Welcome to Gaia! ::

Athan was once again impatiently pacing around the shop. Reyna was tapping her pencil on her desk impatiently. He had finally stopped doing that after about a week, and now he was a nervous wreck again. It was getting on her very last, very thin nerves.

"What the hell, old man!" she finally said, slamming her pencil down, "What's going on that's got you so antsy?"

Athan stopped was he was doing and turned to look at Reyna with a worried look. For a moment she was truly concerned, but then what he said next derailed that tiny moment of empathy right in its tracks: "Bree is on her way for a visit."

"The cute fairy?" Reyna said with a look of confusion, "You mean the same lady I had lunch with?"

Athan nodded solemnly, twisting his hands together.

The demoness rolled her eyes outright. "The hell is wrong with that?" she asked. She nearly choked on her own words following that, but even she had was inclined to occasional bouts of honesty. "She's nice! Demanding, but otherwise nice. Why are you worried?" Now she was suspicious.

"We're going to my house for lunch," Athan blurted out, unsure as to why he was even confessing these things to Reyna of all people.

She stared at him for a long moment, head tilted to the side before a wide, toothy grin slowly broke out across face. "Oh..."

"Don't. Don't say anything."

"My."

"Reyna!"

"God. You have a date with her," she all but howled in an effort to contain her laughter.

Athan charged over towards the desk and lifted Reyna's chin so that he could force her to be serious for a moment. "Shut your mouth about it. She will be here any moment. Do not under any circumstances say anything to upset her!" he growled out.

Reyna grinned and made a zipping motion over her mouth, but she looked a bit too much like a cheshire cat for Athan's personal taste. "I'll behave," she insisted when he sent her another warning look, "I'll give you hell about it later, but I'll definitely behave in her presence."

"Thank Keloswyn for small favors," Athan grumbled, arms crossed as he moved back to his spot next to the front windows to watch for his guest.

He didn't have to wait long for his guest to arrive. While time did run differently at Bree's cozy little cottage set in perpetual dusk, and she quite definitely had her own idea of of 'a little while', she was always punctual without fail in the human realm. She slipped out of the back of the car while her assistant Becca held the door for her, careful to not come into contact with the metal itself. It was a little something few people ever noticed about her—she never directly touched anything that was made of iron.

She was still wearing her business suit, but she'd actually gone for a lighter color than usual today, with a hint of dusky rose here and there, and wearing out her favorite pearls. She quickly smoothed out her pencil skirt, even though she knew full well it looked impeccable, and waved Becca good-bye before she entered.

Athan inhaled as he saw Bree arrive and exhaled a bit raggedly as she stepped out of the vehicle. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so anxious. He felt ridiculous. Reyna snickering behind him wasn't helping matters at all, but he managed to pull himself together. If anything, he was excellent at remaining calm in almost any situation. He could certainly handle this. Or so he kept telling himself.

He reached for the door just as she arrive to it and welcomed her inside. "Good afternoon, Bree," he said smoothly. And before the demoness could speak up or cause him any grief: "I'm sure you remember Reyna."

He gazed over at her with a small smile. He really was fond of her. She radiated warmth and sunlight. He found it very difficult to look away.

"Good afternoon," Bree replied with a warm smile, "to both of you."

She looked at Reyna, who looked like the literal cat that ate the canary. She was trying to keep a somewhat straight face, but radiated way too much smugness and amusement to not be in the know of what was going on. Glancing back at Athan, she realized why. Goodness, that couldn't possibly still be the effects of the allure, could it? That should have long since worn off, and she was certain her abilities weren't slipping right now.

"Of course I do remember her—our arrangement has worked out quite satisfactory so far. For all parties involved, I believe. In fact . . . " Her eyes flicked down to the briefcase she was carrying instead of a clutch. There was one tiny bit of business she had yet to take care of. High heels clicking on the stone tiled floor, she walked towards the counter and placed a dark gray portfolio upon its polished surface. "This is going to be rather pricey," she warned, sliding the folder towards the demoness. "We can work out the details later."

And now that that was taken care of . . . She turned and beamed brightly at Athan. "Shall we?"

Athan shot Reyna a curious look, but the demoness didn't return his gaze. She was far to interested in the portfolio she had just been handed. He felt a wave of relief when she busied herself with it, and Bree indicated she was ready to go.

"Of course," he replied before extending his left arm to her as any decent gentleman would. He opened the front door for them and with his right he opened a portal as soon as they were outside.

One step through and instead of in the parking lot of Twilight Designs in Durem, they were in another realm entirely. There were no concrete buildings, skyscrapers, or pavement to be found. There was only one deceptively small house that was, of course, much bigger on the inside.

It was nestled among the shade of large pine trees that extended even further into a small forest. Aside from the grass, trees, and the occasional errant mirtoche vine, there was little else growing. Faintly, the sound of a nearby stream could be heard, but otherwise it was quiet.

The silence was broken by the front door opening and a silver haired young man stepped outside to wave. "Hello, Uncle!" he called.

Athan led Bree up to the front porch to introduce him properly. "This is my nephew, Holicinesh," he said with a nod.

"Hello," Nesh replied with a polite bow, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Madam." He turned back towards his uncle with a pleased look upon his face. "Tea should be ready in a few moments, and the table is set for lunch," he said, "I'm off to the library. So I'll see you later this evening."

He paused to bow once more before bolting off with a wave over his shoulder as he disappeared through a portal.

"Well, then," Athan said as he opened the front door to allow Bree inside, "Looks like lunch has been prepared for us."

The entrance was a long hallway that eventually opened up to a small living area that included the dining room and the kitchen. There was one door on the immediate facing wall on the left within a few paces of the dining area that looked as though it led to a cellar. To the far right there was a door within the kitchen that lead outside to a small garden.

The house itself was relatively tidy, and sparse as far as colorful decoration went. Most of the furniture were antiques collected from across various worlds. The more interesting of them, to include a few curio cabinets, where located within the library and Athan's study. Otherwise, it did not quite look like the home of a powerful magic user and was decidedly average in appearance.

'The tea is ready,' Hawk spoke up from the kitchen as he removed a small pot that had been steeping from the stove and placed it upon the dining table that was covered in plates of small sandwiches, chocolate sweets, and fresh fruit.

Bree wrapped her fingers around the arm offered to her delicately, albeit her grip tightened for but a moment when she stepped through the portal. It was wrought completely of shadow after all, so it took conscious effort to ignore her instincts screaming at her to keep away from it. It wasn't any worse, however, than sitting inside a car despite her strong aversion against everything steel and iron—something she did almost every day.

She curiously glanced about. This realm was so different than her little pocket of Faerie-set-apart-from-Faerie. It struck her how quiet it was compared to hers as the perpetual summer eve of surrounding her cottage was usually abuzz with the hum of insects and birdsong. But the air was fresh and clean, a blessing after coming straight from Durem. Given how chilly it was, and how gray the sky, this realm seemed to follow the timeflow and seasons of Gaia. Or perhaps it was coincidence.

She politely inclined her head to Nesh's greeting. "The pleasure is all mine, Holicinesh," she replied with a warm smile. For a moment she glanced up at Athan, quirking a curious brow. So, he had family after all? For some reason she'd been under the impression that was not the case. And the difference in age between the two, as far as she could tell, was immense. She kept her thoughts to herself for now, however. She could still poke him with questions while they had lunch.

There was a hint of a smile upon her lips as she took in the details of the interior of the house. It looked quite mundane, and definitely a bachelor's household, but she did pick up on powerful strands of magic here and there, that did seem to somehow meddle with some of the spatial properties—

Hawk's appearance startled her somewhat, the mouthless, noseless facial features of the shadow as always a little disconcerting to her. Like a mask . . . Yet he also had the air of one of her own kin about him.

So he was the one whose allure had been so troublesome.

"You must be Hawk," she said, inclining her head in a polite greeting.

'I am,' Hawk answered as cordially as he could muster as he placed the delicate tea pot onto the table. 'It's a pleasure to meet you in person,' he went on. It was only half a lie. He had been innately curious about the fae creature that had captivated Athan. The darker parts of him twisted together on the inside at how pleased Athan seemed to be that she was holding onto his arm. The Shadow faltered for a brief moment if only because he couldn't quite see where he was. He moved away from where he knew the table to be so as to avoid knocking anything over. 'I'll leave you both to your lunch,' he spoke up quietly, 'I promised 'Nesh I'd help him interpret runes from the scroll he's deciphering at the library.'

Really, he'd only kind of promised to do that. He'd said he might help, but he was beginning to feel immensely uncomfortable near Bree's sunlit filled aura. It was no wonder Athan found her so attractive. Earth thrived in light, not darkness.

"Thank you, Hawk," Athan said. He was at least mildly impressed the Shadow chose to assist with prepping lunch. He had a vague idea of how he was jealous, but he wasn't certain of the extent of it, nor did he care to know.

This made Hawk even more irritable.

'You're welcome,' he replied as he walked past both of them to carefully make his way towards the front door. He paused for only a brief moment, head tilted to the side as he caught sight of Bree. She was in fact lovely. That made it so much worse. 'Madame,' he voiced with a small incline of his head before drifting through the remainder of the hallway and disappeared through the front door like a pale ghost.

"Looks like we have the house to ourselves." Athan seemed to relax a bit now that Hawk was gone. They at least would have very few interruptions. The only remaining living occupants in the entire realm was the sassy, miniature-sized faerie that lived in the house, a tiny Shadow sprite that often accompanied her, and the occasional wyvvern.

He turned to face her for a moment and offered her a small smile. "Would you like a tour of the house?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," Bree replied, following the fiend with her gaze when he made his exit. "He's blind," she stated, her expression puzzled, once she figured Hawk to be out of hearing range. It struck her as odd that a creature made of pure shadow magic would have a disability like that. Also, she added in her thoughts, he's jealous. She sincerely hoped that wouldn't cause any trouble later on, knowing just how mischievous these shadows could be.

Hawk had become exceptionally good at avoiding Athan. He would linger at the shop when it was convenient, and leave as soon as he noticed his presence. He would all out flee if he happened to hear Bree's crystal clear voice. That had only happened a few times, and he still held an immense amount of disdain for her. His longing for Athan, much to his chagrin, showed no signs of slowing. It was quite the predicament he had found himself in. He kept himself busy to avoid thinking on it and spent a great deal of time off world. On occasion he would meet with 'Nesh at their favorite library, but only so long as he agreed to not bring up news of his beloved uncle. He really didn't want to hear it. His own mind tortured him enough.

It was in his time spent lingering over Reyna's shoulder to see her art and tinkering in the back room with Miranda and her remarkably active Shadow that he noticed an interesting trend of how information flowed through the shop. It came from customers and guardians, and on occasion quiet whispers between the shop staff. It was fascinating to see how it ebbed and flowed. And it was in listening to these interesting patterns of how gossip was traded about that he discovered that Nephrite was living on her own. It was a pity his sight was so moody. He would have warned her that poisoning Amaranthe wouldn't work in her favor. Really, had he known at all of her plan he'd have told her that. He did not need precognitive ability to know that. Especially if his small misdeed in aiding Mystic with a Halloween prank had been so fervently frowned upon. The fury that Athan most likely held for Nephrite had to be fierce.

Curiosity got the better of him, and he ended up wandering through the little district of town homes and loft apartments where Nephrite's apartment ought to be. He was especially interested in her well being after he caught a brief glimpse of her wearing ragged robes, hair in disarray, and sobbing in between boxes of her belongings. It was very un-Neph-like. He had never seen her look even remotely disheveled, and it concerned him. On top of that he was plagued by this strange nagging feeling of wrongness that he could not shake. He wasn't sure what was causing that, but it was a feeling that grew a little with each passing day.

So he found himself standing in front of a door that was only familiar to him thanks to brief flashes of his vision and a scribbled down address from Reyna. For the sake of being polite, he knocked on the door. 'Nephrite?' he called softly.

Hawk's brief vision of her had not failed him: If anything, Nephrite looked even worse of a mess than when Amon had left her after bringing over the last of her stuff. For most of the time since then, she hadn't even bothered to move, except to avoid the occasional beam of sun- or moonlight which made it through the ridiculously large windows even though the blinders were down and the heavy curtains drawn shut.

She was still wearing the same robes, never even having noticed the sleeves had been slightly singed at the hemline. She was also still wearing the same mis-matched earrings, and the dried blood of her guardian still clung to her sharp finger nails.

Only two of her boxes had been opened: One to vent her anger and throw stuff after her guardian upon his leave, and the other to retrieve at least some of her pillows and comforters and build herself a little nest in the darkest corner she had been able to find.

To unpack anything more than that, in her eyes, was to admit defeat.

Her head perked up when she heard someone knock against her door, her luminous eyes wide with hope before she recognized the mental voice and her petite figure slumped.

'Go away,' she said glumly, melding with the shadows to flee and hide underneath her nest of blankets. 'I don't want to see you. I don't want to see anyone.'

'Oh Neph, dearest,' Hawk said sweetly as he phased through the front door and carefully navigated his way around the stacks of boxes. 'I was just being polite by knocking. I wasn't asking for permission.'

He paused in the middle of the room where he sensed her presence to be. He truly couldn't see what was going on around him, so he stayed put and casually leaned against a stack of boxes.

'So, I heard what happened. Thought I'd come check on you to see how you were doing,' he told her in honesty, 'It's rather interesting that neither of us are on good terms with Athan currently. I was not so fortunate to get an apartment out of the deal, however.'

'Go away,' Nephrite repeated, crawling even deeper into her hiding place—if that was even possible at all—and a shadowy arm emerging for a moment to pile a pillow on top. Yet there was no escaping or ignoring Hawk's mental voice for her. Screw telepathy, sometimes it was just plain inconvenient. Like now.

Her curiosity was perked, however, when he mentioned he was in a situation not unlike her own. 'So what did you do?' she asked, assuming he already knew everything there was to know about what had gotten her kicked out and in trouble with Athan. Everyone knew, she assumed. Because, of course that had to be the reason no one had come to visit her yet, even though she'd always been so nice to them. Because everyone now thought she was a horrible person, even though she'd only tried to keep her guardian safe. With a little bit of vengeance on the side. Amaranthe had most definitely deserved the pain she'd gone through, even if she hadn't died in the end.

'I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to repeat this information to anyone,' he replied with a smug look, 'And you must come out from underneath the pile of blankets you have there.'

Surely that would be enough to lure her out. His eyes widened slightly but he stifled the surprised expression before she had emerged from her little pity party she was holding for herself. She look far more a mess than he had previously seen. She was certainly more of a wreck than he was, but he also hadn't necessarily been banished. His was more self imposed since he wanted nothing to do with Bree. He was sure that he could find a way to get back into Athan's good graces, he just wasn't sure what the right course of action would be.

He paused for a moment with the realization that Nephrite probably thought the same thing. He refrained from snooping around into the future to find out. He didn't think he could lie about something like that. Instead, he seized a brief moment to spot where the bed was and moved to sit next to her.

'I'll have you know that I won't be leaving. Not so soon,' he said with a certain amount of smugness only a seer held when they knew precisely what future they had stepped into.

'Fine then,' Nephrite grumbled, giving in. Reluctantly, she emerged from her hiding place, her colourful blankets still wrapped about her like some fantastic layered hooded cloak. She was starting to realize what a mess she had to look, but then she recalled with a feeling of relief that Hawk was actually blind. Good. That made it somewhat tolerable to have him around despite her current state.

'You are annoying,' she declared. In secret, though, she was glad that someone had come by to see how she was doing, and Hawk's presence was definitely preferred over that of most of her kin or their guardians. She didn't think she would have been able to deal with Miranda's cheerfulness, for instance, or Rutie's hyperactivity. Not without giving in to the urge to try and and drive her sharpest hairsticks into their eyes.

'So. What did you do?' she inquired once more, blankets slipping off her tousled hair as she moved to settle next to the elder shadow.

'I've been called worse,' he answered. He regarded her for a long moment before heaving a quiet sigh at her inquiry. He struggled for a moment, unsure on how best to explain his current situation. 'Well,' he began slowly, 'I have been living with Athan since my guardian disappeared. And, well... I am quite fond of him, but he does not return those feelings.' He officially felt ridiculous confessing this to her, especially since he couldn't precisely come to a conclusion as to why his feelings for him were so strong. 'And as it turns out, he's acquired a lover most recently, though to be honest, it was she that acquired him.'

He had to chuckle at least a little bit at that point. He had resisted initially, but her allure had been too much. Both figuratively and literally. It was disappointing he could not properly control his own allure. Perhaps it would have worked out better in his favor.

'So long story short. I don't care for her, I said as much to Athan and he basically told me to stop meddling in his affairs and indicated that I was free to leave any time I liked if I didn't appreciate the company he kept,' Hawk explained. He huffed a bit, tail twitching to a fro before allowing himself to fall backwards onto the bed from where he sat with a noise of indignation. 'Rather ridiculous isn't it?'

'Oh,' Nephrite said, her disappointment filtering through. She had been expecting something with a little more drama? But it was . . . just that.

Ah well, there were still some intriguing tidbits to be gleaned from this. That Hawk liked Athan that way was actually news to her, and she'd never been aware Athan wasn't really his proper guardian. Plus, Athan had a lady friend now? That was so hard to imagine, especially now that she'd faced the full intensity of his anger. She was still shell-shocked by this, all her attempts to reconcile the image of this shadowy creature—seemingly more monster than man—with that of the nice shopkeeper who'd been doting on her so far had been in vain. Just thinking of it immediately triggered a flashback of him reaching into her, gripping her stone . . . She couldn't help but shudder. She wondered if his lady friend knew how scary he could be.

'It is rather ridiculous,' she conceded, slightly amused. She reached out to pet Hawk's tail, which was incredibly soft and silky looking, only for her hand to come to a halt mid-movement when she realized that some of her guardian's dried blood was still baked to her sharp nails. Gross.

All of a sudden the urge to soak in a nice hot bubble bath, and to get her appearance back in order, was quite overwhelming. She hadn't even unpacked the things for her bathroom yet (except for the perfume bottles she had smashed against the emergency exit in a fit of rage), lest alone anything that ought to go onto her vanity, or any of her robes even. This was embarrassing. And rather ridiculous too. If she could have, she would have smiled a little.