.blue is the same old misery

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny followed him, not really paying attention either. She kept her eyes on Xavers back thoughtfully.

[Xaver]

Xaver moved about the hallway almost absently, touching things here, and there, running his fingers across the glossy covers of old, still photos. He hadn't been there in a long, long time... Thoughtful, and curious of the memories that had long been forgotten, of this place, he paused, now and then. Remembering.

Suddenly, he jumped back, grunting in both surprise, and pain, as he brought his hands up, defensively.
He dropped them, slowly, when small, child-like fingers wrapped around the doorframe of a door opened just enough to peek through. A giggle sounded, in the darkness behind the door - and then the fingers withdrew. Xaver blinked.

[Ginny Weasly]

"What...was that?" Ginny asked, stepping up beside him and looking at the door curiously. She placed one hand on his back, a bit frightened. This wasn't her realm, and sometimes it scared her.

[Xaver]

Her small hand warm against the cool, naked skin of his back, Xaver shivered slightly, at the contrast. He felt the warmth of her touch spread through him, and it was the most soothing of antidotes, for his strung nerves. He turned his head slightly, glancing at Ginny, before he looked back to the door, and pushed it open with the toe of his boot. Covered, he noticed absently, in his own blood. Light from the hallway spilled into the dark, cell-like room, like liquid. Illuminating a few sheet-covered, dust-ridden objects. His eyes adjusted slowly, flickering about the room, his shadow a large gash in the light, before him.
There were a few muffled cries of recognition, and a few whimpers, when he stepped foreword, only then remembering the presence of his wings, though he did nothing to hide them. Suddenly, a bold face peeked around the nearest white sheet covered object, small fingers grasping the fabric nervously, clenching it between whitened fists. The little girl looked at him, her blonde hair down to her elbows, of which were scratched and dirty, her face oval, and soft with youth, blue eyes wide, and round in what only could be digested as fear. Golden wings twitched nervously behind her, reflecting the light as the tatters of her dark clothes absorbed it.

"Strays," he said, very softly, to Ginny. "We aren't in my home realm. We are in a poorer, fiercer, neighboring one... This is an old lookout tower.. Most probably don't even know it exists anymore, really. Zeil and I had a few stake outs here, years ago, with some others..."

He trailed off, kneeling. Very slowly. Gentle, almost. Clutching his arm to his middle, and trying to play off the pain, though, given, he couldn't make it all go away...

The little girl, the bold one, stepped foreword, despite the various voices behind her whispering cries of surprise, and a few little hands even trying to tug her back by the wings. She shook them off, slowly, very cautiously, walking foreword, her eyes flickering from Xaver's face, to his wings, and fixing curiously on Ginny. Xaver remained completely still, on one knee when she reached him. Her wings were folded behind her, golden, and radient - opposites to the unwashed color of her pale skin, smeared with dirt in places, and the ratty-ness of her hair, the shirt she wore hanging below her knees, tattered, and worn thin, over her body - little, even for a child. Slowly still, she reached foreword, and pressed her hand to the side of Xaver's face. She winced, and held still - then, after a moment, her features softened again, and she blinked. As if expecting a blow, and surprised that none landed. She stared at him, as if he were an oddity, then looked to Ginny, keeping her little hand on his face.

"You are a human?"

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny smiled slowly, "Last time I checked." She said, almost dully. Well, what else was she supposed to say? There was no doubt, simply by looking at her, that she wasn't one of the majestic Fallen.

No wings.

Ginny watched the brave little girl for a moment, tilting her head to the side as a small smiled played with her lips. The girl was cute, and somewhat needful looking. Then she let her eyes travel to their girl's companions, or what she could see of them.

[Xaver]

"You're funny," the girl said, unable to help a small smile as she dropped her arms to her sides.
Just as suddenly, she brought them up again, folding them over her chest, asserting her face into a scowl. "And you're not going to hurt us?"


(SOrrryyyy, short. >.> My post was lost. O_O)

[Ginny Weasly]

"And why," Ginny tilted her head to the side slightly, raising her eyebrows, "would we hurt you?"

Ginny wasn't exactly an innocent, she had killed. And she had killed children. But only once without reason, and never since she had had her son.

[Xaver]

"Because we're not supposed to be in here..." She looked at Xaver then, narrowing her eyes. "Neither are you. None of us belong here!"
"And why are you here then, mmm? It's freezing out."
"Because our momma kicked us out," she answered, frowning. "So we..."
"Lay-lay it's him!" came a shrill, boyish voice.

A boy came running from the cover of the sheet-laiden piece of furnature, worn boots that fit all of his legs until above his knobby knees thumping loudly on the floor, one of his little hands gripping his baggy shorts so they didn't join the boots, his shirt drooping almost over the pants, the sleeves past his elbows.
"He's Lord Xian! Kylie's brother!"
When the little girl flinched, the boy rolled his amber eyes, sighing.
"The good one, stupid. And that's her! Miss Ginny!"

The girl reflected Xaver's own expression, blinking, in both surprise, and a moment of rushed confusion. Realization dawning a moment later.

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny looked to Xaver, her eye brows still raised.
-How can these children know my name?-

She looked back to the boy and girl though, "What are your names?" She asked, stepping beside Xaver and kneeling as well to see them better. She smiled slightly, a warm, motherly smile.

[Xaver]

-I..-
Xaver faltered, and glanced at her.
-How they even know mine, is bizarre.-

"MY name is Laylenn," the girl spoke up. She motioned to her brother, "He's Turk, like a turkey, and our littlest brother is asleep back there. We just call him Todd the Toad. Turk and I made that up."
The girl flushed, and almost bounced, marveling at the attention she was getting.

Xaver rose, and the two, miniature compared to his height, stared up at him, wide-eyed.
"It's alright," he said quietly. "I'm just going to check on Todd back there.."

He swept past them, padding deeper into the room, and around the bits of furniture.

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny watched Xaver for a moment before looking at the two children again, "Laylenn, Turk, why did your mom kick you out?" She looked at the curiously, and her voice was quiet and kind.

[Xaver]

"Food," the two said in unison, the girl frowning, and the little boy hoisting up his pants, so they didn't fall to his knees.
"She couldn't 'fford us," he said, fidgeting with his pants while his sister stared at Ginny, still. "S'okay, though. Maw had daddy to take care uff."

Xaver frowned at their answers, even as he rounded the corner of the sheet-covered table. Immediately, he stopped, as soon as he did so.
The youngest brother, Todd the Toad, was there, as they had said he would be - but his condition hit Xaver like a swift kick in the stomach. He was laying on his side, his legs brought up to his chest, and his skinny arms around them, his face bowed into his knees. Wearing only a pair of faded, stained shorts, his pale, bruised, scratched limbs and torso were exposed - to both the harshness of the cold, and to Xaver's gaze, of which flickered over the boy in a steady alarm. He was a small child, both in young age, and physical size - so that did nothing to help his pitiful state. His wings were big, behind his bony creature, and a bright, shocking red, like his shoulder-length, ratty hair - like Ginny's magnificent hair, Xaver noted.

Xaver kneeled, forgetting his injured arm until the pain shot through him, ruthlessly - though he ignored it, reaching out with his good arm and pressing two fingers to the boy's throat. His pulse was slow, and very light against his touch. Weak. The boy stirred finally, turning his head only slightly - silver eyes turning from lazy confusion, to sheer fright in the same moment, his heartbeat beginning to race beneath Xaver's fingers. Xaver withdrew from the boy's neck, resting his hand on his head, messing the boy's red hair affectionately. The boy stared at him.

"Easy.." he said softly. "I'm not here to hurt you. Your brother and sister are just around this table, here.."

Todd made to speak, but his voice came out in a quiet sqeak, scratchy and weakened, his tones little more than a whisper.
Xaver shook his head, and the boy quieted, sighing.

"Can you stand?"

The boy began to uncurl himself, but only moved his limbs so far, before he sighed, closing his eyes briefly, before looking up at Xaver, the answer written over the exhausted, sickened lines of his boyish features. Xaver met Todd's silvery eyes with his own dark blues, and nodded his head, far more passing between them than could be put into words, especially then.
He leaned over, clenching his jaw against the pain that dotted his eyesight, and enveloped the little red-headed boy into the circle of his arms, and stood, his own frown darkening at both the molten, but dulling, pain spreading from his arm, and the light weight, and limpness of the boy, even as he curled against Xaver's chest, and sighed, closing his silver eyes again. One arm beneath the little boy's skinny knees, and the other wrapped around his folded bright golden wings, and back, Xaver held Todd like he carried Cody, when taking his own exhausted baby boy to bed.

He stepped around the corner, Todd snuggled against his chest, and asleep again, his own eyes unreadable, besides the concern that was already written so cleanly over them.


"See, that's Todd. Poor baby," said Laylenn. "We almost couldn't hide him during the last raid.."
Xaver stared at her, his gaze suddenly sharpening in understanding.
"Raid..?" he questioned.
The little girl nodded her head, looking between Xaver's face, and her littlest brother.
"Yup. Homenessness is an epuhdemey."
He blinked. "Homelessness is an epidemic?"
"Yessum. And peoples are fighting for stuff, you know?"

Xaver knew.
And that meant his neighboring realm was in far worse shape than he had feared.
"So you came here?"
"Yeah. Because everyone is afraid of this place. We're not!"

[Ginny Weasly]

"And as you shouldn't be." Ginny said sofly. She smiled at the Laylenn and Turk, "Why don't we find something to get you guys to eat, ok?"

She winked lightly, hardly glancing at Todd. She noted his condition, but didn't let on her concern. The other two didn't need to know how close to death their little brother was.

-When children fear the world, it is a world we all must fear.-

[Xaver]

-Indeed. They see the things adults have grown to put off. They fear of the monsters of their dreams.. Which have become reality, nowadays. They are the eyes to the world we have grown out of...-

"Let's get out of here. Are you two alright with that? See if maybe we can find a nicer place to-"
"Yes!"
"Really?! Yeah, I'm hungry! Junk food?"
The two bounced around Ginny's knees, Turk's pants wiggling down until he yanked them up, flushing, and then simply holding them as he continued to jump.

Xaver nodded, clenching his jaw against the sudden spell of dizziness that left his breathless and clammy. He shivered, and Todd opened his eyes, his silver orbs flickering slowly over Xaver's face. Then glancing at his shoulder, Xaver's torso being still bare, the wound unguarded - as if knowingly. The boy couldn't have been more than a few years old. But he knew.

"Grab a knee, guys."
The two flocked over to him, each wrapping their arms around one of his legs, and squeezing. He glanced at them briefly, before looking up at Ginny, offering one of his devastatingly charming smiles.

"You, too, my love."

[Ginny Weasly]

"What?" Ginny stood, facing them with an eyebrow raised. She took a step closer though, gently touching Xaver's elbow and smiling. She looked down at the childen, painfully reminded of her baby. She wondered for a moment what he was doing.

Probably sleeing, or eating. He ate like his father.