{M} Falderon: The Beckoning (IC)

[Waarnemen]

Ervin Makarios Iliad III

Ervin thought about this serene views of the city. He wanted to learn more about it, so he decided to go along with the scarf. Falderon was filled with exciting people, and Ervin liked it. Zathura wanted to tag along with him, so she giddily climbed up on his shoulders. The man loved children; oh yes, he did! He remembered hearing birds outside, and his green eyes glimmered through the light. Falderon was such a beautiful place, Ervin couldn't believe its intricate beauty, so he stepped out from the main hall, and into the light. Whitherward into the light, and he'd learn how nature was called nature. Nature was an embodiment of creativity and the comforted soul. Ervin was a fine man, and he took his scarf everywhere. He was a charismatic, soft-spoken gentleman. The man's immaculate garments transpired the alchemist's ingenuity and creativity. Stark while he would, Irvine could call this place home. Being a wielder of darkness, Ervin had to risk detrimental consequences. The first consequence, was that the man was unable to navigate through portals, just like any stupid shadow dancer would. In the wise man's opinion, relying on portals is rudimentary to immaturity.

How utterly stupid! Ervin was better than that! He did not have a choice, did he? After a hot bath, the man decided to go downstairs. In the lunchroom, Ervin knew that there are a often had their own choices. Ervin would always get himself a hearty dish bowl of meat. Zathura only got vegetables, given her artificial state. Ervin do not want her to be shown, let alone being revealed amongst the group. Zathura was a childish incarnation of his older Sister Lenore. Zadora was special to Ervin in so many ways. One day, when Ervin talked about her, she had to cut the conversation short. Tears embedded his eyes. Small rivulets would stream from his eyes. Caterwauling magpies collaborated on a ruby red tree branch. Convival observations proclaimed his gay spirits. Now Zathura was still in her scarf form. As such, she was forbidden to turn into a human, but not for long. Inner creativity enticed the rambunctious woman to turn into a young woman. To prevent this, other than was inclined to tug on his black scarf.

" Daddy, why are you holding me!? I thought you loved me!" The girl beckoned the tough man. Ervin sustained his aggressive grip on said scarf. The child didn't say any more than what was necessary. However, Ervin ruffled through the raven black scarf. The entity herself was breathing heavily, but she mustered little strength and desire to transform. Zathura was now in tears, and she felt alone.

[ElizabethStark]

Layla Aura Stark

"Come on, big guy," the nineteen year old female grunted as she hauled her drunken brother out of the pub,"let's go." The lengthy brother of 6'3" put tremendous pressure on the rather short girl of 5'2", as she tried holding her brother up, his left arm around her shoulders. The girl's blond, but nearly white, hair was locked in a messy braid, falling along her right shoulder and a bit below her breast.

"And make sure he don't come back until he learns to control his damn drinking!" Exclaimed Jenkin, the innkeeper and owner of the Local Pub, he was clearly pissed.

The human girl turned her pale blue-white eyes to the barkeep,"S-sorry about all this, Jenkin, I'll have a talk with him..."

"Fifth time this month! I'm gettin' real sick of the brawls he's causin'!" After that he mumbled a couple curses and stormed back into the pub, the door slamming behind him.

Her name was Layla Aura Stark, and this situation was not as rare as one might think. She was often assisting her brother, Jackon, home when he was too drunk to walk himself without stirring trouble. The plight of getting him home was tedious and irritating, as he'd make insulting racial slurs towards seeing anything non-human, especially toward elves, though there were only a few that resided within Arazon. Not to mention his height and weight, as dragging him was a difficult task in itself. However, this was nothing new to folk who lived a long while around the area of the King's castle.

Layla hated passing by elves when her brother was a drunken mess, he never did spit insults when he was sober, though most days he was not sober, unfortunately. The two stumbled through the market, myriad folks whispering and making snarky comments when the two came into view. She suddenly noticed Erina off in the distance along with her squil, named Bubbles. She gasped and stopped,"This way," she muttered to Jackon, and she made for a detour, in order to avoid Erina, since she was an elf and Layla did not want her brother to say anything he'd regret later. Although she didn't think he would remember, Erina was kind and sweet, and she wouldn't want anyone to hurt her emotionally, if her brother were to say something; which he probably would have had she continued walking in the elf's direction.

Unfortunately, the detour was longer, with rough and rocky terrain. She soon realized, and regretted, she should have just called down a cab, but they were a bit pricy and she did not have much money on her. She supposed she should have brought gold pieces with her when Jenkin called her down for her brother, saying he needed to leave, because he was causing amuck of trouble, as was the norm.

Finally, after about twenty minutes of walking, the two arrived at Jackon's home, which was paid by the generosity of the King; the King was kind and sweet, she noted on occasion. Jackon did not have any slaves, as most noble and rich individuals did, because Layla had made sure he didn't, for she knew he'd only treat them with cruelty and harshness when he was drunk, and she didn't want anyone else but her to baby him when he was. It truly did place a strain on her teachings, however.

Layla had the keys to his home in her pocket, since Jenkin had handed it to her before she left. She set Jackon down to unlock the front door and flew it open once it had been, and pulled up her brother, carrying him inside. She immediately dragged him to the loft, plopping him down on the soft-red, four-seated couch. Jackon groaned,"Heeell, Auraa, hand me sa'more booze w'yah."

She studied his face for a moment. The guy's left cheek was bruising, his left eyebrow had been cut and oozed blood, and his bottom lip was broken.

"No, you're done drinking for today," Layla said firmly, as she waltzed to the kitchen. The kitchen was pretty close to the loft, therefore she could still hear him talking.

"Fuckin' dammit Aura, I neeeed iiit. None of it'll go awaay..." Layla could hear Jackon start crying, and he started to go on about his deceased wife, why Father left, why Layla had to kill their mother; just horrid things he said when he was drunk. Although she had learned to get use to all the things he said after eleven years of it, it still stressed her out and caused her pain.

Layla rested her hands on the island in the middle of the kitchen, her brother's words began upsetting her, and he just wouldn't stop. Ice began forming around her bare feet and hands, causing the counter and flooring to ice up. After ten years of training and learning from her grandfather of how to keep her magic in control, and how to use it, she still could not seem to stay under control when in emotional distress. She breathed in, trying to relax her tensions, and at the same time trying to block out Jackon's cries and words.

She picked up her hands and carefully made her way to a cabinet to grab a short glass. She filled the cup with water and put a teaspoon of clear powder within the drink. The drink would put Jackon to sleep for five to eight hours, enough time for him to become coherent once he awakens, and for the alcohol to leave his system. She gingerly walked the glass to her brother, who did not object in drinking it in one huge gulp.

Only five minutes into consumption and he was out, snoring and sprawled across the couch. She kneeled down next to him, having a first aid kit at her side, and gently cleaned his wounds.

"It's too early for this, Jackon..." She whispered dismally.

Layla was exhausted once she finished taking care of her brother, she had hardly slept and she couldn't help but be thankful class was cancelled today. She locked the door, hiding the key in a small and concealed compartment to the door's left. She made her way to the castle, luckily the castle was not too far from her brother's household. The gatekeeper opened a small-metal door next to the huge gate of the stronghold when she came into his view. He was an old and mysterious half-orc, half-human; he always kept to himself, never speaking a word, and he had a quite submissive nature.

At the moment, the only thing she truly wanted was to have a nice and warm meal to fill her up, for she hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. She wearily slumped to the dining hall, noting Ervin coming down the stairwell, wearing the same scarf he always wore around his neck; Stuart was at the entrance of the dining hall once she arrived,"Please have the cooks bring me part of a phalar, a couple boiled eggs, and a glass of iced milk." She was much too tired to do it herself.

"Of course, Miss Stark," he bowed respectively and journeyed to the kitchens nearby. When Layla entered the dining hall she noticed Jonathan and J'ni were already there, breaking their fast. She sighed and plopped herself across from Jonathan, stuffing her face into her arms upon the table.

[Chihana]

Jona couldn't help but to chuckle at the little fairy as she took the plate the servants always had prepared for her.

"'Morning" he said in a soft voice as the small girl sat down on the table beside him. He liked J'ni, she was always so joyful and full of spirits, after the rumors, just like her fairy siblings. But something that he had also heard, was that J'ni was way more fearless and curious than her siblings, who would most likely hide away at the sound of loud noises. Before he could continue the conversation however, Layla came into the hall and sat down with a sigh, burying her face in her arms, and Jona immediately left his food behind.

"'Morning sunshine." he said as he paced over beside her, and sat down like her, only his face wasn't buried in his arms "How is he?" Jona's voice was a bit lower this time, in case she didn't want the topic to be yelled out all over the place. He didn't know whether it was her drunk of a brother, or whether it was one of the guards again, or perhaps some of the youngsters in the castle or in the town. All he knew was that she had been down in the town, and then the drunk was most often the reason as to why she came home and looked like someone who was just about to cry.

[Dire Hoef]

[] Go Time []

"What do you think of your travels?" ask a rather familier voice. Wooddro shook his head with a slight sigh, "I would say its rather interesting but on the other hand its kinda boring having nothing interesting happening."

He opened his eyes having slept outside like he was used to, he woke up in the Elysium Castle's Eastern Courtyard. He felt the softness of the grass, and for that he knew that he had only one day to screw everything up. At first he didn't like where he was staying but for that he knew that these humans were friendly enough to let him by without consideration. He smirked at this thought and knew that he wouldn't have learned to know better. He suddenly thought back, to an earlier part of his dreaming session and realized that there was something or someone trying to tell him something but he didn't know what to make of it.

He sighed as he laid upon the soft green grass of the courtyard. He tried to take it easy today and not going to go training but hearing that it was cut short due to some troubles he knew that something was going down behind the scenes. He stared towards the sky and glanced at the different clouds passing by without a care in the world."I wonder how these humans sleep.. Since i'm use to sleeping outside this is natural but I wonder what other humans might think if they catch me sleeping somewhere that really isn't normal," he said to himself pondering that very thought. He slipped out his small pipe and put some sort of material within the front part of the pipe and lit it soon after. A small stream of smoke flowed into the air and with this he began his normal ways once more.

Hearing the lesson called off today made him worry about something that was beginning to wane on this world. He didn't want to admit it but, he could be right for once.

"Hey is that you Wooddro..?", came a familier voice.

Wooddro looked over to his left and saw another Faun that was just like him. Appearantly from the looks of things he was guard but Wooddro knew him personally and for that they became good friends. "How's it hanging..?"

"Aw man its been awhile..", said the Faun guard with a chuckle.

"It's only been a few days, and besides what are you doing here shouldn't you be guarding something right now..?", said Wooddro obviously confused by this Faun's presence before him.

"Nah.. I was relieved for the day since there are countless others roaming these parts and besides there is nothing better to do other than wonder these castle grounds.", said the Faun guard.

Wooddro shook his head puffing out a cloud of smoke, "Well I guess it can't be helped.. Come over and sit down why don't ya.." And with that the Faun guard his gear leaving on chainmail on and sat down next to Wooddro staring forward with some temptation.

[Heson Shadowbane]

J'ni glanced around for Grunty as Jona spoke to her. She returned a wave to him before she spotted Grunty. "Come here you! You're not going to let a lady eat where her feet lay will you?" The automaton oinked and quickly dashed to J'ni before face planting the table in front of her. His back was completely flat and it was upon that she set her plate down. "Good Grunty." She pulled the cover off her plate and smiled happily at her food. Oatmeal, bits of apple, some scrambled eggs, and some toasted bread all to scale for her size. With everything finally situated she turned to Jona with a big smile, adjusting her cap. "Morning mister Jona."

It was about the time she finished her sentence that she noticed Jona was no longer next to her. Instead he was now sitting across from her next to Layla. She popped some apple in her mouth followed by a piece of toast as she hopped and skipped across the table to lay down on her belly in front of the girl. She chewed on her toast, her feet slowly kicking in the air as she watched Layla and Jona before she spoke out. "You know if you need a hug J'ni always has open arms." A silly grin was plastered on her face along with a few crumbs of toast.

[☆Catwoman☆]

Nalria’s reverie was broken by movement in the distance. Her keen amethyst eyes were drawn to two figures in the gardens below; the castle gardens were quite expansive, three small flights of stairs separated it into segments, with the cobblestone walkway winding gracefully around and through the beautiful collection of foliage. Though they were a little over a hundred yards away, the elf could clearly make out Leroy and Arya speaking by the large tree at the end of the oasis.

Deciding that her moment of isolation and burdensome contemplation had drawn to a close, Nalria turned and made for the steps, heading down and through the forest of vibrant colors towards her two fellow mages. The nymph, Arya, had always been a shy sort, but he was incredibly sweet and friendly, and Nalria was rather intrigued by his insubstantial form and the nature of his existence. Still, she was compassionate enough not to bombard the poor, timid creature with her curious questions.

Leroy, on the other hand, was headstrong and had a bit of an edge to him. He was amiable enough, and she had never personally had an issue with him, but he spoke and moved with an air of arrogance, and the elf maiden was not sure what to make of him. He often avoided classes, and she never saw him willingly using his magic. In fact, thinking back through the seven years she had known him, Nalria didn’t think she had ever seen him use his magic at all, willingly or otherwise.

“Greetings,” Nalria called out to the two as she approached, alerting them to her presence. She smiled warmly, especially at Arya, knowing how reluctant he was to converse with others.

“A fine morning for training,” she commented, nodding at Leroy’s sword. She noted the many thin cuts in the broad trunk of the tree before them. “Perhaps you and I should spar some time, Leroy. Though I am not sure I will be as much of a challenge as the tree.”

She spoke wryly, her small grin offering no criticism, merely friendship.

[Minkasha]

With his diminutive and airy vessel, Arya walked up to touch the tree. For a moment he ignored the existence of the young Human, or approaching Elf, and traced his hand down the bark…a look of sorrow on his face. For a moment he lost sensation while the caressing hand faded out of the physical state and back in, water lightly glistened where he touched.

The Nymph’s empathy poured from his heart and into his features, eyes tenderly laid upon nature’s pillar.

“F…Friend?” he looked up to Leroy before resting his head against the tree, eyes watched his descending hand. “It is in pain...” clouds continued to spiral around him at a gentle speed, most of his Nymph body only maintaining its elemental mystery with gradual shifts between physical and ethereal existence, nearly all his creamy white skin observable.

[Waarnemen]

Zathura ceased to shake any further, and dangled around Ervin's neck. It had a discreet, vanilla chamomile scent. Ervin was not in his best attire he wore in the castle, save for his black boots and a gaudy necktie. Ervin's mind whispered to the cunning girl, "Please be patient; you have to eat your vegetables." The girl grew jittery; the man could feel her concern. Ervin was worried about seeing Zathura's true identity pop out in the open, be it a dog, cat, or his own big sister. Without the scarf, he felt Lenore's gentle hands slithering away. Every day was difficult for him after the disease clenched his Beloved's life.

---

FLASHBACK

Ervin had a girlfriend named Oihana Muzak. Oihana came from a rich family off the coast of Elsyium. Ervin was forbidden to visit her because her mansion was too far away, but they made it work out. Ervin enjoyed the Oihana's company and cherished every piece of her. Two years ago, he saw the girl looking at him from the castle. Ervin remembered asking the woman, "How is everything going?"

"Sitting here waiting for your presence killed me... but now I can feel...." Unbeknownst to Ervin, that would be the very last thing he would hear from Oihana. The following day, an envoy delivered tragic news. He heard that Oihana relished in her bath so long, she drowned trying to get out. The envoy offered him Oihana's pink scarf (which Ervin made for her 18th birthday (May 22)). Unleashing his powers, he infused all of Oihana's spirit to make a spirit.

---

And he was just trying to feel around in his shirt for that pink, flower-pattern scarf fragment recovered in a fire. "Good morning, everyone." He greeted with a big, white smile. The man took a Red Delicious apple from a bowl, indulging on happy thoughts.

Zathura pranced off of the man's neck and slithered to a chair in the room. To his dismay, Zathura deliberately disobeyed him. However, her human form shouldn't faze the others. Zathura walked from the table to go to the library. She wanted to read some books before she and Ervin went to the market.

As if on impulse, Ervin took his plate and ran to the library. He cared not of the rules, but he didn't ask her to take human form. To Ervin, Zathura was a child. She had to be protected at all costs.

[Iwazuma]

Leroy watched Arya do something weird with the tree, mentioning its pain. Leroy shook his head for a moment...."I know....I hurt my friend, but he willingly sacrifices his health so that I may be a better person for it...and I take care of him in return...see the mulch? I make sure I get some to my tree friend every couple days. It's super nutritious so that he may heal from his wounds and grow stronger. In the years that he and I have been friends, he has grown taller than the other trees because of my love for him....don't worry, Arya. I'm no barbarian like some people." He gave the nymph a fake, strained from fear smile before realizing another person was approaching. Turning, he recognized Nalria approaching them. Nalria was a bit of a loner amongst the group sometimes. She liked to meditate in the garden, he knew that; he had passed her more than enough times on days off when he went to spar with his tree friend.

"Oh, hello Nalria. I suppose you are right, my tree friend cannot be felled as easily as you. Still, a moving target would be a nice change of pace, and it would give my friend a break from the daily pain I cause him. Plus, I'm good on attacking, but defense.....trees aren't really good for attacks, you know? I'm always here, so I'm more than happy to spar." He gave that same fake smile he gave everyone.....sometimes Leroy wondered if he could genuinely smile anymore, or if he was subject to the pained smile of one who was nearing his limit....

[Minkasha]

When Leroy turned to talk to Nalria, Arya nervously withdrew from the tree and quietly vanished into the air.