Welcome to Gaia! ::

Before Hyperborea had mentioned it Bimini had never really thought much about fixing up his Wonder. In sad truth, he could count the amount of visits he'd made to his Wonder on one hand, even after all this time. The place was too quiet for his tastes, and his ancestor far too loud. But now that he knew that it was a possibility he was ready to change that. And he had spent the past week or so preparing for his first expedition to the fountain of youth.

A duffle bag had been filled with cleaning supplies. Bottles of soap, bleach, CLR (calcium, lime, and rust) cleaners packed the bag, kept from jiggling around too much by the piles of sponges, scouring pads, and small towels. A tiny precautionary tool kit including a hammer, screw driver, pliers, a flashlight, and some random nails and screws also rested at the bottom. He wouldn't know what he needed until he really looked so along with being a bit of spring cleaning this trip to Bimini was a little bit of a scouting mission.

Corey never took vacation or time off of work beyond the random day here or there. So when he mentioned plans to be gone for 3 days, and started the tedious process of scheduling and instructing people how to take care of the place while he was gone, it was met with curiousity and speculation. Especially when he mentioned being without a cellphone or internet and almost entirely unreachable. To say the arcade had become a murmur of wild speculated whispers was an understatement.

He had chosen a Monday, during the first weeks of school starting. The first few weekdays of school returning to session were always kind of dead at the arcade. Younger kids and their parents took a little while to get reaquainted to school life and the college kids were still settling into their dorms and exploring their own little worlds. He was pretty confident with his choice, fairly comfortable with the idea of leaving his 'baby' for a few days. When he woke up on Monday morning, Corey powered up to Bimini before gathering his duffle bag of supplies and his backpack full of essentials (like food and water for the next two days).

The travel from Earth to Bimini was almost instantaneous, not even long enough for the squire to joke in his head about figuring out how to harness the power for regular travel on Earth. And when he arrived the Fountain of Youth was just as he remembered it from the last time he'd visited.

The wonder was small in the scheme of things. Not even really the size of a small town. The huge fountain was in the center, a obvious focal point. It was bigger than a pool, almost the size of a tiny lake, the smooth tiles covered in an even slicker lining of green moss. Part of Bimini wanted to just dump buckets and buckets of bleach into the waters and call it a day, but somehow even he knew better then that. Scattered around the fountain were chairs, tables, and cabanas - most in ill repair if not entirely busted. And beyond that were a small handful of tiny one to two room buildings. The squire had to wonder if anyone had actually even lived here at any point.. or if it was simply a place that people came too each day to work. He supposed only time and exploration would tell. Or maybe Mikael. Corey was totally cool without being acostered by Mikael for awhile though. It would be lovely in fact.

Setting his duffle bag on the ground Bimini stretched and looked around. Where to start?

(Words - 620)

Day Two

Corey was surprised by how well he slept, having had great concerns about the logistics of sleeping in space. But whether it was the fact that he'd been working all day and tuckered himself out or the fact that the evening had offered him nothing but sheer silence and emptiness, it mattered not. Corey had easily fallen asleep stretched out across one of the ancient lounging chairs, awakening the next day to stretch and subconciously attempt to check for what time it was. A question he found himself unable to answer due to lack of cellphones or the blinking of digital clocks.

Rubbing his eyes he dug through his duffle bag mildly, hunting out a warm can of soda and some of the other snack foods he'd brought along. Caffeine, sugar, and salt. The breakfast of champions.

Corey had only just stood again after inhaling his little meal and began to stretch up onto his bare tiptoes, yawning and groaning, when he was startled by a familiar voice. Every ounce of tiredness zapping from his body as he jerked with surprise. "Ahhh, the princes awakens finally..."

"You're so very cute when you sleep." The ghost mused, purposely screwing with the squire who responded with a very sour look.

"Well then! Since you're up I guess you can go back to working on the fountain right? It's only like.. the most important thing you know."

Groaning Corey pressed the palm of his hand against his forehead for a long moment, before finally it fell, slowly rolling his shoulders.

After dealing with the furniture for what had seemed like forever, Mikael had helped Corey find tools the day before. What they had been used for before he was not sure, perhaps for planting within those large planters or tending fires in the some of the buildings. But the shovels, ancient with the sharp edges worn down and dull, were perfect for the task he had started yesterday - scooping as much of the moss and algae out of the large fountain as he could.

This morning he could feel the light tug in his shoulders from the work yesterday, but he pushed the thought aside, walking over to pick up the shovel he'd been using the day before. By tomorrow his muscles would be screaming, that he knew for sure after so many hours using muscles that didn't usually get so much work. But he had already planned on going home tonight and spending tomorrow recovering and being lazy at home.

With a sigh the squire trudged down into the water before setting back to work. The shovel carefully scrapped the edges of the fountain, trying to break loose as much algae and moss as possible, before scrapping inward towards his feet. Then when he had a big enough chunk of messy green goop he would scoop it up and deposit it on the outside the edge of the fountain. Mikael had insisted the day before it would not rain while he was gone, nor was the wind ever much more of a breeze on Bimini, so Corey had decided to leave the mess out to dry. Once it was dry and not heavily weighed down with water he could deposit it with greater ease. Corey had always been a big fan of 'work smarter - not harder'.

It was not long into his work that Corey picked up where he had been the knight before, crooning songs to entertain himself as he worked, mostly ignoring the ghost that seemed contented to watch him.



A couple hours had passed with little event. The sound of Corey singing hits from the 80's and 90's and the soft scrap of shovel and slosh of water the only noise on the lonely wonder. It wasn't bad... mindless work could actually be nice sometimes. It let your mind drift and think about things. Or sometimes even let your mind be blank. His mind was the later, blank and ignoring the soft ache that was settling into his shoulders and back and the slow tiredness in his legs as his pants continued to soak up more and more water and grow heavier. Corey was debating his desire to strip them off and whether it was worth the teasing that would likely come when his eyes settled on his ancestor once more.

"You know you could help. There are more shovels."

"I can't use a shovel silly, I'm just a ghost. But I am helping. I'm doing a wonderful job supervising." Mikael insisted, not even attempting to hide his smirk as he shifted to cross one leg over the other.

"Right..."

"Oh don't be such a grump. Frowning gives you wrinkles." He stated matter of factly, before leaning forward finally.

"I can help you in other ways though, you know. Kind of the whole point of me being stuck here. You just need to sweet talk the information out of me."

"Information?" Corey paused, brows tightening a bit as he glanced up curiously. "What kind of information?"

"Oh all sorts of information!" Mikael exclaimed, gushing as if he'd been having to hold in some secret for far far too long. "Information about our wonder like how it was back then and what wonders are all about. Tell you a little bit about the Princess and some of our brother and sister knights. I can even give you all the dirty details of what it was like being a knight back when this universe was bursting with life."

Corey had stopped shoveling at some point, staring at the ghost with exasperation. If that was the point of him being here.... Then why the ******** hadn't he just said or done any of that s**t in the first place? Why had they wasted days talking about nothing with Mikael just messing with him? He wanted to grind his teeth or just yell in exasperation. But the more he thought about it... if he too had been a ghost.. and gone so long without seeing someone else... he too might have delighted in a little bit of teasing. Though he personally would have started with a distinctly more 'haunting' and 'poltrigiest' style.

"Wait... does that mean I'm going to be a ghost someday?" He asked suddenly, not particularly keen on the idea. Sure it would be fun for a tiny bit, but eventually he'd get bored.

"Hmm.. I imagine not if you do a good enough job and like.. restore balance in the universe."

"Or you know you could have some kids. If you have a few one is pretty sure to be able to take on in your footsteps after you."

"Wait... does that mean?" Corey asked as Mikael began to laugh, clearly catching on to his meaning, one hand waving at the air and idea with amusement.

"Good god no, I never had kids! You must be related to one of my brother's kids or something. Who knows."

"Goodness knows I don't have a uterus and I most certainly never slept with anyone who did."

Very classy.

Corey frowned thoughtfully as he stepped out of the fountain, thinking over what was just said to him as he leaned the shovel gently up against a nearby table. He was mostly silent as he headed to his duffle bag, digging around for brushes and cleaning products, before finally returning.

Gazing skeptically at the ghostly form of the past knight, Corey shrugged finally. "Yeah okay. I'd like to hear some of that stuff if you'll tell me. I'm going to be scrubbing for a long time and my jukebox is running on low."

"Please." He added after the fact, almost begrudgingly.

"Gladly" The ghostly knight grinned before settling in comfortably, and as Bimini climbed into the fountain, on hands and knees scrubbing at the decorative tile that lined the enormous fountain Mikael spoke.

"For ages this wonder has been a special one, full of magic, both man made and mystically formed. Senshi have entire worlds they look over and knights, some have very large cities or places they tend to and some have much smaller ones. The size however doesn't matter at all, rather, each wonder has a very special thing about it that must be protected. A small piece of the code. Ours resides in one of the fountains."

"Bimini is a special little Wonder, tiny and out here in the middle of nowhere, however quite infamous both to the creme de la creme and the average joe. The knight of Bimini sometimes lived here along with a few friends or family members but they weren't actually bound to live here. But really it was the role of a knight of Bimini to work here along with maintaining and protecting our little piece of the code."

"There was no place in the universe quite like Bimini, we were the best of the best when it came to pampering and rejuvenating a body. Hair cuts, manicures, pedicures, massages, all types of treatments to beautify and relax the body and soul. People came here to rest and relax and left brand new people, the stress and weariness of their days stripped clean. People came in droves.. Royalty and people of great importance filled our cabanas and fountains. But it wasn't just some club for them, the average person could save up to come and visit too."

"While our services were fantastic and reknown they barely touched the true magic of this place. Up here you can see all the large fountains.. all the places we performed our services and delighted customers. But the true crowning gem of Bimini lies below the surface, in the small fountain that holds our piece of the code. The waters there were magical. All it took was for someone to bath in the small fountain and they'd get to relive a memory of their choosing, so crisp and real it was as if they were actually there again."

"Some used it for grief, to see a loved one again after they had passed. Some recalled memories from their childhood or their time at the Academy. Other times compatriots would come together to relive great adventures and battles. Some would come even to try and recall important ceremonies or meetings to recollect all the fine details once more. There were thousands of memories shared in that little fountain of all different kinds but the end effect was always the same."

"Bathing in the fountain of youth you always left feeling rejuvenated."