Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Well... W-well if you say so." Aphi couldn't believe he was the one who needed comforting. He should be the one being all big brotherly, all "dontcha worry, little fellah!"... instead he was shaking in his boots and falling down stairs. He attempted to grin. It looked more like a grimace. "Umm... You sure it's not like, scary ghosts?"

"I saw one," Rivener piped up out of the blue. "I woulda got a nice picture of him too, if you hadn't scared it off with your ungodly racket."

Aphismet stared at Riv with wide eyes. "No way."

"Yeah. He was a cute lil kid. Just stared at me with as much astonishment as you're doing... I figure he never saw a half-person before." Rivener's smirk was dry and humorless.

"How many ghosts are there? Do they do anything fun?" Rivener asked, too interested in the topic to bother being curt with Isi. For the first time since the boy had come to live with them in the other apartment, Rivener's voice held no venom, his eyes didn't glare.

Taking out his camera, the Frei clicked a few buttons until the failed picture showed up. He proffered it to Isi and Aph. "Here, see? That streak of light there is when the ghost ran off, just as I took the pic. I can't use this picture cause the streak will easily be dismissed as some tampering... But you guys know I didn't tamper with it, so it's fine." He pointed out the little light streak as he mentioned it.

Aphismet was calming down slowly, and although the prospect of living in a haunted house made him uneasy, Isi seemed to have no problem with it so... "How do you know other ghosts aren't being drawn here? Other scary ones might show up..."

"Stop being such a sissy, dammit!" Rivener barked. "Act like an adult!"

Aphismet could only blink in startlement. He lowered his eyes shamefully. "You're right, I'm sorry... We'll be fine." He didn't mean the words at all, but as long as he said them, it didn't matter.

"Wow, so many!" Riv whispered to himself, staring at the camera's LCD screen and running a finger along the panel. He slowly grinned to himself. "I'm going to get a picture of each one!" He promised himself.

"Uh..." Aphismet listened uneasily, and when Isi claimed it might be as easy as attempting an exorcism if new scary ghosts arrived, the poor chef almost fainted. "D-do we even know an Exorcist?" He muttered to himself, wringing his hands.

Isi's sudden gasp startled Aph, who almost jumped out of his skin. Damn! All this talk about ghosts... "Fifteen minutes?!" Aph whined. "We're never going to make it on time... I hope they don't mind us being a little bit late..." And secretly, Aph hoped Chloe would be there to give Isi his Raevan.

Riv sighed and frowned. Great. Time to go get The Other One. Rivener was almost sure he would despise this new Raevan as much as he hated its keeper. Still, Riv floated down the attic stairs, heading for the truck outside. "Let's go, then," he called bitterly.

"You're coming?" Aphi asked, surprised, following.

"Of course. Roux might be at the Lab."

"Oh. Right. C'mon then, Isi, let's hurry up!" Aph waited at the bottom of the stairs, making sure Isi didn't trip and fall in his hurry to get to the truck.

Rivener had floated into the truck quietly, followed by Aph who turned the key and rumbled the large truck to life. He smiled reassuringly at Isi. "Don't worry; everything is going to be fine." Or at least, he hoped... If Isi's Raevan turned out anything like Roux or Rivener... But no! Best not to think like that. Isi was an adorable kid, surely his Raevan would like him.

Smiling, Aph backed out of the house's driveway, and headed towards town. They would arrive at the Lab in roughly thirty minutes if the traffic wasn't so bad... Aph truly hoped he wouldn't make anyone angry by being late!

"If they get mad at our lateness, you can blame me for it," Aph offered.

When Aph pulled in to the Lab's parking lot, he breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't too late, and driving through city traffic while trying to answer Isi's questions was a little dangerous... Now they would be safe. For a minute, Aph had been worried; he wasn't used to driving such large vehicles!

Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed anything was wrong with his driving skills. "Here we are!" the man said cheerily, opening his door and waiting for Riv to slip out before closing it.

Aph walked up to the glass doors, Rivener following closely, both of them hoping to see a certain pair. The doors whizzed open before them automatically.

Both Aphi and Riv were glancing around, Aphismet more covertly than Rivener of course. Both were dissapointed to find no one at the front desk.

"No one's here," Aph declared, stating the obvious. "Who were you supposed to see about your Raevan?" He asked, turning to his little brother to ask this.

Rivener pouted and took out his camera. He'd wanted to get a picture of Roux, but just his luck, the icy Frei wasn't here. He could at least get a picture of the inside of the Lab... He didn't have one of those yet. Lifting the camera, Riv framed the front desk prettily in the screen, and pressed.

Flash!

"Oh? Chloe?" Aphismet brightened slightly at the mention, but tried to look uninterested. "Maybe she's in the back somewhere. I do seem to recall a bell..." Walking over to the desk, Aph glanced around. "Pamphlets... Sign-in sheet..." Aph peeked at the sheet and noticed Dr Kyou's signature, Dr Tsu's, Chloe's, and a Ray Kit... Aph had no idea who this last person was. He thought he knew all the staff, but then again, there might be people working behind the scenes...

"Well, Chloe's in the office somewhere," he announced. "She's signed in... Ah, here we are!" He grinned, throwing his hands up in victory, spotting the tiny metal bell. He slapped it smartly, sending a clear resounding TING echoeing through the Lab. He winced at the loud sound. "Wow, that was a bit stronger than I thought it would be," he whispered.

Rivener was wandering about, and ended up at the couch where he had sat with Roux that one time. Smiling slightly, Riv decided he would just sit here and wait. Either Aph and Isi would come back with the New Raevan, or Roux would happen by. He would only sit here and wait.

Rivener blinked in surprise. A Frei! One he'd never met! He idly wondered if this one was Isi's... Riv had no idea how many Raevans were here at the same time, so this might not be Isi's. It was a strange concept. Was he, wasn't he? How should Riv act towards this one? He'd already decided he would hate Isi's Raevan, but this might not be it.

Ah well, he could only assume that a new Raevan would be in Chloe's care, so this one must not be Isi's. It's probably someone else's who lives here in the Lab.

"Hello," Rivener said back in his mellow voice. "Who are you?"

Aphismet shrugged at his brother's question. "I dunno, there must be tons of things for her to do, she always seems to be so busy... Maybe she's helping out in the Lab?" He tried to spy over into the Lab area, as unaware of the Raevan interaction as his younger charge was.