A Long Journey a Pleasant Ending (Open)

[Renae]

'The Experiment Gone Wrong', 'The Winged Child', 'The Disaster'. Renae was sick of all these nicknames for her, it was beginning to piss her off. She listened to the strong up and down strokes of her wings as she glided over the beautiful mountains beneath her, relaxing her. That's when she saw the forests rise up on the ground below, she folded her wings a little and glided down to an open area surrounded on all sides by beautiful pines and an occassional deciduous tree. She folded her wings as best she could and sighed. If it needs to be done, I will live here as a hermit. She told herself and sat upon a fallen tree and cried. Cried for her Father, cried for her Mother, cried for everyone she'd ever known. Her pale grey-blue eyes grew paler as she cried and she cried until she couldn't anymore. But that was when she heard a new sound and she spun herself to face it.

[Seven]

What looked to be a young teenage boy was sitting on rock in the shadows, not too far off; when or how he had gotten there was a mystery. He stared at her with a blank expression, as if trying to understand her tears. His turquoise eyes were like marbles--they didn't have pupils as ordinary people did and shined magnificiently, even in the shade. But there was something frightening about them, almost un-alive looking with their blankness.

From his expression, it is difficult to tell if he is extremely perceptive and studying her, or just entirely off in another world. He didn't say anything for a moment, still taking in whatever it was that the moment was holding. He finally says, "You've come a long way, haven't you? I don't believe I've ever seen a human come out this far...though I've never seen a human with wings before either," his voice, though just as monotone as his expression, has a cool, even angelic quality to it, "Why are you crying, Miss?"

[Renae]

Renae started as the boy began to speak and walked toward him wiping the tears from her grey-blue eyes. "Yes sir, I have indeed come a long way, and what makes me cry so is the pain of my past." She told him, he looked almost as odd as she. "I'm Renae, and I only have wings because my Father performed never-ending experiments on me. In the end, it destroyed him." She told him choking back another bout of tears, she did indeed miss her family and friends, but they were long passed from the world, no one could teach her in a public school setting, and so her mother and her nanny had home schooled her. "But what pray sir is your name?" Renae asked as she sat down near to the boy.

[Seven]

He looks down at her, or rather, it feels like right through her, "Illes," he says briefly. He blinks slowly, and says in the same manner, " If you are searching for happiness, I am afraid that you shan't find it here. These forests have always been unforgiving places...."

Despite the strangeness of this being, he couldn't help but wonder about the girl's own peculiarities. It wasn't her wings, but the fact that she had so easily told him what pained her and went to sit beside him. But then again, perhaps such behavior was normal amongst her kind.

"May I..." he begins quietly, "have your name as well?"

[Renae]

Renae smiled a little. "But Illes, I've already told you my name. I'm Renae." She couldn't help but giggle a little. "It's not happiness I seek, it is just someplace that I can calm my frayed mind about my past." Then she moved slightly away, Oh crap, I'm proving myself weak again. She thought as she turned away blushing a little, she hated looking weak, especially in front of a boy, she wanted them to view her as equal, not as someone who needed constant protection. She tried to make herself look busy by trying to coax a long dead plant back into life.

[Seven]

"Renae..." he murmurs, "forgive me, I must not have heard. ..."
It is difficult to tell if he seems bored or not, as he remains so blank in expression. In either case, he didn't seem to pay her little embarrassments any mind. Though he does cock his head a little when he sees her trying to revive the plant, "It is dead Renae, the spirit has left that entity. It is impossible to the revive that which is long gone unless...." he suddenly moves down beside her, "you sacrifice a part of you're own spirit." He carefully maneuvers his hand behind the leaf of the wilted flower. She cannot see anything passing between the two or even sense it, but the plant starts to become green again, grow taller, form a bud, and bloom a red flower. It is as though she had seen a pre-recorded tape of the life of a plant in fast forward (though such technology does not exist in Venera).

[Renae]

"It's all right Illes." Renae told him as she watched him sit beside her. "Give it a...a part of my soul?" She asked surprised at the prospect, she didn't know this about her Earthen Magiks. I guess the saying you learn something new each day holds true. She thought and gazed in awe as the plant came back from death. "Illes, it's beautiful." She said quietly as she touched a silken red petal. She'd not been this happy in a long time.

[Seven]

He nods, "Yes...but you're spirit is not returned to you until after the thing's demise..."
He hadn't moved his hand away. Just as the plant sprung to life with his touch, it began to quickly wither. The red of the flower's petals turned ashy, the plant began to droop. One by one, the leaves and petals began to fall. You make life, you take it back. It was the cycle, was it not. He didn't seem bothered by either her comment about the plant's beauty or if the girl would be hurt that he allowed the plant to die again. After his spirit returned to him, he stood up, as if this was the closure of his demonstration.

[Renae]

Renae watched the plant fall once again into death and gazed up as Illes rose to his feet. "Give life and take it back. Makes a lot of sense." She said thinking about it as the sky began to darken. "Night draws in on us." She said as she turned to take in the stars and constellations. "Hey Illes, what's your favourite constellation?" She asked her eyes never leaving the sky, "Mine's Draco the Dragon." She told him as her gaze found the constellation.

[Seven]

"What does it matter? How can you favor one group of stars over another? It is not as though those stars wanted to be grouped in that order. It is only something us trivial ants on one planet decided upon. The stars we look upon are billions of leagues apart from each other; somewhere else, from another angle, you'd clearly see there was no grouping to begin with," he says in the same nonchalant tone.

But after a moment of silence, he softened just slightly, "I do enjoy looking at Orion with his belt though...I must admit..." he said, gazing his shift downwards, as if such a confession were embarrassing.

[Renae]

Renae giggled a little. "Well when you put it that way." She said playfully, "but yeah, you are right, we grouped them without asking them whether it suited them or not. Orion's another that amuses me. Constellations can tell so many tales, if only they could speak to us." Renae said turning to look at him. She smiled again and taunted him playfully, "Was that embarassing to admit Illes?" She said, he had helped to make her day brighter, in many ways.

[Seven]

He returned to his rather blank look, though he couldn't help but be a little curious. He could sense that she was becoming happier, but why? He hadn't really done anything. He was hardly a happiness-inspiring person. His eyes looked glossy when he looked back at her. If the eyes could be considered the window's of the soul, it was difficult to tell what his meant. It seemed more like there was a fog over them, and he had no visibile pupils. "It's silly to favor one group over another is all. They are all the same in the end. There is no benefit in liking Orion more than Draco, or vice versa."

[Renae]

Renae could see the slight questioning in his blank stare. There really wasn't anything he had done to make her happier other than to teach her how to bring the dead plants back. If only this would have worked with her Father, life would have been much better. "You have helped me to get a better grasp of my Earthen Magiks Illes, and for this I thank you." enae told him with a calm smile as she gazed once more into the blackness of space.

[Seven]

He silently nods again, a sign that he recognizes and accepts her appreciation and thanks. Rather than gazing up with her into the darkness of the night sky, his eyes go down to the ground. His eyes happen upon her wrists. Looking back up at her, he asks, "What happened to your wrists? They're scarred."

[Renae]

Renae gazed down at hr long healed scars and sighed smiling half sheepishly. "I used to cut each night my Father finished his experiments. Each night I wished I could end it there. Each night my friends, the creatures, the Earthen objects, and some of those of the water took care of my injuries. Each morning I woke to find myself healed. My friends wouldn't let me die, thy couldn't stand to be without me. Luckily I got sick of doing it and haven't done it since I flew from home." Then she smiled calmly again and waited.