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 Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:47 pm
He was not moving. He was not blinking. He was alone.
Gabriel stood at the shore of the river, at a deep contrast to those few who wandered in gay winter clothes. He was black and still, his eyes fixed on and through the freezing Thrithing. He'd thought that it would be easier in the winter, that the floes of ice would detract from the impact. He had been wrong. While loyal workers toiled at the old Blithe mansion, their unsettling master stood alone.
He saw but did not comprehend. The buzzing in his head had compounded upon itself until it was deafening. He thought pale lips propped open, hair floating daintily. The lady in the water come to claim his fate, perhaps? Breaths rose in steam not nearly often enough, and he stood and he stared.
Morai was more animated, watching everyone who passed with wildly swiveling ears. He had been Gabriel's constant companion, whether he had been invited or not. Their connection was undeniable. The fawn's nostrils flared as he snorted, pawing the ground like an anxious stallion. Nobody came close enough to warrant a good threatening, at least not so far. He was right and ready if it were to become necessary.
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Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:01 am
It was too cold to be on the water. That was by far the worst aspect of winter and the chilling snows that froze the banks and sent chunks of ice swimming downstream. Too dangerous. He missed the sight of mist rising out of the river at dawn, and the cold combined with the lack of proper exercise every morning left him with twice as much energy to expend. The winter, with its dark days and frosty chill, always found him wound up for no apparent reason.
Recently, in an effort to combat that stress, he had taken to walking, five or six miles upriver in the barely-light moments of dawn, only to walk those same five or six miles back downriver with the sun steadily climbing overhead. There was a certainly loneliness to those walks that seemed both deplorable and inexplicably familiar to him, comfortable almost, and he took them routinely, waking up every morning before the light.
On all those cold mornings, Dardanos followed, walking side by side with his Chosen and emanating warmth despite the frigid cold. The buck was never quite cold, and some days they wiled the hours away in conversation, discussing who they were and why they were and what purpose they served in the vast and unaccountable world. Other days they spent in silence.
Today, all was quiet. They followed the river's edge without a word or an image between them, but read each other all the same and felt reassured by the fact that they were there, one beside the other. They did not touch, but felt each other all the same, almost thought together as they did most days. Edgar could have simply rode the miles away in ponderous silence, but he never did. Always, he walked.
Then suddenly, he was no longer walking. Dardanos' bright stare followed the path of his Chosen's and they saw, almost at the same time, the still figure at the shore ahead and the fidgeting fawn beside. That energy, that frantic energy... They seemed to sense it together. The buck pushed his nose into his Chosen's arm. No, it seemed to caution.
"Yes." And they continued walking, approaching.
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Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:16 am
Gabriel's ears rode back on his head the same as the fawn's as the pair heard someone approach. There was a distinct difference between the energy received when someone was just passing by and when their intentions involved you. The man's eyes wee widened, his jaw set and working as he stared down the other Chosen. Morai began to clack his teeth together softly, perhaps less in threat than curiosity as his head was not lowered. A tense few moments of staring passed before Morai made the first move.
The fawn threw his head back and bucked, bounding in a partial circle before coming 'round to shuffle up to Dardanos. He was displaying a great deal of submission with his head down and his ears back. He peered up to the buck with wide, curious eyes and gently nibbled a bit of the fur on his new friend's shoulder. Morai's energy was still somewhat frantic and his legs could be seen trembling slightly as he held back any kind of particularly excited leaping about. He seemed to hold a respect for his fellow Guardians.
Gabriel did not offer the approaching man the same consideration. He still stared, teeth clearly gritted from the working of his jaw muscles. His chest heaved dramatically as one might during moments of heavy stress or fear. He simply stood, hands laced behind his back, watching.
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Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 1:34 pm
Out of habit, Dardanos did not approach others, but let them come to him. Had Morai not made any move to investigate the buck, the two Guardians might have managed to simply exist beside each other without much acknowledgement. But Dardanos seemed almost indiscriminately welcoming to anyone who initiated an interaction, and the tall Guardian bent his neck to greet his younger counterpart, both pleased and appreciative of the fawn's deference. He touched his nose to Morai's head, as if to smooth some of the fur on the fawn's crown.
But the fawn's Chosen did not seem so friendly. Dardanos watched the man, so silent and dark in both dress and demeanor. There was a tension to him that kept the buck ill at ease. It was a warning, and one that Dardanos would have heeded with pleasure, but Edgar did not seem convinced.
"Your Guardian is a handsome fellow." He was being somewhat reckless by ignoring Dardanos' malcontent but Edgar was far from foolish. There were warning signs that could be seen from a mile away, not to mention the distinct oddness that enveloped the pair. Caution was well-advised. He stood where Morai had come to meet Dardanos and went no closer and he, too, watched.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 5:13 pm
Morai lifted his head, almost nuzzling the buck's nose in return. He stamped his hooves happily and shook off from his head to his tail. His Chosen was great and all, but another Guardian was a rarity. People got... monotonous fairly quickly. They all reacted in the same way and didn't give him much attention. He turned and did a leaping circle around Dardanos, now reacting more of of joy than raw energy, and bumped him with his head a couple times as he went. Play with me!
Gabriel's face shifted inexplicably between several emotions in a moment, no feature quite matching the other as they moved between polite smiles and utter rage. Finally he seemed to settle on the barest of smiles, eyes still widened slightly and the buzzing between his ears keeping him from showing any real warmth. A long exhale signaled that he was indeed still alive, and he turned back to the river.
"A man could freeze to death out here. A deer as well. If in the river, within minutes." There was no thought, there was only movement and speech. Relation to the conversation was irrelevant. "Here less than Oldcastle, though. The wolves, and the Great White Thing... you wouldn't last long enough to freeze. I hear it's quite peaceful. Warmth and comfort before death."
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 6:44 pm
When the man remained all but motionless, Edgar shifted his gaze back to Dardanos and the fawn, colored almost as ominously as his Chosen was dressed. But the fawn, at least, seemed taken to animation, leaping about with all the gangly grace of a young deer. His invitation to play was obvious, even to Edgar's eyes.
The prospect made him smile. In all his years, Ed had never seen Dardanos play. Did he even know how to? At that thought, the buck let out an indignant snort and tossed his proudly antlered head. But of course! He threw a buck with sudden, explosive energy, trotting several steps before rounding back on the fawn and ducking his head, angling his antlers toward Morai and inviting the fawn to "fight" back however he might.
By then, the man had spoken and Edgar's attention was drawn away from the rare sight unfolding before him. "Certainly..." he said, himself sounding rather less than certain. "Better a death to freeze than to drown."
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 7:53 pm
Gabriel's jaw worked suddenly.
"I imagine so..." One had to wonder. Nobody who had ever drowned was able to retell the tale, but those who had nearly suffered such a fate related panic and trauma. A great splashing of water, always. Everywhere. Stained red. Again the man went silent, staring off at nothing for quite a time. The buzzing had shut off and turned to numbness. His head turned to face Edgar again.
"You're still here?" He honestly seemed shocked, giving his first show of life in huddling his shoulders. There was still no emotion, but there was even breath and a chill on pale skin.
Morai threw himself around slightly and then lowered his head, making as if he may headbutt the buck until the split second before impact. He skidded, wildly flailing to tun and run away, bouncing about and throwing his head. He made another pass, once more speeding up as he reached the buck without any intention of hitting him. There was a wild energy in this fawn. He made another pass back around, but this time he bonked his head into Dardanos' side and made as if to push him.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:22 pm
He wasn't quite sure what to make of the man, aside from odd and somewhat eerie. But this was Palisade, home to all sorts, and there were worse people roaming the streets. Edgar had seen them.
Then, movement, just as Edgar began to wonder if he had just imagined the man's earlier words, and whether it was possible to be dead standing up. That oddness oozing off him suggested it wouldn't have been the most improbably thing to find him dead beside a river somehow. It made Edgar think of all the stories he had read of the supernatural; he had begun to think, somewhat wryly, that perhaps he had stumbled into one of them.
"Oh. Well... Your deer is..." He gestured to the two Guardians, playing alongside. As if it wasn't weird enough that he was talking to a corpse. Or... just a man who rather acted like a corpse.
Dardanos watched the fawn with care, following him with the crown of his head so Morai would not accidentally run into the tines of his antlers. The fawn moved with such reckless abandon that it was difficult to anticipate his trajectory, but the buck followed all the same, and when Morai finally made contact, he swung his hindquarters away from the little push and turned his head to lip at the fawn's haunches.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:49 pm
Cold eyes flickered to the deer. There was something almost like a smile that ghosted across Gabriel's lips, but it may very well have been a trick of the light. He was fond of the fawn, as little as he liked to admit it. Emotions were a weakness most people suffered, but not him. It was a vulnerable feeling.h
...huh. "Feeling".
Morai meanwhile gave a little bleat and bucked, ducking under his new friend and doing a couple laps around a nearby tree. Frozen dirt sprayed about his hooves.
"My Guardian is none of your concern," he said finally, the potentially-a-smile disappearing, "It's beyond me why you'd even approach. Granted, you look a bit young to know what you're getting yourself into. I'd might as well humor you. Why do you seem so interested in my 'deer'?" The words came in a near-unstoppable torrent; a constant assault on a person's constitution.
Torn flesh. Guts. Blood. Skins.
Gabriel's face shifted into shadow then.
"Unless, of course, your interest is me, in which case you may have made a mistake." He wouldn't claim to know what the boy was up to, and it didn't seem like he had any ulterior motives. Still, the buzzing was back and there was only raw nerve. "You may not know my name, boy, but I wouldn't make a habit of it."
The knife in his boot itched.
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Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 9:05 pm
And just when Ed had thought the man was getting somewhere. He had thought he'd spied a smile, a ghost of a smile, something resembling emotion or the shadow of emotion but it was gone before he could be sure and what followed brought a frown to his face. A ponderous frown, to be sure, but one all the same.
"No, but mine is," he countered, bristling. Something about those words sounded almost accusatory; Edgar went on the defensive. Even the way the man spoke suggested something not quite... right. "And Dardanos was not the one to initiate play." Not that he was blaming it - whatever it was - on a fawn.
Mid-indulgent play, Dardanos sent him a warning. Shhh, it seemed to say, and Edgar had the distinct feeling that he ought to stay out of it.
But he didn't. For reasons unknown, Edgar was unwilling to let it go, as if this conversation would mean something further down the line. As if it would change him for the worse to drop it and leave the eerie man behind. He had no interest, and yet...
"I am not prone to mistakes." In his head, he heard a growl of frustration. Don, relax. Play with the fawn. Which the buck did with another shake of his head. Fool. "And I couldn't know your name, could I?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 1:19 pm
"You're a bit young to know who I am," Gabriel nodded, his voice still soft with a menacing lilt. "Whatever you're attempting to say of my Guardian, I am uninterested. He is doing nothing untoward, and I wouldn't suggest continuing down that path, as arrogant as you may be. Everyone makes mistakes."
He gave a little twitch then and reacted as though he may have been hit. Without a second thought, he reached down to pull his knife from his boot and began to fiddle with it, handling the blade as if it could not possibly harm him. He knew its every line. The itching stopped. A woman passed and gave Gabriel a shocked look before rushing on. He just gave her an impassive look and a small smile, gesturing with the knife. When he returned to his uninvited companion, the smile was gone. "I figured as much. I have yet to be approached because someone knew my name." He still fiddled with his knife, avoiding twirling the tip on his palm as it was so recently sharpened.
Morai seemed somewhat confused by Dardanos' sudden lack of attention, so he lunged in again and head-butted him twice.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 4:49 pm
"I'm sure. And you are how old? Thirty?" He said it almost to be contentious, he realized. It wasn't important to know who the man was, nor did Edgar particularly care. All he had really been interested in to begin with was to take a look at the man and move on.
"I am insinuating nothing about your Guardian." Indeed, Morai had done nothing to warrant much of a comment on Edgar's part and the fawn was quite endearing, with his haphazard antics. It was not the Guardian that Edgar was concerned about.
The knife's appearance sent a flinch running through him and his body tensed, but he refused to move away. "Well, I wonder why, sir," Edgar heard himself say rather dryly as he eyed knife. It looked perilously sharp; he did not particularly fancy his odds against the weapon.
Dardanos' reaction to the knife was instant. He let out a low rattle and swung his head to nudge the fawn into stillness. Antlers bowed toward Gabriel in warning. Take it easy, Don. You don't know what he could do with that knife. And hell would freeze before Edgar would let Dardanos charge into danger for so inconsequential a figure in their lives. He hasn't done anything with it. Yet.
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Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2013 5:02 pm
Gabriel just laughed. Thirty. Certainly. Was that meant to insult him? He'd much rather be thirty, or sixty, or eighty-five than twenty-one. He had returned to normal before Edgar spoke again, once more apparently trying to use childish insults and sarcasm to somehow alter his mood. Now the laughter was soft, like leaves against the cobbles. There was something deeply unsettling about the sound. The odd man had happened to look to the side, though, and caught sight of the Guardian's threatening posture.
Morai caught his Chosen's eyes and began nipping at his new friend's fur, trying to call him off perhaps a little too aggressively.
It was not fear that caused a change, but a series of violent mental images. Gabriel went entirely blank, the barest flicker of emotion at the corner of his mouth, and then closed his eyes and swallowed with some difficulty. After another moment of silence, he shook his head and twirled the knife.
"Please. If I intended to harm anyone, it would be done by now," he said, eyes flickering open. His stasis had returned. "Call off your venison before I change my mind." There was no real threat to his statement, just a deep lack of amusement.
Morai immediately took off, doing wild circles and turns around the park.
"Ah... MORAI! REVENEZ ICI!"
Rather than stop, the fawn simply moved his frenzy closer, jumping once and twisting like a jackrabbit in mid-air. Gabriel rolled his eyes and gave a grunt of annoyance.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 3:47 pm
It was almost... fascinating to see the range of reactions the man experienced, especially to words that would have done little to most people. That strange laugh, the knife, the distinct aura of not-rightness. Edgar wondered what could have driven the man to such a state. A brow quirked as he watched the stranger shut his eyes, attempt to regain control - if control there was to begin with.
"He hasn't done anything." His gaze slid to Dardanos, whose head was still lowered though he didn't seem poised to make a move. Perhaps the fawn's nipping had had some of its intended effect. The buck tossed his head once more and brought it up, turning his back pointedly on the man with the knife and fixing his fiery stare upon his Chosen.
Time to leave, it seemed to say. Now.
But Edgar's curiosity had been sufficiently piqued by the odd stranger, and if he had been at all prepared to walk away before, he was more reluctant to do so now. Not until he had gotten a chance to see more, learn more...
He heard that same huff of frustration in his head. Sorry, Don.
Before the buck had time to insinuate that his Chosen was a fool, Morai had burst into action and Edgar was jolted by the sudden frenzy of motion. The leaping, twisting, running... He wondered that the fawn had not hurt himself in the process.
Dardanos, meanwhile, craned his head to follow Morai's movements. His ears flicked toward the fawn. Frantic motion. The buck let out a grunt, calling the fawn to him. Here, child. Calm.
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Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2013 6:13 pm
"Oooh, but he'd like to," Gabriel nodded, still eying the buck. There was no trust between them, and for good reason. There was never a stranger worth trusting. It was rare that one would stop to talk and in that there was some bare pleasure, but only in terms of sating a man's biological need to share words with other men.
Morai was not heeding any call from any other creature and indeed dropped to his back and began to roll in the dead grass and dust. His Chosen gave a disappointed clucking noise and held out a hand.
"Morai."
The fawn stopped suddenly and flopped to the side, almost as if dead. His chest heaves, his eyes rolled, and finally he made contact with his Chosen. A smile appeared on Gabriel's face as if a switch had been flipped.
"Good, good... good boy."
Morai stood and shook himself, wandering over with an uncharacteristic calm and nosing his human's sleeve, giving it an affectionate nibble. Gabriel patted his hindquarters. "It's alright."
The smile disappeared as he seemed to remember that they had company. It seemed odd that the pair should remain, and there was some miniscule curiosity as to why. Clearly something interesting had been maintained. Was this the curse of a Chosen, forced to interact with others simply for the common bond of having wandered into a dangerous wood and blindly plucked a stone from a tree? Gabriel's eyes narrowed briefly, and he gave but one disjointed statement, hands still clasped behind his back.
"Gabriel Blithe."
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