Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cas had spotted her earlier on in the tour, and something about that blue dress of hers and made him decide to talk to her whenever the moment arose. Now, it seemed, was as good a time as any. He watched her straighten out what looked like a perfectly unwrinkled spot on the dress, and came up beside her, sliding into place just as she straightened up.

"They don't skimp in this place, do they?" he said, mouth curving upward in that somewhat rakish smirk of his as he glanced sideways at Rose with steely gray eyes. Stark, was what you could call them, which was fitting considering who he was. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

He had a theory that any organization that was willing to spend on its people had to know it was going to get exponentially more from them in return. Which could be both good and bad news, depending on the organization. And depending on which side you were on.

She could have let the question go, but it was close when there'd been no one close before, prompting her to turn her blue eyes over and up to meet the grey ones on her. If there was one thing Rose noticed, it was that the Powers That Be seemed to have excellent taste in their Chosen, and this man was no exception.

His smirk was returned with a smile and a soft sound of mirth. "I suppose if they're selling the Villa of the Gods, they can't afford to skimp." Her eyes pulled away to flit over those speaking and the kitchen they stood in, knowing a few chefs that would have given their eye teeth just to stand where she was. "If we must leave our lives behind, this is not an unwelcome alternative."

Turning her eyes back to her new companion, she offered a hand. "Rose, Chosen of Apollo." She laughed, light and understated. "It almost rolls off the tongue, but not yet."

"I guess gods wouldn't need to skimp," he agreed with a thoughtful nod. Recruiting fresh-faced rookies was never easy, and bribing them with a beautiful campus and A+ food seemed as good a tactic as any. The military could take a page out of Prytaneum's book - if the military was run by gods and wasn't a bureaucratic government institution. This? Clearly not the same thing.

"Apollo knows where to look for inspiration," Cas commented, shaking the proffered hand. Something about the way she carried herself. "Are you poetry? Music? Light, maybe." His eyebrows lifted, widening his eyes in earnest mirth.

He might have been coming on too strong for the occasion or for his generally casual intentions, but it came to him as naturally as breath. Flattery was its own form of praise, wired into him over the years from many a casual encounter. Then again, he was surrounded now by people who would likely end up living in fairly close quarters. And maybe he'd realize that one day, but for now, he was apt to carry on.

"Cas. Poseidon," he added, one ear listening for the questions and answers being exchanged around them.

"You got booze?" a deep voice asked from the back. Caleb still stood with his arms crossed and hoodie up. He can make friends later, if it interested him. He then returned to his preferred mode of silence.

((Despite his distanced demeanor, he's open for interaction upon approach!))

Sylvia was mostly keeping to herself somewhere near the middle-back of the crowd, short enough to be unassuming and somehow, despite missing a memo about wearing black and instead opting for a floral skirt and blue top, blending into the crowd. She was in observation mode, still feeling somewhat detached from everything going on around her given how fresh and… well, frankly, unbelievable it all still was. She couldn’t deny that she was here, that this was happening, that life as she knew it was forever changed, but she would be trying to wrap her head around that for a while, she thought. She had always been fairly open-minded, but there was something spectacular about finding out that the Greek Gods and Goddesses were not only real, but now somehow intricately involved with her life.

The Assembly Hall was interesting enough, a nice outdoor space, though she wasn’t sure how she’d feel about trudging through snow and sitting in the cold to watch any shows or receive any news in the winter – she supposed she would figure that out when it came to it. It seemed straight-forward enough. Though, while gatherings seemed easy enough to coordinate, ‘Announcements’ seemed vague… She fought inwardly with herself about whether or not her question was important enough to draw attention to herself, but gave in. “How will we know when we need to gather here for information?” Maybe the answer would be obvious, but it couldn’t hurt to ask.

Their next stop was a bit more interesting, in her opinion – food was important. Sylvia wasn’t great at preparing food, but she was a big fan of eating it. She was happy to hear a promise that the food would be ‘gourmet’ – she wasn’t exactly one to judge, but she’d be quite pleased just to find it ‘good’ and above what one might expect from a cafeteria/summer-camp-esque facility such as this. As they neared the actual kitchen, a grin broke out across her face at the delicious smells wafting through the space. Her eyes looked around at the dazzling appliances as well – she wasn’t good in the kitchen, but she might have to try anyway with how nice this space was.

[ I'm a bit late to the party, but Sly is up for conversation if anyone else is interested~ I'll do my best to promptly respond. <3 ]

"I'd be more than pleased to!" Osmond said to Mathilda, the mirth in his tone apparent. Just the talk of food winced a low, stray gurgle from his stomach, but he tried to conceal it beneath a chuckle.

Again, his mood brightened at the prospect of gardens in his respective dorm; at least he didn't have to travel far to obtain something fresh. Not that he was a purest—far from it, supermarkets had their uses—but nothing compared to the fresh crunch of a cucumber plucked straight from the vine.

"Well, then," he said, looking to the front of the tour group this time. "I know where I am spending most of my time." With a community project also an option, Osmond was sure to find himself there, too.

Yet, this satisfaction was brief. In the span of a moment, the mention of family reeled back the reality that he wasn't there with Ellie, and his smile wavered just a tad. He looked to the man who asked, noting that he wasn't the only one in the older range of individuals there, and echoed his sentiment.

"Ah, I'm curious as well," he pressed lightly, looking to find comfort in the notion. "Anyone with family here? Must be a bit of a shocker to find out you're both not hearing voices." To Rodney, he introduced, "Hey, hi there, Osmond Rosalind, Demeter chosen. Strange crowd when most of them are young, huh?"

Glass Pomegranates

and be blue

Toshihiko Two

Jan grinned at Rodney, still finding his question amusing, though he couldn't explain why. The fact that there was an underworld didn't seem to bother him all that much, but it could also have been because he either didn't believe it was true or didn't intend to die in the first place. "It was just out of left field." he said with a playful grin.

Mention of family made him realise he'd been meaning to ask about his own family.

"What is the policy on pets?" he said, rather grim at the prospect of time spent without at the very least Houdini for company.

As he was nearby, he overheard the comment and introduction from Osmond and listened in. "Voices?" he asked, curiously.

"Me personally? Yes, I keep a first rate stock, that you absolutely are not invited to share." There was a grin again, a flash of Max's teeth. "But if you ask around very nicely maybe someone will be more generous. And there will be wine at dinners, courtesy of one of our patrons."



"When you need to gather either in the Assembly Hall or anywhere else on campus, you'll know. The how will depend on the urgency, but likely it'll involve people running around and shouting at you."



"I've seen siblings in my day. A mother and her daughter. It's certainly not unheard of for multiple members of the same family to be Chosen -- certain talents do run in blood. I'm not sure if you're asking a more specific question than that, though..."



"Generous. We have stables for large animals, and if you're so lucky to have had a horse out there, I'm sure Poseidon would be only too happy if you brought it here. Other large animals can also be kept in the stables. As for the rest -- I mean, your rooms aren't huge. But small animals are more than welcome, so long as you're willing to take care of them."

But she paused a little, tipping her head like she was thinking.

"And if you need to go out for any reason, I'm sure that the ladies in the Artemis dorm would only be too happy to take care of your beasts, short term."