Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Feb 25, 2010 12:13:48 GMT -5
Ariel looked all around her as she walked through the courtyard, her breath fogging as it passed her lips. She debated going back inside, but she really wanted to find Korlian and talk to him. They hadn't spoken since Halloween. Though, admittedly she had never been able to look at him quite the same way since then... ever since she had seen what he really was.
She instinctively headed toward the wall that divided the grounds of Dunehelden from the wood outside, knowing that was where Korlian usually hung around. Hopefully he'd be there now... or maybe he'd have the sense to be indoors on such a freezing day.
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Feb 25, 2010 12:22:52 GMT -5
Korlian hung in a tree near the castle, staring at the sky through the branches. He couldn't feel the cold, though he saw his breath fogging in front of him so he knew it was cold. Sighing, he lifted his pipes to his lips and started playing softly, the sound quiet and breathless but still carrying in the cold wind.
He was still staring at the sky, the clouds a lighter gray than his own eyes. They were still stormy, but he didn't let people see them now. Looking at his hands, he smiled slightly. Since Halloween he had some actual abilities. He knew he'd lost memories, but memories could be regained... it was worth losing them to have any of his former power at all.
Pity it was very weak. Nothing like what he had been able to do on Halloween...
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Feb 25, 2010 12:27:19 GMT -5
Ariel stopped and listened carefully as soft music drifted toward her on the cold air. She smiled at the familiar haunting sound of Korlian's panpipes, turning and hurrying toward the source of the music. Pausing at the base of the tree he was hanging in, she looked up and called out to him.
"I've been looking for you... I want to talk to you. Will you come down? Please?" she added quietly.
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Feb 25, 2010 19:10:59 GMT -5
Korlian glanced down, then jumped down with ease, landing lightly in front of Ariel. His knees bent slightly to absorb the impact, then he straightened and nodded slightly, brushing his hair back. He slipped the pipes back into his shirt and just looked at her, his gray eyes looking at her steadily.
Licking his lips slightly, he had to wonder what Ariel wanted. She'd been avoiding him since Halloween, worse than after that picture. Admittedly, he hadn't searched her out either, since he couldn't blame her for avoiding him. He wasn't exactly what her father would have wanted her to befriend. Especially if the man had been able to remember Halloween.
Korlian couldn't help but wonder if Beltaine would have the result. It wasn't likely; his court was too traditional to offer them such a reprieve. He kept his voice soft, knowing she was probably nervous enough about coming to speak with him. "What can I do for you?"
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Feb 25, 2010 19:19:31 GMT -5
Ariel blinked as Korlian jumped nimbly down from near the top of the tree, landing just in front of her. If she hadn't known what he was under his human guise, it would have been downright frightening. As it was, she only smiled.
"I came to thank you for what you did for me on Halloween night," she said in answer to his question. "You probably saved my life that night, when you could just as easily have left me to the Fae. And I'm sorry I've been avoiding you. It's just... seeing what you really are, in the flesh... was scary. You're so different from the Korlian I knew... and yet you haven't changed much at all."
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Feb 25, 2010 19:25:11 GMT -5
"If I had never been what I am right now, I probably would not have helped you," Korlian said softly, glancing away. "Thirteen years changes even the Fae... and at the moment, I am almost as human as you. Even my blood is iron, and that would have been poison to me... even on Halloween.
"Besides... I made a promise to your father, though I know he does not remember it. And a Fae is bound by his word. Did you have any trouble?" he asked softly. That night he could remember clearly. All of it. Which reminded him... he needed to speak to Angel, if he could. Lhachlhass had not been willing to make a deal, but his brother had always been rash.
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Feb 25, 2010 19:31:45 GMT -5
"A bit," Ariel recalled, shivering a little. "Some of the Fae tried to break into my dorm. I fought them off with a skillet -- that was all the iron I could find. It worked really well, though."
She looked at him curiously. "You spoke with my father that night? How? When? He was in the play... from what I know nobody could have entered or left the auditorium. Except... oh, yeah. The Fae."
She wasn't sure whether or not she was lucky to have been outside of there when she had. What would have happened to her if she'd still been inside?
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Feb 26, 2010 11:34:58 GMT -5
Korlian just grinned at her. "Normal me isn't that pathetic after all. It took the two courts to bind Lhachlhass and I, I know that much. Anyway, if you just wanted to thank me it wasn't necessary. Fae protect their own, and while my only claim is friendship, it is still a claim."
He looked up at the sky again quietly. "You don't want to know what I did with the rest of that night anyway. I won't tell you, there's no point in asking."
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Feb 26, 2010 17:28:22 GMT -5
"Fair enough," Ariel nodded. She was curious, but not that curious.
"So how have you been since Halloween?" she asked, pacing around a little to warm up. Maybe they'd be better off talking elsehwere... "Do you mind if we head inside and talk there? I don't know about you, but I'm frozen."
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Feb 26, 2010 20:19:51 GMT -5
"Sure, we can go inside," Korlian shrugged. "Though I doubt we have much more to talk about. I haven't been doing much outside of class since Halloween. Um... call it lying low. My grades are good from it, at least."
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he continued to watch the clouds pass above them through the trees. "Though you probably shouldn't let your father see you talking with me. Understandably, I make him nervous. I make a lot of people nervous."
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Feb 26, 2010 21:05:32 GMT -5
"Well, considering what you are, and the kinds of things that have happened in this place, I think a lot of us are getting paranoid, not just Dad," Ariel shrugged, starting to walk back toward the school and beckoning for Korlian to follow her. "Though him especially, I think.
"And it's not just about you and your kind, either. The whole month of October was a nightmare. Dad was at least partially involved in most of it, so it's understandable that he's been affected a lot. Makes me wish something good would happen in this school for once," she sighed.
Though, of course, something good was going to happen eventually. Ariel smiled to herself, glad that she'd been able to give her father a helping hand in that. However he planned on carrying it out was up to him. Whatever he did, Ariel was sure it would be something to remember forever.
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Mar 1, 2010 2:16:23 GMT -5
Korlian just struggled slightly. He'd not been too impressed with most of October, in any fashion. "Good is an illusion, and everything is dependent on how you look at it."
He followed, more to have something else to do than because he desperately wished to. He'd learned the futility to trying to keep friends in this school the first time he'd frightened her. It would just be better to do what he could to regain his true form (which naturally included getting Lhachlhass back to normal too), and stay under the radar.
Friends didn't help with that part, either. Friends got you in trouble, and made it hard to hide. They also got you involved, and Korlian knew how hard that was to avoid if you still had connections. The only relationship he wasn't going to let die on its own power was the one he had with his brother. He knew Lhachlhass was the only reason he was still alive, so he had to include him in any plans.
Besides, Ariel wasn't going to want to keep being friends with him anyway, even if she was pretending so right now. Even to herself. Fae didn't have 'friends'. Just people they intended to use while avoiding being used. And I don't want to use you, Ariel. I don't want you hurt. Friends get hurt.
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Mar 1, 2010 11:45:18 GMT -5
"That's an odd way to look at life," Ariel remarked, looking over at Korlian with a curious half-frown. "If good is an illusion, what about evil?"
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Mar 1, 2010 12:03:02 GMT -5
"Same," he shrugged. "Good and evil are simply titles given by men to explain something that does not need to be explained. But it makes people feel better to be able to say that 'they are good', rather than merely that they exist. The concepts are real in a fashion, I suppose... but events are not good or evil. They can not be, they have no feelings. People are 'good' or 'evil'. So something 'good' can not happen. Something positive, perhaps, but not 'good'."
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Mar 1, 2010 12:08:38 GMT -5
"Huh." Ariel laughed softly. "I can tell I'm going to have to be more careful about my word choice when I talk to you." She grinned at him. "That's deep. It makes a lot of sense, too."
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Mar 1, 2010 12:55:25 GMT -5
"Of course it does, I've had a very long time to think about such things," he said distantly. "Hiding gives you a lot of time to think. What time isn't being spent in ensuring survival, anyway. And here, once you've finished school work there isn't much else to do either."
He kicked at a loose rock, watching it skitter across the ground until it hit the castle wall. He opened the door and held it for Ariel silently.
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Mar 1, 2010 14:38:35 GMT -5
"Thanks." Ariel smiled as she stepped past Korlian into the castle, kicking the snow from her boots. She pulled down the hood of her coat and tugged off her gloves as the warmer air of the school's interior rushed out to embrace her.
She turned her head, looking over at Korlian curiously as a question rose in her mind. "How old are you, really? On the inside, I mean. I know you're technically thirteen right now."
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Mar 1, 2010 17:48:47 GMT -5
"Too old to count," he stated softly. "Long before Christianity, I think. Certainly before it came to Eíre. But my memories are still not to be trusted, really. Too many are missing to come close to guessing my real age."
He glanced at the ceiling, beginning to feel the chill that had permeated his form in his time outside. Giving one all-over shiver, he stuck his hands in his pocket and let the door swing closed, knocking what little bit of snow there was off of his shoes.
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Mar 1, 2010 17:56:31 GMT -5
Ariel gave a low whistle. "Wow. Exact or not, that's really freaking old, at least to a human. I imagine it's barely anything to a Fae. I've tried to imagine what immortality would be like... I don't know if I'd enjoy it. Watching years go by like weeks, centuries go by like years... how would you pass the time? What would you live for?"
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Mar 1, 2010 18:07:20 GMT -5
"Life," Korlian shrugged. "We all have our various ways. Lhachlhass has always been a hunter... I used to be, in my own way but we won't go into that. Fae can and do live forever, time means nothing. Centuries didn't go by like years, sometimes I swear I'd just blink and a hundred years were gone like that. Then there were days that felt like years..."
His voice trailed off as memories assailed him, and he nearly staggered at the rush of them. Most were just images, of ways he'd passed the time, of the um... 'game' he'd hunted, battles he'd fought, and an memory of iron bars, and pain. Blood dripping down his cheek and a red cap leering at him. He recoiled, putting a hand against his cheek as if to stop the bleeding. Pausing for a moment, he shook his head and tried to force the memories aside. His hand and cheek still felt damp, and he looked at his hand to be sure the blood was only a memory.
Korlian wasn't even sure how he'd gotten the scar. He knew he hadn't had it forever as a human... he'd gotten it playing or something, probably. But apparently he'd had it as a Fae too, something he hadn't known. So the scar as a human was a reflection of the scar as a Fae? How... odd.
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Mar 1, 2010 18:13:44 GMT -5
Ariel looked at Korlian in sudden confusion and almost alarm as he suddenly staggered a little, putting a hand to the scar on his cheek as though it was hurting him. "Are you okay?"
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Korlian
Kitty Kat
Academy Freshman: Bound Fae
Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams... Only then can you belong to me...
Posts: 942
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Post by Korlian on Mar 1, 2010 23:19:53 GMT -5
"Yeah... I guess something I said triggered something..." he chuckled weakly. "Apparently this scar wasn't just a result of childish playing. I mean, it was... I wasn't born with it, but it wasn't... originally. I guess whatever magic bound me is giving me the more prominent features I once carried."
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Ariel Hawk
Ireth
Academy Freshman: Mortal
Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild, with a fairy hand-in-hand...
Posts: 251
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Post by Ariel Hawk on Mar 1, 2010 23:36:17 GMT -5
"Hmm... interesting." Ariel couldn't resist trying to look at Korlian's ears, wanting to see if they were perhaps pointed, but his hair was hiding them. Nuts.
Her eyes grew distant as a question formed in her mind... perhaps Korlian's presence had triggered it. If Halloween night had caused such strange and scary things to happen when the Unseelie Court rose into power... would something else happen on the first of May, with the Seelie?
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