paixaorpg | An apartment won't do... [Active/open]

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An apartment won't do... [Active/open]

Character(s): Aisling and Open to Anyone
Content: Aisling’s been making a place suitable for her to live in…
Setting: In between Joutenheim and the Actua Are Hotel
Time: Late afternoon, Week 20
Warnings: Aisling is very protective of her “forest.” But may warm up to visitors.

Something strange had been going on near Joutenheim. The water level in many of the nearest fountains had mysteriously dropped significantly. Toward the Actua Are Hotel of that gate’s area, a sweet, floral smell had been spilling into the street. And sometimes, at night, mist could be seen flowing through an unobtrusive archway. To those who were curious enough to peek inside the dark, winding tunnel leading in, sometimes they’d hear singing, or growling… or a flash of white, or glowing eyes, as if a lumen was lurking beyond the threshold.

Inside, to those who had previously taken time to visit the small grotto past the dim, nondescript entrance, they had found a wide, tall space with sweeping, colorful arches that, while beautiful, held up nothing at all, since there was no ceiling; it was open to the dome-sky. And amongst these pillars and arches were a variety of Paixao’s treasure-plants: silk grass, silver bushes and crystalline trees with golden apples.

Those people who had visited it would have trouble recognizing the place now.

Just past the first curve of the tunnel, there now was a haze of mist that obscured the sight of the grotto, but once past, there was something unseen anywhere else in Paixao: Plants. Real, living plants, with mist flowing in and about them, obscuring places here and there. The floor had been elevated several feet, formed into little hills and dips, and shifted with the softness of soil. The silken grass had been covered and replaced with a bed of white flowers and ferns. Here and there, mushrooms lifted their heads. The walls and archways were overgrown with vines, giving the impression of a thick forest canopy, with portions of the dome-sky visible only here and there. The false trees were gone: in their stead were small oaks. Likewise, the silver bushes had vanished, replaced with thriving fraughan bushes. Large stones dotted the miniature landscape. Moss clung to them, making them appear almost plush in places. And in one corner was a stone-lined pond, about seven feet wide.

However, whomever managed to go this far would likely notice another thing: A low, ominous growling. Nearby, green, glowing eyes could be made out through one of the thicker patches of mist...

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It was a fine, sunny day out, quite lovely... Neirenn had been seized by the esire to get out of her hotel room and take a walk around the city. She'd been reading about the forthcoming mayoral elections, taken a look herself at the application for citizenship. The application itself had seemed quite straightforward, but she still she couldn't help but feel suspicious of it. As she'd told Xion, Neirenn couldn't be certain that it wouldn't bind them to the city somehow, or make them transform into the bland, luminous natives.

She narrowed her eyes as she walked past a native couple hand-in-hand. They're fake, she thought. Living and breathing, but they aren't people any more than the trees here are real trees. Just pretty decorations and not much more. Neirenn wouldn't become like them. She would figure out this place and find a way to return to her world that she could control.

But she hadn't gotten very far from the Actua Are when she noticed the strangeness. The scent of plants--real plants, flowers and greenery. Neirenn stopped and looked at a tunnel which hadn't been there before. More than that, she could feel the magic to it. She stepped closer, taking note of the mist that wrapped itself around the plants and drifted over the ground. What...? Stepping inside, her balance lurched as her foot hit uneven earth rather than the smooth stone she'd grown so accustomed to.

And then she noticed the growling. Some kind of guardian creature? Neirenn gritted her teeth. She could deal with whatever was in here--another part of her told her that something powerful enough to create this forest glade would certainly have the power to defend it from a human, but she ignored it. If it did come to that, she could always open a portal. "Is anyone in here?" she asked as she walked further in.

At first, Neirenn’s question was answered only by the rumbling growl that she had heard earlier. However, a moment later, the sound came from a different direction. Whatever was in there… it could move fast.

Light filtered through the leaves, making the blankets and tendrils of mist shine an almost opaque white. However within them, movement could be seen. A low, slinking shadow moved through them, two green lights shining where its eyes should be. The creature drew close enough for a distinctly lupine shape to be made out… before it shot straight upwards, and into the canopy.

The growling stopped, and there was a long moment of silence, before a youthful, feminine voice called out from above. “What are you doing in my forest?”

Neirenn stopped as the growl intensified, biting her lip. Maybe going further in wasn't such a good idea... but she couldn't turn back now, not after seeing this much. Her head whipped around as the source of it changed abruptly, much too abruptly for comfort--not that the growling had been pleasant in the first place.

And then the strange play of the lights--Neirenn looked away from the mist quickly as it brightened, feeling the magic move around. But it wasn't something she was familiar with, too... wild, she couldn't predict it. Obviously she was in trouble now. I'll use a lightning spell, she decided as she started to mentally prepare herself for a fight. I don't want to burn this place down. She backed away from the shadow winding its way through the luminous mist, not wanting to let it get any closer. Eyes, those were definitely eyes.

She jumped back at the sudden blurred shape, but there was no time to fire a spell. Neirenn searched the canopy with her eyes as everything seemed to stop, wondering if it was going to drop down on her head to rip her apart... until someone spoke. "I... didn't know it was your forest," she said. Well, that was true, though obviously it had been someone's. "Were those your eyes just now?"

“Humans never do seem to know.”

There was some rustling up in the canopy of leaves, and a flash of white, but overall, whomever was there was rather quiet as it moved about, almost circling above the girl. Ivy leaves fell here and there, indicating where the creature had been.

“And of course those were my eyes.” There was a bit more rustling, before something dropped down from the leaves and landed on one of the moss-laden stones. At first, it appeared to be a swirl of shining white hair, before it stood up and was… a girl. A very displeased looking girl. She was surprisingly pale, and even the gray-green sleeveless tunic and boots she wore were rather unsaturated. “Who else’s would they be?”

The short girl hopped down from her rock, and landed on all fours. Her long, shining hair flowed like a cape behind her as it trailed on the ground. She prowled a couple steps, before zipping behind Neirenn and to her other side, where she stood, her delicate little hands on her hips. “But you still haven’t answered my question. Just what are you doing in my forest? You’re here to spoil it, aren’t you?”

Humans... Neirenn watched the movement of the leaves, trying to track the mysterious person. Whoever it was, she was as silent as an animal. Was she a talking animal of some sort, then? A magical creature? Neirenn resisted the urge to take a step backwards as the shimmering white shape dropped to the ground. She didn't want to show fear; that might be dangerous--

--but it was a girl. A rather small girl, almost insubstantial. Neirenn couldn't help but stare, even while reminding herself not to underestimate this person or her capabilities. She might be little, but if this forest is her creation--she's got more magic in her than any of the Academy's archmages you could name, she thought. The mage watched the girl's animalistic movements, her innate curiosity quickly subsuming apprehension.

"Of course I'm not!" she said. "It's so beautiful... this is the first time I've seen real plants since I've been here. Did you create all of it?" It was only one of many questions that were now clamoring in her mind.

That coaxed a smile out of the girl. “I made all of the best parts.” She boasted.

“Did you know this place has almost no soil at all? I had to go past the gate to find enough…” she paused, as if considering whether or not to say something. But, she simply continued with “That’s where I found the stones too.”

She gestured to the stone she’d hopped off of earlier, and as soon as Neirenn’s attention was on it, she scurried up one of the vine-covered arches. A moment later, she swung into view, hanging upside-down from the vines, with her knees hooked around the leafed creepers.

“But all the rest is mine.” She spread her arms to indicate all of the plant life, and the mist, which was dissipating, allowing more and more of the miniature forest into view. However, the fog still clung to the ivy-carpeted walls, making it appear as though the space was larger than it already was.

"That doesn't surprise me," said Neirenn, glancing back out towards the rest of the city. All stone and glass--which she was used to, having been born in quite a sizeable city herself, but Aydensfell did have parks and growing things in it. "It must have taken a while for you to shift all of it... I'd say it was worth it, though." Even if the little girl--no, not a little girl, the forest's creator--had done it by magic, Neirenn imagined it would have still taken quite a bit of energy to do so.

She followed the girl's movements with her eyes, watching as she scuttled up the arch effortlessly. The receding mist just made the area seem lovelier, and took away some of the eerie atmosphere, which Neirenn had o admit she felt glad about. She didn't want to let her guard down still, but it was miles better than creeping through dark trees and watching a pair of glowing eyes in the mist. "How did you make all the plants grow like this? Are you... a forest spirit, or a nature guardian?" she asked, trying to remember if she'd studied anything like this at the Academy. Neirenn didn't think her world had anything quite like this girl, but there might be something similar she could compare it to.

“Not all that long really --I’m very fast. But it was worth it.” It had taken her almost all of the week to get it to this point. Which, considering some of the trees looked several years old, really wasn’t that long. But Aisling opted to leave that little tidbit out anyway.

However, at Neirinn’s following questions, Aisling giggled, and swung back up into the shelter of the leaves. Once again, she was hidden from view, save for a glimpse here or there. She sighed, before replying, “No one here knows anything.”

The sound of her voice moved above Neirinn and then to her right, before the girl dropped back down, hanging from the vines by her hands. “My kind have had many names though the ages. But even children where I come from know that I’m a fairy.” Sure, it was pretty much the same thing, but apparently the fairy felt the need to be particular.

“And as for how I got the plants to grow like this, I just asked.” She made it sound like it was something oh-so-simple.

"...You're very persuasive, then," said Neirenn, looking around at the verdant glade again. She decided that she wasn't going to doubt the sort of power this fairy might have, and decided also that she definitely wanted to be on her good side for a variety of reasons. But one of the big ones was definitely the desire to walk out of here in one piece.

Still, maybe that wasn't so much of a worry. The fairy-girl seemed to be okay with Neirenn's presence now that she wasn't considered a threat, so as long as Neirenn stayed unthreatening it would probably be all right. She smiled a little... it was cute how the fairy seemed unable to keep still, always moving from one part of the greenery to another. Neirenn sat on the ground gingerly, not wanting to hurt any of the plant growth. "It's hard to know everything when people here come from such different places. We don't have fairies where I come from--or if we do, nobody's seen them," she explained, looking up at her. "We just have humans, elves, and da'kor." Maybe that would encourage the fairy to explain more about her race and what they did.

"Oh... do you have a name? Mine is Neirenn."

Aisling darted to a tree-pillar, then popped her head around the side of it and in response, merely nodded with a smug “Ah-huh!” of agreement. Surely a plant wouldn’t listen to human about growing faster. She’d seen ‘farms’ in Kells, and the plants took their time when they grew. And Aisling really disapproved with how the humans killed the other plants in the area so the plants they wanted grew better.

The little fairy giggled as the human listed off the kinds of creatures. She scampered back up into the false canopy as she spoke “Some humans have called my kind elves…” she said, “But I’ve never heard of da’kor.” The little fairy sounded bored as she discussed the use of the word ‘elf,’ however, she seemed to perk up a little at a mention of a race that was unknown to her.

Then, suddenly, she dropped down from the leaves above, standing extremely close to Neirenn. She scrutinized the human for a moment, before simply replying “I’m Aisling.” It seemed people just gave away their names here. It seemed so odd.

Aisling? The sound of the name sounded like it could be from the magic language that some spells required to cast. "Our elves look much different than you," Neirenn said, but she didn't say it to mean that they were better or worse, simply that they weren't the same. "They look like humans, except they have long, pointed ears. And da'kor are shorter than humans, with fur, horns, and tails."

She watched Aisling move around the canopy, but started a little when she simply jumped down to the ground right in front of her. Were humans as strange to her as Aisling was to Neirenn? she wondered. "Are there--a lot of you where you come from?" she asked. Or was it one of these fairies per forest, or...? Aisling seemed to bright and friendly to be one of a fading breed, as the da'kor and elves had been on the road to becoming back home.

The little fairy giggled as Neirenn explained what elves and da’kor in her world looked like. Perhaps the girl thought that humans would look silly with pointed ears?

However, when Neirenn asked if there were many of Aisling’s kind where she came from, the pale girl looked down and away, wrapping her arms around herself. The air in the little grotto seemed to get slightly cooler… perhaps because the mist that had been receding slowly swirled back inwards, curled wisps of it beginning to obscure the little fairy.

“There used to be.” For once, Aisling was still, her long hair rolling down her back and vanishing into the thickening layer of fog. “Now I’m all alone.”

Neirenn let out a small gasp as Aisling's reaction answered her question very clearly. The glade itself seemed to respond to the fairy's sadness, fog drifting back over the ground. Neirenn's hands curled tightly at the change that came over all of it. She... hadn't thought such a bright little creature would have been able to hold that kind of sadness in her. Otherwise, she wouldn't have asked.

...and yet, she couldn't help but to want to know more. "What happened?" she asked quietly, the question coming out of her before she could think about what a foolish thing it was to say. It wasn't as though she had wanted to talk to anyone about her mother's death... not even her father. To be the last of an entire race of people...

"I mean--no, I'm sorry. I... didn't realize. I shouldn't have asked."

The fog remained, as did the silence, for several long, chilly minutes. The usual sounds of woodland animals that would still accompany a scene like the one around Neirenn were, of course, absent, and created an eerie ambiance.

Then, a quiet voice answered. “It’s… it’s alright. You didn’t know.” Silence creeped in again, before the girl’s voice sounded from a different place, off to Nerienn’s side. “I won’t say his name. But He took them all. He took everything.”

Where had she gone? Neirenn lost track of Aisling in the mist and shivered--chilly, damp, and beginning to feel a creeping sort of loneliness in the strange silence. She might have been a city girl, but Neirenn had traveled on foot through forests and knew that they were not quiet. She held one arm loosely with the other as the fairy spoke up again, and then moved to a different spot.

He. The simple word carried a dark weight when Aisling said it. Neirenn wondered what it had been--she pictured forests burning, while the fairies guarding them tried to fight it off. Or maybe it had been something else, summoned creatures tearing them apart. Or... there could be any number of terrible things. "I'm sorry. You don't have to talk about it," she said quietly, not knowing what else she could or should say. There was a point where that word lost its meaning, if it really had any at all.

There was another long silence… before a simple, quiet sound broke it. “Okay.” The fairy replied, from a little above Neirinn and to the right. The fog remained just as thick, however, Aisling had moved low enough in the vines and branches that she was visible again.

“I’m glad there doesn’t seem to be anything like Him here.” She said a few moments later. “Most of those I’ve met here have been strange, but not bad.”

Neirenn smiled a little when Aisling came back into view. "I think most here find everyone else strange, in some way," she said, leaning back a little and propping herself on her hands. She decided not to speculate aloud or reassure the fairy that nobody like Him was here--partially because she thought it would be best just to leave it, and partially because she didn't know if it was true.

"There are people from all different worlds--I like meeting people from them," she went on, slipping unconsciously into her chatterbox gear in an effort to move further away from painful things. "Magic that I've never seen before too, like this. I don't like how we were brought here, but... in a way, I'm glad I have the opportunity to see all this."

Aisling wasn’t surprised by what Neirenn said. After all, Aisling was pretty sure that she was the only normal creature in this strange place.

As the mage continued speaking, it distracted the little fairy from her past, and, almost imperceptivity at first, the fog began to fade, coating the grass and ferns in a sprinkling of mist. As more light filtered in from above, the water droplets sparkled, like little stars had fallen asleep on the plants.

“I… I miss MY forest. I’d rather be there and never have seen this. But there are some neat things here.” She admitted, before dropping down from the branches, sitting in the foliage below.

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An apartment won't do... [Active/open]

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(OOC: so sorry for the delay! <:C )

no worries =3

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No, it wasn't Voldemort ;D

XDD

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