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 Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:07 pm
The trees were swaying gently in the breeze as the brook burbled merrily on its way, flashing in the mid-morning sun. The stream was far away from the hustle and bustle of the city and seemed to be in another world, a world that Asher was well used to but tried to forget on most days. But Irelia would not let him forget.
She had been eerily quiet for the last couple of weeks, after her breakdown in front of Taki and Riley. She had gone through a growth spurt and was now quite tall, taller than most girls her age but had taken to slouching drastically. Her new attire featured wide brimmed hats, large boots and loose clothing and Asher did not need magic in order to tell that something was bothering Irelia, but she wouldn't tell him what it was.
It took a run in from some bullies, for Irelia to finally tell Asher what was going on. Crying fitfully, she told her father that she was different, too different and that everyone hated her for it. Asher began to try and console her but stopped as he realized that he could not tell her the usual, "they don't hate you, they don't understand", "being different is far better than being 'normal'" when Irelia had seen what these children had seen her as.
It seemed to happen every day, this bullying, and it had started to become physical. When Irelia came home, weeping, her eye a bloody mess, Asher was outraged and picked up his sword to go run the bastards through. But Irelia stopped him, saying that although they mean to hurt her, they are not horrible enough for her to allow Asher to blacken his name. Asher had never considered an outcome where Irelia would not fight back but here she was, telling Asher to leave it alone. Asher wondered if she even stood up for herself, and knew that he needed some help. Though he could not change the way she looked, wouldn't change it for the world, he could get some help when it came to her magic.
Irelia was sporting a black eye and was sitting on the bridge, lazily swinging her legs to and fro. She looked despondent, her eyes ringed with black, her face shadowed by her black hat. Sighing dramatically, Irelia touched her face gingerly, and winced as she hit the spot where her bruise began. She touched it every couple of minutes, as if it was reminding her of something. Something important.
Asher was pacing up and down the bridge, taking his pocket watch out and opening it every few minutes. He was nervously wringing his hands, fixing his hair and generally acting like a preteen girl. Irelia giggled slightly but didn't say anything. Asher wasn't even aware of what he was doing.
"I told him to come at 11:30!" Asher cried piteously.
Irelia sighed.
"Dad, its 11:25. He's not even late yet."
((OMG SHES GOING SO EMO. jest so you know. I LOVE TORTURED SOULS.
and... yeah. Asher is going Canon with his relationship ROFL))
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:29 pm
Calder had practically had to sneak out of his apartment down the fire-escape, but managed to slip past Taki and out the complex. He had a box of relics in a sack at his side, and instructions to the meeting place scribbled hurriedly on the piece of paper. For one, Taki would want to be there since Irelia was going to be, and two, the boy hated being left alone. Calder wouldn't be surprised to find some of his papers shredded when he got home.
He sighed as he made his way down to the stream, checking his pocket watch and checking his instructions. He'd never make it on time. He was getting quite a few stares as he ran down the street, clad in full formal Seelie court regalia. He looked ridiculous, even down the the jeweled circlet that ran across his brow.
It was a good five minutes after the half hour mark that he came down the path to the bridge, gasping for air. "Sorry... I'm... late.... couldn't... get rid... of Taki..." he panted, leaning against the rail of the bridge, and glanced at Irelia, face immediately going into a scowl. (He felt strangely protective of her, even if Asher was her guardian. He had known her since she was just a cabbage, after all)
"You said something about the fae magic, so... I uh... brought all the stuff I had left over from the court."
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:40 pm
Irelia heard Calder before she saw him, and smiled fully when she saw him. She loved pretty things and well... Calder was a pretty thing at the moment. Standing up from her spot, she ran to Calder, but stopped just moments before hugging him, and stood awkwardly.
Asher grinned when he saw Calder.
"I think I'm a little under-dressed."
Asher was wearing his normal white clothing, but had a heavy, strange rune around his neck, not unlike the ones that were on Irelia's book, which happened to be in his hands, wrapped up in a piece of Asher's bedspread.
"We've been having a bit of a.... strange week. Well, more like a difficult week. Irelia... well, i decided on her behalf, she doesn't talk much to me right now..."
Asher was having a hard time explaining himself. He was tongue-tied, which happened very rarely to the noble.
Irelia had sat back down on the bridge, her back turned to the two men. She hung her head listlessly and stared in to the stream.
Asher turned to watch her and sighed.
"I'm so worried about her. She seems like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and acts older than I do sometimes. She seems to be very worried about something, but won't tell me what. When I press her... She tells me that I am better not knowing, that she will bear this secret herself, until it is time for her to act. I'm mad she can't confide in me and terrified of what she is finding out from other people."
Tears pricking his eyes, Asher wiped them away savagely.
"She's changed. People's minds are ugly and disorderly and she used to be so happy, a pain, but happy. Now she's so strong, though she hasn't told me so, that I think she can't stop listening in on people's secrets."
Asher reached out and graped Calder's shoulder.
"Do you think... do you think you can help her?"
((I WAS GOING TO MAKE HIM TOUCH CALDERS FAcE BUT I DIDN'T WANT HIM TO SCARE HIM AWAY))
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:02 pm
Calder gave a halfhearted grin, and shrugged. "I uh... wasn't sure how much of it I'd need. I haven't really done... well, anything. In years." He placed a hand very gently on Irelia's head, ruffling her curled hair affectionately and smiled down at her. His smile faded when he looked up at Asher and heard what the other man was saying.
By then, Irelia had sat back down, and Asher's words had Calder's tricolored eyes fixed on his face, a scowl deepening in the youthful face. "That book, isn't it? The book that came out of the cabbage with her?" he asked, gesturing with a nod, down to the thing. When he looked back up, he noticed Asher's tears.
Instinct of wanting to comfort Asher almost took over, and then he realized that the other man would probably be intensely uncomfortable with the idea of comfort that the Sidhe found normal. When Asher's hand closed on his shoulder, he reached up, though, and his hand curved gently against Asher's face, a determined expression on his own. "I'll do whatever I can. Seals are some of the easier magics..." he said, and then glanced up and down the path. "For one, we need to get closer to the water..."
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:41 pm
Asher nodded and walked over to Irelia, and pushed a curl out of her face. He took her hand gently and led her down the slope of the creekbed, and down to the base of the water.
Asher was a little worried about getting wet, and was standing as far back from the water as he possibly could at this time. Irelia walked over to the creek and gingerly stepped in. Turning to face Calder and her father, she sighed sadly.
"Its ok, i want to be normal," Irelia looked down, and bit her lip, "Why did you make me so different?"
Asher let his shocked feeling cover his face, and he pushed it back down as best he could.
"I didn't... you couldn't possibly... how could you think I?" Asher backed up, in to the side of the hill, and stared at his daughter. She thought HE made her this way? Or that, being the way she was, was in any way a bad thing? Asher's heart was breaking for his daughter, and he looked towards Calder for support. Asher was just happy that he had someone who cared for him. Oh, and Irelia, her too.
"Help?" Asher mouthed to Calder.
(( he also mouths something obscene and offensive and is horrified at his forwarness) )
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:56 pm
Calder trailed afterwards and stood just shy of the water's edge, waving a hand absently as it got too close, and the water seemed to slide down the slope, not unlike a snake. "Irelia..." Calder said, and looked down at Irelia with a solemn face, not minding coming to Asher's defense. He'd enough at his feet after the book of secrets... "These magics... They're not like mine, but they aren't unlike mine, either. They're arcane, but I know nothing of them," he said, and took a half a step forward, redirecting the stream just slightly. Even with the steel and iron and manmade things around them, he was glad to have some of his powers so easily at hand even after so long not using them...
"Asher couldn't possibly know them, for the first thing, and the second, that book came with you, from the cabbage..." Calder came close enough to Irelia to lay a hand on her shoulder. "He can't control what's been happening any more than you can. He isn't doing this to you, and if everything goes right, today, you won't have to worry about it... For as long as you want. Okay?" He tilted her chin upwards, so she'd have no choice but to look up into the sidhe's face.
"Now, I'm a little rusty," Calder paused, and offered a smile to Irelia, "so I hope that I can still pull this off. That, and I need to ask you a few questions." He stared back up towards Asher. "I need the book."
((Lulz can you tell I'm making this up as I go? :D;;))
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:00 pm
((I can but its so cute i do not careeeee. I actually want to do this as a quick manga. seriously. because it is beautiful.))
Asher was glad of Calder's presence, which seemed to calm Irelia down. Unwrapping the book, Asher handed it to Calder.
"Be careful. It doesn't burn, per se, but it does give me a strange, burning itch that is quite unpleasant."
Irelia looked up at Calder with her clear eyes, and cocked her head slightly.
"Thank you."
((SOORRRY SO SHORT. but you are going to ask questions, so i need to reply toute suite!))
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:05 pm
Calder offered her a smile, and then stared down at the thing, frowning slightly. It was like no magic he'd ever felt before, as he quested out with that sixth sense, and recoiled quickly. "It... isn't anything I've seen before. But magic is magic, and a seal is a seal, no matter what it's sealing..." he said, a distracted note in his voice, until he finally looked down at Irelia.
"I don't want to go sealing your soul off, or something... so... Is it like a part of you, or is it just a magical connection?" Calder's tricolored eyes met Irelia's clear gaze, and his expression was serious, but he didn't let the thanks go unnoticed, offering a smile for just a moment. "Because those require... different techniques. And does it have... a personality, so to speak, of it's own? I have known of relics that seem to have minds of their own, like they think and hear and know what you're saying."
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:11 pm
Irelia thought for a second. She had never communicated with anyone regarding her "magic" before, even though she knew that Calder was a magic user himself. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped and thought.
"Well, its me and yet, not me. I can't leave it at home, and if dad takes it away from me I feel as if my soul is tearing in two," Irelia thought for a second, and looked to Asher for confirmation, "Although it has not communicated with me, i feel as if there is something there. Something that seems to be waiting for me to figure something out and when i do, i don't know what will happen but it scares me. I don't have to say anything, i don't even have to open the book to know what it will tell me about your secrets."
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:21 pm
"Okay, so..." Calder set one hand on his hip as he thought, eyeing the book with a critical gaze. "Well, I think I know how I'll have to seal it, at least. But you'll need to be holding it at the same time that I do so that I know what's you and what's the book." He knelt slightly, and offered one edge of the book towards Irelia, waiting until she took it before he closed his eyes, concentration on his features.
The book made his skin crawl with its power, and he was hard-pressed to do his magic here so far from home and so long from practice. The bit of moving the water was child's play, and when he'd said sealing was easy, it showed just how out-of-practice the Sidhe was...
It took a good five minutes, Calder stone still, practically kneeling on the wet ground, before he opened his eyes, and glanced up at Irelia. The effort of the magics showed on sweat that glistened across his face. "It's done. Do you feel okay?" He'd placed a seal around the book, but not so much that it would feel separated from Irelia. In fact, he'd strengthened the bond, but in a way that would allow her to leave it at home, and would keep it from projecting its power out to Irelia.
He stood, and paused, and suddenly the water that he'd pushed away from the hems of his clothes rushed back, soaking him almost halfway to the knee.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:31 pm
Irelia looked around in surprise. She felt... the sun on her face, the water rushing around her feet... but she felt nothing of the constant barrage of information that had constantly haunted her the day she had her large growth spurt. Suddenly, she felt a lot better, and smiled sunnily up at Calder.
"Thank you!" She cried, and hugged her book to her chest.
Somehow, the book felt somewhat happy as well, and seemed to be happy that it wasn't harming Irelia anymore. But Irelia would never be a normal ten year old. She had learnt too much, knew too much... Irelia knew that she worried her father, and that was something that no ten year old really thinks of.
"But... what if I need to use the magic? What if- what if Taki runs in to the forest and gets stuck in a tree and we can't find him and i need to use my magic to find his secret hiding place?"
Asher was happy that Irelia seemed to be a lot more cheerful, but was worried about Calder. He had had experiences with sorcerers and sorceresses working great magics, and it seemed to tire them out immensely, and Calder, well, he looked tired.
And standing in a middle of a stream was not the best place to feel tired.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:35 pm
Calder was frowning in what seemed like confusion at the water that had begun to seep through his soft hide boots, and stared up at Irelia. "If you need to use it, you can open it up. I sealed it so that you can leave it, and it won't pummel you with information, but you can still use the magics. It's not a literal shield. It's... like a block for things going out of the book, but you can still look at it. Does that make sense?" Calder said, hoping it made sense, because... well. He wasn't particularly coherent now, to himself, at least. He returned to staring dumbly at his feet, because they definitely weren't moving. Goddess he was tired.
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:43 pm
Asher did not like water. But Asher liked Calder. And liked his clothing, and Asher was rather sure that most of it was getting ruined in the stream at this point. Asher disliked water with the same amount of horror that Taki probably did and he shuddered as he edged towards Calder.
"Irelia, come up on dry land. You're going to catch a chill. You too Calder."
Irelia happily skipped back to Asher and on to the bridge, dancing lazily around. Calder didn't move, and Asher didn't think he was all that steady on his feet.
Moving closer to the water, Asher started to remove his shoes. Getting those off, he peered at the wet marks halfway up Calder's thighs. He eyed his pants. He rather liked his pants... Asher started to remove his pants.
((ROFL. SORRY.))
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:50 pm
((YOU MAKE IT SO HARD FOR ME TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY XD))
Calder sighed quietly, and managed to somehow start shuffling back towards the shore. Where Asher was removing his pants. "Er..." he said. There really was no other reaction, and he blinked from Asher's pants, up to his face, and then paused again. Well, so much for making it back on land before his boots soaked through, he thought wistfully as the water trickled in along the seams.
"I don't think it's wise to strip in public," he advised, and trudged the last few feet out of the water, bottom half looking very bedraggled. "And... uh... Thank you for the effort, of what I imagine was... a... rescue attempt?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:56 pm
Asher pulled up his pants haphazardly, but was so embarrassed that he caught part of one leg under a rock and as he pulled, Asher lost his balance. Into the fairly cold, though no one had decided to mention it, stream.
Spluttering, and looking more like a wet polar bear than anything else, Asher stagged back on to land, his pants half down and his shirt mysteriously half unbuttoned. Gasping for air, in what was an attempt to cover his embarrassment and hopefully make Calder forget what an idiot he was, Asher collapsed on the bank of the stream.
"Cold... tried... help... pants... ruined."
((I CANNOT Be SERIOUS I AM SORRY))
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