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 Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 3:44 pm
Who: Ronan and Zeke
When: March 9th, 2014; noon-ish
Where: Lab 305
Weather: Sunny and bright; some snow still lingers on the curbs
Ronan Shea: 12-12:30pm; soul caught!
Zeke looked at the Post-It on the folder atop his desk, closed his eyes, shook his head slowly, and opened his eyes again. The name printed neatly on the shockingly blue sticky note had not changed. He stared at it some more and slowly a smile started to creep across his face until it was entirely lit up by his grin.
"Well I'll be damned..." A little laugh shook Zeke. He dropped his backpack on the floor next to his desk and set his bagel down on the top, licking a wanton bit of cream cheese off his fingers before thumbing the file open. The 'Essence:' line and the several similar signatures across only added to what had already been confirmed - this was Ronan's file and the man was on his way in to bring back a soul for the Raevan he had been entrusted with.
Looking around the otherwise empty lobby, the first few twinges of giddiness had already begun to grip the young vet. The day was a bright one - with the sun pouring in through the windows and the sky a mostly cloudless blue that just teased the thought of springtime - but now it was just that much brighter. It had been a long time since he had last seen Ronan, but even longer since he had surprised his friend with the empty soul glass and the essence jar with the Bleeding Bark contained within. Some days he wondered if the selkie had fallen off the face of the earth, but this was evidence to the contrary. Good news all around!
Zeke let the folder's cover fall back down with the barest rustling of the stapled paper leaves and slid around his desk to wake up his computer from sleep mode. He took a glance the time as the desktop came up and flicked his eyes to the sticky note again.
Got here just in time!
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Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 4:17 pm
Ronan walked down the street towards the lab, metal brief case carried in hand and only a block away from his destination. There had been somewhat of a guilty shock when had retrieved the case and found it covered in dust - just another reminded of how time had gotten away. But that worry could finally be put behind him, both filled soul bottle and bark tucked away safely in the padding of the case and ready to be returned. He just hoped his tardiness wouldn't make the upcoming conversation too awkward.
Arriving at his intended destination the selkie crossed the street and hop-skipped over the curb, just a few more steps bringing him to and through the entrance. The last time he had been here was the Christmas party, but only briefly, and the visit before that it had been when he'd gained the metal briefcase. Once again, far too long of a time, but he chased away the thought. Time to focus on the now, and as if in response his eyes found Zeke's bright hair.
"Hey, Zeke! Long time no see!" He walked to the desk with a smile, unable to resist that small bit of self depreciation.
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Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 8:21 am
Zeke signed into his post at his desk just as the door he had just walked through sounded off its chime again. The vet's head immediately went up to see who it was and upon setting his sights on Ronan, his face lit up in a wide grin.
"Ronan!" The vet was on his feet with the name on his lips, slipping back around his desk to clear the space between himself and the selkie. His pace was brisk and as excited as ever and in no time at all he had the other man's right hand in his own. "It's great to see you!" He laughed as he gave the hand a firm shake. "You have some nice timing by the way. I just got in myself." There was a touch of sheepishness to Zeke's smile as he said that, but his bed had been too comfortable this morning, especially after a long week at the clinic. He was certain Alex wouldn't berate him for that, especially not when she routinely chided him for not taking more time for himself.
"How have you been? Y'know I started wondering if you dropped off the planet?" The case the selkie held had not been missed by Zeke. Seeing it in Ronan's hand only intrigued the veterinarian further and he was oh so ready to see just what his long lost friend had caught after so many months away. Letting his hand go, Zeke stretched back to the desk waiting behind him with the two familiar chairs sitting in front of that. Ronan could have his pick when he was ready to, but Zeke wasn't about to rush the man over there without getting through the pleasantries and catching up. There was so much of the latter to do.
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Posted: Wed May 07, 2014 6:47 pm
Ronan's smile was strong as he took Zeke's hand, returning the shake, but it faltered at the mention of him dropping off the face of the planet. He had his reasons, yes, but it was going to be a long time before the guilt stopped.
"I'm... sorry about that," he said, hand gripping the handle to the case a little tighter. "If nothing else I should have made sure to keep in contact better." Understatement of the week. "I guess it was mainly a case of me being stubborn and not wanting to admit something might be wrong." There were other factors contributing to it but after looking back at things that was the core of the issue. He could have asked for help a long time ago, taken time to visit the lab, and he hadn't. Regret regret regret. But enough of that.
Giving his head a hard shake he brought back something of a smile, hefting up the case onto the desk. "Either way, I shouldn't be forgetting this." The clasps were undone, top lifted, and there was the filled soul bottle, dark fog swirling way.
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Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 10:02 pm
"I'm just bustin' you, man. No need to look so guilty." If Zeke knew anything about the Lab and the process of bottle and vial to living, breathing Raevan it was that sometimes Guardians took a little while to bring back their given tools. Sometimes it was an uncertainty of what to capture, sometimes it was just life getting in the way, but whatever the reason, no man nor woman was ever scolded or looked down upon for their delay. Even if the process of returning to the pristine white building in Gambino took several months or even over a year.
At the mention of something being wrong, Zeke couldn't help but look confused as well as momentarily concerned. He would have queried the selkie on what he meant, but Ronan seemed to want to speed past such a topic and hoisted the taller man's reason for being here into full view. The moment the case was laid on the desk Zeke's smile returned, crinkling the corners of his eyes at the sight of what lay within. Next to the Essence jar, black as night and lacking any complimentary or accenting color, the soul was quite the thing to behold beneath the cloth that was streaked with yellow. Looking at Ronan for permission first Zeke reached in and tenderly hoisted the bulbous, heavy device out of its home. Even in the light, the soul didn't so much as turn grey. The vet turned the bottle in his hands, gave a low whistle, then grinned at his companion.
"So are you gonna make me guess or tell me outright?" The playful note in his voice spoke volumes about his opinion on the matter - he wouldn't mind a round or three of guessing. "Either way, feels like there's a story behind this one."
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 2:06 pm
Ronan leaned on the counter as Zeke hefted the soul glass, grinning at the appreciative whistle. "Three guesses, and the first two don't count." He wanted to see if Zeke would be able to guess what was in the bottle, especially with how much trouble he'd had figuring out what should go in it. There was also the fact he was going to need a little time to figure out how to explain the soul capture. "I'll answer once you've given me all three."
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 2:48 pm
The vet's face lit up further at the selkie's reply.
"Awesome. Now let me think..." Sucking idly on his lip ring as he started that process, Zeke turned the soul glass around in his hands with a more studious intent. The cloth the glass had been graced with was black and yellow, but with the lack of the secondary color in the captured soul, Zeke automatically wrote off any type of bee as a guess. He also figured he could write off most, if not all, species of plant - not that the vibe he was getting through the glass felt like any sort of plant. No, the mystery soul was most definitely a living thing...so there went rocks and gems and metals too. The list was quickly becoming limited, but by no means easier to pick and choose three guesses.
"I'm thinking 'animal'." He looked up at Ronan playfully, eying him as though daring him to count that as a guess. "Black animal...black animal...How about a panther?" Melanistic jaguar to be more precise but who was being nitpicky? If he was right, then most certainly not the soul. It also would explain Ronan's drop off the world if he went on a real excursion for the right soul. "That's my number one. For my number two I'm gonna saaaaay...An ant."
Zeke grinned wider. His second guess was right outta left field after the first one but hey why not cover the most populous base of the animal kingdom? The capture could have been a recent and sudden accident rather than a planned thing! Thinking on it though, the vet was surprised a common insect Raevan didn't already exist, bee, ant, or otherwise. Perhaps Ronan had just broken the dry spell! In any case, Zeke still had one guess left and something that inhabited the air seemed like as good a place to toss his vote.
"And for the last guess I'm gonna go all in and say a crow!"
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 4:38 pm
"All nice guesses, but not quite! Think of something... in between your first and last one." Ronan debated for a moment if he should let the vet try again, but he decided it wouldn't do to keep dragging it out. "Turns out it's a bat - grey headed flying fox specifically." There was a long moment of looking at the swirling fog, thinking back on that frantic night last week. "One of them escaped from the aquarium last week. I managed to find it with Cesc's help but... unfortunately it was too late by that point. At least this way it'll have a second chance." Part of him still wished the bat could have survived, but he was still going to make the most of what had happened.
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Posted: Wed May 14, 2014 5:16 pm
"You caught a flying panther?! Holy s**t Ronan, how'd you do it?" It was obvious he wasn't being serious, especially when the vet's shocked face dissolved almost immediately into laughter at the very idea. Once Zeke culled his booming guffaws into more contained - yet still bubbly - chuckling and heard the soul's true identity, the bottle was once again hoisted up to be viewed in the light and turned to and fro.
"Well what d'you know? A bark-covered bat is joining the family!" Setting the bottle down into the case once more, Zeke reached over the desk and patted Ronan on the arm. Part of the action was congratulatory, the majority was understanding. "I'm sorry for it and what it went through," his smile softened immensely as he spoke, "but I think he or she is gonna have a damn fine second chance." His opinion of the selkie was obvious - Zeke thought the older man was A-material for a Guardian. Even though the circumstances of gaining the bat's soul weren't pleasant, what they both had said was true; the bat would have another chance at life. Not only that, but after a few weeks or months it would become something much more than it initially was, thanks in part to the ever-bleeding Essence that Ronan had been given so long ago.
Gesturing once more to the chairs in front of his desk, Zeke stepped away from his guest in order to bring the file to the other man's attention. This meant lifting the thing up and wiggling it side to side with another sunny beam before setting it down in the center of the desk. But of course the vet had a procedure about things.
"Take a seat and we can get this paperwork out of the way. Now that I know what the soul is you'll just need to read and sign for the most part and then we can catch up and I can answer anything you have in mind." Zeke pulled up his own seat but did not plonk himself down just yet. "But before we do that, do you want anything to drink Ronan? I've got coffee, water, juice, soda...Just name it and I'll grab it!"
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 4:38 pm
Sitting down Ronan began to flip through the paperwork, listening to Zeke as he filled in some of the blank lines. "I should be okay for now, but thanks. I have a niece I need to get back to once I'm done, so I can't be here too long unfortunately." The pen continued to scratch away. It was almost odd to realize that he was finally moving onto the next step, especially with all the time that had passed beforehand.
"Honestly, she's part of the reason it's taken so long for me to get back here. That and work." He glanced over at the soul bottle. "There wasn't much time left to go out looking for a soul, and for some reason keeping the bottle on me made me sick, so that didn't work either." The soul bottles weren't supposed to affect humans but, technically, he wasn't one. Ronan was just glad the cloth on the soul bottle hadn't been grey or brown.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 5:45 pm
The veterinarian gave a nod and took his seat, sitting with his butt parked on the edge as he watched Ronan sign on the allotted lines. It was just the standard legal jumbo but it was exciting to see Ronan completing this stage of the process and moving onto the next phase. Inwardly, Zeke hoped that the Bat Raevan wouldn't take long to appear. The wait for any Raevan regardless of duration was killer, but it was doubly so for those belonging to the ones Zeke considered to be friends. It had been the same way for Anita's boy and now Ronan had taken up the mantle.
"I hear you. Life getting in the way, it's okay." He knew a thing or two about that. Smiling lightly at the selkie, he was noticeably puzzled by the mention of the bottle making Ronan sick, but came up with his own reason for such an odd thing. "Must not have a good string of luck huh?" It was clearly a tease, but regardless of what it was, it was sure to be over now that the bottle was back home, so to speak. Relaxing back just a little, Zeke pulled the case closer to himself, pulling the Essence out this time to inspect. He hummed a few notes under his breath as he turned the bottle around to view the bark from all sides then set it back with its chosen soul. No need to move them about more than he had to thanks to the other man having borrowed the case.
"So hey, whatcha think? Will you be having a boy or a girl?" His eyes were turned from the two objects back to the man across from him and they practically glowed with curiosity and intrigue. Even if Ronan didn't have any questions to ask before he had to leave, Zeke wasn't about to keep his own tucked away. When it came to this stage of the game, that particular question was quite fun to contemplate, especially with the waiting Guardian. "Or I guess I should say, what do you hope you'll get?"
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 6:11 pm
At the question Ronan smiled, tapping the pen to his chin. "I'm not sure, but the bat was a girl so I'd say there's a decent chance for that. As for my hope..." He thought for a moment on his experiences with Maili and Kris. "I'd be fine with either one, though I think a girl might be able to fit into the home a little easier. Not to say I wouldn't do all I could for a boy though." It'd been different raising two girls over the years, Maili from the beginning and Kris later on, but he'd learned from it and he intended to use all he knew to help the raevan settle in. Finding the last line in the paper stack Ronan scribbled in his signature. "I think that's it! Anything else you need me to do?"
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 6:28 pm
Zeke grinned at the selkie's reply.
"Actually you'd be surprised. Unless the species the Raevan's soul comes from is singularly one sex, it has a chance of being either. So like...Even if you caught a male lion it'd have as much a chance of being a female Raevan as a male. Probably have a great head of hair on her too!"
All the same, Zeke had to stop a minute and try to figure what a female Raevan with the soul of a bat and the Essence of a bleeding piece of bark would look like. Flicking his gaze to the two items again, he had to figure she'd be a lot of brown, red, and black. Her hair could be any of the three colors, for instance, and her attire was sure to be a mix of all three. At any rate, she was bound to have some cute bat ears on her!
"Well hey no matter what you're gonna be a helluva Guardian, no doubt about that." He pulled the papers over to himself and gave them his customary once-over when Ronan was done. Zeke dated where appropriate, filled in the soul line, and put down his own cursive scrawl at the very bottom beneath Ronan's final signature. The folder was closed from there and Zeke beamed at his companion. "I'd say your half of this is all set, Ronan. My turn now, so if you have any questions about what to expect or plan for, by all means!" If not now that was fine, the selkie had his phone number and the vet was remarkably easy to reach. "And I should let you know that if you want me to keep you updated on his or her progress, I'm more than happy to do so."
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 8:35 pm
"I think I remember the basics for now," Ronan said, "Though I'll be more than willing to call if I think of anything later." There was a laugh. "Right now about the only thing is starting to clean out the room where they'll be be staying!" The extra room was currently being used for storage, and while it technically would be possible to have them share a room with Maili he was much more comfortable with a gradual acclimation between the two. It was best to not forget the sink part of sink or swim, and even better to avoid it entirely.
"For updates..." he chewed his lip for a moment, thinking. Frequent updates would get him thinking on it too much, but no updates could make it hard to prepare. "I'd say just keep me up on some of major stuff. Don't want to over think things after all," he said with a smile. "No matter what though, thank you for everything." This was an amazing opportunity he was being given, long delay or no, and he gave Zeke a firm handshake in thanks.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2014 8:49 pm
"Ah yeah we did cover a lot of those last time you were here didn't we?" Zeke chuckled lightly. Their last get together had been a whirlwind of a meeting and a real surprise on Ronan's side of things. "Always good to get that done! You never know; your kiddo might be just a few weeks away for all we know!" But of course there was no telling. Troxel's Raevan had grown quite fast in the tank but remained in there well after her physical developments had ceased. Anya had only taken a couple of months but Raevans like Cesc and Revontulet had taken years. It was all up to the individual Frei in the end and there was no set timing like with animal or human pregnancies.
At Ronan's reply about the updates, Zeke nodded affirmatively. "Can do. And I guess since this is sort of a major thing and I don't want to spoil it if you don't want me to - would you like me to tell you the gender if and when I find out?" Even in the murky tank water, it wasn't hard to tell gender after a certain point, but he could understand wanting that particular aspect left as a surprise. When the selkie reached out for a handshake Zeke graciously accepted, returning the gesture just as firmly as the taller man. "Hey no problem, Ronan. I'm happy to help."
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