Pink Poogle Toy Forum

[Edited the history and race information in my bio just a bit, because some things were bothering me.]

"What. Were. You. Thinking?"

Lavinia was sitting on the edge of a tiny wooden chair in the kitchen of their hollow, her hands folded in her lap, eyes averted from her furious mother's face. Evidently the blast in the forest had awoken the entire village, because when she and Reya had arrived home, nearly everyone was outside, moving about in a frenzy of fluttering wings, light, and shouts of distress and panic. Lavinia could still hear a number of them outside, and every now and then someone would flash past the window in a hurry, heading off into the forest to inspect the damage. Her father had gone with them some ten minutes ago to try and find out just exactly what had happened, leaving her mother to scold her.

"Sorry..." she muttered, fidgeting.

"Sorry? You could have been badly injured, or worse yet, killed! I don't know how many times your father and I have told you not to stray from this house at night unless someone responsible is accompanying you!"

"Reya was with me." Lavinia said, glancing up and promptly looking away again upon seeing the anger in her mother's eyes.

"Reya does not have what constitutes responsible person any more than you do."

Lavinia thought of Reya, who was probably receiving a similar lecture from her own parents at the moment. She sighed, almost wishing she had waited until daytime to show Reya the footprints after all.

"What in heaven’s name were you doing out in the forest at this time of night in the first place?” her mother asked. Lavinia had seen this question coming long beforehand; the moment they had entered the village and seen everyone awake, she told Reya that if her parents asked her what they had been doing, to tell them that they had simply fancied a walk. Lavinia informed her mother as such.

“…You fancied… A walk.” Her mother said, staring at her incredulously. “Lavinia Glyn Pharis, that is possibly the most unbelievable thing I have heard you say all evening, and I have heard you say a lot of unbelievable things. You honestly expect me to believe that you risked your life out there tonight because you wanted a walk?”

“Well, it’s not like we knew that half the forest was going to combust twenty feet away from us when we went out there, that’s sort of the last thing you would expect to happen when you go out for a midnight stroll!”

At that moment, Lavinia’s father appeared in the enterance way of the hollow panting very hard, his face covered in soot and ash and his glow growing faint with exhaustion. “Dear, there is something I think you should see,” he said in a gruff voice, gesturing for Lavinia’s mother. “There appears to be a slight problem…”

Lavinia’s mother frowned, then nodded. Turning back to Lavinia, she pointed toward the back of the hollow at the entrance to Lavinia’s room. “Go,” she said firmly, “and if I find that you have gotten out of bed again tonight, you can gaurantee that you won’t be going off into the forest for a long time to come, even during the day. This had best never happen again.”

Lavinia considered arguing for a moment, but finally, sulking, flitted off to bed. However, she did not fall asleep immediately, but lay awake listening to the sounds of movement and voices outside of the hollow, wondering what was going on.

[Blah.]

Nobody wandered to the wagon the human girl had been taken to. He didn't even know she was there, but merely was seeking a quiet moment when he saw her in there, holding a book. The Alven smiled and waved, then sat down on stump to chew on a sweet-smelling bit of herb he had found recently. "Sorry to bother you, lass," he said as he crossed his legs and stared at the moon. He hummed a positive-sounding tune, only to slip into a sad melody of it. That was the trouble with music, the young Alven thought. He couldn't quite keep it happy in a serious way. Nobody wondered if he even should be away from home, but his dominant adventurous self laughed inwardly as he chewed on his herb.

When Nobody spoke, Celeste slammed the book shut, blushing a little because she knew that it was probably something she shouldn't be doing, looking at someone else's diary. But it was fascinating, obviously old, and the pictures inside of it moved, words swirling around them, so that each page told several pages worth of information and stories.

He looked relatively human, compared to the other fairies, but he was a little too short and his eyes had a fairy-like twinkle. Or maybe she was just imagining it. But if he was human, wouldn't the other fairy, the one carrying her stretcher, have told her about it? He had been talking to the other girl though. So perhaps he was more friendly than the others? He was certainly more polite.

Still clutching the notebook in her hands, she looked back at him. He appeared to be staring at the moon and was humming a beautiful but almost hauntingly sad tune. It reminded her of the song she had heard whatever had been outside of her window sing before her sister had disappeared. But that had been a happier song. She sighed quietly to herself.

Sitting up a little straighter, she addressed the young man (or fairy?), "Excuse me, I...I don't believe we've met? I'm...Celeste," she finished awkwardly, not sure if title or homeland mattered here in a completely different world.

((I am in an internet cafe right now. On vacation destination. Weeh! Hence my short absence.))

They were walking for a few minutes now. Puk grew silent, he saw light in the distance. Not stable, but flickering light. Red and yellow. The light a fire emenates. Puk wasn't fond of fire. Humans or sometimes even faeries used fire to scare kelpies away.

Of course, what had he expected after an explosion? It could have been a real hard earthquake.. or something magical.. non firey..

Ok, he hadn't really been thinking about what it could have been. He had been too absorbed by his excitement, that he had pushed aside any deep thinking.

Puk, however, was quite old, nearly 200. And he felt something wasn't right here. No animals running.. everything so silent. It had been when he left Whitepool, and now it still was the same. Except something exploded.. or caused an explosion.

The white equine fastened to a slow gallop in front of the others. He had seen a small outcrop, on which he sometimes stood to watch over the forest and lake.

He came to a halt, looking over and standing on the little cliff. A great part of the trees had been mown away. Flattened like straws by a harvesting farmer. Some of the trees were still burning. Giving the scene a grizzly light.

But the worst was the lake. Part of it was gone, smashed into tiny little streams. Weeds laying around like dried out leaves.

Puk gasped. He saw a shape moved across the carnage. It wasn't quite.. human. Or was it? It moved in an awkward way. And it was big..

Artemis surveyed the firey remains of the explosion, her dark eyes searching the forest for any indication of what had caused it. Following Puk quickly she also saw the shadowy figure by the remains of the lake. Pulling her longbow out and loading it with an arrow in little more than a second she aimed it at the creature and growled out a loud warning, "Don't move unless you want an arrow lodged in your throat."

The creature, startled by her threat, ran off. Artemis launched her arrow, she watched it zoom towards the creature and gaped in disbelief as it passed straight through it. The creature seemed to dissapate into the shadows immediately after this.

Espoir froze when they reached the lake. It was...nothing like she had ever seen before. She couldn't imagine how anything could even cause what she was seeing, but then again, an unexpected explosion had occured and after all that has happened, she wasn't really surprised at anything now. A suspicious, shadowy figure jerked some distance away, and all three of them saw it. Artemis called out a warning to it, and even fired an arrow, but to Espoir's surprise, missed. It went right through the figure.

Hoo boy. It seemed as though there was more to this than it seemed.

Puk gasped, looking at the figure. How did he do that? He wished he had that skill too, to let arrows fly through his body. Must be terribly handy.

The bushes next to him rustled, he popped his ears up. Turning his head sideways, so he could get a better look.

Leaves flew all around, and some branches bend and cracked. A tiny white foal galloped out the scrubbery. Eyes white and ears flattened against her neck.

[Back in Vancouver. I must have missed Alex completely.]

The king strutted up and down the line of prisoners that the faerie soldiers had already rounded up. A group of dishevelled, hassled faeries in dirty, torn clothing were shifting uneasily. They all kept a wary eye on the king and the other eye on the soldier guards, who were treating them none too well.

"So!" the king roared, in all his majestic glory as he paraded up and down. "What have you got to say for yourselves, you mongrels? No doubt you are the guilty ones, dressed like this," he cast a distasteful glance over the prisoners' apparel and shuddered slightly, "setting the forest on fire and sending a troop of evil monsters after innocent faeries, trampling down faerie villages and annihilating whole families?"

"We've done nothin' of th' sort!" one objected in fury. "We be just a group of faeries mindin' our own beeswax when yer soldiers come 'round an' pounce on us! They come an' kick an' hit us an' torn our clothes when we was sleepin' as sweet as babes. We done nothin' to the forest, an' even if we wanted to, we couldn' 'ave 'cause we 'ave no means, don't ye see? We're poor wanderers who like ter dwell in the forest, don't ye know? We -- "

"Shut up!" a soldier scowled and kicked the faerie in the stomach. The prisoner gasped and fell. If he could only use magic, he would, but they had been put under spells to prevent them from using magic against their captors. The king was red in the face, infuriated and embarassed that such a lowly faerie should speak to him in this disrespectful way.

"Lock them all up and put them under interrogation!" he roared. "Give them nothing but bread and water!" The soldiers saluted their king and marched away -- or in the prisoners' case, were half-dragged, half-beaten away.

The king stormed around in front of the window for a while before he calmed down. He looked outside. The hellish light cast by the fire was slowly being replaced by the light of dawn. It was a pale, dove-soft grey dawn as yet, but in a few hours it would be quite light again. He sighed. There would be no more kidnappings by cover of darkness, the kind of work he liked his soldiers to carry out best. There would be more respectable arrests by daylight, mostly of humans, but not much else. How very boring.

[Random: it is darkest just before dawn.]

With a thud, the foal bumped into Puk. Puk snorted, looking down at the little heap of horse that was stunned by the impact.

Turning his head to look upon the little foal, Puk thought deeply. He had seen this kelpie youth before, but he wasn't direct family. Hmm..

"Aren't you Kimil? What are you doing here without your mother? What happened?"

Of course the little foal was horribly confused by the flood of questions. Besides, it had obviously been frightened and still was very shaken.

"Now," Puk said, waiting for an answer.

Kimil looked around, seeing the big centaur and a young faerie girl. He whinnied in surprise, trying to gather his legs under him to stand up.

"Hey! Calm down," Puk pushed his snouth against the flanks of the foal.

Somehow, Kimil did calm down a little.

"These are nice.. people," Puk said, eyeing up and realizing he couldn't call a centaur a faerie. Or were they?

Kimil moved his lips, he wasn't accustomed to speaking yet, "some.. h..umaans.. came.. and.. some.." he stopped, thinking deeply, "other.. too."

"Celeste, is it, Miss? I'm Otterbrand, but please just call me 'Nobody'. Sort of sought after by me own kin, I am. They want me to marry a bit too close for comfort." Nobody removed his hat out of respect, revealing his mess of blond curls. This "Celeste" girl hadn't treated him like either a fellow human or a faerie, nor addressed herself as either. He felt inclined to show the same respect, valuing one's persona over what they were. Nobody promptly added, smiling quietly, "If you need anythin', I'm at your service. You seem well off the beaten path for some reason, and I'm well off for no reason now. Suppose it would do us both a favor if you gave me a reason and I helped. I understand if ye can't oblige, Miss Celeste."

((Aaah, sorry I haven't posted in ages. I'm at camp, and go figure, we're not allowed to use the computers unless it's for one of our classes. I'm only on because I'm trying to find nature quotes/poems and what not.

Anyway. Until I'm back home- at the latest, the 23rd, I won't be near a computer, much less the internet.

So until then, I won't be able to RP. As a result, someone's going to need to play Ilmena until then. I'd prefer it if you just played her like a side character, an NPC, so... Also, try to keep her close to the personality I've shown so far.

I am so sorry about this, I was told before I came that I'd be able to use the computers, and, well, I can't, so.

))

Celeste laughed lightly, amused by his clever language and still pleasantly surprised by his demeanor. "Thank you, Nobody," she said, a little puzzled by his name, but not particularly bothered because he seemed so kind.

Her smile withered away and she sighed softly. "Actually, I can oblige. Thank you so much for your offer of help, really. I suppose I'm off the beaten path, I guess," she said, not sure if he could tell that she was far from home, or meant that the place they were in the Otherworld was off the beaten path for fairies. "But I'm here to find my sister, Adelaide, she disappeared in the middle of the night 3 years ago. She was...more in tune with the Otherworld. I think she is somewhere here."

Celeste pondered whether she should share the fact that she had just arrived in the Otherworld and certainly had no idea as to how she had arrived here. But her appearing out of thin air had disturbed the rest of the fairies, and they seemed rather hostile. Nobody at least was being friendly, and why bring up a sore subject?

"Of course, I have no idea where to start, and hardly know what to do with myself...here," she finished a bit lamely, gesturing at the fantastically unfamiliar landscape that surrounded her.

((Gaah, I hope I am not causing writers' blocks by the others around Puk. ;_; It's so silent.))

"Humans? How odd.. what did they.." Puk silenced, the sound of branches being broken and shooting voices seeped through the silence of the forest.

How odd, Puk thought again. The little foal looked really afraid now, rolling eyes and flattened ears. It stood up, and quickly hid behind (and underneath) Puks tail.

Puk wondered where Kimils mom was. He wasn't exactly qualified as a mother.

He now heard some dogs bark. The voices were coming closer..

Nobody nodded quietly to the girl, then looked at the landscape himself. Paths and streams were easier for him to find in this land than his own. Being underwater makes it hard to find anything, as the fluid tends to lazily slide downhill all the time, washing traces of everyday activities away. The Alven never needed to hide their race from the humans, seeing as they were hard enough to trace in their streams, brooks and ponds. But back in the past, the Alvens once lived right alongside a race of river-dwelling humans. Most of the remaining Alven had much human blood, but the powers actually never did seem to fade even slightly until the humans went away.

The young Alven had never ventured past the edges of the Alven nation, which surrounded the village he had been to so many times. He remembered crossing the bridge in human disguise, away from everything he knew, loved and hated. He then imagined that girl he had befriended earlier in the year, when the frost still crept over things at night. Even though she had left him for an amatuer ranger, he would still help her if she were in the same situation Celeste was in.

"I'll do it, but I need more information on Adelaide. What she looks like... what kind of company she keeps... personality. Its so I know who to ask and what to ask, Celeste. Three years is a long time to wander about, leaving memories for others. Give me the info, and I'll see who remembers her." Nobody smiled a little. Alven tracking techniques involved finding a gathering place and asking around. The young Alven could quickly scout around the caravan as it moved and maybe find some clues. He held his hand to his pouch. If keeping the girl in the caravan meant spending magical money, he was willing to negotiate.

Celeste was speechless for a moment. It was hard for her to fathom the fact that Nobody was offering his services to her for apparently nothing in return. It was very hard to fathom, almost disconcerting. Back home, everything came with a cost, and the servants only did things for "free" because they were employed and received food and lodging from her father. Even the royal family, the King and Queen distant in their palace in the far away capital, rewarded good service with gifts and honors, and treachery with punishment and death.

But he seemed so honest, earnestly wishing to help for the mere sake of doing good. Inwardly Celeste reprimanded herself for having nothing to barter with, had he requested some sort of repayment (or if he did).

Then again, she was not exactly in any position to refuse his aid. And he had asked her if he could be of service. And he seemed so kind. She smiled to herself for a moment.

"Thank you again," Celeste said, pinching her leg beneath her cloak to keep herself from inquiring whether or not he would be expecting repayment for his services. Darn etiquette lessons. It was practically automatic. Celeste slid out of the wagon, folded her cloak, and sat on top of it on the ground next to Nobody.

"When she disappeared she was only twelve, so she's pretty young, fifteen years old. Adelaide was always quiet, engrossed in herself and her daydreams. Our nurse used to teach her fairy songs and she used to sing them. It upset my parents greatly. She had a beautiful voice. Actually it sounded a lot like mine, but sweeter. She's the soprano though, I'm more of an alto. She had chesnut brown hair, pretty dark and a bit reddish, straight like mine, but with a little more of a wave. She wouldn't let anyone cut it, always yearned after the long hair of the fairies in her picture books. But her hair grew slowly, it was about waist-length when she disappeared. Pale skin, green eyes, pretty thin and frail but not sickly looking. She was probably more tan than me, she liked to go outside and explore. Our nurse would go with her. She didn't really spend her time with anyone, except me and our nurse. And as she got older she also got more distant, she read more, sang more, spent time gazing out the window. And then one night someone...something answered her song, and she was gone. I think. The memories are so faint, so dream-like..." Celeste's eyes watered up in spite of herself.

She hadn't cried for nearly two years, so why start now. A single tear coursed down her cheek and she looked up at him. "I just want to know if she is still alive. If she is happy. Part of my life ended the day she disappeared. Even though she was distant and dreamy, she was my sister, the person whom I was closest to..."