[J] Aurelius's Diary +Illusionist: romantic wishes+

[shibrogane]

[plans]

It wasn't okay, but she could still keep going.

Her boy had just gone to sleep, and Aure sat at her desk playing a game on the internet. For anyone else, this wouldn't be abnormal, but for her, it was like the second coming. She had never thought she had time to play games before- and while she certainly didn't play often, she played enough.

Being driven had its disadvantages.

But that didn't matter to her, not right now. Aurelius was expecting guests- the very ones who had just knocked on the door. “Come in,” she said, shutting out of the game and turning off the monitor as the door handle turned. A red-headed boy walked in, accompanied by someone who looked to be his older sister. This form of Ero was new, again; did she never get tired of changing her face? With a sigh, she stood up and straightened her black dress. “As you promised, Ero.”

Aurelius held out the clear crystal to the woman. It dangled from her thin fingers by a long silvery chain.

To her astonishment, though, Ero only caught the trinket by the tips of her fingers for just a moment. Then it blackened and seemed to age, becoming antique where before it was lovely and new. For a moment, Aure's mind was confused; she couldn't identify how she had felt before emotionally. Quite literally, the corresponding ache had been sucked away. “You can keep it, in case you change your mind,” said the underworld goddess. “Darling, I didn't like doing that to you. You know how it is though... Family.”

Aurelius nodded, almost sad, but with clear and purposeful eyes as she looked at the trinket in her hands. Had Ero had this the last time she had fulfilled this bargain for her? Yes, she must have had it. It was the simplest explanation, and while Occam's Razor sometimes seemed to not apply, usually it worked quite well. “Yes, I do believe I know.” She could still see those lovely violet eyes looking at her from the bench in the park, could sense her boy sleeping peacefully in his room not thirty paces away.

This didn't mean she had become weak, she consoled herself quickly before the disgust could show on her face. Now she was determined to protect Ianthe however she could, she was stronger than before. To make sure he grew up in a safe place, in a safe way... She absolutely had to clean the world. For Ianthe.

Seeing she was preoccupied, Ero hurried out. Croatoan, she knew, still had something to say to Aurelius.

“Thank you,” he said, softly. “I know you didn't have to do that.”

She sighed. “It wasn't for you.”

“Oh, I know. You did it for him. The boy in the other room.”

“Ianthe.”

Croatoan looked at her oddly. “I guess you were never my mother.”

She smiled, a personal little thing that made him feel so very awkward to see. It looked strange; Aure looked almost human. “No. But as long as he needs me, I am his.”

He left the house in silence. There was much for him to think about.

 

[shibrogane]

"There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it."

 

[shibrogane]

roleplay
private
with mxskai over AIM

"Keiran!" Kara called. Keiran turned around.

"What?" he asked.
Kara held out a dog leash. "I bought this for you!!" she announced, unwrapping it.

"You want me to wear that?" Keiran made a face.

"Yep," she said. "It's against the law for dogs to be walked unleashed." Kara reached up and collared Keiran.

Keiran opened his mouth to object, but Kara had already finished, and was pulling him out the door.

"We're going outside?" Keiran moaned. "Stop!! Hey--"

"Bad doggie. No complaining," Kara hushed, grinning.

Keiran gave up and settled for staring at the back of Kara's head. People were turning and staring at them, but neither Kara nor Keiran cared all that much. Soon, Kara had led her make-shift dog to the local convenience store.

She almost ran into a young man on her way past the doors. Aure stopped, barely in time to avoid bumping into Keiran; he looked to be a good four inches shorter than her, maybe six even. But then, he likely had room to grow still. Still... She put her hands on her hips and stared at the backs of the two children who had walked past her. Was the male being lead about by a leash? Instead of proceeding to the registers as she had planned, she followed them curiously. "What are you doing," she asked, her voice somewhat clipped and businesslike. Almost disapproving, even, although she found it more... interesting than abhorrent. Perhaps she should do the same to one of the idiot men in her life.

Keiran and Kara spun around, surprised. Keiran's face immediately turned as red as tomato, while Kara smiled and said, "We're buying milk."

Keiran began to paw at his collar. "Kara, will you please get this off of me?" he hissed.

Oh, she did like this girl. Aurelius smiled back. "Is that so? Perhaps I will walk with you." After all, Ianthe did go through milk much faster than she did. Perhaps it would be best to have a second gallon for when the boy forgot to tell her they had run out. "You have an attractive dog, by the by."

Keiran's face turned even redder, if possible. "Who's attractive?" he growled.

"You are," Kara replied, whacking him with the back of her hand. Then, turning back to the woman, she said, "Thank you. Your company is welcomed."

"My name is Aurelius. It is good to meet you," she said, aware that she had a rather stilted way of speaking. She didn't seem to care, though; her head remained at the same arrogant tilt, though her eyes followed Kara and Keiran almost exclusively. "May I ask what brought about this situation?"

"I'm Kara. He's Keiran," Kara introduced, pointing to her "dog," who was currently standing with his face to the wall. "We just ran out of milk, and I decided to take him out for a walk, so we came to the convenience store."

Meanwhile, Keiran was slamming his forehead into the wall, thinking, Attractive...she said attractive...

She nodded, as though this made complete sense. "I was not aware that pets were allowed inside," she said lightly, watching Keiran bang his face against the walls. "Is that quite healthy?"

Kara patted him on the head, standing up on her tip toes to do that. "It's okay. He does that sometimes."

"Ah. I suppose then it is redundant to say that perhaps you should have it checked out." She frowned, then pulled Keiran away from the walls. They may be the same height, but she was older, and had the element of surprise on her side. "You might refrain. You are embarrassing yourself."

Keiran stared at her, not sure whether to be angry or embarrassed.

"It's okay. He's not defunctioning or anything. He just does that. I don't really know why, though..." Kara mused. "He does it a lot, especially when I do this..." Kara tackle-hugged Keiran and said, "You're so cute!"

Keiran froze and stood rigid, even after Kara had gotten off of him. "See?"

Thoughtfully, she looked at Keiran for a few moments. "He is rather cute," she said carelessly. In a dangerous sort of way, perhaps, when he wasn't standing as still as a statue. "At this rate, however, it will be several hours before we make it to the dairy section. Perhaps we should move along?"

Kara smiled and said, "You're right." She turned around, pulling on the leash. Keiran gagged and dropped to the ground like a stone. Sighing, Kara walked back and picked Keiran up, then proceeded to walk toward the dairy section. By now, the entire store was staring at the strange trio.

She followed, well aware that stories like this weren't going to help her corporation's reputation any. However, she was counting on her new appearance to keep things like this quiet. Aurelius stayed silent until they all stood in front of the milk freezer; she opened the door and tucked a half-gallon into her basket, then held the glassy thing open so Kara could pick hers out.

Kara dumped Keiran onto the ground, then reached into the refridgerator and pulled out two gallons of whole milk. "Thank you." She then put the milk carefully into her basket, picked it up, then swung Keiran over her shoulder. "To the register?"

"Of course," she said as she watched the two in quiet amusement. "That would be the logical place." Anyone who knew Aurelius knew she really did love logic and logical things. She smiled and walked ahead of the two, towards the cashiers. "I must say, you two do have a tendency to... make a scene, do you not?"

"We're making a scene?" Kara asked in surprise, looking around.

"What happened?" Keiran asked groggily. He looked up, realized that he was being carried by Kara, then passed out again.

She gestured at the staring people. "They are not staring because of the astounding beauty of our party," she informed the girl dryly. "Did you not see?"

"Oh. No, not really..." Kara replied, staring at the people who were, in turn, staring at her. "Would it help if I put Keiran down?"

This was rather unbelievable to Aurelius. But she didn't comment, other than to say, "He is currently unconscious, so it is quite unadvisable, but yes, when he awakens, it would aid in the defusing of the situation."

"You have very big vocabulary," Kara remarked.

Not to brag, but she did have quite a list of accomplishments. She had had them since she was sixteen. It had, of course, been hard- she had lacked the drive to score as high on her tests and finals as she might have if she had gone for some of the degrees later in life. But at the time, it had seemed very necessary. "Overpraise, Kara. I simply read a quantity of books." Aurelius looked over the two rather conveniently empty cash registers. "Perhaps, if you are amiable, we may speak more later?"

"Oh, sure. I'd love to." Kara smiled, then handed the slightly stunned cashier her two gallons of milk to ring up.

Aurelius herself had a pound of apples and her half-gallon; she didn't feel like handing over cash, so instead paid with her debit card. It took less time than otherwise. Once her purchases were bagged, she glanced over at Kara. Would it be a good time to speak now? They at least had to exchange phone numbers to be able to meet up again, rather like you actually had to introduce helicase to DNA to begin a protein reaction. She decided to wait, and pulled out an apple.

Kara paid for the milk, then turned toward Aurelius. "Would you like to come over our house?" she asked spontaneously.

She lifted one eyebrow half a millimeter exactly; though she didn't practice, one of her employees had once commented on it, so she was aware of the exact distance. "I suppose I have nothing to do," Aurelius said, thinking of Ianthe and how he would be at his lessons for at least another hour...