Returning Home (Pasture)

[apollo]

Apollo rushed forward toward Ebony and taking her by the shoulders stopped her advance toward the house. Raphael's reaction had been totally out of the blue to him. Surely Raphael knew what it was like to be in love, surely he knew. Apollo whispered to her so that the cat wouldn't hear. " No it is my fault, it's all my fault.. I'm sorry Ebony, i should have never come here and lingered. I'm sorry... I will go.. You should enjoy your fathers stay home.. I'm sorry for ruining it for you. Perhaps we will meet again yes?" He released her shoulders and looking down tenderly at her he ran his hands through his hair. "Tell your father....tell your father that I'm sorry alright?" He smiled crookedly at her and bowed slightly. Before she could protest he was around the corner and swiftly gathered his earth forces and transformed into a bird and flew off. It would have been to quick for her to see, more like he had disappeared. But behind him he left a small plant that grew with rapid growth, it was a rose bush. Soon it had buds on it that erupted into bright red flowers. It was a gift for her to remember him by while he was away. From far away he watched her for a moment, seeing her reactions and then continued no his way.

[raphael]

Raphael was taken aback as he was bumped into by a small, thin girl. He glanced down at her and replied with a smile, "Oh, it's quite alright." He was glad he still had the ability to hold in his anger. He couldn't forgive himself if he unleashed it onto this innocent bystander. "And where might you be headed?" he asked casually, trying to give himself a few moments to just breathe. He was already worked up over Apollo, and he knew that Axel was doing something behind his back. Today was just simply not his day.

Ebony's lips opened and closed in a gesture that indicated trying to speak. She couldn't get the words out; it was all happening so quickly. She reached out, trying to hold on to him as he backed away from her and took off, flying away in the body of a bird. She could feel the utter weight of disappointment and failure come crashing down on her shoulders. When the rose bush began to bloom, she couldn't even look at it without choking up. "Great! Now I've lost them both!" She threw her hands up in exasperation then slid down against the house, curling up with her knees up against her chest. "Everything's going wrong... Why me? I'm a good person! So what, maybe I lied to the neighbors about who gave their cat berries, but really, is that such a bad thing that this just had to happen?" By the end of her rant, she was a complete mess. She rubbed her eyes with her arm and sniffed a few times. "Stupid dad, stupid Apollo, stupid cat, stupid wizard... Stupid world!" She was fully aware that she was being extremely immature, but she didn't care.

[leola]

Rokkusannu was awoken by a scream. She shifted back to her own witch form. Her heart pumping more blood as she was startled. And as she woke up unexpectatly, she casted out a water ball form to wet a person. "I'll clean that up till I find the person who's woken me up!" she gritted through her teeth. She got up from the couch and and almost slightly slammed the door to open it. She saw Raphael's daughter weeping. Instantly, Rokkusannu's anger had been gone. Rokkusannu walked to her and sat down on her knees. "Are you all right?" she asked her.

Leola immediately blushed when she saw Raphael, the Guardian of Life. "Err. Okay. I was just traveling this way," she pointed, "and I didn't notice you were there and..." she trailed away. "And my name's Leola, both an Light Angel and a Priestess. Hee. I already know who you are," she blinked. "You're Raphael, the Guardian of Life," her head grew hot of embarrassment. Oh! Does he think I'm annoying now?! she thought. Her heart was beating harder now as she held a grip of her magical Staff.

[raphael]

Raphael looked at this girl with both amusement and confusion. She seemed to be extremely flustered and embarrassed. He wondered what had brought that on. He hoped it hadn't been him, but he had a sneaking suspicion he was involved with her odd behavior. He laughed lightly and replied, "I see. It's a pleasure, Leola. You seem to be quite informative." He kept his tone polite and pleasurable, still trying to keep his bottled frustration from sneaking out.

Ebony glanced up with red eyes at Rokku who she had awoken by her outburst. "Sorry, sorry. Just a bit of a mess right now, is all." She tried to laugh, but it came out as a choking sob instead. Everything was just completely wrong. None of this was supposed to happen. Why couldn't her father understand that she needed her independence? She had been living alone for the past several years. It was time that he let go, but she highly doubted he would just give up. "I hope this is the worst it's ever going to get, although I doubt there won't be another explosive fight. He's not going to give up."

[leola]

Leola tried to smile, but her blushes kept her turning red. Oh! Why did I have to bump into him? she wondered. She kept a good grip of her Staff. Her wings have been glittered with a dim sunlight. "T-thanks," she had told him. I bet he thinks I'm weird now! She was secretive about her love with the Guardian of Life, but now she is about to blow it out.

Rokkusannu felt bad for her. She then scratched her head. "You know about the weird thing about fathers? It has to happen in about everyone, I guess. If another person had died or something bad had happened, the father has kept this pain within themself and is released to one of his off-spring if they have done something similar to his problem. Before my father had died after my mother, he used to be very over-protective of me. He didn't want me to have the exact fate as my mother," she told her. Rokku's voice was calm and gentle. Don't worry! I feel your pain even though it's not the same conflict, she kept this to herself.

[ebony]

Ebony just looked up at Rokku with the same crushed expression on her face. "But... It's not the same at all! Yes, my mother did die, in an awful way... But what does that have to do with Apollo?" She rubbed her eyes with her arm and proceeded to get up, not wanting to just sit there and cry. She looked out into the distance with the false hope of seeing either one of them, but there was no such luck. They had both fled from her, and she wasn't sure when either of them would come back.

Raphael found this girl to be very flustered for some odd reason. It seemed as though she was embarrassed to even be talking to him. It was a strange thing, and he couldn't make the connection as to why. She didn't say much, and what she did say was very short and simple. "...Do you need help finding your way to where it is you are going?" he asked. He found it strange that she was going this direction. There wasn't much else to see. Perhaps she was lost?

[leola]

Rokkusannu blinked at her. "Nothing. That's the weird things that most fathers do. It simply happens everyday. I'm also very sorry for the death of your mother. Do you need a hug?" Rokkusannu asked. Though Rokkusannu may be as well angry everyday, but hates to see a child going through a negative emotion.

Leola's smile was crooked. She can even barely talk to him. "I-I was just traveling. Like you know. Adventure? And I thought I might get something to eat," she said. Her stomach growled as she had spoke. "I'm really sorry for uh, wasting your time and..." she trailed away and rubbed her cheek with one finger. Yeah, Leola. Way to go! You just embarrassed yourself in front of Raphael! she thought.

[ebony]

Ebony just smiled at her awkwardly, not sure if a hug from an almost total stranger would do any good. But she might as well accept it. "Sure." She embraced the witch, or cat, whatever she was. The embrace wasn't exactly warm, like it would be with an old friend or relative, but it was friendly enough. She pulled away for a moment, then a silence came over her that she could only understand as regret. Why had she not done more to try to keep them here? Perhaps I just didn't see it in time, she thought sadly.

Raphael laughed as her stomach growled. "Well we can't have that, can we?" He turned back in the direction he came from. "Back there is my home. My daughter ought to still be there; she'll most likely give you something to eat. She is a kind soul." He turned back to her and smiled sadly. "I would go back there myself, but she is most likely still very furious with me..." He raised his glance up to the skies above the trees. "I also have a bit of business to attend to. My apologies, but I really must be going." He sidestepped around her and gave her a friendly smile before turning to walk off. Axel thinks he can do whatever he wants, does he? he thought angrily. When he was out of view from the girl, a bolt of white lightning engulfed him, and he was gone.

[{Kaiji}]

Dai sat there through everything that happened. He pretty much ignored all of it. He needed to get back to his home. His pets were probably hungry. "Oh...I have to go!" He shouted to make sure everyone heard him. He walked off. "Those two little lizards are probably fighting by now. I knew I shouldn't have gave them that potion..." He said as he started to run.

[athena]

A drop from the sun seemed to fall from the sky at a break neck speed. Slowly the drop formed into that of a dragon, her golden scales radiating the light. "Oh it feels so good to fly once again!" She said to herself, forgetting for a moment Elizabeth was on her back, did a loop in the sky before she started her decent down. Fanning out her wings she landed lightly as a feather on the ground and pinned her wings to her side. Turning her head back she realized that she had a passenger and grinning, in a dragon manner, asked, "Hope you enjoyed your flight." The thought of the disturbance she might create here never entered her mind. After all she was larger than the shack that she was by.

[ebony]

Ebony's head whipped around at the sound of a voice. What she saw certainly wasn't what she expected, or anything close. A massive, golden dragon came plummeting down from the sky, diving toward the ground for a landing. She immediately backed up a few steps subconsiously, enough to see a rider with massive black hair holding onto the dragon's back for dear life. It certainly didn't look like she was enjoying this. Ebony snuck forward, going a few yards behind her house and sneaking through the corn stalks in the fields. She peered through them, wary to do much else. Alright, so my father leaves to places unknown, my boyfriend turns into an owl, and now there's a dragon here. Yep, perfectly normal day.

Elizabeth wasn't expecting Athena to suddenly go all acrobatic, and it certainly wasn't a pleasant change. She felt her stomach drop as Athena dove down the only way a dragon could. She held herself, trying to keep everything together. She thought her ears were going to explode. "A-Athena!" she shouted, but it was a useless attempt over the howling wind. When they finally reached the ground, Elizabeth sat on Athena's back, her heart pounding. "Never... again..." Wobbling, she managed to get off of Athena without falling over. She brushed herself off then began running her fingers through her hair. "Was that really necessary?" she asked exasperated.

[athena]

Athena nosed Elizabeth gently on the back and a rumble came from deep within her, she was laughing. "What you didn't like it?". Her golden eyes flickered with amusement as she looked at her friend. "Of course it was. I'm sure if you were trapped inside the body of a mouse for years you would run like a mad woman as soon as you were back to normal." Then her ears flicked back slightly in embarrassment, "I sort of forgot you were there sorry my friend." Then her noble head lifted and she looked at another girl Her head tilted slightly and she looked at Elizabeth. "Hmm.. I hope I didn't startle the girl.. I fear dragons have been gone for to long in these lands." The flight had lifted her mood, but her feet pawed with slight nervousness at being seen. A puff of smoke came from her nostrils and floated up toward the sky, dissapearing into non exsistance

[ebony]

Ebony moved as stealthily as possible towards the dragon and the woman who seemed to have ridden her from wherever they had came. It certainly was an odd sight. Her heart skipped a beat as she almost felt that the dragon had spotted her. She hadn't been directly looked at, but she wasn't ignorant enough not to know how keen their senses were. With a sigh, she decided to take a few steps forward in clear view, hoping that she wouldn't get squashed underfoot. The woman that stood next to her didn't seem too happy either.

Elizabeth gave her friend a grudging look. "How could you expect me to enjoy it?" She passed over Athena's apology, now focusing her attention on the girl who had suddenly brought herself into their full view. "She's emerging, is she..?" As always, Elizabeth reached out toward the girl's mind, probing for anything exceedingly dangerous or absurd. She could find nothing. The only emotions she felt were fear and unsurity. Both were entirely understandable when facing a dragon. "Should we?" she asked, turning to Athena.

[athena]

Looking Elizabeth in the eyes she smirked slightly, "Obviously you have gotten out of shape for flying. perhaps I should make you run some more, or maybe I should snatch you up and take you for a ride." Then her gaze flicked from Elizabeth to the girl and then back to Elizabeth. "Quite harmless... It seems." She cocked her head at the girl and said to her. "I won't harm you if you don't harm me." Then under her breath, just barely audible, "Unless you are one of those blasted wizards who have no more right to live that a mosquito." She snorted slightly and pinning her wings she took a step toward the girl and then looked up toward the sky. "Wonder how long it's going to take them.. That wizard seemed like a slow guy to me." Perhaps deep down she respected him, but she wouldn't let that show. After all she was a dragon.

[{Kaiji}]

Just after Athena had said the 'slow guy' comment, a really bright light came from next to the flowerbeds. Dai stepped out of it, looking a bit tired. "Too much...teleporting..." He said. It took up quite a bit of energy to get from the Guardians' universe to this one. "I'm gonna need a nap soon..." He said with a yawn. Then he saw the dragon and the girl from before. "Hey!" He said to them with a smile. "Raphael should be here in a minute at the most." His eyes wandered over to where he saw Ebony. He waved at her. She would be happier soon enough. From what he knew Raphael didn't visit her much, or as much as she wanted.