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 Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:28 pm
Eiry flashed a devilishly sly smile towards Rivener.
Floating into the room, Eiry looked around the decorated walls of the dining hall. The table gained many appreciative glance from the two-legged guests and even a glance or two from his brother. Eiry, on the other hand, thought that it would look a whole lot better with cob webs and dust. It would add a lot more character, that he was sure of. Drifting through the table and to his seat, well, what he guesstimated was his seat according to where Aphi and his brother were claiming their seats. He glanced over to the side and, sure enough, Isi was making his way around the table to claim his own spot.
In the meanwhile, he spoke to Vyn, keeping his gaze set upon her as he swung himself into his seat. "Opposite of me and friend closest to my heart, Gage. Little have I seen of him as of late. Many times before, in the park I would see him. Feeding, we were always, speaking in voices hushed. Dwindled, though, have those encounters become. Sadhearted I am, about that. Last remembrance of him I retain, at the house, the home, our home. Whence he came with Julian at his side to help Isi, the string of life dire and frightening. Gage helped me carry, helped me move, sat with me though the night and listened openear to my worries. We shared talk and food, back and forth, he would kill, I would eat: I would revive, he would eat...I soremiss him. Silent was he, dutiful, valiant. Never yet have I felt properly satisfied in thanking him for that day. For helping save Isi." Eiry finished his tale with a smile, sitting down with his arms crossed underneath his chin on the table. He glanced around at the table assembly and sighed. He had just realized that he would not be eating that night.
"...Regret weighs heavily now that I recall eating little death before the drive. Curses on my weak stomach and automobiles."
Isi made a helpless gesture at Ethan as me hobbled his way around the table, "I guess, then, that it can't be helped. He usually doesn't eat before going in car rides...He...doesn't get along too well with cars, but on top of that he gets carsick. So he doesn't eat too much before rides. He'll have to starve until we get home then."
Awkwardly nudging the chair away from the table with his knee, Isi slipped out off his crutches and, using the table as support, sat himself down. It felt good to get off his feet. Any duration on his legs and hobbling around, despite his unusually strong arms for his age, tired him. He scooted into the table, and glanced at his brother who was nervously fretting about. He was glad that Rivener was there with him on the other side of the table, giving him a calming hand.
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:55 am
All of the rose’s attention was fixed upon the ethereal raevan’s words and she drifted in a half-daze to her own place at the table, lapping up the information that the boy provided on her friend. Unfortunately it seemed as though Eiry also hadn’t seen the green skinned recently either, though it was interesting to know that another plant raevan was so close friends with Gage despite his burning touch. In fact it was heart-warming almost to know that the green skinned youth defied his destructive nature to persist in being friends, it made Vyn recall his gentle demeanour and consequently raised a new pang of desire to see him again... If she recalled correctly Ethan had a list of the details of other raevan owners, perhaps she could get him to contact Julian – though she was unsure how Ethan would react to the wily and rather snappish guardian. Shuura had always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with him...
“I miss him too Eiry-kun.” She added the prefix on a whim, finding that it suited him and his boyish playful nature. (The suffixes she knew were used sparingly, as she found it a bit awkward to refer to everyone with them.) “We also spoke a lot... Any worry or matter that I wished to discuss I knew would come out whilst speaking with him. He was a good listener.” Her black eyes were filled with a form of sadness as she realised just how long it had been since she’d spoken to him and unfortunately her mind formed a melancholy reason why there had been such a long quiet period... Maybe the masked frei simply didn’t want to talk to her? This disheartened her somewhat, but the shadow quickly dispelled the gloomy thoughts. She was confident that it must be a cause of fate, after all, Gage probably didn’t even know about her move from Shuura to Ethan. Even if he wanted to contact her he probably couldn’t!
At Aphismet’s compliment, Ethan’s chest quite literally puffed out with pride. He was glad that the penthouse’s decor was impressive and the furniture was being marvelled at; he even smirked slightly at Aphismet’s slip of the tongue regarding the cost... It had cost the fortune that the man suspected, however the impression that it made on his guests was worth every last coin of gold. Hopefully the cuisine that they were about to consume would be equally as impressive.
As if reading his inquiring mind the door that led to the kitchen swung open on well kept hinges to reveal a smartly dressed pair of waiters bearing three plates. The servers places the plates, fitting to the setting and stylishly shaped into triangles rather than the usual circular plates one would expect, in front of the diners and started to make their way back to the kitchen. However, as Ethan was given his plate he smiled warmly at the man. “Could you tell the chef that if possible I would like him to prepare an extra portion for one of my guests? It need not be large; he only wants to sample the food. It would be much appreciated.” The waiter agreed politely to pass on the message before following his companion back into the kitchen.
When that was done Ethan beamed at Isikoro and Aphismet, gesturing to the starter before them. It consisted quite simply of wafer thin slices of pink uncooked Italian ham, wrapped around breadsticks. “Prosciutto and grissini. Enjoy.” He stated, lifting the outside set of silverware and beginning to sample the delicacy quietly pleased with how appealing it looked on the plate. Hopefully his guests would enjoy Italian cuisine as much as he did.
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 11:23 am
Rivener frowned and kept his eyes down on his plate as Eiry explained his relationship with Gage, describing the night Isikoro had almost died. That was a night Rivener never wanted to be reminded of, but speaking of the masked Frei went hand-in-hand with speaking about that night. Riv had no right to simply forget it ever happened, anyway. He just blushed and fidgeted softly in his chair, waiting impatiently for the topic to change.
Eventually Vyn spoke up, and thankfully the whole Isi-Almost-Died leg of the conversation was left behind. Rivener could finally look up, but it was to find the other two wilting slightly, missing the masked frei. "Hey, now, no sad faces; how about after Dinner, we all find a speaker-phone somewhere and call him up? I'm sure he'd like to hear from all of us, and then there won't be a need to be so dejected anymore! Okay? Come on, cheer up!" The Scorpion was perhaps trying a little harder than usual to lift the others' spirits; he felt so bad about the thing with Isi that he felt he still needed to make amends. Suggesting a plan that might put smiles back on the two freis' faces would do for now.
Aphismet cleared his throat and sat back in his chair, compulsively straightening the already-straight silverware near his fingers. He felt so out of place... Hunh, this was the same kind of silverware as the Crystal Carafe's. Strangely, that thought made Aphismet feel a little more at ease. If he could pretend he was only having a meal at work, then-...
That thought was blasted clear out of the water with a ton of dynamite when a side door opened to reveal waiters that brought plates out to the table. Ethan has WAITERS in his own house?! Like, SERVANTS? The brown eyes opened wide and Aphi watched, stunned, as the plates were put down. The white-haired chef hardly even noticed what was on the place before he picked up the proper fork and began eating, still staring down blankly.
The sudden flavor explosion in his mouth brought him back to reality and Aphi was forced to realize what he'd just eaten. Prociutto and grissini, Ethan had said, the words only sinking in now. Hm, not bad at all; moistness of the bread just right, prociutto chosen was properly thin... Was that rosemary oil used as glue to stick one to the other? "Mh, very good," Aphismet praised with a shy smile at their host, finishing the rest of his meal.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:17 pm
All traces of doom and gloom seemed to be chased away from the table as Rivener made his suggestion, although, it wasn’t only the promise of communication with Gage that changed the topic of conversation but the impressive arrival of the food too! Vyn knew that Ethan had splashed out to leave a big impression on the other guardians but she couldn’t help but wonder, what was the point of all the showy performance Ethan had arranged? After all, they never usually ate like this. More often than not eating was a casual affair, even a big shot businessman like Ethan appreciated a t.v dinner in front of his favourite show. However, questioning Ethan would no doubt undo the grandeur he was creating and thus Vyn kept her tongue and instead regarded the human guests as they looked on with awe.
Intensely pleased that the starter was going down well Ethan was not too disgruntled when a sharp buzzing disturbed the peace. He tutted to himself and promptly extracted the mobile, flicking up the razor thin screen to inspect the caller identity. If it was an unimportant client he would simply reject the call and make a note to ring them back the next morning. If it was someone of great importance he was sure his guests wouldn’t mind him slipping out of the room for a brief exchange in words... Curiously, it seemed to be the latter. Flashing in neat font on the screen was ‘EMERGENCIES, LAB’. Ethan had entered the emergency LAB number when he had received the number sheet after Alex had dropped off Vyn, he hadn’t however expected to use it and much less to be phoned by it. For that reason he coughed and murmured his condolences before getting down from the table and answering the call...
Vyn was slightly confused at Ethan’s abrupt leaving. She had been expecting him to remain at the table and put the call on hold for now. After all, he’d put so much effort into the event so far that it seemed peculiar for him to dash off...
However, the man was not gone long and as he walked back in his expression was gaunt. Something spine chillingly numbing had been said over the phone by a frantic male voice...
“Gage is dead.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:46 am
Rivener and Aphismet both looked up when the phone rang, watching Ethan decide that this was a rather important call and excusing himself to go take it in another room. The Scorpion then shrugged and returned to his meal, picking up a fork and trying a piece of the appetizer... He was never one for human food, but this was rather nice. Crisp and tasty, at the very least. He wanted to hurry in "inhale his meal" as Eiry put it, but the courses wouldn't come any faster even if Riv ate his food the fastest.
As it was, he finished his bacon-and-bread thing and sat back patiently enough, considering. Red eyes glanced around, noting how far along the others were on their plates; the worrisome one was, of course, Ethan. He hadn't touched much of his food yet because of that phone call, and Rivener wondered if he could somehow convince Aphi to eat part of the host's meal so that it would disappear faster...
Aphismet finished his own appetizer and smiled up at Isi after taking a sip of water. "Tasty, hm? I wonder what else he has in store..."
Just as the chef concluded his sentence, the distinguished host returned into the room wearing such a palpable pall of gloom that the air was stolen from Aphismet's lungs. He knew something was wrong even before Mr Blake spoke, announcing without warning or sugar-coating that a Raevan had died.
"Wh-what?"
Rivener's eyes widened to perfect circles, and something felt heavy and thick in his stomach, pulling him down. The Sigel floated lower on the chair until his belts brushed against the cushion, limp with shock. He couldn't have heard right. They'd just been talking about him! They were supposed to call him after dinner! This couldn't be right!
"Why, how?!" Aphi spoke again, standing up and blinking at Ethan as though the man could somehow provide all the answers. "What happened?!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 1:30 pm
Isi had finished his meal, feeling more relaxed and happy than before. the food had done something to alter his mood, give it a fluff and a pat so that the boy was feeling quite dandy. Eager for the next part of the meal, Isi hardly paid any mind as Mr. Blake excused himself from the table. These things must be regular a flitting thought had told him, he was, after all, an important man. Wiping his mouth with the napkin, Isi leaned towards his brother to catch what the chef was saying. He had given a smile, opened his mouth and inhaled, when Ethan had reentered the room, bringing with him a darkening of atmosphere.
"Gage is dead."
Eiry stiffened. "Gage...?"
Isi wasn't sure if he heard the man right. Blinking stupidly, Isi leaned back and tried staring at Ethan. Perhaps he hadn't heard correctly. But upon swinging his gaze around the room to collect the disgruntled and surprised faces of the other table members, Isi knew that it was true. A sudden grip tightened around his stomach, pulling it deep down into his legs, emulating a gaping pit and the boy struggled to speak.
"W-what!?!" His own rasp added to the chorus. But before he could speak again, his ward exploded.
"NO!"
Eiry, while the others reeled from surprise and shock, had been the first to quickly register this announcement as a fraud. It had to be a lie. It had to be a trick! A cruel joke, a tease! Ethan knew that they were looking forward to talking with Gage. He had to have overheard their eager planning and see their hopeful faces! He was playing a trick on them, it had to be! The frei felt his chest suddenly contract upon itself, his shoulders tightening up near his neck. His face pulled back into a scowl, and with a belligerent nature unbecoming to the childish raevan, Eiry slammed his fists on the table and launched himself at Ethan.
He grabbed a hold of Ethan's expensive shirt and balled it in his fists, so that when he glared at Ethan, his red eyes trembling between anger and fear, he was only inches away from his face, framed by the ethereal fire of his wings, "THOU LIEST! Jestering monkey, thou liest! Gage cannot be dead! You're cruel! CRUEL! To say such things! You must be lying! You must be playing a trick and I am the best of them! I know tricks and lies, I know jokes and pranks! I KNOW THEM. Gage cannot be dead! You're lying!"
Startled by his raevan's sudden outburst, Isi stumbled up from the table, scrambling to get out of his chair, "Jesus! Eiry! Stop it! Stop!"
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Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2009 10:12 am
Eiry was going berserk; shaking her guardian, demanding that he admit that his cold statement was some cruel joke. But Vyn knew it wasn’t a lie. She knew her guardian well enough to read that serious expression and know that what he had said was true. Ethan’s jokes were oh so very upper-class – the type of humour best shared between businessmen about current affairs, producing civilised chortles. Not the type of humour that made a room full of fondly reminiscing people aghast with shock and revulsion. However, there was little the rose could do. She wanted to get up and tell Eiry – try to break him out of the manic behaviour. But she couldn’t. It was like her body wouldn’t respond whilst she reeled in the shock brought on by the awful news.
Gage was dead. There was no coming back from that. No arguing. No second chances.
The green skinned frei had been the closest thing Vyn had experienced to a best friend. Now she would never see him again. Never hear his soft unconfident voice. She would never even feel the harsh sting of his touch against her own pale skin! Just admitting all this was true and unarguably false in her head made her eyes tear up. The liquid quickly clogged up and blurred the whole world – she couldn’t see the berserk Eiry shaking her father nor the shocked expression on Rivener’s face. She just muttered “Gage...” once and caved into heaving sobs.
Ethan didn’t stand a chance against the startled frei. The raevan was fuelled with anger and despair – desperate for the reply he wished to hear. That he’d been making a cruel and sick joke. But Ethan couldn’t provide that desired response. He couldn’t be that cruel. He couldn’t lie and pretend now – that would be raising up hopes that would only be smashed down later. Therefore he allowed the ethereal boy to take his fury out of him whilst holding his fiery gaze, his cold stolid eyes not betraying anything that would betray any false illusions to the child.
“Eiridisol. Please release me... I’m not lying. You’re not helping the situation.” His voice was clipped; it was an order – not a request. He couldn’t blame the child for this reaction, he was young and evidently he’d never experienced the death of a loved one... Ethan was more fortunate in a way. He had many years under his belt and had attended a handful of funeral in his time. The raevans just needed time to let it sink in and adjust to the horrendous news.
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Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 11:24 pm
Rivener was as shocked as Vyn, sitting there staring at his cutlery with lips parted. The world was utter chaos around him: Aphi was shocked, Eiry screamed and threw himself at Ethan, Isi was trying to remove the minty frei from their host, Vyn was sobbing...
"Eiry, you're upsetting everyone even worse," Rivener spoke softly, pretty sure he wouldn't be overheard. It's not like he could get up and bodily pull the frei off Mr Blake: Eiry's intangibility made any physical restraining nigh on impossible. All they could do is try to talk him down from his hysterics, and Riv couldn't see that happening either. He just frowned at his plate, getting angrier by the minute. He knew no one here earned that anger, he shouldn't lash out at them, but-... but Eiry's screaming was REALLY getting on his nerves... And Vyn's sobbing was grating at his patience too... And the humans were all flailing about like chickens with their heads cut off, with the glaring exception of Ethan Blake who remained level and civil as always, calmly asking the ghost-Raevan to let him go.
"...Home," Riv mumbled. "I want to go home." They had no place here, after all. Not now. Vyn needed to be alone, to digest this, and Rivener knew that while he should be strong and try to be consoling, he was much too upset to be of any help. Already his ruby eyes were rimming with tears: he wanted to get the hell out of here before he began crying. He didn't want anyone to see him cry. He'd do that alone, in his room.
Aphismet had gotten to his feet to try and help Isikoro remove Eiry from Ethan's person before the businessman filed Assault charges on them. "Eiry, come on!" Aphi called, wrapping his hand around a pale green bicep and trying to tug the frei off. "Come on, let go. We'll go home, okay?" Aphi said softly, hearing Rivener's quiet request.
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Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:39 am
Pushing himself away from Ethan, Eiry pressed his hands to his eyes, trying to push back the fiery tears that raged behind his eyelids. He still wasn't convinced, or at least, that's what he kept telling himself. But there was a deep and terrible feeling deep within his chest that told him Gage's death was no lie. That it was true, real and raw truth, that shook his very self. The minty raevan, giving a grieved wail, floated through Aphismet and Isikoro's bodies, passing through with a chillness never before felt by the two. Eiry bee-lined straight for Rivener, clambered into his space, and curled up against his chest as he was trying to make his way for the exit around the table. He shook with quiet sobs, repeating over and over to himself that it was all a lie, a hoax, a cruel cruel trick.
Perhaps if he said it enough times, he could change reality.
Isikoro stumbled back as his ward passed through him with an icy gust. He fell against the table, catching himself, and twisted himself around to glance after his ward. Somewhat relieved that Eiry didn't go zooming out of the building to be lost on the streets of Durem in a tearful fit, Isi momentarily forgot his ward. He turned to Ethan and, using the table as support, offered his apology.
"Ethan, I'm so sorry about this. Eiry just....he can't handle these kinds of things very well, if you know what I mean, uh...Yeah....You're okay right? He didn't...?" but his trailing sentences became confused and befuddled and he kept turning to look at Aphismet who was near him, "He didn't....? Uh...Aphi, I think....yes. We should go. Ethan, sorry agagin...It's just...Well, I'm sure you understand...And Vyn..." Isi glanced to the rose raevan, who hadn't moved an inch since the news. He gave a worried gulp and started moving back around the table to retrieve his crutches. But he made another pause and turned to Ethan, mouthing quietly, "She needs you."
Isi made it to his crutches and stuffed his arms inside, also making his way for the exit.
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