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 Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 11:35 am
Esoteric Explorations
In which Ravi attends a library to conduct some research and meets a student named Kim.
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Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:16 am
The Pickup
In which Ravi meets his first Raevan, meets with a Miss Chloe Star, and receives the fel essence "Forceful Mistletoe" and a soul bottle.
---
Ravi was frustrated.
It was morning, and thin slivers of sunlight had pushed their way through the blinds over his window as if fingering his desk and its notes, pointing to his ink smears, errors, and general lack of insight.
None of the research Ravi had completed at the library had pointed to anything resourceful for the young warlock. Sure, he knew now what the creatures from different cultures's mythologies could provide the man in an evocation, but few promised a constant source of power. Like most men of ambition, Ravi longed for the one thing that was everywhere, yet so difficult to tame - power. He had sought it in school with his studies, and he had continued his pursuit with his dive into the Dark Arts. He had found new and innovative means of attaining the intellectual prowess he had always craved. Nonetheless, all of his work seemed to be missing something. What it was escaped Ravi. He had a library, both in his mind and on shelves, that would have made kingdoms blush in shame. But what had that really provided for the man? He didn't have any information that others couldn't obtain. Ravi wanted to have the edge on others, though the reason for that escaped him, too. Well, think on Darwin. Survival of the fittest, right? It was what he had been taught, and Ravi was a great learner.
Exhaling, he removed himself from his work to rest for a bit in his apartment's living room. As soon as he had sat himself on the couch, his cat Bast lept to his chest, furtive in her appearances as always. Unable to ignore her, Ravi began to scratch behind her ears and, ironically, picked his own brain for answers to his problems.
Where could he go that would provide him with some new insights? None of the scholarly journals wrote on any new societal breakthroughs, and even technology was becoming boring. Newspaper advertisements were worse than disappointing, and magazines did little besides excite teenagers. He hadn't heard much word of mouth lately, either; if only he could think back to the last time he had gone to market. Think about what he had heard there... any new shops, arenas, or events...
Then he remembered. He was certain he had heard word of a Lab... what was it called? It was a place where something altogether new and original was being manufactured, something unlike anything else seen before. Unlike its competitors in the business, the Lab sought to combine magic and science, the living and the ethereal, to create a source of energy unfathomable to the ordinary human. It was called Lab 305. It was on Gambino Island, which left Ravi with some distance to travel, but it seemed as if the Lab had squeezed an epiphany out of him.
He dragged his fingers over the back of Bast's head and thought. A visit to the place wouldn't kill him. He could use a walk, anyway - all this thinking without action had made the young man moody, and irritation did little for the thought process. His papers would just have to wait until his mental block passed. He could only hope that his notes wouldn't become as audacious and flighty as his cat. As if on cue, Bast looked up at the man, eyes broad and yellow and innocent. Just a facade, Ravi thought to himself with an inward sigh. It's really "pet or die" she's thinking. Cats...
Ravi stood abruptly, ignoring the tabbie's complaints. He'd visit the Lab and find out for himself just what sort of power it had created. Maybe he'd even get the opportunity to chat with some of its facilitators. Slinging a leather case over his shoulder, sure to have packed it with papers and ink, Ravi left his home and began to walk.
---
Upon arrival, Ravi was a little less than impressed with the external view of the Lab. Considering the potency of its experiments, the place seemed hardly any different than the average office building. Sure, it was dome-shaped - maybe to contain things that the average rectangle complex couldn't provide - but the scholar couldn't ascertain anything before entering. Heading for the door, he made his entrance into Lab 305.
Cold blue eyes looked up to meet those of the one entering. For a moment the temperature in the room wavered, lowering to a temperature colder than the outdoors before returning to normal.
The icey Raeven turned to look back out the window, a hand pressed lightly against the glass as though he wished to go outside. His wings gave a listliss rustle... something was.. wrong with them.
They looked dirty, or rather ruffled and dishevled.. and very thin. A feather lay on the floor just below where he floated.
Ravi passed through the Lab's entryway. The area inside was tidy and well-lit without being sterile. The redhead did detect, however, that the building's temperature was abnormally low. Some offices were kept that way, he told himself. And maybe whatever went on within these walls needed to be kept at something below the usual room temperature.
As he examined the room, his eyes cast across a disembodied figure across the room. Its eyes were heavy-lidded and starkly blue, even beneath thick eyelashes. Ravi could hear his heart thud against his chest, felt his throat constrain with the fear that came with seeing the unusual, and sought for a place to hold on to. There was nothing save the bag he had brought with him, so he chose that as his object to clutch. Its cool surface was comforting and provided the man with a sense of reality in such a strange situation. How could something so...? And outside of a ritual circle! It wasn't anything made of magic, was it? Nothing he had read about before... and he was sure that no species quite like this had ever been written on...
The being turned towards a window, and Ravi managed to catch his breath again. Whatever it was, it seemed human. It was whole from head to solar plexus, where what would have been a body instead fell into a curling sliver of waterlike material. A hazy cloud peeked out from the creature's insides. Even if its face was human-like, its biology definitely was not. How could a creature like that live? Not unless it lived and functioned with pure energy could it survive.
If that was the case... had Ravi found what he had been looking for?
He grinned nervously with his discovery. His fingers itched to grab with notepads and pens, but his mouth, being closer to his brain, reacted faster than his hands did.
"You there," he said, voice still a little shaky, "are you- ...do you- ..."
He reached for words that would replicate his thoughts, but he simply couldn't grasp them. He couldn't help but feel a little irreverant about breaking the silence, either. This creature didn't seem to be the simple energy battery he originally thought it was. Its face wasn't its only human quality.
Earlier that day, about a half hour ago to be exact, Josh had just been casually drifting around Gambino Island waiting for his monthly tennis tournament to begin. It hadn’t been the best initiative to take all of his supplies with him though; surprisingly carrying three racquets, a duffel bag, and a ball hopper can get you out of breath quite rapidly. Josh panted and breathed in harsh short gasps as a daze from his weary travels set in. He had barely noticed the uneven ground below him until it was too late. He yelled out as he made swift contact with the sidewalk. His fine array of baggage rained down on him as well. Josh whined not wanting to get up and inspect the damage just yet.
~~~~
“Ow…,” He gave a wince as he glanced at his knee. The appendage was to say the least very bummed up. He swayed as he pulled himself up from the dusty walkway and repositioned his luggage. Josh’s gaze shot around to the first buildings in view. He hoped to find help with his leg; the last thing he craved was an infection to set in today. ‘La Suite Inn. No, a Hotel… Taco Villa. No, a restaurant…. Lab 305.…’ Josh pondered this place for a second; generally labs have doctors and doctors had bandages. He determined that it would be better to go there than attempt to ask a Mexican restaurant for medical aid. He set off in a steady stagger towards the building.
~~~~
Josh found himself getting an awkward feeling as he walked up to the twin metallic doors of Lab 305. The slight hobble in his step grew as he plodded into the building; the numerous plethora of bags Josh had in tow weren't helping his balance either. Josh barely noticed the change in temperature or the others in the waiting room. The poor boy was more concerned in making it to the reception desk in one piece. He cursed under his breath at the feeling of the semi-fresh wound on his leg and as it slowly worsened under the pressure of his tennis equipment weighing down on him. He approached the front desk and laid down his bags; they splayed haphazardly around him. “Excuse me?…,” He waited for a response.
~~~~
As Josh calmed down, a stray look fell upon Roux. He immediately recalled the creature from the Matsuri festival he went to long ago. He seemed to be more ruffled than before; definitely not the same person that had been using him to get free ice cream. Josh noticed the small pile of feathers that condensed around Roux. ‘Is he sick?…’The ice Frei turned once more as he was spoken to, a scowl forming on his features. He hadn't wanted contact, he'd just wanted to be where he was, continue absorbing the cold from outside. It made him feel better, it felt like the only calm he ever recieved anymore.
His cold eyes narrowed to slits, pinning the unknown walkers with an unblinking stare that only seemed to seeth loathing. The room tempurature slowly began to decline again, the edges of the glass frosting up slightly.
They would pay for speaking, for disrupting...
He took a deep breath, a few snowflakes fluttering softly to the ground on the exhale, fists tightning.
The door to the backroom opened and the petite pink-haired woman backed out, a load of boxes filled with papers in her arms. She stiffened for just a moment as she entered the chilly front room. She turned her head to see Roux, eyes flicking toward the door to see what he was so focused on.
"Roux!" Her lips pressed together in a fine line of determination, glasses slipping down the bridge of her nose. "R-Roux don't. B-B-Behave.. please." Her voice had a sense of authority with the first word, which slowly declined into that of a pleading parent by the end.
The Raeven seemed to listen, however. His hands dropped to his sides and his icy glare turned toward his guardian. For a moment he watched her, expressionless, and then he turned back to the window, resuming his quiet watching as he'd been doing before.
Chloe gave a small shiver as she hurried over to the receptionist desk, burrying her face deeper into her scarf. "P-P-Please excuse me... h-he's been a little.. touchy since.." her voice trailed of as she looked sadly at the feathers of the Raeven's wings.
"A-Anyway.." She suddenly stood at attention, back straight, and gave a friendly smile to the two who'd walked in. "H-Hello! Welcome to Lab 305. M-May I help you with anything..?"
As if rebuking Ravi for speaking out of turn, the creature's visage shifted from one of detachment to animosity. Its eyes glinted like a gas-powered flame, but Ravi felt anything but warm. When the redhead released his breath, a puff of hazy fog drifted away from his mouth, and his lips were cold to the touch. Was that snow? He felt chilled through and through, the odd being's presence, its piercing glare, and the room's actual temperature doing little to relieve his discomfort. He hadn't even noticed the person who had entered the lab just behind him. Just from observing the oddities in front of him, Ravi wondered if he had stepped deep into unknown territory too quickly.
When a young woman, this one whole rather than legless, stepped into the room carrying boxes of paperwork, the temperature soon dropped to one more bearable. The creature - a living thermostat, was it? - returned its attention to the world outside the window, its fingers gently grazing the pane as it stared forward in a less hostile fashion.
The woman, not unusual in any aspects besides that of her hair color, greeted Ravi as if nothing bizarre had just taken place. He gulped uncomfortably, unsure of how to proceed. Should he shake some sense into the naive girl? Start shouting at her like some feverish invalid? Or should he follow her lead and act as if the impossibilities literally floating in the room were perfectly normal? All options seemed plausible. But since introducing himself was better than offering the wordless open-eyed stare he had been using so far, so Ravi extended his hand to the woman and greeted her.
"Please, call me Ravi. And your name would be...?"
Josh stood rooted to his spot at the reception desk as the temperature in the room steadily plummeted.. He felt his skin break into goose-bumps, but the boy fought the unyielding urge to bundle up snuggly against the chilly onslaught. Josh gave an exhausted stare at Roux wishing that he would stop his outburst. He knew that the creature was responsible for the sudden change in the room’s climate. Josh had seen a brief glimpse of Roux’s powers at the Matsuri festival; it was hard to believe he was capable of this though!
~~~~
Josh perked up as he heard a soft clicking sound resound from behind him. He shot around the best he could on a hurt leg. He quickly took notice of the small woman hurrying by to the reception desk. Josh’s face held a look of awe as she almost immediately calmed the ‘beast’ who was huffing at the window now. Josh peeked at Roux one last time before he directed his attention to the receptionist. “Umm, hello my name is Josh. I seemed to have hurt my leg outside,” He pointed nonchalantly at his scraped and slightly bleeding leg, “I was just curious if you had any bandages here.” Josh put on a cheery and warm smile that almost rivaled the cold that lingered in the room.
She smiled and nodded to the two in front of her. "H-Hello, Mr. Ravi.. and Mr. Josh."
She turned her full attention to the other man for a moment. "Y-Yes.. uhm. Just a moment." She ducked down behind her desk, a few sounds of shuffling could be heard. "A-Ah, here we are."
There was a dull thunk as she hit her head as she moved to stand, a small groan, and then she appeared again, holding her head with a small grimace, the other hand holding a small first aid kit. "H-Here you are."
She looked back towards Ravi, her expression as though she were trying to remember something as she looked at him. "Ravi... Ravi.." She tilted her head to the side, brow furrowed. "D-Do I... I know you..?"
Ravi's grin faltered a bit, if only for a moment, after the woman failed to take his outstretched hand. He maintained its position until the woman bent behind the desk to grab a bandage, then slowly lowered it to his side once more. That... didn't work. His smile faded, too, as he thought of other ways to get information from the pink haired employee at the front desk.
It wasn't until the woman handed the bandage over to another young man in the room until Ravi really saw him. Ravi started a bit, then hissed under his breath for giving such a reaction. Just a person, he told himself, ashamed that the literally cold creature in the room had damaged his sense of security so thoroughly. A light flush rose to his cheeks - he could feel the heat in his face - and he blessed his geneology for the melanin in his skin while simultaneously cursing himself for his behavior. The man was nothing special; all that really stood out about him was the bleeding scrape on his knee. Well, that explained the bandage.
What couldn't be explained, however, was what the pink-haired woman was asking him now. "Know me? I..." Ravi had been all but ready to refute the woman's claims, but a twinge of inspiration struck him. Perhaps this was the best way of getting the inside info on whatever it was the Lab was creating. He wouldn't be lying, anyway. Not really. Only if you squinted hard... really hard. Pushing advantages was the way to get ahead in any situation.
"I think we do know each other," he said in what he hoped was a compelling voice. He offered the woman a smile, a few shades more devious than the last, and pushed some of his bangs from his eyes. "But the whens and wheres seem to be escaping me."
Josh’s attention was moved rapidly to the person near by. Ravi seemed to be jarred from his gawking at the frosty creature by Ms. Chloe and had made his presence known. Josh craned his gaze up to the man who most definitely towered above him. He could feel the contempt and boredom radiating off of the other man’s stare. This was the first time that Josh had felt so… snubbed. It was if he was an un-amusing spectacle to Ravi and was just discarded like he was unimportant.
~~~~
Josh graciously took the first aid kit from Ms. Chloe and gave her a soft nod in appreciation, “Thank you.” He turned away making sure to give Ravi a stern stare. He didn’t really care if it had a weak affect just so long as it was noticed. Josh took a seat on one of the abundant couches and proceed to attempt to dress his wound.So she did know him... She paused, pressing her lips together in worry and thought. "W-Well.. hmm.." She looked down at the small area of free surface behind the desk before starting the task of searching through the many small yellow post-it notes.
'Take out the trash 2/01/07' That one was old, she should take it down later...
'Remember to buy milk.'
'Talk to Rivener about prizes.'
'Ravi - apt to pick up vial and essence. FORCEFUL MISTLETOE. 01/01/07'
"O-Oh! Ravi!" She looked up with a wide smile. "M-Mr. Ravi, I mean, sorry, forgive me. Yes.. right." She turned briskly. "Y-You're a bit late, but that's a-alright. I-It's been waiting for you."
She reached into her pocket, pulling out a small ring of keys which she flipped through before finding a small silver one, fitting it neatly into the lock of the glass case that stood for all to see what was displayed inside.
And inside of this.. were two items, a small bottle contining a Fel Essence, and a Soul Bottle, both resting on soft velvet pillows. She lifted them gently, turning and holding them out to Ravi. "Here you are. Th-They're pretty strong b-but please be careful anyway.. th-the soul bottle can be dangerous as well."
Ravi offered a wicked grin to the receptionist's back when she turned around and started pulling things from the cabinet behind her. So then she was waiting on a person named Ravi? What a unique coincidence. As far as he knew, his name wasn't very common, especially since he legally used it as both his given name and his surname. He almost felt a twinge of guilt for this name-brother of his, some poor and distant stranger who had missed his appointment for Lab 305 and effectively had given Ravi the qppurtunity of his lifetime. The key word in that strain of thought was "almost," however, and the warlock felt little to no compunction for the benefits his curiosity would reap. He almost apologized about "his" misjudgment of the dates and time, but before he could, the pink-haired lady had turned back to face him with two delicate looking objects in her hands.
One was shaped like a test tube and corked, whereas the other was spherical and capped with a thick metal casing. The latter was transparent, but the former had what appeared to be mistletoe inside. As if being presented with such objects wasn't strange enough, the woman mentioned something about a "soul bottle." A scientist... who spoke of souls? Since when did scientists think about anything in terms besides those that were physical or potential? Ravi was starting to feel uncomfortable about what he was doing. What he expected and what he was experiencing were two very different ideas. Again, Ravi sensed that he was getting in over his head.
But part of being a warlock and a student of life was trying out new things, even if they could turn deadly. This didn't seem to be that extreme, so Ravi took both objects from the pink-haired woman after she offered them and began to interrogate.
"Forgive me if I seem a bit... forgetful," he said, looking straight into the woman's eyes, "What with my being 'late,' and now asking you questions." He felt a strange, but familiar warmth in his hands, and for a moment, his attention was distracted by the bottle and vial. Snapping out of his reverie in acknowledgement of his rudeness, he quickly swiveled his eyes back up to the woman's, hoping she hadn't noticed his hesitance. What was that?
"But... a soul bottle." His words were growing more and more separated as he spoke, the look in his eyes more vacant. "What... what is it?"
He couldn't ignore the feelings that the bottle and vial were giving off. The bottle, though it was the empty container, felt much heavier than the vial did. It seemed thick, not hollow, and it was just slightly warmer than its counterpart. It was made of some sort of durable glass, that was certain, but Ravi could sense - could swear - that the object was... was almost pulsating.
He shuddered involuntarily. Just what sort of place had he wandered into? Floating, dismembered, yet living bodies were floating in its entryway, and now a bottle that almost felt alive had been given to him by a woman who didn't even know whose face to expect in her office. He kept his grip on the objects tight despite his discomposure. These weren't mere toys he was holding, that was certain. But what exactly were they?
"Please... just explain everything to me." He was almost starting to sweat.
She frowned lightly, eyebrows knitting together in concern as she noticed him starting to act just a little.. distant, a little strange. She bit her lip. "W-Would.. do you need to sit down, sir?"
But he was speaking now, asking a question, rather, and something she could answer well enough. The topic of science always seemed to lift that ever present veil of shyness and she spoke confidently, pointing to what she was speaking about as she went.
"Well.. the Fel Essence, Forceful Mistletoe.. I don't know where Dr. Kyou found it but where normal mistletoe is just a plant that people kiss under by choice during the holidays, this particular sprig seems to.. well.. make people kiss. Please don't remove it from it's container.
The Soul Bottle is what you use to obtain your soul of choice. Place it by the selected target and leave it there for some time. The bottle will naturally collect the soul on it's own. But.. please, this is very serious. Be very careful, the bottle.. it is not discriminating. It will take the soul of -whatever- it is nearest.. if it's by it for any amount of time that is."
She paused, thinking something over before adding with her familiar timidity. "A-And.. be careful. The glass is strong.. and I don't know if there are any other cases but one.. but it has broken before.. letting the soul leak out."
Her eyes strayed to Roux, who continued gazing out the window silently.
He nodded numbly at the words the woman was telling him. They made sense, and yet they didn't. She was telling him details, but she was doing so without explaining what it was she was actually divulging.
"So. A fel essence." He lifted the test tube that was clutched in his right hand. "There are... different types, I presume, but this one makes people kiss?" Ravi resisted the urge to shudder again. He hated that brand of affection. It didn't provoke any epiphanies in any fields of intelligence that he was aware of, and only made one's lips itch uncomfortably. Kisses were a distraction - hampering, not helpful in the least!!
He shook his head, needing to get back on track. "And with this," he raised the bottle, "you want me to... collect a soul?" His eyebrows furrowed. "How can you do that sort of thing... with a bottle? Or with anything?"
Ravi didn't believe in souls. Spirits, yes. A life force, yes. But a soul - a separate entity that made every being unique and separate - well, he couldn't even fathom such a principle. It was intangible. Even in magic he hadn't found something quite like that. It was a dizzying term in all aspects, but this pink haired, innocently looking young woman wanted him to go and "hunt" one out, for lack of a better term.
"And what is all of this for? D-Dont' tell me..." Ravi turned to the floating being by the window. Were the things he held in his hands the only ingredients needed to make a life like that?
His bewilderment was fading with the introduction of information more like facts. But he was starting to understand why the first Ravi hadn't shown up on time. Even for a man as knowledgeable as Ravi, these facts were strange, new, and contradicted much of what he'd spent his life learning.
Chloe gave a patient nod, she'd had others ask her details before, it wasn't anything new. "Yes.. Roux.. there, my project.. my.." She paused, seeming startled with herself for referring to him as she had when she'd first met him. She'd long ago learned he wasn't mearly a project...
"My Raeven. His Fel Essence was of Eternal Ice.. his soul.." She pressed her lips together, leaning forward slightly and lowering her voice softly so Roux would not hear. It seemed almost.. taboo to speak of where a Raeven's soul had originated in front of one.
"His soul was from a Roc."
She leaned back, smiling shyly. "Dr. Kyou then uses the two components to form a Raeven. Like Roux there."
The Frei gave a half turn when he heard his name, sparing the male an icy stare before looking back out his window.
Ravi stared numbly at the woman for a few moments. He then looked down at the objects in his hands. His gaze lingered for several long seconds before he chanced a peek back to Chloe's face. He then turned to the "Raevan," as he had been labeled, floating by the window. All of these, though none of them seemed out of place, were truly... "different" from what Ravi was used to. Even magic replicated reality because essentially magic was a persuasive thought form given physical presence.
But Raevans weren't something you could read about in books. Ravi's confidence wavered.
Though other questions had come to mind, Ravi decided that it was time to come clean. "Honestly, Miss," he said, still unaware of the receptionist's name, "I never arranged an appointment with the Lab. I don't... I don't understand what's going on."
Ravi's grip on the two baubles was still firm. He had no intention of letting either go. He needed some grounding, however, before he felt really comfortable with them in his possession.
She just smiled, reaching out to give a brief and gentle touch to the back of his hand with her cool fingertips. "It's alright.. it's a lot of information to soak in all at once..." She glanced back to Roux, eyes softening with care. "..I've only met people who immediatly accepted the Raevens and all things involved with them. I have to admit for whatever reason I didn't think they were strange.."
She turned back to Ravi, giving a more embarassed, sheepish look. "B-But.. they are a little strange."
The receptionist paused, frowning a little as the man admited to having not arranged an apointment. "But your name is here, Mr. Ravi. You do have an apointment, and these are yours.."
Ravi almost could have felt embarrassed if he hadn't thought that his feelings towards the Raevans were justified. Wait... Raevans? So there were other floating bodies like this one by the window? Ravi looked over to him - Roux, he'd been called - and wondered just how many others there were, and what they looked like in comparison to him. How many people had stepped through the doors of the lab like he had and gazed awestruck at the "experiments" within?
...Well, apparently none of them had been quite so awestruck as Ravi. He reassured himself by remembering
The woman insisted that the fel essence, soul bottle, and appointment were all truly his, but for the life of him Ravi couldn't remember setting up a meeting with the Lab or its employees. He'd heard of Lab 305, sure... but was it really the sort of place he'd forget about?
Maybe one of his colleagues had signed him up somewhere down the line. Really, if he thought about it, these skipped dates and unfulfilled appointments had occurred in the past. Miscommunications were frequent amongst disorganized scholars. Maybe the university wanted more information on the Raevans. He couldn't think of any other way the meeting would have been set up, so he resigned his argument. After hearing Chloe's explanation of the Raevans, he didn't want to return the vessels, anyway.
Ravi nodded. "Sorry about missing our arranged appointment, then. Well then, I'll take these... and revisit when I can?"
He paused before continuing. "Is there some greater purpose for these Raevans, or should we just... raise them?"
Chloe gave Ravi a surprisingly steady and kind look, her smile seeping into her eyes. "Raise them." She gave a small nod as though to further confirm this before the expression was gone, replaced with the usual slightly shy. "I-If there is another purpose I don't know.. well.. other than for Dr. Kyou to be testing the equipment and technique."
She bowed to Ravi. "And yes.. when you've obtained a soul, y-you'll know when you've g-got one.. bring them back to m-me and I'll be sure Dr. Kyou gets them."
Ravi was silent. So then the Lab wasn't conducting any great experiment? Or rather, it was creating life with cutting-edge technology, but the life itself had no... purpose? No more than any other living being, anyway, Ravi thought, his hand resting on his chin and mouth in contemplation. He'd actually heard of places like these, though; shops in Gaia where a person could earn for themselves a companion different than the life forms usually discussed in textbooks and classrooms. He had never gotten the impression that they were this alive, though. The creature by the window hardly seemed animalistic or untamed. He almost seemed to be above the humans that provided for him, but not in any arrogant way. If Roux was any indication of the other Raevans's demeanors, then the creatures must be that of a dignified race. They were almost like deities, in a sense. They seemed to possess an otherwordly sapience, as if bearing some great knowledge that had yet to be tapped...
Ravi's attention returned to Chloe after she bowed to him. She was inviting him to visit again after he obtained a soul. Ravi nodded. "I'll know, is that right...?" A tease of a grin crawled into the corner of Ravi's mouth and rested there. If there was any way to flatter the scholar, it was to praise his intuition. Ravi wasn't sure what sort of signal to expect once the soul was safely contained in the bottle, but he'd be sure not to miss it. After all, he was practically a genius. If it was easy for this woman to tell, then why shouldn't it be easy for him?
Thinking about her, as if looking at her wasn't enough, reminded Ravi that he still didn't know the pink-haired receptionist's name. "I don't believe we were ever properly introduced," Ravi stated, holding out his hand yet again. "Your name was...?"
"O-Oh! I'm so sorry! I'm Chloe Star! I-It's pleased to meet you." She shook his hand shyly. "A-And you're... ah.." She looked down once more at her notes, then quickly back again. "Mr. Ravi!"
She let go, standing back. "W-Well.. I think I've told you all I really can.."
Ravi nodded. "I'll be seeing myself out, then." He approached the door, but before exiting the Lab, turned again to face the receptionist. "Thank you, Miss Chloe. I'll be sure to drop by again once I've obtained a soul." Those words arranged together like that felt so strange on his lips. A soul? And furthermore, one he'd capture? He looked down at the bottle in his hand. It still felt weighty, as if the bottle was aware of its own fatal importance. Meanwhile, the fel essence in its test tube was making his fingers almost tingle. Holding back a shiver, Ravi half-bowed and exited the lab.
So he hadn't found the raw energy source he had expected. However, the warlock hadn't left the building empty-handed. A weak grin teased his features. He was going to take part in a unique experiment, be privy to a creature only a few were cognizant of... yet the curtain of responsibility had draped over his shoulders, too. He'd not only have to find a soul somehow, but once the Raevan was born, he'd have to "raise" it. He thought of Roux and the Raevan's ability to alter the temperature around him. Which abilities did Raevans share, and which were unique?
Ravi could have asked questions all day, all night, even. But it was also in his nature to find his own answers to his questions. Raevans were yet another mystery for the scholar to solve, and they weren't an area in which he feared to analyze.
He thought back to the way Chloe had looked at her Raevan. How she'd blushed after she had called the levitating creature an "experiment" by mistake, and how her eyes had softened afterwords. Would Ravi ever look at his Raevan like that?
He shook his head. The thought was an idle one, and an idea he couldn't bother to worry himself over now. He felt his head swimming a little from the knowledge he gained, and a respite was well overdue. After placing the two bottles in his leather pouch, the one filled with pens and notepads he had forgotten to use, he turned to find himself facing a series of booths alongside the lab...
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Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:07 pm
Partie D Amour
Ravi exits Lab 305 after receiving his soul bottle and fel essence only to find a festival right outside! He eats, he drinks, and he blushes. He also meets a shorter man named We`rika.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:24 am
Surprise!
A Birthday Celebration for Chloe Star and Dr. Kyoupiruchi
Ravi and We`rika, with the help of [kaleido], tsu 5 e, and Julian Sweet, throw a celebration for two people very important to the Lab and its successes - Chloe and Dr. Kyou. Dancing, drinking, and manties abound. Meanwhile, Ravi humiliates himself in front of those who were either blessed or cursed enough to witness his hip-swinging on the dance floor.
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