Fantasy Unlikely Partners

[Flutterby]

Ilaria paused at the top porch step, turning partially at the sound of the apology. "Chris, you don't need to be sorry. Moon Children are a pretty private group, and we're one of those races that can go light or dark. Most people jump to conclusions about the things they don't understand." She seemed to consider something, and then added. "I appreciate the apology though. Thank you."
With that, she turned and lead him inside. Coming in from the back, they entered a small mud room, which lead into a hallway. She placed her sneakers back in her backpack and tucked it into a corner. As she padded down the hallway, she pulled her hair down. "Can you lock that door?" She asked, just before turning into the living room. As she locked the front door, as flicked off the kitchen light, and set the coffee maker to start at 5am.
When she made her way back through the living room, she said. "Bedroom and bathroom are off that hallway. I guess you and Rex can fight over who gets to share the bed and who is stuck on the couch by themselves." Ilaria said, with a small smile, as she scanned the bookshelf. She slid a small volume out of it's place, and checked the inside cover to make sure it was the one she wanted.

 

[Tharivle]

Rex looked at Chris and tilted his head to the side, then went over and laid down in front of the couch. Chris sat down on the couch and asked, "What book do you have there?" Then he leaned over and whispered to Rex, "We will fight over the bed later." And Rex put his head on the floor and looked up at him with the saddest puppy face he could muster. "That won't work on me... But you might get her..." Chris whispered wile smiling a little. Rex let his pathetic look go and closed his eyes, obviously satisfied with himself.

 

[Flutterby]

"Pride and Prejudice." Ilaria answered softly. "My sleep schedule is all messed up from hanging out with you, so I probably won't sleep well. It's usually better to just have a book out for while I'm awake." She trailed off a little, and then cleared her throat.
"I'm going to take a quick shower before bed. Um, there's extra blankets in the closet, if you want to stay on the couch. Otherwise, the bedroom is just to the left." She gave him a small smile, looking almost bashful, and then disappeared into the hallway.
Ilaria went into the bedroom, placing the book on her nightstand and grabbing her towel and some clean shorts and a tee shirt. Down the hall she headed, shutting and locking the bathroom door behind her. A few seconds later, the shower turned on.

 

[Tharivle]

Chris was to polite to just go make himself comfortable in someone else's bed so he decided to just wait patiently for her to get ready for sleep then figure out where he was going to sleep. He did however, take off his uniform and boots. and placed his boots by the door and he draped his uniform on the back of a chair in the dining room. He sat back down on the couch. Once she came out he stood to meet her and asked, "Where am I sleeping?"

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria left the bathroom in a pair of cotton shorts and a baggy tee shirt, drying her hair with a towel. She paused in the archway to the living room when she saw him. Her eyes were calm, as she said, "Wherever is fine, Chris," There was a little amusement in her voice as she said it. And then she continued to the bedroom, leaving the door open behind her.
She climbed onto the bed, grabbing a brush from the nightstand and running it through her hair as she sat cross-legged on the blankets. Ilaria hummed softly, a lilting melody that sounded vaguely Celtic. As she did, she began braiding her hair gently.

 

[Tharivle]

Rex opened an eye and looked at them as she walked out and Chris stood up, but he made no move to get up, lazily yawning then closing his eyes again.
Chris followed her into the bedroom sitting down on the edge opposite her.
He then laid down on top of the covers, and ran the back of his hand down the side of her arm, releasing a bit of energy, knowing that she would like it, especially after the blessing the Sun Spirit gave her earlier. "Thank You for letting me stay."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria was a little surprised that he joined her; the whole noble complex he had going on didn't make that seem likely. But he did, so she just smiled to herself and worked on her hair.
He reached out and touched her, and she half-turned her chin to look at him out of the corner of her eyes. "You know, you really should be careful how much you give your energy to me. Its more addictive than a human's energy." Her tone was gentle as she said it, but firm enough to let him know she was being serious. "And even with help from the sun spirit, it will throw off my sleeping and eating even more." She smiled, finishing the braid and tying it off with an elastic.
The Moon Child looked down at him briefly, and added. "But you're welcome. Its nice to have company sometimes."

 

[Tharivle]

"Not a problem." Chris stopped the little flow of energy. The turned over on his side and just lay there, content for now just to watch her braid her long silvery hair. He was intrigued by what she said on the beach. "What did you mean when you said the part in you can talk with the sliver somewhere out there. What part of the Moon spirit do you have?"

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria leaned away from him to put the brush down, and picked up a bottle of lotion. She considered his question for a moment, looking down at him with a bit of a confused look.
"When she made the moon children, she put a bit of herself into all of us. That's how we get our abilities, we change shape like she does, we use the energy from other beings of light like she does." Ilaria tilted her head to the side and shrugged.
"Everything that's not in the shard, is walking around on Earth inside of living beings. When she first made us, there were a lot more of us. But now, not every being that has a piece of her, has enough to have abilities." She paused, giving the bottle of lotion a small shake. She seemed to hesitate, and then continued. "So she's been split more than she was originally, and less beings actually have enough to have abilities. And we don't have the same amount of power through the entirety of our lives. I didn't have abilities until I was 8 years old, so during the time I was growing up, another Moon Child was growing old, and starting to lose their strength. Which is sad, but that's how it has to be, since there is only so much of her to go around. But that has some impact on inheritance too, the timing of our lives in relation to each other."

Ilaria made a face, and then added. "Inheritance of abilities got very messy when we started having children with humans. Before, or in bloodlines that remain pure, its very easy to know how strong an individual will be at their prime, based on their lineage. But that's really uncommon now." She gave another shrug.
"We love humans, like she did, so there's been so much mixing that Moon Children just kind of pop up in human families. The ones of us that have abilities are generally stronger than Moon Children historically, probably because those without abilities aren't using their piece. Our history.. has kind of been lost, over the years, because we don't form groups any more. I do know that I come from the first generation mostly, and that there are more first gen descendants with abilities than the other two generations. But I've only met another Moon Child twice in my life, so.."
She blinked at him, remembering what he had actually asked her. "I didn't know about shards until today, but I've always known there is a bit of her that is external to me. That piece connects me to all of the other Moon Children, and it makes them really easy to recognize. They're all familiar, even if they're strangers. If I were in my birth month, I could, in theory, use my connection to the shard to connect to another individual Moon Child, but they would also have to be trying to connect, too, I think, because it's never worked before. But right now, even calling on her is difficult and draining."
Ilaria stopped talking, and popped the cap on the bottle of lotion. The smell of jasmine flowers and vanilla wafted into the air between them. "Does that answer your question?"

 

[Tharivle]

Chris thought for a moment then decided that it did, "Yes I do believe I understand a little better now." Chris turned up onto his side so he could talk without having to turn his head to look at her. "That smells nice. Where did you get it?

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria looked at the bottle and shrugged. "Some human place, in a mall, I think." She said vaguely. She began applying it to her bare feet, noting that her heels were a little sore. She frowned a bit, but it was probably from walking around at the Golden Grove. "It reminds me of being abroad, that's why I bought it."
She glanced at him, checking his facial expression. "I think my time abroad was more pleasant than yours, though, so I like to be reminded of it." She switched to the other foot.

 

[Tharivle]

"What makes you say that?" Chris said with a little smile, "Rex and I enjoy ourselves every time we travel." Chris's face went blank as he recalled the few times that he and Rex had to leave town in order to not be discovered because they weren't ageing. Wile it was always hard to leave friends, they would make new ones and sometimes they would visit old friends years later when people would recognize but think it impossible that they were them. The two of them would have to be leaving Mullbrook within the next two years. Some of the children from when they first got their house in town were no longer children. The sound of Ilarias voice brought him out of his thinking spell. Chris looked up, "I'm sorry, what?"

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria looked down at him with an amused smile, after he zoned back in. She had started responding, and then noticed the distance look he got and trailed off.
"I just said, that the war couldn't have been a fun time to be traveling. That's all I meant by that." She moved up from her foot, getting her ankles, shins, and knees. She plopped the bottle onto the bed between them, running both her hands over her calves to rub it in.
"You don't seem all that curious about my life up to this point, and not super into sharing about your past, so I was just probing." She said with a small shrug, looking at him with a soft expression. He was in her bed, so she felt like she had a right to be curious.

 

[Tharivle]

"Moving is very easy to do because I have a tone of money, we just take a vacation somewhere for two years, then reappear someplace new. The hard part is leaving friends or coming back through to visit and finding gravestones in towns where I use to have friends." Chris looked down and kind of trailed off at that last part, but he snapped back to reality quickly and smiled.
"I am sorry, you are right. Where did you grow up? Tell me about the place that you would call home."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria listened to him, noting that he seemed kind of upset talking about it, so she let it go. She shifted a little, and settled down to lay next to him.
"I was born in Boston, in 1885. I only lived there until I was about 19, and thats when I went to Europe. I was there for about a year, before I fell in with those witches. I was with them for like 5 years, but that ended and then the Great War began, so I came back to the States." She paused, and then continued.
"Then I bounced around here, moving about every 5 years, until after the second World War ended. A few years after that, I went back to Europe, spent a good bit of time in France and Britain. And then I came back to the States.. in the 80's. So I've been bouncing around here since then."
"I wouldn't really say I've ever had a home, you know? I mean, with my parents, and then all the moving around," She paused, and looked over at him. "I like it here though."

 

[Tharivle]

"Well you are welcome to stay, I'm sure the people would love to have another young face around town. And then you could visit the grove too. I think you would really like finding an interesting book from the library and sitting in one of the willows and reading/napping." Chris smiled, hoping that she would indeed stay in the area for more than a few months.
"This is one of my favorite places too. I actually came here because of its close proximity to the grove. I really like spending time there but it is hard to visit when your in Florida or Michigan."

 

[Flutterby]

"Well, I can definitely stick around for a couple years, at least, until I need to move again," Ilaria said softly. She yawned, and snuggled a little deeper into the pillows. "I like being by the sea, and I like how often it rains here." Her eyes blinked slowly. "The rain reminds me of my parents, which is always nice." A chill traveled up her spine, and she wished she was under the blankets, but she was too comfortable to move.
"They would've liked you. Would've thought you were a good influence on me." She reached over, and plucked one of Rex's shed hairs from his shirt, smiling a little at the sight. Her eyelids were beginning to grow heavy; after calling the Moon Mother, she needed a nap.

 

[Tharivle]

"You said remind you of your parents like they are gone?" Chris was hesitant to ask, but he was curious and he too would like to meet her parents, if not for anything else than to meet more Moon Children.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria looked at him with a funny glint in her eyes. "They are gone, Chris. They were human, and I'm like 130 years old now." She had propped herself up on one elbow to look at him, and now she fiddled with her hands in front of her. "I didn't see them after I was.. ten, I think. I changed for the first time when I was 8, right in front of them. They took me to a priest for an exorcism, but instead they were both sent to asylums. I grew up in an orphanage after that." She shrugged. "Those asylums were not good places. My parents weren't crazy when they went in, but eventually they didn't even recognize me, so I prefer to think about the times before they got put away. Like rainy Sundays, when we would play games together inside all day." She looked down, and gave another half-shrug, mostly to herself.

 

[Tharivle]

"I'm sorry Ari, I didn't mean to pry or make you sad." Chris didn't really know what to say to cheer her up or if she even wanted to be cheered up. Chris scooted a little closer and reached out and grabbed her hands, stopping her from her from fiddling. "It'll be ok."

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria gave a small shake of her head. "They've been gone a long time, Chris. I've had plenty of time to grieve them, both their institutionalization, and their deaths." She paused, looking down at his hands, brushing her thumbs over his knuckles. "It's just not something that I usually get to talk about out loud, and the few times I have, the reactions have been kind of.. odd." She gave him a humorless smile. "I'm always a little worried about using the words 'exorcism' and 'mental asylum' with people, that's all. My parents weren't crazy, or religious fanatics, they were just scared humans." She yawned again, and this one was bug enough for her eyes to water a bit.

 

[Tharivle]

"You can always talk to me." Chris smiled softly at her, "You look tired, how about we slide under the covers and get some sleep." Chris gave her hand a little squeeze and moved to start getting under the covers.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria smiled and blinked at him, and then nodded. She wiggled under than blankets, and smiled a little wider than before, noticing that it was warmer under the covers than usual. Maybe she could get used to having him around
"Thanks for staying with me," She whispered, as she rearranged the pillows to be more comfortable. She settled in, on her back, and pulled the blankets up to her nose, all but disappearing under the blankets.

 

[Tharivle]

Chris slid a little closer to her as they were getting under the blankets and laid on his side so he could still see her He pulled the blankets up to just his shoulder because he slept a little warmer and didn't want to over heat. "Goodnight Ari." He said softly, then he closed his eyes to sleep.

 

[Flutterby]

Ilaria smiled, and whispered goodnight.

She woke up some time later. She shifted a little, surprised to find herself trapped underneath a heavy arm. She could feel Chris's slow breath on the back of her neck, and one of his legs had snuck in between hers. Ari held back a sigh; getting up to go read was going to be a lot more difficult when she was being spooned.
Ilaria carefully wiggled out from under his arm, being careful to not let it thump onto the mattress. She grabbed her book, and quietly headed out to the living room. It was about 4am, as she settled in on the couch, giving Rex a smile. She'd read until Chris woke up, and take a nap later in the day.