sticks a n d stones

[Xaver]

Xaver watched her approach him, forever riveted and enticed my the entirety of her, Ginny, the epitome of strength and femininity. Made curious by her slow approach, his gaze flickered over her, resting on the necklace.
He understood, before she'd even spoken.

She met his gaze and for a moment, Xaver said nothing, not sure how to react
He glanced down at the necklace, and watched the slow, but furious colors shift and revolve around the tiny obsidian feather within the orb. He didn't take the necklace from her, to better look at it. He wanted to remain distanced from the gold and, just as well, he didn't need to bother.

"It has.. colors."
He repeated dully.

He shook his head, then again met her eyes.
"It has colors?"

Xaver knew what that meant.
He had a pretty good idea Ginny understood as well.

Even if it was impossible.

[Ginny Weasly]

"Blue...and kinda purple." Ginny held it up, the chain dangling from her fingers so he could see. She knew he wouldn't touch it. She knew of his allergy.

Strange. She could kick him in the face right now, and he'd be fine. Maybe a bruised ego, but fine. But touching the gold on the necklace could make him horribly sick within moments.

She took a deep breath, "What do those colors mean?"

Ginny held his eyes with her own. She bit her lip, worried about what this could mean.

[Xaver]

Xaver's gaze flickered over the small pendant, both uncertainty, and and underlying curiousness hinting beneath the surface of the oceans of his eyes.

"Blue," he said softly. "Blue means calm. Blue in this form is strong. Blue, dark, is also subtly black. Light black, as in, mysteriousness. Calm, sleepy mysteriousness. Tranquility, peace... Sleep? With the purple.. Tension, sadness.. wisdom? Creativity?.."

He was thinking out loud.

Finally.. Xaver faltered, and went quiet. Then, he looked away from the orb. Looked away from Ginny. Wedging his thumbs into his pockets, and looking out, into the dark skyline, as if he could see for miles.
Not giving away if he truly could, or not.

"She's dreaming."
His tones were empty.
"If she were alive, she'd be dreaming. Or she's drugged. One of the two."

[Ginny Weasly]

"If she were alive..." Ginny repeated, looking at the orb. Finally, she slipped the necklace back into her pocket, wrapping her arms around herself in a one person hug.

"Xaver...this is so wrong..." She said, quietly, "Kylie is...dead...she has been."

Ginny looked down, shaking her head, "I don't know what to think...if she's not dead...then did we bury her alive?"

[Xaver]

"If she were alive..."

"She's dead," he said firmly, the solidity of his words almost coming across as harsh.

Ginny slipped the necklace back into her pocket, but Xaver could still feel its presence clearly. Could feel his skin reacting without his conscious, itching amidst the presence of the gold, even though Xaver knew the lack of contact meant lack of reaction. It didn't mean he didn't feel it.

"I know she's dead," he said lightly, with that same strange, even tone. "I saw her murdered. You saw her murdered. We were there."


Kylie's young, familiar features flickered before his eyes, twisting, warping into that mutilated demon that haunted his dreams, and Xaver brought his hands to his face, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes, and digging his nails into the short buzz of his hair. He shook his head, violently.
"I carried her lifeless b-.. from-.."
He dropped his hands, and exhaled sharply.
Running a hand over his head as if to entangle his fingers through his hair.. and forgetting that his head had been shaved.
Fury washing over him anew, as the fresher memory renewed itself.

"She's dead. She has to be."
Finally, Xaver met Ginny's eyes. Unsoothed, rampant fear rooted deep in the oceans of his orbs.

"Else my nightmares, might be completely memories, like I've been fearing all along."

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny looked up at him and caught her breath. His fear, unmasked and visable, scared her. Not because she had thought him incapable of fear. She knew he feared things, knew he got afraid.
It scared her because she didn't know what to do to help him.
To calm his fear, to make everything better.
She didn't know what to do, and it made her want to cry for him.

"What...should we do?" She asked him, "What if...something dangerous is going on? What about Cody?"

[Xaver]

For a very long moment, Xaver didn't know how to respond.

How could he explain?
Ginny had seen, once, an essence of one of Xaver's dreams.
He had vowed, never again.. But what if his baby sister's mangled cackling corpse wasn't a figment of his imagination?
"What if those nightmares were memories? Of when I was gone?"

If they were...
Xaver didn't, truly, know what he was going to do with himself.

"Dangerous..?"

Lost in thought, Xaver raked his fingers once more over the short, thick buzz cut of his hair, not consciously thinking about it.

Dangerous.
Dangerous?..

[Ginny Weasly]

"Xaver." Ginny's voice was strained, she felt like he wasn't listening.

"What if we are in danger?" She repeated, slowly, "What if our son is in danger? What then?"

She looked pained, confused.
"Baby...I don't know what to do."
She held her arms tighter around herself, "I'm scared, Xaver. What if...Kylie is like...a zombie or something and she's mad at us cause we didn't stop Xences...?"

Stupid, she knew. But she couldn't stop the thought from tumbling out her lips.

"What if your dreams really happened? What if..."

[Xaver]

For a long, solemn moment, Xaver stared out over the grass, fixed on a reverie that wanted to make itself signifigant. He was trying to listen. But also, trying to think. Trying to remember.. To remember three years of his life that were, still, so very absent. When Ginny called his name, mentally he stirred back to reality, blinking, his eyes flickering over to her.

"I don't believe, so much, that they were ever merely dreams, anymore, Ginny."
His gaze was very hard, but the harshness was not directed toward her. It was introverted.

Xaver bridged the gap between them, and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her slender form, and pressing her to the solid wall of his chest, bowing his face into her hair, and breathing in deeply, before letting out a shaky breath.

"I don't know what's going on, dearest.."
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, then drew back enough to look down at her.
"She's.. dead. We saw her die. Hellfire, we buried her.."

He didn't understand.
At all.

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny shivered, about to say something, but someone spoke before she could.

"Mom? I'm done..." Cody called, walking from the kitchen towards them.

"Alright..." Ginny said back. She looked at Xaver for a moment, then ducked out of his arms, backing up a few steps just as Cody appeared in the doorway. Ginny looked to Xaver, indicating that she didn't want Cody to know what was going on. The noticed the look on her face, that pained, confused, upset expression. But before he could ask what was wrong, Ginny smiled tightly and went past him.

Cody watched her go, then looked at Xaver.
"Daddy?"

[Xaver]

Xaver held her, and knew deeply, that some part of him never wanted to let her go.

He had been raised, to sensor his emotions. Raised, to fight. Taught, to kill, with perfection. Born, into leadership.
He had changed.
Even after all of hell, and whatever else, Xaver was not unaware of his own emotions. Not unaware of how shook up, he, himself, actually was.
It was ok if he held on too tight...

Too quickly, Ginny ducked from his embrace, and Xaver sighed at the loss of contact, though he said nothing of it, as she disappeared, and Cody rounded the corner. To his questioning gaze, Xaver didn't put up a front, as he would to a stranger. Instead, he knelt, opening his arms.

"Come here, Xerxes."
He tilted his head to the side.
"Dad needs a hug."

[Ginny Weasly]

"Is Momma still mad at you?" Cody said as he walked to Xaver. Before waiting for an answer, he threw his arms around his father, giving him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.
He liked hugging his dad.

And he didn't like to see his dad upset about something. He squeezed him, "Cause if she is, it's only cause she missed you and worried about you."

He kept his arms around Xaver, putting his head on his dad's shoulder. Another big squeeze, "If you want, I'll tell her to stop being mad."

Cody thought Xaver was upset because Ginny had been angry that Xaver was gone. He had pretty much forgotten the necklace. Not the cats though.
Those cats terrified him.

He shivered as he thought of them, and snuggled closer to his dad, still keeping his arms around him. His dad would keep him safe.

[Xaver]

"Your mother isn't too mad," Xaver reassured gently.
He wrapped his arms around the young boy and drew him close, burying his face into Cody's hair, and returning the affectionate squeeze.
Ginny was angry, though, he knew, and rightfully so..

When Cody huddled even closer to him, Xaver drew him close, and wrapped an arm beneath his bottom, lifting him and standing easily, the boy's weight making no obvious impression. He held him to the wall of his chest, and offered a semblance of a smile, before looking out, into the darkness, the light behind them creating musky shadows, and further sharpening his wolfish, naturally predatory features.

[Ginny Weasly]

Cody kept his head on his dad's shoulder, looking out around them.
"Okay. I'm glad. When she gets mad, it's mostly cause she wants to cry." He picked his head up and smiled at Xaver. His small hand reach out, touching Xaver's face tentatively.

"Who cut your hair, Dad?"

[Xaver]

Xaver murmured a light mumble in response, his eyes slightly adrift as his gaze moved about the skies. With the longing of a wild animal that missed his habitat, but knew his new boundaries.
When Cody's hand brushed his face, Xaver reeled his thoughts in, and tilted his head, facing the young boy. At the question, the Fallen lord paused, contemplating his response, before he gave it.

"Why do you ask, my son?"