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"Why are we here again?" Inle asked for the third time since entering the Stationery Shop.

"I came t' get some stuff. I dunno why YOU'RE 'ere. Or th' rainbow midget," Tybalt replied as he ruffled through the shelves, shooting a pointed glance not only towards Inle, but towards Calumet. The Shattered toddler was sitting on the floor amidst a sea of sheets of brightly-colored construction paper.

Inle's gaze followed Tybalt's and she looked over the dark and rainbow baby. He had been acting out-of-sorts lately, and she wanted to keep an eye on him--motherly instincts, perhaps? Inle would have denied it to her dying day were she not already dead. Why WAS she here?

The group may or may not have noticed when they walked in that there had been a bright blue winged horse feeding on the grass of the planted tree square across the street. Things like that tend to be overlooked sometimes.

When the bell attached to the door jingled open, Donny stirred quietly. He was hidden under a pile of books and his own wings, fast asleep. After his encounter with Elena, he had considered going back to his family.. but such considerations were never taken to heart, and he found himself sneaking into the only place he considered safe other than his own now empty home.

So he curled up under a pile of books and magazines meant to be stacked back up on the shelves the next day, curled his wings around him tight in lieu of a bed and blanket in one.. and fell asleep.

He was a heavy sleeper, so the sounds of people talking still hadn't woken him. In fact they were muffled from behind the books, and familiar enough to keep Donny in his comfort zone. Therefore the boy continued to sleep, letting out tiny sighs every so often.

Construction paper, while bright and pretty, was fairly boring. It just SAT there doing nothing, and not even the variety of colors could make up for that. With a bored sigh, Calumet crawled out of his circle of pretty paper, looking for something else to hold his interest. Inle and Tybalt, being Inle and Tybalt, ignored him.

Paper and pens and shinies all over! Unfortunately, Cal was far too short to reach any of them--but wait, what was that? Those blue shiny things poking out from those boring books? This bore investigating. Hmm...upon closer inspection, Cal determined that these looked very much like Loud Colorful Bird's feathers, only not as pretty-colored. Shinier, though! Reaching out with a chubby, curious hand, Cal grasped a few and tugged.

As heavy of a sleeper as Donny was, a tug of his feathers was too much to sleep through. His wings were sensitive, and the shock of stinging pain surged through them until they shook him awake with a start. He let out a squeak before shooting up to a seated position. His eyes were still closed tightly shut, and his face was scrunged up in annoyance.

He reached up to rub the sleep out of his eyes with one fist, while the other hand reached behind him to rub the gnawing pain out of his wings. Only after he had done so did his eyes open to slits, and he stopped what he was doing the moment he noticed Calumet.

He remembered that boy.. he was Inle's son! Which meant.. uh oh. Inle.

Quickly before anyone could notice, he crawled back under the pile of books, and hid as best as he could.

Rainbow colors swirled in Cal's eyes as the Shattered toddler suddenly found himself without a handful of feathers--but with an eyeful of a very shiny small person in return. Such big wing-things were connected to such a tiny tiny person? How could this be? And what was the shiny boy doing in there, anyway? Curious, Cal crawled after him.

Tybalt caught movement out of the corner of his eye and instinctively turned to see what it was, only to catch sight of Cal's feet sticking out of a pile of books and whatnot. Had they fallen on him? Good--one less annoyance to put up with. He glanced at Inle, who hadn't seemed to notice that Cal was gone, and turned back to the shelves.

Donny groaned quietly as the boy tried to crawl after him, using one hand to mildly brush him away and shoo him back out, but it was no use. Finally, Donny peeked out from behind one particularly large open book, before taking Calumet by the arm and sliding him inside. His right wing slid over the boy, engulfing him in darkness.

"Shh," Donny whispered. "We hiding."

It was kind of nice to have someone to hide with, almost as if it was like a game.. the past day had been very lonely, what with sleeping alone in the store away from home and all. He was beginning to regret this whole mess.. but not enough to be caught yet. Still, hiding with Calu made it seem like a game after all, which spurred him on to make extra sure they weren't captured.

Being quiet was certainly not going to be an issue for Calumet, even if he didn't know what this "hiding" business was about. He clapped his hands over his mouth anyway, frowning behind them as he noticed how dark it was in their little hidey-hole. Well. He could fix that, at least. The markings on his face began to glow dully, as if reluctant to stir, before a glowing white wisp took shape between them, emitting enough light to see by without blinding them. Cal's hands fell from his mouth to fold into his lap, his expression clearly stating, "Ta-da!"

The boy was quiet, and wasn't moving much, and for that Donny was thankful. Maybe this would work after all!

He yawned and turned to give Calu a side glance, before double taking at the light. Could that give them away? He put his wing further around the boy, tightening the hold to keep the light from shining out, but he couldn't tell if any was getting through or not.

"Cal, careful! Dun want anyone seeing us!" Donny whispered to the boy, checking back at the other two that perused the stationary store every so often to make sure they didn't notice.

Oh, was that bad? Well, he could certainly fix that. His hands moved towards the light, intending to snuff it out like one might a candle's flame, but the glowing wisp playfully evaded him, darting around just out of reach. Cal frowned; he wanted it OFF and it wasn't going OFF and it had never done that before. It hovered just out of reach as he stretched towards it. Well. This would not do at all. He stood up, bonking his head on the makeshift ceiling, and overbalanced in alarm, crashing into the walls. The stack of books and magazines came down in an avalanche of rustling paper, and Cal sprawled among the refuse, blinking in bewilderment. At least the light had gone out.

Both Tybalt and Inle looked up at the muffled crash, the former rolling his eyes even as the latter sighed. "Cal, what'd you do now?" his reluctant guardian asked with the air of one long-used to her ward's scrapes. Inle frowned, brows drawing down in confusion--Calumet wasn't alone, there was some blond, big-winged kid, and..."Donny?" she asked.

The familiar name drew Tybalt's attention, and he looked from Inle to the books and toddlers. Hey, that WAS Donny! "What're y' doin' here?" he asked.

Every move the boy made seemed to impend disaster, until finally the crash of noise and paper made Donny curl inward and hide in his wings. No, they would be found! They would be discovered! Their ruse would be up!

Sure enough, the woman came with Tybalt not far behind, and when Donny heard his name he cringed visibly. He hadn't been taken for a harmless ball of feathers! DAMN. DAMN IT ALL TO HECK.

He poked his head reluctantly out from his cocoon, and gave Calumet a withering glance. The boy hadn't meant to cause this catastrophe, but it was his fault nonetheless, and now Donny's jig was up.

.. or was it?

"Me not Donny, sorry. You have the wrong person, okay bye now!"

Buy it buy it buy it buy it buy it, he chanted internally; if only Donny was a jedi, he could have used his power to convince them that this was not the winged boy they were looking for.

Inle and Tybalt exchanged a curious glance--Inle's eyebrow raised, Tybalt shrugged--before turning their gazes back towards the Tale. A moment of silence in which Cal levered himself into a sitting position, and then, "What're y' doin' here, Donny? Why're ya hidin'?"

"And where are your parents?" Inle interjected. Though her opinion of Nio had soured since that whole "incident," she didn't think he'd be the kind to lose track of his own kid.

Drat! He should have known he was too pretty to be able to pull that kind of a lie off. He shrugged off his defeat and stood up proudly, pulling his wings in tight. "Momma and squishee had to go somewhere away. They left us with Auntie D, and I dun like not being home so I went somewhere else. This place is just as good as any!" He looked down at the pile of books at his feet, and picked one up. "See, it has books with pictures to read and look at. Donny likes it here!"

It seemed to him that his explanation should suffice nicely, and so he plopped down after shaking the random book he had picked up in their faces, or as close to their faces as his chubby hands reached, and began to look at the pictures of the book and flip through it's pages madly.

He had every right to be here unattended, he assured himself!

Calumet looked between his family and his new little friend, seeming to side with the latter as he sat down with a magazine and imitated Donny's frantic page-turning.

"Oh. Well, works fer me," Tybalt said, turning back to the shelves.

"Tybalt--"

"What? He's obviously fine, not doin' any damage. Let th' boy alone."

Inle sighed, of half a mind to do just that...but Enoh would likely be mightily pissed--for her--if Inle let a kid of hers just wander around unsupervised. "Does your Auntie Dee know you're here?"

Donny slowly looked up at Inle from his book, as if she was disturbing a very important moment in the storyline of the words he couldn't read.

"No, she dun." He replied frankly, as if this much was obvious. "She's not my mommy."

Ooh, he was turning snarky. There was dread rising in him that Inle wouldn't respond well to his attitude, and thusly he closed his book, curled his arm around it and stood up to leave.

"Okay bye bye." He gave Tybalt a quick smile before shuffling out as quickly as his little legs could carry him, which wasn't that quick at all.

Inle was not daunted by Donny's sudden attitude--not when she had raised Tybalt, who made Donny's bit of snark look like rainbows and sunshine. Said bird snickered, obviously amused by his young friend, and ignored the half-hearted glare his Author shot him. A moment of indecision as Donny walked off, another sigh, and then Inle was scooping up a rather bemused Cal and trailing the younger Tale. "Wait up, we'll walk you home," said with more than mild reluctance.

Tybalt's grin immediately fell as Inle snagged his arm with her free hand, dragging him after her. "Hey--!"

"Congratulations, you have been specially selected--to help me deal with the midgets. Get moving, bird-boy."

Donny stopped in his tracks when he heard Inle. His face scrunged up and contorted, before he let out a sigh of resignation. Why were these accursed big people always foiling his plans!?

He trudged outside, where Frey awaited him. The pegasi bent it's head down and Donny climbed up onto his steed, making himself comfortable before mumbling something to him. Frey lifted his head and gave Inle a cocky glance, before snorting indignantly and trotting back down the road that would lead them to a return to Dragonfly's house. Donny felt a hopeful assurance that his absence had not been noticed, though he tried to convince himself that he didn't care either way.

He just hoped mommy and squishee were home when he got there.

Off they trotted, leaving his temporary freedom behind for the time being, with his book of useless words and pretty pictures still held in his hand.

training whee

Elena took a moment after exiting the Stationary Store to exhale a deep breath and gather her thoughts. "Well, Hadar, mum thinks I went to the bookstore, so I better stop there and pick some things up, right?" she asked the Kyuu flying above her rhetorically. He answered with a chirp - flying more was good! "Of course I'm right," she muttered, casting a baleful glare towards the shop and that annoying girl she'd left behind there. Checking herself over quickly - dress in order, bag in place, bracelets still there, necklace straightened out, and tattoo induced cold turned off. Oh, and the eyes. They could stop glowing too. People tended to stare when her eyes stared glowing; not that Elena minded being stared at, it was merely annoying when they weren't paying attention to the rest of her.

Everything in order once more, and Tiwaz shoved into a corner of her mind where she would be forgotten, Elena began her happily longer stride down the sidewalk towards a local bookstore, bag slung over her shoulder carefully, with Hadar over her head. Elena pinched the bridge of her nose as she walked, feeling a headache coming on. "I bet it's that girl's fault," she said crossly, tugging sharply on the strap of her bag, causing the bracelet she was wearing to sparkle and bounce around on her wrist. Closing her eyes briefly, Elena continued to walk on, not caring if she ran into anybody. After all, they should get out of her way.

Tybalt didn't get out of anyone's way, ever--in fact, it was becoming something of a habit for him to slightly spread his wings while walking down the street just to inconvenience as many people as he could with a minimum of effort on days he didn't feel like relieving those selfsame people of their wallets. It widened his bubble of personal space, and people usually either walked around him or gave him dirty looks.

He was in the process of returning one of those dirty looks to a passerby, scowling at him as the disgruntled man stepped around him, and didn't notice that he was on a collision course with Elena until it was almost too late.

"Shiny," was his first thought, not yet placing the multitude of sparkles to the face--not yet stopping, either, shiny-interest overwhelming common sense.

"Oof!" was his second, as he walked right into Elena, who might have felt a slight tug at her wrist.

With her eyes still closed, of course Elena didn't see Tybalt walking towards her. She might have gotten out of his way if she had. Doubtful, but we'll never know, because the pair did in fact end up colliding.

"Hey!" she said sharply, eyes snapping open to narrow and stare at the person who'd been rude enough to walk into her. "You should watch where you're going," the Tale continued in a snappish tone, not having yet placed why this bird creature seemed familiar.

The tug went unnoticed, but when she reached up to adjust her hair, Elena certainly noticed the lack of weight on her arm, as well as the lack of shine on her wrist. "My bracelet!" she cried, almost forgetting about Tybalt entirely. "Did you see my bracelet fall off?" Elena asked him, her tone now honey sweet as she tried to get him to help her find it.

Obviously, the thought that he might have taken it hadn't crossed her mind.

Tybalt took a single step back to distance himself from Elena, scowling down at her--shiny AND snobby, it seemed. "Maybe if y'kept yer eyes open, ye'd be able t'watch where I was goin' and move accordin'ly," he snapped back, arms crossing stubbornly over his chest.

"An' no, I didn't. An' if I had seen yer little trinket, I'd hardly be inclined t'tell ye of its whereabouts, princess." Take THAT.

Elena's face stiffened and she barked out a short laugh. "You? Why should I have had to watch out for you?" she asked, her voice dripping with condescension and contempt. "Maybe if you hadn't been so busy exchanging dirty looks with everyone, this whole thing could have been avoided!" Echoing Tybalt's posture, Elena crossed her arms as well, staring up at the taller Tale with slightly glowing eyes.

"At least you acknowledge I'm a princess," Elena muttered sweetly, eyes flashing with a momentary glint of triumph. That was usually half the battle right there, getting people to accept her as royalty. Even though she so clearly was. "I insist you help me look for it, since it's your fault it came loose in the first place."

"Everyone else seemed smart enough t'watch out fer me--though it looks like you wouldn'ta been, what with th' sunlight flowin' through yer empty head an' out through yer eyes an' all." The wings that had been spread to put people out were now arched in rising irritation, the ruffled feathers giving him a soft appearance that was completely at odds with his prickly demeanor.

"Aye, ye're royalty all right. Ye're a royal pain in the arse, and if y'think I'm about t'do anything but laugh at your "insistence," ye're obviously even dumber than y'look."

Elena was about to reply indignantly to the parrot's accusation of empty-headedness, when he said something that immediately cooled her anger. Not that it was gone, oh no, but now it was icy and sharp...Rather like her fingernails were quickly becoming.

"Laugh? Laugh at me?" Elena said, clipping each word short as her voice got steadily louder. "Listen to me, you scruffy walking feather pillow," she continued, stepping closer and staring up at him furiously, eyes blazing and hair fully aglow, "You will help me find my bracelet and you will do so right now." The last word was punctuated by a sharp jab of her index finger at Tybalt's chest, frost crackling a bit on her arm at the sudden movement. Obviously unaware of any danger, Elena stood there, hand now lowered to rest firmly on her hip as frost continued to creep slowly up her arm, adding a sharp bite to the air.

This game was swiftly losing any semblance of "fun" it might have once possessed--if there was one thing Tybalt hated more than the cold Elena now seemed to exude, it was being ordered around. His eyebrows drew downwards, eyes narrowing to angry slits of ocean blue. Tybalt's arms slowly dropped to his sides as he drew himself up to his full height, glaring down dangerously at her.

"I will do so right never, y' dozy cow," he responded, his tone growing softer even as Elena's grew louder. "An' y'best watch where y'stick that finger, lest y'care t'lose it. An' I wouldn't be helpin' ye find that, either."

Unaffected by the cold she was emanating, Elena continued to stare at Tybalt, still oblivious to the aura of menace that he was projecting. Around them, the sidewalk was mostly vacant of other pedestrians; by and large, they were crossing the street to avoid the pair of Tales, clearing a large space around them.

"Cow?" she tossed back, seething from the insult, which merely provided fuel for her anger and accelerated the temperature drop. "I am no cow, you ignorant feather duster. Now. You will help me look for my bracelet, or else," she added, once more punctuating her sentence with a jab at Tybalt's chest, this time using her other hand. Hey, he didn't say she couldn't use the other finger.

Tybalt's wings drew closer to his back, an instinctive reaction against the growing chill. He himself wasn't cold, however; he had his anger to warm him. He snarled at the second poke to his chest and was moving quite before he was even aware of doing so--one hand flashed out to catch the impertinent brat's wrist while the other moved to his opposite hip, fingers closing around the dagger that was, by now, as much a part of him as his wings. The blade was drawn from its sheath with an almost eager sigh and pressed, very lightly, against the side of Elena's hand.

"An' here ye dare call me ignorant," he said quietly, dangerously.

Elena's breath caught in her throat and the cold momentarily died down only to pick back up, even fiercer than before as she stared at the blade pressed against her. "Well, how was I supposed to know you had a knife," she muttered, momentarily losing her anger and stiffness, although it returned as quickly as the chill had. Quite aware now of the danger she was in, Elena nevertheless refused to display any of the fear now creeping down her spine.

A bright flash and a screech were all the warning either Tale had; Hadar had had about enough of this and dove from the sky, claws extended and aimed right for Tybalt's head. "Hadar!" Elena called out in surprise, having forgotten about the little dragon. Hadar's head momentarily snaked backwards to look at his mistress, causing him to miss Tybalt with his claws, managing to hit the other Tale with his wings instead.

Tybalt's deepening scowl had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with Elena's apparent idiocy. "An' what, pray, did y'think I meant t'remove yer finger from yer hand with, eh?"

His attention was diverted by the little dragon's shriek, and he instinctively squeezed his eyes shut--parroty pirate he might be, but he had no inclination to further live up to the stereotype by having to sport an eyepatch--and jerked his head away from the creature. His fingers tightened on Elena's wrist as his blade-laden hand moved from her hand to the air above his head, slashing blindly in an effort to get the damnable beast away.

"You're the first person I've met who's actually followed through on a threat," Elena explained waspishly. Not to mention the only one who'd really threatened her...

As Hadar flew away, squawking indignantly as Tybalt had managed to open a shallow cut on his chest, Elena's eyes narrowed and she concentrated on intensifying the frost effect around the wrist Tybalt was holding. By now, all of her lower arm was coated in rapidly thickening layer of ice, the swirled lines of her tattos glowing eerily blue underneath. "I think you'll find my finger harder to remove now," she breathed out sardonically, flashing her gaze upwards to smirk a bit at the parrot.

Tybalt snorted indignantly, shaking his head to clear it from the dragon's assault and opening his eyes once he heard the sound of wings flapping away. "Wouldn't be much of a threat if it wasn't followed through on, would it?" he muttered, bringing the dagger down to its previous position at Elena's hand--

--only to find it greeted by an icy glove. Oh, now this was just..."I think ye'll be findin' me hand harder still t'remove," he ground out, shaking their ice-joined hands for emphasis. "Now, y'can either stop with this...this magic nonsense, or we can see how well me dagger'll double as an ice pick."

Privately, Elena conceded the point, although she wasn't about to tell him that.

"Only if you promise not to hurt me once it's gone," she said in reply, her voice firm and confident as she attempted to sound as though she really could control the ice. She couldn't, of course; this was the first time this had ever happened to her, and she had no idea how to turn it off. Elena had, by now, given up the bracelet as lost and sighed internally at the amount of trouble she was likely to be in when Jerava found out. Hopefully Tybalt was one to keep his promises, as well as his threats, and she could get out of here with no more harm done.

Tybalt's eyes narrowed shrewedly as he weighed Elena's attempt at compromise against the remnants of his righteous anger. One the one hand, she had pissed him off--not that that was hard to do, of course. On the other hand, he couldn't feel his fingers.

"Fine," he said, lowering his hand to his side. "An' I'll also promise that next time I won't hesitate before cuttin' yer finger off. Now get us loose, wench."

"Fine," Elena snapped back, anger rising momentarily at being called a wench; she quickly buried it in an attempt to minimize whatever it was that fueled the ice and cold.

After a few moments of standing there, eyes squeezed shut as the Tale concentrated on thinking warm thoughts (this caused a brief, but genuine smile to flit across her face; her sister Anarya was the warm one), she cracked one open with a sigh. "I don't know how to turn it off," she muttered, wanting to pull back out of striking range, but stuck in a trap of her own making.

Tybalt tapped a talon against the sidewalk impatiently, glaring down at Elena as she had the gall to smile, of all things, at a time like this. The sooner he got free and the hell away from her, the better. Of course, as luck would have it, that wouldn't be anytime soon.

"You what?!" he yelled down at her, eyes widening in a mixture of shock and anger. "Y'froze us t'gether an' now we're stuck?" Tybalt paused before taking a step towards Elena, once more raising his dagger--this time he held it at her elbow. "Fine. Don't move, this might sting a bit," he ground out.

"Yes, we're stuck like this," she ground out, her own temper flaring back up in response to his. "And what are you doing?" Elena asked, voice going high pitched and slightly squeaky as he raised his dagger.

Of course, in response to the anger and fear, the ice grew thicker, both on her arm and his, spreading up past both of their elbows. The dagger was stuck now too, although with a sharp tug, it might be possible to break the much thinner ice surrounding it.

"That didn't help at all."

"Gettin' th' hell away from you, if all goes well," he muttered just in time to see his beloved dagger suffer the same fate as his frozen arm. "Oh, now look what y'did, y'bleedin' idiot!" A few sharp yanks did indeed free Tybalt's dagger, and he immediately inspected it; ice be damned, he'd cut her arm off at the shoulder if it was damaged! Lucky for her--and likely for him as well, if her last reaction was anything to go by--it seemed to be fine.

"No bloody s**t it didn't help. Y'only made it worse!"

"I made it worse? I'm not even trying to make it do this anymore. You're the one who attacked me!" Elena argued back, not noticing that the angrier she got, the further the ice spread. She could stand the cold nearly indefinately; how long Tybalt could keep up with her was another matter entirely. "I didn't even know I could do this," she wailed, sight momentarily blurred by tears before they froze on her eyelashes as she blinked to clear them away.

Elena might not have noticed, but Tybalt, who was watching the ice creep up his arm in growing alarm, certainly did. "I told you I was gonna cut yer bleedin' finger off if y'kept pokin' me with it! You were th' one dumb enough t'keep doin' it, an' ye're still doin' this whatever-it-is, so stop it!" he roared with all the command he could muster in this situation reflected in his tone. Tybalt was certainly more vulnerable to the cold than Elena was, and he had no desire to lose an arm to frostbite over some dumb trinket.

"Well next time I'll only poke you once!" she yelled back, tears stopping as suddenly as they'd started. If there was one thing Elena did have control over, it was crying on command. It was a skill that had served her well up until this point. "And I'd love to stop it, but I don't know how!" Face slightly red from tears and yelling, Elena looked completely different than from when they'd first run into each other.

"Oho, y'best hope there's not a next time, princess," Tybalt growled, brushing frantically at the thinnest layers of ice covering his arm with the hilt of his dagger. "If y'didn't know what y'were doin', y'shouldn'ta done it in th' first place. Now figure out how."

"Maybe if you'd stop yelling at me," Elena said, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself down. The ice slowed its advance as she worked to get her temper under control, the glow from her tattoos dimming slightly.

Tybalt muttered, "So ye can dish it out, but ye can't take it," under his breath, which was probably for the best--whatever Elena was doing, it was keeping the ice at bay. "Keep at it, it's workin'!"

Elena's pointed ears twitched slightly as Tybalt muttered under his breath and she frowned severely at him, but loftily decided to ignore whatever comment he had made. Besides, if they quit arguing, she could calm down and get the rest of this ice off. "Still missing my bracelet," she said in a sing-song, biting her lip afterwards as she continued to try some of the meditation techniques her mum had tried to teach her.

"An' missin' it'll stay, least till we're loose," Tybalt growled.

"So you did take it!" Elena exclaimed, stopping in her efforts for a moment to scowl at the parrot unhappily. The ice was still receding, but as her concentration was no longer on making it continue, it was at a much reduced pace. For once in her life deciding that descretion was the better part of valor (not to mention her strong desire to get away), the girl shrugged. "If you really want one, maybe I'll buy one for you," she murmured, a wicked grin flashing briefly across her face before she resumed concentrating on making the ice go away.

If Tybalt's less-than-friendly attitude wasn't a clear indication that he found absolutely no humor in this situation, the ever-deepening scowl on his face should have been. "Think I'll pass, thanks--it ain't worth keepin' anyway. Are ye done yet, wench? I still think ye shoulda let me cut off yer arm."

"I don't think that would have worked," Elena replied absently, watching as the last of the ice melted away. She wiggled her fingers cautiously, but the cold hadn't bothered her at all and they moved freely. Her tatoos were completely dimmed now, and the girl felt a strange surge of exhaustion wash over her, but refused to let it show, not wanting Tybalt to take advantage of her weakness.

"I do," Tybalt shot back contrarily, shaking his arm to get blood flowing through it once more. Once he regained some semblance of movement in his fingers, he retrieved the little trinket that had started this whole mess. "Your bracelet, as promised," he said snidely, dangling it teasingly out of arm's reach before flinging it over Elena's head and somewhere down the sidewalk. "'Twas a pleasure meetin' ye, princess--pray fer yer sake it doesn't happen again," he finished with a snarl and a sneer that could cut glass, turning on his heel and stalking down the street in a considerably fouler mood than he had been in previously.

Elena refused to reach for the bracelet, crossing her arms and waiting for the inevitable insult. "Oh trust me, I can't think of anything I'd like better," she muttered to the departing Tale's back before turning to find her bracelet. Crouching gracefully, and careful not to get her skirt dirty, Elena found it a few moments later. Wrinkling her nose, as it had landed in the gutter, she tucked it away in her bag before heading home, taking a brief moment to rest against a lightpole. "At least he kept his promise."

reserved for more metaplot stuff just in case

mp stuff

Armel and Pales walked along the streets of Durem in the shopping district. Armel walked a step or two ahead of his Author, and Pales just let him go. The boy was still slightly miffed at him it seemed. Pales at a loss simply did the best thing he could do. Corner the boy and drag him to an outing. Just them and no one else, but it was becoming more and more obvious that this wasn't a solution.

"So, want to go clothes shopping?" Pales prompted the conversation halfheartedly.

Armel glanced back and shrugged, "Guess so," the boy grunted.

The tall man strode forward a bit to catch up to Armel, "Where else you want to go?"

Another grunt followed by a shrug.

Pales sighed, "Fine, we'll play it by ear okay?" there was a slight fretting tone to his voice.

Armel remained silent, but he relaxed slightly, his body language no longer sending harsh 'go away' signals.

Armel and Pales weren't the only two walking Durem's streets--Tybalt was making his way down the road as well, roughly shouldering his way through groups of people, not seeming to hear the shouted threats and insults his victims hurled at his back. For once, he didn't rise to the bait; his attention was too focused on getting away from the open-air cart he had just lifted a probably-fake gold watch from as quickly as possible. Those who unwittingly got in his way would just have to suffer the consequences.

And really, didn't these people pay attention? Really, if they saw him coming and didn't move they had no one to blame but themselves if and when they got stepped on. Such was his subconscious mindset until he very nearly stepped on a small child--little more than a large, moving rock in his path, not something he could just brush by. With a rustle of feathers and clatter of talons on the street, he stumbled to the side, grasping onto a streetlamp for balance. "Oi, midget, watch where I'm goin'!" he snarled, scowling. Honestly, one would think even a child would have sense enough to move!

If you asked Armel ? the person that bumped into him definitely should have watched where he was going. The boy stumbled back into his Author and shot a glare over at the one whom snarled at him, ?Nay! Ye should watch where yer goin? ye big oa...? He stopped from finishing his insult stepping toward Tybalt as if to get a better look at him, ??Ey! I know ye...?

Pales blinked a bit and remained silent; this could be bad or good.

Armel recognized him now, but how to fix the unfriendliness suddenly between them...Probably apologizing would be a good route, while complimenting something about the older Tale, ?Sorry bou? that. Didn?t see who ye were,? Armel wasn?t going to bother kissing metaphorical a**, but compliments were always a good way to mend things, ?what be a fine Captain like ye doin? amongst common folk like us?? The boy?s tone managed to make it sound like a compliment.


Tybalt was all set to be perfectly offended--wings flared threateningly, feathers fluffed out, fingers curling into fists--when this horned boy who seemed equally set to mouth off to him abruptly changed his previously displeasing tune. What was this, words of respect? "Fine Captain," indeed; such complimentary words soothed his literally ruffled feathers even if he had little idea who it was that spoke them. He was known? Well, of course he was known! His reputation was already spreading far and wide, it seemed, even if he had done little to earn one. Visions of grandeur swept through Tybalt's mind even as his posture lost the stiffness of impending attack, and he settled into a more natural pose with a rustle of feathers and an arrogant smile.

"Robbin' 'em blind, o' course," he replied smugly, hand delving into his pants pocket for the watch he had just stolen. It was a golden pocketwatch with a long chain, and though it was more likely colored metal than actual gold, it was shiny enough to hold Tybalt's interest. Certainly shiny enough to swipe! The watch spun in lazy circles at the end of its chain, glittering warmly for a moment before Tybalt snatched it up and hid it away once more. "And yerself?" he asked, eyeing the man behind Armel. "Takin' th' dog fer a walk, eh?"

Being wise beyond his ... year, Armel kept his mouth shut and let Tybalt have his grand visions, and if it kept the other happy Armel didn't see a point in stomping and raining on the "Captain's" parade. After all Tybalt may be a worthwhile ally.

Armel glanced back at his Da whom was wearing a disapproving look on his face. The ram-horned boy rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Tybalt and catching sight of the shiny object that flashed. An appraising look came over Armel's face as if unaware Armel just shrugged murmuring softly, "Don' sell it whate'er ye do, ye might not get much scratch offa it if any." The boy felt it best to warn Tybalt that he possibly swiped it off of an equally shabby merchant, "T's a nice trinket t'keep certainly." He added before Tybalt could make any assumptions as to Armel's motives. The shiny gone the ram-horned boy seemed to be neutral and not one bit disappointed.

When asked about his Da' he glanced back again only to see Pales' look of disapproval deepening, but he ignored it wishing to seem impressive in front of the boy, "Well 'e insisted on comin' wi' me. E'er since I ran off on 'im once 'e been watchin' me like a hawk," Armel glanced back at Pales again and the man just shook his head in an 'I give up' sort of manner.


Tybalt countered Pales's look of disapproval with one of smug supremacy--why yes, he WAS going to be a bad influence on the younger Tale, and he was utterly happy that this Author seemed to recognize that. "Eh, what?" he asked as Armel muttered. "Are ye serious? Y'can tell all that from just a look?" His tone held more than a little disbelief, but if absolutely nothing else, the watch WAS quite shiny.

"Run off? What'd y'do that for, eh? Mite small as yerself wouldn't make it far on yer own."

Simply put, Pales didn't have enough fight in him to argue with the two of them. He simply crossed his arms over his chest watching them quietly, making sure Tybalt doesn't try something in front of him or he would ... Do something to counter it or something.

..Okay probably not, but he could drag Armel off.

Armel shrugged in response to the first question, "Ye dunn'ae 'ave t'believe me, friend, ye can check f'yerself later," the ram-horned boy just wrlyly grinned and shrugged, "'course I dunn'ae mean it as an insult, either, just makin' ye aware."

Even if it was five-finger discount it was only right to let Tybalt know, or so Armel felt. It was not his place to judge the pirate.

At being called small and a mite beside that Armel didn't bristle and he just shrugged, "I needed t'be alone f'awhile, y'know? I mean m'house seems t'be so full I don' 'ave a corner t'be myself in.

Tybalt's eyes narrowed speculatively as he considered Armel's words. On the one hand, the boy was rather young, so he might be wrong due to inexperience; on the other hand, he sounded confident enough, and what reason did he have to lie? "Aye, I'll be doin' just that." No thanks given for the heads-up, of course. That just wasn't Tybalt's way.

Sympathy usually wasn't either, but Tybalt found himself making a noise akin to it at Armel's explanation. "I know what y'mean. Too many bodies, not enough space. All those people crowded in...stifling." His voice had dropped to a mutter towards the end as though he was reflecting upon a different situation, but he seemed to shake himself out of it with an encouraging-yet-reprimanding, "'S'why y'need t'make yer own space. Find that corner of yer own tell 'em all ta piss off. Works fer me," he finished with a smile.

Armel simply nodded as Tybalt spoke about finding his own corner, "I agree, and I'll be keepin' m'eye out for a corner o'my own." The ram-horned boy grinned back at the older Tale. He could genuinely say he enjoyed the other's company thus far, and perhaps they could have a mildly profitable friendship in a way.

Pales was still watching as if to make sure Tybalt wouldn't do anything untoward to Armel, or even teach the impressionable younger Tale something bad.

The boy seemed to continue ignoring his Author, "I'm not keepin' ye from anythin' am I?" Armel seemed to suddenly become aware that Tybalt was trying to get somewhere before they bumped into each other and almost got into an altercation.

Armel had a way about him that reminded Tybalt vaguely of himself, and he grinned back quite before he could help it. A bit quieter and certainly more passive than he could ever recall being, but at least he had the same eye for shinies! "Nah, yer not--" he started, before a winded voice rang out behind him.

"There he is, that's the kid!" it said, and Tybalt turned to look. Sure enough, there was the man who ran the cart Tybalt had recently appropriated a shiny, fake gold watch from accompanied by a street cop who looked more than ready to take lethal action against some as-yet-unseen perp--clearly, a wild parrot chase was the highlight of this poor sap's day.

"Err, scratch that," Tybalt muttered, quietly sidling towards the middle of the sidewalk. "Seems all yer keepin' me from's a clean getaway. Hold onta this fer me, will ye?" he asked, extracting the stolen watch from his pocket and tossing it to Armel. "I trust ye'll take good care of it, aye?" With a wink and a rogueish grin, Tybalt slipped back into the crowd.

Armel's head turned toward the sudden shout of a very upset con--er seller of 'fine wares'. Then the boy looked back at Tybalt in time to catch the watch as it was tossed to him and simply nodding, "It'll be safe." He uttered quietly. Armel figured himself only to be an accessory if Tybalt told on him when or even if caught.

Thusly the ram-horned boy merely pocketed the watch.

The men ran past Tale and Author making after where they thought they had seen Tybalt run off to (officer and man only end up tackling a colorfully dressed elder woman), leaving Armel and Pales 'alone' amongst the crowd.

Pales gave Armel a disapproving look and the boy only shrugged, "I ain't no snitch. Let's go home."

The Author shifted his shoulders uncomfortably as he began to walk side by side with Armel back home.

Vidya yawned, stretching her arms high above her head and her legs straight out in front of her, heaving a happy sigh before letting her feet fall back against the pavement, and her arms against the bench she was sitting on. It was getting late...and she knew she should really be getting home...

But her home seemed so far AWAY. Currently, she was sitting on a bench in Barton Town, and her home was alll the way up in Gambino. She'd walked between the two towns countless times before but tonight...wanting to walk, especially home, was the last thing she wanted to do.

So the currently lazy girl sat on the bench, letting some water she poured into her palm pass between both of her hands as she waited for the inspiration to move to hit her. Miraculously, not a single drop of water spilt as she played with it...and oddly enough, she was too busy concentrating on the water that she didn't even hum to herself.

Tybalt was often places that weren't home for reasons various and sundry--blowing off chores, practicing his ever-growing skills as a small-time thief, escaping the noise and confines of the house--but sometimes he simply felt the urge to wander, to literally spread his wings and fly away. Today was one of those days, and he had spent much of it flying over some of the nearby cities. Flight, Tybalt had found, was cathartic in ways he'd never be able to properly explain to those without the mixed blessing of wings.

Enjoyable as it was, it also tended to wear him out; though the muscles of his back had steadily strengthened through use, he was still but a child, with a child's limited stamina. It was with a wide yawn that Tybalt began descending, lazily spiralling downwards over Barton's town square. The hot summer's day had transformed slowly into a nice, comfortable night, encouraging people to venture outside to enjoy it.

However, there were not so many people wandering Barton's square that they distracted attention away from a white head, a bright beacon in a field of warm yellow streetlamps. Tybalt grinned hesitantly at the sight, descending further, before smiling outright as he caught sight of dove-white headwings. He abandoned his slow descent in favor of a headlong dive, hurtling towards the pavement below before swooping out of it yards from the ground, circling around Vidya's bench before settling in a crouch atop it with a flap of wings and a rustle of feathers. "Oi, Vid, what brings ye out here so late at night? Don't think yer mum'd be too happy knowin' yer out by yerself, what with all th' fiends and rogues what wander th' streets once th' sun goes down, aye?" His smile was teasing, a clear indication that he was joking--mostly, probably.

Vidya's headwings twitched...but for the time being, that was the only movement that suggested she might have been paying attention to what was around her...or more importantly who was first circling the bench. She didn't even look up until he crouched on it. With a start and a gasp of surprise, she quickly clasped her hands together as she moved to look up at him. It took her a moment or two to realize who she was looking at, and it was just enough time for her eyes to fade from silver to their normal white.

"Fiends and Rogues wandering the streets..." She parrotted softly, staring innocently up at him. "Why Cap'n...I think that describes you!" The urge to not smile was a losing battle. As she spoke, a smile forced its way onto her lips, and not seconds after she finished her sentence, she'd lapsed into laughter.

Clapping the water out of her hands and onto the road, she reached up to give him an awkward hug, swinging her feet happily over the edge of the bench. "Oh Captain, I'm so happy! I haven't seen you in forever!" An overstatement, but still just as good. Of course, it was about then when she decided to actually answer his question. "I'm too lazy to walk home...and I don't have the luxury of useful wings...so I'm waiting for the inspiration to walk to hit me. I'm sure Momma doesn't like it but...oh well, I'll talk my way out of grounding!" The tale obviously meant what she was saying, and what she was saying was spoken too easily, as if the thought of trying to pull a fast one on Enoh to get out of trouble didn't bother her whatsoever. "What're you doing out so late, eh?" It was her turn to tease now, moving her arms to fold them behind her head.

Tybalt snorted a chuckle, pressing his hands to his chest in a show of feigned woundedness. "Flattery'll get ye nowhere, m'dear," he replied, smiling cheekily. The gesture lasted only as long as it took for Vidya to wrap her arms around him, throwing off his already-tenuous balance enough that he had no choice to hug her back. Really, that's all it was.

"Aye, too long," he agreed. "What've ye been up to since last we met?" He listened with tilted head and attentive ear at the reasons behind her late-night stroll--or sit, as it were--smiling with shocked pride as Vidya nonchalantly planned lying to her mother. Well, this was certainly a nice change from the straight-laced little girl he'd met so long ago; perhaps he'd make a pirate of her yet! "Me? Oh, not much: terrorizin' the innocent, stealin' candy from babies, pilferin' an' plunderin', all that rot," said with a wink and in a tone that could easily have been used for discussing the weather.

"Well I dunno..." Vidya sounded skeptical...or at least tried to. "Flattery sure got me a hug!" It was in return of course, but it was enough to put into her case against him. She was giggling again, her fingertips toying with a few strands of her long hair.

"Hah! You haven't changed, Captain...! I'm glad! I like you the way you are...even if I don't agree with everything." Vidya couldn't help what she said, it just kind of...came out of her lips. A bright smile had worked its way onto her lips, and her eyes had closed happily for but a moment or two. Then, she decided to answer him.

"Hmm...I've been...babysitting, struck by wanderlust and...I've been visited by Levi and..." Her voice trailed off, recalling that horrible day she'd fallen asleep in the shop, and awoken to a child that seemed to steal her energy from her. "...And I've been sleeping a lot more." It was a simple finish, but nonetheless true. Ever since she'd started those dreams and met Ayden, she spent more and more of her time either in bed, or just sitting around much like she was now. Regardless of her giggles and joy of seeing him again...she did look overly tired; but not yet to the point of looking lifeless.

"Oh, and I've learned some magic tricks!" While she looked tired, she was also quite pleased with herself over this. It was nice to find out she had a real talent! Well, a real talent that she recognized as a talent."Wanna see?"

What was this? Dissention in the ranks? Tybalt quirked an eyebrow curiously, finding himself torn between amusement at the fact that it seemed his usually agreeable first mate and best friend seemed to be gaining a voice of her own and wariness for much the same reason. Paranoia urged him to analyze this further, but she DID look tired...no, Vidya didn't have the guile required to do anything more than lie to her mother, though he was surprised she'd even do that. "Course I haven't changed, why muck up perfection, eh?" A winning smile and all was forgotten, pushed to the back of his mind for later perusal.

Or perhaps not. "Who's this Levi, hmm?" he asked, eyes narrowed, "And why're y'so tired? Are ye ill?" The second and third questions were valid--he did care about Vidya's health, of course--but it was the answer to the first he was most curious about.

Spine-growing, visitor-getting, and now magic-learning? Too long he had been away from his friend, it seemed, that he was only now privy to all this new information. "Magic?" he asked, wings raising instinctively, defensively. Tybalt, in spite of his own less than mundane creation and form, had never gotten comfortable with things like magic; they just didn't fit in his neat, orderly, somewhat-explainable world. He WANTED to snap out a negative response, really...but Vidya looked so eager to show him, and really, what harm could she do him anyway?

"Aye, I suppose." He was getting soft, and he didn't even have the excuse of old age to fall back on.

Vidya went silent for a moment, considering what he'd said. "Well, thats true." After all, he must gave gotten his personality the way he wanted it by now! Why bother changing it? When asked about Levi, she tapped her index finger to her chin. How to explain Levi...hmm.

"Levi's my friend!" It was simple enough, but according to her personality, she had to continue. "Levi's a Pirate too, an' we met by accident a long time ago...an' we went swimming and stuff. Actually, we've gone out a couple of times...He keeps trying to get me to sail with him though..." Her words and tone were innocent. To her, 'going out' just implied going somewhere and having fun with a good friend. The last sentence was added as an afterthought. "Well...I don't know. Momma says before I grew up I was tired a lot then, too...But I don't know, this time of tired feels different from what I do remember." Shrugging, she tapped her fingertips together. "I've been sore all over too...maybe I am getting sick!" Now, she looked horrified. She'd NEVER been sick before!

When he agreed to see her trick though, she brightened considerably, leaning to her bag to grab the water bottle again. Pouring a little bit into her palm, she leaned back so he could see, too. "Watch this!" Concentrating, the tale closed her hands around the water. Then, slowly, she started to pull her hands apart; as she did, the water followed, stretching itself out between her palms. By now, her eyes had been glazed over with silver...and it obviously didn't faze her. The girl continued to play with the water, a twitch of her fingers causing the stretched water to snap back between her parted hands, spinning around to form a shifting, bobbling ball of water that slowly seemed to get bigger and bigger.

Finally, she moved her hands as if holding the ball of water from underneath it, though it never touched her hands. With a little push, Vidya threw the waterball into the air, and a twist of her wrists caused the ball to explode into thousands of tiny water droplets. The droplets disappeared before touching anything, therefore, nothing got wet.

"I can do more but, I'm too tired to do anything else." She admitted shyly as she looked up at him, her eyes still silver. "But isn't that cool?!" Now, she looked excited, and sounded excited too. She also showed him her hands, just to show him the water she'd used had disappeared, incase he was wondering.

Tybalt's eyes had gotten progressively narrower as Vidya explained the origin of her friendship with this "Levi" person. "Did 'e now?" he said as she concluded, voice dripping with disdain, hostility, and no small amount of suspicion. "Ye'll say no, right?" More a forcefully-coaxing order than an actual question. "After all, can't be too careful..." Feathers rustled, smoothing from the ruffled state they had taken on, and Tybalt's wings splayed for balance as he leaned forward to watch Vidya's trick.

The sight of Vidya shaping the water both soothed and agitated Tybalt. It was only fitting, he supposed, that her power was related to water--it was no less unnerving in spite of the suitability. He watched, reluctantly fascinated, as the water became almost literally putty in her hands. As the waterball exploded, he shifted almost uneasily, looking from the spot the water had just occupied to Vidya. "Interestin'," he admitted, reaching out to take one of her hands in his own, squinting at it and turning it over, inspecting. "How'd y'do it?"

Due to the way they were sitting, Vidya didn't notice that his eyes were getting narrower...but she did notice his tone and needless to say, she was uneasy. Curious as to why he was so angry, but uneasy. Shifting a little bit under his stare, she quietly answered him. "But I...I've already said no..." She said meekly, her head wings lowering. She refused to look up at him to see if he lightened up then; Did she do something bad? Was it wrong to have a friend like Levi? For a moment, Vidya was afraid he might hit her or something.

But then, she got to lose herself in her 'trick'. It really worked wonders...despite how tired she was, it actually cheered her up. She was, after all, playing with something so natural to her. The fear of being hit was long gone, and instead she was excited about what he thought of her trick; after all, she had worked so hard on it! "You think?" She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, recalling how she'd learned it. "Aurion pushed over a glass of water and I caught it.." Vidya's voice sounded more like she was musing than stating a fact. "Well...I didn't catch the glass...it kind of shattered..." Her free hand rubbed nervously against the back of her neck. "So I...kept playing with it in the bath or when I'm bored, and now I can do tricks!" That seemed like a good enough explaination, yes.

Oh. Well of COURSE she had! He was just being more paranoid than usual--even for him--and really, hadn't he been off for awhile? Jumping at every little thing (ready to cut it to bits, of course), snapping more for no apparent reason (like he'd ever needed one in the past), and generally just so much more irritated than usual and hadn't that been the reason he wanted out in the first place? Really, he was just being silly; Vidya wasn't plotting against him or anything, and some small, temporarily rational part of his mind told him that it was even alright for her to have other friends. Other male friends. Other male pirate friends. That temporarily rational part was quickly eaten alive by the larger, more possessive part. "'Atta girl," he said, mostly meaning it.

He released his hand rubbed his chin thoughtfully at her explanation. Magic though it might be, it was at least a useful trick. "Aye, might come in handy one day...always easy sailin' with you about an' all, eh?"

Vidya's headwings slowly lifted; he must've been satisfied by her answer. Heck, she could feel the anger and hostility clearing from the air! Also satisfied over the fact she wasn't in trouble anymore, she decided to drive another point in, just incase. Besides, it felt as though he might need an ego boost! Not that she knew what that was, anyway. "I told him I already have a Captain, and it wouldn't be right for me to sail with another pirate." She paused for a moment, clicking her boots together. "I guess it'd kinda be like cheating...?" She'd been watching a lot of dramas lately on TV.

At his last comment though, her expression darkened; though it was unlikely he'd be able to see it. For a moment she found herself seething over his words. Going to use her, was he? Well, we'd see abou---wait. He wouldnt use her! Seriously, what was she thinking? He'd never used her before, her mind argued. That she knew about, argued something from within the back of her mind. "I...guess so." She said lamely, after a breif shake of her head.

"Anyway...Whattcha wanna do, now that we're out here?" Hoolay subject changes!

"Course it would!" he responded, confident that she'd get the utter wrongness of wanting to sail under different colors. Tybalt was confident--now, maybe, perhaps, a little--that Vidya would understand the underlying message: loyalty was important. Maybe, maybe even as important as shinies.

"Do?" he asked. "Innit past your bedtime?"

Of course, Vidya would be lying if she said she didn't think it would be interesting to get on a boat with Levi. After all, it was bounds of fun when the invaded that hotel's pool and hot tub room...not to mention their jaunt out to get Levi some money for his ship. Sailing with Levi would probably be hoardes of fun if it weren't so wrong. "Are you proud of me, then?" She asked slowly, her headwings lowered in a rather meek gesture. As fun as Levi was, nothing really beat getting some form of praise from Tybalt.

"Bed time?" She parrotted back before falling into silence, thinking about it. "Well, it is pretty dark out...but I'm not home right now to go to bed, am I?" Vidya decided with a firm nod after a moment or two, relaxing against the bench's backing. "An'...I'm kind of bored." She admitted with a sigh. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his talons, and she sat back up straight again, twisting on her seat to face him rather than away from him.

"Is it hard to to stuff with talons?" She asked absently, a hint of exhaustion in her voice. Vidya had moved one of her hands to lightly touch his alien feet, the other gripping the bench top. Well, 'Lets-poke-at-Tybalt' seemed like an ok passtime right now anyway.

Tybalt gifted Vidya with a rare smile then--a real one, not the rogueish grin or cocky smirk he usually wore. "Aye, I 'spose," he said casually, no note of tenderness in the faint praise. In spite of his own often-vicious paranoia, he had to admit that he had chosen at least this friend well. If nothing else, she was simple to read, simpler still to please, to say nothing of her apparent loyalty.

One long, talon-tipped toe slowly extended as Vidya touched his foot, offering her a closer examination. "Hard?" he asked, rubbing a knuckle against his chin in idle thought. "Not really. Some stuff, o'course, like walkin' through sand or snow. Makes other things easier, though, like climbin'...hah, 'member that time in th' basement? An' they'd make fine weapons too, in a pinch, I'd bet."

Regardless of the lack of tenderness in his praise, Vidya still accepted it, and it still mde her very happy. As long as Tybalt at least said he was proud of her, she didn't care whether he meant it or not. When she looked down at his extended talon, she lifted her finger to curl under the very tip, as if curious to see how sharp they really were. As she poked and prodded his taloned toe, she thought back to the basement.

"I remember that...! Momma got over it, Daddy tried to ban me from leaving the house, ever...especially going to your house." She giggled lightly, shaking her head. As she thought back to that incident though, she started to get the vague impression that she had only made things worse...that she hadn't been any help at all.

"Hey, Cap'n?" Vidya's voice was quiet, but she suddenly refused to look at him. Instead, she leaned foreward, letting her forehead rest against the larger joint on Tybalt's talon. "I'm not useful to you at all, am I?" She asked sheepishly.

The object of Vidya's inspection flexed and curled when the fingers wandered too close to the sharp edges and pointed tip; he didn't want her to get hurt, after all. Tybalt smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Fat lotta good that did, eh? I'd like t'see 'im try'n keep you locked in." If only to give him an excuse to break her out of the house, of course.

His smirk quickly fell at her quiet inquiry, turning into a puzzled frown. Where had this unexpected question, this sudden change in mood come from? "What? Err..." This wasn't going to turn into some emotional thing, was it? As much as he cared for Vidya--and he did care, as much as he could--he was ill-equipped to deal with other people's feelings, even hers. "Course y'are! I wouldn't keep y'around if y'weren't!" Point proven.

Vidya giggled a bit. "Momma set him straight. She wasn't gonna tell him, it was your Momma that told him." Shrugging a bit, she stubbornly still tried to get to the sharp edge...however, some sense of self-preservation kicked in, and she retracted her hand before she even felt the bite of the claw..and that was when she lowered her head and waited for his answer.

"You wouldn't?" She replied quietly, almost emotionlessly. His words hurt, yes, but there was a part of her that kind of expected this to be his answer, and it was that part of her that didn't allow her to be surprised, to allow her to respond to emotionlessly. Regardless, she continued on ith her questioning. "You said earlier that with me around there'd be easy sailing...but if my magic couldn't live up to those standards, would you still get rid of me?" She moved, to rest her hands on the longer of his taloned toes, her head tilting to rest her cheek against his foot.

"Now ye're just bein' daft," he blurted out, uncomfortable with the heavy turn the conversation had taken. Frowning down at Vidya, he patted the top of her head awkwardly to take the sting out of his tone, if not his words. "Y'were me first mate long b'fore y'had any kinda magics, and ye'll remain as such even if y'lose 'em."

Vidya did indeed wince when he blurted out. Of course, like most things, the wince was resolved by the pat on her head. It had always been one of the ways to make her feel better...and this was no different. Sighing happily, she lifted her head to show her newfound, bright, and usual Vidya smile.

"Good! I thought I was just infected with the crazies." Sitting up straight, she slid to her feet and stretched her arms over her head. For some reason, she didn't feel tired anymore...and it showed. "Uhm...Cap'n?' Vidya's cheery smile faded and she leaned forward a bit, clasping her hands behind her back.

"I do have one more question, though..." She looked and sounded somehow serious.

"I think ye're infected with th' crazies anyway," he teased lightly, inwardly sighing in relief. Though he was curious about Vidya's rapid-fire change in mood, he was happy enough that she seemed "up" again that he didn't dwell on it too much, instead writing it off as some strange girl thing that he would never really understand. "What's yer question, then?"

"Compared to you, I've ALWAYS been infected with the crazies!" Vidya admitted with a giggle, brushing her hands across the back of her neck to collect all of her thick, wayward hair and throw it back against her back.

Then, she eyed him curiously for a moment. Wrinkling her nose and scrunching up her lips in thought, she stepped back and lifted a hand, waving for him to get off the bench and come towards her. "This isn't my question, but could you get off of the bench real quick?" The blue skinned girl was smiling innocently, her hands moving to once more link behind her back.

Tybalt eyed Vidya curiously, but climbed down from his perch on the back of the bench, using the seat as a step. He moved closer to her, just the slightest bit of tension in his shoulders.

Vidya flashed him a bright grin, then instantly changed her expression into pure...scrutiny? Slowly, she wandered around him, dramatically, even; going as far as to slowly swing out her leg in front of her with every step she took.

The second she got a glimpse of his back, one chd coult actually work with, she pounced on him. "Take me home!" She cried out happily, once she had some form of monkey grab on him, even using her legs. Of course, it was more than likely a move that he probably would have expected from her. This is Vidya, of course.

Tybalt straightened his back at her change in expression, wary eyes tracking Vidya's movement until he could no longer see her. Though he should have been expecting her to pounce, he hadn't. With a startled "oof!" he staggered forward a few paces, wobbling dangerously for a moment before his wings splayed slightly to correct his balance.

"This was yer question?" he asked, turning his head to look over his shoulder at Vidya. His indulgent grin belied his disgruntled tone of voice, and he hooked his arms around her knees to keep her steady. "Which way's home, then?"

Vidya refused to let go, and his flailing only caused her to tighten her grip until he steadied himself. Once he regained the balance she'd thrown off, she hugged his shoulders and nuzzled her temple into his soft hair. The affectionate move was stopped when he looked over his shoulder, and she tilted her head back so she could match his grin with an eyeless, happy one of her own.

"Well....I guess it turned out to be a demand...but yeah. Yeah, that was my question." She let out a ticklish whine when his hand brushed the back of her knees, her legs jerking for a minute before relaxing once more. "....You're actually gonna do it?" She said outloud, though it was really a comment directed to herself.

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and more than eager to make use of her apparently agreeable Captain (when would be the next time she gets a piggy back from him ANYWAY?), she thought for a moment. Hmm, which way WAS home? After looking around for a moment, she pointed back up the street. "That way." She informed him. "Are you actually gonna try and carry me there?" She asked him directly this time, though she gripped tighter onto him, incase he changed his mind.

"Hmph. You implyin' I can't?" he shot back, stubbornly stumbling up the street in spite of his already-protesting back. "'Less ye'd rather I flew ye home, though as I recall it, ye're somewhat afraid o' flyin'." Tybalt's voice grew strained with the combined effort of posturing and struggling to keep them both upright.

"Whaaaat?!" Vidya whined, accidentally near his ear. "I'm not scared of flying! That wasn't flying! That was...that was...!" She paused, eyeing his wings. "That was FALLING like a hunk'a lead! Totally different." But hey, maybe he'd actually LEARNED how to fly since then! Chuckling, she tugged lightly on the sleeve of his jacket. "I changed my mind, I think I'll walk home!" The tale had heard him strain, and she could definately feel the effort he was putting into carrying her. Thus, she'd tried to figure out a way to get off of him without making it too obvious that she'd noticed. While she tried to figure out the easiest way to get off of his back, she spoke a sudden thought outloud.

"Mmm...but you're not allowed to leave me alone if I decide to walk on my own!" She'd cling to him. She really would.

"It was flyin'," Tybalt protested as vehemently as his shortness of breath would allow, tilting his head away from her plaintive wail. "The only hunk o' lead was you weighin' me down. If it hadn't been flyin', we'd've both been so much mulch." Nevermind the fact that they almost had been; Tybalt still couldn't climb that damnable tree without wondering why they weren't.

Pride drove Tybalt forward a few more yards after Vidya changed her mind, but self-preservation won out in the end. "Well, if ye're sure," he said, secretly relieved as he gently lowered Vidya's legs to the ground. A hand went to his neck to take one of hers, leading it from behind him to place it in the crook of his opposite elbow. "Course I wouldn't leave ye be. Someone needs t'look out fer ya, after all."

Vidya puffed out her cheeks in mild irritation. "I'm not THAT heavy!" She huffed. "And even if I was, you shoulda thought about that BEFORE you jumped." There was a slight pause when Vidya smacked herself mentally. Why she was getting so worked up was beyond her. "Hmph. It still wasn't flying. It was falling gracefully."

After that, she went silent and just waited for him to stop and/or put her down. She'd been about to say something about it, but then he moved to set her down...which pretty much shut her up. Well, about that at least. "And you're gonna look out for me?" Vidya asked with a small chuckle, moving to stand beside him to place her free hand over the one resting on his arm. "Are you sure?" Somehow, she really wanted to be a brat right now. Really badly.

Gambino's docks were coming into sight, which meant it wouldn't be too long now before they reached her house.

"Heavy enough," Tybalt teased, "an' I wouldn't've done it if I hadn't been confident in me own flyin' abilities." A bald-faced lie if Tybalt had ever told one, and he'd told more than a few since he had mastered the ability to talk.

"Aye, 's what I said, an' who better, eh?" Not even the strain the day's exertions had put on Tybalt could keep him from his arrogance, and he countered Vidya's doubts with a cocky smile and a flaring of too-tired wings.

Vidya stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, I ain't dieting...and if I do, it'll be for me not you." She shot back, somehow feeling better after getting that out. His little comment got a thin giggle from her though, and she proceeded to hug his arm slightly.

"Well I'm glad its you. Anyone else might be a bad influence on me." She teased. Everyone told her that; her Mom, her siblings, Lance...Tybalt was a bad influence. She didn't really see how since she never really participated in his pirate antics outside of the adventure but...hey. "Op, I see my house! You don't have to take me the rest of the way now, if you don't wanna. I'll be okay from here on in." She offered, moving to let go of his arm.

"Ye don't need to anyway," Tybalt assured her, patting her clinging hands with his own free one. "A bad influence? Am I not one? I must not be tryin' hard enough, then," he continued, winking down at her and pausing as she pointed out her house. "Are ye sure? Don't want ye gettin' attacked by who-knows-what 'tween here 'n there, after all."

"Good." Vidya huffed out in an oddly cheerful manner. When he questioned his affect on her though, she looked thoughtful. "Mmm...I don't know. A lot of people tell me you are, so you must be!" Grinning in response to his wink, her attention then shifted back towards her house...then back to Tybalt, looking rather suspicious.

"You're being really, really nice to me today. Tonight. Whatever." She said observantly, yet suspiciously. "I'm not complaining or anything though! Its just reeeeeally odd for you to be this nice to me. I mean you're nice and everything...well nice to me but...ah nevermind. The point is, as nice as you are to me compared to everone else, you're being nicer than usual." After her silly little tongue tie, she let his arm go for good, then made highly stereotypical karate-like moves with her arms, the occassional noise for effect.

"I'm sure! The only thing I'll get attacked by out here is overly worried siblings and or parents. So I can take care of myself!" She did another overly silly karate move with her hands. "Besides, you're being so nice I don't want to risk making you mad at me between here and there! I'm gonna head up before you change your mind and decide to crush me instead of watch out for me." She was teasing now, and now that she had long dropped her karate act, she gave him a hug.

"Thanks for walking me here, though! Have a good night, Cap'n!" Letting go of him, she turned around and started jogging towards her house.

Tybalt opened his mouth to refute Vidya's claim before she said she didn't mind it. Instead, he thought about it--was he being nicer than usual? She did get away with an awful lot that no one else could ever have hoped to on a regular basis, and even more than that now, it seemed. When did Tybalt the Touch-Me-On-Pain-Of-Death become so soft?

"Alright then," he said, grinning at her strange poses and returning her hug almost absently. "I'll be seein' ya, then." Tybalt stood there a moment, waiting until Vidya was tucked safely inside before turning homewards himself.