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 Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:30 pm
 Thanksgiving had some and gone, and the weather were even more grim then before. Cedar had been feeling a bit lonely, and figured she would pay a visit to her friends. Lea had started working at her shop but she hasn't really seen or heard from the other two, and hoped she'd be able to bump into one, or both. She wiggled her fingers in her gloves, and she tugged her scarf a little snugger around her mouth. Her olive eyes peering around the school's inner campus. There were so many students... She looked around wondering if when she was in school if there were so many kids. "Oh goodness..." She started to wonder what she had gotten herself into... She just wanted to spot a familiar face.
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 9:10 pm
 Xerxes struggled under the stack of books teetering back and forth in his arms. He probably shouldn't have taken out so many books from the campus library, but he was determined more than ever to improve his grades and hopeful uncover some kind of magic at which he excelled.
His recent failure to participate in the Grave of Fairies trial only kept him down for a short while. Xerxes doubted that anyone that failed it wouldn't feel a small amount of depression afterward. He just hoped that he wasn't the only one that failed. How embarrassing would it be to be the only student to fail the trial?
As he made his way across the campus, heading back for his dormitory room to catch up on some studying, Xerxes's foot caught on something hard. He tried to keep his balance, but with both arms preoccupied with the stack of books, he failed. He hit the ground and dozen or so books that he had been carrying scattered about around him. "Ugh," he groaned out in frustration as he climbed to his knees. He reached out and started gathering up his books.
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:22 am
In the hustle and bustle going on, it was only luck that when Xerxes trip that a book made it just far enough to lightly hit her foot, and get her attention. She let her eyes following the trial of boox and there was the mononoke. Cedar was both relieved, and then concerned that he hurt himself.
"Xerxes!" She lightly called out to him, scooping up the book, and the other couple that were on her way to closing the distance between them. "Are you okay?" She bent down, pulling her dress under her knees, as she placed the books to the side. "That looks like it might have hurt. What are the books for?" She tilted her head slightly, and offered him a hand.
In the very least Cedar had found one of her friends. She was didn't have to much of a chance to talk with him, so many this was the best. She wanted to know him a little better. And offer him the invite of the Holiday Party.
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 8:29 pm
Xerxes managed to gather up the books nearest him into a small stack. He had been in his own little world of thoughts and worries that he didn't notice any of the people around him. As he was about to get up to retrieve the rest of his books, his ear twitched upon hearing someone calling out his name. He lifted his head, looking about the campus when he spotted a familiar face approaching him. "Cedar!" he greeted with a grin as he hopped to his feet and dusted off his pants.
"Eh? Ah, I'm fine." Xerxes waved off his little trip like it hadn't been any to fret over. Truth was he sometimes had little clumsy moments like that, especially when he took on too much and had a stack of books obstructing his vision. He shook his head. "It didn't hurt." He glanced down at the pile of books then rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, just some light reading. For studying."
Turning back to Cedar, Xerxes gave her a puzzled look. "What are you doing up here at the Academy?" he asked curiously as he bent to pick up his stack of books. He hoped none of the books got damaged from the fall. He doubted the librarian would appreciate it if he returned the books with dents in the covers and dirt on the pages.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:38 pm
Cedar helped him out, and holding a stack of the books she looked around. "Well... It gets lonely at the store. It's not like you come and visit me." She stuck her tongue out at him, in a teasing manner.
"After the Halloween party, I haven't see you guys in a while. Lea came and got a job at my Shop but I haven't seen you or Kalypso. So I wanted to come and see you guys." She smiled at him, moving the stack of books she had to her hip.
"And some light reading?" She raised a brow and looked him over. "I heard they had a Graveyard of Fireflies recently..." She asked him, trying to come off, as an off handed comment. But she had a feeling she knew what happened.
"I didn't pass it my first time." She admitted. She had some issues with her powers, and she had to work even harder to control hers. All the work paid off, but she panicked during the trial.
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:47 pm
Xerxes hefted the books in his arms, adjusting his hold so that the stack wouldn't topple to and fro as he walked. It was much easier to see what lay in front of him now that Cedar held a portion of the stack as well. His ears perked up as his eyes widened at her. "I'm sorry!" he apologized at once. "I didn't - Argh, I've been so busy with studying!" His ears flattened back as his tail drooped low.
"I've only seen Lea since the party," he admitted. That encounter had been purely accidental as well. They hadn't planned to meet up like that. His ear flicked. "He's working at your shop?" His mouth hung open in a little "o" of surprise. "Maybe I'll have to drop by and pester you both." A grin cracked his face.
His gaze dropped to his books, and Xerxes let out a nervous laugh. "Er, yeah," he mumbled, biting his lower lip. At the mention of the Grave of Fairies, he tried not to flinch but his tail curled between his legs.
He jerked his head up at her admittance. "Really?" he asked surprised and curious. "I failed badly," he told her as his gaze drifted back down to his books. "I didn't even feel ready when I attempted it." He sighed, now his shoulder slumping with depression.
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 3:03 pm
Cedar laughed, she had only been teasing him. She knew students were busy, hence why she made the trip herself. "Oh you should! We have a lot of fun there. So of course the more the merrier." Giving him a smile, it soon faded into a natural look. Putting books at her hip she patted Xerxes's head lightly.
"You don't need to feel bad. Really." She gave him a reassuring look. "I tried, and I failed. I felt lousy about it. Everyone does. But now you know what you need, and you can be better prepared." She nodded. "I was stubborn and that's why I tried. I was told I wasn't ready. I didn't want to accept that." She chewed on her lower lip.
"I guess I'm still a bit embarrassed by it. But I was here for three years. I needed a lot of help with my magic." Cedar hoped that she was helping Xerxes. She knew for her, knowing she wasn't alone always helped her.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 1:56 pm
Xerxes grinned a bit sheepishly as Cedar patted him on the head. It reminded him of his mother, who would sometimes do similarly. "I'll try to come down for a visit soon," he told her with a wide smile as his tail twitched behind him. He did want to go down to Cedar's store, curiosity making him eager to see it. And with both Cedar and Lea working there, the store was bound to have a nice, friendly atmosphere. He always hated those shops that had a stuffy air to them with the employees looking down their noses at him.
Hearing about Cedar's failure made him feel a bit better about his own failure, but then he felt slightly guilty for that. At least, he knew now that he wasn't the only one that failed on their first try at the Grave of Fairies.
"That's what all these books are for," he admitted, giving a nod of his head toward the books that he and Cedar held. "I'm trying to do as much studying and practicing as I can for the next time I try." He breathed in deeply then released a slow sigh. "But I don't think I'm anywhere close to figure out what magic I excel at. I mean," He frowned as he chewed on his lower lip. He hated admitting just how poorly he was at everything.
He had struggled with a simple levitation spell! Most of the other students that shared the same class as he had at least been able to raise an object a little of the table by the end of that first lesson. Meanwhile, Xerxes had only succeeded in making his pencil shake a little on top of his desk. His shoulders slumped in depression as he recalled that class. Still biting his lip, he glanced over at Cedar as a question pushed its way out of him. "How did you figure out what magic you were good at?"
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Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:50 am
Cedar felt bad for him, but she knew it all to well, also. She never had much affinity for anything else aside from what she was naturally born with. Cedar was good for support and she liked to help others when she could. But sometimes even for her, she didn't always know the right words. Especially since she had been in the same situation as him. She learned enough to get her out of the school for she was for the most part, sub-par on all other types of magic.
Shifting the books again she took a a few seconds after his question. "Well I showed having magic abilities at an early age. And when I was old enough I was sent here, but my parents were both not magical. So I never had any guidance until I got here. And it was hard, I learned enough of the other magic's to pass. But it was very clear that mine was nature based. No one know how deep my magic went until they trained me hard, and my magic showed it self. But I was never able to control it. And for me, as I learned my personal magic, I learned the other magics well enough." She had the advantage that way, her teachers knew where to look.
But Xerxes was a mononoke, that meant he would excel in something. Elemental, manipulation, telepathy... The possibilities were endless. But it seemed like he had no direction or hint to what he was born with.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:03 am
He would have tugged on one of his pointed furry ears in a show of awkwardness if his arms hadn't been loaded with his books. "The only magic I really showed when I was younger was my mononoke powers." He laughed, recalling the occasion. "That gave my mom such a fright. She wasn't expecting me to come tumbling down the stairs with the ears and tail of a cat." Unfortunately, in all other types of magic, he seemed greatly lacking. But it was likely because he simply hadn't found his magic type yet. Once he did that, he would surely improve enough to pass the Grave of Fairies trial and become a witch.
"Hm," Xerxes pondered aloud, his brow knitting for all but a moment. "Nature magic and I don't seem to get along at all. I wish I had some idea, or hint at least, of where to focus my attention. I've been trying every sort of magic I can think of without much success." But he wouldn't give up simply because he was having a little bit of trouble pinning down his magic. He wasn't the type to sit back and let something like this defeat him. If he were, he would go home now and not bother to study magic anymore. But this sort of trouble only made him all the more determinate to discover his hidden powers.
"Ah!" he cried out suddenly, eyebrows shooting upward in surprise. "Let's take these to my room," he suggested. He was growing tired of carrying them, and he doubted Cedar wanted to lug them around all over campus. "It's not too far from here. Once we drop them off, we can take a walk around. Maybe grab a bite to eat."
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Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2012 3:42 pm
Cedar smiled at him and mulled over the ideas. But there were really to many to list off, and she doubted that would be the best way to go about it. But with a nod, she agreed to going with him. The books were getting rather heavy, adjusting them again she moved for him to lead the way and followed happily.
As they walked, she started to remember the school, some fond and not so fond memories. And once the cat mononoke lead them to his room, she even more happily unloaded the books onto his desk.
"What kind of hobbies do you have?" She asked him, they never really had time to talk one on one, and now that she thought about it she never really knew to much about it. Just that she enjoyed his company.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2012 9:55 am
Xerxes led the way to his room, which thankfully wasn't too far away. At the question, he gave a bit of an awkward laugh. "Well, once you see my room, you know cleaning isn't one of them," he said as he opened the door to his room for them.
His room was rather messy. He hadn't planned on having any visitors over. The bed was still neatly made up, virtually untouched except for a slight wrinkle here and there from sitting on it while studying at times. A few books and papers laid on top of the blankets, and even more were scattered upon his desk. He had clothing laying around all over the room. It would be hard to tell what was clean and what was dirty. A large pile of pillows sat under one window where sunlight streamed through in the early hours of the day. He rather liked that spot.
"You can set those down anywhere," he told Cedar as he put his stack of books down on the desk. Then he turned back to her as his tail twitched thoughtfully. "Well, there's baking," he answered, idly twisting a bit of yarn between his fingers from the ball that sat on his desk. There were a few other stray balls of yarn about the room, but some knitting needles poked out of a bag hanging on the back of his desk chair. "And knitting," he added in a smaller voice, reaching up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly.
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Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:02 pm
Cedar tilted her head some looking at the room. With a breath she smiled. Young boys were always messy. He'd grow out of it one day... She hoped. Placing the books on the bureau Cedar gave a wave of her hand. "Baking huh?" She enjoyed baking, cooking in general actually it was like cleaning for her, it calmed her down, all the turbulent emotions she had in her because like a placid lake when she was cooking or cleaning.
"Well that's something we have in common, you'll have to come by some time and cook with me." She smiled, and then when he noted knitting Cedar looked around. She would have thought the yarn was for when he was in his cat form. But that was just a generalization.
"That's interesting. My mother use to knit all the time! She even made me scarf one year and..." Her voice trailed off as she remembered her mother and with a sigh she cleared her throat. "Anyways, What kind of things do you like to make?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2012 5:05 pm
Xerxes looked at the pile of books that they brought in and resisted the urge to sigh. It would take him a good long time to read through all of them in the hopes of discovering something that might help him figure out what sort of magic he was best at. His attempts so far had been laughable. But he put on a smile and nodded. "I started helping my mom out in the bakery when I was little and never stopped," he explained proudly. "Well, until I came here. Because I can't exactly be there to help her," he held his hands up a small distance about off to his right side, "and here to study magic," he shifted his hands to the left side, "at the same time."
Xerxes perched on his desk. "You cook? That's great!" He grinned widely, glad that she didn't make fun of him for his baking. Some people might think of it as too girly for a boy to do and make fun of him for it. "That would be a lot of fun. Cooking together."
His hands picked up the ball of yarn again, toying with the the loose end. He tilted his head as she trailed off, and an eyebrow lifted curiously. "Well, I know how to make scarfs. And I tried to make a blanket once. But it ended up pretty small because it took a lot of time to make." He sighed dramatically remembering the long hours trying to knit the blanket. It hadn't come out exactly the way he wanted. A few missed stitches could really ruin things. "But mostly, I make little dolls." He hopped off his desk then searched through a box for a few minutes. "Tada!" he said as he turned back around to Cedar holding up a little knitted plush of a cat about the size of his palm.
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Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:23 pm
Cedar smiled at him and hoped that Xerxes would come her place to bake some time. Though she wouldn't want to intrude on hos mothers territory. but her attention was diverted by what he pulled out. Cedar's eyes lit up and she smiled brightly.
"That. Is. So. CUTE." She cooed at him, if she had a tail it would be wagging. She glanced at him and then at the small kitty and then at him again before she raised her hands and slowly moved them toward the figure. "C-can I?" Her fingers wiggled some wanting to snatch it up.
"I can't make anything like this." She sighed lightly. "I make clothing mostly. I can't do small stitching like that."
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