|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 12:59 am
It was weeks after Dark and his pet oni left the T.O.Y.S. shop, and Azerim's condition had not gotten any better. Worried sick, Dark stood by his door every day watching his pet demon contemplate atop their tallest bookshelf. When asked, Azerim would snap back, or not even say anything at all. But most bothersome of all were his eyes. A crimson red burned brightly through Azerim, and the overall look was just haunting.
Dark couldn't bare anymore, and once again -- although this time alone -- set out to the shop to see if maybe he could find some answers to the problem at hand.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 1:09 am
This particular day found Dian Chegrin and Azyre at work in the TOYS shop, though Audric still found solace in the freezer, buried somewhere behind the frozen peas and the pork chop.
Azyre was filing taxes, buried behind a seemingly veritable mountain of paperwork at the front desk, Dian repairing the floorboards destroyed by the outburst. He'd just managed to set in the last board and stood, admiring his handiwork for a moment before turning to Azyre.
"Hey, maybe we aught to leave a little incantation circle, or something? You know, a place for the little guy to go in case he wants to bury himself again?"
Dian's only response was an irritated snort. He grinned at his green haired friend. Azyre wasn't agitated with him, but rather the immense amount of DWs and W2s and millions of other forms he had to fill out to ensure his business remained legal. Aside from fundies and republicans, the last thing the shopowner wanted was ammunition for the fringe groups to get him put out of business. Nothing ruined a shop like good old fashioned tax fraud. Dian stepped away from the door to put away his tools.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 7:11 pm
Back to square one again, just like before. What must come up, must come down. A moment of happiness comes but once in a life of sadness. Dark walked down the street with his head bowed and his hands in his pockets. The wind blew fiercely as he continued onward -- without a sweatshirt. He seemed to be somewhat resistant to the cold; although... now a days, opening himself up to certain people had weakened that side of him, and he shivered as he walked on. Stopping at a street light, he sighed. Would you believe if he saw things other people would laugh at in movies? A recent one Dark had seen jumped back into his mind, and it made him realize just how alone he was. People always told him that, Oooh, you know, your friends are here, there's someone out there for everyone, blah blah blah. If it's one thing he learned, it was just a bunch of false comforting. Still standing there on the sidewalk, he counted how many people had told him those statements -- and how many times it had come true for him.
Maybe once he willingly admitted ho himself, but that was a very long time ago.
Who would have guessed? The more depressing fact was, that a lot of people often thought of him as 'cute' or 'attractive' by a few of his peers, and we all know parents say that about their kids as well. Sighing again, his fears came back to haunt him. Loneliness was the thing he was scared of the most. And honestly it was the thing that stuck with him more than anytyhing else in the world.
Having Azerim acting like this was more than just emotionally hurting; and yet it was mix of something else as well...
Dark hurried toward the shop as the wind picked up a bit more -- his head still bowed, and his hands in his pockets.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:59 am
A familiar face peeked down from the top floor. It was Teak, and he had a neutral expression, which was a pleasant change from his omnipresent scowl.
"Dark's headed in." Was all he offered before vanishing upstairs again. A loud 'A HAH' and a chorus of small squeaks rose into the air before it quieted down again.
Azyre looked up from his paperwork. He'd been wanting to speak to Dark after what had happened the week before, but he'd heard nothing from him until now. Azyre knew demons were prone to mischief, but did not think Audric had it in him to willingly hurt another. He wanted to help too, after all, he'd sold them.
Speaking of the frosty oni, Audric was permanantly inhabiting the dollhouse in the freezer, the pink exterior concealed by a fluffy white film. Little footprints marred the surface, and Audric sat, staring at his hands as he sat on that same frozen pork chop as he spent so long thinking of. He would make a pact to never again touch another, to prevent himself from hurting them, but he knew he couldn't keep it. The day with Azerim turned over and over in his mind, over and over. Could Azerim forgive him? Would he even want to? Audric felt a strong need to speak with him, to watch him at the very least, to know if he was alright. Something about that brown skinned demon with the freckles stuck itself into his little blonde covered brain and remained.
Azyre shuffled aside the papers he was working on and waited for Dark to enter in out of the cold.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 7:36 pm
Stepping through hurriedly, Dark closed the door behind him, and shook himself kind of like a dog would after getting back from a trip through the rain. Stretching in the warm doorway, he walked towards Azyre behind the desk, when he noticed Chegrin. "Oh hey there Chegrin." He said happily. "What's up?" Dark slowed his pace so they could converse. Even if it was small talk, he was a bit worried about Chegrin, as he hadn't herd from him in a while.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 8:28 pm
"Hey, enough with formalities." Dian said, smiling warmly, "Chegrin is my last name. Call me Dian." He said, sliding his tools back into his belt.
"And I was just fixing up the floor. Aside from that, just working." He admitted, leaning against the wall, smiling faintly at the teenager before him. How old was Dark? Seventeen maybe? Dian was right smack in the middle of twenty eight, though many mistook him for late teens as well.
Azyre smiled lazily at Dark, pausing to flip his long green hair behind his shoulder, freeing his ears. Stretching up, pops rang out along his spine and he leaned back against the chair, sighing heavily in relief.
"Can I get you anything? You look frosted. Cocoa maybe?" Azyre offered, looking for any excuse to get up and away from the desk. Elves weren't meant to do paperwork.
"I certainly haven't seen you on a long time, how have you been keeping?" Dian queried then, folding his arms.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 9:03 pm
Dark smiled at Azyre. "No thanks, I'm good. you look a little stressed though, why don't ya take a break." He said to the elf happily. Turning to Dian, the smile never left Dark's face. "I've been keeping up all right." Still smiling, Dark pictured a dam in his head breaking open and smaller villager 'Dark' copies running aroud screaming as they're all washed away with water.
"Azerim on the other hand..." He trailed off as he so often did. "He's been all right. I finally got a chance to talk to him, although up until that point he was again acting very strangely..." He slowly blanked out in past thoughts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 10:14 pm
Azyre grinned,
"You know, I think I might just do that." He propped his feet up on the desk, leaning back and looking comfortable. Tilting his head back, Azyre's long hair cascaded behind him in simmering rivulets of green, and his normally bright cerulean eyes sliding closed under dark lashes. Stilling, Azyre looked as though he could be asleep, long ears at a lax angle, rather than the upward perk.
"Well it's good you're talking to him." Dian chucked, and in a perfect imitation of Skuld's voice chirped,
"Communication is power!"
Dian was struck with how hypocritical he sounded just then. Vaguely, his thoughts wandered to the demon in the freezer. How had he been stuck with such a cold oni?
Azyre's brows were crinkled, "How so?"
It was another oppourtunity to learn about Azerim, and the many facets of him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:19 pm
"Well I don't know for sure... But it sounds like Azerim has discovered emotions other than happiness, even moreso after he re-gained his strength from the bizzare floor incident.." Dark looked at the floor, and then up at Chegrin. "Sorry about that." He said giggling a little. Dark turned towards the back of the store and said with a sigh, "I came to speak to Audric, if that's okay. I think he might know something about what happened to Azerim. Do you know where he is?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:36 pm
Azyre smiled faintly, "All a part of growing up, it was bound to happen eventually." Nothing to be too worried about. Unfortunately, the first emotion Audric knew was not happiness. "No worries about the floor. How's your head?"
At mention of Audric, Dian folded his arms and looked a little cross.
"Yeah, have fun with that. You can find him in the freezer, back room to the left right there." Dian pointed to a doorway behind the desk. Dian even couldn't get much from the icy demon, and he had a mental link with the tyrant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:48 pm
"Ooh -- my head's perfectly fine, thank you for asking." He smiled at Azyre, and then looked toward Chegrin. "Thank you for letting me know. By the way, are you doing okay? You seem a bit... edgy." Dark frowned slightly, concerned.
Outside, Azerim stood on a stone staircase he made -- watching them through the glass. He was much better, and now that he knew partially what was going on with him, he decided he couldn't be away from Audric any longer. He wanted to play and have fun. He'd make up some excuse for the icy burns on his body. (which were covered in bandages)
But most importantly, he didn't want anyone to know. Something about a secret... tickled him. He liked this sneaking around buisness. Carefully going down the street a little bit, he used his powers to suck himself into the concrete in a flash of clapping electric energy. No one would know he was there, except for Audric.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:00 pm
Dian was a little snarky, and put off by the fact that EVERYONE thought he needed some sort of assistance. If he said he was fine, he was fine, damn it! At least, that was what he thought. Sighing quietly, he decided to play it cool, so everyone would stop worrying.
"I'm okay. What happened to your head? Was it the reason the floor was so split up?" Dian looked suprised, if Dark's face is what caused the damage, he came out of it suprisingly unhurt.
Audric's head snapped up. In the isolated darkness of the freezer, the only sounds that could be heard was the whirring of the fan and the constant blast of air against his body. In darkness achieved only by a near airtight seal, those cold blue eyes had pupils fully dialated, and when he wanted to- he could see. Still, he was alone, no one opened the door. The only sound was the whirring of the fan.
Still
Audric knew he heard something else, like a thunderclap almost, which seemed unusual. A sizzle shot through his body, leaving a residual tingle that he'd only felt once before.
Azerim.
He'd come back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:15 pm
Azerim swam swiftly through the churning concrete, made liquid at his disposal. Completely suddrounded by darkness, he could feel everything, and feed off the minerals in the Earth. He was one with everything around him, and he could sense everything above him. Sensing Darks movements, he decided to sit and wait for his time to see Audric.
"No actually. Hehe..." Dark rubbed the back of his head smiling. "Teak picked up Audric and Azerim because they wanted to go play outside, and Azerim kinda flipped out and blasted the ground... and made a dome and stuff out of rock. " Dark couldn't help but blush a little. Funny story, but ever so slightly embarassing. "And yeah.. since then Azerim's been acting weirdly and I think Audric might know something about it." In saying that, Dark nodded his head and made his way to the back room where Chegrin had directed him beofore. Going up to the refrigerator, Dark slowly opened the freezer. Audric was an ice demon after all. Dark looked at the little house in the middle. Nice place, he thought, slowly saying: "Audric? Are you there? It's Dark."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 9:27 pm
"Huh, so that's what happened, huh? Odd." Dian said quietly. "I was wondering who could make a perfect circle through the wooden floor." He shifted slightly so Dark could pass between him and the front desk.
Audric's large pupils shrunk to small dots when the freezer door opened, allowing a sudden stream of light into his domain. The crack and hiss was almost deafening after so long with just the quiet hum of the fan. This refrigerator was no joke, it was new, and quiet as hell. Yes, aside from the screams of immortal agony, hell was a quiet and terrifying place.
He was saved from the majority of the shock by the fact he was in the bedroom, and the wall kept him in the shadows. Dark's smell drifted to him, and before the blonde had a chance to inhale the first breath to speak, Audric knew who had opened the door.
"Audric? Are you there? It's Dark." He said hesitantly, as if unsure Audric were even there. Having already spent so much time in solitude with nothing but his and Dian's thoughts for company, he wasn't in the mood for sudden company. Still, Dian's thoughts told him not to be rude.
Turning, the Oni clad in a refined suit and collar walked out into the short doorway wreathed in frost and faced the titanic monster known as Azerim's caretaker. Audric's eyes were flat and emotionless, as cold as the very element that gave him life. He stood at a polite distance, head slightly downward, blonde hair still soft and supple despite the temperature.
"Yes...?"
Speak now, or forever hold your peace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:00 pm
Dark smiled warmy at Audric. He didn't look like he wanted to talk at all, but Dark felt compelled to keep going. "How are you doing? Can't be very happy all alone in there by yourself. Although I bet it's pretty cool in there." Smiling a bit more, Dark laughed a bit. Way to go smart one. You're here to talk about something serious -- and here you just go and make the stupidest joke of all time! Dark paused after that, and let the embarassment sink in. "Well, i'm here to talk about Azerim... Do you know what happened? He mentioned a couple of things about you -- but he won't really tell me what's going on. And since he mentioned you, I thought maybe you might know a bit more than he'd tell me..." It just kind of came out, and Dark looked at Audric with soft eyes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
