Mysteries of Membuka

"If you're offering," Elias said with a soft smile. He was starting to warm up to Aideen. She was curious, but not pushy; sweet, but not overly so; and genuine. For once, he mentally thanked the Fates for their chance meeting.
 
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A new morning had come with all of its usually trappings and noises. Roz was prepared this time for the little sparrow who'd made it's morning ritual to tap a nut against her window. Her green-gold eyes peered up at the small creature, watching him intently. After a few moments, the young woman sprang up from her bed and yelled at the bird through the glass. It immediately bolted, fleeing into the sky and dropping its breakfast in a flurry of frightened chirps. Roz smirked and let out a quiet chuckle. "Serves you right, dumb bird. Waking me up every morning for two whole weeks! My window is not your tree!" She said, perhaps to reassure herself a little.

With a small sigh and a stretch Roz made her way to trunk pulling out a fresh chemise and a short sleeved moss green kirtle. She took to getting dressed for the day as her mind wandered. She noted how strangely quiet it was now that her family was away. One of her mother's friends had requested that she visit and to bring along Trias and Hugh, for her own daughter was recently old enough to receive suitors. Roz's father was at a nearby village on special commission to rebuild a wealthy merchant's antique dinning set. So for the next month, she had the house to herself. A smile slid across her face as she adjusted her frock before her mirror. Finally some peace and quiet. No more people telling her what to do, how to act, what to wear, who to like. Well, for a little while at least.

Grabbing on to a book and her coin purse, Roz slipped out the front door of her home. Sunlight blinded her for a moment and she waited for her eyes to adjust. "Now to see where the day takes me." She said, thinking aloud. She stepped out into the streets of town, with no particular direction and her book held close to her chest.
 
Aideen grinned brightly up at Elias as they made their way to the village, traversing the dull outskirts that separated the bustling little town from the lush green and powerful magic of the Enchanted Forest. Aideen couldn't help but wonder how many - if any - of the village's humans knew of the secrets that lay so close to their own homes. Perhaps there were other beings in the village with powers, superhumans and wizards and witches - maybe even other fairies. After all, cloaks and coats were common enough accessories, perhaps Aideen had unknowingly walked past others of her kind and didn't even know it. The idea intrigued her; she knew that once they reached the streets and the busy little market, she'd be eyeing every person she could get a look at and wondering what they might have to hide.
 
Elias kept an eye on Aideen, noting her thoughtful - perhaps a bit hopeful, too - expression. He thought about what she'd said, that he might be a superhuman. The idea seemed more plausible with each passing second. Perhaps he was not a cursed man, but merely a rather unfortunate superhuman.
He shook off the thought. It didn't matter what he was. Nothing had changed just because he'd discovered that he might be superhuman. He could still see death and he still couldn't do anything about it. Speaking of which, the visions from the village has begun to return, jamming themselves into his mind and begging to be seen. All it would take is a touch, he knew, and he closed his hands into fists within his coat pockets.
 
Aideen was still curious about Elias's powers, wanting to learn more, but she knew better than to discuss it with the humans around. As they reached the streets of town, the people bustled about. They milled around, chatting and laughing together, and Aideen found her hazel eyes darting around. The nearby woman with the cloak like hers, could she be a fairy? The man in the tall hat, could it be hiding elf ears? And maybe that child standing off by himself had some sort of hidden power. It was an intriguing thought, wondering how many magical beings she had walked past in all the times she had been here. She gave Elias a glance, hoping that he was comfortable with all the people around. It wasn't so crowded that you would bump into people or brush shoulders, but it was crowded enough to be a bit uncomfortable and claustrophobic.
 
Roz paced comfortably through the semi-busy streets. At some point or another, her hands and slipped the book open and her gaze turned to the worded pages. Her steps slowed the more she got lost in her reading, until she stopped completely. She stood comfortably, carefully turning from page to page absorbing everything that the pages presented. Though, Roz hadn't been there for long when someone came rushing up from behind and barreled into her. She toppled over from the sudden, unexpected force having to catch herself with her hands. Her book landed a few feet away, and she saw as oblivious towns folk stepped on it as if it were any other cobblestone on the ground.

"Watch it girl!" A deep, hot voice hissed. Roz looked up at it's owner, a overweight, well dressed man who promptly adjusted his hat and stormed off. She couldn't be completely certain, but she felt that she heard him spout off something about that being the reason women shouldn't be allowed to read. Moving up to sit on her knees, Roz inspected her hands. It could have been worse, but there were a few little nicks and scrapes. Only one or two were dotted with red. She sighed, and looked to see where her book was. Seemed someone had kicked it to the foot of a lamppost.

"See, little sis. This is why you need to keep your head out of the clouds and your feet on the real earth." Roz muttered to herself, mimicking the voice and mannerisms of one of her brothers. She smirked then took to getting back up.

((OOC: Thanks for noting most of the places I've unlocked! I do think I unlocked the Library as well, since my first post had 21 sentences ;) ))
 
Elias gave Aideen a slight nod as he caught her gaze. "I'll be fine," he said, more to himself than to her.
 
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Aideen was about to speak when she heard a shout nearby. She glanced in the direction it had come from just in time to see a girl falling to the ground and a large man kicking a book as he stormed off. She frowned a bit, glancing up at Elias quickly before making her way to the lamppost under which the book had stopped. She reached down and picked it up, turning towards the girl, who was already getting herself up.

"Here, I think this is yours?" Aideen said softly as she came to the girl, holding out the book and smiling kindly, her hazel eyes sparkling. She figured she'd do this so Elias didn't have to worry about accidentally touching the girl - he'd said touching people triggered his visions, after all - and also so she didn't look like a mean person, walking past as the man, who had faded into the crowd, so rudely shoved the girl over and kicked away her book.
 
Roz blinked a bit when a very lovely young woman approached her with her book in hand. She took it, her movements somewhat surprised and awkward. "Ah..yes...thanks..." was all she could think to say. There was something almost otherworldly about the petit woman before her. The uncommonly bright color of the woman's hair captured Roz's attention for a little longer than was generally considered polite. "Wow..." She muttered.

Catching herself, Roz cleared her throat and patted down her dress. She offered the shorter woman a smile. "You must not have any trouble getting suitors..." She said, once again thinking aloud. It took Roz a couple of moments to realize that she'd not kept that to herself. At that realization, her expression immediately flushed with embarrassment. "Ah! I uh..s-sorry. I beg your pardon! Thanks again! Good day to you!" Roz whirled around and started to hurry off down the road.
 
Elias watched the exchange from a safe distance. Aideen was truly a good soul, one whose final moments he never wanted to witness. What an unfortunate situation he was in.
 
Aideen couldn't help but laugh a bit at the woman's words. She offered her a warm smile and a polite "Thank you" before the woman turned and hurried off. Aideen was about to respond, but the woman was quick and clearly flustered, so the fairy just smiled and looked over at Elias. It was a cute comment, given that Aideen had never received a suitor in her life - of course, the people of the forest weren't quite as formal and fancy as the villagers. In the forest, partnership and marriage was just that - it wasn't about suitors or the pursuit of a woman's hand, it was about two people meeting and falling in love. She smiled as she watched the woman go before returning to Elias.

"That was cute," she mused. "She stared at my hair, then said I must have no trouble finding suitors." Aideen shook her head slightly, smiling. Humans were sweet in their own unique way. She liked them, it was just a shame she wasn't comfortable enough with them knowing about her.
 
Elias grinned. "You do have gorgeous hair," he said, "bright, shining. Matches your personality."
 
Aideen let out a soft giggle, smiling over at him.

"Why, thank you!" she said, lifting her hands to gently fluff her long orange locks. "Now, let's get to the marketplace, my storage needs food," she giggled.
 
Roz kept going at a quickened pace, and not daring to look back. What a dolt she was being this morning. A self-mocking smile appeared on her face for a moment before fading. Maybe it was that bird, constantly waking her too soon. She shook her head and blew out a sigh. Glancing up she saw the sign for the tavern down the road, swaying lightly from the door opening and closing as patrons made their ways in and out.

She quietly made her way over and slipped in after a couple exited arm in arm. Her eyes peered around seeing what seats were vacant, and their proximity to other guests. There was one chair open right near a window. Roz smiled and crossed over towards it. However, this day didn't seem done with toying with her. She wasn't five steps away when another gentleman sat down, scarcely noticing her. She imagined herself going up to him and explaining that he'd taken her seat, but instead spied another a couple tables away closer to the corner. Sitting down, Roz set her book down opening it to her last page.

In a few minutes time, she was able to get back into her flow, largely undisturbed. Though, it was getting towards the start of the mid-day crowd. As such the noise volume started in increase. Eager conversation and hearty laughter swallowed the low din of before. Outwardly, Roz appeared undisturbed, but she inwardly cringed as she re-read her sentence for the fifth time and still couldn't retain what it'd said. She looked up, finding that all but the seats beside her and across from her had been filled at her table. A group of young men and a couple of young women, she guessed a couple years her junior, were gleefully conversing over wine and fresh bread. She watched as one of the girls, dressed in a bright pink dress, with a green ribbon about her waist, pulled out a lace fan. It was obvious to Roz that the young lady was only pretending to be slightly warm, as to seem more attractive and respectfully flirtatious.

Roz furtively rolled her eyes, and her desire to be there rapidly dropped. She got up, drawing brief looks from her neighbors, and went out the door back out into the sun filled world. She turned towards the town square. Maybe the fountain would have a quieter seat.

((OOC: I believe I've unlocked the Theater :) ))
 
((OOC: The theatre and the hospital, nicks and scrapes dotted with red count as injury enough to unlock it ;) It only just now occurred to me, lol.))
 
Elias nodded, motioning for Aideen to take the lead, careful not to touch her, as always.
"Of course," he said, "and, if you so wish, I can help you carry anything."
 
Aideen smiled and nodded as she looked at him. Normally when she did her shopping, she lugged the bags to the forest on her own and then used magic fire to make it float along with her the rest of the way. However, having him here meant that she didn't have to lug the bags all the way to the archway, and she quite liked that idea.

"I'd really appreciate that, thank you," she said to him softly as they walked to the Marketplace. It was busy and crowded, filled with stalls selling all sorts of stuff - everything from fresh fish to jewellery, fruits and vegetables to clothing and shoes. Aideen slowed to a stop at one of these last stands, her eyes coming to rest on a pair of red flat shoes with little black bows on them.
 
"It's no problem," Elias replied. He was grateful that so far everyone had stayed clear of him and he hoped it would stay that way, but looking around at the bustling Marketplace, he doubted it.
Elias noted Aideen's sudden attraction to the shoes and grinned a little.
 
A giant fruit, red, round, and soft like berries, hung at the tip of a large branch of a gigantic, violet, and ancient tree. It fell and dropped on the ground, bouncing down the hill, through the dense forest of enchanted. As it reached a clearing, the fruit punctured and red liquid leaked out. The skin of the fruit tore, gushing out more red liquid, drenching the ground, and revealing a whole human male, wet and bare. His motionless body and his closed eyes tells that he was either asleep or unconscious. The hair on his head was short and dark brown. His skin white and his body well built. Then his eyes opened. His irises were also dark brown, but glistening with life and magic, just like the forest itself.

Slowly, he sat up. One of his hands pushing himself up while the other clasping his head.

Where am I? he asked himself. What am I?

Strangely enough, he knew his name was Idhron. He also knew that he needed to dress himself, no matter how confused he was. Fortunately for him, the skin of the fruit was tough like leather but light like feather. More importantly, they were wearable as a cloak or coat. Although it covered his naked body, he knew he needed to get some real cloths and breeches as well as shoes. At the moment, that was his purpose. But he needed directions.

"Where should I go?" he asked his surroundings.

Then there were whispers of voices without words. Surprisingly he understood them. It was the voices of the trees. They pointed him to a path, one leading out of the empty clearing.

"Thank you," he said and headed down towards the unknown.
 
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Aideen finally managed to draw her attention away from the shoes, giggling softly and looking up at Elias. She began walking toward one of the fruit and vegetable stands, figuring that was a good place to start, and began to quietly browse their selection to see what she wanted. The stand had large brown bags that you could use to collect the fruit you wanted, so she picked one up and began to place some round, shiny red apples in the bottom of the bag. The other fruit stands and vegetable stands were all much more crowded than this one, which was only being browsed by Aideen and a young human boy who was reading his shopping list to the merchant for help finding what his mother needed. Aideen smiled a bit as she watched them before moving to pick up a large head of lettuce.

((OOC: Shade, technically you are supposed to start in your house in the village because you haven't unlocked the forest yet, but I will let that one slide provided that you don't return to the forest until you unlock it, since you are only allowed to post in locations you've unlocked. I'll have your character info posted in a few minutes, I just need you to be including OOC notes with all the locations you've unlocked in that post :) you also need to specify what locations you are in, since you need to have visited the "town square" to unlock the marketplace ( where Elias and Aideen are) and you need to visit the " streets of town" to unlock the town square. EDIT: Also, please see the sign-ups thread as there is an issue with your character that needs to be addressed))
 
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