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 Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:27 am
Guinevere was reading. She was not just reading any book, though. She was reading The Magickal Almanac: From Alchemy to the lost art of Zickwaomancy She was halfway through the two thousand page tome and she still had no idea what Zickwomancy entailed, though she thought it must have something to do with tuning xylophones without using one's hands. She had found the book in a VERY mystical looking bookstore and had been reading it wherever she went ever since. As the book was too big for her to carry for long periods of time, she had to stop and sit a lot. Right now she was sitting on the side of the road, giving her the appearance of a rather witchy runaway. She shaded her eyes and looked up at the sun. Though it shone brightly, it was still a chilly winter day. She frowned. If any of her spells actually worked, she could fix that. One day.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:26 am
With one journey over, a new chapter began. One destined to be filled with new experiances, challenges, and obsticles for the young Herald still learning the ways of the world. One such challenge Nikolai was determined to meet today even though he doubted he had the courage in him to do so. The very quiet little boy had a fleece sweater hiding his furled wings, hood over his head to hide his glittering hair, and in front of his nose was a sheet of paper that listed the groceries that his mother had sent him to pick up. Moving from the country into town was a big step, but his guardian was certain that Nikolai would be able to walk the two blocks to the grocery store on his own. With this impairment imposed on his vision, Nikolai walked straight into the little Herald reading her book on the side of the road. Dropping his paper on a very soggy pile of snow, the lad gasped and quickly moved to pick it up and brush it off before the ink would begin to run. Whining quietly out of nervousness, he turned to look back to Guinevere appologetically. Nikolai bit his lip and bowed his head respectfully to say he was sorry without ever uttering a word to his friend he didn't quite recognize just yet.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:41 am
Guinevere gasped as she fell over. "Owwww..." she muttered, grabbing the back of her head. Looking up, she inhaled sharply. "My book!" Lying in a slushy puddle, The Magical Almanac bled ink like a dying soldier. She picked herself up, snatching it off the ground, but it was too late. The art of Zickwomancy was lost to Guinevere forever, a smudgy, slushy blob. She turned back to see what had hit her and saw a hooded boy. She felt a twinge of something, some recollection sniffing the air, but mostly she felt frustrated. How dare he act polite to her! How dare he look so frightened! He took away even her heart to be mad at him, and all she could do was nod, holding the soggy, ruined book, one thousand pages of effort wasted. She took a deep breath. Relax. Feeling she should say something to be polite, she said "Is your paper okay?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:56 am
Nodding his head feebly, the lad looked to the drippings of Guinevere's book staining the pure white of the snow on the sidewalk. He opened his mouth as if to gasp, or perhaps to speak, with a horrified look on his face; had he really ruined her book? Cringing slightly the boy held out his hand to her in hopes of making amends. His mother had a new bookstore now, and with any luck she'd be able to find what Nikolai had unintentionally ruined. He offered a small hopeful smile, thinking there was some way to make amends.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:13 am
Guinevere reached out for his hand, tentatively. Something about this boy felt eerie. She felt like she should know him. She certainly hadn't stayed angry at him long, which was surprising to her. She was GOOD at angry, the quiet sort that caused people to think sarcastic comments and own cats. She looked at her book. "Maybe it'll dry out." she said, with no sort of real hope as the letters blurrily blurred so as to be even more indecipherable. "It's okay anyway, I probably couldn't practice Zickwomancy even if I wanted to." She looked at the boy again. She didn't know any boys who weren't Heralds. But he still felt familiar. Taking a shot at solving the mystery, she said "My name is Guinevere. And you are...?" At the very least maybe she could hear his voice. That might help her solve the puzzle.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:29 am
Nikolai didn't say anything, only smiled, as he held onto Guinevere's hand and began to lead her back to his home. His mother would tell Guinevere just how to fix her book, and then at least he wouldn't need to say a word. The lad giggled cheerfully, walking quickly back the way that he'd come with his note clutched in the other hand. As a gust of wind hit him, the boy's hood blew back, revealing the starry pattern clinging to his hair that he had tried so very hard to hide while walking normally.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:42 am
Guinevere blinked. She didn't know a lot about normal boys. But she was pretty sure they didn't have hair the colour of the night sky. She held his hand tighter, feeling that twinge of recognition again. Why wouldn't he talk to her? She bit down a wave of frustration. If he wasn't a normal boy and he wasn't a Herald and he wouldn't even TALK to her...
Or was he? She peered at the back of his hoodie carefully, and with her free hand she reached out to press into his back, gently. Were those... Wings? She looked at the boy. Of course he would be older now, goodness, he was as tall as she was. But he was just as quiet.
"Nikolai?" she asked quietly.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:50 am
The lad slowed when he felt the girl touch his back, and looked all the more confused when she'd called him by name. After his appearance had changed, his memory too had gotten to be a bit hazy. Brow furrowing with perplexion, the lad nodded his head before once more starting to walk with Guinevere in hand. His expression was of concern now; who was this girl? She had wings like he did, but then so did every other person on Gaia. He simply couldn't recall Guinevere enough to remember her name or face.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:17 pm
Guinevere couldn't see Nikolai's face, but she saw his nod. He still wasn't speaking to her and she felt worry bubble up inside her. For a moment she thought he was angry. Did he remember her? Heavens knew she barely remembered him, but maybe if she thought about it...
"We met at the Library." she said slowly. "And your mother and I talked, but you didn't say anything..." She paused. "You never said anything, not even after the bus accident with Kemuri, you wouldn't even say you were upset or you were okay, you just hid your face." It was easier to remember once she got started, like rereading a book. She continued, "You always hid from me, and sometimes I thought you must hate me, but other times you'd smile, so I'd think you must have thought I was okay." And that was that. She had not known Nikolai long before he had left her life entirely, but she hadn't known ANYbody long. Nikolai had been one of the people she knew best, and she barely even knew his name. "Remember?" she said, and it was as much to herself as it was to the boy in front of her.
With that said and done, she really hoped this wasn't another Herald with the same name.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:54 pm
Nikolai hadn't stopped walking, though he thought back to where she had said. Library? Did she mean his mother's old bookstore? The dusty place that smelled of old books and knowledge brimming to the very rafters? His expression almost looked pained before he shook his head. He couldn't remember a person like her. He couldn't even recognize her. "No...." He said in a whisper of a voice, after that saying no more. The little voice was cracked from such few uses, despite how his mother tried to get him to speak more. A breeze would have blown it away if Guin hadn't been paying attention for a sound.
He stopped at the street corner and pointed up to an appartment building. On the second floor, a window was covered in a holly wreath with bright white Christmas lights unlit at the moment. Nikolai tried to smile encouragingly for her, and pointed to her book she held. Perhaps she would understand his mother could fix it, perhaps not.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:01 pm
"Oh." Guinevere said quietly. It was probably a different Nikolai she remembered, then. Or maybe it WAS him, and he couldn't remember her, or maybe she only imagined meeting him, or...
Or, anything really. Really, he hadn't known her that well even if it was him. He had been younger than she was, too. She had obviously found him more memorable than he had found her if it WAS the Nikolai she remembered. Maybe it was a sign that she needed to get out more. When was the last time she had really talked to anyone besides Kemuri?
She looked at him as he pointed to her book. "It's fine." she said, but realized he was pointing up as well. "Can someone fix it up there?" she asked hopefully.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:11 pm
Nodding excitedly, the lad moved to reach behind him to the twin zippers on the back of his coat. Opening them he was able to spread his wings and gave them a testing flap and waited to see if Guinevere would fly with him. The fire escape just outside the window would make for an ideal landing platform for the two Heralds. Still limiting himself to short flights, Nikolai was still frightened of going too high in the sky; he still had odd nightmares, especially just before a big storm, of falling from the sky.
Inside, Nikolai's mother was busy getting the final decorations up on the new appartment. They'd only managed to move in a week ago, and with Nikolai out shopping she was able to wrap his Christmas present. She had no idea the boy was going to be stopping in with a friend.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:19 pm
Guinevere had been practicing flying. When she got good enough, she wanted to hold a broom under her while she did it to give the appearance of riding one. But she couldn't fly far at all yet, much less with a book in her arms. She looked nervous, but wasn't to be outdone, so she nodded, and flapped her beribboned wings.
Getting herself into the air was excrucuiatingly nervewracking, but even worse was staying there. "Whoa!" she said, wobbling. Flapping her wings harder, she eventually managed to land on the fire escape, catching her breath and looking down to the ground below. She swallowed her terror and clutched the book tighter, waiting for Nikolai.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:27 pm
With a childish giggle, the boy flapped into the air and led the way. He didn't seem to have much trouble with flying; he'd practiced quite a bit while he and his mother were away, when she'd gone in search of some answers to what the Heralds were. None of her books had yeilded anything new, but it had given Nikolai plenty of time to learn things about himself.
His shoes made the fire escape clink softly with each footfall, and the lad pressed his nose to the glass as he peered inside, his hands cupped on either side of his eyes. Tapping a finger on the glass, Nikolai grinned as his mother turned around with a startled yelp.
The moment the window opened Jade frowned at Nikolai. "Cheeky boy! Do you want to be on Santa's naughty list?" She asked frowning before she looked at what her boy was pointing at. Surprised to see another Herald, Jade quickly put on a smile for their new guest. "Oh, hello there dear. I'm sorry, I didn't realize we had company..." Though she wanted to scold Nikolai for using the window, it would have to wait as she moved to clear the window so the pair could step inside.
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Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:50 pm
Guinevere looked at the guardian, and she seemed familiar too. She was sure this was the Nikolai she had once known. She supposed he really had forgotten her, then. But where had he been? She shook her head. Best not to think about it. Instead, she curtseyed to his mother, since it was a witchy thing to do and also polite. "Hello." she said cheerfully. "It's fine, I didn't hear a word." she lied. Assuming that if Nikolai didn't remember her, his guardian wouldn't either, she said "I'm Guinevere. It's nice to meet you!" as she stepped inside.
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