|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:51 am
West of Barton is a field, a fairly empty field used mostly for picnics and other outdoor events. There would be many people during holidays, eating lunch on colorful blankets, or having a nap under a clear blue sky waiting for the sun to set and fireworks to begin. Children laughing (or crying), people talking, pets yipping and squawking would fill the field like a symphony.
But today, West of Barton was devoid of such delights and happiness. It was empty and still, with only the wind slicing itself along blades of grass. There were no sweet couples, no happy tykes, no exhausted babysitters, which was all for the best. The air began to crackle, and the wind began to blow harder. A gateway sparked open, connecting Silar with Gaia for the moment.
A cloaked figure steps out, and the gateway seals shut. He scans his surroundings, and heads to his destination. He does not bother to brush stray strands of his jet-black hair from his face, the wind is glad to fulfill that task. Crimson eyes set straight, brushing past the people in Barton. He ignores the shops completely, and does the same to the guard Leon and the young girl Rina who greets him a good day.
The man does not care for pleasantries, not when he knows his purpose for being in Gaia has nothing to do with Barton Town. No, he knows where he has to be, and who he will be doing business with.
Arriving at a building that hides a secret (though many of Gaia's establishments share that trait), the man enters without bothering to knock.
"I have come to discuss matters with Mister Archie," He declares coldly.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:33 am
The house was quiet except for the occassional exclamation of frustration from one of the back rooms, but when the door creaked open, Archie smacked pause on Super Smash Bros. and went completely silent. They left the house unlocked, but usually people still knocked. Someone was calling for him, and that someone had a Very Intimidating Voice. He almost regretted the fact that Dixie was out as he got up and inched his way to the main room.
"Yes, that's me. Can I help you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:45 am
The man was not subtle in giving Archie the once over, "You certainly didn't fit the image I had in mind. I was expecting you to be dressed a little more formally." He notes, though not exactly disapproving. There were merchants who had odd tastes in clothing, extravagant or flambouyant, but this Archie person was rather ordinary in his opinion.
"No matter, I am Arson Wyndre, you may remember my name. I had signed a document promising that I would find a suitable home for a..." he trails off, weighing whether he would bother being polite. "Criminal." Obviously he opted to be blunt, "I have found an appropriate accomodations for said criminal, although I am not to be the guardian."
At this, Arson pauses to give Archie a chance to respond.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:03 am
Archie felt a bit uncomfortable under the man's gaze. He might have apologized, but this Arson fellow didn't seem to be all that disturbed by his attire after a few seconds. This was his house after all, and he could wear all the bright colors he wanted, even if they clashed with the unfortunate shade of blue splattered on his skin.
This was certainly unorthodox, at least from the guardians' point of view. Usually people filled out the forms for themselves, but Archie supposed he could make an exception for a scary man with a very nice name, if he did say so himself. "As long as this other person is responsible, I guess that would be okay." Not that guardians were always picked because of their ability to be responsibile, but it was the first thing that came to mind. He didn't want to make it sound like he chose certain people as a joke, even though sometimes that's exactly what he did.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 6:23 pm
"Yes, well there might be some small complications involving the future guardian." Arson smirks to himself, as if having said a funny joke. "He is an associate of mine and one might even go so far as to say we are good friends. His name is Irlan Cut, he will be living in an apartment Durem."
Arson continues to explain about Irlan's situation, about how he will be arriving tomorrow and it would be best to summon him as soon as possible. He goes on to further explain that Irlan has been assigned a task, and that this task will not hinder his qualification on his being a guardian, but not once does he mention what sort of person his associate is. "He will not be a willing guardian, that much I will tell you but it is possible to manipulate him into accepting the position." Arson grins, obviously he is used to playing cruel jokes on Irlan and vice versa.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:00 pm
O...kay. Archie shrugged. "Do I have to do this manipulating?" It wasn't that he wouldn't, he just happened to be kind of bad at outright lies. Maybe he'd ask Dixie to make the call in exchange for wand-sitting.
"I don't have a problem with it," he added hastily. It still wouldn't do to upset this guy. No matter how many times he smiled, Arson was still scary.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:31 pm
"Splendid, when the Criminal is to arrive, call this number. Irlan will be there to answer it, I will make certain of that." Arson then hands Archie a slip of paper with a phone number written on it. The handwriting is narrow, and crisp, as if each stroke was made with careful thought.
"If a female answers it, put the phone down. Keep calling until a male answers it. There will be no caller id on the phone, I've looked it over." He then hands Archie another piece of paper, this one had instructions pertaining to Irlan's weaknesses. He goes on to emphasize which words to use, namely "Haze Wyndre", and "pressence urgently required."
"I will leave you to figure out the rest. If Irlan makes any attempt at violence, use any means to stun him. His abilities will be significantly weaker on Gaia, but if you're not capable of fending off a rabid dog, then I suggest you have someone accompany you." And with that, Arson nods to Archie and leaves.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 10:02 am
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 10:03 am
Today was the day. The criminal with the name so long he couldn't pronounce it was coming and he couldn't get this Irlan on the phone. Well, he wasn't actually the one that had been calling, but still.
"Try again."
Dixie rolled her eyes.
"Please?"
A few seconds later she had picked up the phone and hit redial. Archie watched her pick at her pants, waiting for someone to pick up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:11 pm
The phone was ringing. Again. And quite frankly, Huni had had enough of it. She stared at the noisy contraption that had been summoning her again and again, but once she picked up the receiver whoever it was on the other end decided they no longer wished to speak to her. Arms akimbo, the red-head continued to glare as it continued to ring.
"You do realize that telephones don't have eyes, do you?"
Even without turning to look at him, Huni could hear the sneer on Irlan's face. "Oh be quiet, I'm trying to see how long it will take before whoever it is gives up on calling here. Say, why don't you answer the phone? I bet once they hear you speak they'll decide to never call again!" She snapped in sarcasm.
The Silarian man laughed, "If that was all you wanted, you could have just asked. Stand aside." Roughly, he pushes the Gaian out of the way.
"But I wasn't serious!" Huni gasps, almost falling to the floor. Irlan was still rather powerful despite having his natural inhuman strength lessened by the different flow of magic in Gaia.
"Good morning, welcome to the Wyndre Gaia residence the Mistress of the house is too busy waxing her legs to answer the phone. And frankly even if she wasn't she'd be too stuck up to care about you, whom am I speaking with?" Irlan chirps in feigned politeness.
"Unbelievable, you'd better be glad Haze loves to sleep in or she'll-" Fingers pressed against her lips to silence her.
"Do you mind? I'm having a conversation here." He smirks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:46 pm
Dixie was just about to hang up again, certain that the person who answered would be a woman again when someone new picked up. A male someone. Waving her hands in her father's direction, she motioned for the piece of paper he had written the information she needed on.
She made a face at the waxing comment before launching into her best bored-customer-service voice, perfected after hours on the phone, trying to get their cable modem working.
"Good morning! This is Ms. Saturn down at Headquarters. I'm calling to request Miss Haze Wyndre's presence here in approximately a half an hour. We have some most pressing business to discuss. Very urgent. She'll know what this is in regards to."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 8:32 pm
Irlan quirked a brow in interest, though he kept his face unreadable for Huni. "Understood, unfortunately as mentioned earlier the Mistress of the house has far too much on her itenerary for the day. Give me the exact address and someone will be sent over shortly." Once he received the information, he hangs up without so much as a thank you.
"If you think for one minute I'm going to go anywhere in Haze's name, you've got another thing coming." Huni glared at Irlan, arms folded across her chest in finality.
"Relax, I wasn't about to ask you anything. You'd probably screw it up, and while watching Haze scream at you is way more fun that watching tv I'll be going myself." He grinned in the manner that never failed to chill Huni to the bone.
"What are you planning to do?" Her jade-eyes narrowing in suspiscion.
"You'll see." With that, the tanned man heads out of the house.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:08 pm
Dixie clicked the cordless phone off and smiled at Archie. "That was easier than I thought it would be. He's on his way."
"And you thought you weren't creative! No wait, that was me. You did good." Archie still wasn't quite sure why he was being asked to lie to this man, but it was all turning out all right so far. As long as Irlan didn't drop the baby into a dumpster once he was out of sight, everything would be fine.
Archie took the paper he had given to Dixie and shoved it in the silverware drawer just as their criminal alert system started flashing. Maybe the kid would arrive before Irlan got here. That would certainly be convenient.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 5:42 am
Irlan was never the sort who listened to what others told him. He disliked taking orders from anyone, regardless of rank, age, gender and nationality. It was safe to assume he was his own master, he did things either because he wanted to, or he would get something he wanted if he did. At this moment, what Irlan wanted was to impress Haze, and to show her he was actually a responsible individual.
In fairness, Irlan could be kind, he could be considerate, he could be all the wonderful qualities a woman looked for in a man. But just because he could didn't mean he would be. He was weird like that.
And in this case, Irlan could arrive in half an hour, and he would. At least, officially he would. A few blocks away from his apartment (located just beside Haze's two-story house), he ducked behind a tree and shifted. His body twitched, stretched then retracted, he seemed to be imploding until he was in the form of an ordinary house cat. Albeit one with blue fur that gradiated to tan, whose patterns resembled those of a shirt and pants.
It was in this form that he arrived at the address. And it was in this form that he leapt onto a window and began to mewl.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 12:18 am
Archie was staring out the window up into the sky, so he didn't notice the strangely-colored cat until it made a sound.
What the hell? "Dixie!"
The teenager jumped up from her seat, certain there was something wrong with the pod. But no, there it was plodding through the sky, still fairly far away and silent.
"What?"
Archie pointed at the cat. "Do you think we should see what it wants?"
"It's a cat. Fine." Dixie went to the door and held it open while Archie put on some shoes and followed her around to the window.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
