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Post by Vyn on Jun 18, 2009 0:23:50 GMT -5
Standing at the gates of the Court of Hearts, Jovan was forced to think back to all the things that had brought him there. It was really all he could do to keep his nerves in check. Mother had always preached about following your dreams, no matter what the cost. She'd always dreamed of becoming a warrior, of fighting for the Court of Hearts... and then her suit had been taken from her. Yet, even despite those odds, she'd gotten her swords and she'd become a wonderful fighter. The best he'd ever seen. And so here he was, following in her footsteps. He'd fulfill her dream for her: he'd become a member of the guard on his 18th birthday. The only thing holding him back was the current whispers of the monster that was the current Queen. It took a few calming breaths before he finally felt some of the jitters pass and his courage return in proper but, before he could push the door open, he quickly became aware of an unusual sound from nearby. Someone was breathing heavily and making small noises that, to his ears, sounded... distressed. Thanks to all three of his parents and as his roll of guardian to Nico, Jovan had a very forcefully functioning atlas complex that made such noises very hard to ignore. Slowly he moved away from the door that he was trying to convince himself to open and instead he sought out the troubling noise. "Hello?" If it turned out he was wrong and he actually wasn't supposed to be wandering around unsupervised he could just as well claim to be lost and, hopefully, get nudged in the direction of the person he was supposed to be seeing (whoever they were). |
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jun 18, 2009 2:56:56 GMT -5
It had been a good idea at the time. They were always good ideas at the time. Vaska could fly, after all. Not well, of course, but he could do it. And with Falks and Ben by his side, he could also climb up to one of the top stories and push the window open. Then it was really very quite easy to just jump out of the window and soar around the court. From that high, he didn't even really need to flap his wings to keep aloft, he could just let the breeze carry him! But then he was getting farther and farther away from his home, and he'd called out to Ben and Falks that he was coming back, but he didn't think they could hear him. Then he'd circled too far, and he couldn't remember which window he'd came through, anyway, and he didn't want to go into the wrong one and see something bad or scary. When Vaska finally landed, the first tendrils of panic were weaving their way in his mind and he was beginning to shake. He was on the ground now, which was good and bad. It was good because it meant he wasn't going farther away. It was bad because his wings weren't really that strong just yet and he didn't think he could take off from the ground like he knew his papa would be able to do. He'd hop-jumped his way back over to the main entrance when the worst of the panic had overtaken him. Vaska had been completely alone for the last 10 minutes and he collapsed in some bushes, shaking and whimpering and waiting for anyone to walk by. When he heard a voice calling out, he lunged towards it, crashing through the thick shrubbery and right into the strange canine-horse-thing that was on the other side. " THANK ALL THE GRASS AND THE SUN AND STARS IN THE HIGHLAND HILLS!" the young bat cried out, latching onto the stranger. " I've been RESCUED! DO YOU HEAR ME, FALKS?! I'M OKAY!" Then he looked at the person, overly wide red eyes blinking several times rather quickly. " Hi. Who are you, anyway?" |
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Post by Vyn on Jun 18, 2009 9:22:07 GMT -5
Jovan was a protector by nature. It had been a similar trait shared by both of his parents, and even by Thal's brother, and it had carried on very strongly into him. So he'd wasted no time in trying to rescue whoever it was that had been in trouble, except that before he found them, they tackled him.
The young Jack yelped in surprise, flailing backwards a little before both stablizing himself with his tentacles and attempting to catch the bat-thing as well. Wild looking thing he was, but Jovan couldn't say anything on the subject with the way he looked. Instead he flashed his best, reassuring smile and straightened himself up slightly.
"Oh, Hi; I'm Jovan. I'm here to speak to the head of the Guard, but I heard a noise from over here and thought someone might need help. Are you alright now that you've been rescued?" Jovan pondered, briefly, if he should find out what he was rescuing the stranger from but hesitated for the time being. First, though, he wanted to be sure he was alright and that he didn't need medical attention or anything.
Hopefully, he'd just been lost.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jun 22, 2009 20:41:31 GMT -5
The bat continued to flail forward. He hated being alone ever so much - it was the worst feeling he knew, one that made his heart beat too hard in his chest and his head spin. Sometimes, he thought he could hear voices, but he told himself that it was just his mind trying to make him feel less lonely. That was a comforting thought, sometimes. But this time he didn't have to resort to that. There was a real, live person here, and while he was holding onto it, it was holding right onto him with funny tentacles!
Ew. Tentacles. That was weird and gross and now that he wasn't alone, Vaska's eyes narrowed slightly. Who was this person, and why were they skulking around the palace? He had been skulking around, too, but his parents lived here! He could skulk where he wanted!
"Oh. Jovan? Hrm." the bat withdrew slightly, shuffling his wings as he peered at the stranger. What a weird-looking person. He didn't like the tentacles, but he wanted to poke them. And why did he have rocks sticking out? He crinkled his nose and leaned in close, sniffling slightly. Many things could be said of Vaska, and they'd all be true, but most prominent of his oddnessess was his utter lack of care about personal space. "Did someone, like, throw rocks at you? Only instead of bouncing off, they stuck in? That looks like it'd hurt. Do they hurt?"
The bat reached out a curious wing, the thumb quivering as it moved to brush over one of the stones. Hrm. Weird. He hoped no one ever threw rocks that hard at him.
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Post by Vyn on Jun 23, 2009 0:23:51 GMT -5
As soon as the stranger started to calm down, Jovan couldn't help but notice he was growing more wary and agitated. Had he done something? Abruptly Jovan realized he was still stabilizing the other with his tentacles and he quickly pulled them away to tuck them against his small form.
He knew how people could be about his tentacles and very few were as tolerant of them as Nico or his family was.
Clearing his throat a little, the canine mix tried his hardest not to blush awkwardly. "Yeah, Jovan. What's your name?" Suddenly the bat was leaning in, sniffing curiously and inching unusually close. Uhm. Okay? Slowly he smiled, the expression a little uncertain. "Oh, well... I wasn't hit with rocks, I was just born like this. They don't hurt either, though." The worse that had ever come about due to his obsidian stones was the rare occasion when mom looked at him with that odd expression he couldn't read, like fear or something, but he never understood why and she always explained it away as nothing.
So it was nothing. Right?
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Post by Satra on Jul 2, 2009 23:48:00 GMT -5
[Why is it the exact moment that I think I'm going to be slow and vocalize said thoughts, that's when the muses decide to attack? >> Here on invitation. XD You guys did say I could jump in now, right?] By the rolling grass of the Highland hills... from all the noise being made, one would have thought there was a fire. But no. Oh no. He knew those yells. He knew them well. It was that awful little rat-child that damnable man decided to future besmirch their beautiful court with. He sighed as his position was switched out in the changing of the guard. He really didn't have much of an excuse to not go get him and bring him back now. Fine. He'd do it. Always on the job. He simply shook his head as his fellow officers invited to drinks in the soldiers' barracks. No. No, he had to go take care of something else first. He concentrated on a meditative breathing as he removed his armor and put up his spear. He would need to be as calm and collected as possible before approaching Vaska. He left out the front gate, telling the guards there that he would hopefully return shortly, then took to the sky. His hearing wasn't the best for finding a target, but his eyes were good. It was not long at all before he spotted the little wretch. He didn't even get to a good, comfortable soaring height yet. He glided over, landing about 20 feet away from Vaska and a... very interesting young man. "Vaska," he said in a calm voice, "You should get back inside, your parents are probably worried." Chances are that wasn't true. He was sure the boy had freaked out before anyone else even noticed he was gone. Alaster then looked at the young man, then looked down at his rank and suit. A Jack of Hearts! "Hello there young man. I presume you are here to seek an audience with one of the nobles of this court?" Poor thing. What an awful time to come to this place. Still, every little bit helped... there was something oddly familiar about this boy's face.... Alaster shrugged it off. It wasn't important. Those mutations, however... very strange. |
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jul 7, 2009 22:02:10 GMT -5
The bat continued to attempt to circle the other boy, leafy nose twitching eagerly as he leaned in to check out the more interesting features decorating the other's body. Really, those tentacles were just weird - they made him think of some nasty thing that the scary Bog-lady would try to eat, all wiggly and limby and just plain gross. These weren't as bad, but they still had slimy-looking suckers, and for a moment, a thought nearly paralyzed the bat. What if they leaked poison goo that would give him tentacles? Vaska did his best to repress a shudder.
"You can't... like.. give other people rocks or squidbits, right?" he asked, a distinctly distrusting glint in his expression. Jovan's introduction and request went completely over the young bat's head as he fixated on his current obsession: the multiple mutations that dotted this boy's body. At his expanation for the stones, Vaska leaned even closer, then nodded. "Ooooh.. yeah, I see that. Wonder if your bones are all rocks, too."
Wait, he had been asked his name, hadn't he? He rocked back on his haunches, wings open just slightly, and was about to give it when ---
That stupid bird did it for him! Vaska's mouth fell open, first in indignation and then in terror. "YOU!" he practically wailed, shaking as he stared at the Guard. He began to shrink back, trying to get away from the man. How had he known? Had he given any indication he was going to introduce himself? Everything else Alaster said was completely lost in Vaska's confused terror. "How did you know? Did you implant a listening device into my BRAIN last week?! I KNOW YOU DID SOMETHING SO DON'T TRY TO LIE."
He hissed, showing tiny pointy baby-bat teeth.
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Post by Vyn on Jul 7, 2009 22:47:31 GMT -5
Jovan watched as the blue-winged bat circled him, obviously engulfed in curiosity about his mutations. The boy smiled but inside it was taking all of his energy not to simply be creeped out, or even offended.
"Oh... No, not at all. My mum and pop don't have them after all, just us kids... Momma says it's grandmother's fault, because she's a scientist. I don't mind them, really. The tentacles are even pretty helpful sometimes, like for picking things up." Jovan fixated on speaking to keep from noticing just how close the bat was, or how deeply he was staring. "...I've thought about that myself many times, but... I'm a little afraid to find out." It would require getting wounded badly enough to see his bone, which just sounded very unpleasant on all levels.
And then, without warning, someone new appeared.
Jovan had been so distracted by the bat that, when the new man appeared, he'd nearly jumped out of his skin. Nor did it help that, within moments of the man speaking to him, the bat had begun to flail and scream. ...Had the new man called him Vaska? and what was all this about brain devices?
"Uhm..." The albino Josiggy Jack glanced nervously between the Highlander and his flailing peer. "Are you alright, Vaska was it? ...I think that was just a coincidence... and, oh uhm... Sorry Sir, but yes... sort of, I'm looking for someone to speak to regarding Guard service here at the palace?" Jovan, though he knew he was still very young, puffed up his chest and did his very best to be noble and proud looking. He'd have to make a very good impression if he wanted to start training now instead of waiting until he came of age.
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Post by Satra on Jul 9, 2009 2:26:22 GMT -5
Alaster took in a deep breathe as the awful little Bat-child screamed at him. He needed to stay calm. He didn't even know what he was screeching about. He'd heard very little of the conversation before he landed. He stood in his usual comfortable stance. Upright on his back legs with his neck folded on itself so his head rested on the base of his neck, a testament to his Egret heritage.
"Vaska, why would a device in your head indicate what your parents are thinking?" he asked, completely misunderstanding. Then the boy spoke to Vaska. Couldn't have known what? A brand new idea flashed in his mind. Oh yes, wonderful! Not only did he not have to deal with the little Solandrian wretch, but ignoring him to tend to this young man's needs would be the best way to go about get Vaska to do what he wanted.
"You look like a very capable young man, I'm glad to hear it. If you'll follow me back to the Palace and tell me a little bit more about yourself on the way, I can most definitely help you out. I am Alaster. May I ask yours?"
He began heading back in the direction of the Court, turning his back on Vaska, leaving him alone in the empty valley before the Court.
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Post by carcinoGeneticist on Jul 29, 2009 20:58:16 GMT -5
As Alaster attempted to dismiss him with a casual comment, Vaska felt the hairs on his neck prickle. He was aware that Jovan was talking to him and he turned his head to look at the other boy, head swaying unsteadily, already crazed eyes somehow looking even more manic. His ears flattened almost completely as he opened his mouth, close to panting from the mental effort this kind of paranoia required. "Am I.. alright? Am I alright?" His voice rose in pitch until it hit a breaking point, and the bat whirled on his heel.
One wing was pointed at Alaster. Vaska was many things, and no one could say that he didn't have a flair for the dramatic. This, in his mind, was a setup. Alaster wanted to trick him, wanted to make him look like a fool in front of his friend.
"YOU! Why would you ask me about your own mind?! I'm not the thought-stealer!" he said with an angry hiss. But it didn't seem to matter. Alaster was concentrating his attention on taking his friend away from him, turning his back on Vaska. The bat's fury bubbled up. Was he trying to leave him... alone?
No. No no no. That wouldn't do. With a wild scream, the bat threw himself at the lizard-bird, clinging tenaciously to the man's back. "Don't ignore me!!" he wailed, loudly.
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