:[ PRP ]: An Unexpected Date

[Teigra]

"Come on, dad! You're so slooooow!"

Eudora giggled, skipping ahead of the male Fae with a grin on her face and a picnic basket full of goodies on her arm. She was starting to get anxious though, because it had taken longer than she'd expected to get her father out of the house, let alone heading for the beach for a picnic and stargazing.

He'd been spending so much time locked away in the house lately. She knew he was still torn up over Nienna's disappearance...but did it mean that he had to push everyone else away? He'd withdrawn from most Pae other than his daughter...and even if he'd tried to lock her out, that was impossible with Eudora.

Not that Eudora didn't miss her mom...just that she didn't stop living because she was gone. She was sad...but still.

The stars were already starting to sparkle overhead and Eudora was getting anxious again. Couldn't be late or this whole plan would fall apart!



Cabel sighed, shaking his head but dutifully following after his daughter. The sun had set long ago and the stars were starting to come out, leaving the forest fairly dark. The beach should be much lighter though, without the tree canopy the forest sported. Still, Eudora kept disappearing into the shadows and Cabel had to keep up with her to keep sight of her. His own colors seemed to cause no difficulties in visibility, of course.

Still, she'd wanted so badly to come out and see the stars that he couldn't find it in his heart to deny her that. Even if he'd felt more like staying home. Activities just seemed less...attractive without Nienna to share them with.

He knew he was fast becoming a hermit. He didn't want that, but...at the same time, up until recently, he'd still harbored hope that one day, he'd wake up, and Nienna would be there beside him, as if nothing ever happened. It was hard to imagine that nothing had happened to her...he knew in his heart that she'd have come home to him if she could. Though it was growing plain to the poor Pae that she wasn't coming home.

He could only hope that it was because the Guardians had had some need of her. She'd talked about them so much, of being so close to them. If that was what happened, then he had no right to deny it. It was preferable to the alternative in any case.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost stumbled over Eudora, who'd paused in her rush to wait for him with an impatient look.

"Are you coming? We're going to be late!" She flinched slightly. Whoops...time to cover. "By the time we get there, all the stars will be gone and the sun will be coming up by this rate!"

Cabel blinked out of his reverie, glancing at his daughter oddly. He really should live more in the moment. "Oh, sorry, hon. Come on, let's go." He smiled, wrapping his free arm around her shoulders, staff hanging loosely in the opposite hand.

The pair emerged onto the beach and headed towards a clear spot near the water to set up their blanket and small picnic.  

[Persephone13]

Her brother was suspicious when he noticed that she was eating less. He didn't think that she was leaving him, though. Instead, she spent an agonizing half-hour explaining to him that no, she wasn't deteriorating or in any danger of ending up like him. Mental breakdowns don't rub off on other people. The other way she knew that was because after being with him this long, she was still mostly there. Hyacinthus made her furious sometimes, but during that time she considered not showing up at all because she felt so awful. He just couldn't put himself back together She remembered the kind of person that he had been. He still was that person, but somehow he had managed to bury all of the good qualities and the things that made him a lot less aggravating.

She picked her way along the beach, looking over her shoulder often at the hut where the lights were out. Sharing a bed with her brother make it that much harder to get away, but he was a deep sleeper unlike her. The whole time that she had shimmied out of bed, he hardly moved except away from her. It was as if he expected her to leave, perhaps was even okay with the idea.

Her first instinct was to freeze when she saw the figures on the beach, but then she reminded herself that she was meeting someone. That had to be them. Or maybe it was some other couple. The brief times she went roaming around when she couldn't sleep, she'd seen a covert rendezvous here and there. It seemed quaint and mildly interesting, but she otherwise preferred to just stay out of the way. She saw no one else around, though. They were the people she was looking for.

With a deep breath, she daringly marched right for them. It looked like a male adult and a female teen. Great, now she couldn't tell who was who. There was one surefire to find out, though. Taking another breath, she decided to speak with resolution to make her business known.

"Which one of you is Cabel."  

[Teigra]

Eudora's head shot up at the voice, her attention now captured from the glasses and such she'd been setting out on the blanket. A wide grin crossed her face and she leapt up to shake the other's hand. "Oh, Eboraria, I presume? Glad to meet you!" She smiled at the pretty angelic, nodding enthusiastically. "I'm Eudora and this is Cabel," she said, guiding her over towards the male. "Daddy? This is Eboraria! I'm sure you two will have a lot to talk about!" Giggling, she grabbed a drink from where she'd been pouring them earlier, leaving two behind. "You two have fun now!"

Wings fluttering, she skipped away to give the two some time to get acquainted before she'd re-join them later.

Cabel watched his daughter skip off, one eyebrow raised. He'd become a bit anti-social recently, yes...but not stupid. "I do believe I've been set up," he muttered with some rare amusement. He shook his head slightly, then looked over to the angelic woman with a half-smile.

"Well, I'm Cabel. Pleasure to meet you, though I must admit, I'm not entirely sure of the situation I've found myself in. I assume you were told something to get you out here this late?" He glanced at the blanket with a knowing expression. "Stargazing picnic indeed. Though I'm guessing my daughter wasn't my real intended company for this evening."

He crossed over, dropping his staff nearby in the sand. "Well, in any case, could I offer you anything? Something to eat or drink?" Granted, he didn't go out of his way to meet other Pae'il anymore...but he still knew how to behave around one. He certainly didn't want the poor woman to feel that she wasn't wanted around just because his crazy daughter's schemes had left Cabel on unsteady ground.  

[Persephone13]

"Drink is fine." She took whatever he handed her, lifting the cup to her lips rather than glancing at what she was getting. No matter how bad it tasted, she'd do her best not show it. "I put up a personal ad, told you--um, her I guess--to come here at this time. It's the only time that I can get away."

Eboraria didn't particularly like the deception, and she felt bad for the guy who had been duped. "You know, we don't have to let this thing go for very long or anything like that. I'm not looking for a date or anything. I'm sorry she set you up like this. I just happened to find that Personal Ads place and I remember my brother using it a really long time ago. That's how he met someone. Well, I think." She shook her head. "I, I don't know." She was rambling, but she assumed that he didn't mind because he hadn't told her to shut up yet.

"Anyways, all I'm saying is that we can go through the motions to make her happy and then go our separate ways. Don't really have to see each other again, or at least go out of our way to see each other again. No strings attached." She looked over her shoulder to make certain that the girl wasn't in earshot. "What do you think?"  

[Teigra]

Living in harmony with the forest with Nienna for so long, Cabel had brought along both a natural blended fruit punch, and for something less sweet, cool, clear spring water which he set aside in case his guest preferred that over the punch.

He listened calmly to her as she spoke, sipping his drink and watching her in the moonlight. The poor thing...something about her radiated a sense of sadness...loneliness. Something that Cabel was more than familiar with as of late. A couple of the things she said raised questions as well in the Fae's mind, but he held them for now, not wanting it to seem as if he were prying into her personal business.

Still, he couldn't let her feel that she wasn't wanted here, even if he'd had no idea she was coming. Something in what she said took the words away and he wondered what sort of circumstances could cause such a lovely Pae to seem so sad.

"Listen, I may not have known about this meeting...but that doesn't mean it has to end abruptly. I didn't see the ad...but if you posted one, then some part of you wanted to get out and meet someone. I'm not sure I can offer a relationship, if that's what you were looking for," he added with a sheepish look. "But companionship for the evening, I can handle. It's never any fun to stare at the stars alone anyway."

He looked at his hands for a moment, then back up. "It sounds like you could use a relaxing evening. I'm not sure what troubles you normally, but is one night away so bad? Think of it as a one night vacation. No strings attached," he finished with a nod.  

[Persephone13]

"I think that I could live with that. I really need a vacation. Someplace far off, maybe. I've lived here all my life and I barely know anything about Telrunya. It's almost not fair."

She should've guessed that he hadn't seen the personal ad. Frankly, though, she didn't mind telling a second time what she was going through. In fact, it felt really good to do that. "Here's the short of it. My brother is Hyacinthus. Maybe you heard about him, maybe you didn't. A lot of people seem to know him because he's the pae'il that has never been an adult. He's older even than me. For some reason, he just hasn't gotten his adult body. Frozen in a teen's body and all.

"Anyways, we had some humans taking care of us, but they ditched up. Didn't want to be with each other, didn't want to be here. Packed up and left, no other explanation. Gone. That leaves me to pick up all the pieces and deal with Cinthy's fall-out. Not pretty at all because he has a complete breakdown. It was bad. All he'd do was sit in a corner with an old ragdoll either crying or sleeping. He hardly ever moved. So when we were certain no one was looking, we fled from the HQ and built a hut at the farthest end of the lake possible." She pointed to the location of their hut.

"It seems like he's finally getting a little bit easier. He always insisted on hiding himself and me whenever it even looked like anyone might come near us." She was now radiating something else: rage. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to live with someone like that? Someone who just stays around the house all day while you have to do everything for them? I swear, the only reason why I haven't done something awful is because he's my brother and I love him too much! GAH! You can't imagine what it's like. Just getting away tonight was a challenge because he suddenly got so worried about me he was almost sick to his stomach. He doesn't want to let himself get better either."

Snorting, she sloppily poured more fruit punch for herself. "He's a really good guy. Really, really good guy. But I'm tired of living his life. I can't do this anymore."  

[Teigra]

"I'm afraid I don't know him, but there are a lot of Pae'il out there afterall," Cabel nodded, listening attentively. He chuckled softly at the 'frozen in a teen body' comment. "Different Pae'il grow at different rates. There's really no telling why, but I'm sure he'll catch up one of these days."

He sipped his drink, looking out at the lake. "My daughter Eudora has been a teen for months now. Longer than I can imagine. And yet, I remember when she was just a little girl...always getting into things, even if we tried locking her out." He laughed. It'd taken them a while to figure out how she'd done that. After that, locks were pointless. "She's been long due for adulthood, and yet, she remains as she is. Personally, I have no objections." He smiled a bit, even if the thought of his little girl growing up and leaving him was depressing. Mostly the leaving part. Especially since he seemed likely to never have any little ones of his own now.

He fell silent, listening to the rest of Eboraria's story, growing concerned as she seemed to get more and more emotional as her tale unfolded. Still, what she was saying...

Guardians, is that what road he was traveling down? Was he doing this same thing to Eudora? Locking himself away, waiting and waiting for someone to come back...who wasn't likely to? He rarely went out anymore unless Eudora practically dragged him outside. Even into the beautiful forest he'd once loved so much. That she'd loved.

He wouldn't want Eudora punishing herself for his behavior. He shook his head. No, it wasn't fair for her. It wasn't fair for Eboraria either.

"You're right. You can't do that," he agreed with a note of guilt in his voice, eyes still cast out at the water. He turned back to Eboraria to speak. "You have your own life to live, as he has his. You can still try to help him...but how he lives his life is still his choice. It's not fair for him to dictate what you do with yours either."

After a moment, he took another sip, then continued speaking. "It's my guess, that his worst fear is that you're going to leave him too. So, that's why he's clinging to you so tightly. You may be all he believes he has left, so he's terrified that if you leave too, he'll be left all alone."

No, he wasn't speaking from personal experience. 'Course not.  

[Persephone13]

"Oh, believe me. I know everything there is to know about why he's doing this." She threw back more punch. It was clear that she was more wrapped up in telling her story than much of what Cabel had to say. It indicated just how much she craved the interaction. "See, the way it is with us is that we don't really do too much. You realize when you stop seeing others that they really made the days go by quickly. It's not just the clinging and the emotional fallout and all the horrible stuff. Do you have any idea how boring it is to be by yourself all the time? That's when you start telling someone the sort of things you tell no one. The things you never thought that you would say aloud because you were afraid someone would hear them. You can't keep anything inside you."

Setting down her cup, she lied down on her back while pushing her wings into a comfortable position. There were so many stars, maybe more than she had noticed before. "It's isn't that he's waiting for them to come back. He gave up on that a long time ago. But he doesn't see the point of getting to know anyone now. Not that this is the only time that he's been hurt. After we left, no one bothered to find us. We knew that people chatted about us for a little bit, but then it was as if they had just forgotten. Sort of like when you lose your favorite toy. After a while, it stops meaning anything to you. He felt like that, like there hadn't been anything permanent. There was even this girl he really liked, and she seemed to forget about him too.

"Of course, I guess that I can't really call myself well-adjusted either. But I didn't spend all that much time alone, you know! Not me." She spoke with unnecessary enthusiasm. "I made trouble for a lot of people, but I was a friendly kid. I played with some of the pae'il who aren't around anymore--dunno where they went off to. I was a pretty good kid. I didn't mope around and I wasn't a wussie like my brother." It was the worst possible word she could think of to describe how her brother acted. "It's the only reason why I got saddled with taking care of him. Too much of a pansy to deal with stuff by himself."

Rolling onto her stomach, she stretched out her wings. "But Eudora is lucky. I can see where you might want to get away from people and all. But you're not like my brother, right?" Her tone assumed a 'no.'  

[Teigra]

What exactly had Eudora posted in his name?

"Well, I'm not sure exactly what you've heard from my daughter," he started slowly, staring down into his cup. "But no, I don't think I'm as bad as your brother."

Yet a tiny voice in his head added silently.

He ignored it.

After a moment, he continued speaking. "I wasn't always like this either. I used to be fairly social. I even had someone special. Very special. She was the sweetest, most loving, beautiful Pae I've ever known in my life." He set his cup down to hide the slight tremor in his hands. He'd not really, openly talked about Nienna since she'd disappeared.

"Most perfect Fae I've ever known...and we were in love," he murmured with a slight smile. "I always knew she was special, and I don't just mean to me. There was something unique about her, about the way she seemed tied to the Isle itself."

"We swore we'd be together forever," he sighed sadly at the memory. He'd swore...he'd meant it...but in the end, he couldn't keep his promise. He couldn't protect her when he'd needed to the most.

"Sometime back," he continued quietly, "some terrible things were happening on the Isle. The Isle itself seemed sick, in fact, and she could feel it. She set out to find what was wrong...she tried to go alone, but I wouldn't let her, even after she gave me the slip. I followed her straight into Dragnid Forest...where we were attacked."

"I tried to hold the beast off, though I'm not much of a fighter...I told her to run," he related sadly, glancing aside. "She did and I distracted the thing as best I could. Finally, I had to run too once I thought she was far enough away. I thought we'd meet up later at home."

"She never showed up. I've not seen her since and it's been months," he finished sadly. "I know what the normal implication should be...but it's easier to think that maybe the Guardians called her away. That they had another use for her, something urgent, so that she had no time to say goodbye."

He was silent for a bit, then finally looked up at Eboraria with a sad smile. "I suppose that's it for my sad story. Maybe I'm not much better off afterall."  

[Persephone13]

She lost interest a bit once he mentioned being in love. Eboraria got a little tired of hearing about falling in love and everything related to it. Her only exposure to love was her parents, and she had already explained in much detail what came of them. She was what she could tell: It was a real emotion, but it wasn't eternal. People fall in and out of love--or whatever it is--and they break promises. It's just what everyone does.

"Sorry to hear that," she said vaguely, starting to lose a little interest in him altogether. At least he was someone she could talk to and vent to for a bit. "My brother used to be more social. He was also a bit unsure of himself because he's...well, he's really girly, you know? He also really, really likes to make sure that people like him. It's important to him that people like him. So when our parents left and didn't tell us enough, he thought it was because they didn't like him anymore. He still think it's his fault that they left. Maybe it was my fault." She gruffly rubbed the back of her wrist against her nose. "Doesn't matter much anymore now because they're gone and we're here. Maybe it's better this way. They were getting harder to live with."

Sighing, she looked over her food to see just how hungry she was feeling now. "I don't know. You have to get away from your parents eventually, I suppose. If you don't, you just stay a kid forever. I don't want that. I don't know what I want to do, though. I'm not really interested in having kids or just taking care of other pae'il for the rest of my life. I'm done with that. Someone should be taking care of me instead for a chance. That'd be a lot nicer."  

[Teigra]

Months of denial and silence, refusing to even think about it at times, let alone talk about it. Finally, he had the courage...to speak the words out loud; to tell his story.

Nothing.

It helped...nothing.

Instead of feeling better...Cabel felt...cold. Just as Eboraria had zoned out on him, he grew distant, her words like a constant, meaningless buzz in his ears. What was the point? His problems were less important than hers, obviously, so why should he continue paying attention to whatever it was she was saying. Granted, the fae wasn't normally so...dramatic or self-centered, but...

The dark fae teen watched from over a nearby sand dune. Having snuck back unnoticed some time before, she'd heard every painful word of her father's personal admission. Maybe, she was the only other Pae who could possibly understand what it had taken for him to say those words aloud...maybe even more than Cabel himself.

Eudora could also see how he shut down immediately afterwards.

Cabel shook his head, seeming to refocus just long enough to hear the end of Eboraria's rant. The comment about kids growing up and getting away from their parents seemed like a personal jab, considering his current thoughts. Is that it then? He was keeping Eudora trapped at home, forever a child, because of his own issues?

"I'm not sure I understand," he started slowly, a slightly darker tone from his earlier reminiscent one. "You talk about growing up, not being a kid anymore and getting away from your parents. And yet, in the next sentence, swear you want to be taken care of like one. Just what is it that you wa--"

"How are you kids doing? Need more punch?" Eudora bounded over the dune, smiling widely and quickly trying to brush away any lingering sand with all the discretion she could muster. The fae femme poured on as much innocent cheer as possible without oozing sap, skipping over and plopping down with the pair. "I...am...starving," she stated dramatically, digging into the picnic basket after helping herself to more punch.

"How about you two? What can I get ya'?" she offered, hoping the food would provide enough of a distraction that the tension in the air might dissipate before she needed to get a machete to cut through it.