This Is Eden

Julietta, after pulling into a parking space in front of the college, moaned at the slight dent in her bumper. "Great. So this morning didn't go off without a hitch."

She did her best to shake it off as she headed through the college's massive front doors, coming to the quad in short order. She slid her backpack off her shoulder and unzipped it a tad, peeking in to make sure she'd gotten everything. She slid a folder out and riffled through the papers, once again glancing over the science test she'd done last night. Her pace quickened in an effort to get to class on time, and she continued to hold the folder. I hope I get a good grade. I have to. Here's hoping I'm lucky enough.

Unfortunately, Julietta's luck had just run out, because she wasn't looking where she was going. And as it was, she just happened to run straight into two college students.

Literally.

Papers went flying, as well as scalding coffee. As she fell to the ground, she wished she could go back to bed and start this day all over again.

Legends of Erandor

"Okay, so he probably won't come, but if he does, I want to be here." She sipped more of the water, managing a small smile. "Besides, this is probably just some heatstroke or something. It'll pass."

Ellion Roe rejoined the festivities in Erivaile's main square wearing a dour expression. Colorfully clad dances and revelers bounded past him swiftly and he stepped aside, vaguely noticing them. It seemed at this time of their year he drowned the most in his own pits of discontentment. Cries of venders reached out to his ears and he glanced at the stalls and their merchandise as he slowly searched for Ainsley. The sight of flowers, beautiful bouquets, made him think of his sister. Growing up she was becoming quite pretty. Soon the young men of the town would be noticing her... And it shall be partly my job to protect her. He sighed. He had never much done that. In fact, she had always been watching out for him when it came to certain things. Him and his petty quarrels.

He walked toward the woman behind the stall and asked her, quietly, if he might have one flower. Just one small purple one of whatever she thought was pretty. She found one for him and refused to be given any pay. "It's just one little blossom, lad." she said, nicely.

Ellion nodded and quickly left that area, slipping the flower into the basket. He didn't quite know why he had done so, but he had. He hurried to the food area of the festival, where the tables of sweets were set up. Ainsley was there, with Kye. He clamped his jaw and strode up, standing taller than Kye. "Ainsely...um, Mother said you might pass these out." he said, handing her the basket. He didn't even greet them. His blue eyes found the ground then, and he sighed.

True Justice

The night had been horrible. The jostling from a ship racked by storm was enough to make anyone sick and exhausted, but even more so if you were someone who hadn't been on such a vessel for over a year. Aeryn Rivera found it a challenge to stand as she awoke in the morning, after having only a few hours of sleep. Her small cell swam in her vision and she collapsed against the wall, hand to head. The ship rocked gently back and forth and bars of sunlight played through the window behind her; they were at port.

It wasn't long before Captain Seranoy sent several goons down to bring her up to deck. The lock clicking sent her mind ablaze with the thoughts of her arrest and coming trial. A sob caught in her throat as she thought of Adrian and home, as though she hadn't seem them for a thousand years. She hadn't seen Adrian for months, in reality, but it seemed so much longer now. She hoped she never lost the memory of his lively brown eyes or the way he had looked at her before he had set sail. His hand had slipped into hers and their lips brushed...oh how she wished she could have met him at the harbor instead of being taken aboard this place. Rough hands took her by the arms and bound her wrists together with a cord. As though I would be able to over power them and escape... she thought, rather bitterly.

She was forced to walk quickly up the narrow stairs to the deck. Its surface was slick with water and she slipped, catching her footing before anyone could mock her. Captain Seranoy approached her, head high in triumph as though he had won some grand battle in bringing her here.

"Welcome to Negara, Lady Rivera." he said her title slowly, as though to remind her of the humiliation she was being put through.

Aeryn needed no reminding and she tossed her head, golden hair flying in the salt wind coming in from open sea. "Thank you, Captain." Her tongue craved to hurl strong words at him, but she bit them back.

Her calmness seemed to frustrate Seranoy. He growled and waved his hand, "Take her ashore, mates. We'll let the magistrate deal with her." he hesitated though and for a moment his finger lifted to touch the contour of her face.

Aeryn turned her head aside and he dropped his hand, gesturing for them to move and follow him.

Negara was just as she had imagined; large, bustling, and indifferent. A fortress rose in one corner, and a church, as if trying to touch the finger of God, challenged the castle for the tallest point. It's steeple was beautiful and how Aeryn wished to be within it's sacred walls instead of gripped by the rough hands of the sailors. They all stopped upon the docks, waiting for the armed guards of the town to come take her. Seranoy was a mercenary and therefore did nothing extra than what he was paid for.

Aeryn sighed, head dropping slightly. She prayed silently that the justice in this city would be fair and that Adrian would somehow find her. Her eyes then lifted to scan the crew. As of yet she had seen no sign of Jean, the kind sailor who had treated her well the day and night before. I wonder where he might be...

This is Eden

After breakfast Grace cleaned Silas up and helped him dress, then dressed herself. For this morning she was feelin slightly off-kilter, and it showed. She selected a knee-length brown skirt, with a white blousy top and a dark navy blue mini-jacket to go over it. She almost forgot about shoes, and only changed out of her slippers into some kneee-high, black boots at the last possible instant. Makeup remained limited to lipgloss and eyeliner, due to the time, and she just barely popped her ginormous hoop earrings in before Silas was dragging her for a last-minute pooty stop. Then it was a rush to the car, buckle Silas in, and drive as quickly as was legal down the back allies and side streets until she arrived at Happy Kids Day Care. It was here that she worked, and here that Silas played during the day. Smiling, she lightly patted his diaper as he hopped off to join his friends.

"Have fun!" she called after him, loping to her usual position behind the front desk. Drat it, she thought, a thundercloud hovering over her mood. I wish I could work with the kids more, instead of this blasted paperwork...!

"Morning." a pleasant voice interuppted her thoughts.

This Is Eden

Kiev had just tucked his coffee into the crook of his arm to be able to demonstrate exactly how his theory about how Professor Dinkling's brain worked when both men suddenly found themselves on the ground and covered in their (hot) coffee.

Romano said something not very nice, and lifted a piece of lined paper off shoulder to better allow him to look around and glare at the perpetrator as he stood up. He finally laid eyes on the poor bedraggled thing, a young woman with strawberry brown hair. She was completely soaked in coffee, much more so than Romano and Kiev put together. Romano felt a twang of pity and reached over, pulling a notebook off of her head.

"Hey," he said, bending down on one knee to come down to her level. "You okay? Looks like you took quite a tumble."

This is Eden

Author’s note: The Baxter family originally appears in Supernova. Here they are, with a few changes.

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…”

The familiar lyrics shattered the silence, jarring Dan Baxter from dreams of vacationing on a lush tropical island. “Huh?” he murmured.

Not ready to get out of bed just yet, he fumbled on the nightstand for a small instrument that looked like a cross between a flashlight and a television remote. He pointed it at the offending noisemaker and the tune immediately changed.

“Grandma got run over by a reindeer…”

“It’s not Christmas,” was his muddled thought as he pressed another button on the device. Quiet reigned again and he immediately dozed off.

The next thing he knew, something soft was tickling his toes. He awoke fully this time, falling out of bed in the process. He heard giggling from the foot of his bed.

There stood his little Grace, all dressed for school, holding a feather. “Sorry, Daddy,” she said, though it looked like she was trying hard not to giggle.

His wife Angie appeared in the doorway. “I told you that a remote control for your clock radio wasn’t such a good idea,” she grinned. “Hurry or you’ll be late for work. It’s your turn to drop Lily off at daycare.”

“Ugh – Mondays,” he groaned.

One might assume from all this that Mr. Baxter was something of a buffoon. But in reality he was quite intelligent, gifted mechanically, employed as an electrical engineer, and a loving husband and father. It’s just that Monday was not his favorite day of the week – and this one might yet hold some surprises for him beyond hearing Christmas carols at the wrong time of year.

Fifteen minutes later he entered the dining room, all ready for work. As expected, his wife and daughter were already there, enjoying breakfast.

Across from Grace was a toddler, perhaps two years old. Her green eyes and brown hair – pulled into a short pigtail behind each ear – clearly marked her as Grace’s younger sister and his daughter.

“Dada!” she called eagerly, managing to spill a bowl of oatmeal onto the floor in her excitement.

“I’ll get that,” he offered.

‘Thank you, dear,” Angie replied as she restrained the toddler, who with outstretched arms was intent on smearing any remaining oatmeal in her father’s hair.

He managed to evade this attack and ate a quick breakfast.

“Here, you’ll need this,” Angie said, plopping a brightly-colored cloth bag at his feet. “Should have everything she needs.”

“Bye, Daddy,” Grace said as she gave him a quick hug. “See you tonight.” She skipped off toward the garage. Angie followed, leaving Dan alone with the little girl.

“Ready to go, Lily?” Not surprisingly, his question brought only cooing and giggling in reply.

The bag was clearly labeled not only with his child’s name in big purple letters, but with the name and address of her daycare center.

“Happy Kids Day Care,” he read. “Well, you’re sure one of those,” he added, touching the girl’s nose. Moments later she was strapped into the car seat and he was on his way.

Legends of Erandor

“Thanks’ Elaina, see you around” he called after her, as she walked away “Eh, I would mind, quite a bit actually” Torin opened his money bag and counted out fifteen “however, due to the fact that you might have some entertaining to do I could see you having need of this later this afternoon” he stood to his feet and tossed Alex the fifteen credits that he had asked for. “After all, with Elaina back in town, I’m sure you’ll be busy. Anyways, I’m hungry let’s find some food”.

Torin quickly changed the subject in order to avoid a return strike from Alex; anything to get under his friend’s skin was well worth the risk of a retaliatory response. However, no amount of fun was worth the risk of potentially having a barb sent his way, and so he avoided them as skillfully as possible “How about O’Brian’s Tavern? I hear that their lamb chops are pretty darn good!”

He took a quick look around at his surroundings and to the left of him was a similar establishment (to the one he had just suggested they go to). Unfortunately his fight with Ellion had smashed quite a few of the owner’s chairs and tables and he didn’t believe that he or Ellion would be welcome back in Charlie’s Inn anytime soon.

On his right, the sounds of the festival wafted into his ear, like a butterfly ridding the updrafts but this butterfly had a voice, this butterfly was calling him. More like, the smell of chicken-pot-pie was calling him “Come on man, I’m starving!”

((OOC: Almost a full year, and my character has finally said something, I love RPing. ))

This is Eden

Grace looked up; fitted a fake smile to her lips; nodded.

"Good morning, Sarah."

The pretty, slightly-older blond began gathering paperwork of her own.

"So, how was your morning?"

"Terrible?" Grace ventured, letting the fake smile slip a little. "Mostly owing to the night before, which was even terrible-er. And I wish I could spend more time with the kids instead of...these." She let papers fallt hrough her open hands.

"You oughta spend LESS time with the kids; their way of talking is rubbing off on you." Sarah teased.

"Blame Silas." Grace chuckled, not looking up.

Legends of Erandor

"Heh, very well. You're in good hands no-matter if Ellion returns or not." Elaina said with a faint smile. Despite Ainsley's reassurance that it was probably heat exhaustion that was getting to her, Elaina knew it was unlikely that was the cause. Still, she kept her mouth shut and let the young girl be.

When Ellion did finally return, the herbalist of Wescraven stepped to the side and let the "raging bull" have plenty of room. Even though Elaina and Ellion were not exactly on ill terms with each other, the former still felt more at ease giving the latter plenty of space.

------------------------------------

Alex caught the 15 credits his younger companion tossed his way and quickly counted the coinage. Torin could be sly, and the blacksmith's son wanted to be sure he was getting his proper pay. After counting his payment, Alex stood and drained his mug of ale... giving Torin a warning glare as he finished the drink.

"Aye, I hear ya! Probably be best to head to the meat stands in the festival. I doubt any of the taverns here will want our business for a week or so." Alex said as he eyed the three establishments lined in a row.

"Come along, Tor! We're off to find you a beautiful young lass selling equally delicious meat pies!!" The young blacksmith teasingly told his friend as he wrapped an arm around Torin's shoulder and began walking in the direction of the pie stands.

This Is Eden

Romano felt a twang of pity and reached over, pulling a notebook off of her head.

"Hey," he said, bending down on one knee to come down to her level. "You okay? Looks like you took quite a tumble."

A notebook was yanked off her head. She squinted into the sunlight as coffee dripped into her eyes, and her hair fell down around her shoulders. She glanced up, trying to catch a glimpse of the other person involved in this giant mess.

And then her heart skipped a beat.

"Wow." She scrambled to her feet, coffee dripping and pooling into rivulets on the ground. Her words came out in a rush. "Hi. I'm--I'm Julietta. I'm okay. I mean, yeah. I took a tumble. But I'm fine now. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about all of this. What's your name?"

He looked at her with a twinkle in his eye that made her want to hug and smack him all at the same time.

Twitterpated. That's what she was.

This is Eden

"Julietta...it is very nice to meet you. Romano," he said, nodding and shaking her hand. "This is my good friend, Kiev. Do you, uh...wanna get cleaned up some?"

Kiev looked at his watch.

"We still have ten minutes or so until class starts. I'm sure Moondeer's has some towels we could borrow, and that way we could get more coffee, too."

True Justice

Adrian managed a smile at their banter, but inside all he could do was keep busy. What if he was too late? God forbid...They had arrived in front of the livery stables, and he stepped inside, carrying the money that the three of them had pooled.

It was quick work to pick out three horses. They were a bit wild, but that made them cheaper, and none of them had any horse to match with, which lowered the price further.

One of them, a roan mare, was particularly wild. She reared as soon as Adrian pulled her out into the sunshine. He did his best to calm her down, but even then she was still wild about the eyes.

The tack was more expensive than the horses, but Adrian managed to scrape together enough. At least they'd have a place to keep the supplies.

He rubbed the wild mare down-- he could feel her flinching when he touched her-- and kept a sharp eye out for Terence. The sooner they left, the better.

This Is Eden
In response to this post.
"It's nice to meet you, Romano, Kiev." She nodded at each of them respectively. And yet Julietta never took her eyes off Romano. "Yes. Uh... yes. I would like coffee. Coffee is good. Except when it's splattered all over you. But I want some to drink. A white chocolate mocha. No whipped cream. I'm allergic to whipped cream. Yes, you may not think that's possible but it... is..."

She barely managed to avoid smacking herself in the forehead. "Let's go. Whenever you're ready."

Legends of Erandor
In response to this post & this post.

Ellion nodded and quickly left that area, slipping the flower into the basket. He didn't quite know why he had done so, but he had. He hurried to the food area of the festival, where the tables of sweets were set up. Ainsley was there, with Kye. He clamped his jaw and strode up, standing taller than Kye. "Ainsely...um, Mother said you might pass these out." he said, handing her the basket. He didn't even greet them. His blue eyes found the ground then, and he sighed.

"Come along, Tor! We're off to find you a beautiful young lass selling equally delicious meat pies!!" The young blacksmith teasingly told his friend as he wrapped an arm around Torin's shoulder and began walking in the direction of the pie stands.

Ainsley blinked away the dizziness and sat up straight. "Ellion. You're back." She sent him a loving smile, then took the basket from him. "Thanks. I'll be sure to do that." She plucked the flower from the basket. "Is this for me?" She batted her eyelashes. "Why thank you. It's a pleasure to receive a gift from you, Ellion." She paused. "Unless... Mother sent that too."

Her discomfort intensified when she spotted two lads heading toward the pie stand. The same two lads that Ellion had been fighting with earlier.

She nudged Ellion's shoulder. "Um... you might want to look over there. Here comes trouble."

True Justice
Shay could sense Adrian's discomfort. "I'm sure Terence will be back soon. Then we can leave." She studied his profile, edged by the sun. his urgency was setting her on edge. She shifted from one foot to the other. "Your lady... she must be pretty impressive. You must love her a lot."

Normally Shay didn't flinch at being forward, but for once, Shay felt a niggling in her stomach. And she had no idea why. The only thing that was clear was this: Adrian affected her in a way that no one else did.

True Justice

Terence grumbled as he left the mercantile. The shopkeeper had given him a hard time, but Terence had finally talked the man down to a reasonable price by using a sob-story about his lovestruck friend who needed to find his long lost love. Thankfully, the man's wife had been in the room. She was close to tears as she said to her husband, "Denny, the man's price is alright. He needs to help his friend. Just accept it."

After wasting more time than he wanted to and being already grumpy from the journey on the ship, Terence struggled to keep his temper in check. It wasn't often that he lost it, but he didn't want to risk it today.

He tightened his grip on the sack of food and walked toward the livery. Shay and Adrian had already finished picking out the horses and tack. "Sorry it took so long," he said as he transferred the food and supplies to various saddlebags. "Whenever you're ready, Adrian." Terence tied the empty sack and two blankets to the saddle and mounted the horse that was apparently his.

He looked at Shay. "Are you sure you want to make this trip? I don't want to hear you complaining halfway there..."

~~~

Legends of Erandor

Festival of Erivale

Kye smiled at Ellion as he approached. Despite his usual grumpy attitude, she still thought of him as a brother. It was obvious that he had gone home and cleaned himself off. His cuts and bruises were still visible, but they would fade within a few days. "Ellion, would you like a piece of pie?" She cut a slice and offered the plate to him.

To Ainsley, she said, "Trouble indeed, but hopefully they'll behave themselves if their mouths are full." Waving, she said, "Torin, Alex, would you like some pie? It's fresh and delicious!" She cut two more slices and held out the plates with a smile.

---

Aedra stepped out of the carriage and heaved a delighted sigh. Her senses were filled with the happenings of the festival. Ever since she was a girl, this had been one of her favorite events. The food, the dancing, the festivities and the handsome men that came with the festival were just a few of the rewards.

She turned to the handsome man beside her. Orlando. For the time being, he was hers. True enough, she would eventually get bored of him and move onto another beau. It was all for fun, she would say. She would later be reprimanded by one of her older lady friends, but she was young and she ignored their advice.

"Oh, Orlando...This is going to be just grand!" Aedra gushed, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the busy center. She turned back just long enough to say, "Olivia, watch out for the mud and dirt. Those shoes won't last an hour here." She twirled around, returning her attention to Orlando.

Olivia rolled her eyes and said, "I hope someone steps on your bare toes and breaks them."

Aedradeva Tain was well-known by many people and she basked in the many greetings. She grinned as she clung to Orlando's hand, tossing some "hellos" and "good to see yous" here and there.

True Justice

He looked at Shay. "Are you sure you want to make this trip? I don't want to hear you complaining halfway there..."

"Pfft, of course I want to." She gave him a pointed look. "It'll be good, and I'll be fine. I survived on my own well enough before you waltzed into my life, Terence Rowland, and nothing has changed since." She allowed a half-smirk-half-smile to color her lips. "Plus, I won't complain! I love taking trips." She mounted her horse and picked up the reins. "I'm practically a gypsy, remember?"

Legends of Erandor

Ainsley chuckled. "Good point. You're right, I think. Pie is always the best balm for a troubled soul." She ended her sentence with a wink, wondering what Torin and Alex would think of the pie. With the delicious flavors that Kye managed to concoct, she had a strong feeling they'd enjoy it. "Mind if I have some more, too?"

She took another sip of her water. As evidenced by her renewed craving for pie, her appetite was back. The dizziness was starting to fade, too. She only hoped it stayed away, hopefully forever.

True Justice

Terence chuckled. "Good. But I did not waltz into your life. You waltzed into mine."

He kicked his horse gently and trotted off, a grin on his face. He had a feeling this trip would be more fun than he originally thought.

~~~

Legends of Erandor

Festival of Erivale

Kye smiles, "Of course." She hands Ainsley's plate back to her and takes the basket of rolls.