Drayden sat in his favorite chair, the one that was overstuffed and almost always felt like it was going to consume him, and tried to read his anthropology book. Tried being the key word since Sage, his furry fennekit, had hopped up into his lap and knocked his book off in an effort to get the fey to play with her. "Sage, I need to study," he told her, but the fennekit was having none of it. She jumped around in circles in his lap and barked at him. As he rose with her tucked under one arm he thought, not for the first time, about imbuing a stone. Since he'd moved down Below, he missed his family and while he sent them trinkets and they exchanged letters and all, it was still just him in his apartment at the end of the day. Well, him and his familiars. Who needed more attention than he was sometimes capable of giving. And his train of thought came back to imbuing a stone. He wasn't particularly interested in imbuing one by himself, but he hadn't exactly been out and about to meet others. Well, he'd gone to that Winter Solstice party, but he hadn't met anyone there, really.
As he headed toward the door to take Sage outside to play, he nearly tripped over his kidden Ila. "Alright, we'll all go out," he said. Ori and Otto stayed inside while the three of them went out for a walk. He took them down the street to a little park where he could throw a ball for them to catch and bring back. Still on his mind was the desire for a family, someone or someones he could call his, someone he could take care of. Someone to love.
On a lamppost near the edge of the park was a flyer taped and fluttering in the breeze. Pulling it off to get a better look at it, Drayden became quite interested in the event that it described. It was a mixer, and the idea of going made him smile. Even if he didn't find someone who wanted to start a family with him, he could at least make a few friends, right? Right. Suddenly, he felt so much better. He didn't feel as lonely anymore, and it felt as if something had just clicked inside him. Like the decision to go had been the right one for him.
He threw the ball for his familiars and began to think about what a child of his would look like, and what kind of Nightmares and/or Daydreams would be attending. Apparently, he'd gotten too much into his thoughts when Ila nipped at his leg. "Ow, hey, that's not nice, Ila," he murmured and reached down to pet her head lightly. Sage was panting and laying next to his feet. He threw the ball a couple more times with Ila and he thought about throwing a ball back and forth with a child, maybe two if he found someone at the mixer. The thought was highly appealing to him. When Ila was finally worn out, he took them back home and got dressed for the mixer.
