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Post by Holly on Aug 8, 2011 14:37:54 GMT -5
laqueum 13, 1585 , sunset
acerbus umbra castle, acerbus umbra, pertinax
Of all things to hear in the castle of Acerbus Umbra, one wouldn't expect the sound of a violin to be on the list. And yet, as he walked through the castle, Chase Vega could clearly make out the melody to a song that he remembered from his childhood in Naktis. However, the melody back then was slow, cautious, and still needed work. Now, the melody was quick and precise, practiced and polished. The high notes sang beautifully, not squeaking as they would if a beginner had picked up the stringed instrument and tried to play it.
And the harmony was a voice that the soturi knew very well, though he had never actually heard her sing before. Rounding one of the corners, he found a lone girl sitting on one of the chairs in the main hall. Her ocean blue eyes were distant, lost in the world of music and her own thoughts. Only when she finished her song with a held out soaring note did Chase step out of the shadows, clapping quietly. "You've really improved, Hols."
The girl stood up, violin in one hand and bow in the other. Her eyes had widened, shock and disbelief swirling with sorrow and anger. Without a word, she turned and started walking away from him.
"Wait! Holly! I just want to talk!" Chase called after her. He jogged up to her side, then fell into her fast walked pace. When he looked into her eyes again, he saw nothing. There was absolutely nothing on her face to suggest anything she was feeling. "Holly, I just want to say I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me and I'm... I'm just sorry, Mistletoe," He sighed, somehow hoping to get through to her.
"Stop calling me that," Holly snapped softly, her voice portraying more than her face did. It was hurt.
"What? Mistletoe? I've always called you that," Chase protested. He frowned, stuffing his hands in his pockets. There was another long moment of awkward silence besides the sounds of their feet hitting the ground.
"Just stop calling me that and leave me alone, Chase. I can and will get the guards to throw you out of here and I can convince King Falkor or Aria to have you banned from this castle," Holly's voice remained quiet and sharp, trying hard not to show anything she was feeling.
Chase's frown became more evident. He walked just a tad bit faster so he could turn and be infront of her. The soturi stopped, watching as Holly tried to walk around him. Gently, he grabbed both her shoulders and said, "Holly, you have to believe me. I really am sorry about what I did and I regret all of it. If I could redo everything, I wouldn't have hurt them and I certainly wouldn't have hurt you. You mean the world to me, Holly. I don't want to lose you."
More quiet. The dim lighting in the castle and the way her bangs fell over her eyes made it impossible to read them as she stared at the ground. "Holly?"
The olisthir suddenly tore away from him, taking a few steps back. "It's too late for that, Chase," Holly shook her head, tears now obviously staining her face. "No matter how many times you say sorry, you can't bring back my siblings or my parents. You took everything away from me, all for making sure I would fall in love with you. And you know what, Chase? I did love you, but you lost that."
Without another word or another thought, Holly turned and left Chase Lance Vega alone in the hallway.
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Post by Roxilicious on Aug 8, 2011 21:38:56 GMT -5
And just as she rounded the corner, so did he, and they collided.
Falkor staggered in the slightest, only stepping back his left foot to catch himself from falling backward. He closed his eyes and made a face of pain, bringing his hand to his stomach and vocalizing his hurt with a quiet, delayed, "Ouf."
When he opened his eyes, he looked down at Holly. One of his eyebrows raised with skepticism.
"That happens unusually frequently." His voice was almost absent, as if he had the wind knocked out of him when Holly's short stature ran into his torso.
Taking a breath, Falkor decided to explain himself. "I apologize if I sound greatly weakened by that. My sister just punched be in the stomach when I asked what she wanted to do for her birthday next month."
"Aggghh!"
An exasperated scream echoed in the hall as Roxanna turned the corner and stormed down the hall in which Chase had been left all alone. Her crimson eyes were brilliant with rage, and her face had the slightest touch of red to it. Her fists were clenched tightly, and she was wearing her often-seen, winter secret suit: skintight, black, flexible leather and a black cloak that trailed elegantly as she created her own wind from her fast walking.
"Don't you just hate people?" she demanded, approaching Chase fearlessly. She stood in front of him, crossing her arms with a stubborn, mad expression plastered on her face. The woman would have wrinkles and crease lines from her constant frowning and knitted eyebrows.
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Post by Holly on Aug 8, 2011 23:18:59 GMT -5
Unlike Falkor, Holly didn't catch herself very well. Thanks to her small stature compared to his tall height and her speed, the abrupt stop made her fall onto her bottom, then rolling to her back. For a second, she didn't move, she just sighed and looked at the ceiling. Without another pause, though, she got up and dusted herself off, looking over her violin to make sure it wasn't damaged in anyway from the fall.
"It's fine, that sounds like something she would do. It is her birthday next month, isn't it?" Holly wiped away the tears in an attempt to look like she hadn't been crying. However, she couldn't hide the redness in her eyes. And the more she thought about crying, the more she thought about the reason behind it, and the more she wanted to cry. But, as much as she wanted to, she wouldn't. She had to be strong, especially infront of Falkor and Roxanna.
"Uhm... Do you need some ice or medicine for that?" She asked, trying not to make too much eye contact in the fear that her crying would be more evident. "If it's gonna bruise, I know some medicine for that."
"Oh, I don't know. There's just some people that you can't hate. No matter how much they hate you..." Chase sighed, his voice a little distant before he turned to Roxanna. When he actually saw there was someone talking to him, he jumped a little. Caught in his own thoughts, he had figured that he was imagining voices or something. But when he saw there was someone there, a woman taller than him, he was genuinely surprised.
"Uh.. I'm sorry to ask, but, have we met before? And why are you mad, if you're willing to tell me?" He asked, slightly concerned but also not at all. What could he say? The girl he loved practically said 'go away and never come back'.
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Post by Roxilicious on Aug 9, 2011 16:08:09 GMT -5
Falkor made a quiet grunt of pain when he breathed out, shutting his eyes tight. "Yeah, sure, that sounds perfect."
He turned around without really even waiting for Holly and walked at his usual pace down the hall to her quarters: it was surprisingly slow for a man of such long legs. The King walked calmly and coolly, evidently not in any rush whatsoever.
As the two continued down the hall to the magical world of medicine and alchemy, Falkor showed the slightest bit of a smirk, looking down at Holly from the corner of his eye. "Happy birthday, by the way."
"My stupid brother!" Roxanna, simply a member of the royal family at the time, yelled. "He thinks he has the right to pretend I don't exist, never talk to me, and watch me suffer my entire childhood and then, all of a sudden, decide he wants to be a nice brother? 'What would you like to do for your birthday, Roxanna?' he says, 'Anything you wish.' Agh! How dare he? He can't forget about me and then all of a sudden remember me just because my birthday is in a month!"
The entire time she ranted, the vedial with the electric-blue eyes paced back and forth in front of Chase, throwing her hands this way and that, crossing her arms, clenching her fists, and every once in a while, turning her head to look at him during times of emphasis. She looked about ready to explode with one loud scream of frustration. The noble girl wasn't really angry; she was just very frustrated.
And then it occurred to her. Birthday. Birthday? Holly's birthday! She had been so wrapped up in something petty her brother dared to do that she had forgotten her best friend's birthday!
"Oh no!" she exclaimed, halting in her tracks right then and there. "I forgot I need to tell someone something! And plan something for tonight, and get her a gift, and just show her my gratitude! Agh! This day could not be more stressful!"
Roxanna had turned around and begun to speed walk away after her first sentence. She wasn't really talking to Chase when she commented on her plans for tonight, Holly's gift, and her gratitude; at that point, as she sped away, she was just talking to herself, completely flustered with this whole day.
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Post by Holly on Aug 9, 2011 17:14:58 GMT -5
Chase smiled sadly, watching the noble vedial dash off. As much as he would love to believe she was talking about someone else, he knew who she meant. Without thinking about it, he called to Roxanna before she could disappear, "She likes stargazer lillies, if you're having a hard time thinking of a gift." Then he sighed, staring at the room, and leaned against the stone wall. Absentmindedly, he pulled a locket out of one of his back pockets.
"See you again sometime, Mistletoe..." He chuckled humorlessly, using manipulation magic to make a mistletoe appear above his head. Whether anyone noticed it, he didn't give a damn. The soturi didn't feel like going back to the celestial city quite yet. He traveled back to the main hall and sat in one of the chairs.
Holly looked up at Falkor, a puzzled expression on her face. "Huh?" The word slipped out before she had a moment to comprehend what he was talking about. "Birthday? Wait, wha..." She blinked, and a second later, it was a like a candle had been lit in her head. "Today's Laqueum 13th?! When did that happen?! Yesterday was the... The 12th..."
The realization dawned on her suddenly that days were starting to become mixed and she was starting to lose them from the days were she stayed awake for 24 hours and slept at different times. Aria said it came with the job. When she was an apprentice, she had the same thing happen to her. Holly just didn't think she would forget about her own birthday.
"Thank you," Holly smiled sheepishly.
She was already feeling better by the time they arrived at her quarters. Her room was far different then Aria's room. While Aria thrived to be as organized as possible (which usually didn't work), Holly demanded to have a room that blossomed with life. The only part of the room that was organized was the desk and floor. Papers littered the bed and the walls where she decided things needed to be pinned up. Shelves held a variety of plants that had yet to grow big enough for their pots. The most interesting of the plants was a venus flytrap that was big enough that it could snap around a human head.
"Sorry about the mess," She said out of habit. Hastily, she placed her violin down on the bed and began rummaging through drawers, frowning and shaking her head every so often. Finally, she pulled out a vial of pills that were glowing a golden yellow. "One of these should do," Holly chirped, handing him a pill.
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