Once Upon a Plotbunny! ((Private RP, not recruiting))

[Unscholarly Mage]

Once upon a... Wait are we still doing this bit?

Hello all! Welcome to an unauthorized, unscripted, uncensored, unrestrained, un... I'm running out of Uns here. Anyway, Welcome to the third and a half installment of the Once Upon A... series, Once Upon a Plotbunny! Why is this only half an installment? Because A)This thread isn't meant to have long term active RP, and B)I haven't technically been cleared to post this by the other OUA regs. (Shhhh >_> ) Oh wait, I have. So... I guess we're a full entry now?

This is just a thread for the participants of the OUA series to post the random story ideas that float around our heads in, no long term RP commitment required. So if you came here looking for an epic and incredibly long story... Boy did you come to the wrong place.

On that note, why exactly are you here? No offense, but this is a private thread and we don't intend on recruiting anyone (Lord knows we don't need any more random Cat-Boys popping up). So if you wanted to join in on the fun, sorry. The exit is to your left.

That's it for this part, go on and post my brethren! POOOST!

[Unscholarly Mage]

::Introduction::

*Like most of the information in this thread, blatantly stolen from Aegeon and Jenna~*

Part I

The story thus far ...
Once upon a time, there was a Princess. Being the oldest child, she went over lessons and books and all the right looks. It was lonely being heir to the throne and she needed some adventure, unfortnuately adventure came to her instead of letting her find it herself. Going out for groceries on her own turned into a catastrophe when a charming thief came to her side and simply swept her away without an fuss.

However strange the coincidence might be, the princess had found herself out of the kingdom's gaze and allowed to do as she wished. Thanking the thief for taking her away and out of view, she clutches onto him as her protector.

As they continued to travel onwards, they gathered many friends and companions. They ran in to mishap and mayhem, as well as sleeping in closets. With their official hide-away being found, the group trekked to the outskirts of a village. Using a cave as their home for a few days, the motives beneath the kidnapping were starting to come through. With the black mage, EyeDee/ID and Aegeon brewing up plans of their own, the others started to travel towards the town itself and decided to take the guise of a traveling circus troupe.

Also picking up a traveling bard that recognized the princess from court, the storyteller and the hostage started to bind together in their own relationship. Whether it is deep friendship or something more is still unseen, but after running off around the town instead of to the tavern and inn they were told to be, many questions were floating in the air and many feathers were ruffled...especially those of the thief.

The very next day, the princess and the thief took to the town on a set of errands. Acquiring pocketfuls of baby chicks and learning that the princess had picked up some rather revealing thieving tactics, it didn't take until later that night for trouble to brew. Chased by guards and forced to take to alleyways to hide themselves, Aegeon and Jenna managed to get back to the tavern and inn, though only Jenna went inside. Somewhat distraught, she went upstairs and found herself being consoled by Aarlym while Aegeon was merely consoled by the rain.

In the morning, things seemed to be okay. A cloud hung over the heads of most of their group, but they were quickly washed away when the mage came in and gave the princess detailed instructions on getting out of town. Packed up and leaving by the way of an underground passage, the troupe made their way to the woods near some natural springs. Meanwhile, the angry mage busted through town and eventually found the fallen thief, who was also found by another stranger to be added into the mix.

Before long, the thief, mage, and black market organ seller were on their way to meet the rest of the group that was settled by the springs...until they were crashed in on a strange new girl that doesn't seem quite human, yet looks rather familiar. After being fed and promised another meal, she darted up and chased after a fire that was set by the thief's group. Aarlym and Jenna were left baffled, but eventually followed hand-in-hand, unsure of what the path held for them.

When it seemed they had too much ground to cover, the two of them split up and found the large pile of ashes that used to be part of the forest. Finding eachother again soon after, they also ran into Ten, who was dancing within the ashes and having a grand ole time. Agreeing that Jenna and Ten should go back to the camp and prepare the meal, Aarlym decided to press on to find the mysterious girl.

Little did the bard know that this stranger had found the missing links of the party. With her running into Aegeon and his comrades, she found herself mirroring their words and actions. Ending in screams, Aarlym's attention was caught and he eventually ran towards them, only to be caught within a falling batch of trees that covered him in ash. This left him weak...and without a voice. Elrhet, the strange girl, tears herself away from the thief and his smaller team and finds Aarlym in the midst of the burnt and ashen trees.

Meanwhile, back at the camp, Jenna and Ten continued to try and fix the meal. When the princess tore herself away to go down to the springs to check if anyone was there, she came across EyeDee. The mage had conjured up a small fire and discovered she was tapped out of magic. As soon as she realized Jenna was there, the mage collapsed on the princess, forcing Jenna to carry her back to camp.

Aegeon seemed rather lost, and began to try and find his way back to camp. Struggling with his injuries and delerium in the sun, he was found by Ten and brought back to camp. Dropping him in the springs at his request, Ten turned back towards the main campsite and glanced at Jenna who was heading down the path once more. Regardless of how harshly he treated the princess, she went down to his aide...only to be pushed away by more harsh words despite all the help she'd given him.

Leaving him at the fire, she went off as he took care of a gaping wound in his side with a hot blade, forcing the skin to melt together. As soon as she heard the screams, Jenna rushed back to the camp and laid blankets over him, doing anything she could to soothe his pain. With his head in her lap, she sang to him softly, gathering the attention of Elrhet and Aarlym. Her song stopped abruptly due to her crying...and it eventually led to rain.

In the midst of the small rain storm, Jenna decided to use what few magic powers she had and levitate Aegeon's limp body to the vacant tent, as the mage was occupying the other. As soon as that was done, she sat against a log, eventually falling asleep waiting for the bard to return with or without the strange girl.

As soon as the Aarlym and Elrhet returned to the outskirts of the camp, the girl darted through the camp quietly and quickly, leaving Aarlym to find the fallen Jenna and wake her up. Welcoming him back with a smile, the princess asked her few questions and recieved no answers...only a cold shoulder as the bard moved into the tent with the mage.

The next day, most everyone found themselves in the springs. While some were uncomfortable, like Aarlym who believe that Aegeon and Jenna shared a tent the night before and Aegeon had walked around in nothing but a blanket the very same morning, others were merely trying to help. Some of the party went back up to the camp, leaving Jenna to watch as Aegeon and Maedina announced that they were leaving.

Not knowing what else to do, she clung to him and begged him to stay. Once again, she was pushed away and he continued into the woods without another word. Starting her walk back to camp, Jenna caught sight of the affections shared between the bard that wouldn't even look at her and the strange Elrhet that she'd fashioned in clothes of her own and styled her hair back so it wouldn't be in her face. Grasping at straws, she figured she wasn't needed and wrote a message to the sleeping mage that she was going to the next town...only to return home.

On her hustle of a journey, after dark she stumbled in on the small camp that Aegeon and Maedina had made for themselves. Apologizing and ready to leave, she was struck by a few kind words and eventually offered to stitch up the thief. Within the preparations, he mentioned something about being engaged...and she asked if he would really marry her, only to laugh it off. With no other answer to give, he did the only thing he could think of and lay a kiss upon her lips. That night, she stitched him up, made sure he was comfortable, and then made sure she was comfortable as they slept side by side, curled up in the same blanket.

Talks of where they would go and thoughts of if they would travel together as a set of three...or a pair and a single person were brought up and it was agreed that Jenna would be taken to the town with the other two. After that, it seemed the other two were going to visit a gravesite that held someone very dear to them. Comments were made, discussion of Alabastre Cromley came up and put Jenna on edge. Jumping to conclusions that probably shouldn't have been made, she said words against the deceased that they were going to visit...without meaning to. Tension grew once more in the uphill battle of affection she was trying to give and recieve from the thief.

With Jenna's absense, Aarlym and Elrhet go off on the hunt for her, and get away from the dead body lingering in the trees over the tents, and their bonds grow even stronger. This becomes even more evident Elrhet accepts the human form as her own and the forest seemingly lashes back at her for resigning her forest goblin being. Making their way out of the forest, they went on a hunt to catch some rabbits, spotting a campfire in the distance...yet having no clue it belonged to the rest of the party that had seemed to leave them behind.

Making a firey entrance, the mage ID came back into the scene, only causing Jenna to fall under some kind of attack. Collapsing by the fire, she slowly came to, but couldn't stop coughing. Covering it up as inhaling too much smoke, she smiled and was then chastised for not taking care of herself...but worrying about everyone else in the camp. Before long, the rest of the members showed up as well as the thief, Kallima. After getting cleaned up, Jenna offered her a dress and to tend to wounds, yet the other woman didn't take the treatment, she stole the opportunity to get herself clean again.

The two thieves talked through the night while Jenna slept fireside without really sleeping or resting. Regret washed over her for the many things she'd said that she didn't mean to, but she couldn't take them back and she knew that. Waking up, she wanted to apologize, but found that he was being just as distant to her. Letting him run and wash up, the princess took care of the fish he'd caught and served a plate to Kali. Without warning, a solider with what seemed like an arsenal floated through the bushes and stole the plate away from the "Princess of Thieves".

Falling into the defensive, Jenna drew a weapon and started demanding things, but fell back when Kali suggested it. Not knowing Aegeon was already nearby on the outskirts of the camp just behind the stranger, the princess went down to the stream to try and fetch him for help. The elf continued darting about with the fish until Aegeon took hold of him and something of a spat came between the two of them. Stepping in to try and fix things, Jenna attempted to be diplomatic and failed to win either of them over.

In the end, Aegeon got himself tackled and Ruby helped him out of the bind by kicking the elf over and out. Taking the escape while he could, Aegeon ran off in to the trees...only to Kaine follow after him and leaving the rest at camp to ponder over what could happen.

Part II

Once Upon A Freebie - Volume II - The Backstory

It has been two years, since that fateful night - the night the royal forces fell to Cassius and the revolutionary army.

As the last remaining nobility fled like thieves into the night, the flags atop the majestic ramparts of Brassaneth castle were burned, signifying the fall of the monarchy and the dawn of independence.

Though the fight had been long, and the cost great, the kingdom of Brassaneth clung to the faint hope that a fragile peace would be forged from the ruins of a failing feudal system. The hope that their future would now lie within their own hands.

The banished nobles were pardoned from execution, but found themselves stripped of their entitlements and luxuries. Their transgressions, said Cassius, would be repaid through the blood, sweat and tears of their own hardship.

All would now be equal. Peasant and queen, thief and knight.

However, such was not to be.

For the dreams of Brassaneth's people were extinguished, along with the life of the revolution's leader.

Claimed to have been brutally slain during the final crossfire, rumour and speculation roamed about the land like a savage beast, bearing the tale that we fear to be truth: That the arrows that riddled his body, were from his own men.

Such a truth seemed no clearer to me, as when the malevolent sorceress Kohaku, and her sister Saera Rose, then took charge of the rebelling forces and proclaimed Brassaneth as their own.

The remaining nobility were hunted like animals, and slaughtered in kind. Towns and villages were plundered, and reduced to ash without provocation. Strong enchantments withered the trees, scorched the earth, and dried the rivers across the lands. Life, itself, began to weaken like the pulse of a hanged man.

With a bounty upon their heads, the last remaining members of the royal family fled to the neighbouring nation of Hywind. And I, who swore an oath of protection, accompanied them.

Though much history and bloodshed had passed between the man Cassius was, and I - the oath I swore to him that day by the windmill, in which I promised to protect the Princess as if she were my own, still holds strong.

However, it surely will be tested.

As the rising forces of the immortal witches began to creep into surrounding lands like a strangling weed, our safety is once again in peril. These nations are no longer safe - nay, the world is no longer safe - from the ambitions of this most vile duo.

The Princess has decided she cannot idly sit by, any longer. Though bearing no more rights than a peasant, she still believes that the lives and the future of the people of Brassaneth is hers to safeguard.

While my protests were great, she reminded me: it is my duty as a TydeRunner to protect my own home from this impending threat. My honour was no longer bound to her alone, but to all I vowed to keep from harm.

Together, we have started this journey - back into the skeletal lands that once flourished. Gathering all the allies we can muster, we prepare to face the perils that accompany challenging this terrible menace.

Or we shall perish, along with our world, in the attempt.

Part III

* * * * *

As you stand on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the surrounding landscape, it is as though you gaze upon a masterful work of art - intricately and aesthetically detailed, and flawless in its beauty.

Rolling green hills are edged by majestic forests and shimmering streams. Quaint, sleepy farms dot the countryside, lounging beneath aquamarine skies. Skirts of wildflowers and charming dirt roads line fields and plains, like the ornate hem of Mother Nature's skirts.

Perfection, in diamond waters and calming breeze, stretches towards the horizon in limitless boundary - resting upon the gates of a towering, ivory-stone castle. The very jewel in the crown of this beautiful realm.

Welcome to the Kingdom of Legaeafin.

However, like any illusion on canvas, there is more to see than the surface paint.

For while this castle has stood, a beacon of strength and prosperity, for over 300 generations... the peace, harmony and contentment on which it was built is just as fragile as its facade.

Tensions boil and bubble beneath the happy exterior, as noblemen and clergymen, vie for control in bloody intrigues - determined that the destiny of their Kingdom will be defined by their own purposeful desires.

For the nobles wish to use the military prowess of Legaeafin to invade the bordering territories, nations and city states, uniting and claiming the continent under the crest of Legaeafin - for glory, for land, and for gold.

The clergy, on the other hand, see their opportunity to direct that military might to cleanse this realm of heathen opposition, establishing and affirming the religious right that was the foundation of Legaeafin's beginnings.

While for many centuries this war waged silently, mediated and tempered by the firm and fair rule of the Royal Family, the ties that bind are slowly unraveling.

The current ruler, Adolphus Romaris Legaeafin VI, is losing his grasp on reality. While loathe to admit it, his sanity is slipping between his fingers, leaving his reign prey to the influence of those who wish control.

Too stubborn to admit his weakness, his pride threatens to turn Legaeafin into a puppet state, that would bring only devastation, ruin and suffering to his people.

The only thing that prevents either side from gaining complete control over the crown, is the Prince Regent... or at least, that was, until he vanished without a trace.

[Unscholarly Mage]

::Words to the Wise::

Stolen from Jenna, who stole it from Aegeon. I really don't think we need most of them since this is a private (Count how many times I use this word on this page, win a cookie! *Note: Cookies out of stock*) thread and all. But for tradition's sake...

While OUAF's RP is only to kill time, we still have a few simple rules we ask everyone to follow:

* You don't have to participate -- You're still welcome to hang around and chat with the thread patrons, while waiting for your art (No art offered in this thread! Shoo you art whores! SHOOOO!). You might just have to tip toe around some long posts to do so.

* Suck it up, Princess -- Everyone who is participating here, is trying to have a good time. So we don't particularly care if you are a three-time world-champion RPer, or have 125 years experience, or have a master's degree in astrophysics and b.s.ing. Chill a little, and don't lay the smackdown on anyone who doesn't meet your high standards. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, and you can never judge a book by its cover.

* Oh beeeehaaaave -- While we try to promote a friendly atmosphere, we won't give slack to those who don't earn it. If you barge in the thread, mouting off to everyone, are rude and intolerant of others, and generally act like a five year old who needs a nap... then, yes, we will ask the S.U.G. (Screw U Gnome) to drag you off, duct tape you to a chair, and force you to watch three days of continuous Richard Simmons work out tapes.

* I'm in the mood for... Lunch? -- While we don't discourage romantic RP in the thread... if it's above and beyond the PG-13 level, take it to PM or IM. You can leave the thread with a nice little 'yadda, yadda, yadda' to fill in the blanks of your romantic escapades. We get the picture.

* Keep It Legal -- We have a no tolerance policy here. Rules of Gaia's ToC and PG-13 guidelines apply here. We also do not allow any discriminatory or innappropriate (sexual, gender based, or racist) comments or behaviours. Harassment (and sexual harassment) or stalking of players will also not be accepted. It makes fluffy kittens cry.

* Help reduce confusion pollution -- OOC comments and conversations that are included with a RP post, should be kept in brackets to distinguish between the two. It just makes more sense.

* Jack of all trades? -- Please tone down any jack of all trade skillsets. While we appreciate how hard it must have been for you to become a master ninja/summoner/pilot/mechanic/chef/vampire hunter/ horsetamer/ferret whisperer/walmart greeter/karate guru by the age of 15... we like to assume that in one's life time, you really only have the time (and energy) to become the 'ultimate master' in one field. (This is only here for my sake)

* WWF is down the hall -- This is a NFZ, NKZ (no fight zone/no kill zone) without permission from both parties involved in the conflict. If you want to beat the guy at the next table with the leg of your chair, please do so outside. This furniture is expensive, and it's not coming out of my paycheque! scream

* Look Ma! I can swallow my own face! -- Entertain yourselves. While we are happy to make conversation with any person who graces our presence (whether in RP or not), we are not your babysitters and we are not responsible for your popularity. Please don't sit in a corner and mope about how alone you are and how no one will talk to you, if you haven't tried talking to anyone else.

* /follow -- While we do not have any minimum participation requirements, it does make it hard to move forward when someone puts themselves into the forefront of the action... then goes on vacation for three weeks. So if you are signing off, put yourself on /follow -- this means that while no one can control your character, it will be assumed that they tagged along with everyone else until the point that you return. However, it will be your responsibility to read up to that point and then jump back into the action.

[Unscholarly Mage]

:: Character List ::

Note from the management: Characters listed in the ordered they appeared in this thread, so don't be surprised if characters from 20+ years in the future end up wedged between characters from the past.


/
Kallima Nightengale/Ghosts of Kalimas past, the ex/current-Thief.

/
Eilir/Lir and Aeon, the Twins.


Hrun, the Soldier.


Diantha/Dia, the Girl-Kisser. (WHAT? I CAN'T COME UP WITH A DECENT ONE D:)


Tyde/Ty, the junior Tyderunner


Tahani, the White Magus


Ilysana/I.D., the Black Magus


Joseph, the Unemployed Waiter

[Unscholarly Mage]

::Links to Visit::

Once Upon A Plotbunny OOC!: Cause I'm pretty sure they frown on OOC ramblings in this forum.

[Unscholarly Mage]

Filler post just in case...

[Unscholarly Mage]

Because you can never have too many fillers.

Well, I guess you could. If you had like, 100 of them or something.

[jenna_chan2]

That'd be a lot of fillers x:

[Aegeon]

AWMAGAWD. XD

I am -so- freaking in for this. 8D

~takes out a can of spray paint and scrawls his name all over the post~

MINE! scream

P.S. No, I don't read instructions very well (re: don't post). We both know that. So are we really surprised that I totally Charlie Browned you and posted anyway? XD

[KohakuChan]

Kohaku has returned for this event!

Hm...

Suppose I should have done that with a bit more pomp.

Shoot :<

[Tyde Morrow]

Tyde Morrow, son of Raen Morrow reporting for duty!

Salutes.

[Kallima Nightengale]

((Fine! I'll start us off! And I'm not even in the thick of it for the time being! I'll set the stage, you all best act on it.))

A woman toiled with a well rope. It was not an extraordinary scene; every hour there was some new face with the same rope in their hands, struggling with the pulley as it cried out in protest. People passed, paying no notice.

She was a slim thing; an uncomely feature for one on the threshold of forty. Her face was a map to a hard life, roads drawn in laugh lines and crows feet. Her hair, a shade faded from her youth, was pulled tight into a school marm's twist. A working girl with a strong back and a tired countenance. There were hundreds of her like.

Not a single footfall hesitated. There was no pause even as the fibres of the rope frayed and snapped, her work clattering against the stones with a string of hallow echos. An exasperated groan drew no attention. They all carried on with their busy lives; concerned with their lovers or their children, their work or their play.

Why should they turn eye on her? Afterall, she was but a simpleton. A widow living miles outside the safety of the city with her daughter. There was nothing to notice.

They couldn't see beneath the sixteen years of life. They didn't recognize the cunning eyes, ever watching and studying. They didn't see the way she would smile at the small misfortunes other's wailed on about. They didn't notice when her slender fingers slipped coins away from those foolish enough to brush past.

Afterall... Christine Legaea was nothing extraordinary.

Pulling up her apron, she rubbed her friction-burned hands against the cloth. It was far from soothing, but the movement was a comfort.

There was another bucket at home, but to get there and back would take too much time. It would be impossible to bring provisions before nightfall.

Frustrated, she rubbed her sleeve against her brow before starting down the street. Her storm eyes scanned the homes and shopfronts, waiting for...

In an instant her shoulders rolled forward and she lost several inches to her height, becoming more invisible to the crowds than she was previously. On the side of a homestead, her hand reached out, her fingers latching onto the iron handle of a pail. When she heard the creaking of the hinges settle in time to her step, she grinned in satisfaction, promptly crossing the street and returning to the water source.

With a sick, rusty squeal, the rope was stripped away from the mechanism and tied to the 'new' vessel. Whether by fortune or ingenuity, the twine held fast, bringing the single mother enough water to last the day. She pulled a cloth from her apron pocket and set it over the opening. A small spill deterrent was better than none.

She started home. Nobody looked at her. Under Widow Legaea, nobody recognized Kallima Nightengale.

((I'm sleepy xD But its something. Now hop too it, the lot of you.))

[Aegeon]

His father's eyes peered through the long, thin, tightly draw slats of the window shade - watching the dirt pathway for hours, as they did every second day.

His body tilted forward on the lone stool; muscles taunt with anticipation and fingers curled underneath the seat. Breath held at each stir of leaf, or crackle of twig.

It wasn't fear or foe that drove him to watch the property line like a shepherd dog. Rather, a disciplined boredom that chained the unwilling prey to its seat and held him captive there.

Soon, the one who shared his face would return and share with him the usual recognizance - the places, people and details he needed to know during 'his turn'.

At least he was given a turn at all.

Impatiently, he chewed on the inside of his cheek - a habit his mother often chided him for, but refused to tell him exactly why. He supposed it might have something to do with the fact that she always said his sister Eilir was so much like her when she was young...and then never finished that sentence.

He always thought that was the reason why she was so insistant that he take his sister's likeness rather than the other way around. Maybe it was easier for her to see herself in them...than someone else.

Not that he was complaining, mind you. Although he hated having his hair swept up and squeezing into her attire, it was better than the alternative. As the youngest of a set of twins, tradition in Brassaneth decreed that his existence is a bad omen - that twins were one child's soul split in two by a parent's transgression, and the only way to right it was to kill the second born to make the first child whole.

But his mother, skeptical and stubborn as she was, refused and hid them away so that no one would know. Passing two children off as one, until they were old enough to part their separate ways.

So aside from being dead, or imprisoned for his childhood, he accepted the fate of being his sister's doppleganger. At least for the time being. As time passed, the changes that gripped them both made it harder and harder for him to pull off a convincing imitation - both physically and in personality.

But he didn't want to think of that looming separation, as it would be him forced to leave home. He loved both his mother and sister and felt it his place to protect them, even despite their capability to take care of themselves. The words of his mother's unwanted suitor failed to leave him: without her husabnd, someone had to be the man of the house.

Exahling softly, he remained in statuesque vigil by the window.

No, he did not want to think of tearing apart the family so soon. In fact, he cursed every nuance of adulthood that graced his body, bringing him one day closer to abandonment.

And yet... A secret part of him yearned to embrace it. To accept and enjoy the individuality he'd never known and feel closer to the one he never had the chance to meet.

The bittersweet desires clashed within him, conflicting and skewing his wants for the future.

But for now he would wait...

[Kallima Nightengale]

A slight girl sat against the wall to an abandoned structure. It used to be a bakery, or so she guessed from a fractured sign tapping mournfully against the window. Nobody wanted to buy the little place, so it remained a destitute hiding place "to keep safe in."

She hated it. The day she was permitted to go outside, she had to stay in the dusty remains of a shop guarding the food her mother managed to get her hands on. It would have been more fun to stay at home.

Her finger twisted a thread of pale hair around itself as she made foot angels on the unswept floor. It provided no entertainment, eliciting an aggrivated cry.

It was a difficult life, sharing her very existance. She loved her brother, surely, but she was itching to stop sharing. Everything she owned was his; her clothes... her face. Sometimes it felt as though words that passed her lips were really spoken with his tongue.

She reached out and picked "inconspicuously" at a loaf of sweet bread. Only half of the crumbs made it to her mouth, the rest dropped to the floor lazily. At least it gave the room some life.

Thats what the teen wanted more than anything else. A life. There was only so far an adoration for your family could take you. She wanted to be in the thick of it all. She wanted to talk to people and make her way. At the very least she wanted to wear clothes that fit.

With the twins growing more and more differant everyday, their wardrobe had to evolve. Aeon's shoulders were broader than her own, her waist slimmer than his. Everything was catered to an infuriating androgeny.

Getting to her knees, Eilir looked through the dingy window longingly at a dress shop across the way. She whimpered sadly before turning, a pout on her face, and sitting back down with enough force to lift a modest cloud of dirt.

"Child!"

She winced at the sound of her mother's voice. What a dreadful nickname. It didn't suit her at all, but Mama never used their names in public, opting for vague pet names that sounded more like insults.

Her familiar footfall reached the cracked window and her face appeared behind the glass, tapping a double-time to the sign opposite the door. "Come on, we better start home."

The daughter nodded reluctantly. Great. A whole day wasted on errands.

She gathered up two of the baskets and set them outside the door, letting the parent wrestle to add them to her load while she retreived the remainder. A few yards of cloth, some sort of meat wrapped in paper to keep away the flies that landed anyways... a boring fare. A boring trek home, a boring dinner... When was it going to be her turn to taste excitement?

Her blue eyes turned upward to her mother. Mama didn't say much for talking as much as she did. As she grew, she realized how many things her dear mom didn't tell her. She knew nothing of how she had grown up. What were her parents like? What was her house like? There was never mention of her present lot, either. Why did they live so far out of town? Why did she keep her face down when they were in public?

She frowned a little. Maybe there would be a day for those questions, for now the pair walked in a comfortable silence.

Within the hour, their little cottage came into veiw, prompting the girl to hasten to the door. Maybe she'd spin a tale out of her day, a real story to tell her baby brother. Its not like he was in any place not to believe her, afterall. Perhaps she will have seen a talking mouse behind the wall of the bakery? Or the ghost of the baker's murdered mistress? Or maybe just...

"Aeon!" She flung the door open. "Today sucked!"

That was eloquent.

----

Christine smiled, watching her daughter bound for home. They were close, the two of them, even if they refused to admit it. She was glad for that... They needed the company.

Guilt twisted her stomach. The poor things... trapped like menagerie animals. They weren't allowed the luxury of summer friends or spring romances. They weren't allowed to attend the festivals their peers reveled in.

What a life she had built, forcing her young children into isolation for her sins.

She sighed, trying to regain composure. She only hoped she prepared them for the world outside. Once they were capable, setting them free would be the best thing to do.

Afterall, she never knew when the past would catch up to her.

[Aegeon]

By the time the door flew open, he was already there. Waiting and eager like a devoted puppy, to greet the return of the pack.

However, that enthusiasm was prematurely soured by the harsh reality that the day, in and of itself, had failed to achieve anything but that single exclamation from his sibling.

"W-what?" He found himself uttering incredulously. Not a single tidbit from the outside? Not a crumb of overheard conversation? No gossip, or even a half hearted effort to test his gullibility? He had waited all day for her 'report' and all she had was two words?

Well, it appeared that her day passed almost as tediously as his. As disappointing as that was, he felt guilty for being excited. If her day was spent tending to boring matters, that meant his day would not be wrapped up in trivial chores.

Usually it was the other way around - a young boy was well suited to the role of pack mule, especially as it took a heavy load to feed him. So he was often forced to spend his days on errand runs and more labour intensive tasks his mother required.

He was the force and stamina, where Eilir was the agility and dexterity. He was the charmer, she was the strategist. Despite their identical physical features, when it came to cons and other 'questionable' occupations they both had unique strengths and weaknesses.

It wasn't his fault he was the 'cute' one.

"Really? It was that bad?"

His eyes scanned the face of his near mirror image - save for a slightly narrower jaw and pale hair pulled back from the face.

"Mother?" He asked, peering around Eilir, as if to validate her statement from the final authority on these matters.