Welcome to Gaia! ::

The encounter with Bix leaves Davey with the desire to see more of his old friends and allies. Business first, though, so after leaving his bag in his room -- he'll unpack later -- he heads for the class/office building to make his report. By the time he's done, the sun is up and most people will have eaten breakfast. Davey exits the office, uncomplimentary thoughts about bureaucracy and Hunter staff swirling in his head. Azrael listens with interest, occasionally supplying an insult of his own.

Davey could use a friendly face right about now. Enquiries about Gale lead to some interesting facts: Gale has an office of his own now (what?), he has a house in town (???), or he's often in the training fields if he's not still at breakfast.

The office is closest, so Davey follows the directions of a helpful minion-of-the-staff. As he walks the halls, he's preoccupied with a different concern.

"There's a town? Did you know there was a town?"

~Of course I knew,~ Azrael says with the breezy tones of a weapon lying through his teeth.

"Uh huh." Davey isn't convinced.

They reach the door of Gale's office -- still a weird thought -- before Azrael has time for more insults. Davey knocks and hopes that Gale is in.

There's no response from inside. Davey's pushed his hood down in case Gale is in; it seems a little rude to keep it up when visiting, like keeping a hat on indoors. (Not that he normally cares.) Straining his ears, Davey can't hear any movement. He feels foolish standing in the hallway knocking while people pass by - he can feel their gaze on his back. "Gale must not be in," he mutters and takes a step back. That's when the door opens.

Davey wasn't expecting Gale to be in after the wait. He feels ambushed, silly when he's the one who came looking for Gale.

"Hey, mate," he says awkwardly, staring at the teen in the door.

Gale looks tired, he notes, even though it's barely morning. (Has he slept? Azrael cackles at Davey's 'mother hen-ing' thoughts.) He looks different, but not as changed as Bix, and Davey would recognise Gale's upper-crust accent anywhere.

He means to give more of a greeting, but when he opens his mouth what comes out is, "You've cut your hair." At least he manages to control his tongue before asking if Gale has always had glasses.

Davey can't get over Gale having an office, even as he walks in and looks around. It's tiny, which he supposes makes sense - if a Hunter was going to get an office, of course they'd get the least desirable one. He sits when offered and tries to ignore the feeling of walls closing in.

"I've been alright. I've had better missions, but there are worse things than long and boring. Guarding a portal in the middle of nowhere," he adds before Gale can ask.

"I see I've fallen further behind. Bix is suddenly a body builder and you've got an office." Davey raises his eyebrows, but there's a twist to his mouth that's almost a smile. "And a house, I hear. How'd you swing those?"

Maybe they were completely normal things to have now. Maybe all advanced Hunters were offered their choice of real estate. Davey might have missed more than just missions and his teammates growing up.

He wonders what could have been out in the Arctic - likely not much, if Gale thought it had been a dull mission. It doesn't seem worth asking about. He'd rather know the big missions that happened, any important new information they had. Davey had left soon after the Haunted Mansion debacle, where the monsters had invaded Deus territory. Have the monsters managed to find the island again? Has Deus made any ground on infiltrating the monsters' own territory?

Before he can ask, Gale is talking about Bix. Davey lets himself be distracted. He doesn't have to be all about the mission around his allies, not in their downtime at least.

"He is," Davey agrees with Bix being a good guy. Most of the Hunters are good people - though there are exceptions. Doctor H and Caelius, hell most of the staff, had gotten through somehow.

"Glad to hear he hasn't changed that much. I was starting to worry that maybe being a Hunter for a long time drove people mad - it would explain most of our leaders," Davey says. He rests his elbow on the arm of the chair and props his chin on his palm. Living on his own for so long has driven out some of his military habits, no longer sitting at attention when with a friend. "Maybe that isn't the case though, if Bix can change so much and still be exactly the same where it counts."

Davey frowns at the mention of Gale being demoted. He checks Gale's coat - still Death division. "Caelius?" he guesses. Following the Death Division Leader's orders had never steered Davey wrong, but he couldn't deny the man was not only unhelpful but downright sadistic when he felt like it.

He wants to know more about Gale's house being destroyed - just who has been attacking so deep in their headquarters? - but is sidetracked by Gale's last announcement. He can't help but grin at Gale's blush. "Good for you," he says honestly. Gale deserves good things. "Anyone I know?"

Wait, how many female Hunters does he actually know? Madison, Eva, Petra (no wait, she and Robert were all over each other, he remembers from the early weeks), Cass, Clarice... Actually, chances were good that Davey didn't know Gale's girlfriend. Shame. He wants to meet whoever Gale thinks so highly of.