Welcome to Gaia! ::

When her question was acknowledged, she pulled her arm down and listened to the other talk before nodding. So she had... to visit Tikal to find her ring? How did she get to her wonder? She looked over at Babylon and then back at Mistral before nodding. She'd figure this out at a later date, she supposed.

Her hands went back to toying with the hem of her skirt and then toyed with her own fingers before laughing. Okay. She could understand the expansion pack reference. Maybe she could ask Babylon about how to get to her wonder after this was all said an done. He seemed like the kind who wouldn't get impatient with such a newbie question.

"... You're both like sixteen-year-olds texting each other across the dinner table," Scholomance commented dryly as his gaze dodged between Hvergelmir and Mont Blonc. Endearing as it was, and slightly nerdy, he saw the use of it - but he wondered if it was still possible to send messages by hand. It must be so, for Hvergelmir sent him one not long ago. "Very interesting. Certainly a lot more practical than trying to send a message while your leg is getting dismembered." He recalled quite clearly how frantically he wrote in his own blood and sent the message off to Gehenna. He wondered, then, if it was even legible to the Mars squire. But, if he had the ability to simply call the man, would he still be alive? Perhaps the inadequacy of sending messages partially stalled Labyrinthite from simply ending him.

But before he could consider the thought further, Babylon made an appearance along with another knight of Mercury. This one looked terribly confused, however, and glanced about the place fairly skeptically. Scholomance took the hug well, though the vigorous patting assured him that, yes, he did still have bruises, and managed to flash Babylon a relatively unperturbed smile afterward. The newly-introduced page, Baikal, received a nod. Nis did as well, for she seemed a little shy. "Being a new page is quite fun, isn't it? It certainly makes demands of your suspension of disbelief."

Another Mercury knight announced herself, and he started to wonder if, perhaps, Mercury was one of the largest knight populations. "Scholomance," he returned to her.

Tikal, however, seemed put off by the whole affair. He thought better of speaking with her; while he understood the irritation toward serving someone who was absent from one's life (for, unlike Tikal, he had never met Saturn), the manner by which she dealt with it assured him that she was immature and personally affronted. Better to leave her for those who had the patience for such issues; as someone who lived in New York, he knew not to waste his time.

Lap proudly acquired, Scholomance slipped his jacket from his form (so that he may avoid touching Hver with the bones) and reclined to rest his head against her thighs. Mont Blonc received the other end - his feet were neatly propped upon his fellow squire's lap. Yes, this felt quite like home.

And he immediately started to doze.

The barking roused him minutes later, and he groaned against the warmth of Hver's legs at the interruption. Luckily Mistral kept the introductions short; interestingly she brought with her assembled upgrades for knight rings, as well as a software update. Scholomance decided against sitting up to address her as he felt much too comfortable where he was, so he hoped that no one looked for his voice when he spoke aloud. "How is your software update disseminated? Will everyone get a Windows Update message saying they've got to download and restart?" Secondarily, he was curious that senshi had a database. Just how much information was in there and available to use? And why not start their own?

His eyes went to his hands, barren aside from one solitary ring crafted out of an dark, foreign glass-like crystal. It was the only small token from the Negaverse he had left, and it was the one that was also the most dear to him for not just being a part of the Rift, but for being a connection to a knight he was forever tied to. He knew that whatever ring he got, it would not be up against that ring.

Finding his "wonder" sounded like a pain in the a** , and he hated the idea that such a vital tool was not present from the get-go upon conversion unlike the Negaverse and their crystals. It meant he was without way of communicating with anyone else (not that he KNEW anyone he particularly wanted to talk with.)

Information was still a key tool to being on any side, but as it stood, what use did he have at the moment for information on a fraction he already knew about? The only thing he would need to focus on was the movements of the DMC, but there was one pressing matter in the information process he was firmly against. Why were they so connected to the senshi? Did the knights not stand as their own fraction? He didn't want to fully update a database with years worth of personal knowledge to a fraction he despised.

Camelot's explanation left him raising a brow, unimpressed. "Well that was informative." He really didn't want to have to ask any questions during his first meeting, especially right after the page wearing his own colors (Great, they would be the Clueless Knighthood now for asking so many basic questions!), but he needed information more than he needed to impress a group of knights he hadn't met and probably would have tried to kill if he was wearing different colors.

He wondered how many here he had tried beforehand.

Raising his hand, he let out a sigh and decided to just go on with it. It was strange that the leader of this meeting wasn't some elite superior in rank or that Camelot wasn't in the front most rows. In fact, there didn't seem to be any highest members standing up front. The organization of this meeting rubbed him all the wrong ways. Where was the structure, the order, the clear division of ranking?!

"Why is the information database that you carry shared among the senshi? Do we not have our own, private information? Second, because it's hard for me to ignore this.." He pointed to the paper floating beside her. "….what is the piece of floating construction paper you call.." He made sure to use air quotes. "The Code."

Although she wasn't particularly worried about the nature of this particular Olympus meeting, Hvergelmir couldn't help the concerned expression that tugged at her features when Mistral finally called the meeting to order. A quick glance around confirmed a number of knights in attendance . . . but also a very large contingent of them missing.

Babylon would've mentioned if anything was amiss with Avalon, so she wasn't concerned on that score, but . . .

No Sarras. No Gehenna.

And then, worst of all: no Kairatos.

Hvergelmir felt guilt twist into a hard knot in her stomach and sink there. After New Year's, she'd felt weirdly embarrassed: for her parents' reaction to it, for her temporary homelessness, maybe for having survived, maybe just for a first date gone terribly wrong -- and she'd avoided Xanthus since then, or he'd avoided her. They'd each licked their wounds in private. She'd been too nervous to reach out, since then, afraid it would be awkward . . . but she'd always thought -- she'd assumed he was --

She'd assumed he was safe. Healthy. Okay.

Why wasn't he here?

Hvergelmir ran her fingers repetitively through Scholomance's smooth hair, grounded by his quiet breathing. She could worry about all their wayward knights after the meeting was over, she reminded herself. If she didn't pay attention, she wouldn't learn anything -- and a few minutes wouldn't make much difference. One thing at a time.

"A good question," she said quietly to Scholomance, not wanting to interrupt any of Mistral's responses. If the update was automatic, Hvergelmir could easily test it out now -- or Babylon, Mont Blanc, or Mimisbrunnr could. Maybe there was a dummy article in the database for them all to fiddle with.

Her eyes were as big as saucers as she was tackled with sudden affection, entirely unused to such things. It was only the fact that it was one of her own, a teammate, and that Bifrost seemed well... entirely unthreatening that the shy page didn't totally freak out. Instead simply blushing heavily and smiling nervously, quick to try and reassure Bifrost. "Oh, it's okay, it's not your fault. I have been really bad about communication myself." And patrolling. And being successful on the few patrols she did accomplish. But that was information that didn't particularly need to be shared at the moment, not as Mistral began to speak up.

As the meeting began she settled in among the group of Chronos knights and listened attentively, glancing down at her own ring curiously. A database was nice, perhaps she could be more prepared. Oh maybe even.. maybe this was something she could actually do and help with? Adding to a database of information...






Bimini was fighting with every fiber of his body not to socialize, knowing full well that if he began there was no way whatsoever he'd keep track of time well enough to leave. It just wasn't possible. He loved talking, and people, and friends and as he watched everyone he could feel the burning desire in his chest to bother the people he knew or burst into groups of strangers and just start making friends.

The barking of the dog, and beginning of the meeting, was a welcome distraction. A database wasn't of much interest to him - unless it was basically an address book of new people to meet (and maybe it was, because once he had their name he could always spam random messages). But the holographic instantaneous communication! How had he not heard about that before?! Expansion pack indeed, and like most good gaming expansion packs Bimini was already lining up for his chance at the upgrade, practically drooling.

The shape of the scroll shifted automatically, taking on a less concrete form; with no specific shape it simply appeared as an ever shifting mist. It did not seem to be satisfied not to have its own say, however accurate Mistral's cliffnotes might have been.

"I am the Code. I exist in everything, see everything. I observe the balance of everything. Light and dark. Order and Chaos," The mist replied, in a voice as ethereal as it was real. "'The Code' is a fundamental building block of the universe. An energy that flows through it like the blood in your body. Your wonders protect and are protected by 'the Code'," the mist said, taking the form of two hands mimicking Gevaudan's air quotes. "There are pieces throughout the Universe. In every corner. We are all connected."

It spoke nothing of Mistral's success or changes; that was not a platform for the Code. It was a time for her successes, her expertise, to be shared with the Knights. The Code had said its piece and simply fell silent once more. It did not take the form of a scroll again, and instead swirled around again in fluctuating colors of reds and blacks.

The news that, for once, this was an update to their abilities that knights wouldn't have to do further rooting around for was welcome indeed. Hvergelmir sighed in relief. Already, the trouble of finding their rings, finding their summons, demystifying their aspected magic, upgrading their rings and so on and so forth was a huge burden that created countless dangers for new knights. Being able to at least have this addition without painful legwork was a genuine boon.

Eager to test out the technology, Hvergelmir loosed her hand from Scholomance's hair and brought her fingers together. She touched her ring, concentrating on accessing the database, and soon enough, a series of layered holographic panes appeared for her perusal.

It did, indeed, look very much like wikipedia.

Absent any particular test page, Hvergelmir created one of her own. She titled it My Little Youma, and began keying in This is a test page. followed by 'My Little Youma' was a television show that ran from 1966 - 1968 and centered on a special wing-a-ling dragon youma named Trogdor the Burninator and the powers of his single beefy arm. It was canceled mid-season in 1968 after public outcries over the controversial 'thatched roof cottages' episode. Finally, she began idly typing in a block of standard Lorem Ipsum text, then pressed submit to upload her work to the database.

Moments later, a new holographic pane appeared, showing the product of her efforts.

"It seems pretty easy," Hvergelmir announced to the room at large. "I made a test page under the title My Little Youma if anyone wants a test space to try things out on. I figure if we have too many test pages, it might get cluttered and make it hard for people to find real information quickly."

Seeing Hvergelmir's test run of the database caught Glitnir's attention. He waved to her, hoping she could see him through the holographics, but he also noticed that she seemed to be already occupied with company. Too bad, he supposed. However, he actually had a bigger issue on his mind than the lovely Hvergelmir right now (shocker!): speaking of the Primer, Babylon had given him a very nice tutorial as he was starting out as a Page, and he had wanted to spread that knowledge ever since. Originally, he wanted this knowledge, a "Knight Primer" of sorts, to be a set of papers that got ringmailed around, but this database made everything so, so much better. SO much better! No finagling with papers, just access the database like a senshi would and bam, information.

This was going to be very, very important. Glitnir cleared his throat and called out to the others. "Sorry to interrupt, but there's one thing I'd like to bring up before we move on." He paused, then added, "Would anyone be averse to having a Knight Primer created on this database? I would start it up, and then everyone could fill in information depending on what I've left out or haven't covered sufficiently. The senshi have a Primer, and I feel it would be incredibly helpful for new Knights to have one as well."