Welcome to Gaia! ::

Once again, Mikhail headed for Fa'e HQ, hoping as always that nothing would go wrong. Of course, that never seemed to be the case - uneventful encounters were few and far between. Instead, there were pregnant teenagers, crazed metal bulls, and naked women. He shuddered at the thought. That was going to haunt him for days, if not weeks or months or forever.

Stefan had just laughed at him - laughed at him! - when he'd told him about it. Seeing a woman go up in flames and rise from the ashes unclothed had earned him absolutely no sympathy points at all. Trust his guardian to think it was funny.

And so, all of a day later, he was back again, hoping against all odds that nothing crazy or unpleasant or otherwise unexpected would happen to him.

Walking into HQ was always a gamble; not only could something disastrous could happen, there was the potential that he might run into someone he really didn't want to see, and there were plenty of those. Today, however, that was not the case. It was one of the Fa'e he'd met briefly at Prom, and the only one he'd actually liked at all!

If it had been, say, Naolin, he'd've been in trouble. "Tzao," he said, with a genuine, relieved smile. This could have been so much worse! Not that it couldn't still get worse, but... "It's been awhile."

It was an amazing, refreshing change to be greeted with such polite enthusiasm. Tzao was friendly, and seemed to be a good conversationalist. Such traits made him exceptional - someone Mikhail could probably get along with. They barely knew each other, of course, but early impressions went a long way with the angel.

He certainly wasn't used to being bowed to in greeting, though. He was a little unsure how to respond, but he settled on a slight bow in return. The movement was hesitant and a little stiff, thanks to the state of his ribs, but he tried.

"Sure," he answered. Mik was relatively indifferent when it came to tea...he didn't dislike it, but it wasn't something he ever sought out. Drinking some to be polite wouldn't bother him any. "I...guess I have a few."

Mikhail sat once invited, and this too he did with a little more care than was usually necessary. He was already completely sick of being hurt. Hopefully, this would be the first and last time he would ever have to deal with broken bones. Cuts, bruises, whatever, he just never wanted to break anything ever again. It was a pain in the a**.

He accepted the tea, looking at it for a moment before giving it an experimental sip. As with every other tea he'd have had, any subtleties escaped him. It was tea, and that was about all he could say. "A few weeks ago." He looked back reflexively as his new wings were indicated. "Got knocked over the head," he said with a casual shrug, assuming Tzao also wanted to know about the how of it, given his mention of 'stories to tell,' "Remembered a few things. There wasn't much to it, really."

Compared to Seung getting kidnapped, Dusty getting chased by some bizarre metal monster with a damned soul inside, or Kia bursting into flames...well, his encounters with his past seemed pretty tame.

It was a little of both, really. The event had been simple enough, in that it had been relatively straightforward, at least on the surface; the resulting information, which he was hesitant to divulge unless more explicitly asked to, had made him more confused than ever. He tried to escape this inner confusion as much as possible, and at the moment, that meant focusing on puzzling out not who he had been, or what that meant for him now, but on figuring out being Fa'e.

As much as he griped about that task, it was easier to take on than the alternative. "Right," he answered, nodding, but then quickly shook his head. "Ambitions? No...no, not really. I haven't gotten that far yet."

"I...used to think I knew everything, except what I was," he admitted, frustration evident. "Now it's just the opposite."

In a way, it was disappointing. A part of Mikhail hoped to find someone as confused as he was, someone who'd just...understand. As it was, he felt alone, and that feeling terrified him. He knew why, on some level, but it was cold comfort. It didn't help him fix the problem.

...of course, it might have helped if he got along with more people. He spared a moment to glare at Calcifer. He'd never liked the fire demon.

"So what's your ambition?" Not the only question that came to mind, but one at a time was best.

"I see," Mik said slowly, not intending the answer to be a cop-out. It was just something to fill the silence while he thought about what Tzao had said, and formulate an actual reply. A dragon, a demon. Once, the mention that he'd been the latter would have had the youth recoiling, but he knew better by now - what you had been wasn't what you had to be, like Morty had told him.

Unfortunately, the reality of who he'd been and what he was now went against much of what he'd once believed. "I've been pretty lucky. I realize that now. What I was...it's never put me in any kind of danger." Then, as it only seemed fair, "I was an angel. I sort of...lost faith, I guess you could say, and that was that. No reason for existing after that, or something."

He was still a little hazy on it, really, but that was the nearest he could figure.

Their....past shortcomings? Mikhail looked up from his cup of tea, his expression somewhat startled - the look of someone for whom a lightbulb had gone off, and they weren't necessarily liking what it illuminated. In the weeks since he'd learned what had become of his past self, he'd never seen his death as the result of some fault of his.

He'd focused on what he'd perceived as abandonment, and become caught up in the sheer confusion of the conflict between his faith now and what being Fa'e meant for that. Had it been his fault, in some way? It was a difficult thought to stomach, and his reflex was to push it away to be worried about later - much, much later, if possible.

As he found himself at an uncomfortable loss, the corners of his mouth twitched into a small, humorless smile. "How did you ever figure all this out?"