Topic: Gardens of the Moon

Kaius

Date: 2012-07-08 21:54 EST
Prologue

Seasons.

Seasons come and seasons go, and at the Coven Bristle Crios those seasons are each marked by a fete commemorated by the Moon above; the Blood Moon in the Autumn, the Snow Moon in Winter, and the Rose Moon that comes with the Spring.

Time.

These moons mark the passage of an entire year unto themselves; time being the variable that ever changes in each and every life, for the just and the unjust alike.

How then shall we spend this time, these years" Alone" Hunted" Questioning the merits and shortcomings of our existences, be they meek or grand - as in the darkest parts of the night our own mental solitude proves to be the great equalizer"

Or shall we come together?

In a place of our own choosing, of our own design - safe within walls literal and metaphorical, which we construct for ourselves.

And for those others in our lives that we love to much to abandon to the fickle fate that others would thrust upon them.

There are some places where the variables of time are hesitant to touch.

Some places where the seasons passings are hesitant to tread.

Hidden places.

Secret places.

Ever sacred, ever safe - where the walls are made of will, and blossoms grow fed on determination.

Gather together, all those who have seen it and have been granted entry...

Within the Gardens of The Moon.

Kaius

Date: 2012-07-08 21:57 EST
Act 1: To Build Beneath the Moon



Miranda grinned from ear to ear after making her delivery. She walked the shadowed streets with her basket in hand, the breeze carrying the promise of spring, yet the last of March still wished to hold onto the bitter chill of winter. She adjusted her shawl, mint green eyes looked up to watch the young monks lighting the lanterns. It was peaceful and rather soothing to her after all that had recently happened.

*****

The air tingled and seemed to electrify for a moment as a black gate flickered into existence, spiraling outward from a miniscule singularity, its edges ringed in blue and red as the man in black and green leathers stepped out, casting his eyes up and down the street. He knew the feel of her....presence quite well enough for Pathfinder to sense her location, having lived in her House since his journey to Rhy'din, spying her just distant and heading his way, he cleared his throat to make his presence known, and adjusted his posture to something a little more formal, becoming suddenly self conscious as his eyes flickered from deep jade to sparkling emerald in the sparse flickering fires light. "Ms. Branson...?" The interrogative sounded unsure; he hoped he wasn't pouncing on a stranger - not that pouncing on her was necessarily better.

Her back straightened at the formal call of her name, and Miranda stopped and turned to face the voice. The tones finally clicked with the face, "Good evening to you, Kaius. What has brought you to me?" Her shoulders relaxed, Miranda walked towards him with grace and ease.

Miranda Branson

Date: 2012-07-09 00:22 EST
Kaius noticed the basket she carried and beamed a smile with her recognition, "Do you care for an escort' Like..." he stammered a moment, escort was maybe the wrong word, things taken so many ways here, "....a hand, that is" Someone to," he paused, close to stammering, "travel with a moment' I was hoping we could speak." He was hesitant with what he thought might be, now that he -really- thought about it, a rather enormous concept. But he was just a young man living at the Coven, so perhaps his perception was biased. "I would be more than happy for company back to the coven grounds. Thank you." Miranda offered him a warm smile. She waited for the space between them to lessen; she intended to follow his pace all the way back. Keep things light and open. "What is on your mind then, Kaius" I highly doubt it is just to say hello."

As he finally closed to a more casual distance and met her smile with his own, the faint blush just visible fading from his face, "....it's not, in truth; but don't let that lessen my offer." He gave his head a shake, "Apologies, where I come from, offering to walk a woman home if she travels alone isn't....regarded with quite the same level of speculation inferred in Rhy'din's.....culture." His smile at his own words appearing a bit wry, as if he'd stated an ironic truth. "....I was wondering, the Coven grounds extend for quite a few acres, do they not' I've walked them quite extensively but....can't seem to find any permanent markers. I know there are also....things in place which watch the Coven grounds....and with both of those things in mind....a request. Or," he paused a moment, he was setting the pace, but she the direction. He could offer to travel her much quicker but, perhaps he would save that as a bargaining chip of sorts, if he needed it...."Perhaps first, a question: do you like roses?" Simple enough.

Kaius

Date: 2012-07-09 00:25 EST
"That I do. My father's forge had the most full crimson scarlet's growing up a trellis and clinging to the mortar between the stones. In the spring the building was more rose than stone and thatch." She chuckled softly at the good memories from home. Of course Miranda did not miss the first part about the coven grounds, but it seemed as if Kauis had a route of his own in mind and who was she to deny him. Adjusting her grip on the basket, her heeled boots clicked softly against the cobblestone.

In truth, Kaius was in a strangely good mood - almost bubbly, though he'd shoot an odd look at anyone who made the observation vocally. Her mention of roses reminded him of home, but at least she didn't talk of black ones. The click of her heels upon the stone served as a metronome to his mind, providing rhythm which quickly let him to speaking more companionably to her then he had actually anticipated, "....our House Sigil and Coat of Arms, even for each family member has always involved roses, and I never really appreciated it..." his voice trails off for a moment, and his eyes seem to be somewhere....or on someone else.?...At any rate....I know that some of the northern acreage is cleared, but not tilled....I was wondering if ..." and at that he took a deep breath, "it might be possible to use some of the ground that falls under protection of the Coven Guardians and spells for....well, to grow roses. It's only that....I'd want to make sure whatever I grew was safe, and I know I couldn't watch the entire thing myself, not through natural means. And while I have various talents....even I can't use them to be everywhere at once. Not like the Covens protections."

Miranda Branson

Date: 2012-07-09 00:36 EST
Miranda couldn't help but continue to chuckle at his over flowing thoughts, oh how she felt like that when excited over an idea. It didn't' take her long to ponder the natural progression of growing rose in certain spots of land. "Kauis, I would love for you to grow roses however....." Miranda didn't stop, but her mint green eyes looked to him - filled with honesty, and genuine care. "The area's you speak of are also used by other houses and even then could not provide honest protection. Why don't I add onto the greenhouse behind Mage house for you? The rose could grow all year round. Safe from the elements, pests and disease. Plus you could grow more temperamental species if not create your own entirely. How does that sound?"

He was so passionate, and so in love with the idea....and her words just doused it, his pace not only slowing, but coming to a halt and he turned to face her, his face betraying his youth and na'vet' to the world in the luminous, wet eyes that made it look as if he'd been slapped. "...just a half acre. I've grown things in fields before; I know I can keep it from interfering with anyone....please. I really need to do this in a field. I can....barter services for it, if you wish." He shook the initial rejection away, "As I said....I'm not without my own talents."

Kaius

Date: 2012-07-10 01:51 EST
Kaius glanced forward in their path, a smile playing on his lips as an identical gateway to the one he'd arrived in spiraled open, before Titan add to Pathfinders glow, and the gateway began to grow....and grow....six feet wide....twelve feet wide....and grow....twenty four feet wide, a trickle of sweat appearing on his brow as he watched it expand, breathing slowly before tying off the gate and letting it shimmer in the air before them, and turning to her again. "....I know a lot of people that can do that for one person ....but I'm almost sure....I can open one big enough to move buildings. Now ....I don't know how I can barter that, but it must be worth something. If only for mass moving supplies. And the same thing that lets me do that....I can also use to fortify the Coven's Guardians." And he just laid it all on the table. He was a rather guileless son of a so-and-so, after all.

"Kaius," she felt as if she had been slapped herself with his fast and determined statement. Miranda's eyes went wide at the spiraling mass before her. Instinct had her feet backing up and the metal around her being twisting, right on the verge of morphing to whatever she could need to defend herself. Taking a few deep breaths to steady her resolve, Miranda pulled to her full height. "I am not telling you no, Kaius. Nor do I expect you to barter with me for it. All I wanted to do was give you a safe space for your work. I could not promise that on certain sections of the coven grounds. The greenhouse offers it all, but if you truly wish for the outdoors there is the garden behind the Mage house. One acre is unfinished and if you wish to turn it into a rose garden then so be it. That is my final offer on the matter." Her mind kept bouncing on all the applications of his abilities, but that matter was his choice. Not the coven's to make.

Miranda Branson

Date: 2012-07-14 00:31 EST
Whoever said Kaius was stoic, had never met Kaius.

Wary as he noticed her own abilities awakening, cautious; and he was suddenly in his place again as Miranda drew to her full height - the simple posturing of it adding more to her demeanor than how tall she was, and his memories were flooded with images of the ladies at court....she would have looked down her nose at them all. His smile grew and grew as she spoke, however, and his earlier excitement bubbled beneath the surface of a formal facade. "I....appreciate the offer of the green house, my lady" The proper way, "m'lady" being ....low class, in truth for a form of address. "I'm afraid it just doesn't suit, but an entire acre? That would be....the perfect start. Some day I hope to be able to tend something larger even, that would be my own....but the Coven has been my only home here, and I would deeply love to begin here." He nodded, accepting the offer with as much humility as his excitement would allow. His eyes flickered to the gateway before meeting hers again, and they were sparkling green and full of gratitude. "So....as I mentioned earlier when I specifically said....traveling companion; please understand....that I find heels quite fetching, but I've heard they're....not the best for longer jaunts." His smile was both teasing and knowing. Those ladies at court' He must have listened to them a lot.

Miranda Branson

Date: 2012-07-14 00:59 EST
She eyed the swirling mass still unsure. Miranda sighed at "my lady". "Please just call me Miranda or Ms. Branson if you wish to be some what formal. I have not been called my lady since I was home in Ireland. A title means nothing. It is what you do with your life that means everything." She looked to Kaius and back to his portal of sorts or as much as she could assume. "I am happy we have come to some compromise. As far as heels..." Looking down at her feet and holding out her hand to take his arm through the blasted thing. If it was going to take her down she was going to take him with her. "I became rather use to working, dancing and fighting in them. Running if need be. Your feet go numb after so long. A great way to build up calluses?," she chuckled. Oh how the real prisses of Ireland would have fainted at her feet. The bottom sole so calloused rocks felt like grass; toes a little misshapen from breaking and never being set; the occasional bruise from a certain Angel dashing by. Miranda had learned from a very young age how to be a lady, but the appeal for her had been in chasing rabbits in the plush grass and curled up by the fires of the forge watching her father for hours. Faint scars still littered her hands and arms from lessons learned under his watchful gaze - A craft that would define and follow her to the grave.

In his happiness, Kaius had totally missed her unease at his gateway but as soon as he took her arm and faced the portal....the face of the gateway cleared, leaving only a black, red, and blue band of energy quietly snapping around the outside. Within its face were the familiar Coven grounds, not an image but an actual hole in reality....through....something, connecting the two places. His smile was genuine as he faced her and offered a light squeeze to her arm as he led them through effortlessly, "Miranda, if there were twelve dozen people here and I called you my lady, it would be at best a social nicety, and at worst, an attempt to ingratiate myself to you. Since however, we are alone....please take it as a sign of my most sincere respect, and appreciation for your" pausing as they stepped through, "simply taking me under the roof of Mage House." His free hand dipped into his pocket, pulling forth a smooth, oval shaped garnet, with a white two directional arrow upon it, offering it to her, "....a Path stone. I would have given it, regardless of your answer for what I've already said thank you for. Simply whisper to it, Find Me, and..." he gestured to the red ebbing Myriad upon his brow, "and my services, unless....sorely detained....are yours. A gift for the Leader of the House." Stressing that it was meant to serve Mage House, and she who lead it, but his wry smile suggesting he knew that was likely quite....static. And so he felt safe offering the House his services.

Kaius

Date: 2012-07-14 01:46 EST
Feet back on the coven grounds, the raw scent of the place filled her. With her first breath every inch of her returned to a relaxed state. "Your gift is kind beyond measure. I am overjoyed to have you in my house and as such...."While her hand lightly held his arm the metal bracelets turned liquid. Creeping over his arm and down to his wrist with a gentle warmth. Thinning and thickening till roses seemed to bloom from the depths of the metal; creating a series of blooms and vines with thorns around Kaius' wrist and forearm. Barely brushing his arm, the metal remained. "It is titanium. Will not break or scratch and always have that dark blue look." Mint green eyes looking over her work all the while her own fingers danced over the path stone nestled in the palm of her hand. "With this you still will have to look for me, but if you ask it nicely it will become any weapon you need with a simple thought. The weapon called forth will never be dull. Ready for any battle you face."

As the liquid metal molded onto his wrist and came into contact with the Titan Myriad, the two began to react, the metal extending from his wrist to his forearm and the glittering glow of Titan becoming one with the hematite band it formerly rode on, creating a glowing red band across his wrist with a roses bloom on the back and a vine wrapping it's way the rest of the way around. As the transformation ebbed to a close, he had released her arm and stepped away a few feet, seemingly disoriented; as he blinked the creation he had been working on of his own volition - something to allow him to be close enough to the Manticore to talk to it, began to surge over his body, whereas before it was summoned from the Void, it was now ....seemingly held within that arm and its new bracer. Plate slowly covered him, blue still on the wrist, but light devouring darkness everywhere else, stopping just shy of his face which as the armor had formed, had been elevated several feet. For the engineering inclined, this might lead one to believe it was less a suit of armor and more....part of a construct. The plates were lined with pure white filigree, matching a glow that centered on the chest plate. And though his transformation must seem dramatic to her, it's -her- his eyes were focused on, in slight shock. This had never happened before, and he'd never been seen without his helm.

Miranda Branson

Date: 2012-07-16 00:19 EST
Miranda's lips pursed into a thin line of focus, and the basket dropped from her hands and reaching for the black rose in her hair. Miranda's eyes had gone completely liquid silver. Burning in the setting rays of the sun. Something like this she had never seen. Creating her own armor on her own form was one thing, but on Kaius" That was not what she had intended. "Kauis" Are you alright' I don't know what happened, but I will try to fix it." Not knowing what to expect Miranda began to arm herself. Liquid metal pooled at her feet rising over her body - hugging her athletic form like a second skin. The polished silver antique armor set in place, scrolling clovers and roses drifted up and over even claiming her face. Those silver eyes staring back him trying not to panic. What had she done?

The figure was still regarding her, as Kaius had, and in fact his face was still visible as the armor had stopped just short of totally obscuring him. Until her own armor sprang to life, and his face was veiled by a visor leaving his mane gathered in a tail and blowing loosely behind him. There was a moment of hesitation in the figure as it turned more fully towards her, an unnaturally deep but bemused voice issued forth, "It wasn't entirely you....my lady." The voice had gained depth; the smile at again using the title was more than evident in the tone conveyed to her. "I'm not your enemy, be at ease....I just....I'm still learning. Whatever you did must have turned this....on. I've used it before but, it feels different now. Not bad different....just....different." And there was also a low mutter, audible but nothing a lady would repeat, or should be said in her presence. Needless to say, it complained about Titan, whatever that was, not obeying him. And as he muttered....the guise seemed to waver and snap in the light.

And vanished.

Leaving only Kaius again, with a slightly bewildered look on his face.

Kaius

Date: 2012-07-16 00:21 EST
Staying steadfast in her armor, Miranda took in the words watching every move. That voice made her skin crawl, but her blood boiled. Such a tone was only used last by one mocking sword for hire. Hired to bring her to the clutches of the church and have her tortured then burned alive. Blinded for a moment by the flash, Miranda managed to focus on the Kaius she knew. "Are you alright?" Part of her wanted to fight. Work through the rush in her veins, but there was a time and a place. She had no idea what was going on and would not endanger her family further.

He blinked.

Kaius

Date: 2012-07-16 00:22 EST
The transformation had been actually slower than usual, which had caught him by surprise. Usually he didn't feel it covering him, he just ....-was-, inside it. His brows furrowed at her tone and posture, betraying perhaps more than she meant to, but him not picking up on all of it anyway due to his confusion. "....Are -you-?" The concern in his voice matched her own, "....I guess..." Sighing slightly, but his face broaching a crooked grin, irreverent but charming at the same time, "....given our first meeting, I think....it was at one of the last Balls, if you recall" ....-this- one is probably the more genuine. Or at least less....obscured?" His head tilted, perhaps subconsciously, some primal display of the neck, offering submission. "....I've never seen what you just saw from....the outside, and I probably can't convince you, but really....I don't like to fight - not stupidly, anyway." The suggestion was perhaps a bit lame, but then, she was still outfitted for battle. "....in truth, I've had a rather intense day..." and again, that same irreverent if self mocking grin crooked his mouth, "....and I'm not sure I trust any explanation for what just happened to make sense to you. Perhaps if we retire somewhere to sit for a bit, I'd regale my....Mentors request for an explanation; but it would be a poor time to pass it among friends, if that stands to reason at all?"

Miranda Branson

Date: 2012-07-16 00:45 EST
"I believe you, Kaius, but..." Miranda's armor melted away as quickly as it had appeared leaving the same woman who wandered the streets beside him moments ago. "in light of what has been going on with myself I believe it would be safer if we retired to the portion of the garden that is now yours for this talk. I'm sorry. My defenses have run a bit high as of late. From things I have tried to keep quiet if you will." Bending down to pick up the poor discarded basket, Miranda sighed and ran a hand through the now loose curls of crimson hair. "Shall we then?" She offered a confused and worried smile.

Worried for herself, her family, the coven and now what was going on with Kaius. All of it could wait for now. At least she knew Morgan was with Angel and she was not alone so that made things a touch easier.