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In between all of the hustle and bustle of the apartment (not the crazy kind Eli was used to at the Cottage, but business nonetheless), Eli realized he had yet to really even ask Haevan's permission to stay. It didn't matter that Haevan had been at his dad's, it was still the kind of thing that sent the good-mannered kuppy into throes of guilt because he was completely intruding on everyone who lived in the two bedroom and after his sister had not killed him, his guilt had focused squarely on the wolf Hyte.

So Eli baked cookies.

It was more of an instinct than anything--besides the fact one hardly saw a single mahou shoujo in which there was not a baking cookies episode, Eli had worked in a bakery and was a firm believer in the power of sugary baked goods to bring happiness. He supposed it could also be seen as a bribe--but it was a delicious bribe, so who cared?

Knocking lightly on the bedroom door he'd never seen open, Eli held a plate of sugar cookies in hand and hoped for the best.

Eli turned around quite sheepishly, and waved at the wolf coming in the door. "Hi, Haevan. I'm living here for now. Would you like a cookie?" he said, offering the plate. His heterochromatic eyes took in the baggage Haevan carried, and surmised the wolf really hadn't been home until just now. The kuppy wondered if Seth had managed to tell Haevan anything about what had happened the past few weeks...

Eli breathed a tiny sigh of relief before shaking the other's hand. "Sorry to catch you off guard," the kuppy said ruefully, placing the plate on a nearby table. And at Haevan's quick assessment of the situation, Eli scratched his head, unsure of what to say. "Do you want the cliffnotes version or the long, messy one?" He supposed the shortest summary would be something about a falling out with Shimy and then Noe's kidnapping...other events, like Kitten, Haevan was probably best left unaware of.

Eli tapped a furry finger to his cheek, as if pondering the best way to explain this. "Well, I suppose my part of it starts with my grandmother--Sabra Sabina, the Shimy always running around Hytech like a crazy woman? Ah, well, she and I had a bit of a falling out, which is why I came here...though I won't be crashing forever, my mother's going to build some sort of ultimate heroes lair or something for Kamiko and I--" Eli still wasn't sure how that had happened, to be honest. It'd all come together so quickly... The kuppy coughed, and hurried back to the main story. "And then just a few days ago, Seth got word from Noe's bounty hunting boss that she...was kidnapped." Reflecting on the aftermath of that wasn't something the kuppy cared to do at the moment, and he finished with, "But she was taken offworld...and, um, I don't know if you'd ever noticed but Shimy and I sort of have connections to a lot of different worlds so Shimy's working on finding her." That was all the necessary bits, wasn't it?

Eli was greatly relieved at Haevan's matter-of-fact acceptance of his little speech, even in spite of the fact that Eli was fair sure any normal person would deem him insane for it. Then again, they were all designer hybrid children, so one would think Hytes would be more willing than the typical human to embrace a little oddity...

"Oh, when Shimy wants to find someone, she finds them," Eli said, with a bit of a nervous laugh. That was the short version of it, anyway...

"How does...the hero thing work? My answer is wildly different from Kamiko's," the kuppy said, scratching his head. "Kamiko mostly gets tech--weapons, gadgets, you name it--from my mother, actually. Or my mom uses her connections to get whatever it is Kamiko needs, if Mom can't build it herself. And she's been trained extensively in various forms of combat. Other than that, it's mostly patrolling and being vigilant, I suppose."

Eli paused. "And in my case, the story starts with world dragons and gets progressively odder from there. Ah, let's see...mostly these days I keep an eye out for lamiak, who are little critters a bit like Hytes, they're partially humanoid, but they often have some form of magic...which can cause trouble, when they suddenly appear places and even the lamiak themselves don't know how they got there. We think it has something to do with a friend of Shimy's, she says the lamiak are from her homeworld...but the kicker is it got destroyed a very long time ago so nobody knows how the lamiak are getting here, lest of all the lamiak themselves." It'd been awhile since the last disturbance, but Eli knew better than to think it was over just because it had been blessedly quiet for awhile. "And I've also managed to anger an Empire full of magical girls, but that's a very long story indeed. And it's mostly Shimy's fault." He had rather provoked Eurus that time he'd met the Praetorate, so he figured he had to bear a little of the blame now.

"Mostly Shimy's fault!" Eli insisted, holding his hands up in the air as he protested. "To be fair, it's a shitstorm that's been waiting to happen for several years--so before I was born, even. Murders of diplomats, reinstating the Coliseum, general mucked up hostage-driven politics--not a place full of happy sunshine and rainbows, despite the prevalent sparkles." There was a difference, after all. And, he remembered, Shimy had grown up in that world. Maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised...

"I know I'd be glad for the help," Eli said honestly. They still hadn't any idea what they would find--and unless it would require the stealthiest retrieval, Eli was definitely of the opinion that the more meant the better. And if Haevan said he had some experience, that he could handle himself in a fight, Eli would believe him. "I just wish I knew if it was my fault. I don't know exactly what kind of work Noe did, or what kinds of contacts offworld she might've had...but I definitely have enemies on various worlds, or Shimy does, and it's all the same to them." Whoever 'they' might be...

"True enough," the kuppy said ruefully. "In an odd way, I don't know if I'd be relieved if it was enemies of mine--it'd make things simpler, I guess, I'd know how I could solve the problem. If they're enemies of Noe's--I guess I really ought to insist on those magic lessons we always talked about but never got around to, when we get her back." Eli didn't see not getting her back as an option--it was Noelani. He half expected to walk into where she was being held and be reprimanded by her for taking so long. She was strong, way stronger than he was--she'd made it through Dyre, she'd found happiness, she'd get her way, Eli was sure of it.