Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rivener sighed and rolled his eyes once again, floating dejectedly behind Aphi. The Raevan really didn't see what the purpose of this visit was; there was nothing wrong with him. He didn't feel ill, his skin wasn't any warmer or colder than it should be, his color was alright... What was this visit FOR? But Aphismet had insisted, (albeit fearfully) and Riv had agreed, on the off chance that he might see Lazzie or someone else from the lab.

"I hope this won't be too unpleasant," Rivener growled, obviously implying that if it WAS, Aph would feel unpleasantness of his own come evening.

"It should be fine," Aphismet replied a tad too quickly, gulping to himself.

He just knew that he was supposed to take his charge in to Dr Tsu a few times a year to monitor his growth, and make sure nothing was amiss... But after a few months of living with the poisonous scorpion, constantly wondering if his morning coffee would be laced with something, Aph just wanted to find out if this kind of power was normal. Someone out there must have the answer! If not Dr Tsu, then maybe he can get referred to some kind of expert? If there is such a thing, that is... Aph was, once again, severely regretting having accepted to keep Rivener. He missed Cuddles.

"Here we are," Aphismet declared with a sigh of relief before opening the door for Rivener. "This shouldn't take very long."

"You'll be in there with me?"

"Err, if you want me to, I guess..."

"Yes. You come with me."

Aphismet was a bit startled to hear Rivener ask for his company during the tests. Didn't Riv hate Aphi? Or at least, dislike? ...Maybe there was a bit of Cuddles in there after all?

Rivener and Aphismet both blinked at Zave's entrance. Honestly, there seemed to be many more Raevans around than expected.

Rivener's startled expression slowly melted into the sultry smile he usually wore, and he floated slightly forward, giving this Zave character a once-over. He pointedly ignored Kai. "Hello," the Raevan offered in his honeyed voice. "I'm Rivener, yes. And you are Zavier, the doctor called you, right? It's Very nice to meet you." Rivener was slowly, sneakily inching forward as he spoke, trying to get closer. This one was beautiful, as most Raevans. It seemed rare that a Raevan wouldn't be gorgeous, a fact that made Rivener very happy indeed.

Aphismet frowned to himself and quickly snuck sideways towards Dr Tsu while Rivener concentrated his efforts on this new playmate. Hopefully Riv wouldn't do something stupid like he always did with Roux.

"Dr Tsu, I'm sorry to drop in unannounced, but I really can't take it anymore!" Of course, Aph was whispering as quietly as he could, at least thankful that Zavier provided a perfect distraction during which he could explain his situation to the doctor. "Rivener is DANGEROUS. He can poison things with those wing-tip stingers! AND he's not scared of doing it, either. He can make a lot of different poisons at will, too! And, and, he's already interested... You know, interested in people, well, erm, (cough)boys(coughcough)... Is this normal? Is, is he supposed to be able to do that? Isn't he supposed to be more like a kid, be more manageable, sleep a lot, things like that?" A slight tone of panic was seeping into Aph's whispers near the end.

Rivener slowed to a standstill, now that the other had begun to back away. He now knew where "the line" was. Still with that mellow smile, Rivener tilted his head slightly and nodded. "I see. Well, I'd be more than happy to know you. What would you like to ask?"

Riv examined Zave from head to toe. White hair, kinda like Roux's... Fluffy wings, feathery armsleeves... His eyes in particular held an interesting quality. Rivener's smile widened. He would definately like to be friends with that one.

Aphismet blinked and looked at Dr Tsu. Was this the same guy he'd met when Rivener was born? This version of the doctor seemed more responsible and mature! How strange!

For a moment the doc's words didn't sink in for the shock, but soon enough Aphismet shook himself out of stupor and said:

"Oh, um, experiencing new things, check. We go out lots... but, well, it's just to my workplace. I'm not a really a-active person..." He looked down sheepishly, "I have been leaving him in front of the, erm, the TV more than I should I guess... but I thought it was good, that's where he learned how to talk so quickly." He rubbed his head with a hand, looking back at his charge. "What kinda tests do you think you can do to Make Him Manageable? Oh, n-not that I'm trying to find an easy way out!"

Aph backtracked as best he could, chuckling uneasily. "I, I will spend more time with him.... it's just that, em... he kinda scares me."

Aph could just look at Tsu stupidly. He had not been expecting this kind of, well, helpful advice. The first few times he'd met the Doctor, he'd been inattentive, seemingly annoyed. He'd given Aph the impression that he wanted only for the guardian and his Raevan to leave so he could have some peace. This person talking to him now was a completely different man. It was hard to wrap his mind around it.

"Err, well, for the TV listening, I er. Isn't it too late for that? I mean, he's all used to it on his own now and I don't watch the same shows as... Oh, nevermind. I'll watch." Aph's gaze kept darting over to Rivener, and the precarious situation with Zave. "As for work-related stress... MY job is not a hard one, I just make pizzas. No stress there... B-but I do see what you mean. I should take him out more. Erm, are you SURE you want to let Zave do that? I mean, I know you said that's how Zave learns about people and all, but I'm just worried about how Rivener might react to the touching..."

Rivener smiled at the other Raevan, ignoring Kai as though he'd never been in the room in the first place. He tilted his head at the question, trying to think of the answer...

That's when he felt Zave touching his hand. He peered down at the skin touching his, and he slowly looked up at Zave through his eyelids, a half-smirk on his lips. Suddenly the answer to those questions became less of a priority. "The Line" forgotten, Rivener laced his fingers in with Zave's, and began floating forward slowly, trying to inch closer if the other didn't float away fast enough.

"My hobbies? Don't think I have one. I pass time watching TV. That's about it. What do you do, what are your hobbies?" He asked as a reflex, not really paying attention to what he was saying. Careful study of interactions in television shows had honed his conversation skill so much that he didn't even really have to listen, and he would still make enough sense.

"See? See? There he goes! ...And as for the poison testing, I don't know if he'll be willing to do that. OH GOD, what if he tries to come onto YOU too? He's never done it to a human before, but he's never really had the opportunity... Oh, man..." Aph brought a hand to his head as he watched his charge. What a headache this was.

Aphismet nodded thoughtfully as he listened to Tsu's advice about the animals; it did make sense. Cuddles, sudbued as he usually was, would get very irritated and aggressive if something moved too suddenly in his tank, or if something he was playing with was taken away. Aph had never realized that perhaps Cuddles' soul DID have something to do with Rivener after all, even though Riv wasn't showing Cuddles' nicer side.

"I see," he replied. "Well, let's get him checked up as soon as he gets tired of talking to Zave, then? Or, or should we be reminding him that we need to get to it?"

Aph was gazing uneasily at the Raevans, hoping Riv wouldn't lash out.

Rivener smiled, looking down at the hand on his chest. More contact, he enjoyed it. However, re realized that the other was being quite serious about his request, and not trying to send mixed signals on purpose. He stopped advancing, and in a honey voice he spoke.

"Alright, not this. But your way of finding things out about someone is a little more invasive than my once-over. You should be more careful of who you allow yourself to touch; touching is a very special thing that you should only award to those you like very much." He smiled as he spoke, and removed Zave's hand from his chest, also unlacing his fingers from Zave's and floating back a bit. "I like to be clear about such things: touch means YES to me." The Night Frei reached a finger up to curl around his favorite lock of red-black hair, busying his hands. "You get to wander by yourself in such a large place, you're lucky. I'm confined to a one-room apartment most of the time, and am not allowed out unless it's to follow Aphismet to work." He sneered disdainfully and glanced over at his guardian. "It's very boring and annoying. I wish I would have more room to move. And the beach, I saw that on television. It looks nice. ...What other questions would you have for me to answer?"

Rivener smiled a bit more sincerely than usual, now. He enjoyed this, an actual conversation with someone who could speak. He did like Roux very much, and found him incessantly interesting, but he did wish the Ice Frei could talk more. Zave here was more entertaining to converse with.

Rivener frowned slightly at being rebuked about his staring. He wasn't really undressing them with his eyes, he was just examining them very closely. After all, this wasn't a television show where he would get hours to look at someone; he had to take them all in at once. He had never realized that it might put people ill at ease. "I'm sorry for looking at you, then. I didn't mean anything by it, I was just examining you."

Riv smiled at the thought of going to the beach. "Do you mean today?" he asked Zave as he turned to Tsu, nodding to show that he was ready for tests. "I'd really like that, I think. Something other than that cramped, dirty apartment."

"Our apartment isn't dirty!" Aphismet squeaked out, outraged and embarrassed. He turned to Tsu, as though Tsu might report him to child services if he thought Rivener's words had any truth. "It's not dirty, it's just a little small and there are the two of us there, and my painting things are crammed into a corner and it makes it LOOK a little dirty maybe, but it's really not! It- it's really... erm, not." He'd run out of steam, and kept his eyes down, blushing in embarassment, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

While Aphismet was babbling to Tsu, Rivener had continued speaking to Zave. "I watch all kinds of things; I mostly like shows on Discovery channel, where they talk about science things and building things and nature. I also like CSI a lot, it's very interesting. My favorite things, though, are movies." Riv was happy that someone was actually asking him these things. No one had ever shown so much interest before, apart for Roux (whose attentions were still mostly selfish anyway.). "Do you watch TV at all?"

Rivener climbed onto the table obediently to begin the tests, smiling at Zave and thoroughly ignoring the two humans. Tsu could go about his business of prodding at the Frei without hearing any complaints for Riv; he enjoyed being touched and prodded. "My favorite movies are ones that are very long, like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings... each of them is three whole movies, it keeps me entertained for a long time when I watch them. I really really like entertaining ones like those, that wouldn't happen in real life. I have to say I'm a little jealous of you, though. Even if you have no TV, you have more things to do, apparently."

Aphismet was following Dr Tsu quietly, hoping he would be able to find out how to control the scorpion Frei's poisonous powers without Rivener noticing. Therefore, Aph was keeping his trap shut, lest he say something that might arouse Riv's suspicions. He figured it wouldn't be too unsafe to reply to Tsu's comments about a completely different subject, though.
"A klepto? Who? Oh, uh, nevermind, that's kind of a personal question. Can, em... can I ask you: does everyone who owns a Frei have a degree? Or at least, is going to school or college?" He was blushing quite hotly, keeping his eyes to the ground and his voice forcibly nonchalant.

"Do you ever go into the water, at the beach? I know we don't have legs, but I think I would very much like to try swimming," Riv continued.