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 Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 3:53 pm
Who: Anastacia, Duncan, and Zeke
When: October 16th; noon
Where: Lab 305
Weather: Cool but clear; the sun is shining
"Thank you very much, keep the change!"
After a gracious 'thank you' from the delivery boy and a hearty 'you're welcome' from Zeke, the front door to the Lab swung close and Zeke turned around to face the lobby once again. In his hands was a long brown paper bag that was hot to the touch thanks to its delicious and equally long contents. Now that the door was closed, the scent from the bag wafted without being blown away by the slight breeze outside and Zeke's stomach gave a longing rumble.
Meatball grinder, how Zeke was craving thee.
"This is gonna be so good!" A delighted little smile came over the vet's face and he hugged his precious cargo gently to his chest as he walked back to his desk. Situated on the desk was the usual fair - pens, papers, the computer - but today a sticky note and manilla folder had greeted him when he sat down in the swivel chair this morning. On the note's electric blue face a few kindly words from Dr. Kyou had been scrawled and the sum of the matter was simple - a new Guardian had been chosen, his bottle and vial were in the case next to the desk, and he would likely arrive to get them sometime this afternoon. The folder it was stuck to was the usual forms and as Zeke rounded the side of his desk to take his seat, he had to pause to look at it and the desk it lay upon.
This won't do, and by this, he meant his lunch. As delicious as it was, a meatball grinder was one of the messier types of sub sandwich. Not to say he couldn't clean like a pro, but making a mess all the same wasn't a good idea in the long run, especially now that he had important paperwork sitting there. When one option was nil, it was wise to go with the other, so Zeke decided the cafeteria was a better place and turned his attentions toward the Frei sitting on the couch nearby.
Since they had arrived this morning Anastacia was doing as she always did when Zeke came to do his weekend hours at the Lab - knitting. A recent spark of genius had hit the Frei and she was attempting to unite two scarves together lengthwise in order to create a thicker one. So far, her efforts had been taken apart for the seventh time and she was staring at the two scarves she had brought with contempt. Joining was harder than making and she hadn't expected it to be this hard. Tricky, sure, but it was possible. She knew it was - seeing the knit afghans and sweaters Zeke's mother had made for him were a testament to that. She just had to figure out the method and she would, come hell or high water.
"Hey Anya."
But not until she was left alone. She might have been ignoring Zeke, but the vet seemed unable to take a hint that she didn't want to hear his chatter. Nel had said he would try and try to get her to talk to him, but she had figured by now he would have learned to leave her alone. That man was a fool, and though he had spoken to her, Anastacia kept up with her resolve and didn't give the man with the bi-colored hair so much as a glance.
Zeke expected as much from her, but still smiled down at the Frei who was giving her newest project a long, hard look over.
"I'm gonna take my lunch break now."
No reply.
"I'm eating in the cafeteria today instead of at the desk. Someone's going to be dropping by to pick up a bottle and vial, but I'm pretty sure it won't be until later. I'll still need you to keep an eye on things though, okay? Just in case." Lunch, work, a doctor's appointment...something always came up to prevent most pick ups to be exactly at noon, so the vet was confident that would be the case again. That being assumed, he felt fine with leaving Anya in charge of the otherwise vacant lobby. She was responsible and given her repeated showings of that with Nel, her things, and her plants he knew she could handle something as easy as hanging about the lobby until he got back. Easy as pie, which wasn't as delicious as his grinder would be. His stomach gave another rumble.
"I'll be down the hall if you need me." With that, he strolled out into the hall and was gone.
The moment his back was turned, Anastacia rolled her lavender eyes. What did he think she was? A child? He was certainly talking to her like she was, but at least she was left alone again AND in silence as a bonus. However, the smell of whatever he was going to eat lingered, and the Frei waved a hand in front of her face to get the scent away. Human food was like the scent of a hospital - unappealing and sickening if she was around it too long.
"Ugh." It was lingering around her vicinity, needing time to air out before it would be gone. She was not so patient for such a thing and knew she had to move. The spider queen set her effects aside - doing so and then considering to take a break to rest her mind from the conundrum - and rose into the air, stretching her wings out to their fullest points before flicking them to send her over the coffee table with her ribbon lightly brushing the top of it. The scent waned as she left the couch area and she came to a stop by the windows, looking out at the October afternoon. Leaves were changing and some littered the sidewalks, while the entire day was deceptively sunny. It looked warm but it was the opposite - especially to one as temperature sensitive as her. She lingered there for a few minutes, but eventually the pretty autumn scene lost her interest and Anastacia turned her nearsighted eyes back toward the couch.
Not yet. She hadn't had much of a break and her mind still felt clouded by the tricky matter she was attempting. She needed something to do that would hold her interest, but something that would also count as a break. ...I know. Another flick of her long pinions was given and the Frei carried herself to the secretary desk. The folder and its sticky note were pushed aside to create more room before Anya took the desktop's mouse in hand and gave it a shake to make the screen light up.
Computer Solitaire. It never failed.
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Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:39 am
Fall winds sifted through the sky between the many trees and corners of the city and into the furls of grey hair sticking out of Duncan's thickly layered attire. His eyes were shadowed by the cover of his sun hat, which rarely left his head nowadays, and his neck and mouth were covered in a knit scarf and woolen jacket. With a basket gripped tightly with one hand, filled to the rim with fresh fruit and vegetables, and the other hand gently adjusting the rim of his glasses, the green-eyed man stared up at a looming building just over the hillside road.
Duncan tipped his neck back to see the approaching laboratory in its entirety, for his hat made it rather difficult for him to see much of anything at all. His grip around the basket became gradually tighter the closer he was to his destination, and once or twice he looked back to the road behind him as if he were making a wrong decision. It almost felt as if he was, to leave work behind with a man-- his daughter's husband-- who so urgently needed help during his time of need, but there was a strange sense of urgency Duncan felt needed to be quelled by going to the facility-- he had a duty to upkeep his promises, after all. He reminded himself that even Maree, another woman at the store that would often scorn Duncan for every second he wasn't there to support his son-in-law, agreed, assuming anything from a laboratory ought to be fairly important, though she only gave a speculative raise of a brow when Duncan mentioned picking up an 'essence and a soul bottle.'
Soon before he left, she asked if they were doing any business with an aromatic therapy business, and the grey-haired man allowed himself a gentle chuckle at the recollection. It eased him enough to enter the foreign building without giving more than a second thought, and he checked the fruit and vegetables in the basket again to make sure they were all fresh enough, but as soon as he spent no more than a second in the building he felt tenseness crawl through his spine. He took off his sun hat out of politeness and smoothed out the bed of his frazzled hair, eyes as wide as a deer's as he examined the roomy laboratory, idle steps reaching further into the hallway.
It was fortunate enough for him that the place was nothing like he'd imagined-- it was neither a medieval torture room, with cold stone walls and mysterious smells, nor a hospital that he'd thought every laboratory might be like. Unlike the staunch smell of medicine and sterile equipment that the lofty hallways of the Durem Hospital had, Lab 305 smelled strangely more inviting, as if it were a home as much as it was a facility. The lighting above him felt warm, instead of cold like a hospital's, and Duncan had to loosen the tightness of his scarf to cool himself down, for heat finally caught up with him and his long walk.
The man could feel fatigue riding up his legs as soon as he did, and despite his sense of wonder, it was a relief to spot an arrangement of couches approaching his vision. As soon as he reached the lobby, he sighed with relief and sat down on one of the couches, setting down his basket of produce next to him. Then he looked up at the sound of idle ticking at the clock facing him-- it was but a few minutes past noon, which made him wonder if he'd gotten there too late, or if the doctor was already in an apppointment or, perhaps, he was scheduled for another day-- all of this made him frightened enough not to stand back up and ask for assistance which, not even in a moment most dire, did Duncan rarely ask for.
It was a rattling thought, to be late or to ask for help, and Duncan quickly coughed the remaining cold from outside out of his lungs and let his back rest against the soft couch. His eyes wandered around in front of him, though, and he couldn't help but notice a strange purple-haired woman behind the office desk. She was barely in his line of vision, her face covered mostly by the computer screen, and the man tilted his head to the side to get a closer look. He was nervous enough as he was, though, and he sat upright once more just when he caught glance of an inch more of Anastacia's lavender hair. That was enough for him, he assumed, and he wouldn't be caught oggling the secretary.
An aroma of baked bread and meat lofted around the office still, though faintly, and Duncan couldn't help but feel hungry-- he hadn't eaten at all in the mornig, as he left from home in a bit of a rush. He coughed into his hand to cover up the faint rumbling sound coming from his stomach and stared at the back of the computer monitor, then at the coffee table-- which, unfortunately, did not have any coffee on it. Frowning, the old man raised his hand and leaned forward, arching his head to the side to try and catch the woman's attention-- it was one thing to be late, and another to be left hungry and thirsty.
"Er-- excuse me," Duncan said, just barely loud enough to hear, "Is there any way I could get some water while I-- while I wait?"
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 11:12 am
She settled into the swivel chair Zeke had been in as soon as the screen had its display up, hunkering down into the still-warm seat as she brought up the Start menu. To make herself comfortable, the spider queen flipped her wings over her shoulders and down against her chest, allowing her to rest against the chair's back easier than settling her wings over the top.
Let's see... Unlike Zeke's computer at work or home, there was no visible tab for the games on the menu's right hand side. The Frei had to dig into the Programs to find her much desired Solitaire, but did so after some scanning. Within a few clicks, the game was up on the screen and Anastacia was making the necessary adjustments to its appearance. Once it was set - a red felt background and large print cards - the Frei started off her first game, pleased that her first hand had an ace and a few easily stacked cards.
She proceeded through the game fine until a few early miss clicks led her to being stuck down the line. She was sorely in need of a card that was hiding under a stack of two others, but said stack couldn't be moved because the proper card needed wasn't on the board. She hated moments like these, but knew she could get through it. She had in the past after all and if not? Well there wasn't a 'New Game' function for nothing. If she got through it on her own merit she was smart. If she used 'New Game' she was crafty and thus had no qualms about clicking through the cards in the deck again. Sure it did deplete her overall score in the end, but she never played for score - she played to win.
However, this game was not one to be won and Anya fell back to option two and began a new game. It was a little frustrating to the spider queen, but true agitation and a swear off of the game for a week or so would only happen if the game decided to be "difficult" a few times in a row. Luckily this was not the case and the only interruption in the Frei's play-through came from an outside source. Absorbed as she was, she was given quite the start when the lobby's door chimes suddenly went off. The Frei jerked in her seat, causing a clatter when one pinion jerked with her and swept the keyboard up off two of its stubby feet for a split second. When said keyboard landed, it seemed everything in it rattled and the Frei quickly grabbed it to stop it from making such a racket, doubly jarred by the chattering noise the keys made before they fell silent beneath her palms.
She released a breath she hadn't even known she had been holding and looked over the top of the computer screen for the culprit behind the original noise. Light pouring in from the lobby's front windows didn't help her eyesight, but she could make out the silhouette of a person sitting on one of the couches in front of said windows. Anastacia squinted to try and make the shadow come in clearer but to no avail. Still, she was well aware this was the source of the initial noise and thus cast an unsavory glance toward the person for the start before looking at the computer's clock.
12:16
Her brow knit together as she watched the time tick to 12:17 a few seconds later and thought back to what Zeke had said before he departed. There was someone coming to pick up a bottle and vial, he had said, but he was sure they wouldn't come until later. She would watch the lobby and since he was sure, wouldn't have to play hostess to anyone while he dined on whatever it was he had in his arms and smelled gross to her. Looking over the top of the screen again, Anastacia had a good feeling the veterinarian had been wrong.
"That liar..." It was muttered to herself, the Frei turning a contemptuous glance toward the glass door that led into the hall behind her. Sure it might not truly be the case - the Lab did have a few curious walk ins now and again - but she still didn't want to be striking up a conversation either. She was supposed to be taking a break! Before she could mutter anything else against her missing man, the shadow across the room made a motion to draw her eye and started to speak.
"Good afternoon," the Frei said in her cool, flat tone when Duncan got his 'excuse me' out of the way. She immediately grumbled at herself for that. Like with Axel and her sister, the greeting had been so ingrained into her mind that it was automatic now. Anastacia gave a shake of her head at herself for it, but continued to peer over the screen with her top four eyes, watching the shadow just in case it - now clearly a he - decided to come closer. Sudden sound was one thing, but to have a person appear before her with no warning would not be tolerated. He didn't move, but he did continue talking.
And he wanted...water? That was ignored by the virus Raevan in favor of other thoughts like 'who was this man?' and 'why was he here?' As before he could be either one of two things and she wasn't keen to interact with either. Besides, Zeke had said in the past that she shouldn't talk to strangers...but she had already flubbed that up. It was by accident, but there it was. Now that she had spoken, the man-shadow would expect a return. Well, it seemed he expected water, but Anastacia was no servant. If this was the one Zeke had said was coming, then the vet could deal with him and the fact he had been wrong. If not? Zeke could still deal with him.
"You are?" Best to know which the man-shadow was now so she could know what look to give her Guardian. Once she knew, she would fetch him to do his damn job. No way in hell was she waiting around for him to return. Knowing him, it could take ages and she wasn't so patient when it came to such things. This was his part time job, not hers.
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Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:04 pm
"Ah--" Duncan hesitated, then gripped the edge of his sun hat nearly reprehensively. The lavender-haired secretary had a sharp voice, and reminded him of the woman that frequently worked behind the counter at the hospital. He reclined into the couch, weary at first to respond, before lifting himself up-- much to the argument of his bones, with his back cracking rather impressively when he stood.
He paced towards the Raevan's desk at a relatively quick pace. He noticed the green glimmer of the computer screen shining against the Raevan's grey eyes the closer he got to the office desk, and more importantly, more of her odd features. It was clearly startling to him when he noticed that the Raevan's four black beads on her forehead were, in fact, attached to her skin, and that the strange contraptions keeping her sleek hair up looked more akin to insect legs than he would have imagined from afar. The last thing Duncan noticed was Anastacsia's webbed wings, which were stretched out in front of her, and the fact that the woman seemed to have next to nothing outside of a head, arms, and half of her torso. She was floating, and Duncan adjusted the rim of his glasses near subconsciously when he noticed this.
The old man straightened his back, suddenly more aware of himself when he realized that he was doing just what he was trying to avoid earlier-- ogling the secretary, even though it was admittedly for innocent reasons, though it was still rude enough for him to treat an office worker as if she was someone showcasing at a museum exhibition. He'd done this often in his time at Gaia, even after living on this ephemeral place for more than half of a century, be it a particularly interesting human or something similar to one, and he often dismissed this as his inability to socialize with people and his nature as, more importantly, a professor.
When he snapped back out of his realm of contemplation, having realized that the very woman that spurred his trail of consciousness back into motion had asked him a question an impressive amounts of moments ago, Duncan glanced around his surroundings to try and remember what, exactly, the woman was asking. Duncan smiled, pinching the edges of his eyes-- an impression of an earnest smile-- and could only answer with a blatant, "I'm sorry, could you say the question again? My-- name is Duncan Clarke, I believe was scheduled for an appointment here."
He paused. The secretary did not look amused-- not in the least, and her eyes reminded him of the cold judgment of the very people he had thought about before. Fellow professors reviewing his dissertation during his youth at university would often reprimand him for the way he so blatantly presented himself to strangers, with the staring and forgetting what the other would say, making assumptions instead about what others wanted to hear. Duncan flustered, the edge of his brows curving into a subtle furrow. "Did I arrive too late, miss? I think I might have--" he looked up at the clock-- it was now 12:18 PM, "I believe I might be 18 minutes late, since the gentleman on the phone said to arrive around noon--"
Duncan, unaware that he'd already answered the woman's question, stopped talking, almost abruptly. His neck arched forward, and with a hint of splendor in his voice, he asked the secretary in a near whisper, "A-and, this might come off as rude, but may I ask what you might be? Are you a 'Raevan' that this laboratory here is all about?"
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Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2011 11:42 am
The sound of footsteps were not lost on the spider queen, and she lifted her gaze from the computer screen toward the door. In a brisk few seconds the shadowy figure became the all to clear form of a man who stopped in front of the desk she had claimed as her own for the time being. Her lavender and navy blue eyes scrutinized Duncan but her face remained passive, even as the older gentleman openly gawked at her. She did so like the attention and even though she was annoyed with the intrusion soaked up the entirety of his gaze, filling her vanity meter up to the top. She did have to change her opinion of this intrusion somewhat. Sometimes they did lead to good things.
Eventually the gawking came to an end and Anastacia straightened in her seat much like the elderly man had. She wasn't fond of older humans - there was just something about the sagging and wrinkled nature of their skin and their overly bony frames that put her off big time. It was perhaps a latent, unrecognized fear that she, too, would look much like them someday that gave her that opinion, but regardless she wasn't a fan. Now that the reassurance of her beauty was over and done with for now, a mild feeling of unpleasantry rose up even while the Frei's face remained impassive. It remained that way even though there was an internal grumble at Duncan's sudden look around at the lobby and its spacious effects. That was another thing she could say she didn't like about elderly humans: they had poor memories and Anastacia really didn't like to repeat herself. It was lucky for her, then, that she didn't have to.
"You answered my question." The reply was flat, but as pointed as her gaze. A slender brow lofted as Duncan queried her and then immediately went on to answer himself and her. Upon hearing he had an appointment, the spider queen's lips ghosted into a frown. So he was here for the pick up. Just wonderful. With that told to her, it didn't take a second thought. The Frei pushed back from the desk, ignoring the question from the older man about him being late simply because it didn't matter to her if he was or not. The only thing that mattered right now was that he was here and that Zeke had lied to her. The wheels of the chair bumped against the case that lay just out of sight, causing the Virus femme to jerk in her seat. A scowl was cast down to the half-hidden object but with only a slight adjustment the wheels were free and she began to follow suit. Her mind was set on getting Zeke and glaring at him as a what-for...at least until a certain whisper in a certain tone graced her hidden ears.
"A-and, this might come off as rude, but may I ask what you might be? Are you a 'Raevan' that this laboratory here is all about?"
She paused there, leaning back in her seat and looking up at the man who was leaning over the tabletop she had just been sitting at. She stared at him for a moment - soaking in the splendor his tone had held as though starved for attention and compliments - before raising her chin, expanding her crown, and giving Duncan a curt nod.
"I am."
Not a humble being, after the nod was given, Anastacia flipped her wings back over her shoulders and rose from the swivel chair's seat. Once aloft, the spider femme gave her wings the necessary stretch, but she turned to the side in order to draw Duncan's eyes to their overly large size as she did so. She did the same with her crown though the stretch there was unneeded; pulling the chitinous appendages as a group before drawing them back down to their usual places one at a time. A sweep of her hand through the untied portion of her periwinkle locks completed the show - her rune and the cloud around it needing no introduction given how bright the former was and how active the latter was being - and Anastacia turned her partial body back to the man again, looking expectant and assured of what she assumed was to come. She knew how she looked, and with a display such as that? She might just have to concern herself with the possibility of giving the old timer a heart attack.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 1:04 am
"Oh, uh, I see--" Duncan was pressed into silence as Anastascia left her place behind the office desk; the old man's eyes widened when he noticed that, indeed, the woman seemed to be less human that he'd initially made her out to be-- for not only did she have no working legs, but a fully functional and strangely shaped pair of wings, which reminded him less of birds nor bats but of spiders. This thought was confirmed readily tenfold when her silver gaze flicked out of vision and Anastascia turned to reveal even further not only her wings outstretched, but her bare back, marked only by a red symbol.
What Duncan did not expect, however, was for her strange hair ornaments to move; the display, however, did not so much as awe the man, but confuse him. Here he was met with a sight that he'd never ventured to imagine in his life, even in the fanciful world of Gaia; he would dare again to stare at the glowing manifest circling around below the floating lady's torso; how could she work with such strange anatomy, where it seemed that the inside of her was nothing but hollowness and glowing purple. Duncan's eyes furrowed, if only slightly, at this musing, and tried to contain the rest of his plethora of questions out of his mind.
With his gaze intent on Anastacia, his jaw taut, Duncan's expression would seem less ponderous than he truly was, which more or less matched Anastacsia's expectations of what he would look like after her spectacle. Duncan nodded, though blankly, offering no other answer but a simple and repeated "I see," before running out of any other conventionally proper things to say. He felt that, though the lavender-haired woman seemed to him now as nothing but a magical trick, an illusion of the mind, that asking her questions about her species would be less than ideal.
He was reminded, then, of the time, and he looked around the office space once more, then to the Raevan, more expectant than bespectacled when the Raevan turned around to face him again. "Should I, ah, follow you somewhere, Miss... I'm afraid I didn't catch a name...? You don't have to bother guiding me-- I'm sure if you tell me where it is, I could find it."
It was, to his misfortune, that the man was rarely one to neither send nor receive any amount of compliments, and it was obvious with the otherwise neutral expression, transformed from his initially surprised look when he arrived at the office, that he had entirely missed the point. Duncan was more enthralled at the opportunity of being able to meet with a fellow doctor, someone who could tell him about the strange sight he was seeing; and, for that moment, he wondered if he would be qualified to care for a being that belonged to such a magical foray of features.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 10:22 am
Stunned silence was her reward for her show. Although she had expected compliments or even dazed garbling of half-words and sounds, the Frei was not let down. The way the old man was looking at her did enough and Anastacia could only preen more the longer Duncan blankly stared ahead.
The second "I see" the older gentleman spoke was a bit odd, but his tone and the fact he was flabbergasted was a saving grace for him in the spider queen's books. Lofting her crowned head again, the Frei turned back to face him, arms crossing over her chitin-covered bosom to really soak in his look. As she did so, he seemed to have lost some of his awe, instead looking about the room. This made one of the Frei's slender brows raise, practically forgetting the man was here for something that wasn't awed stares at her.
"Should I, ah, follow you somewhere, Miss... I'm afraid I didn't catch a name...?"
Oh right. That.
"Anastacia," the Frei said, not frowning but inwardly not quite pleased that looking time had come to such an abrupt end. "And no..."
She trailed off, glancing toward the glass door that led into the bowels of the Lab and the cafeteria her man was likely sitting at now. Anastacia was thinking on what to do here and weighing options. While telling the man to just go down to the cafeteria was a nice idea, she had a decent feeling Zeke would get on her about not being polite or letting people wander the halls, even when the vet was well aware she wasn't talking to him. Another option - letting him follow her - was something, but the Frei neither wanted to be followed nor lead Duncan toward that foul smell of meat and sauce. Anastacia's nose crinkled at the thought of it and how it still somehow lingered even now.
The last idea that came to mind was one that held differences from her usual motives: fetch Zeke herself. While not usually one to take an active part in fetching her man - especially now that she was in full swing of ignoring him - the idea that she could disturb his meal herself was tempting. It was sort of a tiny touch of payback for all the times he had interrupted her while knitting or being engrossed with something. Decisions, decisions.
"Wait here." Her words came abruptly but as she said them, Anastacia floated to the door. "I'll get my guardian for you."
She looked over her shoulder with the barest hints of a smile curling her red lips. All six of her eyes - lavender and arachnid navy blue - had a little shine to them that hadn't yet been seen in the Frei. Oh yes, she was going to rip the man from his meal and make him do his job. He'd have to deal with the old man for what would presumably be ages before he'd be able to sit down again. With any luck, his meal would have gone cold by that time and oh...that would be perfect.
As soon as she spoke the words she was gone and the door was slowly swinging shut behind her. The cafeteria was not a far trek for anyone, but was made all the closer when one had a pair of wings to help them speed along down the empty hallway. The closer she got to her destination, the stronger the smell of Zeke's sandwich became and she was tempted to go back and tell Duncan to meander down there himself. However, the idea she would get back at him in her own subtle way was a greater temptation and thus won out.
She reached the cafeteria and peered in through the open door. Zeke had opted to sit just outside of the reaches of her clear vision, but his vibrant colors were not hard to miss all the same. His back was to her and his front was framed by a large square of white which Anastacia presumed was a newspaper. Lurking before the door, she make out the tinny sounds of techno which was being played into Zeke's ears by the earbuds of his iPod. In other words? He was distracted.
Steeling herself against that pungent odor of her guardian's meal, the Virus Frei floated inside. Her vision cleared as she did so and she saw a sturdy paper plate with half of the partially eaten grinder on it.
Bingo.
With that there, she wouldn't have to break her silent treatment or touch the vet to get him to go to the front of the Lab. Again, perfect.
Keeping a wide enough berth so that she wouldn't have to touch Zeke and so that he wouldn't touch her if she managed to spook him with her presence, the dark femme approached the table. She kept her lavender pair of eyes on her man, but continued to float forward unhindered thanks to her always forward arachnid eyes. She came to a brief stop at the table's end and took the paper plate in both hands, trying not to heave or make any sound as the origin of the foul smell continued to produce it.
Zeke, reading the right hand side of the newspaper he had found in the cafeteria, didn't notice his ward's presence until he turned the page and turned his head to the left to read. Seeing a form so suddenly there did make him jump and he almost fell out of his seat as he tried to twist and get a better view.
"Anya!" he cried. With her nickname said, the spider queen knew she had her guardian's attention and thus swept herself out of the room - plate in hand and held out before her like a bomb.
The vet had to double take as she did so, realizing on the second glance that the Frei had taken off with his lunch. A shocked laugh left his lips and the vet chased after her at a jog.
"Anya! Anya, what are you doing?" As he pursued her, his laughter continued. This was different, but after all that silence, it was not unwelcome! The spider queen was teasing him or playing with him or something and he couldn't have been happier to have been interrupted!
With Zeke close on her ribbon's end, the Frei was quick to press the glass door open and enter the lobby. Once she was through, she set the plate of now warm disgusting "food" on Zeke's desk and lingered before it. She waited until the glass door was pressed open again before moving toward the couches, revealing Duncan to the grinning, red-cheeked veterinarian in the process.
Upon seeing the older man standing there, the vet came to an immediate stop, looking from his ward to the man and back again. Confusion rose up on his face and he looked at his ward one last time, winning a pointed stare and agitated look for his efforts.
"...Oh!" Realization dawned on him with that and confusion faded into a big smile that matched his vibrant appearance. "Hi there!"
Zeke bounded around the side of his desk and took out his earbuds before holding out his right hand to Duncan. Seemed to him the man had arrived a little earlier than he had expected, but that was no matter that he was! His appearance had led to a rather unorthodox but amazingly humorous show of character from his ward. Having his lunch break broken up was not a bad thing because of that!
"You must be the man we've been waiting for! My name's Zeke; it's nice to finally meet you!"
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:11 am
Duncan gaped his mouth to interject on the lavender-haired woman's seemingly kind chore, but simply kept quiet and nodded firmly. He smoothed his brow out with one hand, nervously; it was true that he was a few minutes late, but the abrupt displeasure on the Raevan's behalf was truly unexpected. The old man couldn't help but quietly follow the Raevan's-- Anastacia's-- trail for a few seconds, if only to peek past the ledge of Lab 305's lounging office. When he considered himself out of mind and motion, Duncan inched back to the couch in which he sat and contemplated to himself, routinely checking off what errands needed to be completed before his return home.
He was to buy groceries, visit the neighbors, and water the plants at the Durem garden; it was a short list, but upon further scrutiny, Duncan sighed in defeat at how long each chore would take. Talking to the Jensens aside, it was true that his preferred shopping store and the Durem garden were on either side of the district, and his home was in yet another area of the giant city entirely. He sunk back in his couch and rested both of his hands against the armrest.
Time passed, as it did, and Duncan's mind wandered to where a television might be, but it seemed there was none in sight. There was the computer that Anastacia was using, but it seemed discourteous of him to use the facility's work computer for something as minor as a card game or two. Many of the offices he had been, most of which were hospitals, were laden with televisions and magazines. Anna would often preoccupy herself with a child’s book if they were there, even well into her adulthood, and with a nostalgic grin Duncan seemed to desire one as well.
Duncan was no fidgety man, and when his snapshot musings faded into circles of his routines and to the great desire for something to read or watch, the idle ticks of the office's nervously loud clock was interrupted by a noise down the hall. It was faint, at first, and Duncan twisted his head around to the best of its ability to see if he could lean back and discern where it came from. Another noise, and Duncan's nose scrunched like a confused rabbit's.
It wasn't until he could identify the distinct tapping of feet against a hard surface that he realized the noise was coming towards him. Duncan jolted to a stand and straightened out his clothes and glasses, waiting with wide eyes and the least hunched posture he could muster for whomsoever's arrival. When Anastacia first, sandwich in hand, Duncan scrutinized where she'd gotten it in the first place, but what made him further confused was the arrival of the veterinarian himself.
The man, whose speculative face was more wrinkled than it otherwise would, in his scrutiny, stared in silence at Ezekiel at first. His glare gleamed over Anastacia, silently analyzing the scene for a few answers. Like he was when the spider made her abrupt leave, Duncan's jaw was slack and open. It was only with a small, bemused chuckle and a small grin of apology that Duncan bowed and made any sound. Of course! The shouting down the hall sounded strangely familiar for a good reason.
He turned to Ezekiel, grinning. "You must be the doctor I'd scheduled the appointment with? I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be so young. I'm Duncan Clarke, yes."
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Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:13 am
As the scene began to settle from Anastacia's abrupt return and Zeke's grand entrance, the latter person was quickly absorbed into the situation. Anya's strange antics were explained just by looking at Duncan, which Zeke was doing well enough right this moment. He was a little surprised to see an elderly man standing before him - all the guardians and guardians-to-be he had met had been younger - but it wasn't the unfavorable sort. Rather, it was polite surprise which turned into delight. This was a change from the norm and Zeke did so love such things.
"I'm not the doctor, but I am the one who handles these sorts of appointments." The vet chuckled as Duncan spoke of him being surprised by his youth. This was both for the statement alone and for the fact he was expecting something more along the lines of "I wasn't expecting a doctor to have a mohawk, two-colored hair, and piercings". "It's very nice to meet you, Mister Clarke."
As he reiterated and waited with his right hand extended, Zeke tucked his earbuds away and with his left hand pulled his iPod out of his pocket to shut it off. Once the tinny-sounding techno beats were silenced, he returned the music player to its proper place, beaming from ear to ear as he gestured his left hand toward his desk.
"Sorry about not being here when you arrived and keeping you waiting. I was having lunch, as Anya probably explained."
Looking from the nicely dressed old man to his ward, the vet turned his smile upon her. The spider queen had planted herself in an armchair and was trying to look as though her attentions were out the window when she was in fact keeping an eye on the pair with two of the four arachnid eyes on her brow. The vet chuckled, still amused by what just occurred to lead him out here, but didn't prod her to be sociable. It seemed that she already had and he knew better than to force her.
Anastacia took notice of this, but only relaxed in her seat when the vet turned around and led the march to his desk. She was still mad at him - always would be in her mind - but she could at least tell herself with pride that she had trained the man well before the upset. She had played her unwilling part, now it was his turn to do his job and get the old man set and then out the front door.
"If you'll come this way, I'll give you the things you'll be needing to get your Raevan!" With a newly placed bounce in his step Zeke led Duncan to his desk. Gesturing to the seats in front of it, the vet let the older man choose to sit or stand while Zeke moved around to the opposite side. The raver smiled with a touch of amused sheepishness as he removed his half-eaten sandwich from where Anastacia had set it, instead placing it on top of the computer tower beneath the desk. Once it was set and the vet was certain it wouldn't fall, he turned back to his company and extended an offer before he would fall into the usual welcoming speech:
"Can I get you anything? A bottle of water or anything like that?" If Zeke was anything, it was hospitable. Even in his excitement to get a new member of the Lab family informed and prepared, he wouldn't dream of skimping on basic courtesies.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 4:45 pm
"Oh, I see. It's nice to meet you, then, ah... Mr. Farris, if I remember correctly?" Duncan readjusted the rim of his glasses and reached out to Zeke's hand for a firm handshake, offering a smile meanwhile.
He did frown a bit at the latter part, even if it did explain the hunger-enducing smell of the lobby, and glanced to the Raevan in confusion. "Oh, if you wanted to finish your lunch, Mr. Farris, by all means! I'm afraid I wasn't told... I didn't mean to make you rush."
It was a bit nervewracking to see the gleam on Anastascia's eyes shift even a bit, as Duncan was never particularly inclined towards enjoying the company of arachnids after frequent run-ins with them during his childhood, though the fact that she was undoubtedly finangling with the gentleman's lunch was a bit more harrowing a thought than he'd liked. Duncan nevertheless grabbed his hat and basket of goods from the table near him, an action of nervous compulsion, both to break the tension between the Raevan and her guardian. (Perhaps, if they finished the meeting sooner, Mr. Farris would be able to resume his evening's lunch.)
"If you'll come this way, I'll give you the things you'll be needing to get your Raevan!"
"Fantastic," Duncan chimed in, trailing alongside Zeke while curiously leading his sights stray around the rest of the lab. It was a brief beeline into Zeke's desk office, though, and Duncan nearly bumped into the rim of the chair whilst staring out at the hallway-- he sat down quietly while Zeke walked around to the other side of the table, and placed the basket and hat on his lap.
"Can I get you anything? A bottle of water or anything like that?"
Duncan smiled, "If that wouldn't be any trouble. I had to walk quite a bit from downtown Durem, and I'm a bit thirsty. Oh," Duncan handed Zeke the basket on his lap, still glimmering with fresh fruit, vegetables, and the like, "And just to get this out of the way before the appointment, this is for you, Mr. Farris. I wasn't quite sure what you liked, though, so there's a little bit of everything in there, and for your Raevan, too, if she'd like."
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Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:00 pm
"Please, call me Zeke. Mr. Farris is my father." Returning the handshake and offering Duncan another smile, the vet shook his head as the older man mentioned his meal. "Don't worry about it - I was just about done anyway! Besides, this is much more important."
While the older man seated himself, Zeke remained standing behind his desk, waiting for a reply. When he got a positive return on his offer, the vet made to step toward the door behind his secretarial area, but paused when Duncan held out the basket of fruits and vegetables to him. Surprise dawned on the vet's features as he took the offered trove, but any uncertainty he had was demolished when Duncan told him he had brought this bounty for him.
"Th-thank you!" he said with honest delight, placing the basket atop his desk and peering at the bevvy that awaited him. Fruits like apples, tomatoes, pomegranates, and grapes; as well as veggies like corn, carrots, and snap peas were there and the vet's modesty began to crop up in his chest. It was a blossoming sensation that always arose when he was given a gift and something his several years with his boyfriend had not yet diminished. "You didn't have to, Mr. Clarke, but thank you very much!"
At the mention of sharing with Anya the vet stole a glance at the female sitting across the way. She was still paying attention and at the mention of Duncan not being sure what Zeke liked, she frowned a little. She could see blobs of color piled high on Zeke's desk but nothing was clear. She would have to view it later, even if it was sounding like something she would have no interest in.
With no response or even movement from the Frei, the raver's gaze returned to the gentleman before him. He offered another generous smile and set the basket off to the side, in order to clear room for the case and the eventual paperwork. Even still, he did have to linger on the fresh-looking bounty once more. He had rarely seen such shiny and healthy looking fruits and vegetables. Heck they almost looked homegrown!
"These look fantastic, by the way. I'll certainly enjoy them." He gave the basket a pat once it was set down near the computer and already had thoughts to give the older man something in return. Something that wasn't obviously the two things to come. And speaking of enjoying things...
"I almost forgot! Let me get you your water!"
Without waiting for a reply, Zeke was in his adjoining office and back out again in a flash with a bottle of ice cold water in hand. He set it before Duncan and once the bottle was down, Zeke sat in his own chair as well. Pushing just a little bit back from the desk, he reached down and pulled the case up into his lap, holding the sides to keep it from falling or doing any other tricks items containing fragile things tended to do.
"Now, before we begin, I just want to say - welcome to the family!" Zeke had been smiling all the while, but when he spoke that official salutation, he couldn't help but beam.
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 7:05 pm
Duncan couldn't help but smile when Ezekiel-- Zeke-- thanked him for the basket, and he nodded towards him with a small chuckle. "Zeke? I'll remember that, then. And it's no problem at all-- I used to work in a laboratory myself, a long, long time ago, and I remember laboratory assistants not having much to eat while working that wasn't just horrible for them. They were home-grown, no pesticides to speak of, so I hope you enjoy them."
He stopped talking and chuckled a bit when Zeke remembered his (quietly) requested drink of water, which Duncan took with a quiet "thank you" and drank. It was cool enough to relax his throat, and he felt a bit more energized to pay attention to what the neon-haired veteranian had to say. Duncan leaned forward, eyes intent on the file that Zeke had pulled out from his desk cabinet.
"Now, before we begin, I just want to say - welcome to the family!"
Duncan looked up at Zeke from the file (which, unfortunately, he couldn't read at all) and laughed, "'Family,' Mr. Far-- ah, Zeke? Thank you very much."
The phrase itself was enough to spurn a few memories of others saying it in the past, with both the Kantor family and the Bellamys. Duncan looked down at the ground and nodded, replying as he always did those many years past, "I'm very glad to be a part of it," though he added, "I didn't expect to be in another one after so many years, but I guess there's no bone in me that wants to relax just yet."
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:02 am
"Home-grown? I love home-grown vegetables!"
He couldn't help but sound enthusiastic when he spoke, and it was genuine. 'Home-grown' brought back memories of his parents garden when he was a kid and also kicked up tucked away desires to one day live in a nice house with a big yard so he could have a legitimate garden of his own. Plus home-grown fruits and vegetables just plain ol' tasted better and were generally fresher too.
"'Family,' Mr. Far-- ah, Zeke? Thank you very much."
"Yup!" The vet said with more genuine enthusiasm, beaming all the more, "the Lab is like one big family. Now that you're a guardian, you might find a lot of owners and Raevans will start popping out of the woodwork." It was amusing how that happened, but birds of a feather after all. "I'm going to give you a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers before you leave which has all of them on it, but the Lab also tries to hold at least one social event a year so you'd be able to meet a ton of people there too!"
Exuberant as always, the vet bounced in his seat with the case in hand as he spoke. He couldn't help himself; in recent years the Lab had become one of his favorite topics to talk about, and talking about it to new Guardians was just icing on the cake. He was preparing them for the road ahead and having been in their shoes a few short years ago, it tickled him that it was he who got the honor to do so. Despite his eagerness, the vet wasn't completely blind to his surroundings or the man who sat before him. When Duncan bowed his head and spoke, the tone of the older man touched both Zeke's curiosity and one of his soft spots.
"I'm glad you're a part of it. We might have only just met but I already think you're going to be a great addition." He reached out and patted Duncan on the arm, both to add that extra bit to his words and to also draw his eyes back up from his lap.
"Now...let me show you what I have in this case." He slid the file he had before him aside and stood to set the metal case down flat on the desktop. "Paperwork comes after, and if you have any questions while I do my presentation thing, feel free to ask. Or wait until the end - whichever you prefer."
Chuckling, Zeke maneuvered himself so he could snap both of the latches free at the same time. With a little jimmying - the snap closest to Duncan giving a bit of resistance - the case top finally gave the soft snapping sound of being free from its other half. Sliding his fingers into the slight gap the release of the latches made, the vet pulled the cover up to reveal the contents - a Soul Glass with an absolutely gorgeous red cloth on it, and an Essence Jar with several fat, glittering raindrops floating in its center. Zeke let Duncan take in the sight of the objects before sliding the case around so the half he just pulled up could be set on his side of the desk.
"This, Mr. Clarke, is your Soul Glass and Essence." The vet directed to each in turn and then fell quiet. Surely the reveal would bring about a question or two.
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:01 pm
Duncan thought about meeting other Raevan guardians, but upon glancing at Ezekiel he wondered if he was going to blend in, or if Raevans in particular would enjoy his company. It was as his son-in-law always told him-- he was never the sociable one, and it was always a surprise meeting new faces. Despite his age, the idea of meeting other guardians younger than him made him uneasy-- he was slow and tedious, quiet and weary-boned.
His Raevan-- he tried to pay attention to Ezekiel and Duncan nodded here and there with a faint grin to signify that he was following along, but memories past flashed by of raising Anne after Cerise had passed. He felt the saddle of paternal expectations weigh his back again, tied down even further by that looming sense of failure. He thought of the lavender-haired Raevan just next to Ezekiel and frowned; what if this new Raevan should be a female?
Mr. Clarke sincerely wished otherwise; but he looked up at Ezekiel once again, attention snapped back into the present at the sound of the clicking case.
He adjusted his spectacles and leaned forward to try and get a better view of the two vials. When he took off his glasses to clean them by the kerchief hanging loosely on his jacket pocket, the bottle seemed to contain nothing at all, and Duncan's mouth twisted into a concerned frown.
"Uh--"
"This, Mr. Clarke, is your Soul Glass and Essence."
Duncan, confused, put his spectacles on again, and realized what Ezekiel was talking about.
"...Oh, my goodness."
"What... what may this be?" The rounder bottle was still empty, yes, but upon closer inspection Duncan noticed the droplets of water floating in mid-air, dozens of them squeezed tightly within the glass. Duncan, fascinated and jaw agape, reached out for the essence, slowly and meticulously as if he were handling a delicate artifact. Before actually grabbing it, though, he stared up at Ezekiel and near whispered, "May I?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 8:49 am
The question Duncan uttered at the sight of the two glass objects in the case was not unexpected, neither was the older man reaching for the jar containing the Essence. The second question - as polite a query as it was - was a little surprising. Zeke couldn't recall a time where any new Guardian had asked to take one of the two from him, but regardless, he nodded and gestured with his hand when asked.
"Of course! It's yours now after all."
He waited until Duncan had the jar of gravity-defying raindrops in his hands before Zeke freed the bulbous Soul Glass and moved the now empty case from the table back to the floor. Setting the bottle down carefully, he then took a seat and pulled the cast off file toward himself. A quick flip of the cover and some short skimming later and Zeke had the name for the contents of the jar Duncan now held.
"That's your Essence," and as with all occasions where Anya was in the vicinity and Zeke was explaining about such things, his voice lowered. "It's called Floating Rain. You can probably see why."
The vet chuckled again, but also wiggled around in his seat to see the Essence while Duncan also inspected it. The light from the windows behind his guest illuminated the droplets, making them glow. When they trembled in their new owner's grasp, it almost looked as if they were gems, not water. Zeke found himself in awe once again. How marvelous Essences could be! But he couldn't just sit there and stare all day either.
"An Essence is one half when it comes to making a Raevan. The other half deals with this," he touched the Soul Glass, "this is called a Soul Glass. A Raevan needs an Essence and a Soul to become a being like Anya."
He let that sink in. A soul, or the concept thereof, was a point that rocked many a new Guardian or those who sought to learn about the Lab and its Raevans. A life for a life. Several he had prepared for the journey ahead had been rather boggled or put off by the idea, however had still returned later with the bottom half of the glass and metal container filled with colored mist. Many of them now had their Raevans, or were at least expecting. Time seemed to heal the reservations, but those first few moments were more than simply jarring.
"A soul is anything natural - a plant, animal, stone, metal, etc - that hasn't been tampered with by human hands. The cloth you see here," he touched the red cloth, immediately thinking of a dozen things that could be viable, "dictates what kind of soul can go into it. In your case, it'd be something red." The vet sat back in his seat, watching Duncan and waiting for questions or concerns. A cardinal, a flower, a raw red gem, hell, even a ladybug - which was Zeke's first idea when it came to Anya before the spider dropped in - were all likely candidates for this pretty cloth. Even so, the Glass would need Duncan's help - purposefully or accidentally - to do its thing and Zeke wanted to make sure he was okay with such a concept before going any further.
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