Welcome to Gaia! ::

Tenants wanted:
For a grand suite atop a 10 story complex in the inner city. Space includes:

5 bedrooms
2 bathrooms
full kitchen
spacious living room
Fully furnished!!! Rent cheap!!!

For more details please contact Rachel Vandell at 555-2131

Profiles

Name: Marie
Appearance: Here
Age: 23
Background: Local college student struggling to make a living as an art major. She seeks a place to stay away from the drama at home. Interesting about her is that she speaks with a French accent given her mixed patronage. From time to time she might slip into speaking French altogether. A bit of a dreamer and very shy she looks forward to the opportunity of meeting new people and views moving into an apartment to be an enlightening experience about human nature.


Name: Jared
Age: 21
Appearance: Here
Background: A troubled youth who has encountered many wrong turns in life. After his mother's death and the imprisonment of his father Jared ended up in foster care with his younger sister where he began to develop a habit for arson which landed him in juvenile hall a number of times. Forced to the wayside for most of his life through "the system" Jared tried to deal with his issues through his own suicidal tendencies and pyromania to the point where the courts ruled him unstable. He spent some time in a mental institution before his psychiatrist decided that an appropriate treatment for Jared is to be exposed to a "normal living environment" under close watch and protection by the authorities of course.


Name: Deacon
Age: 25
Appearance: A tall lanky scottsman with short light brown hair that tends to be very tousled. Occasionally he may wear glasses but these are more for trend than they are for eyesight. Normally he wears t-shirts which may sport the name of a band he likes (mostly flogging molly), with jeans, tennis shoes and a large brown trench coat.
More: Deacon is a cheerful soul who is usually up for a good time. Usually level headed but can be a little cold when angered. He works in town as a cab driver and is always looking for new and exciting destinations to explore. On days off he's usually found wandering around town looking for something new to do.


Name: Jessie
Age: 29
Appearance: here
More: Jessie is kind of a drifter, no one knows what she really does for a living but she does enjoy riding her bike where ever the wind blows and can be a bit of an adrenaline junkie. She is however a bit of a gun and knife enthusiast which may be in part due to some of her experience with the military (as evident from the dog tag she always wears). She was dishonorably discharged as an insubordinate and has since been trying to find a place to get back on her feet.


Name: Crete Lekka
Age: 23
Appearance:Here
Other Info - Crete grew up in a family of five with her mother, father, older brother and younger sister. Due to various reasons throughout the years all of her immediate family members, except her brother, have passed away. She hasn’t seen her brother for several years now though and she assumes his disappearance from her life is permanent. During her senior year of high school she met Derek, an older man who offered her protection and comfort during her struggle with her family. The two of them share an apartment in the complex on the ninth floor directly under the grand suite. Crete enjoys writing and playing music. She specializes in the piano, but plays the guitar as well. She is of Greek decent, as her and her siblings were all named after Greek islands.


Name: Wendy Holt
Age: 22
Appearance: HereWendy is fit and athletic as she has spent most of her life dancing. She has dyed the bottom half of her hair dark, giving a shadow boxed effect, to stand out from the crowd.
Other Info - Wendy spent her early childhood in foster care before being adopted at the age of nine, where she has always been an only child. After High School she made the decision to take two years off before attending college. A California transplant, she is enjoying her time away from home and exploring the world. She is typically very down to earth, easy going and friendly, however she is constantly concerned about how others may perceive her. She currently teaches dance classes to children ages 4-10 on Sunday afternoons.

Name: Milos Lekka
Age: 30
Appearance: Here
Other Info: Milos and his family immigrated to the United States from Greece when he was 12 years old. Because of this he struggled more then his other two siblings with learning English. 18 years later his accent is minimal but he occasionally still slips into Greek without realizing. After Milos finished college he spent much of his time traveling, only coming home for short periods. Unable to deal with the grief of his mothers death Milos did not return home and cut off all contact with his sister. Now, several years later, he has returned home and established roots. He owns his own condo, has adopted a dog and has a well paying job. He still continues to look for Crete but has not been able to find her whereabouts or a way to contact her. Milos also enjoys photography in his free time.

Name: Aivy
Appearance: Here

Name: Asim Mitchell
Age: 26
Appearance: Here
Other Info: Asim (Sometimes referred to as Chuck by close friends) is a college graduate currently living in the complex. He has a degree in computer science and works for a local technology company. Unbeknownst to his room mates Asim's job actually pays well enough that he could live alone but he prefers the company. His grandparents on his mothers side are both from Saudi Arabia while his father's side of the family, mostly European, has been in the States for generations. He has one younger sister, Leila, that he is very close with. Asim also enjoys working on computers and playing video games in his free time.

Only one person was in the lobby when Marie entered the ten story apartment building. He had been halfway up the first flight of stairs, two bags of groceries in hand, when he turned to see who was calling out. The man was of average height, his build nothing extraordinary, but he was handsome. He had a darker complexion, his skin somewhere between white and tan, almost appearing golden. This made his teeth appear whiter when he spoke, "You okay?" he asked in concern. His voice was low, smooth and despite his foreign look he didn't speak with an accent. He had figured perhaps she was having car trouble - and while the man was fairly good at repair it was starting to become dark outside. That, and the weather did not permit an extended stay outside. His dark brown eyes looked down at her quizzically. He had never been the type to abandon someone who needed help - even if he didn't prove useful himself. Hopefully no one was hurt, those were the situations that caused him panic.

The man stood in silence for a minute then let out a light chuckle. Was that all? That was simple enough. "This is the place." he replied, holding his arms out away from him slightly to gesture towards the building. "My name is Asim." he introduced, turning all the way around now and backtracking a few stairs closer to Marie. He would have offered to shake her hand, but his were full. "You would't happen to be moving into the top floor suite would you?" Asim was told by management they were to be expecting a new room-mate. He did however wonder what had possessed her to attempt moving in the middle of a snow storm.

Asim shook his head immediately upon the question. The bags were light, it was nothing he couldn't handle. "Not at all." he declined, "Come on Roomie, I'll show you the way." Asim directed as he turned around once again and began to ascend the staircase. "It's a bit of a hike, but you get used to it." he commented casually, "You might just want to bring up the essentials tonight though. Moving all of your things inside in the dark and with the snow probably isn't safe." Asim led Marie up to the very top floor of the building and stopped in front of one of the few doors on that level. The metal plate hanging outside the unit read 1002 in black, bold font. It was the only apartment in the entire building that had more then two bedrooms. Long ago it had served as the master suite for the building owner and his family. "This is it, welcome home!" Asim announced, "You have a key? Would you mind getting the door?" He would have done it himself had his hands not been occupied.

Three floors down outside of apartment 704 a petite girl with a bushy head of curls stood in front of the door. She had a childish frame and if it weren't for the over abundance of hair one might mistake her for a prepubescent boy. She was dressed simply in a pair of jeans, black low tops and a red hooded sweatshirt. She had just managed to knock on the door but quickly had to return both hands to support the casserole dish she was holding on to. It had been covered with tinfoil to keep the contents as warm as possible and the glass wrapped in a tea-towel to keep her hands from being burnt. The girl puffed up her cheeks in impatience as she waited for the door to be answered.

Once the door was unlocked Asim helped push it open with his shoulder. "Ta-da!" he said upon the reveal, though admittedly the apartment was not anything overly exciting. It's most attractive feature was its size and being so high up there was a decent view of the city streets below. It was furnished, as promised, though all of the pieces were basic. However Asim knew how exciting it was to see your new apartment for the first time, so he tried to reinforce that. "It's not much, but its home." Asim let Marie enter first through the door and clumsily managed to close it behind them. Further back in the apartment music was playing, some rendition of Albatross, tipping Asim off that someone else was home. He set one of his grocery bags on the ground and held out his hand for Marie to shake, "I don't think I ever got your name." he reminded gently.

Off in the kitchen another room mate had turned the stereo on while she worked at unpacking her small collection of kitchen supplies. Her shoulders swayed to the music, enjoying the time she had to herself. She did not even hear the door open and close. The woman was nothing extraordinary in height or size, by every definition of the word she was average. In order to differentiate herself, however, she had shadow-boxed her hair. The top layer was still the same light caramel brown she had been born with, but she had dyed the bottom layer black. This created a dramatic effect when she pulled it into a pony-tail like she had that evening. She pulled one of her few coffee mugs from the box in-front of her and unwrapped the newspaper to the time of the music. As she placed the blue ceramic cup on the shelf with one hand, she dropped the crumbled paper to the ground absent-mindedly with the other. She'd get around to cleaning it later...

Crete continued to wait outside of the door but was becoming frustrated with Raiden's response, or lack of. Freeing her hand again she pounded harder. "Open the damn door Raiden!" she demanded. Crete and Raiden had been friends for so long she never bothered to impress, he was lucky she put on jeans and mascara for him, especially considering the weather outside. "I will turn around and go right back upstairs if you don't hurry up!"

"Derek is on a business trip, I got bored," Crete said as she pushed her way smoothly into the apartment, inviting herself in. "Figured I'd share with you." That and it was an excuse to come spend time with her friend. It wasn't often that she got to see Raiden anymore, she often would search for an excuse to visit. Crete made her way to Raiden's kitchen and set the Pyrex, still cradled in the towel, on the kitchen counter. "Hope you're in the mood for Mexican." she muttered and turned back around to see him. Her eyes, the exact shade of honey, scanned him over before opening her arms in demand of a hug.

"Well," Asim let out a laugh as he glanced down at his groceries, "We were planning on cooking. Let me help you get your things then you can just relax. We'll take care of dinner." He looked back up and directed his next sentence towards the source of the music, "Hey, Wendy! Can you come grab these groceries?"

"Coming!" Hearing her name the girl with the two-toned hair set down a bundle of packing paper back in the box and came trotting out to the entry way. She smiled upon seeing Asim and Marie. "Oh, hello!" Wendy greeted the stranger. "Are you another room mate? Or...?" she gave Asim a quizzical look which immediately caused him to shake his head.

"Newest room mate. Marie this is Wendy." he introduced as the girl held out her hand politely.

"It's fine, you didn't ask, I offered," Asim reminded as he handed the groceries off to Wendy and turned back towards the door. "Many hands make light work, or something like that. Let's go then." It seemed he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"I'll get started on dinner," Wendy said, carrying both bags in one hand back to the kitchen. Asim had originally bargained that if he bought the groceries Wendy would cook that night. She had sent him off to the store with a short grocery list with all of the ingredients they had been lacking for beef stir fry. Once back in the kitchen she set the groceries on the counter and got started on her end of the deal.

"You'll probably get your a** kicked," Crete muttered into Raiden's chest, hugging him tightly. In all fairness some days Crete wished she could escape her life with Derek and start over. Perhaps a kidnap was a good excuse. She pushed that thought out of her head quickly. "Did you work today?" she asked as she released Raiden and moved to fish some dishes out of his cupboard.

Crete pulled two plates out of the cupboard but had to stand on tip-toe to reach them comfortably. Turning around she paused her serving process to stare blankly at Raiden. The look turned quickly into a frown as Crete processed what he was saying. "Third?" she repeated glumly. She had instantly realized what that would mean for their friendship as well. It was already hard enough to get time to see Raiden, if he was working nights it would be impossible. Trying to appear less affected Crete grabbed a spatula and two forks from the utensil drawer and went to work on dishing up. Enchiladas had always been too much work, so Crete had constructed the dish into a casserole instead. When she lifted the tin foil the hot dish released a small amount of steam into the air. She watched it rise as she tried to figure out what to say next. While cutting into the food with the edge of the spatula Crete spoke again, "Maybe it's time for a new job?" she suggested. As selfish as it was, Crete didn't want Raiden to disappear. His presence, however limited, was vital to her.

Having been behind Marie when her and Jared collided Asim reached out quickly to try and grab the flailing girl. One hand wrapped firmly around her upper arm while the other supported her from the opposite side of her rib cage. Asim didn't let go until he was completely sure that Marie had regained her balance. Knowing she was likely alright, just startled, Asim turned his attention towards the stranger. "Hey man, what gives?" his dark eyes were narrowed in Jared's direction, "Keep an eye out for where you're going, someone could get really hurt with all of these stairs." He continued to keep his eyes trained on the other man, waiting expectantly for him to apologize to Marie.