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 Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:47 pm
This was not expected, not expected at all. One would think that with the speed these Frei grow in the tank, the chances of them emerging when Kyou is away would be very slim. But it happened, when Lazarus was doing the routined daily records for Kyou even. It can't be denied that Lazarus is a little nervous about this whole ordeal. All this while it had been Kyou who hands the newborns to their owners. This is the first time Lazarus needed to do this, what if he screw up?
Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he look at the telephone sitting on Kyou's desk. With slightly shaking hands, he picked up the receiver and dialed the number. Waiting anxiously, he was expecting someone to pick up, but instead got a female voice saying "Please leave a message after the tone". He was actually slightly relieved. "Uh, is this Hazeline..." he glanced at the file he's holding. "..Lee's residence? I'm calling from the Lab 305. Your Raevan is born, could you drop by to pick him up sometime soon? Please call back when you received this message to arrange an appointment." with that, he put down the phone.
Looks like he didn't do too badly so far.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 11:42 pm
Well in all honesty, raevans were the furthest thing away from Hazeline’s mind at the moment as she jotted down a few hasty notes on the apparently abnormal growth of seedlings in the glass jar before chucking them onto a metal trolley beside her to be autoclaved later on. Hazeline gave her stiff shoulders a shake as she stood up and surveyed the amount of seedlings that had to be destroyed and momentarily cursed the distributor that had supplied the wrong sort of media ingredient for her work. Granted it was her fault for not noticing what the label had said earlier but the distributor should have known better as well. Hazeline felt cheated and if possible, a little angry.
The soft beeping in her pocket however got the plant reseacher’s attention. It was a call from home. Probably Mrs. Bediever asking me to pickup some groceries on my way back thought Hazeline as she flipped the cover of her cell phone open. The voice that emanated from the cell phone’s speaker however was not that of an old lady but that of a young boy.
“Joshua?” said Hazeline in surprised. “Why are you calling me at work? You know y-,”
“Hey, Hazeline?” Joshua’s voice said ignoring his older sister’s remonstrations and sounding horribly excited over the phone. “I-it’s…the raevan’s ready. Just got a voice message from the lab and I got to it before Mrs.Bediever. I told her it was a friend of mine,” Joshua then added in a voice dripping with conspiracy.
“Y-you can’t be serious!” said Hazline as she gripped the handle of the trolley for support. The trolley wobbled threateningly. “It has only been like…three months since we’ve sent the bottle over. It can’t be that fast…,”
“Guess our raevan is a fast grower,” said her brother’s excited voice. “Anyway, the caller had asked to call back to arrange an appointment. Here’s the number he gave …,”
Hazeline quickly jotted down the given number and made a call back to the said lab before striding up to a very surprised supervisor and telling him that she would be taking the day off tomorrow as she had urgent matters to settle.
-------------------------------------------
The next day dawned bright and early and as both Hazeline and Joshua wolfed down their prepared breakfast, Mrs. Bediever was quick to take note of their excitement. “My, my, what’s all this about?” the petite dame said as she cleared the table. “Surely the two of you are not planning something behind my back now are you?”
“Of course not,” replied Hazeline a little too quickly and Mrs. Bediever gave the young lady a stern stare. “I-I am just dropping Joshua off to school before heading off to work…,” finished Hazeline lamely. “Gotta look after those plants of mine and perhaps pick up something special on the way back…,”
“Okay, well then taken care dearie and drive carefully,” said the dame as both Hazeline and her younger brother left the table in a manner that suggested that whatever it was that they were picking up, it sure was not something you’d find everyday…
“Hmm…I wonder…,” said the old dame as she loaded the dishwasher.
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 6:35 am
The newborn stayed over the night, which reminded Lazarus of his last experience with another newborn Raevan - Eiry. That was somewhat of an unforgettable one, although this Raevan seemed much more docile compared with Eiry back then. He just followed Lazarus around all day without speaking or doing anything drastic. Lazarus need to wonder what it feed off from though, and wonder if he's hungry already?
But that was for the owner to figure out on when she gets here to pick him up. Flipping an outdated magazine from the rack, he waited patiently for this Hazeline Lee to arrive in the lobby. The newborn stayed not far away, glancing curiously at the magazine he's flipping. It wasn't a naughty magazine, Kyou wouldn't put those on the magazine rack in the lobby. It was just a regular celebrity magazine. Not that Lazarus is particularly interest with them, but there are some gorgeous ladies in it to look at.
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 7:19 am
The journey to the lab had been a rather long one and both Hazeline and Joshua were glad when they could finally step out of the car. Stretching herself, Hazeline marveled at the building’s layout. It was far more impressive than what she had imagined and it had a certain newness to it. Perhaps the building has just had a renovation thought Hazline as she made her way to its front doors with her younger brother close at hand.
When the duo had finally reached the front doors however, Hazeline hesitated. She was finally going to meet the raeven whose soul she had obtained not too long ago and the thought actually meeting it in person scared her. What if…the raevan did not like her or proved to be something way beyond her handling capabilities? What if the raevan turned out to be some horrific anthromorphic creature that would give Mrs. Bediever a heart attack? What if…
Perhaps they should turn around now and come back when her nerves weren’t threatening to-
“Umm…are we going in or not?” asked Joshua as he gave his sister’s hand a sharp yank. The physical contact seemed to startle the young lady and Hazeline gave Joshua a bewildered look.
“O-oh, yes…I guess we had better…,” agreed Hazeline rather reluctantly as she stepped towards the front door.
----------------------------------------------
While all this inner conflict was going on on the outside, the newly born raevan on the inside was currently enjoying a quiet moment with Lazarus. The white haired raevan watched with interest as the Sigel turned over the pages of the magazine and tilted his head slightly when the older raeven paused to look at some pictures. Since his arrival, Lazarus was the only living being he had met so far and the young raeven was starting to respect the Lazarus in a way one would with a father figure. Lazarus did not know that of course since the raeven had not learned the words needed to convey his thoughts effectively and it was probably for the young raevan’s own good that he hadn’t.
The sudden opening of the lab’s front doors however caught the young raevan’s attention. Floating up to Lazarus, the white haired raeven gave the other a respectful tap on the shoulder and pointed in the direction of the door. There seemed to be two figures there but…unlike Lazarus and himself, those two figures seemed to tread heavily on the ground with split ends. The young raevan eyed the two beings with apprehension.
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 9:36 am
Lazarus raised his eyes from the magazine to the younger Frei when he tapped his shoulder, then to the entrance of the lobby as he heard the doors opening. Finally, they are here! Lazarus gulped quietly, his nerves wrecking up in a bunch in his stomach. His nervousness had came back to haunt him. He knew he shouldn't be nervous, it's like meeting all the other owners. Maybe it was his newfound sense of responsibility that is giving him jitters?
Raising up from his position, he straightened himself up to get ready to greet the young girl, and younger boy. Though there really isn't anything to really straighten since he don't have a lab coat or anything, just plain ole Lazarus. He knew he should've worn that labcoat hanging in Kyou's office.
"Uhm, hello there. You're Hazeline Lee right?" he try to sound as professional as he could, mimicking people on TV shows in this situation, extending a hand to the girl. "My name is Lazarus, and I'm the temporary caretaker of the laboratory while Kyou is uh... gone." he recited his line that he had been repeating in his head.
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Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:21 pm
Hazeline eyed the approaching figure of Lazarus and realized, with a certain degree of embarrassment, that she was blushing. Stop it! A part of her mind screamed (no doubt the logical part of her mind at any rate) while another part of her mind (the feminine part), ignored her other mind’s pleas for acting logical; which was odd as it was usually the other way around. Not usually one to dress up for the occasion, Hazeline felt that somehow, the feminine part of her mind was already giving her a critical examination and was probably going to fail her for it. Now I hope you’ve realized all those wasted years when you could have gone to a spa, get yourself some contacts, a little manicure…the feminine mind chided as it ticked off an imaginary list of what Hazeline could have done to make herself presentable.
The logical part of her mind however, said otherwise and promptly told the feminine part to back off to which the feminine part retorted “Hah! Look where you have got her! Into an office with a bunch of bespectacled guys whose idea of fun would be to sit around discussing on the importance of one thesis or another. Not a very romantic idea if you’d ask me!”
“Wel-,” the logical part said in order to defend itself but Hazeline was thankfully spared from the debate that was going on in her mind as Lazarus offered his hand as a greeting. Shaking it, Hazeline was suddenly aware that both her minds were now quiet and was paying a close attention to Hazeline’s every move. That was when curiosity came in and Hazeline stared at Lazarus in surprise. “Dr. Kyou is not around?” the young lady said as a tone of disappointment crept into her voice. Perhaps the doctor had to attend a meeting or something or was out somewhere doing some sort of field research or another.
“Oh well, it can’t be helped then I guess,” said Hazeline as she withdrew her hand from the other. “And yes, I’m Hazeline Lee and that’s my brother Joshua. Pleased to meet you,”
“Hello,” said Joshua sounding a little subdued by the impressive presence of the Sigel. “Pleased to meet you as well,”
While all this was happening, the white haired raevan observed the interaction between Lazarus and the humans with interest. It was obvious that they were discussing something of great importance and the young raevan was curious. However, the newly born raevan also felt a stab of indignancy as it was apparent that Lazarus was nervous when talking to the two beings that had just arrived. To have someone he had looked up to with something akin to worshipful awe acting that way made the young raevan determined to put a stop to the two said cause of discomfort.
The white haired raevan began to approach the group warily…
Which was all for naught as Joshua, who had been letting his eyes wander while the two ‘old’ people talked, noticed the raevan’s approach almost instantaneously. “Is that him?” Joshua asked in an excited voice. “That is him isn’t it?”
Then without waiting for an answer, the young boy ran up to the approaching raevan and grasped the raevan’s hand in delight. “You must be the one the lab called about yesterday! I’m Joshua! What’s your name?”
“Aah!” said the raevan in shock and dismay as he had his hand grabbed by the smaller of the two said beings. He was being attacked! Horrified, the white haired raevan would probably have tossed the young boy across the room if he had not, at that moment, detected the boy’s innocence. Calming down a little, the young raevan allowed himself a brief feel of what had made him not want to toss the little kid across the hallway of the lobby. The raeven’s rune glowed faintly and the white haired raevan was aware of what hunger was for the first time. However, the raevan stopped himself from feeding as the thought of being indebted to someone who had made Lazarus nervous appalled him considerably. He knew where his loyalty was and would have none of that!
“La-zarus!” the young raeven called out plaintively as he attempted to shake the clingy kid off his hands. He would also have liked to have said Help me! if he actually knew the words for them.
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Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 6:37 pm
Lazarus didn't fail to notice the young lady's blush, but he had learnt to take it as a compliment and politely ignore it, so as to not put them into an awkward situation. This probably raised his confidence level a little, as he don't feel as nervous now and beamed at Hazeline's introduction. "Nice to meet you too!" His smile dimmed at the mention of Kyou though, as his brows crinkled just a little into a slight frown. "Kyou is in the hospital now, he got into an accident here in the lab." Lazarus explained. "But don't worry though, he's alright and just needed some time to rest." He said reassuringly to Hazeline, God knows what kind of effect Kyou has on ladies that would make them worry about him so much.
He turned around to look at the newborn Frei and Joshua when the younger boy ran over, seeing them interact for the first time. Lazarus probably lacks the ability to feel happy or satisfied in situations like these, unlike Kyou. But he definitely felt relieved somewhat.
However, he didn't fail to notice the young Frei's plea for help. Hearing the newborn mention his name, he glided over the two of them. His mind raced, thinking of how to make the situation better, it probably would be bad if the Frei refuses to go back home with them. That would also mean Lazarus failed his first assignment in this.
Grabbing onto Joshua's and the newborn Frei's hands, he gently separated them slowly. "I know you're excited, but I think you might be scaring him." Lazarus said to Joshua. "I think it's best we let your sister handle this." Truth be told, Lazarus never really liked little kids, especially those that are over excited all the time and are noisy. But at the same time as well, he gave the newborn Frei a nudge on his back, urging and encouraging him to interact with the siblings.
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Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:29 am
Joshua felt his hand being gently but firmly removed from the hand of the new raevan by Lazarus and was surprised. “Why should he be scared of me?” Joshua asked curiously as he stepped back to observe the white haired raevan. “I’m just about as normal as the next person.”
A wave of gratitude washed over the young raevan as he watched Lazarus pry the kid’s hand away from his own and seemed to be explaining something to the small human. In the frei’s mind, Lazarus had saved him!! He was a hero! The young raevan smiled with relief (he had had enough of humans for one day) and was just about to back away from the humans when he felt a nudge on his back. Puzzled, the frei stared at Lazarus before the nudge came again, this time seeming to push him towards the humans. The frei was aghast! He did not want to meet these oddly proportioned beings; especially the large one! The smaller of the two humans had been traumatic enough! Who knew what the larger of the duo would do? Flaring his wings in protest, the young raevan shook his head vehemently; he would not want to be associated with them!
“I am glad to hear that he is recoveri-,” said Hazeline before she was cut short by Joshua’s delighted yell as he clung onto a bewildered looking raevan. Her raevan! Hazeline thought with the sudden tightening in the pit of her stomach. She was not prepared for this! The raevan had appeared too soon and Joshua’s actions had been too sudden! Hazeline had always envisioned that they would be meeting the raevan under a more relaxed and controlled environment where they would have had time to properly acquaint themselves to one another but it would seem that this would not be the case. The raevan was already showing signs of refusing to meet her even with the encouragement of the Sigel. Hazeline felt that she’d probably had to do something to set things straight between her and the raevan. He was after all going to be joining her family soon. Stepping up to the raevan with as much confidence as she could muster at such a sort notice, Hazeline extended her hand and watched as the young raevan backed away in shock at the sudden movement. Rather like a young horse thought Hazeline as she took another step forward and extended her hand once again. It was met with the same reaction and Hazeline shook her head in disapproval. “Stop this Xiu,” Hazeline said firmly before realizing that she had named him.
“Xiu?” said Joshua incredulously. “I had thought that we’d agreed on the name Grand Master Dragon Slayer,”
“We did not,” said Hazeline as she kept her gaze locked on the raevan. “That was your idea,”
Xiu? The human had addressed him as Xiu? She had named him? the young raevan stared at the human in astonishment before looking at Lazarus. ‘What is the meaning of this?’ the blue eyes seemed to say as Xiu turned to face Hazeline once again. Who was she to him? And why had she given him a name in such a careless manner when Lazarus would not? This made Xiu forget about escaping and he began to regard the human with some measure of interest.
The raevan had stopped trying to back away and was now looking at Hazeline in a thoughtful manner as if trying to judge her. Hazeline breathe a sigh of relief but the sigh was quickly caught in her throat when the raevan suddenly approached her. Trying her best not to take a step back, Hazeline watched with fascination as the raevan mimicked her movements and raised his hand towards her. The movement was graceful if rather feminine and Hazeline smiled as she took hold of the outstretched hand. This caused the raevan to instinctively attempt to withdraw his hand but Hazeline kept her grip firm. The raevan seemed confused at this but did not cause a scene. “You are Xiu,” Hazeline said as she took a step closer to the young raevan. “I am Hazeline,”
“Hazeline…,” the raevan said repeating her words. Now that he wasn’t panicking, Hazline had time to notice the rich tone of his voice. It had a subtle but distinct tone of one who was brought up to be courteous but also to be obeyed by others. Which was silly of course since the raevan had only been born yesterday. Nevertheless, intelligent blue eyes stared out from beneath a flow of silky white hair and Hazeline nodded. “Yes, Hazeline. That’s Joshua. We are your new family Xiu,”
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Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:39 am
Lazarus almost choked as Joshua mentioned the idea of naming the newborn 'Grand Master Dragon Slayer'. Yes it could be a title given to someone, but that someone would definitely not be this Frei. Lazarus thought, eyeing the bright white Raevan again. He looks too soft and gentle, maybe even a little bit feminine. But he managed to keep himself from laughing out loud though, struggling to keep a poker face - which is his idea of 'professional'.
"Xiu is a good name." Lazarus said, although he has no idea what it meant, but it just seemed to fit the Frei somehow. He must admit though, he was impressed at the naming process. It just seemed like it flowed out of Hazeline's mouth naturally. Or had she decided much earlier on that he should be named Xiu? Much like parents expecting giving their yet unborn child a name before they are born.
Nonetheless, he was at least glad that they were making progress with the bonding. The newborn Frei don't seem so reluctant anymore. "Yes Xiu, you will be going home with Hazeline today." Lazarus said to Xiu, nodding towards the two humans. "They are your family, and I am not."
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Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 12:34 am
“They are your family, and I am not,”
Those words…
Xiu blinked and stared disbelievingly at Lazarus. What kind of trickery was this? Was he ‘born’ for the sole purpose of being given to these…these…
Xiu turned back to Hazeline and felt his shoulders sag. The woman and child looked anxious and worried. Was he behaving inappropriately? Xiu guessed so and knew that he was being rather stubborn…which was unfair to both Lazarus and Hazeline but Xiu could not help it. The idea of being handed over like something tradable was about as pleasant as the thought that it was inevitable. Protesting would probably only make the situation awkward for all parties involved as it was clear that Lazarus was determined to have him go with these humans and Hazeline and Joshua determined to make his entering into their family as smooth as possible.
Making up his mind, Xiu gently took hold of Hazeline’s hand with his free one and stared into Hazeline’s eyes. They stared back in mild surprise. Xiu smiled before lowering himself a little to match Hazeline’s height. Smiling a little sadly, Xiu nodded slowly once “ Hazeline,” Xiu said as he eyed his guardian. Then turning to Joshua, Xiu nodded as well “Joshua.” Then finally indicating to himself , Xiu smiled. “Xiu. Family.”
Hazeline smiled at the raevan’s words. He was learning fast but she could not help noticing the tinge of sadness that was in his voice. Perhaps he was sad that he had to leave Lazarus and the lab behind. He had spent the night in the lab after all. Perhaps that had made Xiu become attached to the lab and Lazarus (Hazeline had not fail to notice Xu’s cry for help for Lazarus earlier). Were raevans capable of such feelings at so young an age? Hazeline felt a stab of guilt as she clasped Xiu’s hand in return. The frei was putting up a brave front and Hazeline was determined to make the frei feel welcomed. “Yes, family Xiu. It means that you’ll be living with us and doing all the stuff that a family does.”
“It’ll be fun Xiu!” said Joshua as he half threw himself onto the raevan and instead of yelling for help as he had first done, Xiu let out a soft laugh as he carried the excited Joshua ( a little unsteadily ). Floating up, Xiu then gave a glance towards the lab’s entrance before turning to Hazeline. “Shall we go?” blue eyes seemed to say as the raevan floated patiently with Joshua in his arms.
Hazeline got the message and smiled. Turning to Lazarus, Hazeline extended a hand “I would really love to ask you a ton of questions Lazarus but…Xiu seems to be prepared to leave. Better do it now before he changes his mind or something…,” said Hazeline as she let out a sheepish laugh. “Thank you for all your help Lazarus,”
Xiu nodded in the Sigel’s direction as well. “Thank you, Lazarus,”
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