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 Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 2:39 pm
// Amadeo & Meital
// Mid-Afternoon - the Weather is cool with a slight breeze.
// Outskirts of the Forest
Out. Finally.
Amadeo had wanted to go out for days now, stretch his legs and get away from the small house that he currently inhabited with Nadyris. It was obnoxious, really, that the man had found a job that suited him, playing bodyguard and security to one of the bigwigs in town, a businessman of some note. It was wonderfully stable, but it meant that they no longer traveled about, and that half the time, the Dust child had to occupy himself, or worse yet, be subject to a babysitter. Spirits, he hated babysitters. Wrinkling his nose at the very thought, he came to a halt in front of a large tree, the first of many as it signaled the beginning of the forest.
The woods had always seemed to beckon to the boy's sense of curiosity, his insatiable need to know and comprehend the world around him. His guardian, his 'papa', had traveled the continent, risking death and danger in return for compensation. That was not at all, however, the life that Nadyris wanted for a child, no matter that it was a son bestowed upon him by happenstance, and not choice. For all that fatherhood had been thrust upon him, the mercenary was a doting, attentive, and oft overprotective parent. A trait which Amadeo found vexing.
So today he'd ditched his babysitter, the poor girl hadn't even known what hit her, and it was altogether likely that she was going to have a panic attack when she couldn't find him. Not that Amadeo hadn't left a note, but thank you just the same he was more self-sufficient than most kids of comparable age, and he did not under any circumstances require a babysitter. In his opinion it was merely Nadyris' way of getting back at him for the incident with the rug last Tuesday. Huffing softly, he took a determined step into the forest, stepping over the roots of the immense piece of flora that dared bar his way.
He'd heard stories about the forest, of course, who hadn't? But today Amadeo would make it his playground, after all, what was there to be afraid of now really? The blond child had yet to encounter anything he couldn't handle, and the foreign sound of a thousand leaves crunching 'neath his boots only solidified his opinions on the matter. Picking up a handful of the leaves, he began to pick one of the larger specimens apart, before he quickly became bored of the pastime, heat forming in his palm.
Suffice to say he found the slow, crackling curl of the leaves as they were reduced to ash in his hands far more entertaining. "Guess I should be a little careful." He muttered, remembering his father's tales from when he was only a dustling, and had left scorch marks upon various articles of furniture. Nadyris really would be incensed if Amadeo managed to actually burn something down.
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:57 pm
Meital took her time leisurely strolling around, finally out on her own for once. Her guardian, as nice as he was, didn't usually let her go off by herself. He always had to accompany her on outings, which could be, to put it bluntly, annoying. She liked Alastair, but she wanted to go out and do things. When she was him, Alastair always said no to almost everything. It was really quite frustrating. How was she ever to have any fun if it always no to this or no to that? No, you can't use your powers to play with water. No, you can't go around splashing in puddles. No, you can't run ahead of me. No, sometimes, felt like the only word he was capable of uttering in her presence.
But today, she had made her escape! Alastair had tasked her with some reading. A real bore, in her mind. Meital didn't understand his obsession with some musty old books, but apparently she was supposed to learn something from them. Or something. She didn't what she could learn in a book that wouldn't be better learned out exploring the world. Alastair would, most likely, throw a fit when he went to check on her and discovered she wasn't there. And she did feel a bit sorry about that. But how was she to pass up this great opportunity to go exploring on her own? It would be like a grand adventure!
If she could find anything interesting to do, that is.
Meital looked around. She was near the forest, and her nose wrinkled at the thought of all the gross, nasty bugs that probably lived there. Still, what better place for adventure than a forest that was probably filled with lots of wild animals? The thought of going off on some daring mission through the woods, like a prince off to fight a dragon, was thrilling. She grinned from ear to ear as she made her was to the woods. The trees were tall, stretching so far into the sky that she nearly tipped over backwards as she tilted her head up to stare at their tops.
A voice muttered from not too far off. Meital quietly made her sneaky way over, trying very hard not to make any crunchy noises by stepping on the leaves that had fallen. Someone else was in the forest too! And not some boring old adult either. Perhaps this boy would want to play. Adventuring was always more fun with a company after all. "Careful of what?" she asked curiously as she tried to peek over his shoulder.
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Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2012 8:33 am
Amadeo spun 'round at her voice, taking an instinctive step back, golden eyes widening slightly in his astonishment, already mentally reprimanding himself for not having sensed her approach. After all, being alert and aware had been the absolute first lesson that had been stamped upon his mind when Nadyris had begun to tutor him in the methods of self-defense. Well, all right, perhaps this wasn't the best example of failure, he mused, given that the person who had crept up on him was about the size of himself, and, having announced her arrival, was absolutely no threat to his person. Still, his brows were set into a deep frown, one birthed more by disappointment in himself than disapproval of her presence.
Leaves and ash rained from between his fingers as he dusted them off, letting them whorl their way down to the forest floor from whence they'd come, trying not to seem too obviously self-conscious about the scorch-marks on a couple of surviving bits of flora. "I..." He let out a long, slow breath, realizing that the girl had, in all essence, caught him, and skeptical eyes scanned over her in turn, trying to guess just how much she'd seen. Then again, she was just another child...a rather striking one at that, and Amadeo could at least guess that she wasn't quite normal. Having come out of seeming nowhere, he entertained the childish notion that she might be some sort of Faery creature...but it was only for a second, a moment, before he threw that idea away. Surely not. "...well I was thinking I should probably be careful not to burn anything. Since the leaves are dead." He muttered, that frown still in place as he ran fingertips through tousled, tawny strands of hair.
Now, let's try to swing the focus here... "What're you doing here?" It was, perhaps, a touch accusatory, a defense mechanism. The forest was supposed to be dangerous, and someone, especially a girl, probably shouldn't be here by themselves. Though, he supposed, he was by himself, and so it likely shouldn't apply. Heh. Best, mayhap, not to bring that fact up.
Already, however, Amadeo was contriving a plan, an excuse, that perhaps if this lass had the mettle for it, then they could explore together, so when his guardian turned right 'round and lectured him for this little outing, he at least could say he hadn't done it alone. Having a fellow adventurer to share the blame would surely make the entire affair less scathing...and Nadyris wouldn't yell at a girl now would he? Certainly not, the scarred mercenary was far too much a gentleman for that.
This plan was clearly flawless.
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Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 12:31 pm
Meital watched him with a curious tilt of her head as she waited for a response to her question. Some thought seemed to be passing through his head, judging from the expression on his face, but she was having trouble reading it. Was he unhappy to have another person around? She really wasn't any good with trying to figure out what someone was thinking based on their expressions. She was almost mentally preparing for him to yell at her to go away and leave him alone. Of course, that didn't mean she would. They looked to be around the same age, and she didn't see any guardian around to look after him. Which meant, she thought with a devious grin trying to stretch across her face, that perhaps he had sneaked off much like she had. Or at least, that was the only conclusion that would come to her mind.
At his answer, Meital dropped her gaze to the forest floor littered with leaves. She stepped on the edge of one, and it crunched under her foot. "Burning things probably isn't good," she agreed. There was plenty to burn here, which could quickly get out of control if they weren't careful. She had some control over water, a very limited amount of control, but without a source of water, she couldn't do much to stop a wild fire.
Meital shrugged at his question as she glanced around the forest. "I wanted to have some fun for once," she answered simply, missing any accusatory note in his voice. She didn't see any reason not to be honest with the boy. It wasn't like she had some big secret about why she was in the woods that she had to keep hidden from him. "It gets so dull," she heaved a sigh, her body slouching somewhat, "when I'm told I can't have any fun all day long. So I snuck out of the house and came looking to have an adventure." She puffed her chest up, trying to give herself the illusion of being big and brave. She certainly wasn't going to make herself look like a weak, scaredy-cat of a girl in front of this boy.
She thrust a hand out toward him. "I'm Meital, by the way." She wore a big smile as she introduced herself to him. So far, things were going well, she thought.
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Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:16 pm
"Burning things isn't always bad." It was muttered in an almost sulky manner, the boy brushing wayward strands of hair out of equally golden eyes. "Some things need to be burnt." At least, Nadyris had said something like that, when he'd let Amadeo light the fireplace, a test to see precisely how much control he had over his burgeoning powers. The answer? Not much. Not much at all. The rug had nearly been a casualty during that particular supervised trial run.
Arms crossed firmly over his chest, he found himself nodding in agreement with Meital's words, some of the skepticism draining from his features, a slightly more amiable look replacing it. "I was bored too. I..." He spared a glance back over his shoulder, as though expecting someone to materialize behind him, not at all unlike what the other dustling had done not moments before. "I left my babysitter. She was dull." She had wanted to sit and read a book, and only after much cajoling had she even agreed to take him out to the park...which had resulted in this little escapade. Ah, Nadyris really was going to have a fit.
Hands going now to his hips, resting loosely in the crimson fabric of the long jacket he was sporting, he smirked over at the other child, leaning forward. She had said the magic word, after all, "You wanted to have an adventure, huh?" The blond lad wondered if she had even considered the implications of such a word, if she knew what adventure might entail in a place like this. "I wanted to see if there were actually creatures in here." There was a jab of his thumb over one shoulder at the looming trees behind them, the shadows 'neath their branches seeming little more than a dare for the fiery dust. "Wanna come?"
He met her hand, curling ever-so-warm fingers about hers, giving Meital the firmest of handshakes, hoping it added to the business-like front that he was currently mustering up for her benefit. "The name's Amadeo."
There was absolutely no way this could go wrong.
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Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2012 6:03 pm
Meital blinked owlishly at him with curiosity dancing in her eyes. "When is burning things good?" she questioned. She had never heard of a time when burning things was all right. Well, maybe wood for a fire to stay warm. Alastair sometimes did that when it was cold in the house. But she couldn't think of any other times when burning something would be a good thing.
Boredom, it seemed, was something they shared. "I was supposed to be reading some boring book," she told him with an exasperated sigh. She hadn't even bothered to give the book much of look and couldn't recall what the assigned book was. If she tried, she thought she could remember the cover having an image of a girl with long hair. But that could have been any number of books that Alastair had. "But it was putting me to sleep, so," she shrugged, "sneaking out seemed like something fun and exciting to do." How much time did she have left before Alastair realized that she was no longer there and came looking for her? She hoped enough time to allow them to have some fun.
She nodded enthusiastically when he asked about having an adventure. That was, after all, the whole reason that she sneaked out of the house. It would be horribly disappointing to get this far and not have an adventure then return home to get yelled at for disappearing without so much as a note. She had left on a whim and hadn't even thought about leaving a note to let Alastair know where she had gone. But she hadn't even really had a plan in mind when she left, deciding to wander around and hopefully stumble upon something fun to do. "Ooo! What kinds of creatures?" She knew there were all kind of creatures, but sadly, her knowledge of said creatures was rather limited.
The idea of getting to see some of those creatures in real life rather than merely hearing stories about them was far too tempting to pass up. "Let's go then, Amadeo!" Keeping hold of his hand, Meital started walking deeper into the woods.
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Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:06 am
"T'make a fire." He grumbled, the words almost defensive as he upheld his stance on the matter, "And sometimes you can burn stuff that isn't needed, so it turns to ashes...it goes back to the ground then and becomes nature. Sometimes it's good for plants." Nadyris had said as much, or at least something to that effect, Amadeo had been only half-listening when the lesson was being given, having been far more eager to actually set something alight than learn about the boons of his talent. Suffice to say, fire was awesome. and Amadeo, for one, rather enjoyed it. Sometimes he felt like no one else did, however.
As the girl mentioned her own scheduled events for the day, the ones that she'd merrily shirked in a fit of adventure, the lithe dust-boy made a face, features scrunching in displeasure. "Tch. That's silly. Papa only makes me read sometimes, most of the time he talks...a lot, but most of the things he says are interesting." A shrug then, Amadeo's tone no-nonsense, unworried. Nadyris wasn't due back for some time, and the boy knew full well that the babysitter would rather keep looking for him in the hopes of finding him and avoiding his guardian's wrath, than in contacting the mercenary because his son had absconded.
A smirk teased at the edges of the dustling's lips as she expressed her enthusiasm, and he glanced thoughtfully at the depths of the forest as he replied to her question. "Dunno. That's the adventure. My papa said that he thought he saw a unicorn once...though I don't know which woods those were. I'd like to adventure further when I'm older, and see everything."
He rather wondered, mind, if Meital was like this with everyone, as she seemed far friendlier and at ease with strangers than he was, shifting a bit in boyish embarrassment as her touch continued . Fingers curling around the girl's cooler ones, quietly marveling at the difference betwixt them, he wondered if she was just as special as he, though really this wasn't precisely the time to talk about it. A constant source of frustration, really, as there didn't seem to be a time where it was all right to talk about just what he was. He knew where he'd come from, but really...it would be ever so much more thrilling if he could show off those talents. However, Nadyris had expressly forbidden such things, at least around normal people. Just to be safe.
Mind, if Meital was a bottle child, then maybe showing off a little bit would be all right.
Hey. He could hope.
The rays of light shone down through the tree-branches, as it was still a rather bright, sunny time of the day, and the shade that cascaded over the twosome in a blanket of shadow was a herald of that beautiful, cool time of the day. They could not have chosen a more perfect moment for their adventure. Amadeo didn't even glance back over his shoulder as they headed into the depths of the forest, curious golden eyes already scavenging the area. "We should find a climbing tree." He murmured to his compatriot, already lusting after the best of vantage points. Imagine what they could see from such a height! There weren't any trees like these in the city...and Amadeo was not one to pass up such an opportunity, when it was presented.
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Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:50 am
Meital hadn't been able to think of many other reasons to burn things beyond simply making a fire for warmth. "I never heard about burning stuff being good for plants," she admitted, surprised to hear that point. Alastair liked to garden, but he never made mention that burning things was good for the plants. She pondered over that, wondering if maybe he wasn't aware of that fact. Perhaps when she returned home, and after she got yelled at, she could tell her guardian about the burning things to help his plants.
"Lucky!" Meital said with a whine in her voice. Then she sighed heavily. "My dad is all about being boring. He's obsessed with books, which are all pretty much dullsville. And never lets me doing anything fun." It was possible there was a reason that Alastair never wanted her to do anything that she thought was fun, but Meital couldn't think of what that reason was. To her, it simply seemed like Alastair was completely against anything fun. Maybe fun to him was spreading his dullness to everyone else. That was the only thing that sprang to mind for her.
"U-Unicorn!" Meital exclaimed excitedly. What little girl didn't like unicorns? Any other young girl would be excited by the prospect of meeting a unicorn. Meital prided herself on being as ungirly as possible, and she certainly didn't want anyone that she met thinking she was just some weak little girl. If any boy dared to make fun of her for being a girl, she'd prove him wrong about girls being weaker than boys! But even she couldn't resist the wish to see a unicorn. "That sounds exciting," she told him wistfully, loving the idea of adventure. She hadn't ever bothered to think much of what she would do when she was older.
Meital kept alert as they wandered deeper into the forest. She didn't spy anything of interest yet, but there was still plenty more of the forest to search. "A climbing tree," she repeated like it was the best idea in the world. At home, the only climbing that she did was over furniture, and she was willing to bet that climbing a tree was much, much different. There weren't any good trees around her home to tree climbing, but she wasn't going to let Amadeo know that she had never climbed a tree. She wasn't afraid of getting a few scrapes in the attempt of climbing. Glancing around at the nearest trees, she frowned. "Do you see any good climbing trees?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 5:08 pm
"Somethin' my Papa told me." He shrugged the fact off then. Honestly he didn't need an excuse to set things a'light. The dustling found fire to be enrapturing, as much a needed part of him as his fingers and toes. Whether it was a positive or negative aspect had never even occured to him, and as he did with most such subjects, he merely discarded it, untroubled.
As the girl went on about her guardian, Amadeo glanced down, scuffing his boots on the leaves and twigs in the forest below, silent for a moment until Meital voiced her opinion on books, and he shrugged, golden eyes flickering to her once more. "Books can be all right..." Though he didn't precisely sound as though he was going to campaign for them in a terribly committed fashion. "Some of my Papa's have pictures of soldiers and battles and things. Or animals." That last was tacked on there as an afterthought, as he had realized belatedly that Meital probably cared just a touch less for such things than he. She was, after all, a girl.
A fact that was only cemented in his mind as she gushed ever so very slightly at the prospect of seeing one of the magical equines. Amadeo's lips quirked into the younger cousin of a smile, and he nodded quickly at her. "I wouldn't mind seeing a Unicorn." An easy admittance. The fiery dustling had, after all, never really considered the idea of a big white horse with a serious-looking horn spiraling out from its forehead to be anything other than sheer and unadulterated awesome.
Amadeo quickly shook his head at her next query. "Not yet..." He replied calmly, scouting the area around them, eyes alert and scanning, flitting swiftly from one tree to the next. "Look for something with low branches..." Pressing forward, he tugged her gently along, though now they weren't moving quite so swiftly, since now the idea was ever so firmly cemented in the boy's mind. "So we can grab 'em." They would find themselves the perfect tree.
The hunt was on.
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Posted: Sun Dec 16, 2012 1:46 pm
"Hm," Meital hummed in thought. She hadn't come across any books so far that she would consider "all right." But maybe Alastair did that on purpose, assigning the most boring of boring books. She wondered in passing if it was possible to be bored to death by books. But she knew that wasn't her guardian's intent. Alastair wasn't exactly the parent type, or at the very least, didn't know everything about how to raise a child, but he was doing the best that he could given his sudden parental status.
"Pictures?" she almost whined in her jealousy of that comment. "All of my dad's books are filled with words." She folded her arms across her chest and looked away. "Lots and lots of words." She supposed that would be a good thing if she were interested in that type of thing, but she believed exploring the world outside their house was more exciting. With a few rapid blinks, the rest of his comment reached her mind. "What sorts of battles?" Her interest had definitely been piqued by that. Animals were, of course, great, and she wouldn't mind seeing pictures in books depicting them. Except bugs, never bugs, and she shuddered at that thought. But battles sounded so much more exciting!
Meital clapped her hands together and grinned widely, excited for a reason other than hearing about the battles. The mention of seeing a real life unicorn had yanked out of the talk of books. She really hoped they would get the chance to see one! That would make any punishment she received for sneaking out without saying anything seem completely worth it. How could anyone complain about being grounded after seeing a unicorn of all things?
Tapping a finger to her chin, Meital turned about in a circle, looking at all the tall trees that surrounded them. She hoped maybe to spot one that they hadn't noticed at first, but she couldn't find any around them that looked like it would be good to climb. "Low branches. Got it!" She nodded and swept her eyes about the area as she was tugged along behind Amadeo with no complaints. She was alert for finding the best tree for them to use. It couldn't be that hard, right?
Then she halted. "What about that one?" she asked, pointing off toward the right at the tree that she spotted. It looked like its branches were low enough that she would be able to grab hold of them. If she jumped a little. Or maybe a lot. But they were a lot lower than any of the other trees.
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Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 3:34 pm
"Mebbe if I ask my Papa he'll let you borrow one." It seemed a reasonable enough request, Nadyris had a lot of books and Amadeo knew full well that he couldn't read all of them at once. A rather silly notion, all told. And it seemed as though Meital might more fully enjoy her perusal of dusty old tomes if there was something there to lighten up potentially bland reading material.
Her query of battles, however, had the golden-haired dustling's lips curving upwards in a faint smile. "Big ones. With fires and swords and horses and dead people." That, after all, was the sort of reading material that the boy favored just now. "And some with ships." The ships seemed less interesting, unless there was fire involved, as that, after all, was one of his favorites parts. Everywhere he looked it seemed that fire, for both good and ill, had played a part in history. That was his essence, after all, or at least, that was the conclusion that the two of them had come to...Amadeo and Nadyris, musing at the fireside as the younger caused the flames to move about in tentative control.
Thus far the fiery youngster had not been disappointed in his comrade, lady though she might be, and as he observed her, scouting just as fervently for their prize, his golden eyes came alight with bottled excitement. Following her pointing finger, he plunged over to the tree in question. There were patches of moss on the bark, and though he strained, Amadeo wasn't quiiiiiite tall enough for his fingers to find purchase on even the lowest branches. Meital was right, however, it did seem to be their best bet. Sighing heavily, he glanced over his shoulder. "Hey...this will work if I give you a boost." He didn't at all mention that she'd likely have to haul him up afterwards...but that was part of the adventure.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:49 pm
"Really?" Meital blinked owlishly in wonder at him. If the book contained really fun battles, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to read. She still didn't think books would ever be her favorite thing in the world. A lot of them seemed really boring, but Alastair insisted that she read them. He tried to explain things to her like math and science, but those were difficult for her to understand. Her mind tended to wonder when he started rambling on about numbers. Numbers! Could anything be more boring than numbers? But battles and magical creatures! Those sounded exciting, even if they were only words in a book. She would rather have her own adventures, but reading about them would have to do when she couldn't sneak out of the house.
"Ships!" Her interest stirred again. "Like," she moved her arm in a weird wavy pattern, "on the sea?" She couldn't contain her grin at the idea. Anything that involved water was bound to spark her interest. She guessed that had to do with her essence being related to water. She could do some minor manipulation with it, but nothing big. The sea would definitely be too big for the little dew dust. But she wouldn't mind seeing the sea one day with its big waves crashing forth into the shore with the ebb and flow of the current. She chewed on her lip, wondering if one day she would ever be able to control a much larger amount of water than she currently did.
Meital looked up at the tree with a small amount of trepidation. She never climbed a tree before, and if she fell, it would surely hurt quite a bit. But she couldn't chicken out now! "Okay!" she agreed with fierce determination. It couldn't be that hard to climb onto that first branch when Amadeo gave her a boost to reach it. And it wasn't like she was wearing some silly girly dress. Not that she really understood the concern about not letting a boy see her panties. She was only a child. What did she know about those things? She wiped nervous hands on her shorts. "Give me a boost!"
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