Welcome to Gaia! ::

((This RP is for Rik and Sycorax! No interruptions, please.))

Sycorax strode into the Feien shop, boldly going where she had never gone before!

Well, okay, actually her stride wasn't all that bold. Mostly it was just weary, wary, and above-all a little frightened. Puchiko has sent her here in order to see if there was any now merchandise for her 'Feien', whatever THOSE were. Syc didn't know, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to. Puchiko was involved in some weird s**t, like that whole gender-changing thing, and lasers from space.

Sadly, Syc was a poor college student, and could easily be swayed to do potentially life-threatening things when Puchiko promised her a case of Belgian beer. So. Here she was. It was the middle of the day, and no one was around. That was pretty creepy.

She walked up to a case, full of what looked like... cocktail swords? Tiny bolts of cloth for dolls? What was going on here? Considering that PUCHIKO had sent her, Syc was half-expecting that the shop would sell hideous mutants, or grenades, or something. Not stuff like this.

Maybe it was all a front for the real illegal business. Syc would have to wait until the shopowner came, to ask questions.

With a sigh - time was money, what was she doing here, WHY was she Puchiko's b***h all the time - Syc went to go lean in the corner and pout for a bit. If she were Jaes, Syc bet she wouldn't have to take this. She'd have... minions and stuff! Yeah!

In the shadows of the corner, however, Syc could just make out the glint of something... strange on the floor. She bent to pick it up.

Some kind of jade arrowhead? How odd! This didn't look like any kind of natural gemstone she'd ever seen.

"Hey, is anyone here?" Syc called out. This looked valuable. She didn't want to be accused of stealing.

The hell!?? Oh god, some thing was attacking Syc's hand! Was this the shop security system??? She hadn't meant to steal! If it was valuable, why was it on the floor!!!

Syc screwed her eyes shut, and spent a good couple moments waving her hand about in blind panic, before she realized that no, nothing was exploding her head off and/or setting off ominous claxons.

The woman cracked one eye open.

It was... a tiny man?

But it couldn't be a Mendel, could it? It was still pulling at the gemstone in her hand, ineffectually. Syc decided to let him take it if he wanted it. She didn't need something biting her and giving her rabies or whatever. She had enough problems with doing pseudo research-assistant work for a mad scientist.

"Um, is this yours?" She asked, awkwardly.

"Sorry!" Syc squeaked. She was used to dealing with tiny people. Specifically, on particular tiny person with a bladed weapon, who would not hesitate to set Syc's textbooks on fire if she pissed her off. And another tiny person who had almost broken her hand for messing around with its dumpster. Who knew what kind of crazy stuff this little thing could pull on her? It had emerged from the shadows like some crazy magic shadow-emerging-from beast! What if it was some kind of demonic familiar!?

"Please don't sic anything freaky on me!" Syc babbled. "I just thought it was shiny and pretty! I don't steal!"

Sycorax was not a woman known for her bravery. AT ALL.

Sycorax swallowed, nervously. She could be brave! She could be strong! She could... she could... she should probably start walking around, armed with a fly swatter, for situations like this.

"Um, thanks," Sycorax pasted on what she hoped was a friendly smile, and held her hand open, right under where the dark fairy-thing was dangling the stone. She would have taken it directly from the guy, but she was kind of afraid to touch him. He had claws and was like, MIDNIGHT BLACK, and he had FANGS, and all, and since when was that a good sign? Since NEVER.

"I've never seen a stone like this before."

It really was kind of amazing-looking, now that she got to see it better. Strange colors shimmered within the leafy green. It was almost... unnatural. Supernatural.

Yikes.

Make it back for her? What did that mean?

"Um, okay!" Sycorax said, cheering up a little, and shaking off a few of her nerves. It wasn't trying to kill her! Score one for Syc! Any errand of Puchiko's that she ran, with no possible risk of homicide involved, was a good errand indeed. "Thanks!"

It was a dead fairy? Really? There were stranger things on Gaia, she supposed. It seemed sad that it would turn into a gem and someone could put it in a necklace without ever knowing it was alove or so... maybe it was good the creepy guy had a handle on taking care of them. Syc felt kind of awkward to be holding it, now.

"Of course I think you're great!" Syc said, eagerly. And she was, indeed, eager. EAGER NOT TO DIE. "I mean, you can fly! And you really caught me off-guard there. And taking care of these gems, that's a good thing, you know? Making sure nothing bad happens to them."

Sycorax actually meant that last bit of flattery, too. If they really were dead fairies, it'd be a shame if the gems were taken away by a jeweler or something. A shame, and also pretty icky. Those things were PEOPLE.

Sycorax held the gem steady, so that the tiny man could... do whatever it was he wanted to do. He seemed pretty serious, so she didn't want to interrupt him by asking questions. At least he wasn't waging war on her hand anymore. That was a plus, right?

Yanvir was so solemn, too. That kind of mood was infectious. Syc couldn't help but calm down, and be a little serious herself.

Syc stared down at the gemstone.

And stared.

And stared.

And stared.

She stared until she felt like her eyeballs would go dry. And so she blinked, before she started staring again. It was strange. For some reason, the gem's lustred appeared brighter. And Sycorax could have sworn that she saw the dark-green flecks within it... moving? It felt oddly alive in her hands, as though it had been charged with some sort of strange, supernatural static.

... Oh HELL, it COULDN'T be...

Syc brought it up closer to her face, squinting, and trying to angle her glasses so as to minimize glare. Was this a hallucination? It... it had to be, right?

It occured to her that the little guy had basically just run for cover, but Syc couldn't bring herself to drop the stone and run the hell away, no matter how much her instincts screamed at her to flee. The rock was PEOPLE, after all.