#djhookwizardpuppy

a term that came to mind was  culture clash.  before the summer, before his broken foot, aion had never spent much time with other  kids his age  outside of training. his father had been strict about it all — about his grades, about his performance on the field — and there had been no place for a social life in that schedule. there had not been place for a broken foot, either, and this was why, instead of being away with his team, he was at his grandmother’s, helping her around the house as much as he could with his crutches and … having  free time.

it should not be a novel concept. he knew this. it should be something he was used to, it should be time he spent on his hobbies only — he did not have hobbies. his grandmother had been  shocked  to hear this, had grumbled into her scarf and looked grimly out of the window. she had not been … happy with his reassurance that he did not mind helping her in the kitchen, that he did not want to be a burden after he had been dropped off at her doorstep without much of a conversation because his father had had to catch his plane.

( his father had told him that his grandmother was rarely happy, but aion suspected that there was far more to this than his father wanted him to know. )

turning towards the other boy now, he smiled. he always smiled a lot, he had been told that it was a good habit to have, that his smile was charming and winsome. sometimes, it was almost — exhausting, but it was easier now that he slept in every morning as his grandmother was not up before seven and pass his bedroom door until half an hour later. 

“ master goldmine did say i shouldn’t be surprised if his messenger would simply appear in the middle of my guildhall. ”

almost, she would have scolded herself. she should not talk about her guild like this, she did not own it. the building, the garden — it was all the physical form of the guild she was leading, and she did not own it any more than she owned the people who had the mark of the serpent on their skin. at the same time: the guild had been her home when she had had nowhere else to go. when no one had wanted an orphan girl.

wrapping her scarf around her shoulders, she angled her head and squinted at the man who had materialised in front of her. she was not sure what she had expected and the truth was, she had probably never had a clear vision anyway. the nature of his guild made it — difficult to form any expectation to begin with. but he was carrying a folder with his guild’s crest and thus, it had not been difficult to make the guess that he was the one goldmine had entrusted the papers to.

clearing her throat, she mentioned for adam to step closer; as her assisstant, he was one of the few who knew what she had been discussing with goldmine since the last time they had met in person, usually via communication lacrima, but papers could not be delivered that way.

“ while i do appreciate master goldmine's --- interest in a . . . friendship between our guilds, you  did  just spook me. ”

elian liked sunsets, but only for what followed them. she had spent many hours of her life, watching the moon grace the night sky with its quiet presence. sometimes, she had thought of resce when she had looked at the moon and then, she had been sad. so many years after his death, it was still something that hurt. grief was like that, she supposed. easy to court, difficult to show out the door. she did not know how mortals could do it --- their lifespans were so short and their loved ones so fragile.

in her long lifetime, she had not lost many cherished people, but she had lost enough to know that each time, they took a part of her heart with them that she would never see again. most days, she still felt whole --- because the part they had taken from her, they had gifted her with others. with memories of happy hours, with the knowledge that few were the same before and after they had loved.

running a hand through her hair, she shrugged as she settled down on the biggest rock, careful not to dent it with her other hand. many things could be explained away, her moulding rock like clay probably could not. “ i hold a fondness for the moonlit skies, ” she said, careful to avoid the mention of stars. once, she had liked them as well, but after her brother's actions, she could barely stand their sight. it was . . . too painful to see all the constellations and to know in the depths of her heart that she would  always  miss those still locked behind gilded gates.

“ i am feeling generous. i’ll give you two. ”

her voice was slow, measured. exemplary in the amount of self-control it conveyed. and self-control was what had kept her from twirling around, tearing her glasses from her face and petrifying whoever had come across her preferred clearing. few went still as deep into the forest as she did, but the currency she dealt in was secrecy and thus, sacrifices had to be made.

dark eyes lingered on the other. he had appeared out of nowhere, had not been there one moment yet there the other. she had seen magic like this. she had spent two days wondering how she would deal with it when she had prepared herself for the s-class trials. there would have been no shame in losing to someone actually  known  for their combat prowess, but losing to  mest  had never been an option. in retrospective, she was almost glad that their paths had not crossed. had she fought him, she would now be regretting not having been harder on him.

so. teleportation magic. it was the only explanation that made  any  sense; she had been focused on the spell she was working on, but she had not been completely captivated by it. had he approached by any conventional means, she would have heard him coming  before  he had suddenly been right next to her.

her temper simmered down, just a bit, and she let go of her glasses, instead crossing her arms. she was not sure if she had seen him before. it was possible that she had, but she … did not pay a lot of attention to other mages, unless they could become a problem, later on. tapping her foot against the forest ground, she angled her head. “ alright, ” she said — still slow, still cautious, “ what’s your story? ”

song to dance to when they’re alone.  this seems to imply that there is a song she does not dance to, but … footloose. a timeless classic, as far as she’s concerned.

porlyusica is a  genius,  but it is not something she has ever openly advertised or bragged about. it is something people only ever realise that for the qualifications she has obtained while still in edolas, she has to have enrolled into higher education at a very young age. and she did. again, this is not something she personally thinks about a lot, it is even something she would consider part of the normal sequence of events. she received some of the best education available from a young age, so she  obviously  would reach certain milestones faster than others. for her, this is her teachers’ accomplishment, too, though she worked hard.

and while her strength has always been research and theories, she is still a highly accomplished surgeon. in fact, she has made a name for herself in the medical circles of the continent, something she is not always happy about. 

throughout her stay in earthland, one of her biggest regrets has always been that she has not been able to see as much of this world as she would have liked. the recent decades have been filled with war and other catastrophes all across the world and simply put, travelling outside of fiore and the countries that are very close would not have been safe. had she not had others to consider, too, she might have put her life at risk for the sake of exploration, but not like this.

at the beginning of her stay in earthland, porlyusica fell  very  ill. and while she would nowadays downplay just  how  sick she was, it was serious. death was perhaps not lurking next to her bed, but death certainly was in the next room. what saved her life was her generally healthy condition and that she was an adult rather than a child. when, years later, mystogan fell from the heavens, he suffered similarly when he had to adjust, but by then, she knew what was going on and could quickly devise a treatment.

elian did not want to push away what she could not comprehend  --- the betrayal, the cowardice ---  she wanted to see her brother punished for it. maybe then, she would find closure, maybe then she would even come to understand why he had done what he had done. even if she could come to understand, she would never be able to forgive. she thought of  the children, murdered  and her stomach turned. 

but this was her and it was ... unlikely to say the least that the mortal's thoughts were wandering the same path as hers. no, the way he held himself, the way his ... loud, his boisterous nature seemed to be  gone,  all of a sudden, his was thinking about rejection. and rejection was ... it was something she was not familiar with. it was something she had never had to worry about, thankfully.

“ that  is  human, sadly, ” she said, a sigh escaping from her lips. “ i never understood. i'd be too curious to push anything away. suppose i've always kept poking things until it cost me my fingers. ”