|
|
Post by The Jenn on Jul 4, 2008 17:38:28 GMT -5
Lior sat draped across the wide stone ledge of the fountain in the middle of the small park in the Capital, one wing half-submerged in the water as he slumped. This was it. He would have to leave the city. There was no other way. He'd run out of money, he couldn't hold a steady job, he hadn't eaten in almost two days, and it was mostly because of this curse that had afflicted him thanks to the black garment that lay heavy across his back. It soaked up the sunlight, making him pant a little bit. It wasn't a cool day, but already he was warm. At least the water cooled the membranes of his golden wing. He had no one to appeal to for help. His uncle would send assistance, he was sure, but he couldn't bring himself to be an even greater burden on Bernard than he already had. Linda, he had no idea. He hadn't contacted her since their... 'confrontation' that prompted his leaving the palace, and he didn't think he could stomach writing her now, not when the very thought of it made his gut roil with nerves and stress. Or maybe that was just the hunger? Sad, empty eyes closed against the sunny day and he tried to ignore his thoughts for another few hours, before he would have to figure out where to go and how to get there. Walking was his only option at this point. He would probably get overheated if he did it during the day, wearing black under the sun. |
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 4, 2008 17:48:42 GMT -5
Having eyesight was great. He could live his life the way he wanted to now. He didn't have to rely on other people! For once, he was going to enjoy a bit of lunch by himself today. Of course being alone was terribly boring. He never really thought about that thoroughly. Eilwyn shrugged as he picked up his lunch to go and walked over to the fountain that he normally sat at when Zane was flirting with the cafe staff not too far off. Eilwyn paused a few steps away from the fountain. Who was that sitting on the side? He titled his head for a moment before shaking it and walking forward. "Is the seat next to you taken?" He smiled. He was nervous of course. But it was a little better now that he could see who he was talking to. Older people were still a bit difficult but... this person looked.... well they looked hot. "Uh, do you need something to drink?" |
|
|
|
Post by The Jenn on Jul 4, 2008 18:12:18 GMT -5
Lior wasn't paying any attention to the people around him, too wrapped up in his own moping and self-pity to notice anyone else. He was just glad for a bit of respite between the odd memory gaps and sudden awareness next to dead bodies that plagued him throughout the day. That was yet another reason to leave the city. There were just too many people, everywhere! It triggered his episodes of memory loss and strangeness far too frequently for his sanity, much less his liking.
He didn't realize at first that he was being spoken to. The voice was close, but he'd tuned the actual words out along with the rest of the background noise. The Capital was always noisy and bustling, even in the relative 'peace' of the small park. He couldn't in good conscience call it any sort of garden, not after growing up in the Palace of Hearts, even though there were flowers blooming here and there in carefully planted patches.
The second time the eagle addressed him, his brows furrowed, eyes still closed. Had someone just spoken to him directly? He glanced up, squinting at the sunlight, and saw another Highlander standing above him. He looked almost... familiar, which meant he'd probably met him at one time or another back 'home'.
That was enough to make him twitch. He sat up from his slumped-over seat on the ledge, wing drawing closer from its spot in the water and inadvertently soaking one side of his ribcage. At the same time as he felt most comfortable around those of his own region, he had also begun to feel touches of shame and tried to avoid contact when he could. He knew he didn't really look fit to bear the region's markings, not as he was right now.
"Ah, no," he croaked, then coughed when he realized how dehydrated he'd actually become while laying there. He could just drink from the fountain after the other man left. He ran his dry tongue around his mouth and tried again. "No, I'm fine. Thank you."
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 4, 2008 18:23:52 GMT -5
Eilwyn raised an eyebrow. He didn't sound fine at all. His voice also seemed familiar.... it was older and more worn though. He had never seen the person that he was thinking of... was it possibly the same person? Who was it though?
He took a seat next to the man. Why was he wearing something black in this heat. Now that Eilwyn took a closer look he looked pretty... thin? The eagle shook his head, no it must have been his imagination. The person was a Highlander though. Wasn't the boy he spoke to so many years ago also a Highlander?
"You... wouldn't happen to be someone I know would you? I uh...." Eilwyn didn't know how to put it. "I used to be blind so uh, I couldn't tell by appearance but you sound somewhat similar to a person I met a while ago. His name was Lior, he was a Highlander like you."
Maybe this wasn't the person. "S-sorry... I mean to impose on you like that." He was already sitting down with his drink and food, so he had already imposed hadn't he? Maybe he should just leave. Oh bother...
|
|
|
|
Post by The Jenn on Jul 4, 2008 18:33:57 GMT -5
Lior tried not to cringe when the young man mentioned his name. That meant his sense of familiarity hadn't been wrong and this eagle knew who he was, after a fashion. He didn't remember any blind eagles back home, though. In fact, quickly poking at the recesses of his mind, the only blind eagle he ever remembered meeting had been...
...right here. Oh. What a bizarre coincidence. He couldn't remember their conversation, only that they'd had one briefly. So he didn't really know 'who' the feline was, only that they'd spoken briefly and whatnot. He wouldn't even remember what he used to look like, which was a relief. The last thing he needed was people asking after the unexplainable changes in his appearance. Black-swirled wings had been drawn beneath his cloak once more so they were no longer visible, but they certainly weren't 'normal' for a Highlander unless they'd been tattooed or were of a mixed region. His quiet sense of regional pride winced at the thought.
"Actually, I am Lior. You have an amazing memory for voices, if you remember mine after so long with only one meeting, ah..." Damn. He, obviously, didn't have the same caliber of memory. He couldn't remember the eagle's name at all. It hadn't been a strong enough impression, he supposed, or really all that important at the time.
"Regardless, no, you haven't imposed. I was just... sitting." Or laying. Either would have been correct. How embarrassing, though, not to remember the other Highlander's name and look like a complete wreck besides.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 4, 2008 18:55:22 GMT -5
Eilwyn blushed a bit. He grinned. "Well that's all I've had to work with for so many years, I remember voices much easier than faces." The thought crossed Eilwyn's mind that Lior might not remember his name. The conversation had been a long time ago, and wasn't Lior someone important from the courts? Or at least he had family in the courts, that much Eilwyn remembered.
"My name's Eilwyn," the eagle said. "I remember you had something to do with courts, so I can't imagine you remember my name. But uh... are things going better for you? You were pretty troubled that time I met you."
He really looked like he needed a drink. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat or drink?" He didn't want to eat in front of someone who didn't have anything--even if it was voluntary.
|
|
|
|
Post by The Jenn on Jul 22, 2008 8:05:23 GMT -5
Lior couldn't even imagine not being able to see. Not eating, that he understood, along with not sleeping, believing himself worthless, and seeing people for who they truly were. The ring hanging on a chain around his neck seemed to press uncomfortably against his chest at the thought. What would this sweet-seeming bird's dark side reveal. He didn't want to know, he really didn't, and he couldn't muster the energy for the morbid curiosity that usually drove him to look. He could feel nothing but sincerity with his King's ability, and he'd rather live with the illusion for a little while. It always made him happier when he got to pretend that there were good, happy people in the world, until the knowledge that it was all a lie pressed back in on him and depressed him further.
"Eilwyn... yes. I remember now. Silly of me." He hadn't had the slightest inkling what the eagle's name might have been. "Things certainly seem to be looking up for you. Congratulations on your apparent sight."
He winced slightly at the questions. Lying really was abhorrent to the feline. "Things are complicated," he said simply, and his posture and thin frame were silent testament to the statement's truth. "And thank you, but no. I'll find something myself, eventually." He'd never been a very confident person, but his pride as a Highland Heart King still clung to him in certain ways. He wouldn't take the bird's food, especially not when it was obviously his lunch. He had stooped low enough to garbage-hunt out of desperation, but charity made him cringe. It was a line he had yet to cross.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 22, 2008 19:27:06 GMT -5
"Thank you," Eilwyn said with a smile. He was happy to have his eyesight back. Things were going well. There would always be problems, but that wasn't the important part of being well.
"Complicated describes a lot of things," Eilwyn said as he returned to eating his meal between the conversation. The feline had something in his voice. The Highlander eagle couldn't quite place it. He wasn't sure he wanted to place it. Lior's family was in the courts, and complicated could mean a series of bad things. Maybe he was related to "that man" that his mother told him to stay away from? He shuddered involuntarily.
Maybe he could ask? No he couldn't that would just be rude. But... didn't he have to find things out for himself? He wasn't a child anymore, and what was he afraid of when it came to a dead man?
The question didn't come out though. "You must have a lot of pride in your rank and suit. Uh--I mean--I just put my foot in my mouth. Sorry, I'm thinking too many things at once."
He waved a hand dismissively. "Uh, could I ask you a bit of a personal question?"
|
|
|
|
Post by The Jenn on Jul 24, 2008 14:29:35 GMT -5
Lior's back-muscles bunched up beneath the cloak at the bird's comments. Yes, complicated covered an awful lot, like why he hadn't eaten a proper meal in days and couldn't hold down a job and didn't have a place to live and kept waking up from trances next to dead people. A lot of things. He grimaced and dipped one paw in the water. What a bizarre comment. It seemed to come out of absolutely nowhere. "Er, yes. I'm proud to be a Heart." He was proud to be a King, too, but that was too mixed with feelings of inadequacy to voice.
The next question made him give Eilwyn a leery glance. Personal question? That made him nervous. "If you'd like. I can't promise an answer, though, if it's too personal." He'd become extremely private of late and wasn't up for too much prying. Considering the bird already knew something about his prior life, though, he wasn't sure if he should feel more or less threatened.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kari Muffin on Jul 25, 2008 2:22:51 GMT -5
"It's just... are you related to... Queen S-" he choked on his word. It's not like it was a difficult word. It was just the echoes of what his mother had said to them all those years ago. He could never forget his mother, and how she was gone now. It took all his will power to suppress a shudder. "Never mind. I'm sorry for being so indecisive." He said quietly as he stared at his drink. He really didn't want to think about it. And there was no way Lior could be related to him. There were plenty of Highlanders in the Courts. "And the only reason why I really mentioned suit pride was because my mother was a Heart. She was very proud of her suit. She used to be in the courts too from what my Dad told me." Eilwyn decided that he really needed to stop talking before he made a complete idiot out of himself. He took a sip of his drink, doing his hardest to pretend that he wasn't completely inept when it came to social situations. Something lingered in the corner of Eilwyn's eye. He turned his head to see properly. There was a rather interesting snake-deer looking at him and Lior.  She slithered closer, coming into view for both the eagle and the feline. "Lior? Is that really you?"And now Eilwyn was throughly confused.
|
|
