Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mason had made a mistake: he'd told Madeline that Halia was in the process of moving. Her entire face had taken on a look of thrilled determination, which was only dimmed slightly when Mason told her, quickly, that she barely had enough stuff to load up even one trip in her own truck - no way could Madeline make it so that the two of them were helping her with the move itself.

But Madeline was not so easily deterred, especially because she felt, he knew, that there was some kind of debt due Halia, for saving Mason and for otherwise keeping him alive as he figured out this whole magic thing. So she'd gotten to work - first on the computer, and then in the kitchen. He had no idea what she was cooking up, but when she sent him to the local nursery, he went obediently.

He returned with a veritable palette of plants; a big ficus, a small pot with marigolds that would be the 'perfect size for a windowsill', according to his sister, and then a little Christmas cactus ('just in case she doesn't have much of a green thumb'). When he pulled into the driveway, Madeline came out of the house and handed him a platter through the window - the scent of chocolate chip cookies wafted into the front seat of the McMinivan. Mason's eyes lit up, but Madeline gave him a warning look.

"Those are for Halia," she emphasized, "as a housewarming gift. She doesn't have to share any with you if she doesn't want to, Mason Larch."

Mason pouted deeply, but his sister was unmoved. Finally, he rolled his eyes. "Fiiiiiiiiiiine. Thanks, Mads. I'll tell her you said hi." Mads nodded, squeezed her brother's hand, and slipped back inside.

Had he informed Halia he was coming over? No. No he had not. It didn't even occur to him to do so - they were good enough friends that he could stop by unannounced, weren't they? That was a thing friends did, wasn't it? Truthfully he had no idea - he'd never had a close friend (or any friend) that didn't literally live with him before, so how would he learn?

Anyway, it didn't occur to him until he'd finally navigated all of the plants and the platter of cookies up to Halia's new apartment and managed to knock on the door, only to be greeted by...

An old man.

An old man???

"Uh," Mason said, awkwardly readjusting the plants and the platter as he glanced from the old man to the number on the door - yes, that was definitely the number Halia had told him, unless it had been a typo or something horrifying like that, was he in the right building?

"...Hi," Mason said slowly, panicked into speaking. "My--I'm Mason. Is, um, is Halia home?"

...Maybe she'd needed to take on a roommate, and this guy was the only one who'd answered her ad...????

Mason walked slowly into the apartment, juggling the plants and the plate as he entered, giving the old man a wary look as he did so. Lia? That was new. He set the plants down near the door and glanced around the apartment - he recognized some of Halia's things, few and far between as they were, so he was reassured that this was the right place, even if not the right...person.

He heard music coming from elsewhere, so he gave the old man a nervous smile and held up one finger to signify 'one second', then followed the music, raising his eyebrows as he watched Halia do her best to defy gravity in service of putting a mug on a shelf.

"Need a hand?" Mason asked, amused, teasing. "Here, let me." Mason moved over and caught the mug from her hand and easily slid it into its home, giving her a smile as he did.

"Happy housewarming from the McCaffreys," he said, holding up the plateful of cookies in greeting. "Did the butler come with the new place or did you have to get him separate?"

Mason laughed in spite of himself, impish grin on his face. "Unless you have more than one old man hanging out in your living room, I guess I must have." Mason slid the cookies onto the counter and squeezed her hand, his smile melting into something kinder.

"There's more in the living room," he said. "Not...more cookies, but more presents. Sort of. They're not wrapped," he added with a sheepish smile. "C'mon," he said, tugging her into the living room where her grandfather and her new plants waited.

"It's...nice to meet you...sir," he said quickly, dropping her hand automatically. He had no idea how to act in front of parents, nevermind grandparents, but he did his best to muzzle his sudden wave of anxious awkwardness. He stood a little straighter and tried to look a little more legit - this was Halia's family, and not the terrible parts of it either. "I'm Mason McCaffrey. Sorry for interrupting family time," he added, with a sheepish smile as he looked between the two of them. He could actually kind of see the resemblance, now that he was looking for it.

"I'll get out of your hair, I just wanted to drop off the cookies and the--" he gestured to the plants, "your new roommates. Sorry again for interrupting."

Mason raised his eyebrows - she talked about him? He glanced at her, an impish, questioning smile on his face, then looked back to her grandfather and nodded.

"I'll do my best, I promise," he said, and after he said it, he let the weight of that promise - easily given, maybe too easily - settled on his shoulders. Keeping her safe might be harder than her grandfather knew, but...well, even if he hadn't promised, he'd still want to do that, as much as he could.

He chuckled as her grandfather gestured to the couch. "That poor thing needed to be put out of its misery," Mason agreed. "It was really nice to meet you," he added with a genuine smile. "I'm glad Halia has someone in her family who looks out for her." Mason paused, flashing Halia a sheepish, apologetic smile - he knew from his own experience with his sister that being talked about like you weren't even there was not the most fun experience.

"I'll tell Mads you said so, because I was basically just here to deliver. And claim credit," he added with a grin.

"This one will get comfy too," Mason promised, moving over to the couch itself to flop down on it. "It just needs some breaking in." Mason gave her a smile and patted the spot next to him before draping his arms languidly across the couchback. It did have the new-couch smell, which Mason hadn't known before that exact moment was a specific scent, but - it definitely was.

"What's going on?" Mason asked. "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"Oh," Mason said. He started to say that he hadn't been sure how much he knew, so he hadn't been sure if he knew how big an order 'keep her safe' actually was, but he was immediately distracted by--

"A tattoo!" Mason said excitedly, leaning forward to examine the art more carefully. "It's beautiful!" Mason grinned up at her, and barely resisted the urge to reach out and touch it - it looked new, and new meant very sensitive, from what little he knew about tattoos. "That's gorgeous. When did you even have time to get that?" Mason laughed, leaning back on the couch with an amused smile.

"I'm glad he knows, also," he added. "I don't know what I'd do if I had to keep it a secret from Mads." Mason shook his head - as little as Madeline wanted to hear about magical stuff lately, he at least had her in his corner if he really needed her. "Does he know that I'm also involved in all that?" Mason asked, tilting his head curiously - exactly how much about their world had Halia told him?

"Mental breakdown?" Mason echoed, eyebrows raising in concern. "No, I mean, it's beautiful, and I think - I mean, it's you. I hope it reminds you that you're---like, I dunno, dude. You're powerful. You can seriously mess people up when you put your mind to it. I don't know why you'd think that wouldn't suit you. Pretty and deadly." he said with a shrug.

"Mads is...I mean, I get it," he said with a sigh as he leaned back on the couch, eyes drifting to the ceiling. "I wouldn't want to hear about--like, this awesome new game everyone is playing but that I couldn't play, right? And like, couldn't play because my soul wasn't, like, on some cosmic list of special souls." Mason sighed again. "Plus, like you said--she worries about me. She doesn't love that I'm out here all hours of the day and night. She wouldn't like it even if she didn't know about the monsters and the bad guys and stuff - and since she does, well." Mason sighed again and looked back at Halia.

"But at least I'm not alone, right? At least it's you and me out there together, along with all the other good guys." Mason smiled reassuringly. "I've been talking to a bunch of other Knights, with my ring, y'know? It's awesome. Have you heard of The Surrounding?"

"You really should talk to someone about those," Mason said, voice soft. "The tattoo is beautiful, both of them, really, but--really. You should talk to someone. Like, a professional sort of someone. There's gotta be at least one therapist in the city who knows about all this magic stuff, right? Like - you gotta be able to get some good sleep, somehow." Mason sighed and shook his head.

"The Surrounding is, like, I guess--this--I don't really know what it is, exactly, but it's--like, I guess it's sort of like a wall, or something? Emphasis on the 'or something', cause I don't know if that's actually--accurate, but it's--like, I guess it's a sort of falling-down, falling-apart wall. In space. That surrounds, get it, us. I don't know if it's Earth or the whole solar system or the whole galaxy or the whole entire universe or what, but--but like, it's supposed to be a thing that keeps out stuff like--like the space snake. It's--we have--there's a thing, and it's broken, but like--it's there, how is fixing it not a number one priority for everybody?"