, I know that innocent look of yours - you are not getting a ride on my back!!"

Sesostris didn't say anything, but his dissapointed face clearly showed that Arif had hit the mark.

Arif turned back to the next door, opening it and poking his head inside. "Ah, I think we are here, that looks familiar. Hello Aislin, I see you are trying out those new delivery brooms~!" His cheerful greeting was answered by a plethora of curses.

Aislin! So that was why the voice had been so familiar. "Arif, move it, you are blocking the way!!"

"Am I? Sorry, just let me squeeze through here and I'll be out of the way." Indeed, he had grown big enough by now that he barely fit through the door. Fortunately there was plenty of space in the main shop room...

"So you know someone here as well?" the Fandangle asked curiously as it waited for Arif to get through the door.

Jerava had been about to say something to Aislin when the giant spider came through. Her jaw clicked shut and she shook her head. Then a hauntingly familair voice had come through the doorway and her jaw dropped back open again. It was, of course, immediately shut as she clenched her jaw in pain; her headache was now on the level roughly equivelent to a large bomb going off. Repeatedly.

Laure had noticed this, and was going to ask what was wrong when Jer began to shimmer. "Jerava!" the Fandangle cried out worriedly as her bonded's appearance subtly and slowly began to change.

"Look up to the, oomph, ceiling when you're inside," Arif recommended while squeezing his rear body part through the door. "She's one of Seso's family members." He waved with one of his metal legs to Elena. "Hello child, no reason to look so scared, I'm completely, absolutely and utterly harmless."

"Adopted family member though," Seso added, passing through the door right after Arif, "thanks to the foolishness of one of my grandchildren. That's a... long... story..." His voice trailed off. That woman...

"Get me the hell down!" Aislin yelled, still clinging desperately to the broomstick.

Elena's eyes were wide as she stared at the oversized spider. "Pretty!" she delcared from the floor, not paying attention to the Fandangle following behind Seso. The Fandangle, however, saw Elena and stopped dead.

"Mine," it purred possessively, floating over to the child slowly. "Correct, am I not?" Elena's attention was still riveted on Arif. The Fandangle sighed slowly and settled down to wait for it's bond to notice it. It was prepared to wait forever, if need be. It's entire existance revolved, or would revolve, around this girl.

Jer, meanwhile, had her eyes squeezed shut. Suddenly, she opened them. "No," she said quite firmly, causing Laure to stare at her in shock. It wasn't quite Jerava she was looking at, though. The woman, wo was still surrounded by a shimmering haze, now had long brown hair which nearly reached the floor. It was braided, not loose, and Jer's ears and forehead were clearly visible. The gem on her forehead was glowing a brilliant green, and Jer's now blue eyes narrowed. "No. I will not do this."

"You have no choice in this matter, Ithiltari," said another voice. It was a foreful voice, and one could tell it was tightly controlled so as to not be too overpowering.

Jer, or Ithiltari, ground her teeth together. "I am not going back. This is my home, damnit, whether you like it or not. And I will most emphatically not abandon my responsibilites here." Laure was staring at the elf in shock. What was going on?

'A human child that's not scared of giant spiders?' Arif was stunned. And quite flattered to be called pretty. He settled down next to the child and absently started to weave with the golden thread that had lead his way, giving the yelling woman at the ceiling only a casual glance. Did he know her? She did seem sort of familiar, but he could not remember ever having seen her before...

"I...thil...ta...ri...?" Sesostris blinked, not sure what was going on. That was the least person he had expected to run into in this place. She sure looked different... But she seemed to be in trouble, and in pain, and that was enough reason for him to get in the way of whatever was bothering her.

"Shiny," Elena said emphatically, reaching a hand out for the thread.

"Hullo Seso," Jer/Ithi ground out, her hair fading from brown to silver, then back again.

"You have abandoned your responsiblites to Us," said the voice logically. "You are needed here."

The elf snorted, her hair shortening in length until it was about to her mid back. It was now loose, and rather wavy. "You abandoned me first. And I am needed here more," she said quite firmly. "I am not, nor was I ever irreplacable in Your eyes." As she said that, her eyes flickered back to brown. "I am irreplacable here. You will not allow technology within Your Region, and where would that leave Laure?" The Fandangle spun slightly at being mentioned. "In addition, I have found myself a family here. And, might I add, a much less judgemental one." Her hair shortened again, to it's former short and spiky length, while the shimmering glow she was in suddenly stopped for a moment, then enveloped her in a blinding flash. When it was gone, there were two elves standing there. One was the Jerava Laure had been bound to.

The other was unfamiliar to the Fandangle, but Seso would undoubtedly know exactly who it was. She had the long, braided hair Jerava had been sporting, but in a dark grey. Her eyes were dark blue, and her forehead was marked with a glowing green gem as well.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," they said in unison.

"I'm not going back," Jer said to whomever had been speaking before.

"I would, but since I fully share, um, myself's opinion, I think I'll stick around." Laure looked back and forth between the two. There was a slight resemblance...

"So be it," the voice said resignedly. "We are sorry it had to come to this, but you leave Us no choice," it continued. "You, and your alter ego, are hencefrth banished from Our Region, Oblivion." The coice stopped, and there was an audible sound of a door closing, and a lock being turned. Jer and Ithi both sighed as their gems abruptly became blue.

"There, there..." Arif murmured, and gently tied one end of the golden thread around Elena's little finger, with a neat little bow. Then he cut off the thread and tied the other end around one of the blue Fandangle's edges, also with a little bow. Yeah, that looked about right. With a 'poof' he reverted to his original sprocket form and size. "Eh, did we actually manage to find the shop?" he asked, slightly dazed.

Seso had cringed away from the blinding light, and what he saw when he opened his eyes again... Baffled he looked at the two women. One of them he recognized right away, how could he ever forget her? And the other one... That change before that flash of light... "Two... Ithiltaris?" he asked perplexed, his voice somewhere between shock and delight.

Aislin in the meanwhile had given up on yelling, it seemed that no matter what she did she would be ignored anyway. With a grunt she heaved herself onto the broomstick, trying to find a comfortable seat on it.

"Yes, we did," said the Fandangle now tied to Elena. "My thanks," it continued in a bemused tone of voice.

"Mine!" Elena shrieked as she belatedly noticed the Fandangle. "My shiny?" she said in a somewhat quieter tone of voice, since Laure and Jer had spoken to the girl about automatically assuming that shinies were hers.

"Yes, my dear, I am yours," replied the Fandangle, nudging the girl gently. Elena shrieked again, this time happily, and hugged the Fandangle tightly.

"Not quite," said Ithi. "I'm Ithiltari. She's not."

Jer rocked back on her heels in thought. "Well, in a certain sense I am," she replied. "But not quite on the same level," the brunette elf continued with a shrug.

"I'm sure this is all quite fascinating," Laure interrupted. "But what is going on? Who are you?" she asked Ithi. "I'm so confused." Jer and Ithi exchanged glances.

"I'm Ithiltari," the grey haired elf said with a bow. "This is what Jerava used to look like before she came to Gaia." Straightening, she grinned. "Don't worry, you aren't bonded to me. Jer acquired you, rather obviously, after I technically ceased to exist." Ithi shook her head. "My, this is going to be quite complicated to talk about, I can tell." Jer rolled her eyes.

"I'm still confused about why it happened," Jer said. "I know why They were trying to change my appearance, but I don't understand why you split off like that." Ithi shrugged.

Sesostris eyes shot back and forward between the two. "So let me get this straight - you," he pointed to Ithiltari, "are Ithiltari as I remember you back from the good old days. And you," he pointed to Jerava, "are Ithiltari as you are now? And that, pardon me, she," he pointed to Laure, "is actually your Fandangle?" He scratched the back of his head. "If I only had known about this... The Multiverse truly is a small place." He stepped forward and without further warning he hugged both women (well technically only one) at the same time, one left, one right.
"I'm truly glad to see you again, even if the circumstances are a bit odd," he murmured gently. And then, a tad closer to Jerava's ear: "But what the hell have you done with your hair?!"

"I don't believe it, he's at it again..." Arif sighed. "And he still has to learn about that thing called 'tact'."
There was a strange sound distracting the sprocket from further observations though, coming from a dark corner near the counter, sounding a bit like a very weird kind of laughter...
Curiously he left the girl and it's newly found Fandangle behind and floated towards the source of that sound. Hm, yet another Fandangle, and it was... building something? Looked like it was assembling a strange kind of machine, with a time display. A clock of sorts?

Jer and Ithi nodded in unison. "Correct on all counts," Jer said with a smile. The pair grinned at each other, and hugged Seso back. "I cut it, obviously," Jer replied. "I wanted to do something different with it."

"And that's about as different as you can get," Ithi said teasingly. "It's good to see you again too, old friend," she said to Seso. "And I believe you mentioned that there was an adopted relative of yours in here?" Jer mentally ticked off the current occupants of the shop.

"That would be Aislin then?" Jer blinked. "How is she related to you?"

Laure, rather confused by now, headed up to the ceiling to float by Aislin. "It's safer up here," she muttered.

"Well, it looks like-" he managed stop himself before the word 'shrubbery' could slip off his tongue. He had clearly heard Arif's remark about 'tact'. "I like it better the way it was before." He gently tugged one of Ithiltari's braids.

"As for Aislin," he glanced up to the ceiling with a fanged grin, "that's another long story. The short version would be, that my foolish great-great-grandson once saved her life by not only forming a soul pact with her but also a blood bond, technically turning her into somewhat of a half-demon. And a family member. It's a very complicated situation..."

"While you are talking about me, old bat, you might as well get me down!" Aislin snorted. "Though it really might be safer up here..." she muttered under her breath, glancing to Laure.
A rainbow colored koi floated through the air next to her. "Or maybe not."

Arif was still pondering what kind of machine the strange Fandangle might have built. The digits on the display had now begun to move, slowly counting backwards. An alarm clock maybe?

Ithi stuck her tounge out at Jer, who rolled her eyes. "It's much easier to take care of this way," she said in reply to Seso.

"Great-great-grandson?" Ithi asked curiously.

"I'm guessing Luthe," Jer said with a nod. "And aren't soul pacts supposed to be complicated?" she asked with a laugh. "I thought that was one of the requirements for forming one. 'Must screw up everyone involved's life in some way.'" Ithi laughed.

"Rainbow colored koi is safer than down there," Laure said firmly as a butterfly winged one followed the first.

"We talked about this, didn't we?" Sesostris chuckled, but then his face quickly became serious. "In Luthenep's and Aislin's case it's unfortunately the sad truth. I didn't expect Luthenep to be capable of such powerful and complex magic at his age back then, nor did I notice his obsession with Aislin. You wont believe how much he messed up though - as I said the situation is... complicated. But hopefully I finally managed to set things in motion for a change."

"With other words, he meddled," Aislin mumbled. More and more koi in all shades of colors popped into existance around her and Laure. It was a spectacular sight, but the woman didn't really have eyes for it. Could it be... She always had been wondering how Daryl got to know about the Forge since he never left Earth. She was distracted in her thoughts though when a small weave sprocket floated up to them.
Must be Arif - his appearance changed, but the voice was the same, only that it seemed a bit more childish right now. But with what had been happening to the sprockets lately, that was only natural. At least she guessed it was.

"You," Arif said to Laure, completely ignoring Aislin for he simply didn't recognize her right now. "What is that? It's shiny, it has wires and cables and parts with colorful liquids. And a shiny crystal. And..." Damn, what else had been on that strange device? "Oh yeah, a display with numbers. It counts backwards. Could that be a time machine?"

"I'm sure they'll both appreciate that," Jer said dryly, knowing quite well how being meddled with had made her feel. Ithi chuckled.

"Mm. Seems he had the power to do it right, but not the knowledge," Ithi said, nodding. "Even if he had done it right, it would take a lot of work to undo. And if Luthe truly screwed it up, I don't even want to think about what's going to have to be done to fix the situation."

"...Counting backwards?" Laure said, wondering why she'd been picked to be an expert. "Um, I don't think it's a time machine," she continued slowly as she thought about what sort of devices counted backwards. "Where is this device?" she asked, trying not to panic as her brain thought 'BOMB!' in large, flashing red letters.

"I doubt they will," Seso replied, to caught up in his toughts to catch the sarcasm in Jer's voice. "Or at least Luthe wont. One of the biggest problems of that pact is the time magic he included to tie Aislin's aging to his and stopping his own aging. It's not much of a problem for Aislin," a loud snort could be heard from above, "but the side effects for Luthenep... Stagnation. Not being able, or rather unwillingness to change." He said solemnly, looking up to Laure. Yes, it would need quite some shock to crack that part of the spell.

"Over there, right next to the counter," Arif replied to Laure's question. "Some really weird Fandangle is tinkering with it, and if you ask me... Can Fandangles actually go nuts?"

Aislin moaned. Just when she had thought this day couldn't get any worse... Ah well, from this height she could probably let herself fall down without breaking anything. At least she hoped that would be the case...

"So, he has to be willing to change in order for the break to occur?" Ithi asked, arching an eyebrow curiously.

"It probably goes deeper than that," Jer replied, also looking up at Laure, who darted down next to the counter.

"It's entirely possible," Laure called back to Arif. "Depends on how they've been programmed and treated. Why?" she asked, looking around for the device.

"In a sense, yes. I'm not quite sure what, but something will cause him to finally want change. I'm 100% sure it's connected to your Fandangle though..." Curiously he followed Laure with his eyes. Was there something up behind the counter?

"Because, that Fandangle that built the device... I think it's not normal," Arif shouted after Laure, prefering to stay where he was. The ceiling seemed to be a nice place to stick around. That woman - she appeared strangely familiar to him - seemed to think otherwise though, since she just let herself drop to the ground. She even managed to land rather gracefully.

"Seso, I think now would be the perfect time for one fo your famous deflection spells," Aislin called out while hurrying after Laure. "There's a machine making a countdown, and somehow I doubt it's a cooking timer!"

"Laure?" Jer and Ithi echoed. "Granted, they are friends, but I wonder how much influence Miss Shiny has with Luthe," Jer continued.

"No one's normal," Laure called back mischeviously, still looking for the device and the Fandangle.

Jer and Ithi looked at each other and similtaneously rolled their eyes. "Wait. Countdown?" Jer's eye's widened and her tail flicked in agitation.

"I'd forgotten about that," Ithi said musingly, staring at Jer's additional appendage.

"Not now," Jer snapped. "Need to find the bomb. Or whatever."

"That's the point," Sesostris replied. "In a thousand years that brat never had a friend. Your Miss Shiny is quite special, it seems." Fascinated and not bothered too much by the mention of a mere bomb he stared at Jer's tail. When the hell did she grow that?

The strange green Fandangle was quite pleased with it's achievement. The machine... it was perfect. So shiny, so beautiful~! A shame that it would cease to exist in such a short time, but that was part of it's beauty.

"Found you!" Aislin called out triumphantly. But what to now? Mechanics, or technology never had been her thing... "Does any of you know how to deactivate a bomb?" she asked aloud.

"Kekeke..." the strange Fandangle cackled. "You wont be able to stop it in time..."

"She's just damn shiny," Ithi said with a laugh. "It's quite hypnotic." Jer eyed herself curiously.

"I'd say it's because she's so trusting," the other elf opined. "And oh-so-slightly naive."

"I don't," Laure said worriedly. "And Alden and Samira aren't here, so they can't warp time to before th ebomb was built. Or whatever it is they do."

"Seso!" Aislin called angrily. "Stop flirting and move yourself over here, and take care of this thing! I don't care if you teleport it away, or put a shield around it, or whatever! Just do something!!"

Sesostris sighed. "I'm sorry, Ladies, but it seems I have to leave you for a bit to take care of this. As far as I know nothing ever stayed dead in the forge, but I'm not too keen on testing this out myself." He gave both of them a nod and a warm smile, and then quickly walked over to Aislin.

"I'm not sure this actually is a bomb," he said, after looking a while at both, the fandangle and it's strange device. "I mean, the ones I saw, never were this... colorful?"

"It has a count down timer and lots of wires and cables, that's all the proof I need," Aislin snarled.

"It's the Inferrnal Machine," the Fandangle exclaimed happily.

"You hear him?" Aislin groaned.

"Well, since that countdown thing says there's still about 20 minutes left, why don't we just carry it out and let it explode somewhere far, far away?"

"Actually, it's morre like 20 seconds," the Fandangle commented. Both, Seso and Aislin stared. "The display doesn't show the corrrrect time." It did sound rather self-satisfied. "Fooled you~!"

Ithi and Jer chuckled, then followed him over. "We're in perfect agreement on that," Jer said. "Not only that, but I'd hate to have the shop explode, even though we're getting ready to move."

Laure had placed herself between Ithi and Jer, who had silently watched as Seso examined the device. "That's not very nice," Laure said reprovingly to the other Fandangle. "What if one of them could get you to your bonded? And then they exploded? Then what would you do?" Laure figured that since the glowy Fandangle hadn't been particularly keen on anyone in here, it's bonded had to be elsewhere.

"Well, Laure, what will you do if I die?" Jer asked, eyeing the device, and the Fandangle curiously. "I doubt the blast will affect you; Fandangles are very hard to injure, let alone destroy." Laure looked as shocked by the idea as she could.

"Why, I hadn't thought about it."

"My bonded likes explosions," the strange Fandangle replied dignified. "Ohhh, he likes them much, verry, verrrry much." Again that slightly insane cackle.

"Tsk, whoever your bonded is... If I ever meet him, I'll have a few words with him," Sesostris said absently, already calling upon his magic. A circle of protection around it first - a powerful one, better to be save than sorry - and then simply taking it into the shadows, where it could be explode without harming anyone...
"There, that should take care of it," he murmured, and stepped back a bit. Something like a small black hole seemed to open up right underneath the colorful device, black tendrils of shadow reached out to curl around it and draw it into the shadows.

"Whatever, I'm out of here," Aislin remarked and snatched the sprocket jar from the counter. "Not that I don't trust you- But you know what they say about 'save' and 'sorry'. And Murphy's Law." With her free hand she grabbed Elena, simply lifting the toddler up. "Look, there's lots of shinies in my hair," she said, hoping that would occupy her long enough to carry her out without too much yelling, scratches, bites and what else little kids might do when they were pissed off.

Sesostris did not answer, instead he was looking at the device slightly disconcerted. It was fully wrapped by the shadows now, but it did not move. "I hate it when the laws of magic go on vacation," he said. "I believe it is... stuck?"

"You still didn't answer my question," Laure said stubbornly. "What if you can't find your bond because you blew up the people who know where he is?"

Jer rolled her eyes and watched with interest as Seso attempted to make the bomb go away.

"SHINY!" Elena crowed happily as Ais lifted her up. "Have own shiny now," she continued, clinging to the Fandangle. "Is pretty?" she asked Ais, holding it out for inspection.

"That's not supposed to happen, is it?" Ithi asked, looking at the shadow wrapped thing. "Um. Now what?"

"Errrhhhh..." replied the Fandangle, deep in thought. "I don't believe I know enough varrriables to... Or maybe... Hm... OH!" it said finally in a cheery tone. "Since I know he loves explosions, he'll of course come here and find ME after this big bang." It sounded quite pleased with itself.

"Very pretty," Aislin muttered, glad that the kid didn't decide to pull on her dreads or something. "You know what," she said, while hurrying out of the door, attempting to keep the kid occupied, "if you are good girl for the next five minutes, I'm going to give you one of my necklaces, okay?"

"That's definitely not supposed to happen. And so far it never did." Intrigued he watched as the shadows wrapped around the device started to inflate slowly, starting to look like a big pitch black balloon. "And that also never happened, just in case you were about to ask. Just stay behind me... Laure, Arif, you two as well." Quickly he cast another shield spell, just to be sure, and still trying to resist the urge to poke that... balloon.

That damned green Fandangle did not, though. The moment it touched the balloon with it's - was that a tentacle? - the 'balloon' burst.

There was a flash of blinding light (not again) but not the expected impact nor a...
No, this wasn't the sound of an explosion. More like a deep heavy pound, like a giant's heartbeat, sending out ripples through- He stared. Yes, actually through the floor. Wow.
He staggered, almost lost his ballance. Ithi, was she...? He turned around, just in time to catch a last glimpse on how the two became one again, and to catch her from falling. He drew her closer to him and simply held her, watching in awe as reality around them appearantly finally decided to fix itself.
That weird Fandangle went first, being sucked into some sort of miniature portal. The broom finally came crashing down, and it rained rainbow koi - each of them shattering on the ground into shimmiering clouds of dust.
Finally things settled down, leaving nothing of the madness behind, than rainbow colored sparkling dust on the floor and Aislin's strange weapon laying where the 'bomb' had been.

"Now, that was quite a sight," he murmured and reluctantly let go of Ithil- No, she called herself Jerava now, for whatever reason.

"But what if he can't hear it?" Laure continued before being herded behind Seso.

"Necklace," Elena echoed, staring at all the shinies. Today was definently a good day for her.

Ithi had been about to reply, but then the bomb had gone off. Jer and Ithi fell towards each other as the floor rippled. A second flash of light, obscured by the first, indicated that they had once more become one being.

"Moot point," Laure said cheerfully to herself as she noticed that the other Fandangle was now gone.

Elena twisted around in Aislin's arms, looking for her shiny. The string was still there, but it had been abruptly severed when her Fandangle had disappeared through a small portal. "Want shiny back!" she cried, her luminous eyes filling with tears.

"Indeed," Jer said wryly, picking herself up of the floor. "I think I can do without ever seeing it again, though." Her hair was covered in dust, and as she attempted to brush it off, she noticed that it was no longer the short cropped hairstyle she'd been maintaining. It was now long - not Ithi long, but long enough that Jer could braid it, and loose. "Well," she said with a grimace, "Looks like someone else didn't approve of my hair either."

"Aw, don't cry, don't cry!" Children, she never quite got the hang of them. Sure, there was Luthe, but he only looked like a kid. "I bet it's just gone because it had something terribly important to do. Like, erh, finding a treasure for you. I do that all the time, searching for treasures. Now look, which of the necklaces do you want, mh?" Nervously she glanced back at the shop. The 20 seconds were over for sure by now, but no 'boom' yet.

"I..." Sesostris reached for a strand of her hair, gently brushing the glittery dust off. "I rather like it that way. Don't cut it down short again. Please."
He was still in awe that he had met her again, here, of all the possible places. Why the hell did his Sight never show anything that concerned him?!
"So, erh, how have you been doing?" He finally asked. "You've changed rather drastically since I last met you. Your appearance, changing your name and all that..."

Elena sniffed. "Find me more shiny?" she asked hopefully. She stared at Aislin's necklaces. "Blue one?" Elena said catuiously. There were rather alot. "And silver!"

Jer smiled involuntarily. "I have kind of missed the weight of it," she said wistfully, continuing to dust herself off. "But it was much easier to take care of when it was shorter."

Laure, in a fit of mischeviousness, unleashed a bunch of music sprockets, who had enthusiastically begun playing a romantic tune. The Fandangle was having quite the gigglefit, especially when Jer shot her an annoyed glance. Oh, this was going to be quite fun~

"Things got rather...complicated after I got back home," Jer said in reply. She blinked. "Oh, it wasn't right away, but eventually I just had to leave. Luckily I found my way here, and decided that maybe this was a second chance of sorts." The elf smiled ruefully. "I should have known that I couldn't escape my past that easily," she continued, smiling at Seso. "Not that I wanted to escape from all of it."

"Hm, that makes it kinda hard to know which one you mean..." Aislin put down the sprocket jar to free up her right hand and fumbled through the massive amount of necklaces she was wearing. Ah, there. "How about this one?" A thin necklace made of bright silver, with little star pendants in different shades of blue, turquoise and green dangling from it. "You like this one?" She put the kid down on the grass, hoping she wouldn't run away; and sat down next to her, taking off said necklace and offering it to her.
Hm, still no 'Boom'. She wondered what was up in the shop, but with Seso around there probably wasn't a reason to worry.
Seso... She frowned. She had overheard part of what he had told Jer, and she'd love to have a little conversation with him, preferably without his usual excuses and lies.

Sesostris had a hard time supressing his grin when the music sprockets started up. No wonder Luthe liked that Fandangle so much. Enough to... Ah, nothing of that now.
"Ah yes, the past... Well, a lot has happened on my side as well. My clan has even left the Citadel, but as usual, that's a long story." He chuckled. "So, you live here now? Where exactly? And what are you doing now, still exploring?"

Elena sat down happily, holding her hands out for the necklace. "Pretty!" she cooed, wrapping it around her hand. "Thank you!" she said, remembering the manners that Jer had tried to instill in the girl. Evidently, Elena had forgotten all about the 'mean lady' making all of the Celestial sprockets take a nap.

Laure was still giggling when she remembered that Elena and Aislin weren't in the building. Not that she was overly concerned about Elena being missing, but Jer probably would. Then again, this was far too entertaining to interrupt.

"Yes, I live here now. With Laure, Elena, and quite a few others," Jer said. "Well, not really here in Gaia. I'll spare you the more technical details, but suffice to say, I've created an ever expanding and changing house within a small dimension. It's merely anchored here in Gaia," she continued. "Ah, no, not really. I work for Moorgahaine. I'm, um, something of a secretary now."

"A secretary." Sesostris raised a brow. "I have a hard time imagining this. That sounds so unlike...you. But that you work here is great news, I'll be able to see you more often then." He smiled. In fact he had just decided to stop by the Forge as often as possible. "Unless... You'd like to invite me to your house? It sounds interesting, I'd love to see it."
Hm, something was still bothering him. "Say, Elena, is she your... I mean, have you...?" He looked down and fumbled with his signet ring, wondering how to ask that question tactful.

Jer twirled a loose strand of hair around her finger. "Not really. You never saw what I did when I was back home, as it were. Lots of clerical work interspersed with the odd exploratory mission," she said with a shrug.

"Luthe has a key," Laure said helpfully from the ceiling.

"And I don't have any spares on me," Jer said ruefully. "Well, if you can get Luthe to bring you by, I'll be sure to have one for you." Laure giggled and didn't mention that she usually had a few spares on hand. This was a great chance to see Luthe again~

"Ah, Elena. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but she appeared from a book," Jer said with a slightly baffled look. "Apparently, she was waiting for me, or something, and now I have to take care of her."

"A book." He shook his head and grinned. "That is so Gaia... And the main reason I'm staying the hell away from certain shops and districts here - wouldn't want to end up as the guardian, caretaker or something of... whatever."

He glanced at the giggling Laure, and raised a brow. She was hiding something, though he couldn't figure out what...

"I'll definitely look forward to visit you," he finally said. "I'd give you one of my logkeys, but I wouldn't want to break any wards or the like you put up. I mean, as you've apparently been hiding from gods..." Presents. He'd need to buy presents before he visited her. But what did she like, appart from her affinity with the moon? Hm, he could have Luthe ask out Laure.

"Should I help you clean up?" He looked around at the glittering dust. It was pretty, maybe something could be done with that?

"I hadn't thought about that," Laure said, spinning in the air. "Luthe gave me a logkey. Oh, but it should be okay, since the house knows to let him in," she said after a moment's thought. Jer looked at her Fandangle oddly. When had this exchanging of keys happened?

"Oh, I'll just get some Sprockets to clean," Jer said, grabbing a few Cleaning sprockets from her pocket.

"Must you do that?" one of them complained in a stuffy British accent. "We were just about to clean the kitchen for Miss Anli."

"Too bad. Clean the floor," Jer said, pointing. "Then you can go back."

Sesostris did his best to hide a rather satisfied expression. So the kid had given Laure a log key so soon? He sure was trusting her...

"Well, if you could possibly let the house know to let me in as well? If there's a shadow logkey already present I should be able to home in on it. If not... I'll just get Luthe to bring me over. It's not like that kid has anything important to do..."

He watched as the cleaning sprockets did their work (how had Ithi-, no, Jer managed to keep them quiet all the time?!) and then remembered something. Quickly he scooped up some of the glittering dust, and put it away into one of his pockets.

"I have to leave now," he said, regret in his voice. "Even though my clan has been exiled from Hell I still can't escape having to deal with politics there, it seems.
I'll see you again, one way or another. We'll have to talk, about Luthenep, and about her." He glanced over to Laure. "And..." he leaned forward, whispering the last hopeful words into Jer's ear, "possibly about us?" He brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss and then stepped back, a completely innocent look on his face.

"Bring Luthe," Laure chirped. "That way the house knows for sure that you're supposed to be there. Sometimes the computers and stuff are a little off." Oh, this was going to be fun indeed. Especially once Luthe was around.

Jer watched as the sprockets busily vacuumed up the dust. At least the Cleaning ones had been easy to retrain and keep amused.

"Um?" she replied, distracted. "Ah, politics," Jer continued with a grimace. "Thankfully, I managed to escape that." Her face brightened. "Have Luthe bring you by, anytime. If I'm not home, someone who can get ahold of me quickly will be," she said, smiling. Then he leaned closer, and a slight blush colored her cheeks. "Indeed," she murmured.

"I'd like to talk to Luthe anyway since the 'mean Lady' mentioned he picked up another... friend of sorts. I mean, no friends in almost a millenium, and now suddenly two?! That must be a sign of the coming apocalypse..."
Sesostris bowed, with a smile on his lips. "Farewell my Elven explorer. I'll let Aislin know that she can send the girl back in." He looked around, searching for his weave sprocket. Ah, there, weaving a... cocoon? "Arif? We are going."

"Aw, but it's not- Eh, don't look at me like that, coming, coming!" He zipped over to his bonded, but not without hissing at the cleaning sprockets to not dare and touch his creation.

Sesostris raised his had for a last farewell, and then he was out of the door, humming, and in an exceptionally good mood.

Reserved~Grand Reopening RP

Reserved~Dealing with Rasalus

Click the journal to view Jerava's journal as a thread. Warning: it is image intensive, which is why I put the images here as links instead.









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Nima tucked the tome that appeared with Mehiyal in her bag and double checked to make sure everything was there. "Nimmy, you forgot the boy!" Arilin pointed out, peeking over her shoulder.

"I did not forget him. He's not going to fit in the bag after all," she replied reasonably, clasping the bag shut. Upstairs, she rapped on Mehiyal's door and poked her head in. "It's time to go."

Laetior looked up and glared at her, but Mehiyal laid a restraining hand on his head. "We'll be back. Go get some exercise Tior." The pard grumbled, but padded out to the backyard as bidded.

Leading her son by the hand, Nima entered Jerava's pocket dimension, Arilin trailing after. Mehiyal looked at the house before him in awe. "Now we just need to find Jer somewhere..."

"You're it!" squealed a voice. The owner, a cherub like Serin, darted around to the front of the house, chased by what appeared to be an anthro reindeer.

"Vin, that's really not fair," he scolded, looking at the girl. "Divebombing heads is only legal when it's sprockets or cherubim only," he continued, looking at her firmly. The angel landed, her wings drooping.

"But you use your antlers to tag us when we fly!" she pointed out.

"Only because you oh so conveniently blunder into them," he said teasingly. She stuck her tounge out, then spotted Nima and Mehiyal.

"Oh! Ril, we have guests," she trilled happily, wings fluttering. She hovered over to Nim. "Obviously you aren't lost, since the gate let you in, but do you need some help?" she asked quizzically.

"I'm Paril," the reindeer said, coming up next to Vin silently. "She's Vinari." The cherub fluttered her wings in acknowledgement.

These must be more of Jer's children. Nima thought. "Nice to meet you. I'm Nima, a friend of Jerava's. And this is Mehiyal." The boy was still looking at the house, imagining what sort of things it held. Belatedly, he noticed Paril and Vinari. The girl wasn't much of a shock, he'd already meet Serin after all. Paril on the other hand...looked fascinating. He couldn't stop himself from gaping.

Nima smirked and whispered in his ear, "It's not polite to stare like that." He quickly regained composure, but kept an eye on the other boy. Turning back to the pair, she replied, "Some help would be nice. I'm looking for Jer, I've got a question I think she can help me with. Do you know if she's home?"

"Point for me," Paril said cryptically as he noticed Mehiyal's stare. "I think she's home, if we go inside, we can check for sure," he said with a bow, indicating with a wave towards the front door.

"I guess I'm still it then," Vinari said with a fake pout. "At least I can surprise the others that way," she added mischeviously, darting off towards the backyard. "Nice to meet you!" she chirped back at Nima and Mehiyal. Paril shook his head in amusement.

"Shall we go?" he asked, turning to begin his loping run towards the door.

"Sure. C'mon Mehiyal." She gave his hand a squeeze and started after Paril. The boy had spaced off again, so Arilin took it upon itself to wake him up.

"C'mon slowpoke!" the Fandangle urged, nudging the boy on the back of his head. "They're gonna leave you behind if you don't move." Mehiyal glared at him and followed Nima to the house, somewhat more sedately than Paril was running for the door.

Paril reached the door before Nimaina, and opened it for her. "Just wait here, I'll get someone to find Jerava," he said while waiting for Mehiyal and Arilin. "Did you want anything to eat or drink?" he asked. As soon as Mehiyal and Arilin made it inside, he let the door close. Grabbing a sprocket out of the small cloud that always seemed to form in front of the door, he told it to go find Jerava. A few of the sprockets detached themselves to examine the visitors, quickly dismissing Arilin as another Fandangle - there were two in the house and while a new one was interesting, people were better. A small halo of sprockets formed around Mehiyal's head, composed mostly of dream, hope, and faith sprockets. "Shoo," Paril said to them, swatting at one. "Don't you have anything better to do?" He was answered by various sprockets, in various langauges and accents, with a resounding no.

"No thank you, I'm fine. Mehiyal?" The boy wasn't paying attention. The moment he'd walked in the door, he'd been distracted by the sprockets. He was especially attracted to the dream ones. Nima ruffled his hair fondly; he barely noticed. "I think he's okay. " Arilin was quite put out by the sprockets behavior. Ignore it, would they? The Fandangle did it's version of a sniff and hovered closer to Nima.

Paril nodded and shifted in place while waiting for Jerava to show up. The dream sprockets, noticing Mehyial's interest, swung closer to his head.

"Hello!" chirped a voice from one of the other doors. There were three in this room - only one of which was opened. "I'm Laure, Jerava's Fandangle," it continued. The speaker came into the room - a three foot tall robot with a silvery base and bright blue plates on various parts of it's body. "She's in the lab right now, so I'm afraid we'll have to do a bit of walking to get to her, Laure continued apologetically. "Just follow me, and make sure not to touch anything. It might not be what you think it is," she finished cryptically, turning and heading back the way she'd come from.

Paril chuckled. "Hopefully you don't get lost," he said with a smile and a bow. "It was a pleasure to meet you all," the reindeer continued before heading out the front door.

Nima got a double shock. First was Laure's new form. Second, the way she introduced herself. It was one thing to hear that the Fandangle's memory had been wiped. Quite another to see it for herself. "H-hello Laure," Nima tried to keep herself from stuttering. "I'm Nimaina Sekan, a friend of Jer's. This is Mehiyal." She gestured to the boy, who was reaching out to the dream sprockets, murmuring softly to them.

"And I'm Arilin, Nimaina's Fandangle," the cog chirped. For a second, Nima though Arilin was sizing up Laure, taking great interest in her hands.

"I'm sure we'll be fine. It was nice to meet you Paril," Nima replied and reached for Mehiyal's hand. "We've got to go now." Mehiyal didn't move. He didn't even seem to realize she was there. Sighing, Nima scooped the boy up in her arms. Fortunatly he was rather scrawny. "Lead the way Laure." Arilin bobbed alongside Laure, making wide circles around the other Fandangle.

Mehiyal jerked in protest, then relaxed dejectedly as Nima headed after Laure. Sighing, he looked wistfully at the dream sprockets.

"I'm sorry if I've upset you," Laure said as they walked down the hall. "You must have known me from before, she continued somewhat sadly. "It's very nice to meet you Mehiyal and Arilin," the Fandangle said, cheering up. "Does Jerava know you have a Fandangle?"

"Yes, she does," came a dry voice from the doorway they were approaching. "You were there as well," Jer said, poking Laure.

"I was? Oh yes. That was when Rasalus arrived, wasn't it?"

"Something like that. Hello again Nima," Jer said to the other woman, nodding in greeting. "I assume you're here for that device I mentioned? It's down in the lab, come on," she said turning and going down the staircase. Laure followed behind, watching as the dream sprockets followed Mehiyal as closely as they could.

Laure waited until everyone was through the door before closing it. If anyone had looked from outside, they would have seen it disappearing into the wooden wall.

"Um...yes. A little at least." Nima sighed a little. "It's not your fault! You can't really help it after all."

Mehiyal finally noticed Laure. His eyes slowly widened as he studied her. She looked like a toy...but moved! "...Are you...like Arilin?" he asked softly. Noticing the dream sprockets were following, he reached out to them, murmuring softly.

"Hullo Jer. Yeah, Air's getting a little impatient. But there is one other thine I wanted to talk to you about." Nima replied, following her friend.

"Yes, I am," Laure said in reply to Mehiyal. "Just bigger and not a quite as circular," she added with a chuckle. The dream sprockets eagerly drew closer to his outstreched hand, nuzzling it as if they were kittens. Jer eyed them strangely.

"The only time I've ever seen sprockets do that is with Elena, but those were Celestial, not dream," she murmured quietly as they reached the bottom of the staircase. Making a turn to the right, Jer opened a door with a wave of her hand, revealing what appeared to be the largest jewelry box ever. "I wish he was here," Jer said, picking out a bracelet. "It's kind of finicky to tune," she continued, handing it over to Nim. "But that one should do it automatically." The elf blinked and looked at Nima expectantanly. "Well, what is it?"

Nima set Mehiyal down. He didn't notice at the point. He'd started petting the sprockets nuzzling him, talking to them softly in a rambling fashion.

Nima looked over the bracelet. She wasn't too sure how well Airden would go along with wearing jewelry. "If it doesn't, I'll bring him back here." She placed in her bag, making sure that it wouldn't fall out. She'd figure out some way to get Air to wear it.

"Well, it's about Mehiyal here..." She placed a hand on the boy's curls. Mehiyal brushed it off absentmindedly, still talking and petting the sprockets. "How did you come to care for Elena? I seem to remember you saying she came from a book."

The sprockets purred happily and continued to nuzzle at his hand. Laure chuckled and watched them, wanting to be sure that they weren't going to do anything too crazy.

"Yes, my darling star child," Jer said, rolling her eyes. "She did indeed come from a book. It asked me a question, I answered, some strange things happened that rival what goes on in the Forge, and then Elena was there. When she first appeared, Laure wanted to know if there was a way to return her." The elf chuckled. "Why?"

Nima stayed silent for a moment. Jer's description sounded awfully similar to how Mehiyal first appeared. "Well, Mehiyal came out of a book too. Pretty much the same way Elena did, I think."

The boy was softly murmuring praises to the sprockets and just barely caught the gist of Nima's conversation. "Wait...there's someone else...? Like me...here?"

"Maybe. Although Elena's not exactly like you," Nima mused.

"No one's like anyone else," Laure said softly, "I'm not who I was before, so I have to learn a lot of things. And it's hard to meet people I think are new, but who may have known me for a long time." Jer put a hand on her Fandangle's shoulder in reassurance.

"But, yes, if Mehiyal came out of a book located in a shop called the Stationary Store, then he's definently like Elena." Jer cocked her head at the boy. "Did you want to meet her?"

So he wasn't the only one. "Yes, I would. Please? No matter if she wasn't the same as him, she had to be better than some of his siblings.

"She's upstairs in her room," Laure said helpfully.

"Then we'll take you up there and your mum and I can get something to eat perhaps," Jer said with a questioning glance at Nima. While waiting for a reply, Jer began to shoo everyone out of the room.

"I'm starved. I'm sure we can whip up something or other," Nima said, taking Mehiyal by the hand. She felt rather like a sheep as Jer herded them out. "I'm afraid I don't know your house that well," she said once they were out of the lab. "So someone else is going to have to lead the way." The mage stepped aside to let Jer and Laure out.

"Well, Laure doesn't need to eat, so she can show Mehiyal up to Elena's room," Jer said decisively. "And then we can go eat." Jer moved past Nima and headed down the hallway to the left, while Laure closed the door behind her, and stood off to the right, a grand spiraling staircase visible behind her.

"Well little one," Laure said gently, looking at Mehiyal, "Let's go upstairs, yes?" The Fandangle looked at the Dream sprockets and called them over in the language of Dream. They reluctantly left Mehiyal and hovered close to Laure before dispersing to go somewhere else at Laure's instructions.

"Sounds good to me." She patted Mehiyal on the back towards Laure. "Just follow her, okay? And be nice to Elena."

Like I needed to be reminded, he thought. But he replied "Yes Mother," in his soft voice and walked up to the staircase.

As soon as the sprockets vanished he leveled a sullen glare at Laure. How could she! They were being nice...He tried to call after them softly, hoping at least one would stay.

"So what did you want to eat?" Jer asked brightly, her voice fading as she walked further down the hallway.

The sprockets danced momentarily closer, but left at another soft command from Laure. "Sorry little one," the Fandangle said to Mehiyal, heading up the stairs. "They have other things to do." At the top of the staircase, Laure checked to make sure Mehiyal was behind her, and headed down the hallway to the right. She stopped at a deep blue door, it's surface covered in markings that appeared to be constellations. Laure knocked on it, then opened it at some unheard signal. In the middle of the rather large room was a table, where a girl sat. She looked up at Laure's entrance and narrowed her blue eyes. "Elena, this is Mehiyal," Laure said, ignoring the glare, as well as the other Fandangle in the room. Laure turned to Mehiyal. "If you need me, or your mum, let Rasalus know and he'll come get me." Laure shot a warning glance at the shimmery blue cog, who rolled to the side in annoyance.

"I will make sure to do so with the utmost speed," Salus said unctuously. Laure eyed him warily, then patted Mehiyal gently on the head as she left.

"Are you going to live here too?" Elena asked wearily. So many people kept moving in and Elena didn't really want anymore to do so. The house was full, but Elena didn't know that it could expand and contract to fit the needs of the occupants - as long as Jerava approved such construction.

Mehiyal sighed in defeat. It was obvious they were going to listen to her before him. Mehiyal paused at the door, amazed at the constellations. He shook his head after Laure left, getting the golden curls to look a little less rumpled.

"...No..." he said quietly, stepping into the room. "I live with Mother." Much as he wished he didn't. Nima was fine all in all. But everyone else in the house... "Mother said you're...like me...?" he half said, half asked in his soft voice.

"That's good," Elena replied, warming up slightly. "Who's your mum?" she asked, then blinked when he asked his question. "Like you? Like you how?" she returned. Rasalus rolled to the side.

"Perhaps he means that he came from that store, like you," the Fandangle offered reluctantly, wishing that the boy would just go away.

"From the Stationary Store? Is that it?" Elena asked Mehiyal, while she wondered just how many other children had come from books like her.

Mehiyal nodded solemnly. "I think that's what Mother called it. The Stationary Store." The boy paused for a moment, thinking. After a wait long enough to bore any child, he said, "Nimaina's my mother. Your house is inside of her house...I think." He wasn't entirely sure how that worked, but it was fun to imagine how it could.

Elena tapped her fingers against the table lightly while waiting for Mehiyal to reply. "Oh. Well. Then yes, we are the same, she said in the longer pause between his sentences. If it wouldn't have been considered rude, the girl would have rolled her eyes at the slowness of the conversation. While not really a quick thinker, Elena preferred for her conversations, at the very least, to move along.

"It's a very boring explanation," Rasalus said dryly and somewhat derisively, as he disliked on general principle anything that Jerava had come up with. Except, of course, Elena herself.

Elena flipped her hair over her shoulder, it having slipped forward to pool on the pages of the book on the table she was sitting at, in a sort of 'well, now what?' gesture. "Do you like to read?" she said, at a loss for any other conversational topic.