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 Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:42 pm
It had taken an ungodly amount of begging on the little unicorn's part (not to mention quite a bit of bargaining, and keeping his little room clean for a whole afternoon!), but he had eventually convinced Tovar that it was absolutely necessary they visit the park. It wasn't the question. He needed to play on the swings and go down the slide. Etain was convinced without completing at least those activities in the next 24-hours that he would wither away and die a slow, horrible death.
So Tovar had taken him to the park, at which point Etain had immediately abandoned his guardian in favor of climbing up the three short little steps to the baby slide, situating himself at the very top and peering down. He had to keep his head low, thrust slightly awkwardly forward, to keep his horn from catching on the top of the slide. Kicking his feet slightly, Etain managed to ease himself over the edge of the slide, fwooshing down, down, down...
Rather gracelessly, he plummetted into the sand, raising a giant cloud of dust and who-knew-what else around him. Etain sniffled, wrinkled his nose at the dirt climbing up his nostrils and into his shorts, and then pushed himself to his feet again.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:09 pm
It had taken all week for Anoki to bargain a trip to the park. Along with three hours of handwriting practice, two hours of staying still doing nothing very well, and four hours of reading books about dragons and animals. Finally, after all that, they got to go to the park.
Finally, he was REALLY going to try the swings.
The first time there was that big fight, and the second it started to rain. Not that Anoki enjoyed those meetings any less, but he hadn't gotten a good chance to go on the swings. As soon as the park was in sight, he took off for them at full speed, giggling like crazy. That is, until he ran straight into a dustcloud and started to cough like crazy.
Sighing, Raven looked for a bench to rest on. She had been doing well in her research, but had run out of stalling tactics to use on Anoki. So she was forced to leave her workroom behind. The boy had been in such a hurry she didn't even have time to select a book to bring. Her frustration was evident as she ground her heels into the ground, eyeing the dust from afar. She wasn't stepping foot near there while it was that dirty!
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:32 pm
Etain started at the sudden intrusion of another boy into his dust cloud. The little boy stared rather blankly at the other for a few seconds, gawping like a fish. Abruptly, he lifted a hand and pointe directly at one of the boy's horns, screeching excitedly. His other hand shot up to touch his own, and Etain went momentarily cross-eyed as he tried to see the silver horn protruding from his own forehead.
Still gaping, he glanced quickly back to this strange boy. Horns! Two of them! On that person's head! Just like him almost! He hadn't seen anyone like that before. Sure, they weren't as shiny as his was, but there were two of them. That definitely made up for the lack of shininess.
"Uni'orn!" Etain squealed happily, removing his hand from his own horn and waving with both hands at the taller, older boy.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:49 pm
Waiting for the dust to clear was tedious, and Anoki was forced to hold his breath in order to stop coughing. Once it started to settle, however, his eyes widened and he spat out his mouthful of air, going into another brief coughing fit. There was someone there, a very pretty someone, but a someone with a horn! He'd never met anyone else with a horn before. And it was super shiny too!
"You g-got a h-horn!" Once the obvious had been stated, he frowned. Whatever the younger kid was saying didn't register, but another fact did. "Wh-where's the o-other one? D-did it f-f-fall off?"
Was there always someone in this godforsaken playground? It seemed that way, which annoyed Raven to no end. If there were other children there, then it wasn't likely she'd be able to bring Anoki home anytime soon. That child was very young though... and would probably have a guardian nearby. Idle chatter did not rank high on Raven's list of entertainment, but it would be better than twiddling her thumbs. So, where was this missing parent?
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:57 pm
Etain blinked, a horrified expression crossing his features. He reached up with both hands, feeling around the surface of his forehead and circumference of his head. "Fall!?" He repeated in a high-pitched squeak. Maybe it had fallen off! Oh, no! Why hadn't Tovar told him when it happened!? The little blonde boy squeaked, whimpering slightly with increasing distress. He paused a second to check the pockets in his shorts, and even the one in the shirt Tovar had given him, but he didn't think it would have fit there...
"Oh no!"
Tovar was, in fact, only a few yards away: sitting on the low wall outside of the playground, nose deep in a rather heavy looking hardcover book. Luckily Etain hadn't been fast enough to get out of the house, and he'd had enough time to pick some vaguely interesting reading material before leaving the house.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:08 pm
He didn't even knew it fell off? How horrible! Anoki trembled at the thought; if he'd ever lost one of his own horns he would feel terrible. And rather lopsided. His horns were bigger and heavier than this other kid's. Then again, all of him looked bigger and heavier.
"I'll h-help you l-lo-look!" Maybe it fell off in the dust! Falling onto his knees, Anoki started patting the ground, feeling for irregularities with his good arm. It was difficult doing it one-handed, but like most chores he'd gotten used to working in such a fashion.
It was simple spotting him, as he was the only other adult around. Raven noticed the book somewhat begrudgingly; why did he have one? Wasn't he supposed to be watching his child? Putting her own past behavior aside, she strolled over, stopping just in front of the man.
"Would you mind if I joined you, sir?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:13 pm
It seemed like a strong possibility, though Etain could have sworn if he'd had one he must have lost it before coming to the park...--but who knew! He'd found interesting stuff in the sand before. Like a shiny penny and piece of candy that Tovar had said 'Etain, so help me if you put that in you're mouth I'm going to give you to Michael!' So he hadn't.
Dropping to his hands and knees beside the other boy, Etain began shifting through the sand with both hands. Oh no, oh no; where could it have gone? What if they didn't find it? Would Tovar be mad? Chewing nervously on his bottom lip, Etain began pushing the sand at the bottom of the slide over to one side. A horn couldn't be too hard to find, could it?
Meanwhile, Tovar glanced up from his book. He blinked cluelessly at the woman for a few seconds before he actually realized what had been asked. He was always a bit slow coming up out of a book. "What? Oh, uh. Absolutely."
Absently, he glanced past her and toward the playground where it looked like Etain and another boy where raising hell (or a bunch of sand, whichever you preffered). "Is that boy yours?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:25 pm
"W-we'll f-find it," Anoki said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. "It's p-probly real sh-shiny, l-like the o-other one."
Though by that reasoning, they would have found it already. Shiny things were usually easy to find, like the little bits of gold that he got from the nice teacher, and his pencils, which had shiny bits attatching the writing part to the erasing part. And the horn was probably bigger and shinier than all of that, if it was like the other one.
Maybe they were going about it the wrong way. Perhaps it wasn't there at all. "Wh-where were y-you b-before?"
It seemed she'd found another mindless parent. Hopefully he wouldn't be too dull. "Thank you," Raven said couteously, and sat. "Yes, you could say that. I take it the other is in your care, mister..."
She trailed off, waiting for the man to supply a name.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:41 pm
Tovar nodded absently. "Oh, Tovar. Just Tovar's fine. Yes, Etain's mine." He paused, peering thoughtfully at the two children. "...Do you...have any idea what they're doing?"
Shaking his head, he glanced back to the woman. Closing his book and setting it aside, he offered his hand out to her. "A pleasure to meet you, ah..."
Etain worried, picking up and loosing handfuls of sand and he thought back. Where had he been, where had he been? "On th'slide?" he offered uncertainly, glancing in the direction of the aforementioned piece of park equipment. "Check there?" he asked. Etain didn't actually wait for an answer before pushing himself up from the and and toddling over toward the steps. One hand firmly gripping his horn (he didn't want to lose that one too!), he clambered awkwardly up the stairs toward the top of the slide.
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Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:50 pm
"I haven't the slightest," Raven said dismissively. Did it really matter what they were doing? As long as Anoki wasn't being destructive or getting in anyone's way she didn't particularly care. "A pleasure indeed, Tovar. My name is Raven Millner." After a moment's debate she continued. "Spellcasting instructor."
The slide was a good place to check. Since the other kid was looking on top, Anoki stayed on his knees and wobbled towards the piece of playground equipment, ready to look underneath. His free hand trailed in the sand as he walked on his knees, but he didn't feel anything promising.
"An-anything up th-there?" he asked hopefully. The search was going badly. Maybe they would have to ask the grown-ups for help, but Anoki didn't want to do that unless it was absolutely necessary.
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:01 am
After a thorough inspection at the top of the slide, Etain had to shake his head mournfully (slightly awkward, due to the fact that he still had his remaining horn in a deathgrip). "Nothing!" he squeaked, voice tinged with a pathethic, heart broken whine. How could he have lost it? Tovar was going to be so dissapointed in him he just knew it.
Without thinking, Etain sat right down on the slide platform and began sniffling, still holding onto the silver horn sprouting from his forehead. "It's g-gone," he wailed, looking mournfully around him.
Tovar perked up visibly at that last bit. "Spellcasting?" he repeated, as if suspicious that he hadn't heard it right. "Do you really? That's -- goodness, that's an interesting coincidence. I'm an apprentice," he explained. "To a wizard Michael." So, it was a little pathetic that he was in his twenties and still an apprentice, but he blamed Michael entirely for it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:11 am
It couldn't have just vanished! Nothing just went poof, except socks in the washing machine. Not that Anoki wore socks, but Raven complained about it constantly. "It's g-got t-to b-b-be here s-somewhere!" he insisted, hoping to cheer the other boy up. Using his other hand as leverage, he stood up as quickly as possible- and hit the underside of the slide with a resounding CLANG!
Dizzily Anoki fell onto his bottom, head tilting from one side to another. It didn't really hurt thanks to his horns, but he was rather disoriented.
It was impossible not to let some amusement leak into her voice. "An- an apprentice?" Raven smirked. She had finished her apprenticeship when she was seventeen. Of course, she had gotten an early start, but it was still considered quite the feat in her hometown. That someone was still an apprentice when he was at least her age, and willing to admit it... either things were slow on Gaia, or he was rather shameless.
"I see," she said, calming down slightly. It would be bad to alienate him already, especially since for the first time she was looking at the possibility of decent conversation. "I don't believe I've heard of a wizard Michael, but then I'm rather new here. Is he a reasonable teacher? What are you working on?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:23 am
"Honestly, he's not," Tovar answered, a bit grudginly. "I mean, he's fantastic when he actually gets around to teaching me anything, but the man's lazier than --" he hesitated, biting the inside of his cheek. It was probably a bad thing to talk so badly about Michael. After all...-- no, the man deserved at least a little bit of it. He'd been an apprentice since he was 16. Ten long years were way too long for anyone to be stuck with the man.
"Alright, he's really not all that bad. He's a brilliant spell caster; or he used to be, anyway. Before I became his apprentice, he nearly burned himself, so now he's all...hollow." There really wasn't a better word for it. "He snaps like a twig; brittle bones, bad insides. He can still work magic, but it's usually smaller things now. I honestly don't know if he can still do the big stuff..."
Tovar thought on the subject for a moment before shaking his head an shrugging. "I've been learning shapechanging recently. Nothing really huge, but learning anything is a little exciting."
Etain jumped as the CLANG! reverberted up through the platform of the side. Abruptly, he cut off with his sniffling and scrambled to the side of the platform to peer over the edge at the other boy. "Oh no!" he squeaked, moving hastily to the slide and sliding down. Thump, into the sand. Picking himself up, the little unicorn hobbled over toward where Anoki was sitting and reorienting himself. He still had one of his hands wrapped firmly around his horn.
"Alright?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:42 am
Raven listened, finding herself genuinely interested in the story. These were the sorts of things she enjoyed talking about, not who's child was learning the alphabet and whose had come down with measles. It was a bit pathetic though, since there was a clearly eager student and the teacher could not deliver.
"My apprenticeship was to a sorceress in Yaami. She had been pestered for several years by the locals; everyone blamed her for whatever chaos befell the town, or individuals residing in it. Shortly after I was apprenticed to her she moved to a secluded location. As such, she had little to do except teach me. It seems that some form of disaster falls on all the great ones, doesn't it?" She had never counted herself lucky in finding a master before- her teacher was a pitiless, strict, begrudging workaholic. But she had learned a lot. Placed in the situation this man found himself in, she might have gone insane.
Quick to change the subject, Raven leaned back, letting the bench support her. "I never enjoyed shapechanging, though it is certainly better than doing nothing. Though I always felt a bit queasy for some time after a change. Do you enjoy yourself in this path?"
"O-o-o-okaaaay..." His voice was still a bit wavery, but he nodded cheerfully enough. Other than a little dizziness, Anoki felt perfectly fine. Though he hoped he didn't scare the other one. "D-didn' hurt a-any. You o-okay?"
Looking up, he winced. The metal slide had a lovely dent in it from where he'd hit it. Hopefully no one would notice and point it out to Raven, or he'd get a lovely scolding. Probably along with a ban on dessert.
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Posted: Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:55 am
Tovar nodded. "I enjoy it well enough. I suppose it's better than what my other options would have been." If Michael ever taught him significant, anyway. At least this way he was fairly sure he had a sturdy roof over his head and somewhat steady income to rely on. How Michael got money while he was cooped up in the second floor of the house, Tovar couldn't imagine, but the wizard managed somehow. "Besides, if nothing else, I'm definitely mastered every spell remotely associated with cleaning and organization. That man's state of living his horrendous."
Tovar grinned slightly, chuckling despite himself. Not that it seemed to matter, really. He spent all day reorganizing the house, only to find it undoing the work as he went. At leas the baseboards were clean. Poor little Etain was currently living in a room that kept refusing to stay a children's room and filled itself up with unused furniture every other day. Tovar winced slightly at the thought. He really needed to talk to Michael about that again. He was worried one day he'd find the unicorn squished under a wardrobe or something...
Etain eyed him suspiciously, as if suspecting he was lying. Heck the boy had left a dent in the slide! That had to hurt, right? Then again, the horns had been in the way... Had it been him, his probably would have gone right through it.
"'M fine," he said enthusiastically, momentarily forgetting about being upside. "You putta bump in th'slide..."
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