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 Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 3:29 pm
x x x x x █║ RP LINK: Out of the Comfort Zone
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Aphismet, Alex
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Alex and Aphismet have their long awaited date.
Summary The long awaited date is finally here, and...it takes off without a hitch! In a glorious evening of good company and good food, Alex and Aphismet finally find the time to sit down and talk to one another and about one another. The evening is everything she hoped it would be, and even ended with a little sugar!
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 3:31 pm
x x x x x █║ RP LINK: While the Guardian`s Away...
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Rivener, Zul
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Rivener and Zul have their date!
Summary Rivener sneaks over to Alex and Zul's place to surprise the Frei. The two engage in brief conversation [and longer intimacy] before taking to a merry game of chase-and-tell. The Sigel confesses his love to Zul, who knows he can't yet understand the true depth of that claim. The two make an agreement for the future.
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Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 3:34 pm
x x x x x █║ RP LINK: The Star Festival
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul, Hazeline, Xiu
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Nullified due to mutual agreement of time.
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:09 pm
x x x x x █║ RP LINK: [RAEVEN PICK UP] Sensational
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul, Wit, Toshi
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Nullified due to 8 months of inactivity.
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:13 pm
x x x x x █║ SOLO: Take On Me
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul, Lorenzo
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Alex is forcefully reminded Zul is still a child.
(( This entry is exactly how I entered it in Round 2 of Equinox of the Gods. Yes, this is IC. )) Palming her keys, Alex looked over her charges grimly. Zul and Lorenzo stared back at her with perfect innocence, the source of her unease in their child-like expressions. "Be good," she instructed. "It'll only be a few hours."
Lorenzo snorted from Zul's arms, a curl of smoke lacing from the corners of his mouth. The Raevan turned his sky-blue eyes over the expulsion, looking down to the dragonette in his arms, a similar tendril emitting from his hands. The two smiled at their little display.
This was how she left them; it was not what she came home to.
She stood in dark foyer, wide eyes blinking rapidly in a bid to adjust her sight. Alex could smell smoke and something musty, the air itself heavy with moisture yet acrid and dry. "Zul?" she called out, stepping forward. There was a dim glow in the living room, and it was to this beacon that the woman hesitantly advanced on, booted feet kicking materials that were too cluttered for her to distinguish. Fingers lighted on overturned furniture as she approached the wall from which the glow was nestled; all she could define it as was a smoldering piece of glass, lighting her perplexed features.
Something whispered over the fragments of her coffee table, prompting her to turn around. Relief warmed her as her bright eyes found her Frei's back, anger quickly on its heels. "Zul, are you okay?" she asked, making sure she didn't explode without giving some benefit of the doubt. As the Raeven turned, she moved towards him, the room lit by the soft phosphorescent pulse from his gloves and gorget. "And where--ohmygod."
Zul smiled winningly at his Guardian, clutching a block of ice to his chest. The top of the cube had a pleased looking Gwee head sticking out of it, Lorenzo giving a shivering chirrup. The demonic Raevan held out his trophy. "I caught him," he informed the woman in his smokey voice, the sound akin to something hot being plunged into cold water.
Alex suddenly felt sick. "Zul!" she chided, "Unthaw him now, you'll hurt him!"
The Frei carefully drew the iced reptile back against his chest, eyes flickering with uncertainty.
"You don't want to hurt him, do you?"
Hesitation.
"Zul." Her voice was firm, no longer in askance. "You do NOT want to hurt him. Unfreeze him."
His ribbon swirled in momentary defiance before he gave in; the ice was absorbed into the hands from whence it came, leaving a wet but happy Lorenzo in his grasp. "Lorenzo," the Raevan cooed, "not hurt. Right?" His voice had softened back into the hazy tone the woman was used to, but it held that same power of suggestion she'd heard many times when he tried to get his way. The Gwee clicked at him in affirmation, although it could have just been his teeth chattering.
The woman extended her hands, taking the frozen Gwee and holding him to her own chest, biting back a tirade of curses that welled behind her tongue at how cold Lorenzo was. A blanket would soon be in order for the little guy. "Zul, what happened?" she inquired with a neutral voice, making sure her anger didn't leak through.
He made sure her expression wasn't one of Bad Things To Come; satisfied, he drew his fingers across his chin, considering. "He smoked," the Frei explained casually, "I smoked back. He blew fire, I blew back. He burned paper, I--"
"Mercy," Alex groaned softly. He didn't need to say anymore, her mind's eye already envisioning Zul and Lorenzo in a merry show of Who Was Hot Stuff. She would have mourned the loss of most of her worldly possessions, but the house wasn't hers, and the firm it belonged to would be more inclined to display excitement over the reason for its destruction rather than the impact on their wallet. "Next time you want to play, go outside."
Zul never blinked. "We did."
The Italian paled. She had come in the front door, and saw no damage, which meant the back door where her patio and all the plants... "Did you stay out of the bedroom?"
The Raevan nodded. "Off limits," he parroted her instructions.
"Good," she sighed, gathering the frozen beast more tightly to her torso, "then the bed is whole." And with that, she turned on her heel and picked her way through the wreckage she once called home.
The tan-skinned male floated after her momentarily, his expression all smiles despite the worry clear in his voice. "Not in trouble?"
"Tomorrow," she replied with a vague smile, a shivering Lorenzo whistling happily at the Frei. "We'll see what tomorrow brings."
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 12:14 pm
x x x x x █║ SOLO: Lorenzo
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul, Brad
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Lorenzo passes away.
The morning came with the single most horrible sound Zul had ever heard, something that made his spine feel like it was tingling, a feeling that tried to crawl further down his body and it was perhaps the only time he was grateful he wasn't more fully formed. The headphones were ripped off of his head, the plastic guitar in his hands dropped to the floor, the television ignored as the notes continued onwards without his participation. The Frei floated rapidly through the living room and into the small hallway, throwing open the door to the room it had come from - Alex's bedroom.
The sound came again, and he was horrified to see that it came from his woman's mouth, which was parted in a terrible manner, lips drawn away from her teeth as though...howling, screaming, and it gave him the chills again. She was on her knees in the middle of the bed, the blankets haphazardly around her legs, clutching something pale green to her chest, her dark hair messily about her shoulders and arms. She was rocking back and forth, and the Raevan realized her body was shaking, her breathing oddly broken and erratic. For one, perfectly fearful second, Zul thought she was dying. "Alix?" he breathed softly, his blue eyes wide with that fear.
Alex hiccuped and looked up. Her green eyes had lost their vibrancy despite the tears, a muted color that made him feel like it was leaking out of her; indeed, her face was wet and strangely devoid of her usual tan. The expression she wore made his chest feel strangely heavy, lips trembling and her brows pulled so piteously over her wavering gaze. "Zul...Z-Zoe, he..."
The Raevan felt that unpleasant sensation of his body trying to react, but not having enough substance to do so properly. He floated in slowly as if in a dream, looking for the Gwee - he usually slept against the stuffed animals she had placed in the corner of the bed just for him, but they were empty. He didn't see the dragonette on her pillows, and just as he looked back to her in question, his gaze caught the pale thing in her arms. The partial smile he'd tried to wear slipped off his face as he came closer, fingers extending to touch the foot of the bed and support himself. What he saw there made him want to flee, although he could do little more than grip the blankets and keep from crumpling on the spot.
Alex had awakened that morning.
Lorenzo did not.
---
"Where is she?"
His woman's older brother had come quickly, which he was grateful for. The man was dressed unusually, wearing a tank top that was filthy and jeans that were torn in the knees and covered with all manner of substances that Zul himself was unfamiliar with. He'd been 'working on site,' and while the Raevan didn't know what it meant, it was obviously dirty work. He wanted to ask just what it was the architect was doing, but his voice didn't seem to want to comply. Instead, the demonic Frei pointed from the foyer to the backyard - the sliding glass windows were open - and looked down.
There was a moment of nothing, followed by the surprising feeling of a large arm around his shoulders - a partial embrace, and then the man was moving into the destroyed house, jogging through the messy living room and out back. Numb, the Raevan followed, but stopped by the glass, looking through it rather than joining the human.
Alex hadn't moved for the past three hours or so, the sun now high in the sky. After the revelation that Lorenzo wasn't going to open his eyes anymore, the woman had seemed to lose herself. She went between those keening, blood-chilling cries to perfect silence, between finding all of the dragonette's belongings and holding onto certain stuffed animals, staring with a vacant, unfeeling gaze. She'd finally found one of her treasured items, a huge jewelry box that Lorenzo had often slept within when she'd left the top open, and it was there that she'd finally removed the cold Gwee from her arms, laying him within its velvet confines as though he were sleeping. They'd both looked over him, so peaceful; he'd watched her trembling hands put a cupcake next to him, one she had picked up during her errands yesterday. There was something painfully final about the way it went undisturbed, the dragon never moving to retrieve his sweet.
After that, she had cried, and hadn't stopped.
She'd taken the box outside beneath the tree that the wild Gwee perched in, and had began to dig with her bare fingers, the sobs still audible even from within the house. It had only continued on for a half hour until she gave in, hands on either side of the small pit she'd dug, bowing her head and screaming her misery at the earth with scraped fingers digging into it bitterly. The Raevan had never seen such raw emotion before, a striking reality check of the many things he had taken for granted.
Zul had managed to pick up her tinkle-thing when it tinkled, relieved to hear Brad's voice, telling him in halting, uncertain words that Alex couldn't come to the phone just then because Lorenzo had stopped moving and she'd gone mad. The voice on the other end was in stunned silence before saying he'd be there in twenty, and the line had gone dead.
Fifteen minutes later, Zul was now watching the large man cross the cliffside backyard and pause near his sister's shaking form, slowly getting onto his knees and putting his hand on her back. The Raevan watched as her head jerked up, revealing a face full of pain and anguish, dilute green eyes shimmering with tears and red-rims, and then she was in her brother's arms, the screaming starting anew. If it was just tears, Zul thought he might have been able to handle it, like with Gage, but this...it was like a part of her had died. He realized, looking around the destroyed house that had only earned a smile from the woman the night before, that he might have been closer to the truth than he wanted to be.
The Raevan couldn't watch, knowing that her grief was his fault. His hands were cold to the touch but he couldn't feel the temperature, knowing only that he'd held that small life in his hands and ended it callously. He'd been the one who had...he'd killed Lorenzo. His Zul Two. His friend. He'd never be able to chase him around the house again, never play catch or steal sweets from the cupboard. He'd never hear the sing-song chirrup as the Gwee sang with his game, and he'd never feel the gentle weight of Lorenzo against his shoulder, never hold him again. Never see him with that toothy smile, the wagging tail, those large eyes. It was wrong, somehow, that he could still feel the life that the Gwee had breathed into the house, when his own life had been taken within it.
Zul felt himself sag, putting his hands over his face as though it would change the way everything had happened. He'd never felt so utterly alone in all his existance, and it was his own fault, his pride that had cost everyone. He couldn't go to Alex for comfort, because the woman was still wetting her brother's shirt with her tears. He couldn't call Rivener, he couldn't tell the Sigel that he'd killed his only friend! The thought made his chest constrict; what would the Scorpion think? How could anyone love him for being so immature and thoughtless? The Frei hadn't realized the consequences of his actions, and now...
The demon lifted his head and looked again through the glass, watching Brad rub his sister's back. He was blaming himself, but Alex hadn't accused him of anything. He felt alone, but Brad had just hugged him minutes ago. Would he be allowed to...?
After several moments, he finally floated beyond the glass windows, onto the back patio. It was a warm day, perfect for sunbathing, although he doubted he'd be indulging in his favored past time anytime soon. Instead, the Frei floated down the stairs and across the dirt floor, halting in front of the box that bore his friend's body. With aching slowness, he bent down and picked the box up; it was heavier than he'd anticipated, holding it in the crook of one arm. He didn't notice Brad watching him as he carefully floated behind his woman, his free arm extending to wrap around her stomach and press his cheek between her shoulder blades, the box resting against her side. She stiffened for a moment, before one of her hands slowly wound around the arm holding the chest, and there, she held Lorenzo with him, one last time, her raw, trembling fingers lacing with the Raevan's. Her tears continued into her brother's chest, and the man's arms moved to include the grieving Frei, a silent touch of understanding.
The family mourned their loss, together.
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Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2009 1:09 pm
x x x x x █║ SOLO: Change of Plans
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul, Brad
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Alex is informed she has a job abroad.
"What do you mean, 'Did you get the airline tickets'?!"
Alex's voice was quite the mirror for her face; disbelieving and angry. "What the hell, Charles? You can't just send something without calling me, that's what the brilliant invention called a telephone is for!" She looked at an envelope that had the official markings of her corporation and tossed it aside. "No, I didn't get them, and it doesn't matter if I don't like the phone, that's what it's used for, smart a**."
The Raevan had never heard his woman use so many foul words in such a short amount of time. Ever since the phone had come up with the corporate ID, Alex had been quite cross and Zul could not figure out why. She kept giving him a nervous look before snapping something at the person on the other line, each barb making Brad's face waver between amusement and wincing. "Who is that?" Zul had asked the older man at some point during her vibrant description of where the person on the other line could find his head.
"Probably not her boss. Or if it is, it wont be for long."
And so the two males watched the woman stalk across the wreckage of her home, hissing and snarling like some caged beast into someone's ear. There were alternating colorful explictives and more somber words that neither of them could hear (although Zul did pick up something about having lost someone important), and finally, the phone was snapped shut. Alex's eyes were a hot, green fire, the hand gripping the phone nearly white-knuckled as she turned to her brother. "You're on site for the next six weeks, aren't you?" she asked, ignoring the phone as it began to vibrate in her hand.
Brad nodded slowly, indigo eyes turning between her dissatisfied expression and the phone. "They didn't have a choice about me leaving yesterday and today, but we're in the stage they need me the most. Why? Are you going to get that--?"
The phone snapped open. "Call back in five." It snapped shut again. Alex put her hands on her hips, biting her bottom lip and looking at the chest that contained Lorenzo's body. "It's too soon," she said softly, her shoulders sagging a little as she deflated. "They want to send me to one of the villages west of the Reclamation Facility, the Barton one. They said they have no one else who can handle it right now."
"Send?" Zul echoed, not liking the sound of that at all. "For what?"
The Italian crossed her arms, thumb tracing over the metal of her phone nervously. "There was an attack. They were contacted by the chief of the area and want 'one of their best,'" she uncrossed her arms long enough to hook her fingers for annoyed emphasis, "to confirm or deny that the attack was done by an animal. It's a very serious claim and not one that I'm assigned to. Or, I wasn't assigned to it until now." She sounded outright miserable about the fact, frowning at the cluttered floor.
Brad shifted his weight, toeing the remains of a side table. "I'll take care of Zoe and fixing the locks before I go." A brief pause. "They know about Zul, right?"
Alex nodded.
"Then why would they send plane tickets? Or was it for one person?"
"I'm not opening the damn things to check," she growled, her upset turning back into anger. "I'm not going to leave him here and I'm not going to bring him on a plane! I'd have to call in advance and spend time explaining to Zul what it's about, but they want me to leave tomorrow--"
"Plane?"
"Tomorrow? Jesus, nothing like notice!"
Alex covered her face with her hands, rubbing her brow and trying to think. "Yes, Zul, I'll explain it on the way there. You have to come with me, since B wont be here." Her tone of voice made it clear she was not happy with this decision. "But Zul, you absolutely have to listen to me while we're there. This is my job and...one of the more dangerous aspects of it. You can't come with me into the field itself. It's going to be boring but you must listen."
The Raevan usually would have been affronted by the woman's seeming accusation. He normally would have reminded her how smart he was and that he wasn't a child. Zul was not himself, nodding quietly and looking down to his hands. After a moment, he managed to say, "I understand."
Brother and sister exchanged glances; Brad's hand rested on the Frei's shoulder, and Alex completely wrapped him up in a hug. "We'll talk, while we're there," she said softly against his elongated ear, "it'll be about five days and anything you want to say, you can say then. Okay?"
Zul's impossibly blue eyes looked over to Brad, who simply nodded in return to his silent inquiry. "Okay," he replied in a hazy tone, one arm moving around her back to awkwardly pat her in return. He didn't know what else to say; he wanted to apologize, to try and explain himself, but he knew right then wasn't the time. It was just as well, as the phone began to vibrate again.
Alex pulled away from the two and stalked irritably over the remains of her living room, all but tearing the phone open. "I said FIVE minutes, not two and a half!" She stood still in mid-bristle, listening, before nodding even though the person on the other end obviously couldn't see it. "Yes, I'd appreciate that. And no, I didn't get the stupid things." The cross tone of voice was back, giving the previously discarded envelope a baleful glance.
The older Italian crossed his arms over his chest, looking to Zul with a faint smile. "Your first adventure, huh?"
Zul nodded somberly.
"Everything happens for a reason, kiddo. Keep your chin up, no matter what, and learn from everything you can."
The demon turned his tri-horned head, both surprised and uncertain. "A reason?" he repeated dubiously, not caring that it seemed his vocabulary had reverted to his younger ways. "There's no reason for Zoe's--"
"I said a reason, not an excuse, Zul." Brad's usually kind visage was a little stern, his eyes holding words that the Frei could not understand. "You'll have to learn the difference, and I hope it's sooner than later. Just remember what I said. Alessa is going to need you through this next week. It wont be easy, but it's up to you now."
The Raevan felt very young, suddenly. He wasn't sure he was ready for this strange responsibility, wasn't sure he was able to shoulder the weight of the man's implications. "I will try," Zul's voice was quiet, smoke on the water.
Brad nodded, watching his sister. "That's all we'll ever ask of you."
"And to pack up," Alex sighed, shutting the phone with finality. "We leave at three in the morning to be there on time."
Zul nodded, floating in place for a moment, feeling rather childish. He felt like he should know what to pack, but he didn't have the foggiest clue; he began to resent not knowing the answers when he thought he should, his discontent clear on his usually smiling features. He wouldn't make another mistake... "What can I bring?"
The smile his woman wore was not entirely friendly. "Yourself and your imagination, Zul. Where we're going isn't like anywhere you've been, and goodness willing, somewhere you'll never be again."
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:49 pm
x x x x x █║ SOLO: A Whole New World :: [Day One] Unwelcome
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Alex and Zul arrive at the job site.
It took six hours to get from Gambino to the village. They had taken the truck to the headquarters of her work and traded it out for a terrain jeep; it wasn't because her truck couldn't handle it, but because her visit might be unwelcome to some. Gaia was a wonderfully tolerant place to call home, but not every place had a positive outlook. Their destination was a place of superstition and tradition, which included women being left at home and the men handling the affairs of the society. It wasn't dangerous for Alex, her superiors had guarenteed her, as they had already spoken with the chief and obtained his blessing for her safe passage.
"Great." The woman had given all 'the suits' a look that had likely turned some part of their body to ash on impact. "If anything happens, you will hear about it." She hadn't even let them meet Zul, her anger still a dangerous and simmering thing that even the Raevan had shirked from for the first several miles of their adventure. Alex decided to ask if he'd watched anything on the television about a movie, and the discomfort passed.
They talked a lot in that time, but skirted around the obvious topics that should have been addressed. Alex wasn't ready to have That Talk, to tell her beloved charge that he'd killed a living being with ignorance. Just thinking about the absence of Lorenzo made her eyes fill with hot tears that had no right to spill over her cheeks while they were talking about dinner plans. The Italian had never taken well to 'girly' things, taking on a mentality of being strong and independent; she didn't consider crying a weakness, but it was something she hadn't done in fifteen years. She supposed, as the village came into view, that she should have thought of that before they'd left.
And a village it was! Alex hopped out of the jeep wearing her cargo pants over hiking boots, a safari shirt and utility belt that held all she'd need for the venture. She had not anticipated to see thatched houses on the outskirts that they had come to, with larger, well-built buildings in the distance. The people milling about had naturally dark skin like her, but darker, although if it was due to the living conditions, it was hard to say. Children ran barfoot through the muddy trenchs that women in modest tees and pants were bent over, fashioning the proper materials for god knows what. Pottery? Plates? Bricks for the buildings in the distance? She couldn't help but curl her lip in derision. At least it became clear, now, how they had managed to pay her company's fee for this little job. She was going to chew them out when she got back!
Her green eyes lowered to find some of the women had stopped working, looking her over with expressions that were mostly blank, save for the disapproving narrow of dark eyes. Alex exhaled slowly through her nose, willing the job to not be an uphill battle just to find information that should be readily available because of her appearance. She watched some of the women herd their children away, while others just continued to ignore her very presence; it was rather daunting to the Italian, who, while used to working alone, was used to working with people who wanted her around.
She entertained the crude notion of getting back in the jeep and turning around, but it was halted as a few people approached her. At least one of them looked like an official of the city, clad in a nice suit and constantly brushing off his jacket as though the very air was dirty. He gave her a once over (that she had to restrain herself from bristling at) before giving a charming smile, extending his hand. "Doctor Vizcatti, I presume?" he inquired in a rather pleasant voice, slightly accented with something she couldn't distinguish.
Alex disdained being called 'doctor,' but that was neither here nor there at this point in time. "I am. Chairman Felaos?" she returned in a voice completely devoid of anything but professionalism, her hand only briefly shaking his. This whole thing was already rubbing her the wrong way, especially the uncomfortably close proximity the man was insisting on taking.
He couldn't have been more than a foot away from her, his grin forcibly reminding her of a cheshire cat. "Yes," he sounded pleased, as though she knew him through his very presence rather than being informed previously. "We weren't expecting such a...young lady." Another inch disappeared. "We have a hotel ready for you with the team like you requested, but if you'd reconsider, there's a nice place downtown..."
Another inch, and with it, Alex's temper. "Look," she started, but there was suddenly another body between hers and the chairman's. A flash of perfect tan skin and marble-webbed wings, and there was a very wide berth between her and the small troupe.
"What the HELL is that?"
"It's...it's missing its body!"
"Look at his head! HIS HEAD! THE MARK!"
"She travels with a demon? Heretic!"
"Don't touch her."
Silence.
Alex looked quietly at the spiked spine that blocked most of her vision, feeling the familiar and welcome heat of Zul on her skin. To say she was caught off guard didn't quite express her surprise at the Raevan's sudden outburst from the jeep. Was he...being protective of her? His wings were flared out fully, rattling to ensure the rings would clack against the bone frames, floating as high as he could. Strong arms were held out from his body, his fingers curled, and she almost thought she could see an ember or two floating in the cup of his palm. Creme-and-fire hair seemed to waft in the heat that emitted from his body, shoulders tense. It was a strange and stomach-curling reminder of the demon that was within the half-body, one that had very nearly fatally injured Jeremy.
"Zul," she murmured softly, her hand resting just beneath one of his wings, stepping around him to look at the chairman. Alex felt much more calm, as if the Raevan's interference reminded her of her purpose in the first place. That she wasn't alone. To Felaos, she lifted her chin, "The predetermined quarters will be sufficient, Chairman."
He did not look happy. "We were not told you'd have a demon bodyguard," he remarked with distaste. It was only then that she realized that everyone else within the vicinity had stopped whatever they were doing and were staring - at Zul. There was fear, outrage on some, and yet others fell into prayer. "We have no accomodations for such devils--"
"He is not my bodyguard, he is my charge and I am responsible for him," she replied smoothly, relaxing a little as Zul lowered his height a bit. "His name is Zul. He is a living, breathing being and if you treat him as any less, I will leave." The steel in her eyes took any hint of joking or bluffing out of her words. "I am capable of finding your demon, Chairman, is that not why you called my firm? I'm here to do a job. That is all."
"Is he worth this job of yours?"
"Yes." The answer was immediate and didn't have so much as a bat of an eyelash to accompany it.
She found one of her hands being lifted, held between the warm grasp of the Frei. "Alix?" His voice was smoke over the tense meeting, but she could hear, just beneath the careful tone, something she'd never heard before. It sounded a lot like concern.
"It'll be okay, Zul," she put her other hand over his, squeezing them and smiling at her Raevan. In that moment, he was a beacon of light she needed in this strange, dark town. "I just want to help them. They'll understand." His blue eyes flicked over to the group before resting on her face again, and it was easy to see how he'd grown so much since she'd first brought him home. She could swear that the look he was giving her was one her brother did when he knew she wasn't being completely truthful with him.
There was silence for a time, before the chairman spoke up again. "Please don't bring him out with you. It'll demoralize our people even further." His tone was flat, and quite frankly, Alex was thrilled. They could proceed with business, now. "This is Henry," he indicated a leather-skinned man wearing a straw hat and flanel shirt beneath coveralls, which seemed odd with how hot it was. The man named Henry simply nodded, looking nervously at the Raevan. "He'll be your guide and answer any questions you have about the site."
Alex nodded and smiled to Henry. "Call me Alex. We'll go when you're ready."
"There are procedures, Doctor," the chairman added hastily. "You wont be able to go for another day yet. Understand this is a very delicate matter."
Her eyes flickered with annoyance, but she didn't change her expression. She instead looked to Henry, who lowered his eyes. "Will you come by my room tomorrow then? I'd like to know what to expect." His nod was enough for her, and releasing Zul's hands from her own, she stood up straight, her expression unyielding and firm. "I don't want to cause trouble, Chairman. In and out. Five days."
If it wasn't apparent before then, it was now, why the feisty woman had been sent. "Five days," he agreed with a curl of his lip, "and don't worry about causing trouble. There's enough here that it'll find you."
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 12:05 pm
x x x x x █║ SOLO: A Whole New World: [Day Two] Compromise
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Alex is informed of the local's superstition of what really attacked the people.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Alex's angry glare was enough to send any respectable man into a fit of squirming, and Henry was no exception. He'd been in the room for less than ten minutes and the Italian was betting he was wishing he could bolt for the door right about now. Unfortunately, the unhappy female was in the path between where he sat and his freedom, and she was certain he would not attempt to bypass her to leave. It wouldn't end well for him.
"No miss," the man replied firmly. "It's true. What was in there was no animal. It was a man, flesh and blood...or bone."
Alex ran her hand over her face, green eyes a vicious shade, toxic. "So what you're saying," she started in a voice that was both demeaning and disbelieving, "is that some guy started this." A pause. "A mummy in a coffin."
"Vampire."
"Oh for f--" The woman thew up her hands and crossed the squeaky boards of the floor to the makeshift kitchen, yanking open the door to the portable fridge. Alex knew the room would be shabby at best, and she hadn't been disappointed; the bed was compromised of what looked to be ill-fitted for a bird's nest, the floorboards complained with every step, the walls were little more than plaster over plywood and there was no electricity. Candles - most of them used - litered various flat surfaces, but she didn't need light when the frameless, barred windows admitted more than enough sun during the day. She had requested a fridge, and it had been brought to her with amusement - no electricity, remember - but she had a little ace in the hole named Zul.
Seizing a bottle of water, she walked stiffly to her Raevan and held out the bottle and speaking to him with gentle apology. "If you can, Zul, it's miserably hot here." To Henry, her tone was far less kind. "So you have some phantom here that you think attacked the diggers. First off, shouldn't you have contacted them? The vampires? Don't they live in one of the cities now?" Her irritation was clear; professionalism be damned, this was a wild goose chase! "Second, I'm a zoologist. That means I work with animals. Not humans, or phantoms there of."
"He warn't no phantom!" Henry all but cried out, exhasperated. "He was as real as you and I and he hurt people! We could get you a sketch 'r something, if you..." The man trailed off, his leathered face suddenly very pale. "...if you..."
"Would you like some ice water too, Henry?" Zul asked, cautious. Usually such a reaction would have left him preening, always enjoying the recognition of showing off, but this was different. He could taste the fear roiling off of the man, a thick, acrid ball that rolled around on his tongue heavily. He handed the water back to Alex, which was now frosted on the inside, the contents so cold that it had not yet begun to sweat.
Henry swallowed a few times, but no words came out; he settled for shaking his head as rapidly as he could.
"Thank you, Zul. Third," Alex quipped happily, content to have got some sort of 'one up' on the man, "this isn't my area of expertise. I'll come look at the cave to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that it wasn't or was an animal, but once that's done, my job here is also done. I can't help you with...vampires." The way the word rolled off her tongue suggested she didn't believe him, or if she did, she found the situation disgusting.
The man found enough of himself to glare at her, to which she looked impassively in return, taking a sip of her cold water. "You're all the same! You look down on us and send us back to our deaths--"
Henry was lucky she swallowed the water, or he'd be wearing it. "Hold your damn horses!" Alex cried out, lifting her hands defensively, fingers curled around the neck of the water bottle. "What's this you business? I'm a hired hand, out here on false pretense!" She frowned as Henry looked away, leaning on the table he was sitting next to and making him jump. "Listen, Henry, I don't know where you're from, or the first thing about you. I don't even know what you've been through. I was called by my firm to come down here a day after my best friend died. I came as quickly as I could. My family was attacked just because he looked different. Now I'm being told the reason for this adventure is false. NOW."
Her hand slammed on the wood, her jaw firmly clenched, but her eyes betrayed her; there was no anger there now, only a deep seeded sadness. "Don't. You. Dare lump me in with those vultures. I'm here to do my job. If I could spare you and those men what ails you, I would, but I can't even get close enough to ask questions. I've been treated like a virus the whole time I've been here, something to suffer until it runs its course." Green eyes lowered for a moment before closing, breathing in deeply; one could almost hear her counting backwards from ten, despite the silence in the room.
"If you want to say something helpful to clear the air and get to the bottom of this, do so now. If not, our conversation is over."
The two males said nothing. Zul remained still, but his hand was gently resting against the woman's knee beneath the table. Henry looked down after her tirade, giving her a moment to really look at him. Her old habits kicked in, piecing him together as well as she could: his skin told her he worked outside, had all his life, under the sun. His pale eyes told her that he had cataracts, or would soon, and that he should be wearing glasses but was likely too stubborn to admit a health problem. Crows feet by his eyes and lines near his mouth told a story about being a man of good humor, or at least one that had smiled much in his years. The dirt beneath his nails told her he was an honest man, worked his shift and then some for what he had to; his clothes were similarly dirty and patched, and it was one of the patches that gave her pause. The fabric was faded pink and had a thread-bare image of a teddy bear head near the seam. She glanced to his hand; a wedding ring.
She thought then of her brother, of Zeke, of Aphismet and Rivener, Natsuki, Kinsey...none of them really knew where she was. If she had come out here, if something happened to her...would they ever know? Would they miss her? Did they miss her even now...?
"I'm sorry," she said after the silence continued, the edge leaking out of her eyes, leaving them a more normal shade. "I can't imagine how hard this is for you, to see your men hurt, working for a thankless company, in the middle of a religious town and dealing with a rabid woman from the east." Her lips curved into the faintest of smiles. "Can we start over? Without the weight of what has transpired to cloud our judgement."
Henry nodded slowly, his eyes uncertain at the sudden change of her demeanor.
Alex straightened before taking a seat, extending her hand. "Hey. I'm Alex." She gave him a wide smile. "I'm here to help."
He looked at her for a long moment, but his own lips began to return the smile, his rough hand taking hers; his grip was firm, just as scarred as hers and every bit as friendly. "Henry," he said with the first traces of warmth, "I'm head of the convoy of men sent here to excavate a local cave. Pleasure to meet you, Alex."
"I like you already! You didn't add a Miss or any of that garbage!" She laughed at his surprise, feeling the tension beginning to ease out of her shoulders.
"Didn't give me one t' say who you were, figured it'd be rude to correct you." He chuckled. After a moment, with his smile still in place, he added in a somber tone, "I'm sorry for your loss, Alex. It's a bit late to say 'I didn't know better,' and how could I have? Didn't care enough to ask. For that, I'm sorry."
The laughter felt stale in her throat, eyes averting for a few heart beats. After some hesitation, she nodded, "Thank you. I'm a bit on edge, I haven't...well, I said we were starting over, so let's brush that aside. It shouldn't interfere with what's at hand."
Henry gave her a sad smile, something that said he understood in a way better than he should. "Fair 'nough." He settled back into his chair, hands folding over his coveralls. "I've got a story to tell you if you'd lend me an ear, Alex."
"You've got four," she smiled, tilting her head to indicate Zul, who was remaining surprisingly quiet. The Frei was simply watching for the time being, uncomfortable but attentive. "Tell me everything, and I will do everything in my power to make sure you all can go home."
Giving the Raevan a glance, he nodded slowly, and taking a deep breath, shared his tale.
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 1:15 pm
x x x x x █║ SOLO: A Whole New World :: [Day Three] Gunshots
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Zul fends off the angry populace while Alex fights to get her team home.
It was all dust and sand as far as the Frei could see; it disquieted him on a level he didn't quite understand. Zul frowned to himself, the gesture tugging a look of discontent onto his already mistrusting features. Alex had told him to wait in the 'town,' that he could not come with her; she reasoned that they didn't know what they were up against and it was her expertise that had brought them there in the first place. The demon had tried to argue that his very presence could change the flow of things, as it had before, but she had simply smiled and shook her head, explaining that human fear and nature was something she was intimately familiar with. He was still learning. He didn't like the answer, but he couldn't accept any less. She was gone and he was left on the outskirts of what looked like a dense oasis, staring out over the eternal yawn of dustland that was broken only by the waves of heat in the distance.
In fact, she'd gone some hours ago. It made him unsettled that she hadn't come back yet - that none in the company she'd taken had returned. There'd been no adverse sounds, nothing to indicate that there was danger involved at all, but Zul still felt his skin crawling beneath the unforgiving sun. He could feel eyes on him, but for the moment, he ignored them. Young as he was, he was used to the stares, and though those gathered were far more rude than others, he wasn't about to let some burning stares move him--
Something stung on his shoulder. Bewildered, the Frei turned to see a rock bouncing away. He barely had time to register another flying through the air before it struck him on the cheek, making him flinch and stretch his wings threateningly. "What is your problem?" he hissed, finding that his attackers were...children. Dark-skinned tiny humans that had been grinning before he rounded on them. He didn't understand why he'd been the focus of their target game, but he was not amused, waving his hands in annoyance to shoo them off. "Go away."
Some of the children looked spooked, which served him just fine. One - a larger sized brute of a child - looked angry, picking up another rock from the dusty ground and again hurling it at him. Zul decided the insolent children could stand to use a lesson if no adult would stop them - and indeed, some seemed to have stopped to watch - and without batting an eyelash, he caught the rock and spun, hurling it back with the same force. It knicked the boy's ear in passing, something the demon had intended to be purposeful, to teach the child a lesson that not everything that seemed helpless was.
It seemed his return fire was enough to raise the alarm; the children cried out in a language he didn't immediately understand but felt like he was slowly remembering, adults rushing to and fro to gather the misfits and point at him in accusation. A few of the adults began to approach him slowly with rakes and shovels brandished. He realized -- too late -- that they'd really just been looking for an excuse to do this. To approach him with hostility. Zul didn't understand it, but the Frei could taste the anger on the air as acrid as a lightning storm, but he would not back down.Quote: (( Summary as too much time has passed to finish this in the proper mindset: ))
Zul is attacked by the locals, first the children with stones and then the adults with whatever they can get their hands on. He manages to evade most of the attacks and is just about to decide to be the demon they fear, when gunshots are heard in the distance - from where Alex had disappeared. Panic ensues, and Zul flies over the thick oasis to try and find the team. Locating them, he flies above to lead them quickly and safely back to the town, where Alex explains what happened: something had come out of the cave she'd come to explore, something husk-like and clearly humanoid in nature, which is outside of her expertise. The gunshots were actually aimed at her by members of the mistrusting team she'd put together, but she'd managed to disarm one and shoot another in the shoulder before the husk also attacked the team...but not Alex. There's no trust to be had, and tensions are at an all time high when she informs Zul that they'll be leaving tomorrow morning.
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Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 5:59 pm
:: An unexpected Visit :: "Doesn't look like anyone's home, Riv." Rivener glared balefully over his shoulder at the white-haired chef. "I'm not blind, I can see that." They'd knocked, they'd rung the doorbell, Riv had even tried looking through a door window that was covered by a curtain. The absence of Alex's truck was their first clue, but the complete silence that answered Rivener's very persistent, very loud calls for Anyone Hoooome?? was the nail in the coffin. "That's what happens when you don't call ahead...""Alright, okay, fine. ...Help me out, then. Find some small pebbles, like... like this big." Riv lifted a small rock from the ground to demonstrate, setting to building a little pile of them, picking and choosing from the stones along the home's front walkway. With a tolerant sigh Aphismet had complied, bringing a handful at a time until there seemed to be enough. "That should do," Riv said, moving eagerly to the front doorstep and carefully writing out in rocks: For Zul. From Riv. The flower was placed just below the step, and another small pile of rocks was added on top of the stem to make sure the wind wouldn't push the flower away. The Scorpion floated back, examining his handiwork with a faint smile. "...Do you think it'll survive the wind?" "...I'm sure it'll be fine, Riv. Come on, then, let's go home. You can call him tomorrow or something to see if he got it." The chef placed a hand at his Raevan's back, guiding him to the car. Like Alex had when she'd watched Zul listen to Rivener's phone message, Aphismet now began to wonder what exactly this was between the two floating bodies...
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Posted: Sat Aug 01, 2009 12:27 pm
x x x x x █║ SOLO: A Whole New World :: [Day Four] Reprieve
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: Alex talks to Zul about racism.
Quote: (( Summary as too much time has passed to finish this in the proper mindset: ))
The night of the gunshots, Alex is tending to minor cuts from her excursion when Zul tells her about being attacked and expressing his confusion about it. Sadly, Alex explains the truth of racism, and that even if humans all look like to Zul, they are not alike at all, and often hold prejudices against each other that are unwarranted and unfounded, simply due to skin color or social status. Zul doesn't entirely understand, but Alex explains it in the way that Zul views humans as inferior and violent, and that it's not incorrect, that humans have the same outlook over anyone that doesn't look like them or match their belief system. That seems to resonate with Zul, and he realizes he's been formulating his own racism. Alex tries to comfort him, that it exists even in those with the best intentions, but Zul is still troubled. He decides, from this point on, that he will try to teach everyone and everything he meets with equal consideration.
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Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 12:14 pm
x x x x x █║ SOLO: A Whole New World :: [Day Five] A Life Less Ordinary
x x x x x █║ INVOLVED: Alex, Zul
x x x x x █║ SYNOPS: A stranger visits the two before they go home.
Quote: (( Summary as too much time has passed to finish this in the proper mindset: ))
As the two are preparing to go home the next morning, someone knocks on the door. A sallow looking man, mostly covered, enters the room. He's rather quiet and Zul feels a great sense of being disconcerted, but Alex doesn't seem bothered. The man and Alex look at each other for a while, and it seems for a moment that Alex almost recognizes him, but can't place how. The man asks for 'something [she] took from [him],' and to Zul's surprise, she retrieves a ring from her pocket and hands it to him. The man disappears. Zul asks what that was all about, and Alex tells him in an unnerved tone that one of the things they found in the cave were belongings that they assumed belonged to the mummified husk that later had moved. She had taken a ring to try and place its origins when they got home, maybe find out who the man had been...but it was gone now. Zul asks why she gave the ring away, and Alex quietly says that she's pretty sure it's back with its rightful owner. The two leave in unsteady silence and head home.
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