Welcome to Gaia! ::

“I am not a babysitter,” ranted Artie as he marched around his office.
“That’s fine, we can take care of ourselves,” said a tall brunette dressed in an old pair of fit jeans and a character tee. She was standing next to a shorter brunette, with darker hair dressed roughly the same way.
“That’s not what I meant…” Artie shot the girls a glare.
“Artie’s got a point Mrs. Frederick, these girls, they were never involved in government matters, they didn’t hack the warehouse, they’re….well they’re pretty normal,” Pete added.
“Not to mention I think we’re fine here, I mean, we’ve got the warehouse under control, just the four of us,” Mica finished. The taller girl crossed her arms and scowled, she didn’t like where this was going. The shorter one actually looked rather unmoved by it all. The taller looked at the shorter, grinned, then shook her head. She knew that look. That was the, ‘I-don’t-care-what-you-all-think-I’m-going-to-work-here-whether-you-like-it-or-not’ look.
“Their background is unimportant,” Mrs Frederick said. Artie was quickly reminded of his meeting with the regents….yup, background was definitely unimportant. “What is important, is that these girls were chosen by me to work here, and you all are going to have to accept that.” She gestured to the taller girl, “Miss Michael here has an adept knowledge of obscure historical trivia as well as a skill with technology comparable to Claudia’s.”
Claudia turned to look at the taller girl and smiled, mouthing the word ‘nice’. Miss Michael returned the look and mouthed back ‘thanks’. Mrs. Frederick then turned to the shorter.
“Miss Ryan has a keen ability to think outside the box, and is known for being Miss Michael’s balance.”
“Wait, balance? What do you mean balanced? She’s imbalanced?” Artie piped up, frustrated and confused.
“While capable of thinking and incredibly intelligent,” Miss Michael started.
“And modest,” Miss Ryan muttered, receiving a sharp glare from her friend.
“I do have a bit of a problem with….curiosity?” She finished, grasping for the right word at the end.
Artie shook his head and wagged his finger at Miss Michael, “No, no no! A million times no!” he turned to Mrs. Frederickson, “You know we can’t have people like that working in the Warehouse, there’s too much that could happen.”
Mrs. Frederick kept her typical, serious look, “That is why we brought along Miss Ryan, she keeps Miss Michael out of trouble,” she ignored Artie’s disapproving look and continued, “Besides, based on what I’ve heard, it’s not as if you haven’t dealt with her type before.” Mrs. Frederick gave a slight glance in Claudia’s direction. Claudia looked at Mrs. Frederick, then to Miss Michael and gave another satisfied nod. She knew she’d like this girl.
“I can handle one Claudia, I don’t need two,” Artie retorted.
“Well you’ll have to learn to deal with her, it’s my say Artie. Now I have to be going,” and with those words Mrs Frederick turned and left. A sort of distant silence filled the room and once the door shut, Mikss Michael felt the need to break it.
“Sooo…..” she trailed, not really sure what to say, “My name’s Kim, and this is Caitlin….” She gestured to Miss Ryan who gave a small wave. Pete, Mica, Artie, and Claudia turned and stared at the pair.
Claudia held out a hand, deciding to be the friendly one, “My name’s Claudia, in case that wasn’t made obvious.” Kim and Caitlin both shook Claudia’s hand, the two then looking somewhat expectantly at the Secret Service duo.
“I’m Pete,” said Pete, following Claudia’s lead with a small smile, “And this is Mica.” Mica gave a sort of cautious wave, the girls waving back. More silence filled the room as everyone now stared at Artie, who had gone back to work, ignoring the fact that everyone sort of needed instruction at this point….or an introduction.
Claudia rolled her eyes and looked back at Kim and Caitlin, “Don’t worry about Artie, he’ll warm up to you eventually.”
“Pete, Mica,” Artie suddenly said, staring intently at his computer screen, “There’s a string of odd events going on in South Hampton, Florida.”
“What, what kind of Odd events?” Mica asked as usual.
“I’m not….sure. The information’s pretty vague. You should go investigate, there could be an artifact.” Mica and Pete nodded, waved to the remaining girls, then quickly left, taking their bag of tricks with them.
“Hey what about me?” Claudia asked indignantly, “I thought you said I’d be getting to do some of that hands on work.” Artie turned to her and sighed.
“And you will, Claudia, but,” he stood up, “we’ve got new recruits to tour the warehouse, and someone has to stay here in case Pete and Mica call and need information.”
“Claudia could give us the tour!” Caitlin suggested, trying to be helpful.
“No, absolutely not. I’ll be giving you the tour.”