[FIN] The Sound of Silence [Aurryinne/Shini?]

[Vyn]

Who would've thought that Ophelia would miss her little ones so. The house was empty and quiet now that they had all grown and moved out, far too quiet. At first it had been nice, she'd busied herself catching up on more intensive genetic experiments that she hadn't had time to indulge in before, but now she was getting lonely.

The silence was almost too much.

So she was taking regular work again. Commissions from her 'regulars' and others now. If she was going to get anywhere beyond her original success in the genetic field then she needed to open herself up to more regular work. Rather, she needed to open others up to more...experimental work. When she sent her letter to hash out a meeting time with Cauter Ophelia also made sure to leave this news with him in hopes he'd send a bit of work her way.

She simply didn't expect how fast it'd come. Instead of a conformation for lunch she had received a customer. Apparently the girl coming was a rodent from the Gardens named Souris and should be arriving at the house any moment now. Frowning slightly, Ophelia slumped into an armchair in the sitting room as Vilya curled around her shoulders. By principal Ophelia disliked the snooty Yarrow girls, but she wasn't about to turn down a customer.

[Shinigami]

Maxwell walked into the house, his bag of various things slung over his back as per usual, metal pieces jingling against one another. He still hadn't had as much luck as he wanted, trying to figure out how to power independant life in a machine. There were rumors of a Corvistowneian who could do that though, or something like it, and part of him didn't want to meet the guy at all, because he wanted to figure out the trick by himself, have that accomplishment firmly to his name, and his name alone. On the other hand, he knew that consulting with an expert was probably one of the best things he could do for now, because Corvistowneians in general tended to be experts in their fields. If he wanted someone with a background in and skill with mechanics, he was probably best off going to see this guy. Maybe he could ask Ophelia for some help in getting an introduction, seeing as she was rather well-known, especially since her skills had gotten into such high demand recently. She'd even begun taking regular work now that her kids were gone, and Maxwell himself felt that lack keenly. He'd loved all of his children, no matter how...odd most of them had turned out, and had done his best to take Ophelia's other kids under his metaphorical wing as well. He remembered the trip out to the park, and how Mephit had been absolutely fascinated by the mechanical toy that he'd been working on at the time; or sitting with Xylia and promising to help her find a place to stay in the Capital City, where Solo was living and working now. Maxwell had gone there occasionally, but he found the bustle of everything to be a bit overwhelming at times, and generally preferred to stay in Corvistowne, only visiting Torquehelm occasionally to talk to the people he knew. Heck, since his own kids had grown, his visits had grown less and less.

"Ophelia, you there?" he called, peeking into the sitting room where he figured that she might be, if she wasn't in her lab. His suspicions were confirmed as he saw her in her armchair, summons around her shoulders like a stole, looking distinctly as if she were waiting for someone. Probably not him, but you never knew. "What's up, love?" he asked genially.

[Vyn]

Ophelia's brooding frown faded entirely the moment Maxwell's voice filled the small house, causing the doe and her Tove to perk instantly. It was always so nice to see Maxwell, especially since the kids had grown and she was under the distinctive -and very hopeful - belief that he might be staying now instead of venturing between Torquehelm and Corvistowne like he used to. Perhaps he might even stay again, and offer her a reprieve from the loneliness that was setting in. Apparently she had grown more attached to a full house than she had previously been aware.

"Yeah, in here Maxwell!" She called happily, rising up to greet her friend. "Not much, just waiting for a possible client. You're just in time, re-..."

Her cheerful words were cut off quite suddenly as a small ball of white and chocolate fur padded out from behind Maxwell. Mocha? What was she doing with Maxwell? Doe and Bander met gazes for a long moment, blinking at each other before Mocha's ears went back and she sneezed her displeasure. Something was...wrong. The general distress in the Bander's posture and the fact that she had begun to sniff around as if looking for something. No, someone.

Worried yellow-green eyes lifted to Maxwell's face and she smiled a little. She was trying hard to believe that nothing was wrong...and failing miserably.

"Is Seki with you?"

[Shinigami]

Maxwell was, indeed, intending on staying in Corvistowne for some time, if it was feasible. Or at least, that was what he was hoping to do, seeing as he really didn't have anything to tie him to Torquehelm any more, and it was far more interesting here among the Corvies. Then again, there was also the fact that Ophelia wasn't the only one that was used to having a full house, and having a chance to mother Xylia, even if it was only for a short time, had brought that longing back in full force. He wanted to have kids around again, he really, really did.

A possible client? Well, that was all to the good! He was about to reply and say just that, along with probably quite a few other things, when her words suddenly cut off as her gaze went past him. He glanced behind himself and saw Mocha, the bander who he'd made sure to bring here with him. The little thing had been wandering around the house in Torquehelm, and there'd been no sign of Seki there, so he figured that the bander had gotten lost and his son had gone back to Corvistowne, sure that his mother would bring his pet along once it was found. But...something about Ophelia's expression said that he might be very, very wrong about that assumption.

"...no, he's not. I thought-" He cut himself off, looking around the house. "He wasn't back in Torque, and I figured that he'd come back here. I was bringing her back to him. You mean, he's...not here?" That didn't sound good. It didn't sounds good at all. Though Maxwell didn't hear from his kids all that often, he did try to keep tabs on all of them, from Cecillia's conquests in the City to Helen's random wanderings all over creation. But if Seki wasn't here, and he wasn't in Torquehelm...where was he?

[Vyn]

Maxwell's words had a notable effect on Ophelia. Worry flew into instant panic and her body quaked slightly. Family... That was the one thing that truly meant more to her than her work. How... How was Seki not with Mocha? She hadn't seen the boy separated from his Bander since the day they got it and, on those rare times when he did he never fared well.

Ophelia shook her head. Who had seen him last? "He wasn't? Who..." She stopped herself quickly, pulling herself back together before her panic made her say something terrible. "No, he's not here." She sighed heavily, crouching down to stroke the distraught Bander that was sniffing about the room. "Do you know if anyone was with him, Max? Maybe they'd know where he went?"

With a client arriving at any moment this honestly was the worst time to receive such news. It would make working so much harder while she was aware one of her children were missing...and so close to that Tugley Wood. She bit her lip.

"How long has he been gone?"

[Shinigami]

Ophelia's reaction had him instinctively darting forward to lean against her; it was times like this that he really wished he had hands, and arms. They'd be so useful, not just for fiddling around with what he wanted to fiddle around with, but for hugging his family members when they needed hugging. He wished now that he'd spent more time with Seki, Rindal, and Cecilia, because they all seemed like such independant people, and some times he felt like he really didn't know them. Heck, he felt like he didn't really know any of his children nowadays, except for Solo, who seemed to have inherited his need to keep closely connected with all of his family. But even then, he wished that he could spend more time with his kids, and see them all more often than the rare times that he managed to visit them (or that they managed to visit him). Now, with the cold line of fear running down his spine, he really did realize how little he tended to be able to see his kids.

"I don't..." he trailed off, thinking it over. "No, he didn't mention anyone at all." Unfortunately for Maxwell, he tended not to think of his other children when he tried to think if anyone was with him. "He headed out in the morning, and then Mocha came back late in the afternoon, and I thought he'd come back here." His voice was slowly rising in pitch as he tried his best to figure out what had happened.

"It's been almost two weeks, love! Anything could have happened to him!" his purple eyes were wide, because, well, his son was missing. And they had no clue about what had happened to him.

[Vyn]

If Maxwell had been aiming for comfort, exclaiming that anything could've happened to their fragile little boy was not the thing to do. Then again, Ophelia understood panic as well as anyone else and slumped gently to her knees in order to fully embrace t he feline. Her fingers absently played with his mane, their tremble noticeable.

She wouldn't speak until she deemed herself capable of doing so without her voice breaking or tears of worry falling.

"Oh, lord... I." Ophelia closed her eyes tight, her head thumping in her chest. So she wasn't as contained as she thought she was. "Maybe he told someone else? I..." She shook her head heavily, groaning a little to herself. The doe blamed no one, but she was profusely worried. "I can't imagine he'd leave Mocha willingly, so they must've gotten separated." Logic was a comforting place to return to and she embraced it whole-heartedly. "Maybe he went back to the city with one of his siblings? That wouldn't be unlike him, especially with Mocha missing."

Logic so often seemed like wishful thinking, but she now hoped her thoughts contained both.

[Ry]

Just then, a timid knock sounded quietly upon the door. Had the house not been so silence, the sound would have been missed, but in the quiet, the slight sound reverberated clearly, carrying into the lounge.

The mouse was late. She had had considerable difficulty in locating Ophelia's address, and, despite the red script, detailing the address that Cauter had offered. Accustomed to the Gardens as she was, the dilapidated buildings and bustling crowds made her mind reel. Luckily, the biped heron's cryptic remark had served her well. She'd checked every labelled mailbox against the roads and the details scripted upon the cream cards, and that'd eventually led her here, awaiting Ophelia's attention.

She shifted uncertainly in front of the door, trying to ignore the myriad curious passerby gawking at her. Her yellow and lilac coat stood out clearly in Corvistowne, her ears accenting her appearance, to make her a rather distinctive figure, standing there on the doorstep. Alone.

[Shinigami]

Maxwell's ears were pinned back against his head as he, like Ophelia, tried to figure out where the boy could have gone. Not a boy any more, not really, and that was part of what distressed him so much. It was hard not having children around any more, especially when those children, who he'd raised to be proper sorts, were gallavanting around doing who-knew-what, and he rarely saw them any more. And then something like this happened.

"Maybe..." he said softly, and though most of him knew that it probably wasn't too likely, the rest of him clung to the hope that Seki was just visiting one of his many siblings. "I was planning on heading into the Capital City tomorrow, but I can head in today and go visit Solo, Xylia, and Ceclilia, and whoever else is there. I doubt Mephit or Severus will have had anything to do with him, and I have no clue where Helen or Vertumnus are. If he's not there, I'll head back to Torquehelm and see if I can get Rindal to help me get some information from his friends. He might know a few things as well..." The feline, now encouraged that he had a plan, perked up a bit more.

"Don't you worry, Ophelia-love. I'm sure he just got seperated from Mocha here, and that he'll be as good as ever when we find him. Though I imagine that Mocha won't be too happy with him once we catch up!" His irrepresable cheer banished the dark thoughts from his face, but it didn't stop the worry from running rampant anyway. Maxwell promptly turned and retrieved his bag, and with a jaunty wave opened the door to get back on the road...only to come rather unexpectedly face-to-face with a mouse from the Yarrow Gardens. He jerked backward reflexively, ears pinning themselves back and fur fluffing up a bit, before he managed to calm himself.

"Er, sorry about that, Miss. I assume you're the one Ophelia-love is waiting for? If you'll just pardon me, then, I really do need to get on my way..." He dipped his head politely to her, Diamond charm working its magic, and then slipped out of the door and on to the streets. He'd catch a trolly as far as it would take him, and then walk the rest of the way if he had to. He had a son to find.

[Vyn]

Why did it have to be Seki that disappeared? It could have been any other child of hers and she would not have worried so. They already went off on their own whenever they pleased, but Seki... He was a homebody. He stayed near friends or family and kept close tabs with everyone.

Going missing wasn't like him.

"He must be with one of them." Leaning in she kissed the feline's forehead, trying to banish the worry from her own expression. "Thank you, Maxwell. Send word when you can, love."

The doe smiled wryly, full of awkward concern, and moved to follow him to the door...only for the feline to all but stumble into an uncertain-looking Yarrow Mouse. Oh, her client then? At least she'd have a proper distraction now.

"Ah! Souris, isn't it? Cauter sent word that you'd be arriving today. Please, come on in and make yourself comfortable in the sitting room."