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Journal Entry 17 - The first real talk.

Chloe swallowed down the lump of nervousness as she stood in front of Roux's closed door. She could still smell the faint fumes of bleach and detergent coming from the woodwork. She'd been standing here in this location for a good half hour.

As soon as they had gotten home from meeting with Mr. Aphismet and Rivener, Chloe had sent an unwilling and upset Roux to his room. The Raeven had slammed his door shut and proceeded to pout and throw a tantrum. She'd even heard glass smashing at one point... thankfully it couldn't be a window, he didn't have one.

She very much didn't want to have to do this... in all honesty.. she was a little afraid. Roux was a wildcard, he did what he pleased and woe be the one to stand in his way - in this case it had been Aphismet. This was something that was important though. Roux had been put into her care for a reason, or so she liked to believe.

She knocked softly on the door before reaching for the knob. She gave a slight gasp and let go quickly as she touched it, her hand nearly sticking to the frozen metal. She tapped a bit harder on the door, her voice an unsteady mix of worry and attempted authority. "Roux? Let me in."

"No."

It was his second word and seemingly his favourite. Chloe sighed, biting her lip and closing her eyes. She took a moment longer to gather up courage, then wrapped her shirt about her hand and twisted the knob as hard as she could. She managed to shove it open only to have her breath knocked out of her as a wall of cold hit her.

Roux had frozen his room. The walls were covered in frost and ice and snow lay on every flat, smooth surface. Roux was standing in front of a broken full length mirror - that had been the smashing sound - with his hands made into fists at his side. He turned furiously and glared at Chloe as she entered the room without his permission.

"R-R-Roux.." Chloe shivered, teeth chattering as she took a side-step into the room so she stood just in the doorway. "We need to talk."

The Ice Raeven turned to face away from her, arms crossing over his chest while his wings gave a few angry beats. For a moment Chloe was reminded of the Roc who's soul she had stolen... who's soul was now Roux's. She clutched the silver locket around her neck a moment for courage and stepped further into the room until she was a good few feet behind the Frei.

"Roux, what you d-did to Mr. Aphismet... th-that was rude. It... It was more than rude. You hurt him." She chewed her lip, hoping her charge was listening to her, she couldn't really tell from his posture. "Y-You cannot hit people or to use your magic on them. Do you understand? What i-if you'd hurt him?"

"Don't care." Roux turned his head to the side so Chloe could see his profile, arms still crossed. He really didn't care, the man had wronged him! Couldn't Chloe understand that? She was so stupid sometimes.

For a moment she was silent before sighing sadly. "A-Alright, Roux... then... you.. you c-can't.. I won't.... No more Rivener."

This caused a reaction. Roux turned more to the side so he could pin his guardian with a wary glare. "What?"

"You... h-heard me. You can't see Rivener if you don't care about w-what you did to Mr. Aphismet."

For a moment Chloe thought that Roux might attack her, his wings flared and a the air dropped to a new low. She bit her lip and wrapped her arms tightly about herself, trying to stop the shivering. But then he subsided, fists unclenching and body loosening, sagging slightly. He looked.. at a loss.

"If... Roux, if you learn to b-be nicer.. and if you a-apologize to Mr. Aphismet honestly... then.. well it's up to Mr. Aphismet r-really if you can see Rivener after that, but if h-he allows it, then I will."

Roux mulled it over, finally giving a deep sigh. If he had to do this to see Rivener, then he would. It wasn't hard to fool Chloe, afterall. He gave a stiff nod to her, lips pressed tightly together, betraying his real emotions on the entire matter.

Chloe gave her own small sigh and nod. ...Perhaps.. she'd made an impact for once in her life. She dearly hoped so. "A-Alright then... stay in your room for the rest of the n-night."

She finally turned to leave, closing the door behind her. Through the wood she could hear another small shattering sound and a non-verbal grunt of anger from the Ice Frei. Chloe sighed softly, leaning her cheek against the doorframe and closing her eyes.

It was a small step, but that's how things always began, right?

Journal entry 18 - The walk back from the walk back home.

He was finally away... free... and alone! No Chloe to watch over his shoulder and prevent him from going places he wanted to be. No little mini-two leg to have chattering at him constantly. No lab or apartment to confine him.

There were so many sights to see... he soon found himself wandering and quite lost, though he didn't care. There were streets and cars and shops and people who stared at him, females and males. Some seemed unnerved by his lack of a lower half while others didn't take their eyes away from his face - it was those that he put on a show for, running a hand through his hair, batting his eyes and fluttering his wings lightly.

He enjoyed the attention of Durem, but eventually it was just too crowded for him, people jostled against him and he had gone to the measure of elbowing someone quite hard in the side at one point. He was sick of the feeling of being closed in.

[to be continued...]

Journal Entry 21 - Is all that we see or seem...

Silence.

It crept over the windowsills, along the floor. Between cracks and crevesses it sank, swirling in tiny eddies toward the ceiling until it filled everything.

Within a small room in apartment 313 it prevailed with the cold. Snow, fog, and ice preserved a pale Frei within a solid cocoon. His features etched in frost and only vaugly visible through the murky substance...


Sleeping...? Dreaming...

Faint images flickerd rapidly through the mind's eye, but the silence, always.

Pink, red, blue, gold, silver.

His face was lined with barely checked rage and frustraition, wings stretched wide and frozen in place as though to take flight.

The sky, oh...

There was something, something but nothing. As absent and present as the silence.

A voice, a lullaby, dirge, sonata, crescendo, crescendo, crescendo.

Journal Entry 23 - Awakening

It'd been so long since Roux had closed the door behind him... Chloe hadn't thought much of it at the time, he spent most of his home hours in his room with the door shut tight. Despite all their interaction, despite all of her attempts to get to know Roux he was a complete and utter mystery, refusing to speak.

Or unable..?

He had such difficulty expressing his words.. at first she'd just thought it was the charming characteristic of a Frei that had just been brought into this world, the others had been like this. Over time it failed to go away and Roux seemed to grow even more silent with each day.

He never spoke a word to her anymore, at least nothing longer than a commanding 'No.' or chillingly demanding 'Yes.' She saw him communicating with others though.. mostly the Raevens, and even more to Rivener.

As the day had passed she had wondered.. Roux usually left his room from time to time to take over the bathroom mirror (even though she'd gotten him his own full length version to put in his room) or when Chloe called him to eat. Eventually she'd dared to give a soft knock on the door, startled to feel the chill of winter beneath her knuckles. She'd opened the door with quite a bit of difficulty - it'd been frozen shut - only to gasp silently at the murky ice block that filled most of the room, tendrils of ice and frost surrounding.

She'd cried that night, and the next, and the next. After the third she'd numbly waited, and gradually.. over time.. she began to hope. She didn't dare go to Dr. Kyou about it.. what he if deemed her a failure and took Roux away from her.

Then she'd be alone again, she couldn't exactly go back to live with her step-brother, he had his own life and last she heard he was sharing his home with someone else.

That had been some time ago.. she'd spent her days busying herself at work, always anxiously coming back, hoping that Roux would be floating in front of the mirror or reaching into the freezer. He never was, though.

Today wasn't any different, she'd rushed home as usual, brought in the mail and went straight to his room. The same disappointing sight greeted her, Roux was still encased in his self-imposed tomb.

No, not a tomb! She shouldn't think of it like that. Chloe gave a small shake of her head and turned away, sighing. She went about her business, always expectantly peeking into the room to check on Roux's state only to be greeted by the creeping chillness.

It was so lonely.. even though she was usually alone in the house she still knew that Roux was there, breathing, thinking.. maybe he'd come out and demand something to eat or he'd impatiently knock on the bathroom door. That was enough to keep her content until she could get back to work and wait for someone to come through the sliding double doors.

Sleep came quickly, with a book resting against her chest, glasses still on and bedside lamp glowing dimly. She was so deeply asleep that she didn't hear the tremendous crack that almost seemed to echo through the tiny apartment.

Morning came and left. As routine she peeked into Roux's bedroom before leaving to work. She blinked down at the small puddle that seeped out beneath the crack of the door, quickly jerking it open to be greeted by what she'd been waiting for.

Roux floated to one side of the room, closest to his bed. Chunks of melting ice and soggy snow lay all over the room, the wallpaper was warped and peeling off and the ceiling looked dangerously saggy. But these matters weren't of her concern.. her eyes were only for Roux.

The icy Frei turned slowly, looking down his nose at her in his usual aloof way. Her knees felt weak and she had to lean against the drenched wall, bringing a hand up to her face in disbelief. A slow, tired smile spread across her lips as she gave a small wave.

"Welcome back.."

Journal Entry 25 - Drawn to the Light

Dr. Kyou was kind enough to give me a place to stay since I've been evicted from my apartment! It's small, but I'm really very comfortable in the lab!

A Moth to the Flame

Alexandria Vizcatti had come home to take care of a baby Gwee that her company had given her to train. She'd been taking care of it for a little over a week, and it was far more intelligent than the other she had trained...namely, Lorenzo.

The Italian woman brushed through a few pages scrap paper she had by her phone, looking for one special one in particular. She knew just who to trust the care of the tiny Gwee to, if the pink-haired woman was interested. Some of the papers fell, making her curse quietly under her breath, threatening whatever Gods were listening that if she had LOST that paper...

Ah. Here it was. "Lab 305," she said out loud. The enigmatic Lab that had thrown the festival. The Lab that still had her burning with curiosity. This call wouldn't be for her, however. She was hoping that Chloe would be available, as she had a surprise for the lovely woman.

Alex heard Lorenzo call for her in the background; she glanced over to see him cooing at the baby Gwee, then looking to Alex with curiosity. She smiled and shook her head, dialing the number she had found, hoping it was the right one.

"Chloe!" Alex exclaimed, pleased. "Just the lady I wanted to talk to. My name is Alex; we met at the festival, I won the Vyn plushie?" She was trying to give as many examples as she could to Chloe. Certainly, the pink-haired woman had met many people that night.

Alex almost hit her own forehead. Why not give the most obvious example there was? "Lorenzo is my Gwee." At the sound of his name, Zoe took to the air, flapping his wings to land on Alex's shoulder. He peeked around the phone, looking at it and his owner's face with obvious confusion. The woman grinned and shook her head again, lightly tapping the dragon on the head so he wouldn't make her burst into laughter on the phone.