001. out there in the sun | beneath the sky // open post

[clayce]

Take a prompt, take some time, drop in whenever you like.

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Waking the Dead 2.0 || Falner Estate || Because I can totes make my own threads.

[clayce]

[And here we have a big-ass dragon out on the lawn behind the main mansion, sleeping.

Yes, this is normal.]

January, 2040 : It's good to be home.

[kinesthesia]

[ There's a distinct feeling of deja vu as she sights the length of red-scaled tail stretching out from the corner of the building that obscures the main lawn from this side of Falner. It's been roughly twenty-eight years, Cisco realizes, doing the math in her head as she walks up to Aidan, Netsach's founder dozing on the lawn in a manner much like the one he is doing now.

She stops right beside his closed eye, and waits. ]

[clayce]

[He had been aware of her arrival from the moment she had touched down, in the company of her children and (surprisingly) Alistair Mordechai. He had traced her progress, listened in on her conversation with Liandrin Delacroix.

None of that shows, though, because it takes nearly a minute before the dragon is breathing in deep, huffing out a slow, contented sigh, then slowly cracking that eye open just enough to get the job done.]

Have I ever told you that that haircut suits you?

[She has not changed, not physically, but Aidan Clayce knows better than to think that Cisco Montelibano-Profaci has not changed at all.]

[kinesthesia]

[ She laughs at that, one hand coming up to touch at the ends of her hair. She'd gotten the haircut at the hotel just the evening before, a small treat, a first in ten years since she'd wandered off like the prodigal daughter.

How short, ma'am? the hairdresser had asked, fingers petting at the length of her dark hair, falling then to her waist. She'd gestured then, about two inches below her shoulder, proceeded to explain the style she'd sported back when she'd been active in the years after the Breaking of the Veil. ]

Hello, Aidan.

[ This brings her back, to over two decades ago, except this time the fox in her skin wants to sit beside the massive dragon instead of quailing before it, because this one is family, not predator. ]

[clayce]

Hello. Would you be so kind as to scratch my ear? Can't quite reach the usual spot again.

[...Well, no. He could, but the sunlight is warm and the grass is nice, and he's finally talking, yet again, to one of the children-now-women who had been with Netsach during one of its more trying times.

He had worried, of course. Many of them had, whether they liked to admit it or not. Perhaps it was because seeing another child break because that was the price of growing up as a Keeper of the Vigil hit too close to home, too often.]

[kinesthesia]

Of course, [ she steps close and reaches up to do just as Aidan asks.

It's so normal, as if wandering by suddenly after she'd dropped off the map for a good ten years wasn't anything to bat an eyelash at. With Lia, she'd had to give her report, had to recall the printed out accounts of her movements, each contact, all the way down to the one that she'd had to personally put down just a year before. With Aidan, it is a request to scratch behind his massive ear.

It's nice. ]

Right here?

Between the Lines || Aidan and Kaz; March 2063

[ktotheatothez]

[There's a Dragon on the Lawn. Kaz smiles as he watches the Voidseeker be turned into a playground, be greeted by Hunters, other Malice Kings... And by his 'children'. He's done this a lot over the past couple of days, having found that the roof of their dorm is the perfect place to relax, meditate... But he doesn't miss much when he's sitting up here.

Today though... Today feels different, because he's clambering down the side of their dorm (f**k yeah parkour) and making his way to where Aidan Clayce is just... Being still. Feeling a little bushed still, Kaz actually sits near the Dragon's side and leans against him, feeling the rumble of his breathing over the Wings of Therion, currently strapped to his back.

Kaz's eyes close and his breathing falls in sync with Aidan's - not asleep, but he IS starting to calm down.]

[clayce]

[A bit of time passes before Aidan finally speaks to him.]

Your form is improving.

[He's not just being kind. It really is.]

[ktotheatothez]

Good morning, Father. Thank you, though my dismount off the balcony was a bit sloppy.

[ He smiles just a little, because he's been Running all over Falner in full gear so that he'd get used to having to move about in potential battle situations. So yeah, maybe it's starting to show - not that he can take pride in it just yet.]

I see you most mornings, I thought that I'd meditate near you today.

[clayce]

Excellent. Now I have some company.

[That did not happen to be wild children. Not to say that other folks didn't come around. Most of them just didn't stay for very long.]

March 2040 | The Adjustment Period

[maggienificent]

[ Margaret locks the bathroom door with a self-satisfied smirk ( and a lot of vindictiveness ) and steps back to survey her handiwork, the tip of her tongue rubbing over one canine as she narrows her eyes at the door that is shaking with the force behind two fists thumping against the other side.

Going to the school at Falner is hard and not nearly as fun as she thought it would be. The first few weeks were okay, but then one of the boys in the class she shared with her brother had started bothering Renae, constantly coming over and picking the seat to his other side -- or behind him, or in front -- once she'd convinced her twin that the seat by the window had an excellent view of the lawn and Father Clayce.

It's been the worst birthday month she's ever had, her mother leaving them to the care of her uncles while she was away on an assignmebt where they couldn't tag along. She understands, at some level, that things are changing, now that they have come to live at Netsach--

--but did it really have to change so much?

She hears the boy call out ( pitiful, really ) but she's angry and she's hurt and she still remembers the confused look on her brother's face when she'd practically dragged him away before confronting the offending party. ]

Lmfao will never get over that username.

[clayce]

[And what Maggie is going to hear next is a yelp of surprise from the boy, followed by the sight of him floating rather harmlessly up and out of the cell that she locked him in.

Have one Aidan Clayce standing in the doorway, one hand outstretched, each gesture directing the boy towards him, then back on his own two feet beside one very unimpressed Malice King looking at Maggie straight in the eye.

There is also their headmistress hovering anxiously in the background. It is hard to tell if she is embarrassed, fearful, angry, or all three and then some, much less about what.

There is, as well, a Calintz Duskrider close by, trying very hard not to grin. You sure you got this, Clayce? That look seems to say.]

I'll catch up with you later, Calintz.

[And even while he's speaking to his companion, his eyes have not moved away from Maggie, not for one second.]

IT IS THE BEST USERNAME and i cannot take credit for it sob

[maggienificent]

[ Mutinous is a word she has yet to properly encounter, but that is precisely the word to describe the look on her face when unseen forces undo her improvised plan. When she whirls around, there is a distinct moment of surprise ( shock, really ) at the sight of Father Aidan Clayce with his eyes leveled on her own.

She barely registers the headmistress, only somewhat notes with the quick darting of her gaze, one oddly amused-looking Calintz Duskrider ( she knows him, she likes Calintz, why couldn't they have stayed at the Heartnet-Duskrider house instead of where her snooty Uncle Nathaniel barely even acknowledges her mother when they sit down for dinner at home ) before her eyes turn back to the boy and then up to Father Clayce who is looking at her like she were a bug.

She crosses her arms then.

He's not so scary ( yes, Maggie, that is totally not your lower lip trembling just a smidge ) -- she's seen scary.

And besides. He's Renae's favorite. Not hers.

If it were Alistair giving that look, it would be a completely different thing.

Her chin juts out a little at that. ]

[clayce]

[It doesn't take much to know exactly what she is thinking and what she is feeling even if she has no idea. Children were always much more transparent than they thought they were.

He's still watching her even as the headmistress is babbling, alternately apologizing/begging for understanding/trying to convince the Voidseeker that this was beneath his attention. He wants, for a moment, to have Cisco's daughter know what it is like to have to stare one's faults in the face. The rest will follow.]

I will take care of this, Miss Larkin. [Breaking the facade just long enough to turn and smile at the headmistress (no, this was not her fault at all, she was not going to lose her job over this). Then he's looking first at the boy, then at Maggie.]

You two. With me. Now.

[Then he's turning and walking away, as if he does not care whether they will listen to him or not.]

[maggienificent]

[ He turns to leave and she digs her heels in, even if her stomach feels sour and her lips press together.

The boy was bothering her brother. Bothering. For weeks. Interrupting his reading and taking his attention away in the middle of class and joining them when they were having breaks. She can't even bother Renae when he's reading at home, whenever he retreats away from their large and slightly overwhelming extended family to the room that was once their mother's from a time so long ago. What right did this perfect stranger have to do something she couldn't?

There's a gentle nudge at her back and she makes a face, but the hands behind are small and insistent and familiar and she finally gives in because she will do everything her brother asks even if she doesn't like it. ]

Alright already. [ She hisses and marches off after where the Dragon had gone, and if she glances back once at her brother's stupidly imploring face, she only does it to puff her cheeks out at him. ]

Waking the Dead 2.0 : Timeskip Shenanigans (Sometime after the Hikaru conversation)

[larue]

[ It's two days later when he finally thinks to wander down to King's Rest after dinner with his family in search of the sake that Hikaru mentioned. He'd have gone sooner but things had cropped up and between classes at Balamb, spending time with Gabriel at the Regardi residence, and catching up with his Dad and Cindy -- it got pushed back a little.

So yeah, he walks in and makes a beeline for the bar, greets Beckett Duskrider with a smile and slides in that query of whether they have either the beer or the sake in stock and if the Riskbreaker can ring three cans and a bottle up against his card.

The beer gets handed over easily enough, but Beckett excuses himself to check on that sake. ]

/o/

[clayce]

[And Aidan happens to be sitting all by himself at a nearby table, one that gives him a clear view of the bar. He recognizes Josh, of course, but doesn't announce his presence immediately.

...Why is the boy asking for Japanese fare? He didn't strike Aidan as the type. And to ask for that particular brand...]

You're drinking with the Blade King, I take it?

[larue]

[ He turns around at the voice -- is rightfully startled because Aidan Clayce was someone he didn't expect -- and offers a sheepish smile.

He corrects the Malice King before he can even think enough on the mention of Hikaru-- ] Actually... no. [ --and when it does register, a look of curiosity passes his features. ] But Hikaru was the one who recommended me the drinks.

[ He turns a look back at the cans set on the counter, lifts one up to inspect it before turning back to Aidan. ] Is it really good?

[clayce]

[Well, that is interesting. Why would he...

...and then he spots the rings. Well.

But first:]

It is, actually. They are also packed in rather generous servings.

[larue]

[ He chuckles softly. ] I can see that much.

[ Beckett comes back out at that point and Josh passes his card over, the Sin-Eater getting a gentle pat on his shoulder and a suggestion to go join Aidan while the other man rings the bill up. Josh does so, taking the sake bottle in one hand and the bag withthe cans in the other. ]

Um, [ shy smile ] mind if I join you, sir?

Monday, the 16th, Falner Estate, Lawn

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Nothing shocks Brig much anymore. It's all just pleasant new learning and astonished surprise at the scale of things.

The Amrita in Marikina didn't scare him really. There was no fear. It was just a new mark. But there was damn good amount of healthy respect for the power of its swings. That hand was huge. Lordie, it was a good thing Taning had packed up that much electrical juice when he did.


But Father Aidan was a totally different matter. He was awe-inspiring to look at. A real life dragon. Massive. Powerful. And when he was in human form, that same power still exuded off him.

Few things made Brig feel small. The Voidseeker was one of them.]

Uhm, good morning, Father Aidan.[ He raises his voice instinctively as if trying to throw his voice into Aidan's ear so he could hear him. It was only after he caught himself that he remembered Aidan could hear very, very well. ]

[clayce]

[Cracking one big eye open just enough, and offering what might pass off as a tiny smile. But beyond that? Not moving. At all.

The grass is so nice.]

Good morning, Brigade.

[atlas_shrugged]

[ He's not sure if that voice was in his ears or in his head.]

I'm sorry to disturb you, sir. I was just [ Brigade pauses to look for the words. How do you ask an audience with a being of Godlike power. ] wondering, hoping, if I could ask for some of your time.

[clayce]

Of course you can. You always can.

[Shifting juuust a little now, so that he can look at Brig properly. This dragon is rather good at making sure that he doesn't send people flying with every movement, and the regulars on the lawn are equally good at reading him.]

What would you like to talk about?

[atlas_shrugged]

[ Brig feels bad he's about to ask to take the kids' playground from them, but he asks anyway.

Uhm, I was wondering if we could take a walk, sir. Talk while we do. I'm sorry if I'm disturbing the kids' fun.