The Dark Haven ((Please read the rules! UPDATED!!))

[Ristar Black]

His comment on her Aunt went by without a response. On this particular topic, she sided with Ri. Part of her blamed him for what had happened to her mother, and what she had been put through. If he had been home, or hadn't been so wrapped up in his work, then her mother would still be alive. She wouldn't have been tortured and tormented for information she had no knowledge of. If he had been more aware of what he was doing, of who his company was messing with, then Alice wouldn't have had to watch her mother die in her arms. Plain and simple, in her book.

When he asked about the journal, her eyes softened ever so slightly. Yes, she still had the book he had given her. It had been her link to him in the past, her bedtime story every night. Now, it was put away with the pictures of her family when she had been younger. She hadn't looked at it in quite some time, but she didn't bother telling him that. Alice simply listened to his ramblings and nodded her head in response.

"Well now, that was quite a lot to take in all at once. Let me see if I can filter through it and answer you as best I can." She started, her perfectly trimmed nails tapping ever so gently on the counter top as she went over his words in her head. "Concerning the journal, yes I do still have it. It was a gift so I have treated it accordingly over the years." Alice confessed, leaving out the bit about how she had listened to his voice for hours until she had fallen asleep. She didn't want to give him any reason to think she had a soft side towards him still.

"In all honesty, you demeanor hasn't really changed much throughout the years. Yes, you have buried yourself in your work and kept your distance from me, but that isn't much different than how you were before mom's passing. You were still gone a lot and when you were home you were often tired and not up for too much where I was concerned." Again, memories filtered back through her head of a time long ago. As a child, she never minded that he hadn't been up for running around the woods with her or playing any of the games she came up with. She had simply been happy to see him home and alive. She had often worried, much like her mother, that he would never come back to them one day. None of them had expected him to be the one that lived and Cass taken from them.

"As for you being cold and distant, it seems to be a trait I've inherited from you myself. It's actually come in handy over the years, if you must know." She confessed, giving him something that was both good and bad where she was concerned. "And finally, on the topic of you loving me and being sorry, you can stop. I never doubted how you felt towards me, or my mother. In fact, mom made it a point to tell me just how much you loved me whenever you were gone." More memories, the ghost of a smile on her lips, and the softness returned for a split second before the ice returned to her features. "An apology is no longer needed, since there was never one wanted. At least, not from me. Things happen in life for a reason, and you can either let it break you or bend around it. Aunt Ri broke, I bent. Easy as that." With her own little rant concluded, she shrugged her shoulders and finally gave in to the wine before her. The slight heat and sweet taste helped take the edge off her growing mood as she waited for him to respond to her words.

ＷＩＴＨ;; Emryck and others || ＭＯＯＤ;; Growing tired || ＴＨＯＵＧＨＴＳ;; 'I think that's the most I've said to him in probably my whole life....Weird...'

[Faoladh Morgan]

☾ Morgan Rowan Whelan◯Lone Wolf☽

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.....

Morgan could tell Ristar was laughing at him arranging his sitting and he just shook his head. Kilts weren't really a huge thing in Scottland anymore except for formal occasions, and even then, not everyone wore them. Morgan however, being a fan of 007, Kingsman, Archer, and countless other shows and movies about spies who dressed their best, Morgan liked to also dress in a suit. The only difference was, his had a kilt.

Morgan laughed when she called him her "Knight in plaid armor" then laughed harder at the idea of her playing the damsel in distress. "Yeah, you don't quite fit that part..." He said, trying to picture it, but no matter how many times he tried it just wasn't working. "If someone tried to make you a damsel in distress, I'm sure pretty quick they'd be the one in distress" He didn't doubt she'd be strong fighting up a not so friendly person, but she had a tendency to piss people off, which was another thing he was going to keep to himself

Morgan hadn't known until now that he had a room here saved for him "I do?" He said "Well thanks Red..." He said, and he knew what she meant about money just piling up. When you lived a long time and that whole time, lived off the grid, money started to pile up. He paid some taxes with his job with the humans, but they still had no real idea about his money.

When Ristar asked if his partner was taking sabbatical with him, Morgan shook his head. "No, she's not coming here" He assured her. "She had said she might go home to visit, or she might just stay at work" He said with a shrug. When he and Turid were saying goodbye he told her to wish her family well if she went to see them, and whether she chose to work or go home for some time to enjoy it either way.

.....

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[Ristar Black]

His laughter had her own bubbling up once more. Yeah, he was probably right. She would have made that necromancer her b***h. The thought had her eyes dancing with mischief. Perhaps she could go out and find one...Nah, that would just be asking for trouble. And she didn't want to get Morgan in hot water with his job. Ri was fairly certain he had either volunteered or been picked for keeping an eye on weird happenings in her area. It was exactly the kind of gentlemanly thing Morgan was known for doing.

At the rest of his words, her powers picked up a bit of surprise coming from him. Had she forgotten to mention that he had his own room within her home? Or was he seriously that dense that he would assume she'd make him pay for a place to stay? Not sure what to think, Ristar just chuckled softly and pushed herself up so that she was sitting instead of laying beside him. Reaching out, she tapped him playfully on the nose and flashed him a bright grin at the nickname he used for her.

"Of course you do, silly. And you're welcome, my darling wolf." She joked, unable to resist matching his term of endearment with the classic Little Red Riding Hood tale. At the last of his words, relief washed over her and she settled back on her hands in the same way he was. If Turid was staying away, then she would have Morgan all to herself. Delighted, she tipped her head back a bit and stared up at the stars.

"Do you miss her when she's gone?" She asked, though the words had been more of a thought and she hadn't meant for them to leak out. Now that they had slipped passed her lips, Ri cursed herself in her head and tried to retract her statement. "Of course, feel free to ignore that question. It's none of my business, after all."

ＷＩＴＨ;; Morgan || ＭＯＯＤ;; Slightly Embarrassed || ＴＨＯＵＧＨＴＳ;; 'Stupid mouth...'

[Emryck]

"It seems you inherited more than a few traits from me. The best of both of us I guess," he began, a sad half smile flitted across his face. "She wasn't the only one that broke, I did too," he continued, taking a swig from the beer. "Your mother was something special. I probably worked with the agency for fifty years before I met her. Before that, I hadn't had a clue as to what I had done. The trouble with having a mortal mind and being relatively immortal is that memories don't tend to hold on as long as you would like."

He had never really talked about his condition with his daughter. Cassidy, he knew, had brought it up to her that she needn't worry, that he father wouldn't be going anywhere. The life lesson of mortality was different for the supernatural than it was for mortals. Alice could live a long and healthy life for the foreseeable eternity, external forces notwithstanding. For Emryck, it was the same, but he wasn't designed to live that long. His body should have expired in the long distant past, but he found himself always returning, with little to no memory of what happened. With the change of technology it was different. Once he had kept journals to try to sort out his past, but those all perished in the past, now with the age of technology, somewhere there was always a record of what had transpired.

The agency helped with that, they kept scrupulous records on everything. A great deal of that were the reports they required him to turn in of his assignments. The problem with that is it left the agency in a power position over him. They held his history in their hands, his memories were no longer his own, but were a control that they could use to direct him where they needed him, given enough time passing.

"I hope you aren't forgetting the time we did spend together when I came back that first time. There wasn't work back then, just the three of us. I remember going to visit Violet and her parents with you almost every day for those first years. We played a lot back then. It wasn't until those men refused to leave that I returned to work..." he broke off.

The woodcutter and his sorcerer wife became quick friends To Cassidy, with their daughter Violet a dear friend to his daughter. He of course hadn't met them until much later, after he had returned from the war that he was blackmailed into fighting. They had been good friends, showing Cassidy and himself nothing but kindness and quality one didnt find often in this age. He remembered sharing a beer on their porch as their daughters went off to play in the woods. They joined in now and then at their request, but often they just enjoyed watching them play and enjoying themselves.

The organization came later, a group of individuals fascinated with Cassidy and Emryck, and especially in their child. They were seeking answers that they felt she could answer. They demanded blood tests, skin samples, bone marrow, and whatever else they could get their hands on. Emryck had discovered that there had been a leak in the agency that led them to hound Cassidy while he had been at war. When he had returned, before he left, the agency had done what it could to shield them for those searching for them. But no shield is impervious.

What he had done to that man when he found out that he had sold them out to that organization... it made what he had experienced during the war seem like childhood trauma. He had lost himself in his violence he hadn't unleashed on that man. Of course it was too little too late, Cassidy was gone by then, and his humanity had slipped through his fingers once again.

As Emryck played through the memories in his head, his smile turned to a frown, and then a look of shame spread over his face. He went back to his beer, taking more than a few swigs. It could easily be seen that there was a struggle going on in his mind for something.

[Faoladh Morgan]

☾ Morgan Rowan Whelan◯Lone Wolf☽

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.....

With Morgan in a reclined seating position and Ristar lying down, he couldn't see the mischievous look on her face but he knew her well enough to know the look was there. He didn't know what for, but she almost always had that look on her face. "I'm just glad you weren't the one causing problems. It wouldn't have been such an easy fight that way."

Morgan hadn't actually expected her to charge money when he jokingly asked how much it would cost to stay there for a month, but he had just expected her to put him in one of the rooms that were free. He had no idea that she had put rooms aside for himself and a few others. He appreciated it, and found it very sweet.

When Ristar bopped his nose with that smile of hers on and met his calling her Red by calling him "wolf", it occurred to him what a wolf calling someone Red sounded like. He generally called people things like "dear" or "love" or "friend", but Ristar was the only one he called "Red" It hadn't been until just now he realized the relation between it and Little Red Riding Hood. He had just started calling her it for the red hair and firey temper... and the fire.

Morgan shook his head when Ristar asked if he was going to miss Tuird "Nah. She's good friend and everything, but we live on such short quarters much of the time we start to get on each other's nerves. She leaves milk out of the fridge, I leave fur on all of the surfaces. She leaves the lid off the toothpaste and toothpaste gets all over the counter, I leave more fur everywhere." For a werewolf who spent most his time in his human form, he sure shed a lot of doggo fur... Seriously, if he had started to having feelings for the Valkyrie other than friendship and anything work-related, he was pretty sure all he had to do was take a look at the messes she made and that would put an end to it for him. Honestly, if one didn't know it they'd think they were coming into a frat house when they came to the places they stayed at with Morgan on her a** to clean up after herself. "Honestly, I feel like I'm your damn father" He remembered grumping as he picked up some of the empty beer bottles lying around their hotel room, and wiped up a spilled mess on the counter one of the nights before they finished the case

.....

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[Ristar Black]

"That is how genetics usually works, isn't it? Putting the good traits of two into one form?" Alice asked, her tone taking on that of a teacher speaking to a slow student. The rest of his statement had her tipping her head to the side a bit in study. Her mother had once told her that he often described himself as an old man, a shell of his former self. Looking at him now, she could see what he meant while at the same time seeing what her mother had in him. It was an odd realization and one that had her icy heart melting ever so slightly.

"Yes, she explained to me how your existence works. Though, she often referred to you as the 'special' one. She always said it was easy to find a vampire or a demon in the world, but a mortal with a life that could last as long as hers was unique." She explained, her own thoughts drifting back to her past with her mother. A smile played over her rosy lips yet again, softening her features to give her a more approachable look.

"Well, that, and she said any man that can make you laugh in amusement, cry with joy, and sweep you off your feet with romance was special beyond anything else. She never failed to remind me of what kind of man you were. I suppose it was her hope for me to fall in love in the same way you two did." Alice said easily, amusement dancing in her sapphire gaze. Yeah, like she was ever going to allow herself to fall in love with anyone. Love always led to pain, and she wasn't going to allow herself to ever feel the way her father appeared to feel at this moment.

At his mention of spending time with her childhood friend, laughter finally bubbled up out of here. Wow, if that wasn't a blast from the past she didn't know what was. Shaking her head, she sipped from her drink for a moment. Yes, he had been there for her during that time. But she had been very young, and it had been more of a blink in time rather than an actual memory for her.

"That was a nice time in our lives, but it was so long ago. It doesn't count for much in the long run, you know that right?" She asked, not sure exactly why she wanted to shoot him down but unable to stop herself. He was, truly, trying to connect with her but she wasn't having it. That time had passed, or so she thought.

ＷＩＴＨ;; Emryck and others || ＭＯＯＤ;; Growing tired || ＴＨＯＵＧＨＴＳ;; 'I don't know why we are still doing this...'

[Ristar Black]

His mention of her being the one causing trouble had her giggling softly. She might have been famous for starting drama from time to time, but she had never had the urge to go full on criminal. It was just too much, even for her. Turning people against one another was a far more entertaining past time. At least, in Ri's opinion anyway. That, and she wasn't sure she could handle being locked up. She had never been one to handle close spaces well.

"What if I had been, though? Would you be able to cuff me and punish me if I were the problem starter?" Ristar tossed back, mischief once more glittering in her starry gaze. She simply couldn't help but tease him a little. The longer they spent together, the easier it was to slip back into their normal roles. Her being the tease and him being the oblivious one. Of course, that was only how she saw their relationship. How could she know that he saw things in a very different way?

At his mention of Turid getting on his nerves, she couldn't help but laugh once more. Did he not realize that those kind of feelings could shift without either of them even realizing it? She had read enough romance novels in her time to know firsthand what it was like when two people are forced to spend so much time together in such small quarters. One minute you are bugging the hell out of each other, the next your wrapped up in the sheets with nothing but the others body heat and sweat on your skin. This thought had her wanting to laugh again, but she kept it to herself this time.

"Ah, I see. Well, I suppose I will have to thank her for being such a slob the next time we meet." Ri joked, wondering if the other female would get mad at her for saying such things or Morgan. It was tempting to test out such a theory, though she doubted her companion would enjoy it quite as much as she would.

ＷＩＴＨ;; Morgan || ＭＯＯＤ;; Amused || ＴＨＯＵＧＨＴＳ;; 'Oh, how I have missed his silly self...'

[Faoladh Morgan]

☾ Morgan Rowan Whelan◯Lone Wolf☽

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.....

Morgan shrugged when Ristar asked if he would cuff and punish her if she were the problem starter. "I don't know, it depends really" He said with a shrug. Much of the time he was too dense to get the way she was teasing him, or at least playing too dense. This time however, he just couldn't let it go. "It depends on how serious the crime, on whether or not you say you're sorry and promise to be good." He joked, though his tone didn't change much so it may have been hard to tell.

Morgan had never been the one to read a romance novel. Sure he had read plenty of novels with romance in them, but nothing based mainly on in the romance involved. He also hated movies and tv shows containing romance starting with two characters showing severe annoyance or even hatred for each other until one of them bats an eye and then it's all over. Because that sure seemed like a healthy way to deal with things...

"You go ahead and do that" Morgan laughed when Ristar considered thanking Turid. She was in her early 40's, still quite young in her years and were she in Morgan's pack it would be like being in her teens. She was very young, and much of the time people who were young when he met them, stayed young in Morgan's eyes. There were many reasons he couldn't see himself and Turid in the future, and the more he thought of it the funnier it got and the the less he wanted to think about it because the more the thought creeped him out.

.....

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[Ristar Black]

((*Is dying* Oh, poor Ri. He's never going to react the way she wants him to, lol))

[Faoladh Morgan]

[Poor Ristar lol.]

[Emryck]

"Your mother really did love me, I never knew why she chose me out of everyone, but I loved that woman with every ounce of me I had," he commented. Her image was burned into his mind. Even in the early days, she had been infatuated with him, and he never figured what first set her to it. He remembered that she had mentioned his scent before, but that didnt mean a lot to him. She had senses beyond what he could imagine, so he had just accepted it. He still remembered the way she would sit in the passenger seat, staring out the window at the city, or even just her watching him, taking in every detail of him. It was a strange feeling for him.

Unlike the agency or the other organizations that tested him for curiosity for his seemingly deific resurrections, she had been in love with his ordinariness if such a word could be described. That sort of love can build a person to endless heights, creating an inner strength that can see them through the roughest of seas. But that light had been nearly extinguished in him with Cassidy's loss.

"The love I had with your mother was more bliss than a man could ever imagine in life. She made me a better person. For too long I had just existed, doing my job. Funnily enough I don't even remember starting at the agency anymore. She gave me life, when before I just resembled it. There is nothing like that kind of love Alice, nothing in the world. I'm just lucky that she brought you into my world. I should express it more, I really should, I just don't seem to know how anymore," he paused, finished the beer, and took up the glass of water.

Fatherhood was not something he had ever expected. As far as he was aware, he had never had a child in all his existence, which seems almost impossible. Of course he had never really tried before. His past, from what had been recovered had always seen him as driven. Single purposes that pushed him forward his task. There were references that the agency had discovered linking him to a a being known as an Inevitable, but the information was relatively limited. It wasn't until he had met Cassidy that he had strayed away from his purpose in this lifetime.

But with a daughter in his life, he had done everything he could with the time that he had with her, at least before his wife had been taken from him. There was really no excuse for what had taken place after that. He should have sought after therapy, even the office had sent him to one, but he had returned to his singular purpose, but in this instance it wasn't driven by his character, but by grief. He searched and chased down the organization that had set the chain of events into place the ended with their loss of Cassidy. He had made them pay dearly for what they had done. As far as he had been able to discover, the remaining members had scattered to the wind as he began his crusade against them. The agency hadn't been supportive, but they hadn't stood in his way either while he burned those monsters from the earth.

His face turned sour for a moment, but he dismissed the memories from his mind. He wish he could tell Alice about it, to confess what he had done to them, but what good would it do? Would she understand where his path for revenge had led him, and why he had shut up to everyone during that time? He doubted it. She had needed him, and he had gone off on his own. Even now he knew that he had done the wrong thing, even if the result that came from it had been positive for her life. Would he ever be able to admit to her what he had done, for Cassidy, for her, and for himself?

[Ristar Black]

The answer her teasing got had her sighing and shaking her head. Why did she even bother flirting with him anymore? He never got her hints, and when he did he didn't respond in the way she thought he should. Were her feelings really one sided? Sighing softly under her breath, she sat herself up completely and looked around the clearing. Perhaps it was about time to give up on all of this, Ri mused to herself.

"Well, I will keep that in mind should I ever decide to join the dark side." She replied, leaving it at that. At the rest of his words, she couldn't help but roll her eyes. She might have adored him immensely, but he seriously needed to get with the program. Unable to resist, Ristar reached out and poked him in the shoulder. It was either that, or she was going to tell him off for being so damn dense.

"Morgan Whelan, you are such a dolt." She told him, her tone joking once more. Well, mostly joking, she thought to herself. Yawning a bit, she reached out her powers to the tavern and picked up the emotions within it. Seemed her niece and Emryck were still talking and nothing had been broken. Yet. Knowing they needed more time, she pushed herself to her feet and motioned for Morgan to follow her.

"Come on, I have some things to check on and you can come with me." She stated as she walked off, not bothering to wait since she knew he would follow her without her needing to watch him.

ＷＩＴＨ;; Morgan || ＭＯＯＤ;; Torn || ＴＨＯＵＧＨＴＳ;; 'Why bother...'

[Faoladh Morgan]

☾ Morgan Rowan Whelan◯Lone Wolf☽

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.....

Morgan frowned when Ristar sighed. He really had gone a long time without flirting and was even more out of practice than he thought... He was trying to return the teases, but he appeared to be off his game. Not knowing what to say, he sat in the grass nervously scratching his beard until she spoke again to let him know he wasn't in the top three intelligent out of the two people in their conversation. "Yeah, I've been told that a few times. Sometimes by people other than you" He joked, though that may not have been a smart thing to say when he was already in trouble fore being a dolt.

When she said she had things to do, then got up and went on her way without even waiting a moment to see if he was coming or wait for a response, Morgan knew she was done with his s**t. "Sure, I'll come with you" He replied as he got up and sped up his walk to catch up with her. "Hey, did I say something stupid?" He asked when his step matched pace with hers. She was obviously frustrated and came out and called him stupid so he knew the question itself was stupid, he just didn't know what else to say at the moment

.....

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[Ristar Black]

"Why would you bother questioning it if you felt the same? I would think, or at least hope, you would just accept it all and be grateful she even looked your way." Alice told him rather heatedly. Out of all the nice things he could have said to her about her mother, he had to say that?! Was he slow or something? Shaking her head, she finished off her wine and tapped the counter top gently with the glass. The peach colored liquid returned, though she warned herself to slow down. The last thing she needed was to get drunk around him.

"Please, don't feel like you have to share any of this with me. I don't want, nor do I need, your gratitude over my existence." She nearly spat the words at him, starting to get irritated with the whole conversation. "And I am fairly certain that my mother wouldn't care for you saying it either. Words are nothing, you of all people should know this." Alice ranted on, the shadows around them starting to darken as her mood spiked. She might not have been as hotheaded as her mother and aunt, but get some alcohol in her and the family resemblance started to leak through.

"Your actions over the years have shown me exactly what I mean to you, so don't think for a second that you have to express anything more to me." Finally at her limit, and afraid that she would start crying any moment do to the emotions running hot within her, Alice pushed herself to her feet. "I honestly don't know what Aunt Ri was thinking when she sent for me. What did she actually think would be accomplished?" She huffed out a breath as she grabbed her jacket, shoving her arms into it as she spoke.

"I don't even know you anymore, and you obviously have no idea how to handle me. Maybe we should just go back to the way things were: you ignoring me and me pretending you died the day mom did. It'll save me the heartache of losing you all over again." The words left an ache in her chest that she did her best to ignore. Her emotions were starting to break through her wall, tears swimming in her sapphire gaze no matter how hard she tried to fight them back. It took every ounce of her willpower to keep herself in check, not wanting to turn into the blubbering fool she was starting to feel like.

"As much fun as this was, I think we're done. Have a good life, Emryck, or whatever it is you call being you." Satisfied that they were done, Alice turned away from him and headed for the door. The shadows began to ease back as she left, while her thoughts went out to her aunt. She said her goodbyes and ignored everything else, not wanting to get dragged back in to explain herself.

ＷＩＴＨ;; Emryck and others || ＭＯＯＤ;; Just done with it all || ＴＨＯＵＧＨＴＳ;; '.......'

[Ristar Black]

Tucking her hands into the pockets of her jammies, she realized she was ruining her favorite fuzzy house socks. Snapping her fingers, the pink fluffs on her feet disappeared to reveal her bare feet. She had recently painted her toes the same shade as her eyes, the blue glittering in the moonlight thanks to some sparkle polish her daughter had left behind long ago. It made her feel extremely feminine and had her giggling at herself. She might have called Morgan a dolt, but she was acting a little silly herself tonight.

The sound of his question pulled her from her thoughts and had her looking over at him. Should she even say anything? Was there a good enough reason to? Would it even change how things were? A million questions and reasons raced through her mind as she watched him. In the end, Ristar gave in and shrugged a shook her head in response. It would be cruel of her to leave him in the dark, or so she told herself.

"No, not really." She started, only to realize how vague her response sounded. "I think it's more me than you at this point. I'm expecting more than I suppose I should be." Again, her words gave away absolutely nothing of what she was truly feeling. Annoyed now with herself, Ri ran a hand through her scarlet curls and huffed out a breath. Why was this so freaking hard?!

"It's just...." Her voice trailed off as her brain tried to come up with the best way to say what was going on inside. Stopping in her tracks, she grabbed his hand and tugged gently until he faced her. "You know I like you, right? And I don't mean in the, 'Hey, you're totally my best friend' kind of way. But in the 'Hey, how about you take out your cuffs and show me how bad I've been' kinda way." She tried to explain, only to shake her head once more. She was seriously screwing this up! "Please tell me that made more sense to you then it sounded in my head."

ＷＩＴＨ;; Morgan || ＭＯＯＤ;; Frustrated || ＴＨＯＵＧＨＴＳ;; 'Now I"m the one acting like the idiot...'