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 Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:24 pm
Sickness and Green
Separated less than a day, Obiel was delirious and simply less than amused while Dice was sitting at the bottom of the bed, staring around the room blankly. "Whizamboo dog..." she faintly heard the dark-haired teen mumble. "...puppy grinder... fire plane..." Not fair. she thought blankly, spotting a thing that looked sort of... false.
A small, glittering globe of golden sparkles with a green dragonfly inside it.
"Look, a dragonfly... zip quit..." Obiel said, then lapsed into nonsensical muttering once more. The auburn-haired woman stood, reaching out with both hands and catching the illusion-like sparkles in her hands, fingers tightly interlaced to keep them all together. As she settled down on the end of the bed once more, she stared at the dragonfly blankly. It seemed real, like a Sweetly, more than an illusion, like it appeared to be.
Was it real? Maybe time would tell. After all, Dice did not claim to be omnipresent or omnipotent. She only knew the evidence of her six senses and whatever hints she could gather. And as far as she knew, the thing might look false because it was a cover for some sort of explosive. But it was small- a dragonfly. And it was comforting, and above all things, Dice wanted comfort.
Maybe it'd be one of those things to keep Dice happy after Obiel was gone.
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 3:11 am
Dear Diary Journal;
Well. There's this weird little green and gold globe floating around Obiel's room- and mine, I suppose, since I live here too at the moment. There's a dragonfly in it. That's the green sparkles. I don't know where the gold comes from at all.
I wonder if this is just a lingering connection while Obiel regains her own soul- if that's even possible. It may be that I'm simply taking the soul and leaving her catatonic, again... or perhaps a new soul is going to be given to her or something. Somewhere, there has to be her first, original soul, not mine.
On the note of souls, Cassie told me about the existence of Nobodies. She said that that was where Obiel's heart and soul went- an irregular procedure for a Nobody, at any rate, because according to her, Nobodies are simply what happens when a person with a strong heart and will doesn't give up once their heart turns into a Heartless. So now Obiel has a Nobody that I have to find. Maybe that will be a good enough cure for this disease.
The dragonfly-sparkling-thing is drifting over here. In case it can read, I'd better end this entry.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 5:14 am
Dear Journal; I see a small child in the sparkling dragonfly globe now- all blonde hair and green eyes. It looks like she might have strangely shaped ears- would that make her deaf when she is born, if she doesn't have properly shaped ears? A mage friend has informed me that she will be "born", or come out of the illusion, which is more than just a little disturbing. A child born from an illusion? I shouldn't be talking, I suppose, since I was born out of a candy. Stranger things have happened than a kid being born out of an illusion. I guess I'll have to hang around and catch Obiel during a less senile time to pick a name for the little girl. There's still no news on Obiel's Nobody.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:11 pm
Kate tiptoed her way into Obiel's room. If the strange redhead- she said her name was also Obiel, but to call her Dice- was asleep, she didn't want to wake her up, especially since she apparently was a very grumpy sort of girl. She didn't really think that Dice would be asleep; a loud child's wail had interuppted Kate's embroidery and made it impossible to concentrate. Walking into the open space at the center of the room, the former governess looked about expertly for the source of the screaming child; upon finding it, she was not impressed. As a matter of fact, she was horrified.
A little blonde girl with green wings growing out of her head was curled up in Obiel's arms as the sickly teenager slept. It was a small baby, possibly no more than eighteen months. Certainly not old enough to walk yet, which meant it wasn't one of Rosiel's client's wandering children. The plain white swaddling cloth denounced that idea, too. Quietly, the elfin woman walked to the side of the bed with the child on it, then she leant down and picked up the little blonde girl peacably. Obiel stirred, looking up with rheumy eyes. "'ate, her name is Auralish," she slurred through drugs, pain and sleep. "Aure... liush..." The nearsighted girl struggled with Kate to make herself understood.
"Aurelius?" Kate questioned, sitting down and holding the little blonde- Aurelius- just as she had once held Obiel, when she was sixteen. "Is her name Aurelius." Obiel nodded and whimpered, and Kate settled the white-wrapped child to open one of numerous bottles on the nightstand. She tilted it as best she could without sending Aurelius tumbling, and eventually handed a pill to Obiel. "Do you want to keep her here with you?" she asked, watching Obiel closely. The young teen nodded, eyes already closing again.
The governess-turned-step-mother sighed affectionately at her... grandchild? Yes. That made sense. Leaning over, she moved Obiel so that the little baby would be able to fit comfortably in the nook of the sleeping girl's arm and placed Aurelius in the little hollow created. "Good night, Aurelius, Obiel." she murmured, then started to sing.
"Through the glass window shines the sun.
Through the glass window shines the sun.
And I, so young-
Through the glass window shines the sun
Through the glass window shines the sun
How should I, how should I, how should I love?
How should I, how should I, how should I love?
How should I, how should I, how should I love?
How should I, how should I, how should I love?"
Kate thought, just maybe, the repeating notes and calm lullaby sound would lull the bright-eyed Aurelius to sleep. It was working; the eyelids were drifting shut over her stunning green eyes.
"The white is silver and the red is the gold
The robes, they lay in fold
They lay in fold
Through the glass window shines the sun
Through the glass window shines the sun
How should I, how should I, how should I love?
How should I, how should I, how should I love?
How should I... how should I, how should I.... love?
How should I... how should I... how should I.... love?..."
They were asleep.
Kate stood up and tiptoed out of the room, and hurried back to teaching Raziel the intricacies of long division.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 11:19 pm
Dear Journal; When I came home from Stray's- much cleaner, and somewhat less exhausted- Aurelius (we named her early this morning) had grown. She was sleeping next to Obiel, curled up tightly in white swaddling clothing. It reminded me of a religious painting, in a way, although it seems to me that perhaps if Obiel hadn't looked so drugged out even in her dreams... It doesn't matter. I still think it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, including that library- and everything in it- going up in smoke. I thought of Big Brother today. I should have protected him like he did me. Obiel's Nobody's name is Xeniza, and she was last seen near the Reclamation Facility.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:11 am
Just make it stop.
All she could hear was loud static. It grated in her ears, shredding her feelings and leaving her completely neutral as it cleared and solidified, then quieted into the soft beeping and whirring of a computer bank. Bright lights filled her eyes, highlights of white and lowlights of cobalt blue, with midtones ranging from neon shades of blue to the softer skylike shades. When the tear blurs faded away, the little baby girl was confronted with a distorted image of a tall, blonde woman. "It's not working," the woman said, her voice loud and frustrated. It billowed and shrank as a sail in a tempermental wind, sometimes too quiet to hear and sometimes so loud Aurelius wanted to scream. "It's so close! I've ne--- se! Never!" Her words were almost tearful as she paced between the computer bank and a microscope. "I've always manag---irst try... why won't it work?!" Her was bent over the microscope now, and the mental movie froze and rewound a bit, reversing and then replaying her walk to the computer bank and the microscope.
Whatever the microscope saw, Aurelius saw it projected in full color on the wall above another bank of computer screens. Convoluted patterns of microbes and molecules intermixed with sharp, spikey shapes reminiscent of ice crystals- something she had never seen, but knew of. They seemed familiar, in a strange way, as if she'd seen them before but she couldn't exactly be sure where. And she was only a child; how could she have seen something in a microscope? She sometimes saw ice crystals in the air while she was just laying next to her darkmother, when the brightmother wasn't in the room although that wasn't often. She couldn't dwell on it anymore for the moment, because now the blonde woman was in motion again, and a strange echoing sound that represented her thoughts rang in the little dragonfly-child's head.
I have to do it. It's so close to completion!
Everything fell to static again, grating at her sensitive dragonfly ears. Even the room faded for a while, but when it came back, Aurelius couldn't help but stare. It was a bloody mess, with broken glass and drugs spilled across the floor haphazardly. Flowers were placed throughout the room, as if someone didn't particularly care about where they were placed, or even that she had them. The blood on the petals was so beautiful, in a melancholy way...
At the main computer bank (how did she know that was the main one, anyway?) there was the blonde woman, face-down on one of the speed-keyboards. An open word document was blinking some sort of message, but she couldn't read it through the splatters of blood and brain matter from the woman's caved-in head. On her left hand, which rested on another small keyboard, was a small green dragonfly. A moment later, it took to the air and buzzed over Aurelius' head to land precariously on a broken glass container. She was beaten to death. The realization popped into her head unwelcomed and unasked for, something that the young child could definately do without.
She straightened, intending to try to wake up from this, and tentatively settled her hands on the floor, only to end up falling backwards with a wail, glass wedged between the bones of her fingers---
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 3:50 am
Dear Journal;
I woke up to the sound of Aurelius whimpering and the sensation of being shaken. It was a surprise to see Obiel up and about, forget carrying the little girl- correctly, if I might add- over to me, but what surprised me most was the cut that went straight through her palm and out the other side, almost as if she'd been crawling and and accidently put her hand on a piece of glass, maybe from a broken bottle. I don't think it's possible that that was done here, so how could she have gotten it?
Well, I tended to it and sent Obiel back to bed. Aurelius, for once, seems inclined to stay awake and is watching me write this as I speak. She really is an adorable girl; I can see why Obiel's mother is fond of her as all get out. She's staring at me as if she can read my thoughts or something crazy like that. I feel kind of guilty, though, for not being able to do more for her cut, but I burn things, not heal them.
Still nothing more than a name and a last location on the Nobody.
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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:15 pm
Rosiel was quite calm as he held Aurelius and stood in the family graveyard, surrounded with family and Obiel's friends. His daughter's soul had died, then her friend- Dice Obiel- had become a vampire and killed her body. Thus, this funeral. His black suit was impeccable, and Kate's black dress and veil were exactly suiting the stepmother of the deceased. Raziel seemed itchy- he hadn't known Obiel very well, in hindsight because of Rosiel himself. His son was doubtless bored. However, he wasn't most interested in Raziel or Kate- it was in the brown-haired young female standing uncomfortably on the other side of the plot. As the funeral ended and the crowd dispersed, she drifted over to the blonde man and his elfin wife and son. "Uhm, Mister Venport," she started awkwardly, gray eyes flickering between Raziel- who smiled- Kate- who offered a tearful look- and Rosiel, who was implacable.
"I would be pleased if you would call me Rosiel." The young scientist was a Venport Industries employee, but she was much higher up than most of the other research and development flunkies. She had experience from her former home- someplace called the Planet, he believed- working on a restoration project with ShinRa. He'd done some research, and brought her in. Riku Evans was a worthwhile investment; already she'd brought in more revenue with her innovations and inventions to keep her on the R&D staff for the rest of her life. Waterproofing a cell phone had been the least of her accomplishments.
The nervous young woman- wasn't she normally more open than this?- bowed slightly. "Yes, Rosiel. I'll try and remember!" She offered up a smile. "Uhm... but I don't understand. Why not raise Aurelius yourself, instead of passing her off to me?" Kate looked away from the scientist, and Rosiel got the feeling that he was being glared at behind the black veil.
"Aurelius chose you, actually." It was a serious comment. "She pulled your picture off the employee files stack and kept showing it to me. I presumed that it meant she wanted you to be her mother now." The businessman shrugged. "She is your responsibility now, but I request that she be allowed to know who was her mother before you, and that Kate and I be permitted to meet her and celebrate her birthday with her." Riku gave him a look as if she wouldn't dream of doing things any other way.
He nodded, and bowed to the younger scientist. "Then we shall take our leave."
Riku nodded dumbly. "Yeah... uhm... bye...?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 7:48 pm
What's a Jedi? Riku was actually somewhat neat today. Her murky brown hair was tied back, with none of it falling in her gray eyes. Her clothing was impeccable, except for some dust that was inevitably going to stick to the formal black pants she was wearing and make it appear as though she hadn't cleaned her nice black boots in weeks. As a matter of fact, she had done it last night. She was going to get Aurelius today, and now that that was over with, she felt justified in walking peacefully home. However, she'd gotten lost along the way. It was just a good thing it was cloudy and cool; it would rain soon. Little Aurelius wouldn't get sunburned. Speaking of the child, she had fallen eeriely silent when they got within veiwing distance of a strange building. Her bright green eyes- Mako eyes, Riku had thought, unable to shed for a moment the superstitions of the Plant- had been riveted on it for a moment. Now they had shifted to a red-headed figure that appeared to be heading their way. "Uhm- Hi!" The scientist waved with the arm that wasn't full of dragonfly baby. "Hello~?" Trying to catch the attention of the black-clad figure was difficult, and Aurelius added in a couple of childish cooing noises. Hopefully, Riku thought, they would attract the attention of the mysterious figure!... and then they could ask what was up with that building. The cat ear and tail'd woman had been wondering the Enclave grounds. She'd had a busy day, alright, laying in the large tree that was in the center of the Enclave, laying atop the gates to the Enclave, laying atop the gates to the Temple, laying atop the dome of the Enclave itself, and laying in one of the Meditation rooms and distinctly, well, not meditating. By this point, she'd forced herself to walk about the grounds, ears flicking to every sound imaginable. They picked up someone calling out to her, and she tilted her head to one side. Undoubtidly someone who'd lost their way... like whoa, in fact. She was out pretty far from Durem. "Yes? Can I help you?" "Uhm, hi." She tried a smile, starting to worry that maybe this stranger was some kind of psychotic murderer!!... "We're kind of lost, actually, and- uhm... my..." Daughter? Foster child? Caretakee? What do you call someone who is being caretaken of, anyway? "...daughter is kind of wary of that building over there. What is it?" Riku paused, shifting Aurelius to another arm so the blonde, Mako-eyed child could see the newcomer. The dragonfly child raised her eyebrows- an uncommonly intelligent act for such a young girl. After a moment, she yawned and leaned into the scientist woman's shoulder, observing the stranger through half-closed eyes. The child was interested in the building, but it kind of made her shivery. Not even her warm white blankies could make these shiveries go away. "Oh, that?" asked the woman. Her accent was implaceable; she definately wasn't from around here, or even on this planet. Sandy brown hair swivvled as she turned around and pointed at the building behind her. "That, ma'am, is the Gaia Jedi Academy Enclave." She turned back to the woman and her child. "Though, I can't understand why anyone'd be wary of it." She blinked her doe brown eyes and pointed in the opposite direction. "Durem's far back that-a-way. You sure are lost, if you've wandered out this far." Riku sighed. "We just came from the Venport estate." It was a plausible explanation; it wasn't so far away that they couldn't've wandered near without realizing they were lost until recently, but not so close they'd be able to navigate. "Uhm, I'm Riku Evans." Her own accent wasn't so identifiable; the Planet wasn't yet discovered by the Republic, so a Midgaran city accent would seem strange. "And this is Aurelius. Her mother- her real mother- died recently, and her grandfather wanted me to raise her." She said it without compunction. "I don't know why; I wasn't close to Dice or Obiel." She paused, looking back in the direction from which she'd come. "On first thoughts, what's your name? And what's a Jedi?" Natural scientific curiousity. She nodded as if she knew what the Venport estate was. Which she didn't. "I am Guardian Aiko Korrino," she introduced herself as she bowed down low, tail swishing from one side to the other. She stood up tall and put one hand to her mouth, pondering the second question she'd been asked. "A Jedi is... well, Jedi are people who can freely channel and use the Force, which is in all living things. Uh... and we can make stuff happen." She was horrible at describing what exactly a Jedi was. Scratching behind one large cat ear, she closed one eye. "Uh, well, we can do things like this." She indicated a near by large boulder. The thing had to way at least a ton, if not more. "See that big rock over there?" She nodded. "I see that big rock over there." Was Aiko going to lift it or something? It would take collosal strength to do that, and the other didn't look strong enough to even plant the dynamite to blow it up. Well, not to Riku anyway. "Is the Force like the Lifestream?" She was asking because it sounded like it- in all living things. All living things were the Lifestream, weren't they? No, for a being, Aiko didn't look all that strong. Agile, perhaps, but not strong. The woman in question blinked in confusion. "I've never heard of this Stream of Life you speak of... But I guess you can call it that, yeah." Turning to the rock again, she set about to 'do her thing.' She never liked showing off the influence she had over the Force, but it was a necessary evil, she figured, in order to show someone what she, and other Jedi, were capable of. That, and she couldn't think of a better way to explain it. Holding her hand out to the rock, she closed her eyes. And the thing started moving. It shuttered to begin with, then began lifting itself out of the nitch it'd dug itself in the ground over the years. Bits of dirt and grass fell off of it as it suspended in mid air. A trickle of sweat ran down the cat woman's face. She stared. And stared, and stared. Aurelius didn't look too surprised, but her new caretaker looked as if someone had slapped her in the face with a cold, wet haddock. Aiko was breaking so many rules of geology and physics Riku got a headache just thinking about it, and if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes she'd've never believed it. "I thought only Cetra could do that." The Ancients had similar powers, back when the blood wasn't diluted, right?... Riku was pretty sure that they had. But... wow. She'd never actually seen someone so brazenly, as if it didn't take anything other than concentration and some sweat, break that many rules of physics. Gently, the boulder was sat back down, and the woman looked back at the other. She wasn't panting, surprisingly enough. "Centra? Is that your word for Jedi?" Again, she was confused, not knowing what Riku was talking about. Quite a culture clash, for the lack of a better term. "Cetra! the Ancients, the First on the Planet!" One could practically hear all the capitalization going on in the tones of the excited scientist. (Aurelius looked like she'd like to take a nap. Really, she would.) "They were reputed to be able to percieve blows before they could hit and lift things simply manipulating the Lifestream... it was supposed to be amazing." Riku sighed. "I don't know what the Jedi are, but they seem very much like the Cetra of the Planet." "Oh, is that how this planet functions?" She pointed downward to conferm that they were, indeed, talking about the planet they were currently standing on. Other than that, she didn't seem phased by this information. "How very interesting." She nodded and folded her arms, eyes closed in thought. "I think that we're talking about two different beings, the Jedi and the Cetra. Yes. I do believe the Jedi were here after others." She opened her eyes again and shrugged. She shook her head, an extremely childish motion in the way she used it. "No, THE Planet, not Gaia. The Cetra... died out a few years after I was born. Jenova, and Sephiroth, killed them." She pointed off to the sky, staring at an approximate point. Aurelius's eyes followed the shift in the light, and then she cooed. "Bbbbbbeee~" the blonde child sighed, bringing her head to rest on Riku's arm. She's weird. "Maaaaauuu~!" I'm not~ play with me already! Distracted by the child, Aiko smiled and waved, then followed Riku's finger to the sky. If she was making a point, Aiko lost it. "Oh... okay, then." She rubbed the back of her head. "Though, I'd like to know what THE Planet you're speaking of. Mayhaps I've been there. I've been all over, one side of this galaxy to the next. Lots of fun, yeah." Riku shrugged helplessly. "THE Planet. We never knew there were other ones that mattered... so it's just the Planet." The baby shrilled something unintelligible, then leant forward. The scientist-woman had to shift position to stop the child from plunging out of her arms. "Aurelius! Stay put!" "Beeeee!" Demanding. The dragonfly child wanted to play with Aiko, and she wanted to play NOW, damnit! As if unable to help herself from being childish, Aiko leaned forward and toward Aurelius, waggling a finger at the child and allowing her to take a hold of it, if she so desired. She was smiling so broadly, it looked as if her eyes had turned into half circles. "Alright then," she answered Riku, not taking her gaze off of the child in her arms. Aurelius made a very happy sound, sort of a cross between a giggle and a squeal as she clamped a hand down on Aiko's finger. Her hands were small enough that the tip of her thumb and index finger barely managed to touch. Taking advantage of the closeness of Aiko's hair- so pretty and bright!- she snatched a handful of that and stuck it in her mouth. Her mother surrogate hid a smile in the baby's hair. Ewwwww... baby slobber in her sandy brown/red hair. The woman sweatdropped, but allowed the baby to chew onher. Her tail lifted to tap the top of the baby's head. "Almost makes me want to have my own. But that's a no-no. I'd be happy with an Apprentice." More talking to herself than to Riku or the baby, she was. She did that quite often. Aurelius was happy now. Pretties to chew on and nice colors, it was almost enough to overshadow the creepiness of the building over there. It was wrong, not like Illusionary magic, but she supposed she could deal with it if it meant she could play with the pretties... "An Apprentice?" Riku asked, unconsciously capitalizing the words. "And why couldn't you have a baby? I mean, you don't exactly look infertile. I mean, not to be offensive, but..." "It's forbidden for Jedi to love," she answered, still playing with the child. "It's a path to the Dark Side. See, love leaves to posession, to jealousy, to anger. "To death." The brunette scientist quirked an eyebrow. "But love is also one of the greatest leads to Light." It was a simple rationale. "From what you've said, Jedi are like protectors... and shouldn't protectors, to better understand those that they protect, be allowed to exist within the same guidelines as those being protected? So they can protect them better, you know?" She paused, watching Aurelius pull on Aiko's hair gently. "I can't imagine not loving Aurelius," Riku added, voice infinitely soft. It was a hard thing to explain, the reasoning behind not loving. A slow, sad smile crossed her lips. Her own master had a first hand experience with how horrible love could be, and what it could do. After all, it'd destroyed an entire planet's population of Jedi. "Compassion is encouraged, yes. But love, the posessive form of love, is not. It clouds the senses, causes one to make irrational decisions." Riku sighed. "I don't think you understood me. A Jedi who loves someone will be more compassionate and merciful than one who is just... kind of there... or, at least, if they're still normal people they will..." She paused awkwardly and sighed. "I don't think I'd do well with an Apprentice," she sighed, looking down at her Mako-eyed girl with another, more wistful sigh. She stood up straight and looked the woman in the eye. "Perhaps, perhaps not. Then again, some think that love really is something that a Jedi should explore, including some masters." She sighed and folded her arms. "I, however, do not. But... I do suppose I understand what you're saying. I cared for my own Master very dearly, almost like a mother, and was sad when she... went away." She wanted to say dead, but then again, she wasn't even completely sure that's what really happened to her. "But, I don't let it cloud my judgement, like love does." Riku nodded slightly, gathering Aure into her arms. "As it were- which way is it back to Durem?- I really think I should go put Aure down for her nap..." She didn't want to continue arguing with this woman- at least, not in front of her new baby. She hesitated over that more than she would if it were Kieve, the impressionable doll she was taking care of. "I'm... sorry." She sensed the woman's uneasiness and unwillingness to continue the debate. "But Durem is back this way." She lead the woman to a path that would take her straight back to the largest city in Gaia. "I hope I haven't scared you away from us..." Riku shook her head, starting down the path but pausing. "Oh, no. Aurelius likes you, so perhaps we'll come back to visit." She paused, a slightly horrified look growing on her face. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I would not want either of my children to become a Jedi. It seems... harsh." "I would doubt any of your children were intune with the Force," she answered. "We didn't choose to be Jedi. We were born with the skill, and taken away from our families to be properly trained." Perhaps it wasn't the best thing to inform her of, but Aiko wasn't one to hold back the truth of things. Riku nodded slowly, turned around and walked away.
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Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 7:50 pm
Playdate with Tangia "Show me..." Tangia whispered, dragging her hand across the surface of the water. She remembered being here before, and that the water had shown her the truth. But now, it wasn't doing anything. The toddler was profoundly intelligent, and though she wasn't near old enough to be entirely on her own, she had been running away from the house to be alone. Or at least, in the peace and quiet. "Why won't you show me..." She said quietly, though despite her frustration she didn't sound angry. Why wouldn't the water show her what she wanted to see? All she wanted to was to know what had happened to Ayame. Lately she hadn't been feeling much from her sister, and it was starting to worry her. She needed companionship, someone to talk to. Riku was taking her little blonde dragonfly child out for a walk, hugging the baby close. "We'll go look at a lake today, hunh? Would you like that, Aurelius?" The baby was so quiet, Riku spent time checking to see if she was asleep as she walked, occasionally taking a moment to check her watch for the time. No, it wasn't anywhere near Aure's naptime, so why was she being so quiet? They were on the way down the small hill when the guardian finally noticed a little girl with rabbit ears and gray hair near the side of the water. Aurelius, with her mako eyes- such a green, Riku still freaked out a little when she looked at them- was staring at her with the intensity of a hungry tiger. Shifting the girl off her shoulder and staring at her, the guardian of the dragonfly girl shifted course towards the bunny girl. "Uhm... hello?" At first, Tangia didn't respond to the sound, though her hand froze in the water where it lay. After a few moments, she turned to look at them, blank pink eyes following the line between Aure's eyes and Riku's. For a while, she just stared, not showing any real expression. Then, she turned back to the water, twitching her ears a bit, "Hello illusionist." Well, it made perfect sense to her. She didn't know the woman's name, and from the eyes on the girl, and the fact that they were around here, she must be one of newer illusionaries. Moving to sit crosslegged, the girl busied herself straightening out her skirts. Riku was starting to feel a little weirded out, but Aure smiled and giggled, so she sat down. "Uhm, I'm Riku, and this is Aurelius... and... uhm... what's an illusionist?" She paused, setting the little blonde girl down and biting her lip when the child immediately set off towards Tangia and cooed. "And... who're you?" the eldest woman asked uncomfortably, watching Aurelius with a hawk's eye. The girl seemed a bit detached, watching Aure as she came closer instead of answering the questions immediately. Letting out a soft sigh, she looked back up at Riku, seeming strangely ghostly, "Illusionist... She depends on you." She reached her marked hand toward the girl, showing an emotionless smile. Though she didn't really think her own name was important, she decided it was best to oblige the woman, "Tangia." Her voice quivered a bit, and she showed a slight bit of discomfort with the word, but there was no apparant reason why. Riku wondered at that for a moment, but offered a sort-of maternal smile at the silver-haired girl. "Okay..." The blonde Illusionary gripped the hand with an infant's strength, trying to pull it down a little. She gurgled for a moment, petting Tangia's hand. Pulling Aure up toward her, the infant seemed to want to be held after all, Tangia looked back at Riku, watching her for a moment. "You seem... Uncomfortable," she mused, the wish stone around her neck reflecting the light off the water a bit eerily. The smile fading from her face, she turned back to look at the lake, "I am not what you expected, right? When you saw me here?" Yes! This one understood her, not like that crazy Jedi who needed a million hints before she understood anything. Aurelius cooed again, petting the bunny girl's hand and then her skirt. So soft~... The baby smiled as Riku shifted slightly. "Well, I did expect you to be more... childish. I don't know." The scientist looked out towards the lake as well, trying to ignore the creepy reflection from a stone Tangia wore. Tangia nodded, closing her eyes, "Mmm... They always do." It was true, everyone always expected her to break up words and delight in getting messy and playing with colorful toys. But really, she just wanted peace and quiet. Nice calm places where she could think. She might have looked young, but her mind... It didn't seem to agree with her body. Riku dithered, trying to avoid an uncomfortable situation like the one she felt was brewing as her blonde dragonfly baby continued to pet Tangia's soft skirt. It kind of sucked that she couldn't talk yet. All her efforts came out as childish cooing. "Taaa~" she tried, then pouted when her attempt to say the other Illusionary's name failed. Miserably. "-geee~" she continued, then stopped to pout for a moment. "Tagi is a fine name," she assured Aure, petting the girl's blonde hair, knowing all to well how hard it was to pronounce words as an infant. She had spent a lot of her spare time just practicing words over and over to herself. Looking up at Riku, she showed a faint smile, "How long have you been her gaurdian?" Well, okay, as long as it was allowed. "Tagi," the baby said, sounding impossibly satisfied as Riku looked around a bit nervously. "About a week?" she guessed. "Her former guardians... one died and the other... isn't a fit parent anymore. So her grandfather gave her to me to care for." "That's sad," she mused, giving Aure a little hug to comfort her for something she knew the baby likely didn't understand, "I don't know what I would do if I lost my mother, she'd always been there for me. Like her children, and my sister, but..." She trailed off, giving a little sigh, "I do worry about all of them. I suppose it's things like that that make me." Aure smiled, gurgling as she did so. "I don't think Aurie remembers any of it," Riku said, smiling a little. "You must really love your mother and your siblings, huh..." She glanced at her 'daughter'. Hopefully, Kieve would get along with Aurie as well as she got along with Kata. "I do, all of them," she said, bristling a bit, "I wonder... Do you think she remembers who, or what, she was? I don't remember if I did then, I do now, but... It would be hard." She had a soft spot for the others, they had been brought here by themselves, at least she had had Ayame. Even if they had a stranger past than most. Riku shrugged slowly. "I don't know. It's probably something you should ask of Aurelius when she's older." The baby settled, reaching up to grab a lock of Tangia's hair. Tangia perked her ears up a bit, twitching them to see if the toddler would respond, "I'll have to remember to ask her then." She was subtle about the way she did things, but it was becoming a little obvious that she was examining the girl. After all, since she didn't know much about herself, and she hadn't met many other Illusionaries that she remembered, she was curious. "Have you met any others?" She asked, her voice sounding a bit hopeful, though still strangely hollow. She shook her head. "Obiel had a half-written in journal and so did Dice. Only Obiel had met something that sounded like an Illusionary, a swan-boy named Ean." She smiled as Aurelius made a good effort to reach up for Tangia's ears, her face contorting in a tiny moue when she realized she simply wasn't tall enough. Riku paused in her contemplation to look at Tangia for a moment. "Where's your guardian? Surely you aren't here alone." "Ean... I don't think I've met him..." Tangia mused, tipping her head down so Aure could reach her ears. "I am actually, my mother brings me here sometimes. She knows that I prefer her not to be here when I'm thinking," she explained, "Not that I mind company. But she doesn't mind leaving me here, the temples and the Shen will protect me." Riku shrugged, her jacket crunching slightly. "I don't think I'll let Aure out of my sight until she's a lot older," she said, patting Aurelius's hair gently. The dragonfly baby reached up to tug gently on Tangia's ears, Mako-green eyes going wide in her face. "Who are the Shen?" Temples Riku could understand. Shen she had never heard of. "Oh, whoops. I meant Shenella," she explained, giving a faint laugh, "But... She's sort of a figure to me, since my mother says she helped save me when I fell down the mountain. I don't remember her though, so I only have stories to go on." On the other matter... She knew she was young, that she appeared so at least. But she didn't feel it, she never had that she remembered. Except before, but that was different. "Oh, okay." She nodded in understanding, and Aurelius yawned loudly. "Aw, geez. It looks like it's Aure's bedtime or something..." The baby grumbled for a second, almost as if she understood what her guardian was saying, but settled against the scientist's shoulder. "I'd like to meet your guardian sometime," Riku said to Tangia, "Maybe she can give me some hints on this kid-raising thing." "She probably could," she agreed, turning to look back at the water again, "She's already raised a few." Maybe a few was an understatment, but her mind had drifted off. When she had first turned to look back at the water, she had seen what she had been looking for all this time. Maybe she had just needed to relax? "We're going to go home," Riku said cheerily as Aurelius drowsed. "Goodbye, Tangia. I hope to see you again sometime!" The baby on her shoulder smiled and waved at Tangia before they disappeared from sight. [to be continued?...]
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Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 12:35 pm
Dear Diary
Everything seems calm right now, as I sit here. Scientifically, my mind acknowledges that this is how it should be. Instinctually, it feels like the calm before a storm. And as a mother (because I guess that's what I am to Aurelius) it makes me feel worried.
According to the things left behind by Obiel and Dice, Aurelius should be quiet... but yesterday, I was carrying her past that room and she started to scream. And as soon as we were a little further away, she fell instantly silent.
On that note, every part of the project is progressing well. If all goes as it should, I should have success soon.
Riku
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Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:32 pm
Dear Diary
We have a minor setback on the project. Namely, Aurelius woke up from her nap and started wailing again. Kata didn't know what to do and brought her here, which made it worse, of course. In my haste to get them away from the door, I knocked over an extremely vital rack of test tubes... right into the vat. It started to bubble, so I sealed it and locked it with that spell. Whatever comes out...
I don't know if this development is bad or good.
Aurelius has taken to calling me "Riimom". I don't know what she means by it, but she's adorable when she says it. Truthfully, I'm rather happy that she made me make that mistake- I only have to make time for two-minute checks to see if it's done bubbling.
Riku
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Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:17 pm
Dear Diary,
In my excitement over the project (which is exceeding well, by the way), I forgot to mention that Aurelius may have made a first friend. (I am told that Firsts are very important, and should be recorded. I am procuring a "baby book" for this purpose.) Her name is Tangia, and she is an Illusionary. Which is the same race as Aure, apparently. Strange, really, but it is good to know that there are others such as my pretty little dragonfly baby. However, I will not allow my daughter to wander around on her own when she is a toddler.
Riku
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Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:20 pm
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