[PRP] A Lesson In Manners [ Ciellas, Anouk, Alistair ]

[alpha lyrae]

Who : Ciellas & Anouk, Alistair & a certain dewy bottle
Where : Alistair's home
When : Early afternoon
Weather : Sunny but cool, with an autumn breeze chilly enough to make it coat-wearing weather

_______________

The road was fairly empty today as the winds brought the chill of autumn upon the land. The sun shone happily above, as though it meant to dispel the cold but couldn't quite manage to. It was here that Ciellas and Anouk walked the path that skirted Whi Forest, both of whom looking a little weary but otherwise pleased. Ciellas' brother Danny had given them a lift into a nearby village to visit an old friend of hers, bearing the fruits of her latest seamstress work.

"What did y'think of Missus Sabine?" The stiff silence that had held between them was broken when Ciellas glanced down at Anouk with a smile. "She's a nice ol' woman, that she is. Withou' her, I'd wager to say we'd not have foun' the old Wayfarer's." Anouk nodded dully - this was a story she had heard a hundred times before.

"Her house smelled very pleasant." The dust linked her fingers together then released them, swinging her arms at her sides for a moment before rejoining her hands over her stomach. "Very much like wildflowers." Truthfully the child had found the scent a little overpowering, with the strong undercurrent of cigarette smoke, but given how her guardian held the old woman in such high esteem, silence was probably best for the time being. They continued to walk down the path side by side, and Anouk's eyes traveled over the changing colors in the trees. The time of year was winding down and the seasons were cooling, which made the child's mood infinitely more chipper than she'd been during the summer months. While her guardian wore the old baggy coat that had belonged to her older brother, the dustling skipped along in sandals and a sundress.

There was a lingering silence in the air that made Anouk feel a little uncomfortable; after being so silent during the visit, she was ready to chat now. But Ciellas' glancing about and looking uncertain had started to tip her off about something she had been suspecting since they had last left the previous town.

Ciellas had always had a shoddy sense of direction, she'd told the girl herself. Danny had moved on to work in the next town but said that he would pick them up on his way through if they stayed in a certain village. But in typical Ciellas fashion, she'd talked the visit away much longer than intended and they had rushed down the road for a while. The snow dustling sighed and glanced around as well, moving beside her guardian with quick, light steps. The forest looked rather intriguing to her eye - the dark wood reminded her somewhat of the small wood behind the tavern, which she had already readily explored. A small village was visible just a short ways down the road, on the outskirts of which was a rather stately house. The blonde woman groaned and scratched her head as she gazed at the village with uncertainty.

If that wasn't a good enough indication of being lost, the child didn't know what was.

"Mother, I do believe the day is wearing on.. it is almost teatime." Anouk nodded towards the handsome house she had been noticing from the corner of her eye. "Perhaps we can stop there and ask where we are?" Ciellas looked like she was debating this for a moment when a look of embarrassment crossed her face, but a gurgle from the child's stomach alerted her of much greater needs than preventing a bruise to her ego.

"Very well then. It's worth askin', isn' it?" The girl smiled up at her and led the way up the path. Perhaps this encounter would make up for the boring morning spent at Mrs. Sabine's. Before Ciellas could even raise her hand to rap on the door, Anouk was ducked under her arm and giving light but rapid knocks.  

[Kazu-chan]

It was unusual for him to sit in the front room of his house. Alastair usually buried himself in his library reviewing books, or simply reading them again for enjoyment, or holed up in his workroom grading papers and tests or trying, but failing, to write something. If not busy with that, he could be found outside in the garden, which needed more attention than he usually gave it. He loved to garden, but sometimes his books stole away most of his time. Though it was quite sunny outside, there was a chill in the air that made him less than eager to go out and tend to his garden.

Lately, Alastair found he was spending more and more time in the front room. Instead of doing all right work in the library or his work room, he brought his materials into the front room and worked on them there. He wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps, it was because the light was better in that room. The thought made him glance over to the window where a pot of violets sat on the sill. He set his pad of paper on the coffee table before his chair. Then he stood and walked over to the window.

The bottle he found sometime ago remained happily seated among the ring of flowers. It still dripped with water on the outside, boggling the poor man's mind. It was a mystery to him, but sometimes, he almost felt inspired to write about it. But like most of his stories, it never seemed to come out just right, and he would toss the idea away.

Sighing, he turned away from the window, deciding to go back to his writing. But now that he took a moment away from it, Alastair found the idea quickly fading. He pinched the bridge of his nose as the feeling of frustration grew inside of him. He needed a break from writing, or to just call it a day and find something else to occupy his free time.

The rapid knocks on his front seemed almost like a godsend. He wasn't expecting any visitors that day, but surely whoever it was would provide a nice distraction, even if for only a little while. Alastair walked over to his front door and opened. "Good day," he greeted his visitor. Or visitors, he realized seeing a woman about his own age and the small girl with her. He stared at the girl then looked back up to the woman. "Shouldn't she be wearing a coat? It's quite chilly today." While the woman looked bundled up to stay warm in the cooling weather, the girl stood in only a sundress in sandals, something he would have expected to see months again when the weather was still pleasantly warm.  

[alpha lyrae]

"Oh! Hello hello!" Ciellas replied happily as the door opened unexpectedly fast. He had definitely answered quickly, she liked that. At the comment about Anouk, she glanced down at the child and smiled, placing a hand on her head. "I've tried tae put a coat on her, rest assured, but she won' have none of it. Gets hot awful easily, y'see." The little girl nodded and fluttered her wings, which made a slight crinkling sound against the noise of the breeze. Ciellas froze. She has forgotten about the wings. If only the girl would ever keep a coat on, just to get through these kinds of meetings!

"S-so!" she stumbled on awkwardly, hoping that he had not noticed. "We're actually tryin' tae find our way into a town 'round here, but I think I may 'ave gotten' oof the proper path.."

Anouk seemed to take no notice of her guardian's awkward attempt to get directions and instead glanced around Alistair into his home. Her eyes traveled the walls and lingered on the furniture. It was definitely much nicer than what she was accustomed to at home, but their house seemed more friendly, she thought. There was more activity there, whether she liked it or not. But what caught her attention was the sight of the flowers near the window.

What held her attention, however, was what rested among the flowers.

Without a word to either adult, she marched into the house and moved lightly into the front room, eager to examine this shining, dewy object that rested in the pot of violets. Ciellas gave a cry of indignation at her child's audacity, breaking away from her original plan of asking for directions.

"A-Anouk! Ye can't just walk into people's houses!" Ciellas scolded, turning to Alistair with an apologetic glance and bow of the head. "I'm so sorry 'bout this, really she's normally not-- Anouk!" The girl had climbed onto a chair near the window and was sitting up on her knees to glance into the pot. She watched the bottle curiously, then turned back to Alistair and Ciellas calmly, as though she had not heard the scolding at all.

"This is very nice," she said to Alistair, a smile coming to her lips. "It feels rather familiar." Her guardian looked at the pot her child was occupied with, and her heart gave a jolt.

"Ye.. ye have one a' those.. ?!"  

[Kazu-chan]

Alastair's brow creased with mild concern for the child. Not that could judge the woman's care for the child, but the weather was quite nippy. Surely the child felt cold in such weather, right? But the child didn't look like the chilly breeze had any effect on her. It was like she didn't even notice the weather was cold. Alastair blinked a few times as he stared at the child. "Are those..." He trailed off, wandering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. How could a child have wings after all?

The woman's comment called his attention away from the child. "Oh? What town are you looking for? Perhaps I can be of some help there." He didn't know too many towns outside the one in which he lived. The ones closest to his hometown he knew fairly well. But anything beyond that was out of his realm of knowledge. Geography had never been his best subject.

Alastair chuckled. "It's quite all right. In fact, why don't you come inside as well? Get out of the cold for a bit and all." He stepped aside to allow the woman to enter his home. His house didn't have much of that "lived in" look to it. He lived alone and liked to keep things neatly in their places.

He glanced toward where the child, Anouk as the woman kept calling her, was looking at his pot of violets. Then he turned back to the woman and tilted his head slightly to one side. "One of those?" he repeated. "I'm guessing you refer to the bottle, not the violets." He admitted he found the bottle strange, with the constant leak of water. But what exactly did the woman mean with the comment?  

[alpha lyrae]

Ciellas nibbled her lip anxiously as she watched from the doorway. How could she exactly phrase this without sounding like a raving lunatic? She could always point out Anouk as an example, with her icy wings fluttering as clear as day on her back. Surely the man had noticed them already, he'd have to be blind not to.

"It's.. uh.. y'see.. it's just.. I had a bottle just like it.." She tugged at an overgrown strand of hair awkwardly and toyed with it. How do you phrase something like this? There were times that Ciellas would have loved to meet somebody who knew about these bottles when Anouk had still been inside, wreaking her havoc in best bottle-like fashion. The only person she had met had been a kid who seemed to give her a taste of what Anouk would be, even if his guardian had been none too helpful.

But it was Anouk who eased her this anxiety and spoke for her, as she rested her chin in her hands and watched the bottle absently. "It feels very familiar. Rather like me, actually." The child stretched and leaned away from the back of the chair as she did so, managing to catch a breeze from the window. Her wings fluttered happily at the additional coolness across her skin. This was her kind of weather. She glanced down at her hands, which clung to the back of the chair, and her mouth rounded in surprise.

"Oh." Tiny ice crystals had formed on the upholstery underneath her fingertips. With an apologetic glance at the bottle, she secretly thought it had been a good thing she hadn't been handling that at the time. "Sorry."

".. And tae think we just stopped fer directions." Ciellas couldn't help but voice her surprise at the circumstances. Stopping at the house of a man who had a bottle just like the one Anouk came out of? Most definitely a strange coincidence.  

[Kazu-chan]

"You had a bottle like mine?" His brows lifted in surprise at that statement. He knew the bottle was a curious find, but he still understand the strange happening surrounding the mysterious bottle. How was it dripping with water? Even condensation wouldn't make it drip in such a manner.

His attention was torn away from the woman when Alastair heard Anouk speak. "What do you me like you?" he asked, feeling swept up in confusion. He noticed the flutter of what looked to him like icy wings. He rubbed at his tired eyes, wondering if perhaps they were playing tricks on him. How could a little girl have wings at all, let alone ones made of ice?

His jaw dropped a fraction when he saw the ice that had formed on the top of the chair where Anouk sat. After a few blinks, he snapped his mouth shut again. Something unusual was clearly happening here. Had he fallen asleep reading a fairy tale book and was now dreaming about it happening in real life?

Alastair glanced sidelong at the woman. "I get the impression that you ladies aren't telling me everything. What exactly do you know about that bottle?"  

[alpha lyrae]

"Er.."

Ciellas started awkwardly. Indeed they hadn't been telling Alistair everything, per se, but how does one break into a conversation like this? The blonde woman turned her gaze towards Anouk as though seeking some assistance with the tale she'd have to tell, but the child had bored of what the adults were doing and returned her attention to the bottle.

Well, she was in this alone, so might as well begin and hope she doesn't barrage the poor man with too much information.

"Well, yer probably goin' tae think me a little crazy, but bear wit' me 'ere." She took a breath. "Have ye.. noticed any strange behavior wit' yer bottle there?" She pointed over to where Anouk and the bottle were. "Because, er.. 'ope yer prepared to be a father o' sorts, because yer lookin' at a child in there." Her finger glided over to point at Anouk. At the mention, Anouk looked over, her head resting in her pale arms as she watched Alistair with her unwavering gaze. "I know it sounds like crazy talk but it's the hoonest truth."