Welcome to Gaia! ::

The fur on the back of Graymalk's neck fluffed slightly. Cats didn't strictly have ESP, but he could tell when someone was focusing his or her attention upon him this intensely. He continued reading, but telepathically contacted Rachel through their Pactio.

Be careful, Rachel. Someone's watching. Without giving anything away, I want you to hand me the list and a pen so I can obscure it. You'll be able to read it, but no one else will. We can discuss the contents this way. It's unlikely that anyone will figure out what we're doing from that list, but it's best to be careful; surprise is a key here.

Rachel turned her head away from the girl that was observing them just briefly, flashing Graymalk a look of acknowledgement by blinking her eyes meaningfully. Setting the papers face down in front of her, she pulled a pen out of her backpack, setting it on top of the list and pushing them both in Graymalk's direction. She covered this by making it look like she wanted to move her tray closer to her as she took another bite of spaghetti. Watching Graymalk out of the corner of her eye, she continued to eat quietly.

That man had called Rachel a mouse! How rude! His catly sensibilities offended, Graymalk briefly considered sending a hex in his direction, or at least sending one of the local spirits to haunt him for a while, when Rachel passed him the list.

To be honest, Graymalk was a bit annoyed with himself as well. If he'd been thinking, he would have disguised the list as something mundane earlier, but it was too late for that now. Taking the pen in his teeth, Graymalk scrawled an elaborate pattern on the back of the page, intoning a brief spell which included Rachel and himself and excluded all others. He would come up with a better disguise later, but for now anyone other than the two of them who looked at the page would be unable to equate the letters and words they saw there with the sounds and meanings they represented. The letters themselves wouldn't change, but the person looking at them would have about as much idea of what they meant as an illiterate trying to read Oggham.

OK, Rachel, the spell's in place sent Graymalk. It's not perfect, but the list should be safe for now. Read away.

Graymalk thought about that for the moment. Do I need it all? Well, that depends. A kid with a chemestry set and an encyclopedia can blast open a safe, but he's a lot more likely to blow off his own hand, and that's if he's lucky. That list contains stuff that's been used in situations like this before. Some of it's for opening the portal, some of it's for pulling Jill out, some of it's for keeping everything else in, some of it's for closing the portal, and some of it's for killing anything else that gets loose along the way. Most of it does more than one of those things, of course. I don't really expect us to get all of it, but we're gonna need a hefty bit if we're gonna have even a reasonable chance of succeeding. By this point Graymalk's food was finished.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure that all but the most esoteric things on the list can be found right here on Ria's campus. If you have any questions about the ingredients, I'll be happy to explain them; otherwise, I'm ready to go whenever you are. Don't get me wrong, humans are fine, but crowds of them make me nervous; you never know when they're going to stampede.

Graymalk paused a moment. Oh, and thanks a lot for the food. It was excellent.

Rachel gave a short nod, enjoying a little inward smile at Graymalk's explanation of the ritual - it was really a pretty good analogy, she thought. Very appropriate to describe the huge amount of potential danger she'd be getting herself into. Shaking her head momentarily, she mused on the fact that a mere month ago, she would never have agreed to such a massive undertaking like this, letting Graymalk listen to these thoughts as well. It was sort of her backward Rachel way of saying thanks for opening her up to a whole world that she never knew existed outside of her books. Finishing up her food, she packed away the list in the scroll case once again, putting it back in her backpack, which she then slung over her shoulder. Noticing that Graymalk had finished as well, she picked up the plate and carton of milk from next to him, placing it on her tray and taking her garbage to the trash cans.

Okay... we can talk about this some more later, Rachel suggested, still speaking through her mental link. It's been kind of a full day, so I think we should call it quits for now. I'm heading home to relax a little. We'll catch up soon.

With that, she started toward the door, motioning for her feline companion to follow her if he felt so inclined. Shaking her head a little, she continued thinking of the various events of the past few days, still half-wondering if she was asleep and dreaming somewhere. It all seemed a bit too surreal. But that was musing for later.

Ame flopped down, getting about as much of the ice cream on her face as she did in her mouth. When she was finished she quickly wiped it away and began to gaze around the room.
"I want more friends!" She said, tugging at Lancaster's shirt. "Lets get some!" She cried, partially pouting. she pointed at the various people. "Everyone else is so much bigger than me!" She sighed, casting her head down. "I've always been the smallest person"

((O_O; Wow, theres someone smaller than Ame. Thats a rare occurance. Most characters are taller than 4'0))

Ame's eyes grew wide when she noticed Ria. She stood next to her and marveled that she was actually in fact a tiny bit taller than the other girl.
"Lancaster-kun!" She gasped, grabbing his arm. "Shes shorter than me!"
She jumped happily infront of Ria, who had brown hair and purple eyes and was very busty.
Ame grinned merrily. "I'm Ame!"