Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lorika cursed under her breath as she attempted, for the 3rd time in under a minute, to get the key inside the lock like it should. She had only recently moved into this appartment when her old friend Mare offered to room together. A few weeks, according to Lorika, is NOT enough to get used to every single quirky detail of a building that you're supposed to live in. And this apartment seems to have a whole lot of those.

On the 6th try, she gave up and simply jiggled the doorknob in frustration, hoping that mare would notice the commotion if she rattled it hard enough, and IF Mare is home already. Perhaps it was due to simple annoyance, or maybe anger at the stupid, stupid door who refuses to cooperate today; whatever the case, it never occured to her that she should knock. Or maybe she was subconciously trying to accomplish the task in the most miserable way (for the door) possible. It was the same subconciousness that decided this is a idiotic method, and instead went by the much easier way of unleashing a simple opening charm upon the lock. The doorknob, now free to open, suddenly gave in to the violent shaking and swung inward, along with the rest of the door. Lorika nearly stumbled and fell forward at this unexpected movement, managed to regain her balance without further disgracing herself, only to be met with a blur of brown hair, some splatters that mildly resembled a booboo that requires a BandAid, and someone's wildly waving arms.

"Woah there...wah...you alright?" She muttered to her friend, realizing for the 5th time this week how much she had forgotten about Mare in their time spent apart.

It's a good thing that the two are friends, Lorika remembered thinking this way back. They balanced each other perfectly, filling out for the other what she lacked. Mare was the happy one, always upbeat and never seemed to run out of energy. Lorika herself was the calm one, who always sat back and observed, occasionally throwing in some rather cynical commentaries, and waited for opertunity. One must wonder how they ever got together in the beginning, but it's easy to see why they stayed that way.

It is perhaps another really, really good thing that most of Lorika's "commentaries" were never directed at mare. On the rare occasions that they were, Mare would most likely be too wrapped up in whatever to notice or care. And Lorika always knew when to compliment her friend, when to make the brownies, and when to give hugs.

Her expression quickly changed, all traces of annoyance suddenly washed away by a wide grin. (Really, no one really knows how she can change her moods so drastically at will.) "This is OMG THIS IS GREAT!!" She blurted out, suddenly the spitting image of a highschool cheerleader having just gotten the best cellphone out on the market with the rare pink exterior and extra network features. "this is the BEST news I've heard since...since a long time ago!" She then listened to Mare's monologue of the whole process, every word of it (or at least appeared to; she's already heard about the project bajillions of times, anyways), and when Mare looked like she's said enough to take a breathing break, Lorika gave her a big, warm, You're-my-best-friend-and-I-love-you-and-things-are-great hug. Because hugs are just plain nice and don't require explanations.

She laughed at the look on her friend's face, but it was a friendly laugh, the oh-don't-be-silly kind of sound. Lorika have always wondered how Mare could remain so oblivious of her sarcastic side (which dominates, no doubt) after all these years. Not that she particularly tried to conceal anything; "cynical" just didn't seem to be part of Mare's vocabulary.

"Of course I'll stay!" She reassured Mare. "I've finally gotten a normal job somewhere instead of hopping all over the place hoping someone'll pay for my lunch. I'd like to settle down for a while too, ya know? Can't let you have all the fun, staying in a world like this!" She playfully tapped her friend on the nose, then continued, "besides, it was your fault that I got this job in the first place. I can't leave until I've gotten my revenge!"

Lorika stared at her friend in amusement and mild disbelief. A couple of weeks, and she still haven't getten back to being used to Mare's helplessly clueless state of mind. "No, not like revenge with the turtles, though I thought they looked quite happy to be out of those smelly tanks. They were REALLY overdue for a clean-up." She wrinkled her nose at the memory, the details of which would probably be best left undiscussed. Not to mention what the vendor was trying to do. "This is more like...revenge by bringing you out to WaterWorld every week for a year straight, since you caused all the fun."

She abruptly changed the subject, since Mare was never good at interpreting anything to beyond its literal meaning. "What has your group been working on up to this point? Since you'll be breaking off and starting your own research and tests, would that be disruptive their order at all?"

She never doubted her friend's inteligence, but have always wondered how a freakin research facility could accept someone to naive. She's curious to what kind of topic they put her on initially.

Lrika's brows suddenly twitched, straining to form a frown, but was promptly stopped. Her smile dropping a little. Just a little; someone like Mare probably won't notice. "Keyblades?" she continued, almost casually. Why would..."Why would anyone in Gaia be interested in such things?" She muttered, more to herself than as a question to Mare. She doubted Mare knew the answer, anyways.

It's jsut that...it's kind of hard to NOT feel attatched to that world. Even if she did barely anything there and simply waited for things to sort themselves out. Too many sacrifices for that ending, in her opinion, but there is only so mucht aht she could do. Not that Mare would understand, even if she had been there that time instead of stopping to settle on Gaia.

"This...Riku," Lorika finally said out loud, "How did he end up here?" She's only heard of him, heard enough to know that he was important in that world. She never got too tangled in their side of the story, even less so than the other.

"Hmm...I wonder, too." Deciding that over-thinking it probably won't lead her anywhere, Lorika merely tucked the event into the back of her mind, making note to investigate further the next time she could find an oppertunity at work. She just prayed Sychko isn't planning to do something stupid; it could affect alot more than just a few kids with keys if they decided to try their luck and perform some crazy experiment based on half-thought-out theories just waiting to be blown down. "Will they be needing any replacements for you, then?" she asked Mare. "I'd like to know if anyone'll drag me away from whatever and into whatever."

Finally deciding that she'd like to sit, Lorika made her way to the counters and settled heself on it. Screw chairs, she liked the view up here. "No, not really," she replied, almost bored. "Just some stuff on how emotions can affect the thinking process...tons of technical stuff, ya know, how the chemicals interfere with each other." It's way more than that, she knew, but didn't see the need to reveal the outlandish truth to her coworkers. They'll just laugh and say she's played one too many RPGs, anyways. "Working with you certainly sounds alot better than what I'm stuck doing now." Though, she'd like to get a chance to see what's going on with this Riku...

But first things first. "Hey, you've always just rambled on about the basics of yout theory; have you thought of how you're gonna test them out yet?"