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05:05, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

AL002 A new day, A new family plot.

Posted by Story GuideFor group 0
Story Guide
GM, 27 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 10:56
  • msg #1

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Arias Previous Chapter: AL001 - Homecoming
Aria Lynn
NPC, 24 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 10:58
  • msg #2

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#2
I fall asleep with the familiar connection between me and Epee in my mind. I have mixed dreams from my experience, of both the good and bad memories of growing up. All in all it is a very restorative sleep though, through what was left of the day into the next morning.

When I wake I am famished. I am not sure how long it has been since I ate last thanks to all that has happened. My first thoughts is to go to the kitchen in search of some breakfast and then perhaps see what I may be able to get my father or Aunt Fiona (If I can find either of them) to tell me about from what I heard, saw, and experienced the day before.
Story Guide
GM, 28 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 10:59
  • msg #3

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#3
Your father is gone, and you are not surprised to find out he was gone before sunrise on whatever business drives the man. You don't hear any of his dogs, so you imagine he has them with him. That usually means hunting.

Fiona has left you a note, that was delivered with your breakfast.
She wrote:

Dearest Aria,

I am so pleased to see you are doing well. You sleep now, but the restoration seems more than complete.

I can hardly begin to tell you how glad I am that we were able to convince your father to take you and Epee across the Pattern. The energies of the Primal Order can not be denied, and it confirmed what I told you. It was your blood that pulled you through. It was the same element in your blood that will have been activated within Epee now making her a part of your reality.

This may not make sense to you at the moment. But I will be glad to explain it in further detail if you like. You are beloved to all of us Aria, and like your name, you are music to this family. We could not suffer your loss. Please think of us often, and if you should ever be in any need, do not hesitate. Your father informed me that Brand was able to get you there in a timely fashion before your fathers and your energies were exhausted. I know his intentions mirror my own, in wanting to be there for you.

What is important to one of us, should be important to us all. Being able to save Epee became important to us, because it affected you. You are far from a little girl, though it appears your father may not yet see that. I dare say all men have these blinders permanently affixed. Should you, or your precious pet, need anything, even if it is just to chat. Please contact me. I am sending you my trump, from my own deck. Care for it, and return it when you get your own replacement. Give your father my best.

May you dwell forever in Amber,

Aunt Fiona
Aria Lynn
NPC, 25 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 10:59
  • msg #4

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#4
I take my breakfast to the library to eat, it is much cozier than the dinning hall. As i eat I read the letter from Fiona, a little confused. Exactly why she feels the need to a deeper relationship I do not know. I am certain she has something up her sleeve though.

Once I finish eating I take Epee to the stables and have a horse saddled so I can ride out into the forest so Epee can transform and hunt. I know she must be as famished as I was.

It is great to see her in her magnificent tigress form. I give her a huge hug and scratch her behind the ears before telling her to go get her own breakfast. I sit under the tree my horse is tied to and just listen to the familiar sounds of the forest. The urge to climb as I once did as a child is too strong to deny.

Once up in the tree I can see around a great bit. The Valley, River, Port, and City. The most magnificent site would be the castle, but to me the forest feels much more like home. I sit perched high on a branch waiting for Epee to return and watching to see if I might also see the return of my father, figuring that to be highly unlikely, but one never knows.
Story Guide
GM, 29 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 11:00
  • msg #5

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#5
Epee's transformation is not without excitement and trepidation. The first time you get to see your old friend. A bit of fear sets in, as you look her over. At casual glance, no one would be the wiser to any difference. But your relationship with Epee is anything but casual. Small things jump out at you at once.

Epee looks younger. Her claws are a solid black, without any hint of the normal white edges from use. They are fresh, and unfortunately dagger sharp; if you don't get them ground down soon, she'll shred any wood floors in the cabin or elsewhere. Her rear hips are shaped somewhat differently. You use your hands, and find them to be somehow a touch wider. Her eyes... The windows to her soul.... are thankfully the same. You peer into them, hugging and loving her return to you.

You don't see the return of your father, but one of his hunting birds, a fine peregrine, soars by so close you swear you could touch it. While the birds can travel for great distances, you are confident he is close by.
Aria Lynn
NPC, 26 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 11:00
  • msg #6

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#6
Once Epee returns I have her transform back to sword and ride back to my father's hunting lodge. While walking Pattern was draining, it was also a revitalizing experience. Especially after then a good night's sleep and some breakfast.

Suddenly I get the craziest of ideas. I go back up to my rooms and climb up into my rafters like when I was ten. With a small dagger right below my name I carve a new one:

Epee

Why I hadn't thought of it decades ago when I had carved my own I don't know. Perhaps because our connection wasn't quite as strong yet. Perhaps because as soon as I had finished my own name I heard it bellowed by my father.

Once done I sit on the beam to admire my work. Epee is written much neater than Aria Lynn was with the passage of time my carcing has gotten better. I can feel Epee purr as she is attached to my side, well aware of the fact that her name is now under mine on the rafter even if she cannot see it.

I begin to comtemplate contacting Aunt Fiona. I have a myriad of questions I would like to ask her and don't know where to begin.
Story Guide
GM, 30 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 11:00
  • msg #7

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

ct 09, 2008#7
[ooc: SG resists all temptation to have Julian walk in... Oh, I so want to...]

Your own meanderings are not for long, as you can hear the dogs sounding your fathers return.

In short order, he will be coming through the door. You can hear a bustle of activity from the four men who both serve and alternately ride with him using the hunting cabin as a form of headquarters. One of these men sleeps in a hot rack in the middle of what you consider, "the library" of the hunting cabin. A vast collection of maps and tubes with a scattering of books on walls, and the occassional weapon in a corner.
Aria Lynn
NPC, 27 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 11:01
  • msg #8

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#8
Hearing the return of my father takes me out of my thoughts. I begin to climb down from my high perch in the rafters and hope I can be quicker at climbing down than my father at climbing the stairs. I do not know if his reaction to seeing me so high would be the same as when I was ten, but it is also something I do not want to find out.

Heck, even if he catches me as I just reach the floor all he needs to do is look up to see Epee's name next to my own to know exactly what I was up to. What was I thinking?

Epee mentally nudges me...if I allow her to transform that may be enough of a distraction, but not that he would be happy about that either. I tell her no, that is most certainly not an option as I somehow lose my balance on the last rafter and let out a little scream, more of delightful mischief than fear, as I fall onto my bed.
Story Guide
GM, 31 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 11:01
  • msg #9

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#9
You land with a bounce and a satisfying creek of the wood bed legs on the wood planks of the floor. No doubt shaking a bit of dust loose on whomever is below.

Your father does not come upstairs, but you can hear the satisyfing opening and closing of the door to the cabin. He never slams the door, but somehow the rhythm is right, and you know it is him.

You wait for an, "Aria," to be called, but none comes. You search your memory, but can not find a time when you recall him yelling out to you. It is probably part of his own self-discipline. You debate waiting in your room, but no it would probably be pointless. It's been years, how much time do you really want to wait?

You can hear the opening and closing of the door to your fathers private chamber on the first floor. Unfortunately your rooms aren't above it, so you have no chance of trying to figure out what he is doing in there.
Aria Lynn
NPC, 28 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 11:01
  • msg #10

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#10
I quickly run down the stairs to my fathers door and knock. If I can't get some time with him right now I can always try aunt Fiona, but I would much prefer to ask the questions I have for my father first. I know that any he answers he will do so truthfully, I just don't know if he will actually answer any.

I try to listen at the door to see if anyone is in there with him as I wait for a command to enter or for him to open the door. Of course, I try to listen without looking like I'm listening. Epee tells me I need to work on my spy skills and when I "shh" her I do so aloud without thinking about what that may look like to anyone that may be able to see me.
Story Guide
GM, 32 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 11:02
  • msg #11

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#11
If your "shhhh" draws glances you don't notice it since you are facing the door. You can definately hear your father talking to someone, but his voice while not being loud, must be raised because you can't hear the other persons responses. You do not have to wait long, as your father answers you with a "Come in Aria."

You wonder how he knew it was you, but then again, he often knows things like that. Arthur looks up at you from a rug at the end of a massive bed. You can't help but suppress an inward chuckle as you recall seeing a movie in a shadow recently about a tall peace loving man in which a comedic extra states "A man would have to be a spry one, to catch his wife in a bed like that." It briefly crosses your mind to wonder if your mother ever came here to this cabin. You file it away for a later time.

Arthur does not get up to greet you, and you see no one else in the room.

"How can I help you Aria?" You have his full attention, without even entering the room. You often get this in even a crowded room from many men. Somehow having the full attention of your father carries more force than even the largest of rooms filled with those admiring you. Perhaps it is because with each of them, you were the one being pursued. Here, in Julian's presence, you are less sure of yourself, somehow smaller. Somehow you are still that ten year old, despite your advanced years. You wonder if that will ever pass.
Aria Lynn
NPC, 28 posts
Thu 3 Dec 2020
at 11:05
  • msg #12

AL002 A new day, A new family plot

Oct 09, 2008#12
I walk over to Arthur and start scratching him behind his ears.

I look at my father, "Who were you talking to?"

Not really caring all that much, I have so many other things I want to ask him, but always feeling unsure of myself when I am near him. Never sure if I will live up to his expectations...wondering just what those expecatations might be.

"Never mind." Before he gets a chance to answer, if he was even going to.

"What exactly is Epee?" I feel her growl at my side when Iask the question, a curious response, but one I know my father is completely unaware of. Perhaps she growled because of my attention to Arthur.

"To be perfectly honest with you father I am far from a little girl any more. There are things I want to know, things I feel I have the right to know. I'm just not sure you're all that willing to tell me yet and I don't know what to do to prove that I am."

I spit the whole thing out rather quickly before I lose my nerve. After just being high in the rafters of the ceiling of my bedroom and feeling very much like the ten year old girl that was pulled over her father's lap I am finding it difficult to feel like the grown woman I just said that I was. I keep my eyes focused on his though, hoping that he cannot sense the way I feel.
This message was last updated by the player at 11:05, Thu 03 Dec 2020.
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