... 8{D

(Faustt, I sort of took some of what had happened when we were RPing via MSN, hope you don't mind.)



A bet is a bet. When you lose bets, you pay up.

In Eraline's case, the bet had been a game of "peacock the sleeping deer first" and she'd won. Ciel had been giving her trouble since then, no doubt jinxing every spell in his mind so that she would not be able to adorn his fat head in a beautiful (and embarrassing) array of green and blue feathers. But she is determined, despite his complaints and the sad eyes he makes every time she hits close but no cigar, to make him honor his loss, and so she hisses, hold still! when he starts to inch away.

Herla's approach does not deter her at first. She is able to ignore their chatter, is grateful that the distraction has made it easier to cast her spells and arrange the wimpy little feathers that come from them. It does not occur to her that something could be wrong until she notices the hard look in Ciel's face, the tension in his eyes. She follows his line of sight to a white shape near the Idol and it is then she realizes Herla has left them.

"Wait, where is she going?" The doe asks, glancing again at Ciel as he shakes off her magic, frees his antlers of what few feathers she'd managed to get to stick. When he doesn't answer, and instead makes chase for his mother, she blinks, confused, but soon gathers her wits enough to follow. Then a familiar scent fills her nostrils, one from long ago; suddenly an image of a giant bloody body coughing and shaking at the top of a hill while she, just a teenager, tries to keep him at bay. This scent is too familiar - and with it urging her forward, she picks up her pace and runs.

Gehirn didn’t have to stand still for that long. He saw two figures move from the pond towards the crying idol, a greenish and a blueish blur. So the next logical thing to do was to see where they were walking towards.
The Irish lifted his head to walk towards the idol, slowly starting to recognize shapes, scents. Herla? Something else that didn’t smell nearly as good? He then recognized Ciel and Eraline as well. But that other one.
His calm pace went into a small trot. Something wasn’t right, and he never did like that feeling. It wasn’t before long he started to get the feeling he recognized the other giant. Upon arriving, he heard Herla command Eraline to be taken away by Ciel. And his eyes narrowed. Trouble, alright.

”What is going on here?” The deep voice demanded to know, standing mere feet away from Herla, Ciel and Eraline. He would step forwards, towards the trio in front of him. A threatening gaze thrown towards Nightmare. It hadn’t gone unnoticed to what this creature had done to his mate in the past. And her fear for it was obvious. But this time, Gehirn could be there to protect her if needed. It had always frustrated him he couldn’t have in the past; angered him even. If there was anything he loathed, it was feeling powerless. He looked at the youth for a moment, wondering what their response would be to Herla’s command. He, for one said nothing, they were too old now for him to.

(I feel like apologising for this not being so epic.. I kinda have difficulty throwing him in right now, but I'm sure I'll have it easier soon! Sorry anyway ♥)

((Would you all stop saying that your posts suck? Stop it! *hits with sticks*

And yeah Pumpkinseed, if anybody wants to pass that’s fine too! Just, y'know, tell us. XD I'm not an evil task mistress or something. ))

The Irish listened, watched, observed. His expression certainly wasn’t very impressed, though he nodded at Herla when she looked around towards him. So, if he had been listening correctly, they simply stumbled upon each other. The forest wasn’t big, after all.
Though seeing the fear in Herla’s eyes made him boil. Why this stag would even return to this forest was beyond him. What could possibly drive such a beast to return to this place.
Calmly, Gehirn kept his stance.
"Well then." The irish would raise his head, eyes wandering between the gathered deer. "If no one wants to be near each other, then why are we still? You have had your drink, I suppose that was all you needed. I would like to take my daily shower…" He took a step forward, still behind Herla. His red eyes kept focused on Nightmare, though his expression was calm. "Or well, of course, if you are done. Assuming you were here first and, this whole encounter was a mistake.."
Though, he couldn’t help but hold a slightly dark tone to his voice. Inside, he was angry. This creature had hurt his mate badly. Bad enough to make her look at him with such fear in her eyes.. He wanted this place to be as safe as possible for her.
Gehirn smiled at Herla’s words, face turning to look at her. He nodded, looking at Ciel and Eraline first as well before locking back on the beast. "Precisely.. And well, I hope you can respect that wish…" Still as calm as possible. "…To keep away from our family. I think you can agree with us enough harm has been done. I suppose this was an accidental encounter…" Gehirn looked at Herla again. He wasn’t there but, hearing what had been said had made him pull that conclusion. He would be the calm one amongst panic.

(calling a pass on this one.)

”Yes yes, we get that now. You were purely the victim of a honest mistake.” Gehirn did have visible eyes, which he could also visibly roll. An eyebrow went down in a frown as he watched Nightmare make further threats. “Ah but.. That is not exactly the deal here is it..?” He patiently started. “They wouldn’t want to cross your path. But there is no reason for you to approach them. That is what we ask, to leave our family alone. Approaching does not come into that saying, does it?” He tilted his head in question, though his expression said enough about the answer. Stern. Unamused.

Gehirn still had his head raised, reddish daggers reaching to the sky proud above it. He barely seemed to move, not even when Herla stood beside him. He listened to the creature talk about the humans. Though none of the words sounded familiar to him, besides pink skinned. What ever ‘humans’ or ‘guns’ meant was unknown to him. But he had the feeling he knew. “Is monster not quite fitting then..? I think it’s pretty obvious you’re not really like the rest here. And that you tend to behave as such a creature…” A childish, naïve tone was added to his voice. As acted as could be. Though he would shut his trap when he watched Nightmare leave, not really feeling like keeping him along either. When he was far away enough, Gehirn turned to look at Herla. “Not very like you to not be paying attention. Guess you were lucky these two kept an eye on you.” He smiled at Ciel and Eraline. He had met more careless youth in his life, figures who would jump into any fight they could manage. Even if they could not win it. The giant was relieved these tow had more brain than that.

(Sorry. I want to respond but I had a really busy and exhausting weekend, and I was busy getting ready to head back to school. Tonight I'm just really tired. If you guys think you can't wait one more day for my response, then just go ahead and post without me for now. Otherwise I should be able to post tomorrow.)

Yet another memory of his past was reliving itself in his mind, and no matter how he tried to will it way, the tendrils held fast and persisted. From these memories had come the evil joker, with pouting lips, a permanent sadistic grin at each tip. Nightmare seemed the joker of these memories, infecting the mind. And yet, the beast seemed unphased by them. As he continued to move away, Ciel felt as if he were slipping in between the conscious and the unconscious, dissolving into the more shadowed areas of truth. The past was gone, the future had not yet come. Nightmare seemed trapped in this part of the present that almost seemed unreal, trapped in his imaginings. Ciel had never really seen the beast with ones that he could come to call 'friend', the moon appeared to be his only companion. He was snapped from his stupor as Eraline nudged his shoulder. Blinking a few times, he turned his head to glance briefly at the group behind him, before looking one last time at the massive creature. Turning, his foot steps light, Ciel was sure to keep an ear turned in Nightmare's direction as he began to follow Eraline.

The doe clad in white listened tensely as Gehirn spoke, trying to be reasonable, the pride and mocking in his voice not lost on her. Neither did it gain her disapproval for it was truth as she saw it. The blue beast was a monster… that was what he was to her. A monster that had appeared dressed in blood, forcing her to succumb to the blackest of magiks to protect herself. He’d nearly killed her in the process, it was in fact a miracle she had not died, for by all accounts she should never have survived. It was not a remembrance that died easily. A monster he was and should forever remain.

Herla let out a shuddering breath of relief as the beast seemed to be leaving. She listened to the terse exchange between her son and Eraline, the tenseness in their bodies as they’d prepared to fight, ebbing away now and the closeness between them as they backed away together, content to let it lay, to remember what was important and to look to each other.

When the Irish had turned to her and not unkindly remarked on her uncharacteristic lack of alertness, she’d finally pulled her gaze away from the blue beast’s retreating form and looked up at the black stag beside her. A brief smile and a momentary blush colored her cheeks, all the more visible through the white pelt., as she thought on the reason for her distraction and where her mind had been as it certainly hadn’t been on her surroundings when she’d blindly walked up the river straight into Nightmare’s path. Despite everything and the danger still so close she couldn’t help the reflex movement as she tucked her head into her feathers and drew the bright plumage across her face, “I am unaccustomed to certain distractions it seems. Nothing but time and…practice will cure the daydreaming I fear.” she whispered softly, her scarlet eyes upon him, the faintest of laughs escaping her lips born mostly of relief. Her eyes followed to the two youths, “I am indeed lucky to have their help, it is not something I take for granted,” she said as she offered them each a smile.

A smile that was only all to brief as she realized the beast had paused, was turning now, grumbling. Bristling. Black smoke billowing from his maw. Her feather mantle flattened against her neck and she fell back a step as he denied he was a monster yet proceeded with his disturbing and frightening display that twisted some visceral primal horror in her. She swayed on her feet as a feeling of sickness and dizziness washed over her at the sight.

Flinching, the small doe turned her face from the beast, clenching her eyes against the nausea and willed herself steady, “Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it,” she uttered softly. She lifted her gaze towards the beast, her lips pursed, a strain about her eyes, “ It is only a fool who forgets,” she said now with more strength. “And only a fool would take his own transgressions so lightly. To so glibly expect forgiveness from those he has wronged. Tell me dear monster, what have you done whilst you were away? What penance have you sought, if any? Why am I the fool to remember so vividly the past and feel it’s haunting still in my heart?”

The doe is glancing over her shoulder in Herla and Gehirn's direction when, from the corner of her eye she sees a snaking tendril of black smoke. She freezes then for just a beat, the heat radiating from Ciel's body beside her the only thing making this moment feel real. The spell is broken with the sound of Nightmare's voice and Eraline turns slowly to face the group again and to see with her own eyes the darkness practically oozing out of the blue beast's pores. The idols around her neck hum against her chest - a sound, a feeling that she does not feel often, save for these moments when she is faced with the unnatural. There is little fear in her, has always been. Earthly things, the physical things have never scared her. When the memories of listening to Darcy and Herla crying out from the playground that night against the beast, when Herla's feathers seem to wilt, when she remembers that Herla is Ciel's mother and therefore also important to her, these are the moments she fears - not the possibility of pain or death at Nightmare's paws, but of knowing that the others around do fear at all. So she waits at a distance, tense and ready to charge in again at a second's notice, her jaw locked and her ears twitching through the exchange between the three.

When it's finally over - when Gehirn begins to move - Eraline releases a quivering breath and turns again, wordless. She is ready for this to be over, ready to bury these unwanted memories again.