Forums » General Roleplay » Shadows and Canines (1x1 With Aposynthe)

It was your typical summer morning, the 16th of August to be exact. Children and parents were awakening, and beginning to prepare for the day ahead. Getting up, and getting dressed. Eating breakfast, and brushing their teeth. Readying themselves to get get going, and begin the day despite the fact some people weren't wanting the day to happen. After all, school had started only weeks ago, and some students were still longing for their summer vacation to come back so they could enjoy it some more.

Parents and bus drivers drove children to school before attending to their own day, rather it was going to work, or simply sitting on the couch eating chips and watching TV.

The day had only merely begun, but the teachers seemed to be making conversation over something when they got the chance. It seemed a new student would be introduced to the school, but nobody had seen him all day. Some of the teachers were concerned. Nobody knew a number to call, or an email to message. They could only hope he was on his way, or at least that his parents would call him in sick.

Hour upon hour of the day flew by and soon recess was here. The bell rang, dismissing the children to go outside onto the playground or kickball field.

Ailbe clutched her father's hand tightly as they walked towards the school gate, as was always the case. She was brought to school by car each day, but she would insist that he walk with her to the gates. They slowed to a stop, and she let go of his hand, letting it rest limply by her side. Her father reached and pat his hand gently on her head, but not a word was spoken between them. He then turned, and was soon out o Ailbe's sight.

As she went through the day, Ailbe did not speak to anyone, and nor did she want to. She was an odd little girl, but despite her distant nature, she managed to pick up on a popular topic of conversation among teachers. Something about a transfer student. Ailbe payed little attention to it, and carried on with her own interests. She would sit colouring for hours on end if she could, and although at her current age this was hardly surprising, she would constantly have a colouring book on her person. Albeit she wasn't particularly good at colouring (she appeared to have little grasp on the concept of 'keeping in the lines'), it appeared to be her most favourite past time.

Recess came by quick, and as Ailbe stepped outside, she could already feel the burn of the sun on her pale skin. She hated summer, it was too hot to play and run (even if she did play alone) and it always made her shoulders sore and her cheeks red. She loved the cold and the snow, and building oddly shaped snowmen and sliding across the black ice that formed across the garden footpath. She gazed out for a moment, the scent of pollen strong in her nose.

The heat of summer was hard to endure, the teachers wouldn't deny that, but most of the other children didn't seem to mind. Most of the little kids ran to the playground, without a second thought of getting burned.

The young children raced at high speed to the playground activities. It was a war on that playground. Who would get to the swing set first and claim a swing as their own, and who would be the two (sometimes even three) students who would fight over it and get sent to the principals office after dragging each child of one another. Who would be the slightly chubby kid sitting at the top of the slide, but refused to slide down and give the other children a chance? It all seemed to slowly unravel. Meanwhile you had the nice little girls away from the boys playing with dolls or something while sitting own the grass imagining they were on a picnic.

All the fellow children were familiar faces, except one. Far from the school under a shady tree in the slight distance sat a boy in a dark blue slightly baggy shirt, a pair of Jean shorts, and a pair of red and black Spiderman shoes. He seemed to be doodling in the dirt with a stick. All alone. Nobody seemed to noticed the young child. He had not been seen all day either. He smiled faintly at his drawing. It looked like a cat, or a puppy, ....a bunny maybe?

Ailbe looked up a little, squinting her eyes at the sudden brightness. She would have to sit in the shade today. She began to walk at a slightly slow pace, carefully minding her way through the running mass of children. She hugged her cherished colouring book to her chest as she walked, gazing at the floor as she proceeded in the direction of the sycamore tree which had grown tall and wide out and a little ways away from the playground. She would go there most days, to sit at its base and watch the day go by. The shade made it cooler, and the other children generally stayed away from it.

The tree was in clear view now, and as she got close, she lifted her gaze from the ground to look in front of her.
Oh.
There was someone there; a boy, who's face she did not recognize. A moment passed and she gradually remembered the fact that there was a transfer student in today, which explained why a stranger was in front of her. More so, he was sat at the base of the tree, where she would normally sit herself. She was quiet, just for a few seconds, before her lips parted to intake a longer breath of air.
"Excuse me," she spoke. Her voice was quiet and polite, but it did not match the soft, emotionless expression on her face. The light breeze caused her deep red hair to stir slightly, and her pale blue dress shifted along with it. "My tree..." she slurred off, as though she had lost the will to speak all of a sudden. "You're sitting under my tree." She gazed almost straight through the boy, in her usual distant look. Sure, she had made a routine out of sitting under this tree, but this was the first time she had claimed it as her tree.

(accidental post, ugh)

The little one moved his stick from left to right, up and down. The reason his doodle was unidentifiable was probably because he was trying to draw holding the stick with his left and right hand, and trying to draw it as deeply in the dirt as the stick could. He was a quiet little boy, minding his own business. Or at least he was until he heard a voice and his hands stopped moving and he looked up at his visitor with a almost sky blue gaze. He tilted his head when she said it was her tree. Had she claimed this tree. The boy looked over towards the playground, it was quite crowded moved there, he'd be the first one to get shoved down probably. Usually people ignored him quite often. He stood up, his gaze down on his drawing it seemed he had worked so hard on. He wasent like the other children, he wouldn't start a fight. He looked down, turned and walked off into the sun, dragging his little wooden stick behind him. He walked away from the tree and went and sat all by himself on the grass. Far from everyone else. It was a little sad.. at least that girl now had 'her' tree.

Ailbe stood silently and watched as the boy stood, and left. She had been expecting an argument, but showed little surprise when he left without question. Without a second thought, Ailbe stepped forward, turned around, and sat cross-legged at the base of the tree. She placed the colouring book out in front of her, spread fully open on an unfinished page. The colours were messy and unsuiting to what she was colouring, but regardless, she had worked especially hard on this one.

As she unzipped the little pouch she kept her crayons in, the sight of the drawing in the dirt caught Ailbe's eye. Whilst an adult perhaps wouldn't recognize it, to Ailbe's childish eyes, she pictured it as some kind of furry animal. She gazed at it for a moment, then averted her eyes so that they looked towards the new boy who now sat alone a little distance away from her. It was almost as though she was looking at herself, who had spent the majority of her life unable to make friends. "I like your drawing," she finally said; although her face showed nothing. "You can sit here in the shade if you like, I don't mind." she tried projecting her voice a little, so that he could hear her. This was a first for Ailbe; she had never spoken so freely to a stranger before.

The boy sat in the way that the teachers referred to as criss-cross-applesauce Style. Sitting in the burning hot sun, alone. Continuing to mess in the dirt below the grass, but it wasent the same. He missed his drawing. He had worked so hard on it..and probably wouldn't get to finish it. He paused hearing her compliment his drawing. She thought his drawing was good. He looked back at her, before looking away only seconds later. He uncrossed his legs from the way he was sitting and stood up, returning back to the shady tree, and sat down infront of his drawing.

He didn't seem to be much of a talker, then again, who did he ever have to talk to. He looked up slightly, looking at what she had drawn, "I like your doodle" he said in a faint, retreating voice. One that sounded hardly used,

Ailbe went back to her colouring when the boy returned; her unsociable mind trying to decipher the boy's identity. She breathed gently through her nose, catching the breeze. He smelt odd; not quite human, but not inhuman, either. It was an unfamiliar smell, unlike anything she'd ever smelled before. Father would know what it was. Father always knows.

She looked up when the boy mentioned her drawing, her dark green optics wide and rounded. No one other than the teachers had ever praised her for her colouring before. Even her father would simply dismiss them. A short moment passed and a sudden, unexpected little smile curved up on her expression, before she looked back down to continue working again. She pressed hard against the paper as her young mind still tried to identify the boy, forgetting that she could simply ask one of the most basic questions of them all. At a sudden epiphany, Ailbe stopped her colouring, and paused her movement completely except for her eyes which now looked up and at the boy. "What's your name?" she asked, the smile she had worn before had already gone but some of the warmth from her expression still remained.

With his little wooden stick resting on his lap he watched as the girl colored. It seemed that's all his childish mind was focused on. All the pretty colors and all the lines and colored spots. The wind was the savior of the day, seeing it occasionally blew keeping some of the humidity away, but every time as if the world was doing it purposely, the breeze would blow his white bangs into his eyes. Lovely...

The boy leaned back when she begsn to speak. He looked down messing his finger in the dirt as if thinking about rather or not he should introduce himself. After a long moments of silence he responded with one word. "Evance."

"Evance..." she echoed, glancing back down towards the floor. What an odd name. Not like she could compare, when she could barely pronounce her own name. Ailbe had never paid any interest in interacting with other children before, and even the teachers supervising at the other end of the playground had begun to notice. Yet this boy, who had a strange scent and was not so different from herself, had seemed to bring her out a little. "I'm Al..." She stammered a little, "Al-Bee.. Ailbe." she spoke the two syllables separately, making effort to get it right.

Evance had been drawing in the dirt, much like Ailbe would try and do during the nights where the Clansmen would meet at the circle. She understood little of what was said at such meetings, and would instead focus on making patterns in the dirt and watching ants carry leaves into their nest. As she looked at her unfinished work, she made a careful decision and somewhat hesitantly pushed the colouring book towards the boy along with the crayons. "Would you like to do some?" she mustered as much of a friendly tone as she could, sitting back and onto her knees.

Ailbe. It wasent a common name, just like that of his own. She was probably the only Ailbe in the school, and he was probably the only Evance. There were boys named Bryce, Jake, Ryan, Dakota, and so forth. Normal names. Then girls named Hannah, Emily, Jade, Victoria, and so forth. Normal girl names. But not these two children. Not Ailbe and Evance.


The young boy watched as she pushed the coloring book, and crayons towards him. A faint smile appeared on his face, and he reached out and took a light green crayon in his left hand and began to color. That was another semi odd thing about him. Most the children used their right hand, he used his left.

Ailbe watched distantly as Evance began to colour. It was almost as though her vision was passing straight through the book and into to ground. Her eyes were lidded tiredly and she seemed a little weakened from fatigue; Ailbe did not get much sleep the night before, as she was still learning to completely supress her beast side. Nervousness, a loss of temper, and hyperactivity all contribute to unwanted lycanthrope transformations, and so Ailbe had learned to keep hold of such feelings.

"Have you..." she began, taking in a quiet yawn before she could finish. "Have you been out here all day?" her head tilted a little, like a puppy. It was a particularly hot day today, and Ailbe personally wouldn't even think over staying out for more than an hour. But Evance hadn't been seen until now, and transfers were all meant to begin school in the morning, as far as Ailbe was aware.

The young child colored intentivly on the paper with the light green crayon, but rather then drawing little messy with color splats everywhere, he was actually trying to get it in the lines, failing for the most part, but he was trying. He stopped a moment and looked away from the page and looked up at Ailbe. With little to no second thoughts or hesitation he nodded once. He had been out here all day. He pointed lightly to his backpack that was merely sitting a couple feet away. Indicating he had not even step foot infront of the school. But where were his parents? Wouldn't they guide him in? Wouldn't anybody notice a child alone on the playground field? It was rather odd to know he had been out here this long, but more then likely he had stayed under shade, proven fact by his rather pale skin which was not tan or burned.

He looked down at the coloring book again, pressing hard on the crayon, as most children accidentally ended up doing.

Ailbe's eyes half-closed when he nodded, and she gazed at his backpack for a moment. "Oh..." she breathed. She turned her head to look at the school building, past the rabble of playing and shouting children. "You should come in after recess, it's hot outside." she said simply. Her father had told her that she should try and make friends; but at the same time, he also told her otherwise.
"Keep them close, but not close enough so that they see who you are." His words echoes in her mind. Her young mind never understood her father's always literate speech, but she understood enough of it to know that she should not make friends, but at the same time she must not gain enemies.

But this time was different, or so she thought. Perhaps she could give friendship a small chance, at least.
"Didn't your papa bring you here?" she asked, her voice quiet and innocent in that she only remembered her father. In her head, the idea of having a mother was completely foreign.

Seconds passed until he finished his doodle he had been doing in crayon and he returned the half burned up crayon from where it came from. He looked at his new friend at the mention of a papa. "Pa.....pa?" He asked, not sure what a papa was really.

(:c sorry so short)


)