fifty-seventh labyrinth

[pharaohlighting]

[There is a boy sleeping on the couch of the lobby, curled with his face tucked into the corner, long flame-red hair falling wild around his shoulders. He sighs sleepily, snuggling for a moment against the arm of the couch before open his eyes and...freezing.

He didn't remember falling asleep somewhere other than his bed, but there was the possibility that he'd simply lost track of where he was in a haze of phoenix. Lorenzo wouldn't be pleased, if was the case. He should probably get back to his room

Slowly, he sat up and looked around. He was clad only in trousers and an over-large, dingy blouse that hangs off of one shoulder and shows a few ugly scars scrawling there way over the skin of his back.

No, this definitely wasn't the Shining Tiger. As much as it liked to pretend at opulence, it's paste-jewels and thinning brocade couldn't stand up to close scrutiny. Wherever he was, was genuinely high-class. His first thought was the Mirador, but all he knew of that place was there was no windows that would allow this amount of light to fill it a room of this size. Unless it was magic, maybe. His second thought was maybe he'd been sold off to a noble, but he couldn't exactly remember that happening. Couldn't have taken enough phoenix to forget that could he?

And that put him right back to hocus stuff. Powers.]

Vincent...you there? Lorenzo?

[His voice is light and obviously young. Not quite a teenager, maybe, heavy with a southern style accent, and very lightly scared.]

...Anybody?

((ooc: Loss start!. Have at kid!Felix))

Comments

[heal_theworld]

[Martel is walking back in from the gardens when she sees the lost-looking little boy one of the couches. She turns and approaches him quietly, but she announces her presence before she gets too close.]

Hello. Are you alright? Or lost?

[pharaohlighting]

[He watches her with wide eyes - a curious combination of pale blue and bright yellow that she might remember from somewhere - curling a little on himself instinctively. He might have been more worried about the fact that she was a woman except for the fact that her hair was green...]

Who're you?

[heal_theworld]

[His eye color vaguely strikes her as somewhat familiar, but she can't place it yet. She smiles at him.] My name's Martel Yggdrasill. Just call me Martel, though.

[pharaohlighting]

Did you bring me here?

[He watches her cautiously, like a slightly feral cat, though his eyes keep flicking to her hair]

[heal_theworld]

No, I didn't. I just happened upon you.

[She notices him looking at her hair.] Never seen green hair before?

[asseenontv]

[Shatterstar /was/ on his way outside, mostly because outside has good places for practicing where people don't shout at him for making too much noise or breaking things. But he stops, retraces his steps back when he hears that little scared voice, because, well, helping people is sort of his job description. One of his job descriptions, anyway]

Are you alright?

[pharaohlighting]

[He blinks, sitting up a little straighter as Star gets closer. It takes him a few moments to tear his eyes away from the hair, since he's the only other redhead he's seen, besides his mother. And that makes him want to trust this guy. Maybe. A little.]

I ain't sure.

[asseenontv]

[Well, he's talking, that's a start. Shatterstar crouches down a little bit so he's not quite looming so much]

Do you know where you are?

[pharaohlighting]

[Well, he definitely notices that eye now. What's up with your face even? He blinks openly at that but answers the question asked.]

No sir.

[asseenontv]

[He's an alien, okay. A mutant alien.]

...Ah. You must have just arrived, then. My name is Shatterstar.

[inafadingcrown]

[As chance has it, Galadriel happens to be passing through the lobby in time to hear that little voice. And...this child looks familiar. Regardless, she stops and looks down at him, concern visible on her face.]

Are you well, little one?

/apologizes in advance

[pharaohlighting]

[He's immediately alarmed to see her. It's not that he recognizes her as an elf, which isn't a known entity on his world anyway, but that she's a woman.]

Powers...ma'am...I ain't...

[He's nearly cowering and vaguely panicked. No. no, no, no... Lorenzo promised that would be the only time...]

Whatever it is you want, can't you just go back and tell him you made a mistake. I'll do anything...please...

poor Felix

[inafadingcrown]

[That was not the reaction that she was expecting. She backs away, allowing him a bit more space, and raises her hands in a placating gesture.]

I want nothing of you, nor do I know of whom you speak.

[pharaohlighting]

[He gives her a sort of owl-eyed uncertain look]

Then I don't...[He shakes off the tears that had started to well up]

I'm sorry. I don't know how I got here...

[inafadingcrown]

[She watches him carefully, lowering her hands but not coming any closer.]

None do, at first. [A slight pause.] Tell me, what do you know of magic?

[radiantwingedone]

....?

[ Duke's not familiar with those names, but its not something he finds surprising. He blinks and stirs his magic, trying to find the source of the voice. ]

... Like aid in searching?

[pharaohlighting]

[Wow is this guys deal he has white hair but he's not old. And...kind of pretty. Well...

He's not entirely sure he really wants to find Lorenzo, but Vincent at least...]

I 'spose?

[radiantwingedone]

... there are rooms assigned; would rather explore them by floors or by towers first?

[ A pause. He sounds young enough, and while uncertain... Duke's fairly sure that children? Young teens? Like to eat things. ]

Could start in this level; has place for food.

[pharaohlighting]

[Well, he has to admit he's kind of hungry.]

I don't have no money...

[radiantwingedone]

.... [ Right. Worse grammar than his.

Duke shrugs. ]

Neither do I. [ Its not going to stop him from going toward the kitchen though. ]

[silentrunning]

[Chell has been wandering through the lobby, coming back in from outside, when she hears that little voice. She pauses, head up, eyes flicking around. She doesn't recognize the voice, but then, that doesn't matter. There're many, many people she doesn't know.

But when she spots him, she creeps over, and sits down on the floor, not too horribly near, not near enough to be a threat hopefully, but she offers him a friendly enough smile and a small wave. He looks pretty lost and she wants to help.]

[pharaohlighting]

[The way she approaches puts Felix a little more at ease with her. He blinks, at first, then offers her a slight smile in return]

Hey.

[silentrunning]

[She doesn't answer, because she hates speech that much and she'd been isolated so many years that talking was hard. But digging out her journal, she writes something anyhow, unsure if this young man can read it or not...

But she holds out the book. If he can't read it, she'll improvise.]

Hello. Are you new here?

[Her every move is slow, as not to scare him, and both her hands remain where he can easily see them at all times. She's never been around a scared child before, but she knows how she'd want to be treated if she were afraid. And she offers him the same courtesy.]

[pharaohlighting]

[They don't tend to teach teenage prostitutes to read, but Felix has an inquisitive enough nature that's he's picked up the basics. Thankfully, the sentence is simple enough for him to puzzle out in a minute. It's easy enough to tell he's stumbling over it a little, but he eventually nods, cautiously]

I guess I am. At least...it ain't where I went to sleep...I'm pretty sure...

[silentrunning]

[Chell nods at him, and offers a friendly smile before writing again. She's noticed his stumbling a little, and that's something she understands some too. She can read well enough, but writing simple sentences are easier for her. After years of not speaking or writing, sentence construction feels kind of foreign sometimes.]

I'm Chell. This is Paradisa, a castle.

[She doodles a little picture of Caer Paradisa, just so he'd know what the place he was in looked like.]

What's your name?