Hawks Eye | NPC | Page 3 | Welcome to Chaos :: Fiend Journals | Guild Forums

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:37 am

Dreams Unbidden
While asleep, dreams arise that aren't his own.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:38 am

All Hallow's Eve
A Halloween party.

Reyna hurried along with various bags and boxes in her arms as she headed towards Twilight Designs. How she managed to balance it all without dropping something was quite a feat and involved more than a little juggling on her part. Thankfully, Athan was already at the shop so he could open the door for her.

"By the gods, this stuff gets heavy after a while," the woman complained, mostly because she could and it always seemed to grate on Athan's nerves some even if he didn't show it often.

"I thought Mystic would be with you to help," the man replied in the calm, cool tone he seemed to regard everyone with. He lessened the woman's burden by taking a few of the boxes away from her to set atop one of the glass cases which had been covered with a decorative black satin table cloth for the occasion.

"Nah. I though we already had most of the supplies for the party," she answered conversationally, "And he's watching Sam for me at the moment."

"So he's not coming?"

"He should be, and he's bringing Sam with him," Reyna went on, "but Samara has to take a nap or she's less than pleasant to be around, and I doubt anyone wants to listen to a screaming baby while attempting to have fun during the party."

Athan snickered faintly at that. He muttered under his breath how she ought to try taking naps more often herself. Not but an instant after the words had left his mouth he found himself ducking to keep from being hit in the face with a roll of black crepe paper. He'd definitely forgotten about how her new form enhanced her senses somewhat and allowed her to hear all those little remarks he had the tendency to make.

He managed to catch the roll of paper just before it hit the floor, and smirked faintly in a way that caught the woman slightly off guard. He held up the paper as though to throw it before pausing when he took in the woman's attire.

"What are you wearing?" he chuckled quietly as he eyed the demon thoughtfully.

"I'm a pirate," Reyna huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. She had her hair partially tied back with a red bandana and had tied in various small trinkets and beads into her hair as well. The knee high, lace up boots looked more like something she wore on an every day basis, but it went well with the breeches, lace-up shirt, and accompanying corset. The eyepatch she always wore even blended into the outfit quite well.

"Riiiight."

"I am!" she insisted, "It is a costume party. What the hell are you supposed to be? The ********? I totally should've bought you a fake scythe or something when I was at the party supply store."

Athan simply rolled his eyes at that comment and cut the conversation short when he moved to pin the end of the crepe paper to the ceiling with the aid of a latter. He smirked over at the woman again who was eyeing him a bit suspiciously, arms still crossed from his earlier comments. "Catch!" he called as he through the crepe paper towards her.

Reyna bared her now sharp fangs at him, irritated that he'd managed to catch her slightly off guard but it didn't keep her from catching the paper. She caught his drift easily enough as she moved to go pin it to the other side of the ceiling to toss back towards him. It was a little like playing a game, and it went on for quite some time until the ceiling was a spider web of black streamers.

Tombstones made of gray foam tastefully added to the graveyard-like decor. Some even boasted names of several of the guardians, and Reyna had made a point of writing Athan's name on one as well. Everything was set and ready to go for the party that would be starting within the next half hour or so.

All that was left to do was to set out food and refreshments. Reyna smiled with a sort of satisfied look on her face before it melted away into a slight frown as she gazed over at Athan who was scowling at the rug.

"It's entirely innaccurate!" the man declared a bit hotly when he realized the woman was staring at him staring at the rug.

The rug itself was a charming shade of blood red that Reyna herself had picked out. It was trimmed in a lovely black and silver fringe and depicted, in rather elegant scrollwork, a pentagram cast in a circle. She'd forgotten how the man had the tendency to pitch a mild fit when he came across items that had "fake" runes and circles on them.

She sighed with a huff and rolled her eyes. "Athan," she replied as calmly as she could muster, "Would you rather it be accurate and have one of our party-goers transfigured or potentially transported to another dimension? Or would you rather it be inaccurate, them not notice, and simply have a good time?"

Athan frowned and for a moment Reyna thought that he might resort to sulking over the matter like a small child, but Athan being Athan, wouldn't dare resort to such tactics. "Point taken," he grumbled. He sighed irritably before retreating to the backroom briefly to return with a large, festive looking basket that was filled with what appeared to be ceramic eggs.

"What are those?"

"Party favors," he replied simply as he set the basket next to all the other free goodies they were handing out.

Reyna's visible eye widened slightly when she ventured closer to peek at the contents of the basket. All the eggs were intricately detailed in some unique way that highly appealed to her aesthetic senses, but her attention kept being drawn to a small red one that had tiny little black horns.

Without a second thought she snatched up the little egg. "This one is so mine," she declared as she pocketed the small trinket somewhere in the red sash that was tied about her waist.

"You would want that one," Athan admonished with a smirk that Reyna chose to blatantly ignore, unmindful of the fact that technically she was taking something that Athan was handing out as a gift to strangers.

That alone should have sent off alarm bells but the fact that it was oh so shiny over ruled any logic her mind would have supplied her with. Unfortunately, all her mind told her was that the egg was hers, hers, hers, and no one could touch it.

That thought aside her mind was also preoccupied with making sure everything was ready for the party -- meaning she had to keep Athan from nitpicking at every little detail. First it was the rug, next it would surely be some of the party favors she'd bought at the store, or even the foam cups, and quite possibly the mini black cauldron she'd bought and filled with candy.

Idly, she glanced at her watch and then grinned. It was time for the party to get started!

Elysia trod carefully through the slowly arriving darkness, nervously looking over her shoulder for anyone that might be following her. She'd had a strange feeling all day that someone was watching her, but she didn't know who it might be. She'd never had these premonitions before, and was a bit wary of all people out trick-or-treating. She wouldn't know if anyone was out to get her until it was too late. Almost tripping over her long dress, she finally stumbled onto the front walkway of Twilight Designs, happy to have finally arrived.

This year she had reverted back to childhood when thinking about what to dress up as, and decided on a fairy princess. After all, she was already half fae, so the fairy part was easy. Her princess dress on the other hand, was not as easy to wear. The bodice of the dark purple velvet, silver-lined gown was laced up tightly, and she could barely breathe. The tops of her breasts were practically popping out of the dress, and though she felt a bit self-conscious, she told herself that it was for show only. She balanced a tiara on her silver updo, and in her hand, she carried a silver wand, tipped with an amethyst crystal. She was pleased with her costume, and was curious what everyone else at the party would be wearing. Halloween had always been one of her favorite holidays, up until her recent bout of holiday paranoia.

As always, Labbie was hovering just inches above Elysia's naked right shoulder. It had been in a cheerful mood all night, and hadn't reacted to Elysia's nervousness at all. The wisp bounced up and down in time with Elysia's gait, and gave off very happy vibes. The wisp had also dressed up for Halloween. Well, as much as a wisp could, Elysia supposed. She'd gotten the idea to dress Labbie like a butterfly, and after showing the wisp some pictures in a book, Labbie had crafted itself a pair of butterfly wings from it's shadowy tendrils. It'd also been trying to make it's wispy wings flutter like butterfly wings, and so far, it'd been quite successful. If someone had seen the wisp from afar, Elysia was sure that they'd think it was a real butterfly with exotic colors and patterns.

Pushing open the door to the shop, Elysia picked up the hem of her dress and crossed the threshold into the warmth of the jewelry store. Looking around, she saw that the place had been decorated. Labbie instantly began "flapping" it's wings, and flying around the shop, curiously inspecting all of the nooks and crannies. The wisp had only been there one or two times since Elysia had gotten it, and she could tell that it was more than curious about the shop.

"Hello! Happy Halloween!" Elysia exclaimed, seeing Reyna and Athan off to the right. "How are you all today?"

"So, what are you supposed to be?" Aislin asked, arching a brow. "You still haven't told me." She herself was wearing a dark blue old fashioned dress, knee long, with a white - but blood stained - apron, and some rather gothic looking black boots. She was wearing only a single necklace today, with an omega shaped pendant.
In the apron's pocket she had tugged away the biggest kitchen knife she had been able to find.

"Shinigami," the boy walking next to her replied with a cheerful smile. "A death angel," he added upon Aislin's slightly confused look. He felt rather comfortable in the dark, asian looking robes he was wearing. The feathered black wings on his back were fake, but the scythe he had shouldered was most certainly not. He'd to be careful with that..

Azel was trailing only a few steps behind him, always staying within Luthe's shadow, but careful to keep his distance to Aislin - he had learned his lesson as it seemed. Since it was kinda hard to dress up a floating gem it had ended up in the classic halloween costume - a ghostie. A handkerchief had been sacrificed for this, two tiny holes cut in, and splattered with some red color to make it look a tad more creepy than silly. At least Azel seemed to like it, the Wisp had been very excited all evening.

"I still can't believe that you are supposed to be Alice," Luthe commented with a glance at the woman next to him. "I've read the books, and I remember her to look.. a tad more harmless."

"Well, it's Alice a few years later," Aislin replied with a wicked grin, and pushed the door open. She still wasn't sure if it had been a good idea to let herself being talked into coming along, but now that she was here, she was determined to have fun.

Ravija had come by the shop once or twice before, always browsing, never buying. It wasn't that the items in there were too expensive--they weren't, really, not with the salary the Moorgahaines paid them--it's just that she never found anything she really liked. But a party... no resisting that!

She had decided to dress in the minimum clothing possible. Clothing was always itchy and never felt right, but Halloween seemed to be the opportunity to dress up (or wear as little as possible). She'd decided she was going to be a belly dancer. Besides, she could use the costume year round!

The gauzy purple-pink pants she'd had made matched the purple-ish drapes she already had coming out of her chest. They were occasionally useful, but she'd never seen anyone with a cloth-like substance naturally growing out of there. Her wrists were adorned with half a dozen bangles made of a thin golden metal that chimed when she moved her arms just so, and Ravija had taken to doing that costantly as she walked down the street. The flashed of light and color matched the sash she wore around her waist, with hundreds of small metallic discs sewn to it; it was tied artfully over one hip, and the cloth-of-gold danced with a life of its own with every step and errant breeze.

Dressing up was fun. Ravija half-skipped, half-walked up to the store that had been advertising a party the last time she was in. The door had just swung shut after someone in a blue floofy dress had gone in, and she opened it up about a half-minute later with a cheery "Happy Halloween, everyone." So what if she probably didn't know anyone here?

Reyna waved and smiled warmly at the first guests that arrived, quite impressed by the costumes everyone showed up in. She'd been a bit worried she'd end up being the only one dressed up when Athan showed up in only his typical black robes. Then again, that was to be expected from him. She had a hard time imagining him in anything but those robes.

"Wow.. not even Mystic was that creative on Halloween when he was a wisp last year," the silver haired woman commented as she idly pointed towards Labbie. She looked like a butterfly! And she blended in so well with Elysia's costume. "We ought to be handing out prizes for stuff like that!"

Athan thoughtfully mused over that thought for a moment. "Hm. It might be arranged. We shall see," he stated quietly before moving away to greet the other guests as they arrived.

"Good evening, Aislin. Luthe," he replied as the two came through the door. Leave it to a demon and a woman as charming as Aislin to be carrying actual weapons. He idly glanced over in Reyna's direction as the woman continued to chat with Elysia. If he wasn't mistaken there was a dagger of some sort that accompanied her outfit. At least she hadn't brought in a sword.

"Happy Halloween," Athan replied to Ravija as she skipped through the door as well. He'd seen her a hand full of times browsing through the shop. It rather pleased him that customers who frequented the shop were showing up as well as guardians.

Elysia smiled at the warm greeting she'd gotten from Reyna. She'd always been a bit cautious of the woman, seeing as how she did sort of get duped into taking a wisp home from the woman's shop with her, but she'd come to like the silver-haired woman, and was glad to see her.

"Well, don't you look like a sea rogue! Arrrrghh!" She said jokingly, swinging her arm back and forth like she was a pirate. "Nice outfit. I'm impressed. Your eyepatch meshes so nicely..."

Nodding to Athan, she gave him a warm greeting as well. "Happy Halloween. Nice to see you again," she said, giving him a once over. "And let me guess what you are for Halloween...Athan? Am I right?" She was chiding him, but it was all in good fun. Giving a laugh, she smiled at him, and watched as he left to attend to the other guests who had come in behind her. None of them looked familiar, and she decided she'd introduce herself, and Labbie, in a little while.

"Yeah," she answered, nodding toward Labbie. "It did a really good job with the costume! I was impressed when I was watching it flutter around. It's been practicing all day!" Labbie fluttered toward Reyna, circling once around her head, and then landing right on top, looking pleased with itself. "It seems to like you too. I get a lot of positive, nurturing emotions from it. Let's just hope that when it grows, those will be it's preferred emotions...I'm not sure how I'd fare with something more...violent." Maybe it was the macabre nature of the holiday, but Elysia was having a hard time forgetting about the ominous feeling outside. Instead of dwelling on it though, she decided that maybe she'd have a good time while she could.

"Got anything to drink around here?" she asked as Labbie fluttered back over to her shoulder, wanting to be close to her bond as possible. "Something...strong maybe?" She smiled. Yeah. Liquor would definitely loosen her up a bit...make her forget about what might be lurking outside the shop's doors.

"Happy happy Halloween," Ravija said warmly, fluffing her feathered tail. That was one of the problems with pants: her tail never quite felt comfortable. "It seems I haven't missed too much of the party." Walking (and jingling) over, she examined him for any sign of a costume. "You look... approximately the same as ever. How have things been here?"

Reyna smirked faintly. She was rather proud of her costume. The best part was she had most of the clothes already, it was just a matter of putting it together in a fitting way.

"Athan is the grim reaper for Halloween," Reyna threw in as she tossed her long hair out of her face, "But everyday is Halloween for Athan." She snickered faintly and absently decided that she really ought to have bought that fake plastic scythe she'd seen at the party supply store. It would've been hilarious!

"Yeah. Positive, nurturing emotions are definately better than being slammed with random bouts of violence," she replied as she eyed the little wisp that flittered about, "But as for something to drink, there's fruit punch in the big bowl over there and we converted the table next to it into a mini bar. Help yourself to whatever you like!"

Athan paid Reyna and Elysia's teasing comments no mind. He had no interest in sparking the playful banter into something more in the middle of their company party. Thankfully he knew the demon was well aware of what she could get away with and what would be considered entirely unprofessional.

"And you look.. lovely as ever," Athan replied as he peered curiously at the woman, "What was your name again? I don't believe we've been formally introduced.."

"I thought that since I hadn't bought anything yet, I shouldn't burden you with even the hint of a suggestion you should remember my name," she said with a smile. "It's Ravija. It's very nice to be introduced to you." She nodded to him, the bells she'd woven into her hair tinkling quietly

"I make it a point to get to know those who take interest in my shop," he answered simply, "My name is Athan." Idly he gestured towards the silver haired woman that was still chatting away with Elysia, "The woman dressed as a pirate is my business partner."

"Athan, hello." Aislin smiled warmly, even though she still ought to be mad at the man - afterall, thanks to him her household got 'blessed' with that darned Fiend. She couldn't help it, something about him was just.. just.. Whatever it was, she just couldn't handle it.

~ It's called 'charm'.. ~ Luthe's thoughts wispered amusedly in her mind, while nodding at Athan. ~ You really need to guard your thoughts better, woman. ~ With a giggle the boy jumped out of her reach before she could get the idea to actually use that knife she had brought along.

Azel in the meantime had discovered the basket with the ceramic eggs..

Athan smiled over at Aislin with a nod of his head and a small wave. At least the woman was in better spirits this time than she had the last time he'd seen her. He smiled despite how that thought unnerved him and brushed it aside.

His smile faltered somewhat, however, when Mystic walked through the door with Sam giggling and squirming in his arms. He hadn't realized he'd grown. He thought about saying something to him but decided against it when the Fiend brusquely walked past him and headed directly towards Reyna to hand off the baby to her mother.

"A fun, if questionable, choice, considering the implications for your business practices," Ravija replied with a smile. It was not an accusation, just something she thought amusing. "I do enjoy your shop, and it has a lot of very beautiful pieces, but unfortunately none of them really seem to speak to me, if that makes sense." She gestured futily with one hand, making her bangles bounce musically against one another.

Athan chuckled quietly at that. What an astute young woman! She had an interesting aura as well, she fairly radiated power. She hardly seemed the sort to be that powerful, but he knew better than to judge by appearences.

"Hmm.. I see. Well if you are ever looking for .. something in particular, or have a design in mind, Reyna can craft it for you. She's quite skilled when it comes to that sort of thing," he replied, "The next time you drop by the shop do ask her to see some of her sketches, won't you?"

With a quiet 'clack' the first of the ceramic eggs fell to the floor - and much to the Fiend's chagrin it stayed whole. The Wisp floated down and angrily lashed at the egg with one of it's shadowy tendrils. It rolled two or three feet over the floor, but it still stayed whole. Usually things broke when they fell down, very useful, because you got to see what was inside. Well, maybe the next one would break? If he'd carry it up a bit, so that the fall was longer?

Mystic, rather tired of watching over Sam after having to wrestle her into her little panda costume, floated over towards where Azel was, curious as to what the little wisp was up to. He let himself go somewhat transparent as he moved through the air effortlessly. If anyone asked what he was dressed up as, he would simply reply that he was a ghost, or a figment of their imagination.

He beamed quietly at that thought before returning to his solid form. He bent down where the wisp was and picked up the ceramic egg that was on the floor. 'Pity. These won't break,' he murmured in his ever-quiet telepathic speech.

Athan glanced suspiciously towards Mystic. The Fiend was an adult -- surely he wouldn't be causing mischief with that wisp. He'd grown out of creating chaos long ago... or so he had thought.

"Perhaps you're right," he replied with a smile, thoughts temporarly drawn away from both Fiends, "It is rather ... fun to come across things at a whim. It's a little like discovering a treasure of some sort."

Azel stopped with his efforts to pull the next egg over the rim of the basket to glance at the older Fiend. His own telepathy hadn't developed yet, but he did catch the bit about 'not breaking'.
He sent the mental equivalent of a frown to Mystic, and then tried his best to project an image of the similar egg his guardian had found a few days ago, and - very excited now - the pretty purple pendant it had 'hatched' into.

Mystic's bright violet eyes glittered in amusement at the images the little wisp did it's best to project. 'These are meant to be party favors, I think. Perhaps you could convince your bonded to take another home,' he answered before glancing up to scan the room for who he thought might be linked to the little purple stone.

His gaze settled on a figure with dark wings and dark clothing. What was he supposed to be? Self-consciously he tugged on his cloak and curled it tighter about him despite how the fabric had the tendency to move of its own accord.

"Life is its own treasure, I think," she replied. "And it seems your shop is full of many kinds of wealth. I never cease to be amazed at what this world attracts." Ravija shook her head, the small discs in her hair shaking against one another. "It's as if every being on every world decided Gaia would be a great vacation spot."

Athan smiled at that. There was a simple truth to her words that he definately understood. Life was a treasure. A brief, unreadable look washed over his face at that thought. He looked almost lost, but the look passed quickly enough and he regained his composure with little to no effort.

"Quite true," he replied warmly, "It's one of the reasons why I decided to place my shop here on Gaia. It's an excellent place for a business considering all the people who come through."

She chuckled. "There are as many reasons as the creatures who exist here reasons, but at least you know yours." Ravija lost herself for a second and a half, then her eyes refocused, and she smiled at Athan. "But listen to me talk. I can't hog your attention for the whole party. Which, from the look of it," she scanned the milling people--and other beings--in the room, "will be getting lively. Perhaps I'll get to talk to you later?"

The Wisp paused for a moment, then he zipped off to his guardian.

Luthe had been coccupied with the sweets in the mini cauldron, when he felt a slight tug on his cloak and looked down. Azel, of course. He picked up the feeling of excitement from the little one, and images of.. an egg? Not another one?

Rolling his eyes he followed the small fiend through the room, and indeed, there it was, a basket full of ceramic eggs, similar to the one he had found a few days ago.

"So, you want me to bring some of them home, yes?"

Affirmation. Then a mental image followed, the whole basket neatly placed into one of the kitchen cupboards.

Luthenep chuckled. "No, I'm most certainly not taking all of them. Don't be so greedy!" He took three of the eggs and then glanced up to Mystic, a bit uncertain.
"We are allowed to take these, right?" He asked, just to make sure. He couldn't help but stare - was this what a fully grown Shadow Fiend looked like?

"Perhaps," Athan smirked faintly as he took his leave from the interesting young woman and briefly disappeared into the back room. He shot Mystic a warning glance, but the Fiend simply scowled and paid him no attention. He knew how to behave!

But he also knew what he could get away with when the man wasn't looking. A smug sort of look crossed his features before he glanced towards Luthe. 'Ah.. Yes. These are meant for the guests as party favors,' he replied quietly as he idly fidgeted with his cloak. He'd grown, but sometimes old habits died hard. He still felt a bit uncertain around strangers, but it wasn't as bad as it had been before.

Luthe carefully stored the eggs away into the depths of his cloak. "So.. You are a Fiend too, right? You are the first, erh, grown up one I've seen so far." The boy frowned. It just had occured to him that Azel would be fully grown sooner or later while he was still stuck as a kid.

"And that cloak looks cool," he added, eying it in awe.

'Yes,' he answered, 'I am a Fiend. I'm bonded to Reyna.' He pointed over towards the silver haired woman dressed as a pirate that held a squirming, wriggling baby in her arms. He idly tugged at his bond to her and she waved with a faint smile towards the two of them.

'Thanks,' Mystic replied, beaming quietly at the compliment, 'It's.. something I created from a spell out of this piece of elemental silver.' He tapped the coin that appeared as the clasp to the cloak, causing the black fabric to ebb and flow back towards the coin as though it were deteriorating. He held up the silver coin with a sort of smug look on his face. 'It's pretty cool. The fabric absorbs sunlight.'

Even though she had been in her costume for several hours, Ying twirled happily in front of a dark Durem window. It really was the perfect dress- not too frilly or fancy, like some princess dresses she had seen, but elegant and classy. Instead of a crown she had decided on a black satin top hat, tied with a pink bow that matched her dress.

Ying looks very pretty.

Blushing a little, Ying nodded. "Thanks. You too." He really did look nice, she thought, in his black-and-green tailcoat and trousers. Everyone had done partner costumes this year, so Ying and Xue decided to go as a prince and princess, with a bit of a gothic twist. Everyone had said they looked beautiful. They were even wearing her favorite colors, pink and green. She could just envision them at a candlelit ball, with red velvet curtains and a marble floor...

Should Ying and Xue stop at this store?

"Um." Blinking away her daydreams, the Jumi stared at a familiar door. "Oh, the jewelry store! Sure!" Maybe they'd have her brooch repaired! It would be the perfect addition to Xue's costume... even if he was the one that broke it. And even if it wasn't ready, she could at least drop in and say hi... and get some candy to boot.

His candy-filled bag swinging on his arm, Xue charged forwards and opened the door. Trick or treat!

"Trick or treat," Ying echoed, looking around. Were they having a party? How neat!

'Athan tought it to me,' Mystic replied as he tapped the silver again to send the fabric wisping back into place the way it had been once before, but this time he left the hood down, 'I can try to teach it to you sometime. I'll just need another piece of a silver.'

He was rather pleased that someone else thought his cloak was cool, too. It made him proud of what he had accomplished. It also reminded him that he wanted to learn more magic, but he had a feeling that lessons with Athan again probably wasn't a good idea.

The man in question came bustling out of the back room with another small basket of candies to set out on the table on the other side of the room. He smiled as he sat the basket of sweets down and moved to greet Ying.

"Happy Halloween," he said warmly, "Glad to see you came to the party. Please, help yourself to the refreshments we have provided."

Party? Xue didn't know there was a party. Can he come too?

"Don't ask me," Ying hissed, leaving the boy to ravage the candy bowl. She self-consciously brushed her hands over her dress, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles, and looked shyly up at the man who addressed her. "Actually, I was just taking my brother trick-or-treating. But if there's a party, I'd love to stay... if that's alright, that is."

Xue turned his head towards the party, a half-eaten chocolate bar sticking out of his mouth. Once he ealized it was there he shoved it all the way into his mouth, oozing contentment, and a bit of confusion.

Can Xue stay too? Pretty please with sugar and cherries on top?

It was hard to deny his cuteness, but Ying kept her expression fairly calm. After all, she wanted these people to take her seriously. If they thought she was just some kid, they might not let her stay. And the party looked so inviting too.

"I love your costume," she continued, making idle chit-chat while sweeping a couple pieces of candy into her bag. "Grim Reaper, right?"

"You're more than welcome to stay and enjoy the party," Athan replied, quickly deciding to forgo responding to the bit about his 'costume.' He didn't want to say something rude to the girl and scare her off afterall. She was a customer!

"Ying, wasn't it? I do believe I nearly have your brooch repaired. Just a few minor details to adjust and it shall be as good as new," he informed her with a smile, "You should be hearing from us within the next couple of days most likely."

Fantastic, she could stay! Of course, the fact that her pin wasn't ready was a bit disappointing, if expected. Then again, perhaps Xue didn't have to have that exact accent to make his costume even more splendid. They were in a jewelry store, after all...

"Is the shop open for business this evening? You see..." Ying lowered her voice. "I was hoping to find something that matched his costume. I'm afraid I was rather mean to him earlier, and I'd like to show some trust in him by lending him something." An outright gift would be nice, of course, but the gesture of trusting him with something special of hers would restore more of his faith. And that was the point, after all.

She needn't have worried about her volume, as Xue was far too busy looking around. So many sparklies! Neechan and Sneaky would love this place. Maybe he could take them sometime, and then they would all be happy.

His gaze then fell on the basket of party favors, and he gave a mental squeal of delight, running back to Ying and the man. Can Xue have one? Or two or three or five?

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:39 am

All Hallow's Eve
...the Halloween party continued.

"Technically, business is closed down for the evening for the party, but.." Athan trailed off with a smile, "I'll make an exception for you." He took the girl by the arm in a gentlemanly fashion and lead her towards the backroom where all the fancy jewelry was currently being stored. "Since your brooch is still unavailable to you, and all."

Athan stepped through the door into the backroom that looked terribly empty despite his claims that all the jewelry was being stored there. He raised one hand to call forth the spell he had laid there earlier. Several tables appeared with the jewelry set out neatly atop them with little labels with letters and numbers that desginated which case they were to be returned to once the party was done and over with.

"Feel free to browse through anything you see here," he smiled before stepping away to head back into the front room to hover near the door lest the girl should need some assistance.

Clearly it payed to dress. Ying made a mental note to thank her friend Mes for that tip later, but for now, it was time to shop!

"Really? Thanks so much..." Sweeping a curtsey, she turned with a flourish of skirt and bustled in. It was a good thing Xue was still distracted by the candy and favors, since he probably wouldn't be able to keep his hands off the pieces. Even she was having a hard time keeping calm. She brushed a hand over a few stones, feeling the cool fire that seemed to be inside all of them. Despite the dim light they all shone, reflecting the small luminesence back onto her palms.

Except one. It looked normal enough, a plain squat square. An emerald cut, she remembered from one of her books. The stone itself vaguely resembled an emerald, but it didn't feel like one at all. More familiar somehow, though that wasn't comforting. It was shiny, sure... yet it didn't catch the light the same way the other stones did.

Luckily the shopkeeper was still nearby. "Excuse me sir," she queried, "but what's this one?"

Athan stepped back into the backroom and allowed the door to shut behind him. His bright green eyes widened slightly at the sight of the stone she was referring to. He hadn't remember putting that there! Bloody things! They were about as bad as those damnable eggs.. always escaping and the like.

He cleared his throat and tilted his head to the side. "I.. do believe that's a small piece of tsavorite," he replied slowly, eyes never leaving the stone. He hoped perhaps the stone had simply been misplaced by accident, but he knew that little bit of logic was faulty. All of those stones were stored safely away in a small safe located in another dimension.

...but he had shoved all of the jewelry that was laid out on the tables into another pocket of that same dimension.

Still, it didn't make much sense to him how and why the thing was there and the very thought was headache inducing, but what was more alarming still was that the thing wasn't just a stone anymore. Dark wisps appeared around the stone, seemingly sucking in all the light around it. Without warning the little stone zipped up off the table and beneath the edges of Ying's skirts to escape the light in the room.

"Ohh no." He hadn't planned on that. Normally he took a sort of morbid delight in inflicting Fiends upon people, but Ying was a sweet young girl. She hardly deserved to deal with the chaos that a Fiend could create.

"Tsavorite." Was that a sapphire? No, a garnet. That would probably explain why it felt a little familiar, though it clearly wasn't the same as she was. Unless raspberries suddenly turned green. Still, it was awfully pretty. And a bit dark, perfect for a dark prince. As she thought that it grew darker still, as if reading her mind. There wasn't much time to reflect on that possibility- she shrieked loudly as the stone vanished from its spot on the table, and there was a cold touch against her leg.

Her first impulse was to turn around and smack whoever had lifted her skirt, but there was no one there. Bewildered, she spun around, unable to find any cause for alarm except the persistent presence around her legs. "What... what's going on?"

Arms full of chocolates and a few egg-shaped objects, Xue wandered towards the room. Is Ying okay?

"My dear, I am terribly sorry," Athan began in explanation of what exactly had happened and what was hiding in her skirts. "That.. stone isn't.. well.. it is a stone, but it's also something called a Shadow Fiend. I'm not entirely certain how it managed to awaken, but.. it seems to have chosen you as it's guardian," he went on.

"Long story short, that stone has a soul trapped within it." Athan paused and pressed a hand to one temple as though to ease the throbbing pain there that was rapidly forming into a migraine. "I suppose.. an easier way to explain this might be to simply show you. There are two other Fiends here. Mystic Topaz and Sugilite," Athan stated with a wave of his hand towards the door, "Mystic is bonded to Reyna. You've met her before.."

The concept sounded a bit familiar at least. Without realizing, her hand reached to her chest, brushing the stone there. "Are they... cores?"

Most of what was flying around was indecipherable to Xue- stones awakening, guardians, trapped souls. But one feeling he picked up on quickly.

New friends?

Ying attention was elsewhere, and she anxiously shifted in place. "Does it have to... must it stay down there?" Really, that was just too much.

"In a way.. I suppose you might call them that," Athan replied as he headed out towards the main room and motioned for the girl to follow, "And.. er.. it's.. hiding beneath your skirts because it's dark there. Fiends are creatures of darkness and therefore aren't very fond of light."

He headed directly towards where Luthe and Mystic were standing, something that unnerved the Fiend somewhat. Initially he thought he were in trouble or something like that, but he relaxed somewhat when he picked up on a new presence -- a new wisp.

'Hello,' he replied with a small wave towards Ying.

... okay, that was NOT a Jumi.

This was all a bit overwhelming. There was some freaky floating rock under her dress because it was afraid of the light. Something called a Fiend? And then she was face to face with something... taller. "He-hello," Ying stuttered nervously.

Xue had no such inhibitions, though he did remember to hold his hand out for a proper handshake. HELLO!

Mystic chuckled quietly and shook the boy's hand. He shot the girl a sort of concerned look. She looked a bit shaken, but then again, she had just been bonded to a wisp. Reyna's reaction had been rather calm, at least initially, but his guardian was just that way when it came to stressful situations. Usually.

'I'm Mystic. And you are?' he asked politely.

Xue is Xue!

Taking a deep breath helped clear her senses. Eyes open again, she held her own hand out to Mystic. "My name is Ying. It's nice to meet you. Um." The next part was tricky. "If you don't mind my asking... what exactly are you?"

Hopefully that wasn't too rude. Just in case, her mind started running through apologies.

Elysia headed toward the table of drinks, anxious to see what they had...Helping herself to a glass of bright red punch, she swallowed it down quickly, noticing it's definite lack of alcohol. 'Oh well,' she thought to herself. 'It's probably best not to get hammered around people I don't know. I may make an a** of myself.' She poured herself another cup, and turned to scan the crowd for people she knew.

Every time she came into the shop, the only people who were there were Reyna and Athan. She'd never met any of the other bonded, let alone any other Fiends. Elysia wasn't great with social situations. She was shy in large groups, and it made for a difficult time at a party. That's why she drank at parties. It gave her the necessary social lubrication, so that she could be her normal outgoing self. But it was okay. She'd start a conversation with someone...She'd just have to decide who.

Labbie, on the other hand, had gotten excited when it saw the other Fiends floating around. Fluttering her wispy shadow-wings, she glided toward each Fiend, hovering around them, taking note of all of their features. The wisp was definitely curious about others like it, and Elysia could tell that it was looking for friends. Once it had gotten enough of the other wisps, Labbie noticed the now-grown Mystic, and fluttered over to him, landing on his shoulder. The stone took on a bright glow, and pulsed a couple of times, before returning to its normal state. The wisp seemed content on Mystic's shoulder, and it gave off warm, welcoming vibes.

Elysia watched Labbie from the other side of the room, curious as to what it'd do. It seemed particularly fond of the adult Fiend, and she was interested in why it had picked him to land on. Labbie had rarely left her shoulder, and it seemed that the wisp was comfortable here. Perhaps it was the fact that other wisps were around, but Elysia was glad the wisp was enjoying the party. At least someone was outgoing enough to make new friends...

Luthenep made a mental note to search the attic for a silver coin like that.. He'd avoided going up there ever since he'd been bounded to Azel. He didn't want the Fiend to figure out where Aislin kept her really interesting and precious stuff, since he wreaked so much havoc in the shop already. But on the other hand.. He'd watched as Mystic went all transparent and floaty and that. There was no way he'd be able to keep Azel out of the attic forever. And he really wanted a cloak like that..

He watched curiously as Ying approached Mystic, his ears twitching slightly when she asked about what exactly he was. Yeah, he'd like to know that too - the explanation Athan had given him about the Wisp that was bonded to him had been rather brief, and he'd never had a chance to talk to that man again ever since then. Things.. had come up. There was a painful twinge in his heart when he thought of what had happened to Laure..

He felt something cool and smooth touch his right hand, and a gentle mental nudge trying to soothe his sadness. He looked down and gave his wisp a timid smile, closing his hand around it for a moment. 'It's alright,' he mentally wispered to Azel.

Mystic's violet eyes widened slightly at the directness of that question, but he wasn't at all offended or upset by it. He half expected it from people he didn't know. 'I'm.. well. I'm a shadow.. a creature of darkness. If I understand Athan correctly, I'm.. mostly a shadow of whom I used to be a long time ago,' he attempted to explain, stumbling a bit on his words. He wasn't entirely sure what he was himself so explaining it was rather difficult. He just...was.

He glanced over towards his guardian who shot him a bemused look at the crowd of wisps and curious guardians he'd gathered. Honestly, she was rather impressed that the Fiend was handling the stress of being surrounded by so many people so well. He had the overwhelming tendency to flee from situations like that.

'I'm sorry I can't explain better than that,' he apologized, 'It's a bit.. difficult to put to words.' Idly he glanced towards the little wisp at his shoulder. He was always amused by the little stones, fascinated by how they flittered about as nothing more than a shiny stone surrounded in darkness.

Aislin glanced over to the little group as well, Mystic specifically, and frowned. She didn't know for sure, but a feeling in her guts told her he was a Shadow Fiend as well. And if he was, she was in trouble. "Too big to lock into a jar.." she muttered under her breath and helped herself to some snacks. The fact that he'd been, transparent? Well, not entirely physical when he moved through the room earlier, had not escaped her. Maybe it was time to take out an insurance - or to check if her address list of exorcists was still up-to-date..

Somewhat bored she looked around, hoping to see a familiar face or two.

"I... I see. Thank you." Ying's words tumbled out slowly and clumsily, like untrained acrobats. The bulk of her brainpower was focused on trying to make sense of things. At least the concept of gemstones coming to life was familiar, but from the way it sounded that wasn't quite it. More of a half-life. Still, that really wouldn't make much of a difference, would it? Of course not. And Mystic seemed perfectly nice. So besides the fact that the wisp was still hovering around her legs, making her most uncomfortable, things would be fine.

Good humor restored, she smiled to the group. Everything would be fine!

The explanation, while fascinating, was mostly incomprehensible to Xue. Mister Floaty was cool looking, but his feelings were so complicated!

Unwrapping another chocolate bar, he wandered away from the group. Maybe he could find more shiny-shinies...

While Ravija wandered around the shop with a dance in her step, the door opened again.

A black-haired girl barely under five feet tall entered the room with a thump-jingle. She had a pure white peplos edged in gold on, secured at her shoulders with large golden brooches etched with a serpent coiled in a spiral. Her sash was a rich blue also trimmed in gold that matched the gem that winked from her left upper arm.

The staff she carried that made the thump and jingle was... unconventional. The main body of the staff consisted of fragile looking joined loops with metal rings hanging from some of those loops; they clashed with a pleasing sound when disturbed. Around it, twined in such a way to not disturb the rings' movement, was a metallic green snake with sparkling gems for eyes. The staff itself was more than a foot taller than the girl that carried it, but she seemed to handle it effortlessly.

Memi managed to look regal for all of ten seconds for bursted into a run... toward Luthe. "I didn't know you'd be here, Luthe! Hi!" Her sash billowed out behind her like a sail, attached as it was to her shoulders and waist.

Luthenep blinked, utterly surprised. Now that was someone he'd not expected to see here. But.. Well, that she lived in the same house as some God of Light, didn't necessarily mean that she despised shadows and darkness. Plus, she'd been really nice and helped searching for Azel..

"Memi, hi!" he said. "Didn't expect to see you here. I.. I'm sorry that I ran away so suddenly last time. I think I forgot to thank you." His cheeks flushed with embarassment.

Azel floated close to his Bonded's shoulder, curious who managed to make his Guardian feel so awkward. He remembered Memi only vaguely, but he instantly liked those golden brooches she was wearing now.

"Well, you're welcome," Memi said chipperly, setting the staff down with a quiet jingle. "I just came by because I saw people coming in in costume, and since it doesn't seem to be invite only, I'm staying." She grinned and waved at the little ghostie, then turned back to Luthe. "Who are you dressed up as?"

"A Shinigami - a Death Angel," he replied with a fanged grin and pointed to a dark corner of the room. "I left my scythe over there, since I didn't want to accidentally hurt someone. And you?" Curiously the boy eyed her costume. He really liked those broo- Waitasec. 'Stop that', he mentally hissed at the Wisp. It had happened before, the Fiend's desires influencing his own..

Athan moved to stand near Reyna who merely smirked broadly around her cup of punch. "Don't tell me. You gave that girl a wisp. You're a cruel man," she teased.

"I didn't give it to her. It awoke on its own," he grumbled as he folded his arms over his chest and scowled faintly before a small quirk of a smile appeared on his face when the woman choked on her drink at that response.

"What the hell!" she hissed in a low, quiet voice as though to not draw too much attention to their conversation. "That's like.. what.. twice now that that's happened?" Reyna scowled in much the same way Athan was before heaving a heavy sigh. Normally she wouldn't care, but Athan wasn't the sort to just lose control of things like that. Something weird was up and she wanted to know what it was before things spiraled out of control.

Last time that happened it hadn't be pleasant -- not that Athan could control the fact that Doran was a complete nut case hell-bent on destruction, but it was still a rather unpleasant fact.

"Don't worry about it for now. I'll figure out what it is soon enough," he murmured quietly, "For now.. let's just make sure everyone is enjoying the party."

Reyna nodded at that and sipped at her punch with a sort of moody look that was only a little less like a scowl.

"Panacea, goddess of medicine," Memi said, giggling. "Harmodius said I could try on some of his collection, and it felt right." She twirled, being somewhat careful not to whack anyone with her staff. "Besides, I can actually run around in it." Freedom of movement was always a plus, though she was being extra careful not to ruin his antiques.

Luthenep raised a brow. "You dressed up as the Goddess in your gem?" That was odd. "But it suits you. Azel likes it too - especially the golden parts." He chuckled, but suddenly went serious again. "Which reminds me.. That Goddess of yours, if she's the Goddess of Medicine, does that mean she's really good at healing?"

Aislin in the meanwhile had finally found the mini bar and poured herself a glass of.. whatever it was. It smelled good, but a first careful sip told her this was not something that should be used for a drinking game.
Curiously she peered over to Luthenep. It was strange seeing him in a group like that, since he wasn't exactly the social kind. But then again he seemed to make a hell lot of friends lately. And the girl he was talking to right now.. Aislin's eyes slightly widened and she craned her neck to get a better view at the costume the girl was wearing.

"Thank you~! You do the dark look well," she replied. "And.. um... lemme check."

Hey

You're certainly rude today.

Are you good at healing?

It isn't as though I can wave my hand and cause wounds to seal up. I rely on knowledge and skills, not pure magic, to do what I do. Relying overmuch on magic can have deleterious effects.

Um?

Panacea sighed. Bad stuff happens.

"She says she uses skill, not magic," Memi reported. "So it's not a 'poof, you're healed' type thing. Someone's hurt? I made Asclepius a Healing element. Well, sonic too." Memi remained blissfully unaware of Aislin's attention.

Wren was late, fashionably late at that, but the odds of him caring were very slim. In fact, he might've had an amused grin on his face because Hawk was berating him for running late ( and any time that Hawk was trying to get on to him was a source of amusement ) but that would've been a little out of character.

Adjusting his hood and robes and then making sure all the spells were in place to ensure his costume was perfect, he let out a pleased sigh.

'... you'll tell me what death's like, won't you?' Hawk said, blind eyes speaking their displeasure behind the mask that covered the upper half of his face. He himself hadn't really dressed up ( and he never would have if he hadn't found something he liked ), but he wore a delicate looking mask on his face that resembled a hawk. The feathers were changed to colors to better suite him and he was rather happy with the mask. It couldn't, however, distract him from the fact that Wren was obviously bent on causing trouble. He was tempted to stop focusing all the excess energy into the quartz pendant carefully held in his hand and use it to zap Wren, but it wouldn't do a thing.

"You've met him," Wren countered smoothly, smiling over his shoulder as he approached Twilight Designs, "so you definitely know what death's like."

'One day, demon, one day.' Hawk ignored him and went on ahead towards the shop. He wasn't really looking forward to anything besides talking with Athan.

"You all ways say that, lovely," sensing Wren's smirking face in front of him caught him off guard and he paused before glowering blindly. The man shrugged his shoulders and went on ahead. "Was just going to get the door for you." With a small gesture, the door to the shop opened up and Hawk scowled at him before slipping on ahead.

He knew, had Seen, that Wren was going to make an entrance. The demon wouldn't be satisfied with anything else.

As Wren entered, it was obvious that shadows were cloaking him. From every angle it was hard to see his face, as it was entirely shadowed. The only thing that seemed to emit light was the faint green glow of his eyes. Even then the area still seemed a bit darker as the shadows shifted and moved as if there was wind blowing where there wasn't. After entering, he closed the door behind him, adjusted his robes as if they weren't in the right position, and then nudged a dredlock behind an ear that had fallen out of the band that held his hair back.

His face was devoid of any expression and he was truly getting into character at the moment. Playing Mister Death wasn't going to be easy!

Besides, he wasn't going to let up until Athan saw him and even then, it was questionable. First, however, he had to get away from the front door.

"Someone's hurt, yeah." The boy shifted around uneasily, pretty sure that said 'someone' wouldn't appreciate at all having his name or condition mentioned to anyone. "It happened ages ago though, but it was a God that hurt him, so the wound never healed properly - even after that Deity faded away. So I thought maybe it needs another God to take care of that inju-" He broke off mid-sentence, an odd mixture of amusement, curiosity and a frown on his face.
"Ais, what exactly do you think you are doing?"

"Huh?" Aislin blinked. So much for tip-toeing closer unnoticed. "I, erh, just wanted to take a peek at that costume, but didn't want to disturb your conversation, so I.. sneaked." She gave Memi an innocent sweet smile which was an odd contrast to her blood stained costume. "Just wanted to get a closer look at your costume.."
Her voice trailed off as she noticed the door being opened and closed again. She raised on her toes to get a look at who entered, and only moments later she was desperately trying to stifle a laughing fit.

Reyna was contemplating snagging something a bit harder than the punch to drink, and idly wondered what the effects would be on her new form. She didn't have much time to contemplate that, though. She turned when she felt a familiar presence, and caught her first glimpse of Wren's costume. Whatever scowl might've been on her face melted away to complete amusement -- he was dressed as Athan!

By the gods, that man was a genius.

She snickered at that and made her way over towards him. "If we were having a costume contest, you'd have my vote hands down," she laughed.

Athan, on the other hand, wasn't at all amused. He stood with his arms crossed and a rather irritated look on his face. He could deal with being called 'Mr. Death.' Fine. He could cope with everyone assuming he was dressed as the Grim Reaper for Halloween. Fine. But this was unacceptable! Wren was openly mocking him at this point, but then again, he reminded himself, when wasn't he?

There was a brief cursory glance over those present and there were few he knew, if any at all besides the obvious ones, but it was hard to miss Reyna's presence coming closer to him and there was a small quirk of his lips once he saw her and he heard her speak.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Reyna," he said to her, briefly raising an eyebrow in question. Costume contest? What on earth was she going on about? This was how he dressed all the time!

( Wren would happily enjoy those that were trying to contain their laughter, just ... not show it. Trying to stay in character here! )

However, his attention slipped away from Reyna for a moment towards Athan and his eyes narrowed slightly. Obviously, someone was trying to mock him! Look at how he was dressed! He scowled faintly and muttered, to Reyna though not obviously so, "Who does he think he is?"

... why yes, Athan, he did mean you.

Trying to slip further away from his guardian, still not quite sure he was on good terms with him again -- if he had ever been in the first place -- Hawk contemplated throwing the hawk mask at Wren. Except that would've ruined a finely made object and pleased the demon, so it was unacceptable.

It was easy to feel the presence of Mystic as well as a few other wisps that he had never met. There were also some stranger presences, among the guests, tickling his senses, but he ignored them. So far, he had Seen no threat tonight -- well, nothing that could not be handled, but he was hoping ...

Still, he was winding his way through everything towards Athan ( or trying to before he somehow got waylaid, as he had a feeling it was possible ). If had lips, an apologetic smile might've been on them. Some times you simply could not warn people about.

Well," Memi said thoughtfully....

It may not work as well as you might hope. I don't even have a body of my own, yet. She sounded less than happy about that.

Memi paused and refocused on Luthe. "She says don't expect much, at least until she's a little stronger. Panacea doesn't seem mad that I just volunteered her for something.

Panacea didn't share her thoughts with her host, but those who knew her power had returned were few and far between. Any demonstration was an opportunity.

"Okay." Memi didn't seem at all cognizant of any sort of deception, and whirled in place again, the rings on her staff making their noise. "Do you like it? I borrowed it from a friend."

Reyna snickered faintly under her breath and shot a bemused look towards the 'real' Athan. He didn't look pleased, but in all honesty she had yet to see him respond to anything in a positive light. Not really, anyway. He definately wasn't appreciative of her and Wren's constant teasing him -- but that didn't mean she was about to stop. Ohhhh no. It was her sweet revenge for withholding important information from the get go about what he was roping her into.

She opened her mouth to say something else to Wren before she heard a faint, familiar cry. Sam! Poor thing! She'd left her in the backroom in her babypen a few minutes ago and had all but forgotten. "I'll be right back," she said instead of the barb about Athan she had come up with, "But help yourself to all the goodies we've got laid out, hm?" She shot him a fanged grin and darted off towards the back room in quick strides to comfort her little girl.

She paused briefly to lay a comforting hand on Mystic's shoulder. She felt his mood shift to something a bit darker when Hawk had drifted in with his guardian. He had been amused by Wren's attire, but there was definately some tension between him and the other Fiend -- not to mention Athan.

Mister Death himself glared as Reyna walked past him but his expression softened about the edges when he caught sight of Hawk heading his way. He offered him a smile and pushed off the wall he was leaning against to greet him. "Good evening, Hawk. Glad to see you made it to the party," he replied, making absolutely no mention of his guardian. He'd ignore him for the entire evening if need be. "That is an interesting mask you have," he went on with a faint smirk, "Quite fitting I should think."

"He's not feeling too well right now. He's been taking care of a lot of gods recently, and no one's taking care of him," she said, sounding at once sympathetic and irritated with Harmodius. "He has a whole lot of this stuff, and it's all really old, but I'm being really careful with it." Memi smiled up at her. "You like it?"

"Mh-hm," Aislin nodded, though somewhat puzzled. What kind of person took care of gods? A priest perhaps? "Could you let me take a look at one of those brooches? They look really pretty, and I happen to like snakes." She just had to know if they were genuine.. "And, erh, do you think your friend might be interested in selling some of that really old stuff he has?"

Her glance darted over to Luthe, but if he knew something, he didn't show it.

"Probably not," Memi said. "And sure, you can look at them, I like snakes too. But it's holding my dress up, so I can't really take it off, sorry. You can still look, though." She smiled at Aislin.

"Luthe, if he wants help, we'll see what we can do. I dunno if we can even do anything, though."

"Ah, erh, sure. I didn't think of that, sorry." Aislin smiled apologetically.

"Yeah, sure - because greed makes you blind," Luthe said with an amused grin. He winked at Memi. "You should see the treasures she keeps up in the attic - a dragon's hoard is nothingagainst it. Actually.." He leaned forward and wispered into Memi's ear. "She's so greedy for treasures that I'm convinced she must have been a dragon in her last life."

"Luthenep!"

Giggling the boy dived out of Aislin's reach when she tried to swat him, hiding behind Memi.

Aislin rolled her eyes. "Really, I'm not that bad, I just.. want to see they were genuine, because I deal with antiques."

"Suuuuuure... Just that you never sell anything." Luthe laughed. "Memi, don't let her get her hands on those brooches, you might never see them again. And.. Erh, thanks for that offer - both of you. Even if you can't do anything."

"Well, I can't let her have them, they're not mine," Memi said reasonably. "But she can look at them." She brushed her hair off her shoulders; even though she was supposed to look Greek, she couldn't do her hair very well, so she'd just left it down. "And you're welcome. Just come by anytime. I promise I won't introduce you to Illumin unless you ask." She grinned and winked at Luthenep.

I'd appreciate that," Luthe said with a sheepish smile. "If he's your friend he's probably a nice guy, but Azel and I are both of the Shadows. And the person I'd like to introduce to you is as well. Light.. just isn't good for us." He looked at Aislin, his eyes meeting hers, his glance oddly serious.

Uh-oh, there he goes again.. Aislin bent down to examine the golden brooch, pretending to not notice that reproachful look. Hm, looks like it's the real thing. No way to tell it for sure under these condition though. But I wonder what other treasures that friend of hers keeps..

"Thank you," she smiled at Memi. "If Luthe visits you, remind him to leave a card of our shop - just for the case your friend does want to sell something." She gave the brooches a last longing glance. "Well, I'll go have a look what that fake Athan is up to - it was nice meeting you."

"He... I dunno, but I like him," Memi said with a shrug. She let Aislin look at the brooches, feeling vaguely uncomfortable. "I'll try. It was nice meeting you too," she told the woman, and as she walked off, Memi leaned toward Luthe and whispered, "She's a little creepy, isn't she? I really don't think Harmodius will sell any of it."

"Creepy is an understatement sometimes.. Though it may be my fault she became like that." He sighed. "It's a long story, and I don't feel like telling it now. Or telling it at all." His gaze followed after his pact partner until her blue dress was no longer visible in the crowd. He had the strangest feeling seeing her vanish like that, like she had been swallowed up by some creepy monster. And it was hard to resist the urge to run after to see if she was still here. He shifted uneasily - he had to talk to Sesostris, maybe he'd know what to do.. And he had to tell him of Memi - or rather Panacea - anyway.

"People rarely sell her something since she's usually way to agressive about it. You always get the impression she's trying to threaten them into selling," he said to Memi. "So, erh, do you want to look around a bit? There's a basket with pretty ceramic eggs as a party favor. They seem to be unbreakable - Azel tried - but actually we found a similar one earlier this week which did break. And it had a very pretty necklace inside. So you might want to take some."

"Have you tried telling her that? It can't be good for business if she can't buy new stuff and won't sell old stuff. Though I guess that's not really a business at all..." She shrugged. "I guess she likes it that way."

"Eggs? That hatch necklaces? Neat! It'd be kinda greedy to take some for everyone back at the shop--with the new people and all, and I haven't met everyone yet." She looked thoughtful. "Are they over near the food? I didn't really want to go near there because these are pretty important to Harmodius..." Memi giggled a little. "Probably shouldn't've taken them out of the shop without his permission anyway, but I didn't want to bug him anymore than I did already."

"Oh, I did try - but she's really more about hoarding than actually having bussiness.. Like a dragon sitting on it's treasure, really." The thought of an Aislin-Dragon sitting on a heap of treasure made him giggle.

"Well, I'm not sure if these eggs will hatch into necklaces as well.." He pointed at the basket. "But they look really pretty as they are. Maybe you could ask Reyna, or Athan, if they'd allow you to take some extras for your friends. I'm sure that wont be a problem." Honestly, he couldn't imagine anyone saying 'no' to that cheerful girl. "And the food's over there. Hm, I could try and spell your dress spill-proof? I'm good with protection spells, and that would only be a variation of it."

"Well, I don't want to take too many. I'll just leave a note in the shop when I get back, though I was thinking of going to the library... not in this though." Memi smiled, thinking of going to the library in costume. In antique costume. Living history and written history in the same building. She giggled. "Yeah, that'd be silly."

"Oh, it is Halloween after all.." Luthenep winked. "Maybe you should try, just to see the stupid faces of the people working there - it might be fun." He stretched, a bit. Those fake wings weren't heavy at all, but damn, they did get uncomfortable after a while.

"I for one will go 'haunting' once it's dark outside, and try to scare the living daylights out of some people," he grinned. With Azel coming along it probably would be more fun than usual.

"That might be fun, but I think I'm going to change to be safe," Memi said. "Though I might trick or treat a bit to get some free candy." She giggled. "After you've finished being scary, you can come by the shop if you want and I'll make you cupcakes. Do you eat?" A valid question. Harmodius usually didn't.

"I don't need to, not normal food at least. But.. I like sweet stuff. Usually I eat souls." It was said cheerfully, but the next moment he was inwardly cursing his own stupidity. Dammit, how could he that have let slipped?! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Just because Laure had simply accepted it without freaking it didn't mean everyone else would suddenly do the same!

He tried to calm himself. Maybe.. maybe she thought he'd just made a joke.

"Well, no sampling," Memi said with a grin. "I'm on someone else's menu." Jokes were good. Jokes helped with the coping. "It's too bad, since I'm about as sweet as they come." She chuckled and shrugged. "Pancake offer's still open."

Whew.. "Sure, I'll take you up on that whenever I have the time. As long as Illumin stays up in his room."

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:40 am

All Hallow's Eve
...the Halloween party continued.

Ying usually had very little trouble talking to other people. Most of them were nice, and the ones that weren't just needed some help. Perhaps it was the other conversations going on around her, perhaps the lingering discomfort from having a floating rock fluttering under her dress, but she backed away from the large group of people. This was a bit much to take.

On the other hand, Xue was feeling rejected. No one had talked to him all night! Frowning, he walked into the center of the room, and in the midst of everyone projected a friendly, but loud, greeting.

HELLOOOOOOOOO!

Reyna came bustling back into the room with Sam in her arms fully-dressed in a little panda suit. She'd been a bit worried that she'd get to hot in the outfit, but she seemed to be doing just fine. She stopped short of heading back towards Wren when she heard Xue's rather loud greeting.

She snickered under her breath in amusement. Any other time she likely would have been annoyed by how loud the boy was, but Wren's costume definately lifted her spirits. "Hello there," she replied with a smile as she idly shuffled Sam in her arms who gurgled something unintelligible and waved with one hand before giggling when her daemon, Fragments, zipped into the room.

The little ghost-like creature did a circle around the entire room before diving back down towards the floor to skitter about Reyna's feet.

Hawk barely even paid attention to Mystic, though the younger fiend threw a knowing look briefly towards him, but otherwise left him be. After all, tonight it wasn't worth picking at him.

'To you too, Athan,' Hawk replied back, finally letting some of his irritation fade away now that he did not have to focus on Wren. It was obvious Athan was trying to do that and ... well. He could endeavor to do so too. 'I figured I might as well come, though ... I didn't quite expect you here.' There was a glint of humor in those eyes of his. 'I wonder if Reyna had to blackmail or bribe you into coming.' He was just teasing of course. As obviously, in the end, Athan would only come if he wanted too.

Raising a hand to mask, Hawk let his fingers brush against some of the feathers. He might have smirked if he had had lips. 'It is and I do like it, even if a bit ironic.'

Wren had merely nodded his head towards Reyna once she departed, wandering about the room ( though going no closer to Athan for now ) and did start to inspect the various things laid out. It wasn't much fun when Athan was bent on ignoring him as well as his own fiend, but he could care less. He had his plans and ... oh, he knew what he was going to do.

He'd get Athan's attention later. After all, revenge was going to be his!

And then he promptly blinked, his attention all most going to Reyna and Sam who were returning, but then to Xue who had ... so loudly called for everyone's attention. Wren arched an eyebrow, not quite use to such an abrupt greeting -- not like that at least.

There was a brief surge of emotion that Wren felt and he glanced towards Hawk. The fiend wasn't too pleased by the sudden greeting. He glared at Xue for a moment before shaking his head with displeasure and turning his attention back to Athan.

Wren rolled his eyes. Hard to believe Hawk was bonded with him and had such a grumpy personality at times.

No wonder he got along with Athan.

A faint smile quirked at Athan's mouth. "No," he replied, "No blackmail this time. She's already called in what favors I owe her, so I'd say I'm relatively safe from that sort of thing for the time being." If he wanted to get technical, Reyna now owed him for his saving her life, but there wasn't anything he wanted to request of the demon. He knew better. Favors and deals with demons were never a good idea even if you were under the impression that you had the upper hand.

"As the owner of this shop, I felt it necessary to be here," he went on as he trailed over towards one of the tables of refreshments to get himself a cup of tea, careful to avoid Wren as he did so, "Even if social functions aren't exactly my forte', but I figured Reyna could handle most of it if need be." He realized that leaving Reyna in charge of a party was a bit ironic considering how reclusive she was, but despite her temperment she was good at pretending so all was well.

Hawk might've smiled a bit if he could, his attention focused where Athan had been for a moment, before he followed after the man. He had a sneaking suspicion of something and while his powers were not quite as frequent lately, he never doubted his gut feelings.

'When it's a demon, them using up all favors is something worth celebrating.' He tilted his head slightly, fingers coming up reflexively to his mask to adjust it briefly. Hawk's Eye was listening to Athan, but it looked like he was staring off at the wall. His attention was on his guardian, on Wren who was no longer paying attention to the empathic boy but rather Athan.

"... might as well be now," Wren murmured to himself, fingers deftly plucking up a candy from a nearby bowl. With Athan relatively close by, he would prove to be an easy target. Eyes glowing brighter for a moment, he raised his hand and took aim to throw the candy.

Was it childish what he was doing? Yes, yes it was. The point of it, however, was that it was fun. And what was a Halloween party without a little mischief?

Hawk let out a mental hiss, a sudden image flooding his mind. Athan was busy getting his drink still and he suddenly pressed towards the man, his hand coming down to rest on his shoulder. Unintentionally, the slow playing image slipped along the bond Hawk shared with Athan.

It was Wren taking aim and pulling his arm back and then pitching it forward to let the candy loose and fly in the air towards Athan's head.

Except it wasn't going to hit Athan's head, because just as it got close enough, Hawk caught it in his outstreched hand that had dropped the quartz pendant down to dangle from it's cord. '... Wren,' he said in an agitated tone, 'cut it out.' And then the Fiend clasped the candy in his hand, the quartz no longer there to take the charge, and let it take on some of the excess energy he contained. Before it burst from the strain of energy he pressed into it, he threw it right back at his bonded.

Hawk wasn't able to watch it fly with his own eyes, but he saw it through his bonded's eyes as it came closer. He felt that sense of disbelief from Wren as the candy shattered right before his face, covering him in a sticky red mess of what had been contained within the piece of candy and the small shards of the outer shell that had keeped the liquid on the inside.

He just did not see as his bonded's hand clenched around several more pieces of candy.

Athan's bright green eyes widened in a brief look of shock at the vision that flashed by his eyes before he realized that it was actually happening. He ducked out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit with the candies that the demon hurled towards his general vicinity.

It was actually Mystic who had the misfortune of being pegged with some of the candy that went flying through the air. His brow furrowed in a dark scowl as his gaze settled on Hawk, who was standing where he was fairly certain the candy had come from. He phased into a more transparent form and through a handful of candies from the table he was standing near towards the other Fiend.

Mass chaos had officially been unleashed, and ironically, it wasn't a Fiend who had started it -- a rare occurance at Twilight Designs.

Hawk moved back to avoid the candies that Wren carelessly threw towards Athan, but were obviously heading towards more than one target. Glad that he didn't get hit, he wasn't expecting to get pegged from the back and he whirled around -- glaring from person to person that he sensed until a static image popped into his mind.

Mystic.

'... nitwit,' he nearly growled at him, a trait picked up from Wren, and then ducked out of the way as his bonded threw more candies. They went sailing passed when he ducked down and, though most wouldn't think it out of place, reached out to see if he could feel Athan's shoulder. He could sense him, but for the moment his senses were a little frazzled with the rapidly flying candies that were being thrown through the air.

"Bugger," Wren muttered, pausing before he even threw another thing of candies. He ... hadn't meant to hit Mystic and he hadn't gotten Athan -- or even Hawk for that matter. "... oh well," he grinned, picking up a candy and bouncing it up and down in his hand. This time, he was aiming to miss and his target? Reyna.

"So, Reyna," he called teasingly to his friend, humor obvious in his eyes, "are you a regular pirate or a pirate elf?" He meant no harm, really! ( And had no room to talk, considering his own ears, but shh. )

Athan frowned as suddenly there was candy and other foodstuffs flying through the air. This was not how he had hoped the party would progress, nor could it possibly be good for business. He glanced towards Hawk who looked a bit out of sorts, but it was no wonder why. He couldn't see the chaos that was unfolding around him.

He reached to grab him by the hand and led him towards the backroom where it was relatively "safe" from the all out food fight that was in progress. "It would probably be a good idea to stay here until it stops," he told him quietly, eyes glowing faintly in the darkness of the room. He cracked open the door just in time to see Reyna snatch up a handful of something to throw at Wren, while yelling at something about it being revenge for the comment about her ears.

He sighed and pressed a hand to his face. This was not good.

'Very good idea,' Hawk murmured, unsure how chaotic the party now was, though he could -- when Athan opened the door -- hear an undignified squawk from his guardian who likely got pelted again.

Slipping a bit further away from the door, just in case anything came in by accident, he raised a hand up to make sure that his mask was not out of place. Satisfied, he let his hand slip back down and twisted his hand so that the quartz pendant could be caught and held in it. 'This is not how I imagined the party would be.' Shaking his head, Hawk could only blame his bonded.

The demon was a loon and speaking of said loon, Wren had taken a break from throwing things to try and brush the candy and other things off of his robes. So much for staying in character and dressing up as Athan for Halloween. Big bust! Oh well, the look on Athan's face had been priceless ...

As soon as food had started flying, Memi had immediately made a panicked sound not unlike a squeak and run from the party, trying not to get anything on her borrowed (antiquities) costume. She didn't know how much she would be dead if she ruined this, but she wasn't going to find out!

Food fight? What was this!? Elysia ducked behind the table with the punchbowl, not wanting to get hit with anything. Why is it that a perfectly dignified party had to break out into a food fight?

Labbie fluttered back from Mystic's shoulder to land on Elysia's once again, and Elysia could feel the wisp's displeasure from the chaos that had broken out in the shop. Elysia felt that it was time to depart, and though she hadn't talked to anyone much, that was okay...She was never the best in large social situations.

Labbie, on the other hand, seemed to have had a good time, mingling with the other wisps and with Mystic. Elysia was now even more curious about what the wisp would look like once it had grown up a bit...Now that she'd seen Mystic as an adult, she was excited to find out more about Labbie.

Suddenly, as Elysia was about to crawl out from behind the table and head for the exit, a flash of pain went through her head, and she passed out on the floor, into the same dream that she'd had just a few weeks ago...

Labbie looked a bit jumpy as Elysia passed out, and as soon as the silver-haired woman's head hit the floor, the wisp reformed it's wings into wispy strands of shadow, and pulled itself over to her, firmly attaching itself to her forehead...

Reyna giggled quietly as Sam tried to turn around in her arms to get a better look at what was going on around her. Her mother had her cradled protectively against her chest. She was fairly certain the little girl would not be at all appreciative of being pegged with candy or whatever else that was flying through the air around them.

The child laughed along with her mother, clearly tickled by the massive mess that the shop had been turned into. Athan, however, was not at all pleased. He stood in the door way of the back room and glowered at the mess that Wren had caused with the help of Reyna.

"You two do realize you'll be the ones cleaning this up, correct?" Athan grated out, displeasure clearly written across his face.

The silverhaired woman smirked faintly and shot a glance towards Wren who was trying to clean up his robes. Without warning she grabbed a handful of candies and hurled them at Athan, but for frowning with a bit of disappointment when the man dodged the projectiles by slamming the door shut.

"... oh hell, I missed him," Wren said, looking up in time to see the door slam shut and the candies hit it. He looked over to Reyna and have a shrug of his shoulders. "You know, two demons cleaning things up shouldn't take that long." Smirking, he walked over towards Reyna and Sam. His fingers wiggled at the little girl and once he was close enough, he started to whisper in a conspiring tone.

"I have an idea. Got any red markers? Or ... red paint? Red something to write with?" Wren really did manage to look entirely too much like Athan in his costume, but it was easy to tell that the mischievous look in those glowing green eyes was all his own.

'Don't think that'd put a dent in anything,' Hawk said, as he heard the door slam shut. His fingers were once again curled in Athan's robes, a firm attachment to something that was steady in his surroundings. He did not know if he wanted to go back out there -- even if the food fight died down.

... unless it was to go back out and do something to Mystic, now there was an idea.

Mystic moved towards Reyna and plucked Sam out of her arms when he realized that his guardian was really too preoccupied being mischievous with Wren to carefully watch the little girl as she usually did. Chaos never failed to erupt when those to went at it.

"I've got a red sharpie in my desk drawer," she murmured before skittering over towards her desk to lift up the table clothe strewn over it to rummage through one of the drawers. She held out the marker with a triumphant smirk to Wren. "...what's it for?" she asked, head tilting to the side.

"Go go Powerrrr Rangers!"

The bellow of a voice gives not enough of a warning before Pippin's official entrance. Exploding through the doorway with tremendous force, he leaps into a stance right there, his arms raised and knees bent in a way to add unintentioned hilarity. It certainly does not help that the man is clad in a spandex Green Power Ranger costume.

Taking off his helmet, Pippin beams brilliantly at the general occupants of the room before inviting himself further inside. At his heels, previously hidden, or at least unnoticed due to their father's commotion, are the Adu known as Mythos and Chronicles. Both sport outrageous, overstuffed pumpkin costumes. Quite ironically, the faces "carved" into their pumpkins are opposite those of the wearer.

Wrapped in its protective leathery cloth, Mythos has the Smokey Quartz well hidden, at least for now.

"Hi, hey, HELLO!" Pippin cheerfully greets everyone and anyone, shutting the door distractedly. The overly hyper charisma has to be explained by some sort of drink he had prior to his arrival, though this is shady territory for the man. "Hope we haven't missed too much of the fun, HEEEE!"

Reyna stopped midstep and burst out laughing at the Pippin. She'd only met him the once when she first got Sam, and the situation had been rather grave. She wasn't accustomed to the man's quirks at all (but she had heard stories from Wren). She stifled her giggles behind one hand before offering the man a fanged grin.

"Hello there," she murmured as she moved forward to greet him but paused when something crunched beneath her boots. Candy. There were peices of candy all of the place along with various other food stuffs that had been flung through the air not but a few moments ago. "Been a while," she went on after shuffling her feet a bit to rid the soles of her shoes of the sticky goo that was on the bottom even though it would likely do her little good.

"Because," Wren said as Reyna got the red marker, "we're going to be decorating --" The demon that was no longer a demon, but actually dressed as Athan let out a particularly un-Athan like squeal and practically pounced on his boys night out buddy.

"Pip!" Pause. "... wow, um. Yeah. Look good in spandex." Wren blinked and shook his head before he turned his attention back to Reyna, though he gave a side long glance to the two children that had come along with Pippin. One of them, he knew, held something that at least one person in the building would not want to see. "Anyway, um ... Reyna?"

The demon slid right back up to his friend to whisper in her ear, shaking his leg a little to get candy bits off of him, "With that marker, we're going to go decorate Athan's gravestone in hearts. I think it's quite fitting. To, you know, let him know how we feel about him."

The silver haired woman snickered under her breath and grinned. "I'm sure he'll appreciate the sentiment," she replied with barely contained mirth. She continued to laugh quietly to herself despite her best efforts as they snuck over to where the gravestones were lined up and went about decorating Athan's with bubbly red hearts.

Mystic watched, vaugely amused by his guardian's antics. If he weren't holding Sam he'd likely join in, but currently the babe was proving to be quite an armful. She gurgled odd little noises as though she were trying to speak and flailed out towards Fragments who was perched on the Shadow's shoulder. He had a feeling she was getting tired of her stuffy, however cute, panda suit and would soon be needing to be put to bed.

Athan decided that it was safe enough to emerge from the backroom once more. He noted that his shop was indeed a mess, and was fairly thankful the floors were not carpeted seeing as their was sticky candy everywhere. It crunched in a rather unpleasant manner with every step he took and he was rather thankful his robes were spelled against such messes or he'd have a terrible time washing his clothes.

The irritated look on his face darkened even more when he caught sight of the two demons. "You two are so cleaning this mess up," he grated out between clenched teeth.

"So, so great ..." Wren broke out in a grin and helped with the decorating of Athan's gravestone. It looked so cute now! So obviously representing of their love for Athan. Though love, in this case, surely meant how much they got a kick out of irritating and bothering him.

"... cleaning what?" The words were innocently spoken and Wren lifted his head to stare at Athan as if he had no clue what he was talking about. Worse was that he really could pull off the look.

Hawk slipped back in as Athan then, a hand resting on the man's sleeve and a scowl on his face as he heard his guardian's tone of voice. The demon just ... couldn't let things go normally. At least, when it came to Athan he couldn't.

'And I'm suppose to be the child here,' he grumbled. Never mind he was certain that Wren was bound to have tried something else while Athan and himself were in the back room.

About thirty minutes later, Labbie detached herself from Elysia's forehead, and hovered over her, flapping her 'wings' slowly and calmly...The dreams were Labbie's creations of course. And, they weren't just normal dreams...they were prophetic dreams. Soon, they would come true, and Elysia would be shocked to see her own child living her dreams. The wisp sent her bonded calming feelings, hoping that it would keep her sane upon awakening. Labbie landed on Elysia's chest, and waited. She would wake up soon enough, and the wisp wanted to be there to help her...if she could.

After what seemed like hours, Elysia's eyelids began to flutter, and slowly her lids opened. She was staring at the ceiling, feeling a bit...sticky. Getting her bearings, she pushed herself up, and saw Labbie, fluttering there in front of her. Though she should have had some extreme emotions upon waking, she felt a calm wash over her. She knew it was the wisp.

Picking pieces of candy off of her velvet dress, she finally stood up, looking disheveled, her hair tangled with sugary candy, and her dress wrinkled and dirty. Labbie just hovered over her shoulder, waiting for what would happen next.

Rubbing her temples, Elysia spoke up, not really caring who was around. "I...I think I need to go home. Nice party though guys." She paused, and gave the rest of the party-goers a wave. "Wait, where did all this candy come from?" She sighed and picked yet another hard candy out of her hair. "Nevermind...maybe I don't need to know. I'll see you all later."

And then, she walked toward the door, pushing it open to let in the cool autumn air. Her headache wasn't quite gone yet, but she thought that perhaps the walk home would help. Giving a last wave to those inside, she stepped out into the night, heading back to the beach house.

Before the door slammed shut, Labbie slipped through the crack, her butterfly wings disappearing, becoming wisps once again.

When Athan entered the room again, Luthenep quickly let the handful of candy he had just been ready to throw drop into one of his pockets. It was probably better to not be caught in the act, he was a guest after all. But.. he had enjoyed himself immensely, Azel as well. But now it seemed like more and more of the guests were leaving..

He made a few steps into the middle of the room, looking around for Aislin to see if she wanted to stick around somewhat longer, or was ready to leave as well. Where the hell was she?

Hawk slipped forward, moving away from Athan ( a brief glance back, as if he could look at him once more ), before he continued moving. He paused near Luthenep and Azel, just as he sensed his presence, and then slipped around him with a quietly murmured word of 'excuse me'.

His target was, actually, Reyna. He knew she still had that red marker and he promptly snagged it out of her hand. 'You're finished, aren't you?' he asked, but did not really leave room for her to respond. It took him a moment or two, but he eventually ascertained which gravestone was Wren's and promptly went to work altering the date on the gravestone and putting in a proper one before he moved on to Reyna's ( and then to the rest of the gravestones after that ).

Wren tilted his head to look over his shoulder and watched Hawk for a moment, watched the numbers written down neatly, and then scowled. "... that is so not right, Hawk."

Wren was, of course, ignored.

Reyna looked startled for about a split second when Hawk snatched the marker away from her. She moved to peer at her own gravestone and tilted her head to the side as she stared at the dates Hawk had written on the foam surface.

"Huh. Always thought I'd die a lot sooner than that," she pondered out loud before shrugging and turning away. She had intended to go snatch Sam away from Mystic but she stopped promptly after one step when Athan cut her off.

He scowled down at her, arms folded over his chest. "Clean up this mess. Now," he grumbled in a low, slightly threatening voice. It seemed he was actually beginning to lose his temper, something that was quite a rare occurance. Then again, everyday wasn't quite Halloween at Twilight Designs, and Wren was dressed up as the fuming man.

And not just dressed up. He went the whole nine yards. Glamour. Realistic robes. For a while he was even "in character" so to speak.

The silver haired woman scowled back up at him. She'd give him that. She'd let him be irritated for a bit. "Fine," she hissed, "Not like I'd leave you to pick up this mess anyway."

'Shows what you know,' Hawk muttered back at Reyna, briefly pausing to twirl the marker in his hand before continuing on with his work. Besides, it gave him the time to work out the dates that needed to be written down. He had to concentrate some, not everything just came to him.

Wren's eyes flared a brighter green for a moment, briefly the true blue of his eye color peeking through before the glamour shifted back into place. "Whatever," he finally muttered, whether it was at Hawk or Athan was unknown. "I'll help, Reyna." A look was briefly given to Athan to dare him to say something in response to him saying he'd help.

He helped make the mess, he'd clean it up as well. Of course, first he wanted to snack on while he cleaned and he moved to pick up what looked to be a pumpkin lollipop. He could've swore, however, that they had been eggs previously. Undoing the wrapper, he popped into his mouth and started to suck on it.

Then he blinked and pulled it out of his mouth.

"Hey! These taste like souls!" A brief pause. "Yummy!" And it was promptly popped right back into his mouth while he went about figuring out where to start cleaning ( while he slid some of the lollipops into his pockets for later comsumption; they weren't real souls, but they'd hit the spot when he got a craving ).

Reyna thought for a moment about saying something snide and rude to Hawk for that biting little comment, but decided against it. She wasn't bonded to him, and in general, crossing a Seer was not a good idea. Even if said Seer was merely a child that was far wiser than his years. She frowned and kept her comments to herself before glancing towards Wren.

"Seriously?" she asked, a bit wide-eyed. Kickass! She skittered towards him and peered into the basket. There was an assortment of black candles and the orange suckers that Wren had tried. The other things that had hatched from the unclaimed eggs had seemingly escaped, but considering how those particular eggs disappeared at random, she wasn't surprised.

"I grabbed one of these earlier," she murmured as she sifted through her pockets and then her sash tied at her waist to find the little horned, red egg, curious to see if it had hatched. She sulked a bit when she discovered it hadn't.

Hawk was back to semi-ignoring people again anyway as he felt his way along to the next grave stone. Another date had all ready formed in his head and he was well on his way to writing it down in red marker after he crossed out the other information on the thing. Accuracy was key, after all.

"Yeah, seriously," Wren mumbled around the sucker. "Didn't expect something so tasty ..." He looked over the other items briefly before looking towards Reyna as she peered at the horned egg. "That's interesting," he murmured, looking at it for a moment before dismissing it. It wasn't that interesting -- just a little demonic.

"Wonder about the one I found." Shuffling about in the hidden pockets in his robes, he reached for what should've been a bloody egg, but came out as a pendant with a blade and rubies. "Huh. Didn't expect that.

"Right." He said after a moment of staring at the necklace before slipping it back into his pocket. "Cleaning?"

Reyna started suddenly when Wren mentioned their needing to be cleaning. "Uh.. yeah," she murmured as she hid away the egg once more with a visible amount of effort. It was so pretty, and shiny, and red! She liked that color. And it was shiny. And.. she needed to go get the mop and bucket out of the closet in the hallway that led out to the alleyway rather than coveting the shinyshiny egg she'd snatched earlier.

'I'm going to take Sam home,' Mystic replied as she headed for the back room. Sam was half asleep in his arms with her little face buried against the Shadow's neck. He swayed slightly to rock her as he rubbed her back to keep her comfortable. She'd gotten rather grouchy towards the end of the party.

"Alrighty," Reyna replied with a smile, "I'll see you at home then." She sighed faintly as she watched Mystic leave with her little girl before heading off to get the cleaning supplies they'd need to clean up the front end of the shop.

Athan was tempted to leave. The comfort of his own home was infinately better than hanging around the shop with the two demons lurking about, but he wanted to make sure things were cleaned. It wasn't so much that he doubted Reyna (and begrudgingly Wren) but he was in an irritable enough mood to stay out of spite.

He glanced over towards Hawk who was still writing dates on the tombstones. He chuckled quietly under his breath and thought for a moment to tell him that what he was doing wasn't particularly nice, but he did find it to be rather amusing.

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:44 am

Journal Entry
Journal entry by Hawk.

I figured I should keep some sort of written record, dream journal, something to keep track of what my visions are, what ever.

Of course, right now, I've really only had one thing to say since Halloween: if it wasn't for the fact I'd likely destroy myself in the process, Wren would be a very, very dead demon. I can't believe what he did, let alone who he dressed up as. I'm beginning to wonder if I potentially did something to Athan in what ever past life I lived, because I know my being bonded to Wren is revenge upon him from Athan, but sometimes I wonder if being bonded to Wren was revenge against me too.

Besides, I think the only redeeming quality about this entire house is the fact that Lafe is here and he's the only one that I can tolerate.

... and I'm still having trouble with my powers. They're not quite working. They haven't worked right since that voice appeared, since the darkness ...

Doesn't matter.

Though, I'm certain Wren's staring at me as if he can't figure out how the hell I'm writing. Moronic demon.

I'm blind, not stupid.

Writing is well within my capabilities, but I've lost all taste for it at the moment with his attention on me.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:45 am

Lost
Wren and Hawk both go missing.

With the rather sudden disappearance of Mael, Wren's son, it seems he too has gone missing. Why, or for what reason, is unknown. One could only assume he is looking for answers. Due to the nature of the bond which sustains a Shadow, Hawk is with him, and therefore also missing.

Despite his bond with all Shadows, Athan cannot locate them despite Reyna's pestering that he ought to at least try. All he can ascertain is that Hawk still exists, but the trace of him is so faint, it is obvious that they are very, very far away.

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:49 am

M.I.A. Teenager
Hawk is still missing, but he becomes a teenager.

He felt a small, static-like shock emanate from his chest before running down his left arm all the way to his fingertips. The feeling startled him and took him off guard as it had come virtually out of nowhere. Athan paused for a moment, wavering slightly near Reyna's desk which caused the demon to peer up from her sketchbook to gaze over at him a bit anxiously.

"Old man I'm not going to have to take you to the hospital am I?" she grumbled. Really. Casting spells to cure a poison was one thing, heart attacks she could not fix. She sighed and continued to gaze over at him as he simply shook his head no. Damn frail humans.

"I'm fine," Athan insisted as he straightened back up with a small smile on his face.

Reyna arched a brow. The hell was he up to..?

He turned to continue on his way towards the back before pausing briefly within the doorway to cast a glance back towards her. "As are Wren and Hawk... by the way," he mentioned briefly with a wave of his hand before disappearing into the next room.

A slightly puzzled look crossed her face. What a weirdo. At least she knew well enough that there was likely a truth to Athan's words. That in itself was reassuring.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 10:55 am

Somebody's Eden: Return of the Seer
Hawk returns in the nick of time, but without his bonded.

Angel entered the shop once more, in her arms cradled the item she had been asked to find. Strangely enough, she had had a fun time coming into possession of it. She walked toward Mystic and set the item in front of him. "This is what you asked me for, right?" She asked quietly, a smile on her face at being able to be helpful.

Delilah sat beside Mystic, quiet and lady-like, her hands folded in her lap. She had stopped trying to touch him hours ago after her hesitant little fingers went right through his hand. She looked tired and stretched thin, something unheard of for the strange little flower-girl. Her big eyes focused on the door of the shop as they waited.

She had stopped talking thirty minutes ago. Mystic simply seemed too tired to answer and she knew that bothered him.

The bell tinkled suddenly and Delilah looked up to see her mother and White Opal return. She offered a small smile, hopeful. Kova returned the smile and held up a little blue velvet pouch. A golden tassel held it closed and it appeared to contain something heavy. The tall space pirate brought the bag immediately across the shop and laid it in front of Mystic. "Phoenix talon," she announced. Then, glancing at Delilah, she stepped back again and waited. Her look of hope was the exact same endearing expression as her daughter's.

Amon entered the shop, hands dug deep into the pockets of his coat, his expression dark and foreboding, promising nothing good to whoever might try and attempt to speak to him. The events of the past weeks, ever since he'd purchased that cursed jade pendant, had led him to be incredibly cranky and irritated. The trouble he'd had to go through to get his hands on the item Merci had requested hadn't helped much either, on the contrary. Why was he doing this again..? Oh, right, to get rid of 'it'.

"Here," he said gruffly, handing Mystic a small envelope of silk paper, a certain nephrite pendant dangling from a leather string wrapped around his wrist. "The dragonfyre. I hope just the petals will be enough, they cost me a small fortune." His mouth snapped shut, and he moved aside to make way for the next person. He didn't really care about the money, he could earn that sum again easily enough. But if, instead.. He glanced down at the intricate pendant dangling from his wrist. According to Merci he was stuck with that cursed thing, but he wasn't quite willing to accept that. Surely there was a way to get rid of it.

But for that, he'd have to speak to this.. Athan.

Esfandiar was too distracted to really think about what was going on around him - the shadhavar trailed back from Sepehr's shuttered shop directly to the Gate again, and then to Twilight Designs without taking much note of his surroundings. He kept seeing the sorcerer's pale, pinched face, first blank with fear, then taut with anger. A memory that had never belonged to him was rattling around in his mind now. A violation of trust.

There seemed to be a small collection of spell ingredients forming on the counter; Esfiandiar put his in the pile with the identifying note on top of it, then retreated. But not too far - regardless of his own mood, he did still owe Athan a debt. He stationed himself in a corner, leaning against the wall and folding his arms in front of him.

Pyrite slid in and out of the shadows, distraught by her bonded's anger. Esfandiar felt a questioning breath of thought from the Fiend but did not move. I did not care to see such things, know such things. Sepehr did not want that, either. What gives you the right? he thought, ferociously.

The soft mental touch withdrew at once. She must have heard. Esfandiar shook his head and remained where he was, brooding.

The door opened once more, revealing a blue-haired woman and the red shadow trailing her. The bag containing the lezuralis was hooked to the chains that trailed her sides, and glowing blue eyes widened once she finally got a good look inside. "Mystic !"

Zero's face went pale. He was.... He was....

Red's reaction was similar, but at the same time pretty different. He all but rushed for the other fiend, regardless of who or what might be in between the two of them.

Damnit, this was all his fault !

Echo was only too pleased to be rid of the void. It was not something she cared to have - and now she had it in her possession not for hours, but while longer. She was pleased to have been given it, but until she had set the vial elsewhere and it was not in the capable hands of those that actually knew what was going on, the woman could not breathe easily.

But she could not just leave, that would feel simply wrong. Instead, Echo found an empty wall and leaned against it. Pez had been quite thankfully quiet since re-entering the shop. Who knew, maybe the audible floating rock had a sense of understanding after all.

Echo could not stay still, she was too agitated, and even more so because she could not figure out where the emotion was coming from. Sure, she wouldn't wish being turned into a statue on anyone, but she hardly knew the people she went on the hunt to help.

To pass the time, Echo had taken out a copper penny. She would drop it on the group, and Pez would fetch it - which meant covering it in shadow until it could not be seen. But it always fell at her feet, and all the small woman had to do was lean down and pick it up, only to continue it again. It was pointless, but it kept her mind elsewhere.

She glanced at her watch, was it time yet?

Dio popped through the storefront and paused just inside getting his bearings. His eye widened at the fact there were so many people, and he immediately started to feel panic. One or two he could handle, a crowd like this scared him. The flash of blue caught his eye and he focused in on Zero, if she was here then Red would be too. Red would protect him from the scary. The unhidden eye scanned the room, that’s when he saw Mystic, and next to him Red. He made a beeline for his Red and caught him by the back of his vest, hiding behind him, body curled as closely into Red's back as he could get. Terror was to tame a word for how he felt now, he recognized what was happening to Mystic, and he knew what it felt like.

Merci was not far behind Dio, shoving through the door with little preamble. Her tail drooped with obvious exhaustion. She worked hard to get what she had, and was actually quite proud of having found it. Who would have known that finding it would have been such a pain in the a**?

Her green eyes looked over the room when the feeling of terror hit her from Dio. The passive look turned into a solid frown when she managed to spot him, and next to him, Mystic. He looked horrible. She made her way over and set the box down, opening the top to reveal the colorful liquid swirling inside. "I hope this helps Mystic..." She didn't want to say anything else, because it seemed to be an awkward situation. Instead she just backed up and shot pensive looks toward her ward.

Mystic remained as still and silent as the two statues near his side as he watched as guardians and those that simply had aided him out of kindness filed in one by one. Steadily they had been arriving for what seemed an eternity, but in truth it could have only been an hour or two. He blinked groggily as he tried to force himself to focus on his task at hand. They had gone so far out of their way for him. For them.

He could not fail them. Especially not... her.

Faded hands reached to gather the ingredients together, to sort them, to count, and to take note. Having something else to focus upon lent him a strange sort of strength which he clung to desperately. All his remaining energies were focused upon this moment. Not even his cloak remained substantial. He had nothing to spare to maintain the guise.

It wasn't important. His task was all that mattered. She was all that mattered. Above all else it was alwaysalwaysalways her.

He flipped the pages of the heavy spellbook that sat atop the desk before stopping upon the page that listed all the ingredients of the antidote. Mentally he checked them off one by one.

One by one. One by one. By one by... one.. was missing.

His eyes widened and a thrill of panic shot through him. No. No. No. Not ... possible. Not..

He counted again. And again. Still missing. Still gone.

Gone as he soon would be.

Echo was one of the last to arrive, but she was still anxious. When the dark and fading Mystic moved, however, she stopped playing around. Intently, she watched as he sorted through the items... and it looked like everything was going to be okay.

But then there was a pause. The woman didn't know quite what was happening now, but Pez had a feeling. The shadowed gem was nestled near her ear and was twinkling and babbling incomprehensibly - and through him... Echo frowned and watched Mystic.

What was going on? What did this mean? Curses her reluctance to not learn this magic stuff! Echo's hands were clenched at her side. She wanted to help, but didn't have the knowledge to understand how she could.

Angel watched the fading ghost-like creature before her go from confident to dismayed, to perhaps frightened. Something wasn't right. She wasn't sure how to react, but she knew that this was not a good situation for this Mystic to be in.

Dio shifted and ducked his head around Red, his burgundy eye moving to watch Mystic as he moved. Something was wrong, and he knew it. His fingers tightened on Red's vest momentarily before he shoved his panic aside. Right now, he couldn't deal with his fears. His friend was in trouble and it should be all that mattered. He drifted slowly a little closer to Mystic, 'Whats wrong? Is something wrong?' His voice was quiet, he didn't want to talk in front of all these people. He wanted to curl up and hide in Red's arms, but he kept his eyes focused on Mystic.

Merci quirked a brow and pulled out a folded and refolded piece of paper. Everything that had been on it was marked off. She was sure she had gotten the right thing.

Red took a sharp "step" backwards when Dio all but clung to his vest, as he wasn't expecting something like this to happen. He almost panicked for the split second it took him to recognize who it was, and then his turn took a sharp, protective turn. One arm moved to hold Dio, bringing some of the fabric of his coat along to try to envelop him - almost as if trying to hide the little panicked fiend from the word.

However, some of his panic returned once he clearly saw that something wasn't right. "...Mystic ?"

s**t. This had to work. He couldn't die. He couldn't...

He was so going to kill whatever b*****d thought up all this with his bare hands.

Something wasn't right. Something DEFINITIVELY wasn't right. Red's worry only made her own skyrocket. Damnit ! "Mystic, what's wrong ?!"

Esfandiar observed, using his anger with Pyrite as a shield - he was here to see his debt repaid, nothing more - but as those around him began to panic, his arms slowly lowered to his side. This 'Mystic' that had spoken with him, that Pyrite had drawn memory and void out of... so pale, barely-there...

Ending; Bonded; Negative, Pyrite ventured, a curl of shadow emerging from Esfandiar's own and wrapping tentatively around his ankle.

What do you mean? The thought was, again, directionless, but as before Pyrite picked up on it easily.

Bonded; Required. Bonded; Lack: Existence; Lack.

Esfandiar let out one long, slow breath. So... the transparent Fiend was... dying, then? And what of Athan? Someone had not kept their part of the bargain, that much was clear, and the shadhavar's face took on an expression of anger once again, but for a very different reason.

"Is there time? The markets of Tesfaldir..." he offered, speaking into the chaos in general.

Delilah chewed her lower lip as she edged closer to Mystic and peered at the items spread in front of him. Her eyes flicked from them to his face and back. She set her hands on the counter, not quite touching the items. "Mystic?" she asked softly. "Do you need me to do anything?"

Kova, on the hand, was now trying to keep her hands around White Opal who pulsed and vibrated almost violently. Nearly coherent waves of feeling swept over her, coming from the stone. Worry, fear, nervousness.

Mystic shook his head, though the movement left him feeling somewhat dizzy. 'There are items missing. I am...' he trailed off as he came to realization that even his voice was leaving him. He ducked his head and swallowed thickly. He didn't know what else to do. '... fading.'

Outside the shop it took Trivii several conflicted moments to push the door open and walk in, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, the girl removed her sunglasses and golden eyes sparked in the dim area searching though the gathering of fiends she had never before seen.

Skimming over Zero and Red, Kova and Opal, finally finding the elder fiend. "Mystic." She spoke softly enough as not to be heard, pushing forward from the fringes and extending a small corked jar with the scales inside.

"Mystic, I hope these can help... Medusa Scales." Backing up half a step, she smiled faintly at her friend, at a complete loss for more to say.

Vibrating excitedly the little stone clung to Trivii's shoulder, extending anxious tendrils to examine the other fiends and hosts.

"What can we do to help you, Mystic?" Angel called, her eyes filled with worry. Something had truly gone awry. "There must be something...Anything." She said, stepping forward to stand more with the others who had come. "What can we all do to help you?" She asked, hopeful.

The elder shadow's eyes widened, a look of surprise (perhaps even excitement?) thrilled through him. They were still a few items short, but if others came. If others came while he started the spell! If there was enough left from what he had brought from Reyna's study it could buy them some time.

He stood again with a certain desperate determination as he began drawing runes atop the wood of the table. This was going to get messy and quickly. 'Stay back,' was the best warning he could manage to give the rapidly growing crowd of anxious guardians and onlookers.

Esfandiar's eyes narrowed, and he stayed where he was. Whatever was going on - he was going to listen to the barely-there words that the fading Fiend projected, even as Pyrite all but cut off the circulation to his feet in her clutching worry. There's a plan, he has a plan, now let go of my ankles, he informed the shadows at his hooves.

The tendrils withdrew immediately, and Pyrite herself pooled out of the shadow, but hung close by her bonded. Her fingers did not so much as twitch in the direction of the others gathered there. Many, she offered, phasing partway through the wall.

Yup. Not good. He seemed to be fading, and quickly. Even with some of his voice gone, she understood enough for her to react and pry the two boys away from him, worry in her eyes.

s**t, this had to work. If it didn't... Well, not only she probably wouldn't get Ajit here in time, but that somehow seemed even more suicidal then letting Mystic do a spell with incomplete ingredients.

Merci stayed where she was and tucked the note back into her pocket. She moved over to stand next to Zero. "Things will be alright, we've done what we can at this point. Though I think that fellow over there had the right idea." She gestured at Esfandiar. Thats when her eyes narrowed and she looked at the bottle, "Those look like snake scales.. and if you needed medusa scales I have three of the whiny brats at home."

Dio clung to Red and pressed as close as he could. He wanted to help, and he knew that he could do that best by backing off. 'Lets give him room Red. He knows what he is doing, and if he needs help he knows he can ask us.' Dio's voice was still very quiet. His head tilted up and he offered him as much of a smile as Fiends are capable of, hoping to help alleviate his friends fears.

"Del, come back here. Don't stand so close to Mystic." Kova took a reluctant step backwards herself even as the stone in her hands tried to push forward instead. The flower-girl shook her head and sank to sit just behind Mystic on the floor. She brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, chin resting atop. Her wide blue eyes stared up at the Fiend.

The spell didn't take the same way as it did before. It didn't form the gelatinous ooze that had cured Zero's arm. It was only half formed and melded strangely. It took on a strange glow and he half feared that he had endangered them all by being so bold as to think he could control and sustain it without all the proper ingredients.

He dared to look away for a solitary moment as his gaze settled upon Delilah. 'Back room. There may be other items left from before.' It would also keep her busy and out of harm's way.

Excited and fearless the floating cabochon of Carnelian moved so close as to almost touch Mystic.

"Get out of Mystic's way, Carnelian." Scooping a hand to cup the wisp she pulled it into her own auric field.

"Is there anything else I can do to help?" The quiet purr of words was spoken in sincerity as she stepped back into the room at large. Full of guilt that she had been so tardy.

Mystic shook his head once. No. This was something he must do. He alone must cast the spell. Involving more people could cause more trouble. His form was at least mostly transparent and intangible save for when he called on what precious little energy he had left to move an object or stir the spell ingredients. The only thing he truly needed at that moment was time and the final items to complete his work, but he seemed to be swiftly running out of time and the items.... still missing.

There was nothing he could do, and that was frustrating him to no end. Zero was also doing a very good job at blocking his pathway to the elder shadow, too. Damnit, she knew him much too well already. There had to be some way, something to at least keep him from fading even further, because.... how much would be too much ? Was that already done ?

And if only they had been more careful with that stupid piece of paper.... !!!!!!!

He held Dio closer, but his eyes where almost alit with anger and worry.

Dio floundered in his mind before a memory caught him, it was faint. It was something he didn't WANT to remember and it made him hold to Red more tightly. He shut his eye and tried to clear his thoughts. He had been as close to death as Mystic was now, and when he was, Red had saved him. Red saved him, even if he hadn't known it by giving him a piece of his own strength to feed on. The little black fiend tried, he tried to reach out and bolster Mystic.

He wasn't strong enough. He opened his eyes and looked up at Red. 'Red, save him. Like me, remember. Save him, you are so strong, you can give him some if you try. Make him strong too, strong enough.' He didn't know how else to word it. His hand squeezed Red's arm, and it was obvious he wasn't going to let go while the other Fiend was attempting it.

Merci frowned a little bit, because she had no idea what Dio was talking about. "Dio what are you saying?"

Dio made a frustrated sound, 'Red can share! Please share with him!'

There was pure confusion emanating from the red shadow, at first. What the heck was Dio talking ab-

Silence.

He remembered panic. Instinct. Not rational thought, simple, pure reaction.

Maybe that was what he was doing wrong. He was thinking entirely too much, about s**t that couldn't be changed.

Time to react.

Red stilled completely, eyes fluttering closed as he reached out for Mystic with all that he had.

He had done this once, and damned if he couldn't do it again !

Zero quite honestly had no damn idea what was going on anymore. "Red, what the hell...."

Trivii drew further away from the group watching in stunned silence and sheltering her own little wisp against her body.

Struggling against her guardians hold, frustration radiated from Carnelian as she was unable to dive into the fray.

Eyes narrowing the cat girl watched the duo of Black Star and Red. Frozen where she stood.

User Image

Another figure entered the shop, though not by conventional means. He floated through the door and past those that stood in his way, drifting easily between and around lolling figures despite his blindness. It was merely a hindrance. His true Sight aided him far more than any that he could have been born with.

'Save your strength, Alisari. Your attempt to share your energy, while a sweet notion, is for naught. He is too far gone,' he said aloud. His voice was deceptively sweet, yet clearly still masculine. 'Thankfully, you're not dead. That would have thrown a kink in things entirely.'

He drifted directly over towards Mystic who was now glaring daggers at him, eyes burning bright with anger, and oh what was that? Could that be shock? It had been quite some time since they had last merry met. The Seer radiated a sort of smug smirk before settling directly in front of the desk. 'At least not yet, that is..'

Mystic snarled, face twisting into a mask of rage, all-too reminiscent of his bonded when her temper flared beyond her control. It was in that moment that he faltered. Just slightly. It was just enough to cause some of the bright, glowing fluid within the copper basin to slip over the edge, hit the desk, and then drip like liquid mercury onto the child that sat stubbornly next to him.

He gasped and Hawk swore. That he had not foreseen. She was meant to be in the backroom. Hadn't that fool warned her? No, no. He had. Stubborn child!

Hawk interrupted both the elder Shadow's thoughts and cut him off before he could make another feeble attempt at his now garbled speech. 'Clearly, we haven't the time for this. Hurry. You need my help to finish the spell. Before anyone else ends up hurt.' He at least Saw that she would indeed be fine. Resilient, but still foolish.

Delilah gasped, a tiny surprised squeak, and tilted backwards where she sat to lean against the wall. Her hand clamped over where the potion had hit on her forearm and she squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to not cry out loud. She knew her mother and had already heard the faint sound of the tall space pirate shifting. "Mama, no," she ordered in a deceptively strong voice. The potion started to burn. "You're going to mess up Mystic's spell. I'm okay."

She lifted her hand to peer at the skin and paled beneath her golden tan. Those close enough could just about see the sudden lines of angry black pulsing along the area, moving as if following veins. She pursed her lips and put her attention back on Mystic and the stranger more firmly.

"Del..."

The anguish in Kova's voice forced her to edge her seat away slightly until she was about two feet further away.

It wasn't working, it wasn't working, it wasn't <********> working and now there was this random fruitcake coming out of nowhere trying to tell him what he should or shouldn't do. Ohhh, that did -not- sit well with him, at all.

After all, if there was one thing the child hated more than being ordered around, it was failure, especially with himself. The two things that saved Hawk from Red making his way to him and giving him a rather volatile (and probably amusing) piece of his mind was the fact that he was pissed beyond words, and that, well, Dio clinging to him like a lifesaver actually provided a damn good anchor at keeping him rooted down in place.

Dio's worry and desperate need to do something was derailed at the entrance of Hawk. He had no idea who he was and the natural curiosity bubbled to the surface. Who was this? Why did Mystic not like him? Wait did he say Alisari? Where did he know that word from?

It was about then that he registered the anger rolling off Red. His train of thought throughly derailed he patted his friends arm soothingly. 'He's one of us Red, he'll help. He has to help.' He was feeling a little disoriented, and he had to remind himself that all that truly mattered right now was fixing Auntie Reyna, saving Mystic, oh, saving the Athan man, and keeping Red calm. Not necessarily in that order but pretty close.

He was patting Red on the arm, when he noticed the fact there were a number of little wisps in the room. 'Red don't do something violent in front of the wisps.'

Mystic tried to contain his rage. It was dampened only slightly by his anguish for Del, but it allowed him enough clarity to focus. He projected his emotions and disjointed thoughts upon Hawk to interpret. Speaking was in fact useless to him. He could no longer find his voice.

'I can charge the spell. It will be enough to return one of them to normal.'

Bright, violet eyes narrowed. Only one? Only ONE of them??

'And it must be Athan.' Hawk held up a hand to placate the other. He already knew what his argument would be and while it was valid, it was the only true solution. 'You will have to trust me. Athan's true element is earth not darkness and shadow. He will respond better to it than Reyna will, and he can save her.'

He did not want to believe. He flexed his fingers as he resisted the urge to clench his fists as currently both his hands were suspended on either side of the basin to hold the spell. 'No..'

Hawk scowled as he was branded with a particularly harsh vision of what the future very well could be if he did not comply. 'I've no desire to become eldest, Mystic.'

The surprise of the new comers entrance, and the spill onto the child, the rushed exchange didn't quite register with Triv.

Everything was moving so fast and the smell from the simmering potion was turning her stomach. Side stepping closer to Red and his friend, she felt drained as Carnelian again slipped her grasp to hover closer to the pair.

Little tendrils caressing the pair Carnelian exuded confidence and bravery at the pair, blindly mixed affection and, oddly enough, concern and a questioning thought.

Her eyes narrowed at the potion brewing fiends. They were going to succeed... was that a good thing? Did she want them to succeed? Gold mingled oddly with opal, a light of conflict in the recesses of her eyes the cat girl focused on anything but the scent as what was transpiring finally connected with the facts she had.

And her stomach churned.

Pyrite slid in and out of the shadows. So many thoughts, memories sleeting through the air, close enough to reach out and grab; but then the one that was nearly melted away to nothing would vanish entirely.

She wanted to find out more about that void. And she could not do so if he melted.

Watch; Urgent, she told Esfandiar, firmly.

He looked down at her, where her dark eyes blinked out of darker shadow, where his body leaned against the wall. I can't do anything-

She flicked a tendril of shadow at him, annoyed. Watch, she repeated.

Bemused, Esfandiar turned his attention back to the tableau unfolding before him, the words of the other Fiends dropping neatly into his mind even as they ignored him entirely. Such a strange community he seemed to have fallen into.

Oh, he better had to help, or else things would get very ugly, very quickly. He would make sure of it. He watched the situation unfold, tail trashing wildly back and forth, glowing eyes narrow. He wasn't sure if he liked this turn of events, but, what could he do about it ?

Nothing. And that's what he did. Thankfully, there was enough restrain in him to keep him from acting impulsively and screw up the spell.

Dio watched and then spoke up, directing his voice towards the two of them. 'You said there is only enough to charge for one. Red and I can go look in the back for more ingredients, in case the Athan man will need them to fix Auntie Reyna. I know you don't like it Mystic but it's the most logical choice. He is the magic man after all and taught you right? If he could teach you he can fix Auntie Reyna!' He fell silent again and took heart from the little wisp that had made it's way over to them.

Dio turned his burgundy eye down to Carnelian and reached out with his sleeved hand, something he didn't do often, to touch the reaching tendrils. It amazed him sometimes how tiny wisps were before they found enough power to grow.

Quietly uncertain Trivii mutely lifted her hand like a student in class. "Mystic, my friend... please think about what he is telling you. Athan can save Reyna."

Again reaching out and recapturing her wisp, Trivii closed her eyes. "And if he needs help, he will get it. Please, use your head before you use your heart."

Watching the Fiends argue, the spell hang in the balance and (more importantly) her daughter curled up and looking decidedly strained spurred Kova to take a few steps forward. The stone in her hands flickered and White Opal's tendrils reached out to the other nearby Fiends. She recognized a few and sought instinctive comfort. Kova was too busy to provide it at the moment.

"Mystic?" There was a quaver in Kova's voice that no one had ever heard before. "Please let him do the spell. Before anyone else gets hurt. Mr. Athan can save Miss Reyna and..." Her voice caught and she swallowed as a few more steps showed the darkening marks on Delilah's arm. "He can help Delly. Look at her, Mystic. She's hurt now, too."

"Mama..."

"Mystic, please. We've got to do something now before things get worse."

A look of guilt washed over his face at Kova's mention of Delilah's injury. That was his fault. She was right, and so was Dio. He nodded to Hawk but the other Shadow had already Seen his answer and was beginning to take over part of the spell.

Hawk outstretched his own hands to mirror Mystic's and a sort of strange, bright static charge ignited between them and made the spell glow even further. The light was abrasive to their senses, being made of darkness, but they had no choice but to endure.

The Seer hefted the basin up with a surprising show of strength and dumped over onto Athan. It wasn't the most practical means of coming across the cure, but it would work. It damn well better work. The amount of energy he had expended simply getting there would soon enough be taking its toll, never mind the feat he had just performed. He now needed Athan in the sense Mystic needed Reyna. Wren, quite clearly, was no where to be found.

The stone that seemed to cover Athan cracked with fissure lines, his hands that were still held outright as though he were still reading that infernal note flexed and then quite suddenly, he broke free with a groan of pain as stiff joints that had been locked in place protested fiercely enough to send him to his knees.

He coughed as he knelt on his knees, for the moment unable to move as he tried to catch his breath. His lungs burned. It felt as though he had been held underwater and finally let up for hair two seconds too late.

"Ohh by the gods," he groaned before he made an attempt to stand. It was only then that he took notice to the great number of people gathered and to the familiar Shadow that stood before him, fox-like tail swishing side to side. "Hawk!"

The Seer beamed a sort of contentment as he moved to help Athan stand with one arm wrapped firmly about his shoulders. His brief moment was ruined however when Mystic stood and drifted through the table and towards both of them, anger still evident in his features.

'FIX HER,' he demanded with what little strength he still possessed. He was beginning to fade faster. His cloak had deteriorated almost entirely, his skin and hair nearly colorless.

Still frozen where she stood, Aki stared...for several long moments unable to comprehend what was unfolding before her. Curls of white blond hair stuck against the perspiration beaded on her forehead, glittering as faintly as the outstretched vial in her hand. Struggling to catch her breath, one hand still on the gaping door, her face crumpled slowly in understanding. But was she too late?

"Fix her." Old pain twisted tears into Aki's voice as she echoed the last spoken sentiment. Coral lifted slowly behind her, like a bloody sunrise over one shaking shoulder, and gazed at those assembled with uncertain ocean blue eyes.

Selfish as it was, Coral was glad she had no voice with which to make such a cruel decision.

Athan stilled as he tried to comprehend the situation he had more or less awoken to as he backtracked in his mind. Zero came in angry with a note that had been attached to her door. The spell was hidden -- hidden well enough that even he had not seen or sensed it. Then... then they had turned to stone. He was now returned to normal, but...

He turned and he drew in a shaky breath as he realized with a sudden clarity what it was both Aki and Mystic were demanding. He was so faint he could hardly sense him. He attempted to extend some of his own energy to the Shadow but he had twined himself so close to Reyna and closed himself off to him long ago. It would be enough to sustain him, but not for long.

"I.. I'm not sure how," he answered before he moved over towards the spell book. Before he could turn the pages he was hit with a vision that quite clearly was not his own, but he was not allowed time to protest.

He stood in front of Reyna, the desk had been moved so that it was no longer an obstacle in his way. Behind her was Hawk, his arms wrapped firmly around her form in an embrace to charge the spell he was about to cast. Mystic was no where to be seen, but faintly he could still sense him there, a brooding, heavy weight on the room.

Green runes appeared on her alabaster skin as he called them forth one by one, he unclasped a vial that was in his left hand and poured it upon chalked lines that had been etched onto the tile floor. The lines flared to life and the mermaid tears sped along the chalk like quicksilver before climbing it's way up along the statue of the demoness.

The silver absorbed into the stone and disappeared entirely. The lines dimmed. He could feel Mystic panic, but he remained steady and calm to hold the spell. If he let go, it would backfire onto Hawk.

Fissure lines appeared and the stone began to break away, shattering in a near violent manner as the demon awakened.

Athan reeled for a moment, swaying until he gripped the side of the desk to steady himself. What felt like minutes, perhaps even an hour, was in truth only a few seconds. As if being turned to stone hadn't been disorienting. He shot Hawk a pointed look before his gaze settled upon the group of guardians and other such familiar faces.

"Help me move this desk."

Now that, finally, felt like something Esfandiar could do... curious as he was about the proceedings, he felt like a stranger hovering at the edges, unaware of the shared history of those assembled. He had never enjoyed social awkwardness.

The shadhavar strode over to the desk and grabbed the corners, then nodded at Athan. "It is good to see you again, Sage. Where would you like it?" He could probably manage the weight alone, though the movement wouldn't be graceful or precise. Best to have more hands.

Pyrite, startled by her bonded's sudden movement, remained blinking in his shadow, though she sidled as far away as she could get from Mystic. All of him was melting, even the memories, even the laughter and the void. She wanted no part of that.

"And you as well, friend," Athan replied, "Though I regret it is under such circumstances. Once this mess is settled I believe perhaps a more simple afternoon of tea and conversation of our travels may be in order." He chuckled quietly to himself before also taking hold of the desk. "If you could help me shift it away from Miss Crelos, please. Towards the door to the back room would be ideal."

Just as Pyrite kept her distance from Mystic, Hawk made it a point to maintain a proper distance from her. He could not read her, and he did not like it.

Esfandiar nodded and lifted, then took a few steps backwards, trying to take as much of the weight as he could. Tell me if I'm going to walk into something, he thought, quickly. He was starting to kind of get the hang of this mind-speaking business.

Affirmative, Pyrite replied, and he felt her cool touch on his legs as she peeked out of the shadow.

"There," he spoke up, "That should do it just fine. Thank you very much."

Before he could try to figure out what to do next, Hawk was at his side and was pressing both chalk and the vial Aki had brought into his hands. Wordlessly he accepted both. He knew what to do from there. He moved towards Reyna's still form and drew a circle around her and quickly drew in the necessary symbols with practiced ease.

Mystic. Where was Mystic? He glanced to the side where he believed him to be. He had curled down next to Delilah, but was hardly visible at all, only his stone remained entirely visible.

Esfandiar nodded and stepped back, automatically reaching out to right a pencil cup that had fallen over in transit. Pyrite peered at Athan from behind the desk, her dark eyes blinking slowly.

Desire; Memory, she whispered, but did not move, merely watched.

Don't you dare, Esfandiar shot back.

Movement-Self; Negative. Desire-Memory; Affirmative. Obedience-Bonded; Affirmative. One of her hands solidified enough to creak around the desk with cracked fingers as she observed.

Red would have helped with moving the desk, but hadn't quite cooled his temper down enough so that he wasn't more likely to snap and hiss than be helpful. He drifted around the room, in a way that looked oddly like a nervous man pacing back and forth. At least, he settled, warping himself loosely around Mystic's shoulders, as if somehow trying to protect him from something he could never even dream of possibly preventing. His long tail went on to curl around Dio's waist, giving a nervous twitch every now and then. There was still anger simmering right below the surface, that he couldn't quite let go of. Anger and worry.

Mystic hadn't even the energy to sigh. He was simply there, but for how much longer it was somewhat difficult to tell. Red's presence was at least comforting. Little brother. Little serpent. Idly he lost himself to memories, what few he clung to. He wanted to sleep.

Athan, on the other hand, worked quickly as he completed his circles and runes and designs all around the statue before he stood. Then, just as in the vision, Hawk was draped across her back and the actual spell began. He thought for a moment to warn those present, but it was too late to do so and he could not afford for his concentration to be broken. Exhausted as he was, it took every fiber of his being to remain calm and in control of the situation.

He held his breath as he opened the vial and the first drops of the mermaid's tears splattered against his linework. It flared to life as it was meant to and he exhaled in relief.

Aki folded her hands, pressing them against her stomach as she watched. Silently, Coral floated a bit higher and reached forward to smooth Aki's hair back off of her forehead, seemingly more concerned with her guardian than the events at hand. Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, Aki gave a silent prayer to the Goddess that no longer heard her...praying that the tears of a fallen mer were just as potent as those of the true sea folk.

It hadn't occurred to her until now that the difference might mean Reyna's life.

Attention; Occurrence, Pyrite projected, her grip on the desk tightening a bit. Shadow flowed out through the cracks in her skin, snatching at dust. The faded one was hardly anything but memory now. If she came to him, she would eat him whole, hold his entire being in her mind.

She stayed where she was. Emphatically.

User Image

Reyna's escape from her stone prison was entirely different from Athan's. Where his began with fissure lines and cracks that peeled away and faded, hers began like rapid burning wildfire. It was to be expected in a way, given her true nature. Before the statue even began to show the first signs of color and semblance of normalcy, a low grating, animalistic growl could be heard.

The statue cracked and then it erupted, shattering and flinging stone as she burst free in a fit of rage. She lurched forward in a swift movement and seized Athan by his neck in a chokehold, taking him entirely off guard. "YOU," she managed in a ragged, low voice, "Do not pay me enough for this s**t!"

Athan wanted to laugh at that, but he had no desire to provoke an already.... disagreeable berserker. He instead remained as still and neutral as possible until she relinquished her grip when her attention was drawn away when a sudden jolt hit her, sharp and painful like a shock of electricity. She doubled over and growled until she realized what exactly it was when she felt her energy begin to pull away from her in a familiar drain.

"Mystic," she managed before she reached out towards him with one outstretched arm. If she had been more the emotional sort, she likely would have burst into tears at the sight of her Shadow looking so ragged, worn, and barely-there. Instead she grabbed at him as best she could and drew him close.

Red slid away from Mystic as Reyna went for him, sliding to the Dio's left while his tail never left it's curl around the other child's waist.

Hopefully, it meant all that bullshit was over now... hopefully.

Zero let out a sigh of relief as things finally seemed to work out in the end. Still, she felt horribly guily - like this was all her fault, like she should have thought this out in more depth before crashing down into the shop like a madwoman. Her emotions where easily readable from her, just like an open book.

Dio clung to Red and shut his eye leaning against him fully. The relief was tangible, despite Reyna's outburst. 'Oh thank goodness.' He felt wonderful to be so near Red, safe, and truly happy. Everything was right with his world.

Merci just smiled, glad that what little she was able to do actually did help. Athan and Reyna were good... well sorta people. Reyna was a demon, but all in all it worked out for the best. Her eyes moved over to Dio and she smiled slightly. "Glad your both alright.." She offered before falling silent.

Though her shoulder's sagged in relief, Aki's eyes still held the haunted pain that had so twisted her voice. Reyna was alive...and while once, that would have been all that mattered, something dire still weighed upon her.

Someone had done this to them. To her, to Coral. Someone had done this to Reyna, "Someone..." Aki's shoulders did not square. Instead, they curved farther in, as though the space around her was distasteful. "...is going to pay."

Coral paid little mind to Aki's soft spoken promise of revenge. Floating forward, twining like a lazy kite, she tried to get a better look at Mystic and Reyna where they had collapsed together. Without a word, she turned to glance back to her guardian...studying Aki for a long moment. Despite all their trials, she'd never known it could come to this...and the thought frightened as much as it morbidly fascinated. Lifting one slender arm, the siren Shadow pointed unerringly at what was left of Mystic's visible form, blue eyes still locked on Aki.

-Now fix him?-

Aki's brows furrowed, narrowed gaze flicking for the first time to the beaten and tattered shadow that Reyna pulled close. It was a hard thing to realize, but until now...she hadn't cared whether or not the Fiend fared well. Her only thought, from the start, had been the demoness...and the shadow of guilt made her delicate ears droop.

"I don't know what to do for him, Coral..." Lifting her eyes, she took a long look around the room...studying Hawk's pale form, Pyrite's cloaked face, and the relieved silhouettes of the others. "Does anyone...?"

"I think they just need some time together. Time and... Cookies." Smiling with relief and her mind immediately moving back into the usual train of her thoughts, Kova slipped behind the others and through the curtains. Moments later, she reappeared with two cups of tea and a first aid kit. She set one cup on the table close to Athan's hand. "Miss Reyna?" she murmured as she crouched carefully beside the other woman and her Fiend. She offered the other cup but almost immediately set it on the floor. Then she slid over to pull Delilah into her arms, cuddling her tightly.

Delilah shifted sluggishly, barely looking at her mother and (even more rarely) not even taking the chance to push White Opal out of her mother's other hand so that she did not have to touch the shivering stone. Her half-closed eyes watched Mystic and Reyna closely, brows pulled together with worry. The black lines remained on her arm but had stopped moving.

White Opal pulsed once, twice. Then she reached out a wavering, unsure tendril towards the demoness and her Fiend. A wave of concern swept out from her, more seemingly aware than any other emotion displayed before. Another tendril even reached back and out towards her reluctant "sister."

Angel wasn't sure how to act. Everyone here had a true inkling of what was going on.Everyone but her, that is. These shadows seemed very important, for everyone around he had some sort of ghostly thing with him.

"A good thing has happened, with them being awakened, right?" She murmured, mostly to herself. Considering the fact she knew no one, she was still rather pleased with the fact that she had helped in reviving these important people. Of course, she was confused.

Reyna snarled at any and all that came near to her. There were too many people. It was suffocating and it just added to the anger that threatened to eat her alive. It burned and twisted her insides. She had been pushed too far this time, and the rage was hard to control. The only thing that helped were Mystic's cool, barely their hands pressed against her face as he tried to coax her into a more calmed state.

She sucked in her breath and held it as she shut her eyes. If she could just drown it out, maybe it would stop. Mystic whispered something to her and her visible eye snapped open before settling upon an all too familiar figure -- one that she had not seen in... how long?

Too long.

"Where's Wren?" she managed to grate out.

Hawk shook his head. The briefest flicker of remorse (perhaps even longing) flashed across his features, then it was gone and he had hid himself in Athan's shadow.

Athan frowned. If Hawk was there, Wren should be close by, but when he reached out towards the Shadow with his own bond that linked him to nearly all of the creatures, he found a thin, barely there line to the demon. Instead, there was a rapidly forming bond to himself. He sighed heavily. Something had to have happened.

His gaze settled upon the demon and his frown darkened further. This... should not have happened.

"And what in hell are we going to do about this?" Reyna demanded, "This cannot continue to happen. This is serious." She growled quietly like a predator that wanted loose from its cage to hunt. Oh. There would be blood. Lots of it, if she had her way.

She took notice of the tea Kova had sat down next to her and snatched it up with a grumbled thank you as she sipped at it. Eyes downcast until she glanced up and took notice of Aki. Sweet, sweet Aki... who looked strangely ... changed in a subtle manner she couldn't quite place.

Mystic followed her train of thought and glanced towards the elf as well, bright eyes twinkling faintly with merriment at the graceful creature that haunted her shadow. Then he found his voice again to say, 'I will be well.'

Merci shifted where she stood and folded her arms, now that they were safe and not in the brink of destruction, thoughts of what lead to this trickled into her mind. She had no idea what was really going on, wished she knew more of the situation but she didn't. Right now however was not the time to grill anyone. Athan and Reyna likely needed space and air, Mystic for sure needed time to be with his guardian. Her eyes moved toward Dio, who was obviously fretful. He was wringing his hands, something odd for him to do as he barely ever moved the fully sleeved arm.

Dio couldn't stand seeing Mystic like this, it was bringing back memories that he didn't like. Memories of swamps, and stifling amounts of darkness. He twisted his hands and fussed with the hem on his sleeve. 'Why?' Was all he could say out loud before he clung again to Red's arm. He didn't like the feelings here.

Red tilted his head to look at Dio, worry being fully betrayed in his glowing, snake-like eyes. There was something here, and in despite the little flash of something that had occurred, he couldn't remember a damn thing about it. He didn't like it.

"We should probably get going." He said, his voice unusually low and downright gentle... But even then there was a hint of anger and frustration. All this bullshit would not go unpunished, no.

He led the smaller shadow toward where their respective guardians where standing. "Mystic needs time to recover, Reyna and Athan too.... We can check on things later." Even he could tell they needed space, and the respect he held for them made him willing to grant it.

Zero sighed, and shook her head. There was the overwhelming urge to apologize, to do something, but.... Red had a point. She glanced at Merci, trying her best to convey her feelings in a simple glance.

Delilah managed to lift her head above her mother's nearly suffocating grip and offered Mystic a lopsided smile. "Of course," she agreed. "Just rest with Miss Reyna now." She glanced at Red and Dio and Zero and Merci, sharing the smile with them. "He'll be okay," she announced. "Miss Reyna's tough."

In another moment of strange warmth, White Opal pulsed with agreement. She pulled her tendrils away from Mystic and Reyna, noticing their withdrawl into each other, and instead stretched them out in greeting to the other Fiends. She remembered Red but not so angry. Red's friend, however, might as well be hers, too.

Shock at the events unfolding before her, limited Trivii's response. Everything was back to normal, that was a good thing right?

Relief, the single emotion that she should be feeling was a far cry from the dread that filled the cat girl in those moments following the crack of stone and acrid stench of magic. The sharply curving clawed fingers that held the warmly glowing Carnelian, had gone all but numb, and inside her chest, somewhere in the vicinity of her heart, was a void.

A golden mist warred with the rainbow sheen of opals in her eyes, and life she knew, would never be the same. Forcing a smile on reflex alone Trivii moved further away from the irate Reyna and closer still to the wall nearest the door.

Jubilant and not afraid to show it the little wisp slid free of her Guardians hands to... dance? Just out of her reach, ready for anything, touching everything, writhing tentacles of darkness happily coiling around Trivii's arm in an effort to get her to be happy too.

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:34 am

A Fine Mess
Athan returns home with Hawk.

Athan muttered and grumbled to himself as he walked up the cobble stone path that led to his not-so-humble abode. That had been a disaster. Typically a day at Twilight Designs was a disaster. He expected chaos. He anticipated there to be problems. For the love of the Gods! His primary business partner and employee was a demon! Of course there was going to be trouble.

His being turned temporarily to stone had not been an issue that topped his list of things that could possibly and quite potentially go terribly, terribly wrong. Then again, he was beginning to think this mental list of things he should be wary of might be in (see: desperate) need of being re-evaluated what with the turn of events prior to the latest fiasco (nightmare beasts had run rampant, shredding his shop to bits), and then of course there was the one before that (where he had been poisoned and had very nearly died).

With a tired huff he stepped into his home, thankful to simply be home so that he could relax... and thus realize he had unconsciously done a terrible, terrible thing.

He had left Holicinesh alone! He had been completely unattended save for the company of Lorelei and Blue. "Oh by the gods," he cursed mentally to himself as he dashed off towards the child's room and flung open the door. There he found him, safe from harm, still sleeping, and thus utterly unaware that anything could have been amiss. Thank goodness for the time lapse between this world and the one he had just ventured from!

He heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he continued to mentally berate himself. What if he had died. Who would have looked after the child, then? His fairy would have died and Blue... well... was Blue.

'That wasn't a possibility for you. Stop fretting over it.'

Athan looked mildly spooked for a moment until he remembered who it was that had hidden himself in his shadow. He had entirely forgotten he was even there.

Hawk chuckled quietly and phased into view, arms looped about the other's neck and shoulders as he peered at him with sightless eyes. 'Am I really so forgettable?' he teased before changing the subject when Athan flushed and began to stammer, 'I can help you with the child. I do not mind.'

The boy in question began to stir from his sleep. He stretched with a yawn and flailed about blindly for his glasses.

"To the right, kid. On the nightstand," came a gruff, yet still distinctly feminine voice.

Athan blinked, head tilting to the side. Lorelei had slept next to him on his pillow? That was decidely... cute. He smirked but said nothing of it to her. No need to ruin a perfectly good thing by calling her on it.

"Good morning," he said as he moved to sit on the edge of the bed after handing his glasses over to the child. "Well... it is almost afternoon, but still early enough that we can say it is morning still."

Holicinesh smiled before scrambling forward to curl over against Athan's side. "Morning, Uncle," he murmured, voice still tinged with sleep-fogged drowsiness. He peeked over his shoulder at the strange creature that was drifting lazily behind him. "Who'er you?"

'You may call me Hawk. And yes, I am a creature of magic, a Shadow Fiend to be specific.'

The child's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't even asked yet but the creature, or Hawk rather, had supplied the answer to his questions! "How did you knooo~oow??" he rushed out before the being could cut him off. He wanted to at least get to ask his question first.

'I am a Seer.'

'Nesh nodded, wide-eyed. That was both intimidating and utterly fascinating! He wanted to pepper him with more questions but his uncle cut him off by lifting him up into his arms suddenly.

"Come along now. You need to have breakfast. Can't have you starving to death, now can I?" Athan murmured in an affectionate manner as he balanced the weight of him on one hip and carted him off. "That simply would not do at all."

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:37 am

Moment of Respite
Names. Dreams. Desire.

It was at the tip of his tongue.

A name he shouldn't have forgotten.

Was it is his own? Or was it someone else's?

Everything changed.

The name was lost; his dreams, his visions, changed to that of something else. They were more frightful, more frantic. He had the sense of someone running towards something they did not want to find.

There was a clearing in the dream. The sky above dark, the moon hidden from view. On the ground, covered in dust, was an armlet. Symbols engraved on it. Symbols that he was suppose to know, but his mind was too tired to remember them.

Why was he tired? He wasn't ...

This was not his dream, his mind realized with a start.

It was then that he woke up. Hawk's Eye's form solidified then, tail swishing back and forth in mild concern. His eyes flicked towards the bed he had been dozing near. Athan laid there, his eyes rapidly moving under his eyelids. The man was sleeping, but Hawk knew that he truly was not.

He was too pale, too thin, and too many things that Hawk was not entirely fond of. The fact that he was picking up on his dreams meant that the man was broadcasting his nightmares for the world to see. He truly was weakened.

And Hawk would have to fix that, but first things first: he would have to get him out of his nightmare.

There was no lying. In his absence, he had only thought about Athan. Well, no. He had thought about his lost bonded, unable to find him though he could still feel him somewhere. Always close, but forever out of reach it seemed.

Athan was the other he thought about. The only comfort his mind felt in the travels he had been on. True, he looked only as a teenager, but he felt old. As old as the man who was resting fitfully.

Pushing hair back from Athan's face, he watched as the man's head turned slightly towards his palm. Hawk froze for a moment.

There was a flash in his mind's eye. That name again. What was it? Athan always seemed to trigger those distant memories of his, but even then he wasn't certain if they were even his. Perhaps they were only another fleeting vision.

As loathe as he was to admit it, some part of his Sight was still eluding him. The full potential of his power was outside of his grasp, and it annoyed him to no end.

Shaking his head, he crept closer to Athan. His form fell to shadow again, sliding from the chair at the bedside to the actual bed. Hawk's Eye situated himself there, tail swishing back and forth slowly. It brushed up against Athan's sleeping form, wisps of the shadow melting against the covers. As if they were seeping into Athan.

"You should ," the voice was groggy, barely awake, "Not be doing that." Athan's voice was tired, more so than he remembered it ever being in the past. At least he was now awake from the nightmare he had been having.

'Doing what?' he asked innocently, though he knew that he had been caught. This time the teenager slipped closer to Athan. More and more wisps of shadow slipped towards the weakened man and disappeared against him.

"Tempering my reserves with your own is not wise, Hawk." Athan moved to sit up, but groaned instead. His hand fell to his forehead, and Hawk quickly moved to massage his fingers against it lightly. The other hand reached for a glass of water he had prepared for this moment earlier.

It was pressed gingerly into Athan's free hand, and as the man sipped, Hawk found his voice again.

'You are bleeding at the seams after everything, Athan.' Hawk paused for a moment, leaning over now that both hands were free to truly massage away the headache it seemed Athan was having. 'As you are like to impart some of your power to us, I am like to impart mine to you, if only because I can.' There was a smirk to his words, but with Athan looked up to argue, he could see the seriousness in eyes of the Shadow before him.

His concern was obvious. There was no child in that look. There was only the youth that had come back from his journeys. Athan relented, caught briefly by a fleeting moment of feeling he was too tired to fight off.

It was something he quickly shoved away. Such things were better to be forgotten, at least until his purpose was served.

'... thank you.' The words were a quiet whisper to his mind, a soft balm that soothed the frayed edges. Athan wondered if this soothing was a talent that Hawk had picked up over his time while gone, but he found that he could not complain.

Putting the glass away, he brushed against Hawk's hands, indicated that he should stop. For some reason, Athan had a sneaking suspicion that it would be better if the shadow was not so near to him. There was something in the way that Hawk looked at him that gave everything away.

As if sensing that, Hawk's Eye looked away. His expression was almost guilty. It was odd seeing behind the Seer's mask he kept carefully in place. To the world, he was simply aloof, and already knew the answers to nearly every question asked of him.

Athan knew better. He knew the Seer's powers, while still beyond those of any soothsayer he had ever known save one, were still incomplete.

'M'not moving,' Hawk muttered, situating himself snugly where he was against Athan's side. The Seer was sitting up in the bed, his hand resting gently against the man's forehead. As if willing him to feel better, willing him to fight off whatever had plagued his sleep and drained his body.

"We'll discuss your sleeping arrangements later then." Athan turned his head, letting his eyes drift shut once more. He could still feel Hawk's Eye energy flowing over him. Perhaps it was some of the healing he had picked up from his bonded.

'I am comfortable where I am now.' The words were quiet, but strongly said. There was no denying Hawk's Eye and his fondness for Athan. With a grumble, promising that they would be discussing it later, the man let himself slip back off to sleep.

Hawk's Eye would argue later with him; saying that he slept better when he was sitting next to him.

Athan would fervently deny it.

Neither would relent.

And in the end, Hawk's Eye would win.

Seers always did.

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:42 am

The Fiend
'Nesh gets to know Hawk, or at least as much as the Seer will allow.

His uncle had wandered off down through some strange doors that look like they led underground or somewhere beneath the floor. Why someone would want to do such a thing was beyond him. Either way, he had breakfast and knew where he was if he needed anything. He munched contentedly on a piece of a fruit and eyed his surroundings. This was the kitchen, that much his uncle had made clear.

The rest of the house remained a mystery save for his own room and the library he had more or less been 'born' in. He would have to ask if he could go back there later as he quite liked it. For the moment, Holicinesh was preoccupied with other thoughts -- mostly of the strange, shadow-thing that was sitting in a chair across from him looking quite bored. He was even more interesting than the fairy that seemed intent on following him around and the miniature-sized shadow-thing that followed her around.

He giggled quietly to himself at the mental image that brought up before reaching for his cup of juice, feet swinging back and forth in his chair as he did so. He set his cup down and folded his hands neatly atop the surface of the table. "So.... your name is Hawk," he stated matter-of-factly. It was almost comical hearing him speak with such a serious tone given he was so little and precious in a way that nearly all children seemed to be at first glance. He sounded completely grown-up save for a slight lisp and faint stumbling of consonants and vowels when he came across a particularly big word within his vocabulary.

'Mmhmm.'

"Well," the child began before pausing as he thought to rephrase or otherwise rethink what it was he was about to say to a creature who had the uncanny ability to simply know, "Do you know my name?"

'That I do.'

'Nesh smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "So... what else do you know?"

'About you?' Hawk asked, one pale eyebrow lifting as he spoke before the expression vanished entirely. 'Mhm. Enough to know that you came from an over-sized vegetable,' he replied dryly as he began to fidget in his seat. He was still tired and a bit drained from the ordeal earlier (or was it later? The sudden change in time from Gaia to.. wherever this was threw him off a bit) at Twilight Designs. Despite his stoic, bored appearance, he could honestly say he was very nearly enjoying himself.

Then again, he had seemingly been trapped in some sort of void prior. Anything was fun in comparison to that sort of empty nothingness. Even talking to a strangely mature toddler..? Child? His true age seemed ambiguous as without a proper image of him in his mind's eye, it was difficult to discern his age. He knew he had silver hair, and for whatever reason it made him seem familiar. Why, he had no clue, but that was the nature of things, and he of all people knew when the headache of questioning the little stuff was truly worth the trouble it could cause.

"So why does your voice sound funny?"

Hawk blinked as he was given a sudden vision of the child before him that his normal sight did not allow. He had caught on to a little of what he looked like through his bond to Athan, but having an actual visual was a nice change of pace. The boy's question drew him from his reverie and if he could, he would have smiled. Just a little. 'I lack vocal cords and other humanoid-type internal organs. Thus, my voice is merely a whisper of telepathic speech.' He looked rather smug and desperately wanted to tease him about it all being in his head -- literally, but he was not that cruel.

The sarcasm was best left for those that appreciated it. Like Mystic.

Holicinesh fell quiet as he attempted to process everything the Shadow had just said. There were a lot of big words and terms that he had not heard before. He kind of knew what he meant, but at the same time the true meaning was lost on him entirely. It made him want to ask more questions. He wanted to know and learn more. It was frustrating not knowing and he did not like it.

He frowned a bit at that thought, but it came off as more of a pout than anything. He chewed thoughtfully on a piece of toast, still looking rather put out until Hawk addressed him once more.

'The library.'

"What?" he managed around a mouthful of toast. He coughed and decided the talking and eating at the same exact time did not go hand in hand.

'Take a sip of your juice,' Hawk instructed.

'Nesh did so and cleared his throat before beginning again, "What about the library?"

'You like the library and learning, yes?'

The boy flushed a bit, why he wasn't certain (which only made it worse), and gingerly pushed his glasses up his nose in what was rapidly becoming a habitual gesture. "Well. Yes," he managed a bit hesitantly.

'Then lets go to the library. I can help you read, and maybe you'll find the answers to your multitude, never-ending list of questions.' He was so not going to answer them all. Not without help. Besides, it would be best to let the boy figure things out on his own rather than simply provide him with all the answers.

Holicinesh's eyes lit up and he smiled. "Okay," he replied, excitement evident in his features though it was only vaguely apparent in his voice. He hopped off his chair and scooted around the table to grab at Hawk's hand. "It's this way," he went on as he tugged at him in an effort to urge him to follow.

The Shadow radiated a faint sort of amusement. He hadn't been around children in a good while. It made him miss Lafe, and strangely enough, Wren. His brow furrowed a bit. He knew better than to worry about the demon, but...

He heaved what would have been a heavy sigh as he trailed after the child that held on so tightly to his hand. There would be time enough to fret over that later.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:43 am

Back to the Library
Hawk takes 'Nesh back to the library for a bit.

In truth, Hawk had only ever been to Athan's house once prior. He had done it mostly to antagonize Mystic when he was taking lessons in spell-casting. So distracted with his goal to cause the eldest of his brethren torment, he hadn't really taken the time to take in the surroundings.

It was impressive.

Or at least the library was proving to be. The child's room had been typical, the kitchen also quite 'normal' save for the occasional strange, unheard of appliance or knick knack. He had sat Holicinesh down with a large book full of elegant illustrations, and so far it was doing an excellent job of entertaining him.

In turn, it temporarily relieved of his duties of attempting to read. Yes, he was blind, and thus without a tome written in braille, he technically couldn't read, but that was where his being a Seer came in handy. It allowed him just enough vision to read, but it was a strenuous task. As tired as he was, he wasn't exactly feeling up to it.

Which almost made him feel bad as he had told 'Nesh he would help.

He lounged in one of the plush chairs with a huff. Oh well...

Holicinesh very carefully flipped through the pages of the book before him, all the while sneaking glances over towards the Shadow. He was interesting with his pale blue skin, and two-tone hair. Not to mention the intricate spiraled markings on his face and shoulders.

A faint smile twitched at his lips as Hawk's eyes drifted closed. It almost looked like he was wearing a mask or makeup or something as the lids and the skin just beneath them were kohl black. Or perhaps even like some sort of strange illusion that made at seem as though he had no eyes at all. It seemed quite possible there in the dim lighting.

"Heeeere you are. I was wondering where you skittered off to, kid," piped up a tiny voice which was accompanied by the faint fluttering of wings and the inane ramblings of the tiny shadow creature that followed.

'Hello cabbage-kid!' Blue chirped cheerfully as he clung to the side of Holicinesh's face, making him giggle, 'So glad you're alive! Alive is happy!'

Hawk reluctantly opened his eyes, but the only change for him was a faint shift of lighting that was akin to a simple play of shadows by a candle that was about to go out and little more. What was that little thing? The fairy, fine, he knew of Lorelei, but the thing seemed to be a Shadow but on a smaller scale. Strange. Very strange, indeed.

Lorelei settled upon the child's shoulder and peered over at him curiously. "So. What'cha up to." Technically it was a question, but she said it in such a way that it could've very easily been a command.

"Uhm. Nothing, really," he answered truthfully, eyes widening a bit. He hadn't expected to be questioned by her. Not like that. "Just.. reading a little..?" Okay. That was a fib. He couldn't read, but the pictures in this book were so intricate that he found himself spellbound by it. At least when he wasn't staring at or otherwise contemplating Hawk.

"Mmh," was all she said in response before gliding down off his shoulder to take a closer look at the book. She made no mention that there were little to no words on the beautiful, ornate pages. "Hmmmm..."

'Nesh arched a brow before giggling behind one hand when Blue zipped down towards her. Before he could get too close to cling to her she had outstretched one arm to shove him away.

"Personal. Space. Blue," she gritted out.

The Sprite wiggled and squirmed mid air as though itching to get closer to her but otherwise stayed put. He distracted himself by also admiring the pages in a way that mimicked her, but Lorelei paid him no mind. That was typical.

'Is pretty, yes?'

Lorelei shot him a look but did not bother to elaborate on her thoughts or feelings. Instead, she moved to what she considered to be a safe distance away from the book, dragging Blue along with her by grabbing hold of one of his arms. "Next page?" she asked as she glanced up at 'Nesh before thinking to add, "Please?"

Happy to be helpful and otherwise entertained by their presence, Holicinesh complied with a smile, much to the bemusement of Hawk.

What a scene. He wished almost that he weren't blind so he could watch them interact. A child of mysterious origins, a fairy, and ... whatever 'Blue' was. He could not ask for better entertainment.

Hawk sat up straight with a bit of a start when he felt a faint tug of something vying for his attention. He had not felt such a thing in ages, and even then if Wren truly wanted to check in on him through their bond, it had never been that strong. Athan was his maker, however, so it made sense that it would feel far more poignant.

'Everything okay?' Athan asked.

He nodded before adding, 'Just fine. We're in the library,' when he sheepishly realized that Athan couldn't see his response. That thought made him flush a little, embarrassed by his own naivety, but the sound of Athan's mental voice had been the equivalent of his being present.

He caught a flash of sight that showed to him that 'Nesh was staring again. He offered the boy what he hoped was a look of reassurance. 'Your father was just checking in on you.'

"Uncle," the child corrected as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Hawk seemed to smirk and chuckled quietly. 'Yes, your uncle. Of course.'

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:44 am

Strange Dreams
A strange darkness takes over Holicinesh's dream.

He had not had many dreams, at least none that he remembered. He supposed that his time as a cabbage was a bit like dreaming. He recalled fragments of his dear uncle's voice filtering through to his consciousness. He recalled the faintest feeling of being lifted and settling into bright sunny patches. Those dream-like memories were faint, barely there. He had to make an effort to recall those times which made it seem more like he was fabricating the experiences all together.

'Nesh knew now that he was dreaming and that when he woke, he would recall the dream. It was painted so vividly against his mind that the very thought of forgetting it seemed impossible. Remembering the scenery would be tricky, though. It kept changing and shifting. It morphed and moved like some living undulating thing that couldn't stand to sit still. It was somewhat disorienting. His subconscious realized that he was simply dreaming, and so he remained utterly calm and lucid while watching this fantastic shifting array of color and form.

He decided to take a step forward. In that moment everything shifted violently, and he thought that he might fall. It was dizzying. The colors picked up speed. There were no longer forms or shapes feigning elaborate backgrounds of lush gardens or the interior of houses far more grand than his uncle's. He frowned, puzzled as the colors seemed to bleed out, leaving everything pitch black.

They coalesced together, congealing in a morbid sort of fashion. He blinked again, head tilting to the side in curiosity. The colors began to glow, and as he took another step forward, he noticed that they were once more beginning to take form. He reached out with one hand, compelled to want to touch the colors as they formed strangely familiar patterns and symbols.

Runes.

He blinked again as he held his hand out before him. Oh he was most certainly dreaming. His hand was much too large and vaguely reminded him of his uncle's deft hands. That thought pleased him but was cut short as his attention once more returned to the now vividly glowing markings that swirled around the dark, dark room he seemed to be standing within.

"How strange."

Stranger still was his voice. No longer was it the soft, sweet voice of a child. It was that of a grown man. It startled him, and again he was reminded of his uncle. Would he be so much like him? Inwardly, a part of him desperately hoped so. He wanted to be good at spell casting, no, better than his uncle. He wanted to be better so he could help him and keep him safe from the things that made him so, so sad.

"Is that your true motivation, child?"

He frowned before giving a startled shriek as the room suddenly grew larger with a sickening tilt. No. It wasn't the room. It was him. He was a child again! He wanted to scream in outrage. How was he supposed to help when he was simply a useless child?

"How indeed," the low voice mocked, "Probably my luck that you are just a petulant brat. Otherwise how would my plans succeed? The demon, well.. she won't stand much of a fight, bound as she is. But you. Oh you. You have talent. Such talent. Too bad your youth prevents you from tapping into it properly."

He pouted and crossed his arms before scowling as he realized in that moment he probably did appear as just a petulant child. He looked around him, but saw no one. There was nothing but the swirling runes that now danced across the perimeter in varying speeds and colors.

"What. Not going to ask the basic questions are we?"

Holicinesh arched a brow incredulously. "And what sort of questions might those be?" Yes. He was definitely a child again, but he was at least pleased that his voice did not waver in fear or anger. It gave nothing away.

"Don't you want to know where you are? What I am? Or better yet, who?"

The child frowned. He was just dreaming in his head. Why should it matter what voice spoke to him? Did any of it matter. No, not really. He then decided that dreaming perhaps was not his cup of tea, and more than anything he'd really like to wake up and..

"Read books with that blind Seer who can't remember? Have breakfast with your dying uncle? Play with the fairy wench and pitiful Sprite? Oh yes, wouldn't that be nice."

His brow furrowed in worried lines. Who was this voice? Why would he dream of such a spiteful, hateful entity. He could almost feel the hate emanating from the voice. It dripped with venom and cut like knives. His uncle wasn't really dying was he? He seemed okay. Most days he seemed sad, but dying? No. He couldn't possibly...

In his frustration his hands had balled into fists and tears began to p***k at his eyes. "Leave me alone! I'm tired of this dream and I don't like it here!" he declared hotly.

The voice laughed and his frantic upset escalated until he was absolutely mad with it. In a fit he had fallen to the ground, and in a fashion true to any child his age, he banged his fists angrily on the black ground and cried. The echoing laughter wouldn't stop which only fueled his rage.

Exhaustion set in quickly enough and his crying subsided to hiccups and sniffles. Wide-eyed he watched as the dancing runes circled in closer to him on the ground. He sat up right with a startled breath. He knew what they were. He knew what they meant, but he couldn't voice it aloud. The words were choked up in his throat. He couldn't even scream for help or demand that the scary voice stop. They were meant to bind him. His eyes widened and he gasped as the circle closed in on him.

He clenched his eyes closed, wrapped his arms around himself, and hid his face as though to shield himself from the onslaught. He knew it would burn. How he knew this, he wasn't sure, but he knew with an utmost certainty that it was going to burn.

Instead of the pain he knew ought to be well on its way, he felt nothing. Hesitantly he opened his eyes and exhaled raggedly. He was sitting upright in his own bed. The first light of the morning was slowly creeping in through his windows. The terrifying darkness was not present nor the glowing runes. He was at home. He was safe. Everything was going to be okay.

"Just a dream," he murmured as he rubbed at his eyes and reached for his glasses.

"Must've been a bad one, kid."

Holicinesh smiled widely. Hearing Lorelei's voice was oddly reassuring, even more so when Blue chimed in with some sing-song lullaby he had just made up in his head. He paled slightly as he glanced towards the far corner of his room where the light hadn't yet reached. The darkness there brought back memories of the dark room. It looked as though it were moving and very much alive. His brow furrowed and his entire body went tense.

'Please tell me your little nightmare wasn't about me. I've hardly done anything worthy of tha-- oh good. It's not,' Hawk spoke up as he phased into view, revealing that the strange darkness was simply a familiar Shadow.

'Nesh grinned and reached out towards him with both arms outstretched.

Hawk arched a brow, curious. He usually wasn't one to lend comfort lest the person in need of comforting was Athan, but he was finding it strangely difficult to ignore the sunny smile that had lit up the child's face when he realized it was him there in the corner. He drifted towards him, careful to avoid the light filtering in through the window and moved to drag the boy into his arms. He rested his cheek atop his hair and allowed his sightless eyes to close.

'That bad, huh?'

"Not anymore," he replied with a yawn.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:47 am

Auntie Reyna
'Nesh is introduced to his uncle's business partner.

Holicinesh blinked owlishly up at his uncle from behind his glasses. He had yet to be taken anywhere outside of the house save to play in the yard. The prospect of getting to see where it was that his uncle worked was quite exciting. He smiled widely and held his arms out towards his uncle who smiled in return. He chuckled quietly when Athan hefted him up into the air in a sudden rush, leaving him somewhat breathless as he nestled into his arms.

"Now, I am also going to introduce you to some of my .. employees," Athan explained as he regarded the child with a serious tone. “Miss Kova may be there. She is a very nice lady. She has a daughter that also came from a cabbage.”

‘Nesh perked at that information and cut his uncle’s explanation short with a sudden burst of excitement. “Do I get to meet them today?”

Athan smiled gently and tucked a stray lock of hair behind the boy’s ear. “It depends upon whether or not Miss Kova is working today. I shall make arrangements for you to meet her soon if she is not present.”

The child nodded in solemn agreement and once more fell quiet so his uncle might finish speaking.

“Now. I have another employee. She is.. much more like a business partner than a true employee per se. She is also quite different from anyone you’ve probably ever met. Kova is different as well, but Reyna… well.. she’s special,” Athan went on, fumbling slightly with his explanation.

Hawk drifted up behind the both of them and leaned his chin atop Athan’s shoulder with a look that seemed both content and strangely resigned, bored even. ’Reyna has a temper. That’s what he’s trying to get at. She’ll like you just fine though seeing as your adorable and approximately around the same age as her daughter.’

Athan exhaled and visibly relaxed at Hawk’s statement. There was a certain benefit to having a Seer within his home. It meant that most potential disasters could be avoided – most being the key word. After his comparison of ‘Nesh to Sam, he knew what Hawk said must be true. After becoming a mother the demoness had never shown any sort of intolerance for children. In fact, it was quite the opposite. It seemed her patience had increased and her temperament mellowed.

He still couldn’t help but worry just a little bit.

’Everything will be fine,’ Hawk insisted, ’In fact, she will end up spoiling ‘Nesh silly the same way you do Sam.’

“Well then,” Athan spoke up as he tightened his grip upon the child in his arms, “Shall we go then?”

The boy nodded excitedly and waved goodbye to Lorelei and Blue as he was carried out the door. His eyes widened impossibly so with a look of excitement as Hawk drifted ahead of them both and cast a circle. “We’re going through?” he murmured in a rush of jumbled words.

Athan nodded with a smirk. “Scared?”

‘Nesh grinned and shook his head vehemently. “No! Let’s go, let’s go!” he shouted with more glee and exuberance than he had ever seen the boy muster over much of anything. Perhaps he would have to take the time to show him more spells if this was to be his reaction.

With no further hesitation he stepped through the portal and quite suddenly they were in Durem rather than the empty field that qualified as his front yard. A few more steps down the pavement and they were nearly at the door of the shop.

Hawk seemed to exude amusement at the child's delighted face as he took in his new surroundings. He even was momentarily distracted enough by all the new things he was being presented with that he nearly allowed his glasses to slip right off his nose. The Shadow caught them before they could plummet to the ground and fit them back on his face.

"Thanks," the boy beamed quietly as they stepped through the door of the shop.

Seeing as the scent of fresh baked cookies and pastries seemed to be missing, Athan could only assume that Kova was either not working today or was going to work a later shift. Reyna was present, however, tapping a pencil boredly on the surface of her desk as she mulled over design work. She glanced up and looked back down at her sketchpad only to do a double take.

... was that a child in Athan's arms?

Her brow furrowed in confusion and her head tilted to the side. Before she could speak Athan held one palm up, begging for a moment of silence and reprieve from her sarcasm so that he might be allowed to explain. Surprisingly enough, she seemed to actually take note of his silent request and complied, all the while staring at the precious child in his arms.

"This is Holicinesh. I... thought it time to introduce you to my ... er... nephew, as he will no doubt accompany me often to the shop," Athan spoke up as he drifted towards the desk, Hawk following lazily after. He moved to sit the child atop the desk so he might sit with his feet dangling casually off the side.

Reyna didn't so much as blink as she stared at the child. He grimaced at the weight of her one visible eye, which seemed enough to bring the demoness back to her present self. "That's quite a mouthful. Got a nickname?" she asked, all but ignoring Athan in favor of the boy that sat mere inches away from her.

"Nesh," he replied smoothly as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

The demon's face broke out into a brash grin at his declaration. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you, sweetness. I suppose I'll have to bring my Sam up here for you to play with some time, eh? She's about your age or so."

"I would like that very much."

Reyna chuckled quietly and finally turned her attention back to Athan. His arms were crossed and a concerned expression was painted across his dark features. She rolled her eyes. She could only wonder what horrors were parading about through his decidedly morbid and pessimistic brain.

"He's quite articulate. Reminds me of you kinda. What cabbage patch did you pick him up out of?" she said with a teasing grin.

"My garden, actually."

Silence filled the room for a moment as Reyna stared at Athan. Was he serious? Or was that a lame attempt at a joke? She blinked, and then the silence was broken by a peal of almost musical laughter.

'Truth is stranger than fiction, Reyna,' Hawk spoke up, traces of laughter still obvious in his voice as he drifted over towards her to gingerly place a hand on her shoulder. Her presence was so much like Wren's and yet still so different. It was comforting to a degree, though it was not something he cared to admit. Not unless he were simply in a mood to aggravate Mystic. 'The boy did indeed come from a cabbage. Just like Kova's child.'

"Ohh. Delilah."

Immediately visions of the not so distant passed flashed across the Seer's sightless eyes. It was more memory than true Sight. She had been burned by the spell that had freed Athan from his stone prison not too long ago. Stubborn thing. That much he remember vividly. And she had an odd fondness for Mystic. That amused him if only because it could turn out so very interesting.

"Del-li...lah?" Holicinesh queried with a look of interest.

"Kova's daughter. I told you about Miss Kova briefly before we left, remember?" Athan murmured fondly as he reached out to smooth one hand over the boy's silver hair.

'Nesh nodded and then turned gingerly towards Reyna. "Is Miss Kova going to come to work today?"

The demon quickly decided that the boy was so irresistibly adorable in such a strange way that it was almost sickening. She smiled sweetly (or as sweetly as one could with a mouth full of sharp teeth and prominent fangs), "Not today, darling. She has the day off."

The look of disappointment that flashed briefly across the boys face made something inside her twist painfully. "But you know what?" she interrupted his bout of gloom with a brash grin, "I've got some stuff you can play with. I bought them for my Sam to tell the truth, but I was planning on buying more anyway since it was all on sale."

She turned to rummage through one of her desk drawers noisily as she dug through a plastic bag. She glanced up, amused at the hopeful look on the boy's face. Children. She definitely had a soft spot for them. How had that happened again?

She paused in her thoughts of her darling daughter and the strange evening of her "birth" when she found what she was looking for. "Here ya go, kid," she murmured as she handed over a brand new box of glittery crayons and some construction paper. "It's uhh... probably not that impressive, but those crayons look wicked awesome on dark paper?"

"Thank you very much," Holicinesh answered with a look of genuine sincerity.

"Alright," Athan interrupted as he scooped the boy and his gifts up off the desk, "I think it's best we take up residence in the backroom, hm? That way Miss Reyna can get back to her work and we can find you a place to work on your soon-to-be-magnificent-masterpiece."

'Nesh smirked at the flourish of words and waved goodbye to the nice pointy-eared lady as he was carted away. Images of swirling colors swam through his head, but this time they were much more pleasant in the daylight.

He knew exactly what he would draw.

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Reyna Crelos
Captain

Shameless Ladykiller

Offline

Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 11:48 am

Dark Days
...

Athan was sitting on the couch in the backroom – his usual and customary spot if he was not occupying Reyna's desk whenever she wasn't present or if he simply felt a certain desire to tempt fate itself by harassing her. There was a haphazard display of gemstones and other various beads and jewelry-making materials strewn across the coffee table before him. The only corner left partially visible of the table top was strewn with crayons as his 'nephew' sat scribbling neatly on colorful construction paper.

He had been quite intent on his own task of sorting and repairing various delicate antiquities up until the demon had barged in to pry and otherwise demand to know the identity of the young boy that had accompanied him. The look on her face when he had briskly informed her in his customary monotone that he came from a cabbage in his garden had been a classic in the making. The fact that it had been entirely true made it all the more satisfying a moment.

It wasn't often he one-upped her, but he took a certain amount of gratification (not to mention relief) that it wasn't in his nature to be so conniving. Thus, her quick wit and barbs did little to deflate his ego. That did nothing to change the fact that it was endlessly annoying. He could at least allow himself the pride of being quite capable of going toe to toe with a demon. It wasn't exactly a bragging right in his book, but if anything it was a hard won life lesson that aided him often; perhaps even on a daily basis seeing as she had squirmed her way from simply being an hourly employee to a sort of unofficial 'business partner.'

And yet those frequent thoughts of his so-called 'business partner' and the frustrations he felt she brought to his life purposefully (and with a s**t-eating grin, no less) were not what had distracted him from the mess of baubles and beads before him.

His 'little cabbage,' Holicinesh, (and oh wasn't that precious enough a nickname that it would grow old and spoil faster than fresh milk left outside on a warm day) was scribbling fantastically detailed patterns and shapes on his construction paper. The crayons themselves were metallic and glittery, and thus contrasted sharply with the dark paper.

Amusingly enough, watching him complete what he had declared was his own work was enough to distract him from the fact that both the crayons and paper had been a donation or 'gift' from Reyna. He would likely wonder at what web of obligations came along with the trinkets, as gifts of any sort from a demon, even to a child, did not come without said strings attached. He at least held confidence knowing that since she was a mother-figure (a surprisingly dedicated one) that it would be he that fulfilled whatever unspoken contract that had been forged and not 'Nesh.

Even so, he could not help but admire the boy's drawing with a bit of awestruck fascination. His scribbles looked like runes. They reminded him of far away places he had seen and of his earliest lessons in what he fondly referred to as the 'arts' of his own world. It also made him a touch homesick. That in itself left him in a quandary as he struggled to quell not only his emotions but the memories it brought to the surface.

And all because of some fancy crayons and colored paper.

He sighed heavily at that and leaned back against the couch, eyes closed as his palm rested against his emerald pendant. Calm. Solace. Peace. He could wield and weave powerful spells. He could do terrible, awesome things with the abilities he had gained, but a simple charm to calm and relax the body and spirit was completely out of his realm of influence. Much like so many other things in these days – these dark days of mine.

He felt a familar presence drift close before a pair of pale blue arms snaked around his shoulders. 'Are they so dark, Athan? Is your world so grim?'

A frown drew lines on Athan's face and made him look closer to the age he ought to have been some centuries before. "Mind your thoughts, Hawk," he warned quietly in a tone that truly left no room for conversation.

His words were met with musical, airy laughter, but he had mostly expected it. He had learned several things about the Shadow very quickly in the few shorts weeks Hawk's Eye had spent with him – he was a know-it-all, he enjoyed being lavished with attention like a housecat, was just as moody as said housecat, and at times reminded him of Wren. Quite like his dealings with demons, he quickly categorized the expierence as a valuable life lesson; he now knew exactly what it was like for other guardians.

'I mind mine especially well. Do you know what sort of disasters I could cause simply by blabbing away mindlessly?' the Fiend quipped in a peevish manner, effectively ripping him from his reverie entirely, 'I am no fool, and I am certainly not a housecat.' Hawk's striking blue eyes narrowed as he tightened his grip on Athan's shoulders, fox tail flicking behind him in what was no doubt a very cat-like manner despite his heated declaration.

"Mhm. That is all well and good, Hawk, but I do have work to do," Athan replied as he shifted forward enough to free himself from the Shadow's grasp so that he could dig through part of the mess he had made to snatch up what appeared to be thank you cards. Hawk arched a brow and settled himself to snuggle up next to Athan's side with a purr of what could only be contentment. Athan paused, and for a moment his own expression mirrored the Seer's, brow arched and face grim. "Do you mind?"

The Shadow all but beamed. 'Absolutely.'

"Oh good. Then you can write these out for me," Athan smirked as he shoved the cards towards Hawk who's face fell into what could only be a pout. As he anticipated the Shadow turned away from him with a grumble (which only increased when he realized he was playing exactly into what Athan had wanted in the first place) disappeared, skittering in to the next room to keep company with Reyna. She at least would entertain him. For a while.

Athan shook his head and sighed, one hand pressed to his forehead before his gaze settled upon Holicinesh who giggled quietly behind one hand. "Always an adventure, hm?"

'Nesh nodded before crawling up onto the couch to sit next to his uncle and stifled a yawn behind one small hand. He pushed his glasses up the ridge of his nose in a habitual gesture and eyed the assortment of elegant looking cards in his uncle's hands. "What'sit?" he asked curiously.

"These?" Athan murmured as he reached to wrap an arm around the boy's shoulders companionably. "Nothing much. Simply... a thank you. They're to be sent to, well, some ... friends... who had helped me a few weeks back. In fact, it was the day right after you were born."

"Oh," was all the boy said as he squirmed closer to his uncle and snuggled into his dark robes. He was getting quite sleepy. He had had strange dreams last night and had not gotten much rest due to that fact alone. He hoped now that he had scribbled out all the things he saw in his dreams on paper that he could relax now. He smiled happily when Athan reached to drag a blanket over him so he could nap.

"Yes.. just thank you notes," Athan went on, talking quietly mostly to himself as he wrote neatly in his script-like writing to all of those that had helped to save both his, Reyna's, and the life of her own Shadow and potentially countless other stones not yet awakened.

He owed them so much; more than a simple card or note could convey. He wasn't sure if it were a debt he could repay, though that would not stop him from trying.

Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gaia Guilds

Shadow Fiends

Quick Reply

More Information