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Post by quinnquinn on Apr 30, 2015 7:44:26 GMT -8
"Cassidy, where are we going?"
An odd sight in the hallways of Death - a child staggering through, embracing each cold step underfoot. Odd how in death he could feel so alive.
"Where are you going?" He asked the air. His straitjacket bound him no longer in this world, long sleeves hanging down, stray buckles clinking together as he swung them around. He seemed to be looking at something, following it.
"That Inkidortes woman wanted to see you here." The demon hound growled. "Surely you haven't forgotten that much already?"
"We are not lost are we? We know where we're going?"
"What would I do without you Cassidy..."
"Not much. You are quite the pathetic one-- oh what is that racket..."
"It's loud. I don't like loud. Loud hurts you too."
"But this is to be our destination."
"Must I go in there? Do you want to go in there? Did she tell me to go in there? Of course you can go in there first..."
Beyond the door was some chorusing cacophony. It didn't hurt him to listen to it, but regardless he didn't want to jump inside just like that.
The hound sat down next to him. "Nonsense. I can't leave you. Who will protect you from your dreams? Not many demons are so benevolent as I, Owen." He sat down on the floor with his legs crossed, looking around, then back to the space next to him. "Cassidy... You only protect me. You can protect only me. You protect me to protect yourself. That's why you came out. Out is better than in... I will stay out here."
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Post by Ancients on Apr 30, 2015 9:35:56 GMT -8
Inidortes observed from the door way as the child sat down and spoke to himself, or rather, the space next to him. She could not help to think of him as a child, living in his own world as he did. In her time he might have been considered a man, but in this moment he was very much a child., in very much need of a friend.
Light filtered in through the open arches and skylights, causing exquisite shifting patterns of light to contrast sharply with the dark shadows cast by birds. Beautiful. And rather loud. But it was kind of musical loudness, one that Cacira did not mind. For a moment she watched as the light shifted of the boy's hair, highlighting the flyaways and baby hairs in golden light.
"Owen?" She called out his name from the doorway in a soft tone, hoping not to frighten him with a sudden presence. Yes, with this one she would break her habit of using last names, as uncomfortable as it made her. She'd revert to using his last name at a... later time?
Breaks in this habit were more often than she let on, and more often than she'd like her self think. No matter, she always distanced herself after a bit and started using their last names again.
After a few moments she strolled over to him and crouched, beckoning to the spot next to him (but not where...Cassidy?...was) silently requesting permission to sit.
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Post by quinnquinn on Apr 30, 2015 18:00:48 GMT -8
"Suit yourself. If you stay out here, then I stay out here with you." The hound shifted closer to him, offering a playful look. Owen looked down to his side and smiled with his eyes. "Out here is good."
He perked up at the sound of his name. It was a woman. Was it Death? It could be her! It could be--
It was a pale haired woman, though not the one he was expecting. He appreciated her presence anyway.
"Ah, Inkidortes."
"I-I know who she is..." Owen whispered with his hands, taking glances at the approaching woman, hiding his little looks as if it would change something. "M-Miss Inkidortes..." he turned himself around and looked at her. "We're sitting so you can sit too. Sitting is good." He hardly paused between sentences. "You can sit here." he pat the opposite side to where he was speaking to, and turned towards that side. Cassidy stood up and stretched her limbs a little, tail swinging close to Owen's face, just for that extra level of cheekiness. He closed his eyes and swat the air a little in caution, letting out a little huff of frustration.
"Were we going in there? What is in there? Why is it so loud in there? Will I like the loud?" he asked the woman, looking back and pointing at the doors. Shadows roamed around, and though they incited some level of fear of the unknown in Owen, he didn't react.
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Post by Ancients on May 1, 2015 10:50:33 GMT -8
Rather than replying, Cacira sat in the space Owen had designated, gazing at him quietly as he swatted the air and huffed.
After some silence and thought she answered his questions in her own way: "That, little one, is an extensive amount of questions. I would show you, but we have only just sat down. Unless, of course, you want to make me and my ancient bones leap up quite immediately." In all actuality she would not mind stranding up once again and venturing into the room with Owen. First, though, she needed to access the boy's well being. After all, this was a risk.
"How are you, two?" Her inflection and verbal grammar was precisely and intently vague, the phrase could be interpreted as something that applied only to Owen, or to his...friend. Cacira was still not sure how to approach this. There were many who came before Owen, at various ages and times and mindsets, but each one was uniquely different. She did not want to trigger him. Bringing him here was a risk... but she truly believed what lay in the room beyond those doors would ultimate aide Owen in one way or another.
In a minor movement Cacira unhooked a small bag from her belt, no bigger than the palm of her hand. She unconsciously fiddled with its drawstrings as she listened to Owen.
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Post by quinnquinn on May 1, 2015 17:46:48 GMT -8
"We can sit, Miss Inkidortes." he turned to his side and nodded. "We just sat down."
"What're you looking at me for, boy?" Cassidy growled under her breath. "She's the one who's talking to you. Didn't your mam teach you any manners?"
"Which mam? I had a lot of mams." He turned back to her. "I ask a lot of questions. I'm sorry I ask a lot of questions."
"But w-we're tidy, thanks." Owen glanced over to the side again, but tried his best to focus on the conversation. He had to focus more around here, he'd been advised. But he could take his time. He had the rest of his apprenticeship to work that out...
He looked over to the birds again.
"She's doing something, Owen--"
He looked over to the woman, who seemed to be fiddling with a bag on her person. He leaned in perhaps a little uncomfortably, curious at what she was doing. "She's not going to do anything strange is she?" he whispered back.
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Post by Ancients on May 2, 2015 17:14:15 GMT -8
"Nothing wrong with questions, boy." Cacira would much rather questions were asked and things were said rather than being pent up for who knows how long. Even if such questions were impossible to answer and things to be said were hurtful.
Whether she answer the questions, of course, was entirely up to chance.
Noticing his curiosity ringing out in the questions, which was not necessarily directed to her, she answered it anyway. "This is bird seed." She opened the bag and poured a few earth colored seeds into her hand and then held it out to him to inspect. "Owen, would you like to make some new friends?"
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Post by quinnquinn on May 2, 2015 17:39:00 GMT -8
Owen took whatever the woman offered him, and looked very intensely at it. He recognised it. He even ate one.
"Does it taste like you thought?" Cassidy looked at him, moving in to take a bite for herself. The boy just moved his hand with the seeds away, glaring back in the other direction with an angry huff. "Of course it does."
"Are they real friends?" he asked Ink. "I'm told I need real friends." With that, the hound whined a little. "Aren't I real, boy?" "You're real. But I don't know how real." he continued with a side glance. "I do wish you are real. I need real friends. I want real friends. I don't think I have real friends..."
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Post by Ancients on May 2, 2015 18:10:52 GMT -8
Cacira's eyebrows rose a fraction as the kid consumed a seed. Well, at least it wasn't harmful. "Those are for our friends, Owen. I must warn you though, they are quite bratty." She offered the bag to Owen. "Please put the seed back, our friends would rather like it if you shared it with them."
"Real friends? All friends are...real...if you consider them so. I do believe I am a true friend, but this is only so if you also consider me a friend of your's." Her misunderstanding was accidental; she did not realize the child was not referring to her in that question. In any case, she was not fazed by any of Owen's hand moments or other comments that she knew were not always directed to her. Such things did not worry her.
Cacira stood and offered Owen a hand up, preparing herself for bad outcomes and hoping her bird would would be... kinder... today. And not just her bird, but the other ones too. But that was a major stretch...
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Post by quinnquinn on May 2, 2015 18:36:04 GMT -8
"Was I not to eat it?" he clumsily emptied the seeds back into the bag, though they slid all over the place across his long sleeves and some of them landed on the floor instead. "These friends are to eat them..."
"Not that it would matter, would it?" Cassidy huffed a breath of smoke. "I could have eaten it too."
"No, they're for the friends..."
"If you're real I can touch you, isn't it." he leaned out on all fours and reached a sleeve to touch the woman.
"Then I'm not real then," Cassidy pointed out. "You can't touch me."
"But I talk to you, Cassidy..." he whispered to his empty side. "That makes you real too. Even if Death says you're not." He turned back to Ink, stroking her arm gently. "This means you're real too, Miss Inkidortes."
Seeing the hand, Owen roughly placed a sleeve on it, making sure his own palm rested in hers. "Are we going in now? We can go in." he looked over to the doors, the shadows still making him feel uneasy, the noise drowning it out simultaneously.
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Post by Ancients on May 3, 2015 8:02:20 GMT -8
"Yes, I do think we shall go in now." Cacira gently tugged on the sleeve which protected his palm inside until he would stand, she hoped. "Our friends are the birds. They are not the best friends one could have, but they are friends all the same to Death." And hopefully today to us, she hoped.
She moved toward the doors, hoping Owen would keep his palm resting gently in her and follow. With her empty palm she pushed one door open to the noise of bird calls and whistles which could be compared to a string orchestra warming up. One that was slightly out of tune, it would mention.
One step at a time- Cacira knew at this point Owen was to be the one taking the steps each time. How far they ventured into this room and met its inhabitants would be up to him. she looked at him as the true sky lights filtered strong golden light onto his features and waited for a reaction.
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Post by quinnquinn on May 3, 2015 22:26:17 GMT -8
Owen clung his hand in hers, standing up albeit unsteadily. Birds... he'd seen too many of Death's while alive, and now he was going to be formally introduced. How... strange.
"They didn't like you very much did they boy." Cassidy stood up with them and followed Owen along.
As Inkidortes opened the doors, the sound of a rushing storm came forth, a burst of noise and light. He whimpered and shielded his eyes from the sunlight, but he felt its warmth. With a little bit of time, the sounds dulled down and he looked ahead, and his eyes widened. Despite the density of the sounds, he liked what he saw.
"Birds, Cassidy!" He actually smiled. He actually looked happy. Owen hardly showed emotion but right now he was over the moon. So many of those majestic creatures, filled the room. "Are these the friends, Miss Inkidortes? Are they real friends? Can I touch them?"
"You can hear them. That's proof enough isnt it?" The hound snarled. "Why do you need to touch them too?"
"I've never seen some of these before. I've seen some of these before. I want to see all of them..."
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Post by Ancients on May 5, 2015 5:26:05 GMT -8
Lightly she hummed with happiness at the boy's smile. "Some of them may be friends. But you must make friends with them first." She took a mental snapshot of his smile and recorded it in her ancient memory, one of those moments she wound't mind remembering.
"These birds," she dropped his hand and took a few steps into a room, "are from across the globe. Each is beautiful in their own way, yes?"
Now where was her... ah yes. Cacira whistled a small tune, feeling rather like that conundrum of a Disnee character. She sang to birds and had dark black hair, and yet was called snow white. How strange. After a few moments a bird extracted itself from the rest, a lone finch, and grumpily landed on Cacira's outstretched wrist. Cacira grimaced as the bird dug his claws into her wrist, not quite puncturing the skin but close. Finch clearly was not going to let this go without a favor, and he clearly wasn't going to be too kind about it favor or not.
At least i have a semi-cooperative bird, sighed Cacira as she turned towards Owen.
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Post by quinnquinn on May 5, 2015 6:57:48 GMT -8
"Beautiful..." Owen continued to smile. This was bliss, this was colour.
Oddly enough, this was life.
"You're dead, remember?" Cassidy laughed. "What naive thoughts you have."
"I don't care. I feel alive. I miss being alive..." He went up to groups of the birds at a time, taking a long hard look at them, before Inkidortes began to call back one of her own. Owen promptly returned to her side, looking at the creature she had summoned.
Eyes wide, he reached a hand out to it. He wanted to touch it.
"I would love to eat one of these." Cassidy licked her lips, but moved none. She was a being of dreams, unable to touch these things.
"No, you can't... You're not Death's. Death wouldn't let you, isn't it."
"I guess you're right, boy."
Turning back his whole attention to Inkidortes and this magnificent yet small bird, he asked, "Is this a friend? Is this your friend?"
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Post by Ancients on May 5, 2015 7:44:40 GMT -8
Cacira hummed another tune to the bird and in casual happiness as Owen reached out. "You must ask to touch, love."
He muttered some words to himself, and Cacira let it go, not worrying too much about it. "My friend? Hmm, you would rather have to ask him." She looked down at the finch. "Are you my friend today?" He pecked her sharply, in what she took as a no. "It seems today he is not my friend," she said rather coolly, glaring down at the creature. He glared definitely back.
"But he may be yours yet. Do you still happen to have the bird seed?"
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Post by quinnquinn on May 5, 2015 8:02:08 GMT -8
"It wouldn't let you do anything either, boy." Cassidy gave a flick of her tail before wandering off. These feathery things were most amusing.
"C-Cassidy--!" Owen called out, but there was no response. Instead he turned back to Inkidortes and the birds. He recognised some of the behaviour it was showing. Those ones in his living days that seemed to detest humans to an unsettling degree, ones that no one could see... Yes, these were definitely the same ones. The same breed of disdain showed up very clearly.
"I have the bird seed, Miss Inkidortes..." he pulled out the bag again, figuring it was to entice these little things. He reached in and grabbed a sloppy handful, offering it to the small finch while others flew towards his feet to get to the carelessly dropped ones on the floor. Owen hadn't realised, but they were smart enough to move just out of his way as he came closer to the finch.
"Are you my friend today?" He repeated after the woman. "Can you be my friend today?"
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