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It was fairly early on a Saturday morning when Mena placed the call to Seth--she'd asked him about babysitting forever ago and the time had finally come to ask him to do so for real. Even if Eli and Phoebe had been getting on better recently, she wanted to make sure Eli wouldn't let the little jellyfish girl go play in the pool by herself or anything. Not that Phoebe was capable of drowning, but...Mena shook her head. Trivial things. A child needed supervision and she had reservations about Eli's abilities to supervise alone.

She passed on the fairly standard information--come over around 11 AM, and if it wasn't too much trouble could he stay overnight in the guest bedroom? She had to leave before then, but Eli would be able to show him where everything was.

Eleven o'clock came far too slow for Eli's wanting, though...left alone with Phoebe for almost an hour, they'd mostly sat in the living room--Eli with a leatherbound ancient looking tome, Phoebe with various dolls and stuffed animals--but what was making Eli nervous was that Phoebe was eyeing him with a certain sense of anticipation. He was so spooked that he nearly jumped half a foot when they heard the doorbell.

"Race 'ya~" Phoebe said, using her multiple tentacle-legs to gain a considerable advantage against the kuppy--unless he "cheated" and used his inhuman speed.

Seth had nearly forgotten about Mena's earlier request that he help babysit; it had been such a long time since they had that conversation after all. However, a promise was a promise, so Seth was obliged to agree. In any case, it would at least give him a chance to visit this famous "cottage" of which he had heard about so frequently.

He followed the directions given until he reached the address. Consulting the paper a few times to make sure that he had the right place, the cheetah Hyte looked at the home half in surprise and half in admiration. Is there really a giant underground lab beneath this place? Hm, they've hid it well. With a faint smile and a shake of his head, Seth approached the door and rang the door bell, waiting patiently for someone to answer.

Eli did cheat, but only a little--Phoebe was reaching for the doorknob when he stopped her with one paw and said, "We check the viewer first to make sure it's not a stranger, remember?" Phoebe nodded, pouting mostly because even on tip-tentacle she couldn't quite see out the little peephole and Eli had already ascertained the visitor was indeed Seth and opened the door before she could get in a word of protest. "Hi, Seth, come on in. Phoebe, say hi."

"Hello~" the jellyfish said, wiggling a tentacle as she waved her hand in greeting. Eli caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of his eye and did his best not to blanch.

"Long time no see, Eli," he greeted with a cheerful smile. Then to the tentacle girl he said, "Hello, Phoebe. Good to see you again." The tentacles didn't bother him much at all, and he failed to catch Eli's near-blanch. At the kuppy's invitation Seth came inside. With him he carried a small bag, as Mena had requested that he stay overnight.

"You guys have a nice home," he remarked, admiring the interior design. It looked just as nice if not nicer than the outside of the house did. "How have you guys been recently?"

"We've been well enough. Chaos as usual," Eli said with a shrug.

Phoebe wiggled excitedly. "I met other fishpeople like me! I have the coolest house though," she said, speaking in an almost-confidential voice like she was sharing some really juicy gossip (a tone picked up no doubt from eavesdropping on Missy). "Nobody else has a saltwater pool in their backyard."

"Because nobody else is as spoiled as you are," Eli said, raising an eyebrow. Phoebe stuck out her tongue. "Anyway, did you want the full tour or just the basics--guestroom, main floor...?"

"Ah, just the basics is fine," Seth assured, not wanted to put the other through any trouble. "So, a salt water pool, eh? That must be rather nice for you." Although not that the feline could really appreciate it much himself, given his dislike for water. "Do you swim in it often?"

As Eli started the tour around the house, Seth couldn't help but be impressed by how neat and orderly everything was. "I'm starting to doubt your notions of chaos," the cheetah said jokingly. "My mother's house often looked like a bomb went off in it."

"All the time!" Phoebe answered proudly. "It's heated and everything too so even when it's cold out it's nice and comfy in the water~"

"Oh, it usually looks that way," Eli said, with a smile. "Gramma Shimy seemed to think we'd lose ourselves in the mess if she didn't clean up before taking off for the weekend. And you should've seen Missy's old room, before she made us pack it up and move everything over to the second story of the garage."

"It was really messy!" Phoebe chimed in. "I always keep my room clean though," she added, though whether it was purely an afterthought or more of a boast wasn't clear.

"Ah, I see." He half wanted to ask how on earth they covered up all the damages and such, but Seth strongly suspected that there was magic involved. Besides, since moving out of the house he hadn't had to deal with any such wrecks yet (surprisingly enough), so he didn't really need to know.

The cheetah Hyte paid close attention as he was shown around, committing the general layout of the place to memory. After the tour was over, he asked, "So... did you guys have any plans for today? Or was it more just a basic stay-at-home type of thing?" Truth be told, he still wasn't entirely sure why Mena asked for his help. Eli seemed quite capable in his opinion really.

Eli looked almost embarrassed as he began, "Well--" but Phoebe chose the more illustrative option and simply jumped on Eli with the relative speed and velocity of a yaoi fangirl at a convention upon spying a cosplayer of her OTP of choice, tentacles wriggling along with her hands as she meant to embrace the kuppy and then hold on very, very tightly. She even managed to wrap a leg or two around his middle before he started sparkling in self defense, attempting to shake her off while moving about the poor cheetah at movements almost too rapid to see anything more than a shining blur and its blueish jellyfish hanger-on.

It ended rather suddenly, as sibling scuffles as wont to do, with Phoebe tossed off half across the room and skidding on her tentacle-legs to stop, leaving little wet marks on her carpet as she went. "Owowowowow," she complained, lifting several of her tentacles to check the damage. "I have rug burns now!"

"Phoebe! You know you're not supposed to do that!" Eli was half-furious at the little girl--certainly a sight that was rare. The kuppy was a little timid, easily embarrassed, and self-effacing, but...never furious. He was even shaking a bit, though even he wasn't sure whether it was from anger, or his body simply reacting to the fear of tentacles. "You didn't even say anything as a warning!"

The jellyfish girl seemed to sink lower into the floor, though in reality she was simply spreading her tentacles out flatter--taking up more space horizontally but less vertically, and it was definitely a position of submission. "I'm sorry, Eli. I forgot," Phoebe said, her entire body quivering as well--though the effect was markedly more strange looking with the gelatinous quality of her skin. "If I'd said anything then you would've known and dodged and--"

"That's exactly the point, Phoebe," Eli said, still angry though he'd stopped shaking now. "I need to be able to get away. I need that option. Even Mom agrees."

At the mention of their mother, Phoebe's eyes affixed on the carpet. "I remember now. I'll try to remember next time."

"Next time?" Eli asked, with a cynical, hollow laugh. "I'd really prefer if there wasn't one. Hugging's one thing. Jumping me is something that's completely unnecessary."

Everything happened so quickly that it took Seth by a bit of surprise. One moment the jellyfish girl was clinging onto to Eli, and the next there was a whirlwind of sparkles that ended in a sudden separation of the two. The cheetah sweatdropped a bit as he listened silently to their brief quarrel. "... So, I guess I'll be a referee then?" he asked with a faint laugh, wondering what the heck he was in for. Suddenly I get the feeling that this is going to be a looong day.

"Sorry to be so much trouble," Eli said, weary and chagrined--basically, back to normal. "But you can see why it's not a good idea for me to be her primary caregiver..."

"Missy likes me even less," the jellyfish girl said mournfully. Eli sighed.

"I like you just fine, Phoebe; I just much prefer that your tentacles stay where I can see them," the kuppy said, very cautiously approaching Phoebe before patting her gently on the head. "It's a boundary thing."

"Then your paws gotta stay where I can see 'em too!" Phoebe said, crossing her arms.

"It's a deal," Eli said, holding the appendages up in front of him as if surrendering, before looking back to Seth. "So..."

Ah yes, the tentacle phobia. Somehow Seth had nearly forgotten, but at least things made a bit more sense now. "No no, it's fine," he replied scratching the back of his head absently with a paw. "Hm. Um... well, perhaps we'd better do thing that keep paws and tentacles occupied, yes?" the cheetah suggested, smiling a bit. "I don't suppose you guys have any board games or video games?"

"We gotta whole bunch of 'em! And like every game system known to humankind!" Phoebe said proudly. She wasn't far off in her estimation--Shimy's husband was a gamer, and he took his 'collecting' seriously. "Come on, to the living room~"

They'd bypassed it earlier on the tour--this was the one room of the house that looked more lived in. The couch and loveseat and armchair were all a matched squashy green set, encircling a large entertainment center with TV and all manner of gaming systems and DVDs and games. Off in one corner sat a secretary desk with desktop computer humming in the background, a lone Gingerbyte sitting sentinel on the top of the desk above the computer. He didn't look very happy, but Gingerbytes never did. Phoebe flopped onto a beanbag on the floor near the TV, and Eli settled somewhere on the opposite side of the room for now, perching on the chair next to the computer desk.

"Let's play Smash Brothers~" Phoebe suggested, using one tentacle to retrieve a fallen Wiimote from the floor.

"You can't button mash with your extra appendages," Eli reminded her. "That's cheating." Phoebe stuck her tongue out at him again in reply.

Seth chose a seat between the two of them, mainly so that he could act as a buffer if necessary. "Smash Brothers sounds pretty fun. Haven't played that in a long time."

The three of them faced each other for quite a while. In the beginning Seth didn't fair too well simply from lack of practice, but he was able to pick it back up again fairly quickly. They all struggled to be the last one standing, but more often than not Eli was the one to win the round. Eventually Phoebe grew tired of losing, and suggested a new game for them to play that she thought she might have a better advantage in.

They continued in this way through much of the day, competitive spirits raising to an all time high and games occasionally being swapped. There were several times that Eli and Phoebe got into more squabbles, and Seth had to fight to break them up. By this point it was about dinner time. "What do you guys typically eat, anyway?" Seth asked as he looked through the fridge, trying to come up with a meal plan. Generally he wasn't much of a cook, but he could still do it well enough to get by. His one real specialty when it came to food was grilling steaks.

"Whatever we can scavenge?" Eli said, with a laugh. "A lot of times Shimy will cook but otherwise we're usually left to rummage through the pantry. Mom cooks sometimes, but...uh, it's better when Dad brings something over, let's just say that."

"Mom's cooking tends to be alive," Phoebe agreed, nodding matter-of-factly. "Gramma has to keep teleporting it away to primordial worlds 'n stuff because she says she doesn't like washing sentient beings down the drain."

"In short, never eat anything Philomena cooks," Eli said, with a shrug, as he set to looking through the dry storage pantry. "See anything you'd like to eat, Seth?"

Somehow, with all that Seth had ever heard about Philomena's experimentations, the stories of her cooking didn't come as all that surprising. Although it was still a bit disturbing to think about. At Eli's question, Seth replied, "Oh, I'm fine with most anything really. I was just trying to figure out what might be something easy to cook up." Sifting through the contents of the fridge some more, the cheetah found some fresh packaged tilapia. That could work, he thought to himself, pulling it out for further inspection. "How does fish sound to your guys?"

"Fish sounds fine to me," Eli said, with a shrug. Phoebe looked slightly more cautious.

"Only as long as it's not the same kind of fish as one of my friends," she said, arms crossed.

"Come on, Phoebs, do you think Mom or Shimy would ever stock any of your fishy friends' genetic cousins in the pantry?"

"We keep bacon and sausage around when we have Missy!" Phoebe shot back.

"That's..." Okay, so Eli couldn't explain how that was different, but Missy hardly identified with her fellow pigs other than to react with rage when Kamiko teased her, but Eli was fairly sure that had more to do with Kamiko than Missy's sensitivities to being eaten. Then again, he did occasionally catch Missy eyeing a sausage-enjoying Shimy with very ill intent... "That's different, and you know it."

"It's still a valid concern, 's all I'm saying!" Phoebe protested.

Was it truly so different? In any case, it didn't much matter really. None of them were 100% of the animals that they were mixed with after all. "Well, I don't know exactly what kind of fish your friends are, but I'm sure Eli's right about Shimy and Mena." Maybe. In any case, Seth went ahead and opened the package, beginning the dinner preparations. "Do you guys have any vegetables?"

Dinner preparations managed to pass without the house burning down (though Phoebe very calmly informed Seth that she was holding on to the regulation size fire extinguisher "just in case" while the stovetop was on), and even dinner itself was uneventful. They'd progressed back to gaming, and, when that got old, movies.

"Don't go in there! The scary guy's in there!" Phoebe said, a couple of tentacles quivering in anticipation as her hands flew up to her mouth to cover her wide open mouth.

"I'm sure they can hear you, Phoebe, just yell louder," Eli said, rolling his eyes. Phoebe stuck her tongue out at him, and then quite suddenly everything went dark.

Phoebe screamed. "Are you all right?" Eli asked, a bunch of sparkles coming to life in his open hand and providing the only light in the dark room.

"I'm...okay. Why's it dark?" Phoebe looked down at her body, which was reflecting the sparkly light in a very eye-catching way.

"I don't know, but the backup generator should've kicked on by now," Eli said, with a frown.

"Perhaps the circuit breaker blew a fuse?" the cheetah Hyte suggested, getting up to look around. The action was rather in vain though, considering the only source of light was coming from Eli's sparkles. "Not sure about the back-up generator though." The timing of the black-out with the movie was rather eerie really, but it was most certainly just a coincidence. Unless of course there was someone else about who liked to play practical jokes. "Um, which way to the panel?" Seth didn't actually know much at all about electrical work, but they could at least try flipping the switches a couple of times and hope for the best.

"If Missy overloaded the circuits again--" Eli paused. "I thought Mom wired it so that wouldn't happen to the main house again though." He made a face before sighing and pointing to the downstairs staircase. "First basement level, for the main breaker. We'll want to stop in the kitchen for the flashlights."

"What if we need to turn on the backup generator manually?" Phoebe asked.

Eli shuddered, saying quickly, "It's in Mom's lab."

"I'm sure we can just use flashlights and stuff," Phoebe said, hands and tentacles waving in an ironic (probably unintentional) mimic of Eli's typical flailing pose. "I mean, it'll be like an adventure!"

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure we can get the power back on..."

"It's... in the lab?" Seth replied somewhat uneasily. While he didn't exactly have a "tentacle" phobia like Eli, he somehow didn't much like the idea of seeing Mena's experiments first-hand. "Well, let's just hope that the breaker works."

The trio stopped by the kitchen first for the flashlights before making their way down to the main breaker. Unfortunately though, try as they might they couldn't seem to get the power back on through the breaker. "Looks like we may have to venture down to the lab after all," the cheetah remarked with a mildly grim expression, tail swishing slowly behind him. "Um, you don't think anything might have escaped with the power outage, right?" Hopefully the locked weren't electric-based.

Eli and Phoebe exchanged glances. "I don't think so," Eli said carefully, eyeing the staircase down to the lab with trepidation. "Mom's security is pretty solid, and the lab has its own circuit so unless something's really gone wrong..." He didn't finish his sentence.

"There's racks 'n racks of clothing between us and the lab so we'd hear something coming," Phoebe said reassuringly. "It's the thirteen levels of stairs we should really be scared about!"

There was a roar from below, that sounded distant. Eli gulped. "You know, besides the obvious tentacle monsters, I really don't know what else Mom keeps down there..."

"Lovely," the cheetah murmured below his breath. With a sigh, he said, "Well, I suppose we may as well start making our way down. Sounds like we have quite a way to go." After all, even if something did get out, Seth and Eli working together should be able to handle it. Unless there were a lot of escaped somethings that was... Then things could potentially get messy. Begrudgingly, the trio began their decent down to the lab...

Luckily the stairs were next to one another, so they didn't have to stumble through too many racks of clothing. Still, with every level, Eli had them stop briefly as he sent a spray of sparkles into the air, illuminating the level with light. Each level seemed themed to different fashion substyles, and the lower they got, the more...risque they seemed to become. On the tenth sub-level, when Phoebe asked what the whips were for, Eli just shook head sadly.

Still, he was almost grateful for the distraction when the roar they'd heard earlier happened again--and it was much, much louder. Phoebe squeaked and moved behind both Eli and Seth, grabbing Seth's hand while she peered out from behind him. "Are we gonna get attacked?" the jellyfish girl asked in a quivering voice.

Eli tilted his head to the side slightly, and closed his eyes as they heard the roar yet again--and then his eyes popped open. "It's not in the lab, whatever it is. We'll need to be more careful now."

Seth was beginning to wonder whether it might have been safer to leave Phoebe upstairs or not, but it was a bit too late for that now. Besides, leaving her alone in the dark didn't sound like a very safe idea either really. Rather than answer her question, he simple kept hold of her hand, ear and eyes on the alert. Slowly, the proceeded onward.

They were able to make it down the next set of stairs before the cheetah Hyte paused. A very strange scent assaulted his nose, but he couldn't quite place it with anything that he had ever encountered before. "Whatever it is, it's nearby," he murmured, the hair on the back on his neck rising a little as his eyes tried desperately to see through the darkness. "Let's all stay close."

On the eleventh...only one more level before the lab... Eli didn't know if that was a good thing or bad thing. There was something roaring--and then the lab was full of tentacle monsters and who knew what else. Was whatever was loose preferable to the beasties on the thirteenth sublevel?

There was a sound from across the room--a sort of clattering, and barely perceptible grunting...it was likely Phoebe couldn't hear it at all, though Eli and Seth's well-designed ears no doubt could. "Seth," Eli said, ears turned towards the sound. "I think you might want to take Phoebe down to the lab. I'm fairly certain...you'll be safe in there. And it sounds like there's only one..."

"We aren't gonna leave you behind!" Phoebe hissed, whole body quivering in fear and agitation, though her voice was very strong and determined.

Eli smiled ruefully. "I can take care of myself, you know." He turned back to gaze into the darkness, though even his part-cat eyes couldn't see much more than the nearest rack of--well, honestly he wasn't really sure what those pieces of clothing were supposed to be, it didn't look as if they'd cover much at all. "Phoebe's been put in the biometric database down there, all she'll need is to scan her hand. And probably the emergency code, but that's just 911." He touched one finger to the brooch on his chest--transforming would make an awfully useful distraction...

Indeed, Seth could also hear the subtle sounds from across the room, although he any normal situation he may not have noticed it. Amber orbs fixed on the kuppy as Eli told him about the locks down below. Even though he knew that the other was more than capable of taking care of himself, it felt somehow wrong to leave a friend behind. In fact, were it not for the jellyfish girl's presence with them, he wouldn't even have considered it. "Are you sure about this, Eli?" the cheetah Hyte asked in all seriousness, ears twitching lightly as the creature made another grunt across the room. "It might be easier to take care of with two of us."

"I can't go into the lab itself, so...I think this is the best course of action," Eli said, with a little shrug. "Whatever Mom has in there, the stuff in front won't be dangerous...not to you and Phoebe."

Phoebe slipped out of Seth's grip just long enough to reach forward for Eli, tugging on his shirt until he leaned over enough that she could lift herself on tip-tentacle and plant a kiss on Eli's cheek. "If you get hurt, I'm gonna kill you," she said solemnly as she pulled away, reaching for Seth's hand again.

"I won't get hurt then," Eli said, surprised by his little sister's gesture. He stared out into the room, and took a deep breath. "Okay, on three you guys start down the stairs, and I'm gonna try and be distracting enough that it won't follow." Another breath--the tension was palpable. "One...two...three! CAMELLIA CRISIS POWER!" The sparkling kuppy shot forward into the room, and his yell was answered by a roar.

On cue Seth took off for the next set of stairs with Phoebe in tow, minding his speed to make sure that she could keep up. if they could get the power back up quickly enough, then perhaps they could double back in time to help Eli out. Provided that he wouldn't already be done fighting against whatever creature was there of course.

The two of them made it through the next level without incident, and even though it was dark it didn't take too long to find the door to the lab. "I think this is the scanner here," the cheetah remarked, feeling a flat square of glass next to the door. Hopefully this thing was still working even with the power outage. "Um, go ahead and give it a try I suppose."

"Okay," Phoebe said, obediently putting her hand up on the square. The panel lit up and Phoebe squeaked, but didn't move her hand. A keypad shot out from under the panel, and this time Phoebe did jump. "Emergency code...input!" the jellyfish said as she finished typing, and the keypad slid back into the wall as the doors slid open, overhead lights flickering on. This was just the first set of doors into the lab, and as they both stepped into the area, the first set closed, and the second opened...into the lab proper.

It was, like Hytech, a very stereotypical looking setting. Most everything was white or silver, and there wasn't a bit of clutter to be seen. The sole twists on Mena's particular brand of science were evident in the large terrariums lining the walls to the left and right--those looked more like a zoo exhibit. And, true to rumor, tentacle monsters were contained within--though they didn't seem too much larger than a big dog. Phoebe went 'oooh' and her eyes went wide, but she shook off her astonishment quickly. "How do we turn the power on?" she asked Seth.

"Hm? Ah, right." The cheetah Hyte had been momentarily distracted by the rows of tentacle monsters, having never actually seen them before in person. They were certainly... interesting, to say the least. "We need to find the back-up generator. Should be around here somewhere." Quickly and carefully they searched through the front area of the lab to find the generator. When they finally found it, Seth set to work on getting it on. "Almost... got it!" Along with the hum of the generator came the fine and soft hum of life returning to all of the electronics back upstairs. "Alright, let's see if we can go help Eli now." Hopefully whatever he found was more harmless than it sounded...

"Se-se-seth!" Phoebe said, pointing at the door at the back of the lab. "There's a..." Words seemed to fail the jellyfish mer, and one could hardly blame her.

It was probably about eight or nine feet tall, though the ceilings down here were higher than standard height so it didn't have to stoop. The stalk on its head didn't need to bend either, though it swiveled in several directions before the observers could realize it was in fact an eyeball on a stalk. It was furry, vaguely resembling a bearish-humanoid sort of creature...if that bear had spent several hours on the rack, getting its limbs elongated. The face was oddly human, and it did seem to have some sort of intelligence in the two eyes on its face--though the pig snout through which it was breathing in soft grunts was a bit more distracting. It moved an arm towards them, and they could see three wicked claws covered in finger-armor. Whatever it was...it definitely looked dangerous.

And it was coming towards them.

The first thought through Seth's mind was, .... Oh ****. That thing definitely did not look very friendly. If he needed to he could probably evade an attack, but how was he going to protect both of them? "... Phoebe, stay behind me and be sure to keep your distance," the cheetah Hyte said in the calmest voice he could manage while still looking the creature over. Ok, ok, this is a lab where Mena breeds tentacle monsters for pets, so maybe this thing is friendly? That's quite a risk to gamble on though... This thing looks rather animalistic. Perhaps we could appeal to that side of it? Slowly, carefully, Seth approached the creature as well, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. He watched it's movements warily, ready to evade at a moment's notice.

It moved slowly--deliberately, as if studying the situation as much as they must be. And then it spoke.

"Tins buyl. Os luc ck'wolj cu gekc wue."

"I don't think Mom made that," Phoebe said, wide-eyed as she whispered.

Phoebe's comment didn't make Seth feel any better, but at least it wasn't attacking them. "Um, I'm sorry, I don't understand," he replied to the creature. "Do you speak English? Nihongo o hanashimasu ka? ¿Habla Español?" Hey, he had to try what he could. It would be better to keep it in a passive state and try to find out what it wants. A chilling thought passed through Seth's mind though. Is this thing what caused the power outage? Is it the only one?

"Mhoc. Os julli ronn Icgali..." it said, shaking its head. It appeared to be listening to Seth's vain attempts at common language, head tilted slightly to one side, before issuing its own attempts. "Iyaa'nolre isuu?" A pause. "πώς για το Theria?" A longer pause this time. "Ti'ama...zu?"

"I know that word," Phoebe said. She lifted her hands to her head, and seemed to be mimicking buns as she put fists to her head.

The creature copied the gesture, but left one wicked looking claw up. They weren't buns. They were horns.

"Eli might be able to understand what it's saying," Phoebe suggested. "It knows about Ti'ama, so maybe it's from that Empire place."

"Yeah, that's probably our best bet right now," Seth agreed. Although if Ti'ama were involved, would that only mean more trouble? Guess they'd find out soon enough. "Um, come this way then," he said to the creature, first attempting to mime "sparkles" and then gesturing for it to follow along. Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a long night?

The creature whuffled, and lumbered after them slowly--it clearly had to be careful not to overtake them with its much longer legs. They made it back to the eleventh level--where Eli was engaging in a very sparkly fight--with what appeared to be a second one of the creature they'd found in the lab.

"Rlutr oc upp, Gik'wk." The creature from the lab issued a command, and the one Eli was fighting backed off immediately, warily eyeing the 'friendly' creature with all three of its eyes. Eli blinked. The lab one asked, "Phanes'ici hari kasika ne?"

"Phanes--oso ii nyaroh?" Eli asked, apparently as surprised as Seth and Phoebe had been, though he had the benefit of speaking the language. The lab creature tapped its wrist gently--or would've, if the image hadn't flickered on 'contact' with itself. A hologram? It made some sort of gesture vaguely resembling a door.

"Eli! What happened?" Phoebe asked, unable to stand the suspense any longer.

"Mom has a portal in her lab," Eli said, shaking his head. "This first one came through--that's what shorted the power, the portal's connected to the main house grid."

"O'ro siya neleh? Itayari seh'i..." the lab creature continued.

"And--the hologram display is messed up, it should be able to speak our language but that doesn't seem to be...configured?" Eli finished uncertainly. "She thinks I can change the settings from here, but...I'll try," he said, addressing the creature. It nodded, striding over to the other and began to chew it out, apparently. Lots of short, sharp words, and the creature seemed to shrink into itself in submission. Eli closed his eyes, and a soft glow built around his brooch and shot down the stairwell, presumably making its way down to the portal. Several more minutes passed before his eyes opened again as he sighed. "That should do it..."

"Thank Hayan'ahari," the lab-creature said in a very female voice, turning around to face them again. "Let me guess--you're not seeing a human?"

"Um, no, not quite," Seth replied with a faint smile. It was good to be able to understand the thing at last, although the voice that the translator was using seemed almost a little disconcerting when paired with the giant furry thing. "Are we... supposed to be?" He still wasn't entirely sure of what was going on though. Why had the one that Eli was fighting even come in the first place. Was it accidental, or was it sent to tell them something? Hopefully everything would be cleared up soon.

"In my case, yes. Haryr over there is a Trikuado, and he's physically there with you." The creature Eli had been fighting with grunted and wiggled three sharp claws. "Athena must've configured the images at least..."

"Athena?" Eli and Phoebe asked in unison.

A head tilt. "Sabra Sabina?" she guessed.

"Sabra's our grandmother."

"So you're the heir!" Realization seemed to dawn on the woman-appearing-creature. "Well, where is she? She's about a year overdue on contacting home..."

"She's not in at the moment," Phoebe said apologetically.

"You're not...Imperial...right?" Eli asked hesitantly.

She laughed. "Oh Ahari no! I'm from...well, originally the south, Theria, more recently the north, Threadina." She lifted up an arm, appearing to stare at it. "What exactly are you seeing, anyway?"

Eli shrugged. "Another...Trikuado?"

Her--well, the Trikuado display's--eyes seemed to blaze. "I am going to kill Athena. Kill her dead."

"I'm...sorry?" Eli said, nervously moving back. The display of the Trikuado shimmered, and fluctuated in almost nauseating ways until it settled into an adult woman of average height, with pale blonde hair and icy blue eyes, dressed formally in black in a dress that appeared to be vaguely of medieval or Renaissance origin.

"I am going to have a headache for that," the woman said, shaking her head, before cocking an eyebrow at the Hytes and mer before her. "I am Aikatyrine Aikcj. You are...hmm, Elias Sabina, right?"

"No one calls me Elias," Eli said mournfully. "This is Seth, and my sister Phoebe."

"Well met," Aikatyrine said, with a grin. "Shame I have to kill your grandmother. That's just like her too, to set my ID to show up as a Trikuado. Ugh."

It was only through the context of the conversation that Seth even knew they were talking about Shimy, for he had never actually heard her full name before. He stayed silent through the exchange, trying to remember all of the things that Eli had explained to him previously and tie them in to the current conversation. "It's a pleasure to meet you," the cheetah Hyte greeted after they were introduced. "Did you two come to meet Shim- um, Sabra then? Or was there another reason?"

"She still goes by Shimy? I guess she can get away with it here, doesn't have the rep she's got back home," Aikatyrine said, shaking her head. "Haryr and I noticed a flux in this connection on our side, first time we've seen one since...Shimy...left. He went through and must've blown the power on your end, so I stuck with the image display. I'm guessing that Shimy wasn't expecting anyone to come through from the Phanes-side." Haryr seemed to ask something in the language Aikatyrine had spoken earlier, and she nodded. "I don't suppose Shimy's gotten around to...ah...bringing back some old friends?"

"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean," Eli said apologetically.

"No...babies? A girl, and a boy? A phoenix and Ti'ama?"

"I think...she's been working on that. She has DNA samples she wants cloned?" Eli asked hesitantly.

"Cloning's the simplest way, yes," Aikatyrine said with a nod, before turning and telling the Trikuado something. He grunted, before lumbering down the stairs. "Ah, now he's disappointed. Still, at least she's working on it. I'm...surprised she just doesn't do it herself."

"Grandmother can clone people?" Phoebe asked, her eyes round as saucers.

"She doesn't tell you much about her past, does she?" Aikatyrine said, with a chuckle.

Seth somehow wondered if he should even be in on this conversation, given how much this all seemed to be focused on the family. Then again, he was dating Noe, but... Should he still be allowed to hear all of this? "Ah, I see," he replied (although he still didn't completely understand all of it). "Well then, I guess that may take a while to do if she's going the scientific route." How does one go about cloning a Ti'ama anyway? No, not going to go there.

Aikatyrine pursed her lips. "The funny thing is...it really shouldn't. I mean, it helps that the two are halfbreeds. But it also helps that it's Athena. She's...ah...you just have to know her reputation," she finished finally, with a shrug. She seemed to not know exactly how much to tell them. "And it's personal. I know she left the Empire because she was stripped of her Contract, but...that wasn't the only reason."

"A kristi'os died," Eli said, matter-of-factly.

"Not just any kristi'os," Aikatyrine clarified. "The wife of your grandmother's little brother. My best friends. They were murdered by the current Empress of Neo-Sovreem."

"I...didn't know that Grandmother had any siblings," Eli said, sounding shocked by the information. "A brother who was half-Ti'ama?"

"A Contractor who carried his contractee in his soul. It's...rare, but not unheard of amongst the Imperials especially. It's rare that a Ti'ama trusts a single Contractor that much."

"Why does Shimy have--why did she have a brother who had access to..."

"The contract spans across lifetimes," Aikatyrine said, an eyebrow raised.

"I knew that. I guess I just..."

"Didn't realize that this is just the latest in a string of Shimy's lives? Her brother was Praetorate to the last Empress before the old Empire fell. She and he go way, way back--thousands of years." Aikatyrine paused, seeming to consider something. Finally, she spoke again. "What makes your grandmother special is that she remembers all of her past lives."

"No human could possibly be able...to store all that information alone..." Eli sounded very much as if his reality was collapsing around him.

"What makes you so sure your grandmother is human?" Aikatyrine asked simply.

Shimy's not human? Oh geez. As fascinating as all of this was to listen to, it didn't seem to be having a very good effect on the magical boy kuppy. Not to mention that this seemed to be quite the invasion of privacy on Shimy's part. If she had wanted her grandson to know any of this, wouldn't she have just told him herself? "I think," said Seth slowly, "that if Shimy hasn't shared this information before, then it was for a reason." He gave Aikatyrine a serious look. "Perhaps it is best if we end this conversation."

"You might be right," Aikatyrine said, with something of a sad smile. "I hope you'll remember at least that while your grandmother generally has good intentions...it pays off, to be able to stand up to her. Of course she'll play petty tricks like having your holo display show up as something silly..." The woman shook her head. "Anyway, watch out for the two she's trying to bring back--that will have been why you're waiting to move, on the Imperial front. Have her call me back, or I'll kick her a**. Hmmm, that should be about it. Oh, and she really needs to make sure to have a proper power setup if she's going to allow that portal down there to accept 'calls' from Phanes."

"I'll try to remember to let her know," Eli said, looking a bit better off now that his mind had something to try and cling to.

"She's forgotten that there are others of us who have lost precious people to that Empire," Aikatyrine said. "I hope you'll remember that. There are others who want to help. Don't let yourself carry all of the burden, Elias." She reached over and patted his shoulder. "Phoebe, right? Take good care of him." She turned to Seth, looked him over, and nodded. "You've got a good head on your shoulders. You'll need it, getting involved in this...with this...I'll help Haryr boost the signal from our side, it shouldn't hurt your power again." She gave a little bow, and waved to them as she swept out of the room, down the stairs.

Phoebe watched her go with something between fear and admiration. "She was awesome!"

"She was...certainly something..." Eli said. For all that she'd said, what hit him the most was the idea that his family was just the latest in the string. That maybe the whole reason he was involved in the Empire, was because of her last family. The idea unsettled him very much.

Seth watched with an expressionless gaze as the woman made her exit before turning back to the other two. "We should probably head back upstairs now," he suggested, glancing back over at the stairs. Somehow he didn't quite feel like sticking around to see if any other strange creatures would appear. "Hopefully that's all the visits that we'll be getting tonight..."

"Agreed," Eli said wearily, waving his hands over his brooch to de-transform. "Bedtime?"

"Bedtime," Phoebe agreed, heading up the stairs first.

"Mom's a kittycat!" Phoebe said, eyes wide. Best. Day. Ever.

:You can pet me later,: the Turkish Angora cat said dryly, giving Seth a knowing look. :We have something of a problem here.:

"I would like that very much," Phoebe said politely, and she brightened at the idea of a pool here. "That's why Dacj and I are really dexterous, because we do lots of swimming and strengthen our tentacles so we can chuck things around with them!"

"Chuck? I do not chuck," Dacj said, sounding affronted. "I lob with great accuracy!"

Eli walked in with the pizzas to Dacj demonstrating the full throwing length of her clubs, and he groaned. "Nightmares, remember? Also, you are now required to stay fifteen feet back at all times."