Stacey stod at the very edge of the trees. She debated of going towards the school, or further from it. Her eyes were the color of the moon as she glared at the dark school. None of the windows that she could see had lights in them. There might be someone awake on the other side, but what were the chances of her getting caught then?
She decided on going back into the trees. She weaved her way through the close trees, watching for anything unusual. After a few minutes, a rusty colored wolf joined her side. The wolf`s eyes were brillinat blue.
As they made their way silently through the narrow path, Stacey realized that the temperature had dropped a few degrees. She pulled on the collar of her grey hoodie. Her jeans didn`t previde much warmth, neither did the too-large jacket. She stopped and leaned against a tree. She saw a small patch of light on the ground and looked up to see if she could look through the opening in the leaves; she could.
Through the small opening, she saw few stars. It had to be at least midnight, if not later. The moon was almost directly overhead and only a small patch of clouds blocked the stars.
Stacey sighed and snapped her fingers producing a smal flame to warm herself.
((Closed. PM to join.))
Xaver Xian was a creature of the cold.
Of the dark.
Born into a world that was far cooler than the average temperatures that now surrounded him, he was more fond of the brisk, wintry nights, than of any hot day. A polar opposite to the one and only that completed him - Ginny - and though the irony was never too far, he'd found long ago, he liked it. They were very different from each other - but where they met in the middle, where they came together, they were inseperable. She was the perfect fit to him, as he found to be to her.
As perfect a fit as a clear, unhindered setting of a brisk night, and an endless slope of dark about him, the stars and wide moon above being the only light as he flew. Enormous black feathered wings connected to the hard ridges of the length of his back drew, and closed quickly with a heavy beat, propelling him through the silky skies, up farther, and into absolute silence.
Alone...
Time to think..
Alone...
A small lick of flame in the endless furrows of the forest below, brought a frown to the crease of his brow, and tilted his mouth in curiosity, and concern.
Curiosity getting the better of him, he drew his wings in and dropped, propelling faster, and faster, the ground rushing up to meet him until just before the treetops, he spread the wide breadth of his wings, and stopped himself, midflight.
Catching sight of a girl, the small flame eminating from her fingers, he tucked his dark wings about his form, and dropped into the clearing with a loud and obstinate thud.
Not trying to be sly, and not bothering to be silent.
His vast wings folded behind a well muscled and sculpted torso, naked from the waist of his jeans, up. They settled behind him, but did not vanish - not concealing his identity, though he doubted the young girl had any clue, anyway.
"Should you not be inside, where 'tis safe?"
Stacey looked up from the flame in he fingers to see the man. She tilted her head and saw he had black wings. That`s odd... She thought, thinking of one person in particular. She straightened her head. "Um, well, I`m kind of safe right now." She murmured. Her voice was dry from not have been used in a while. Stacey motioned to the rusty wolf, who stared at the man with unkind eyes.
Stacey cleared her throat. "I`ve... been out here a lot. I know how to get away from most of the creatures." She added quietly. She spread her fingers apart slightly, making the flame bigger. Her eyes were slowly turning scarlet from the making the flame, they always did. She looked up at the man.
"You`re Cody`s father, aren`t you?" As she spoke a slight breeze blew her hair off of her shoulder, but it didn`t move the flame. "He has wings like yours." She added, even softer.
She looked at the man`s face, trying to remember anything about him Ginny or someone hold told her.
Her gaze flickered to his wings, and a defensive tensity settled in his shoulders.
He had every reason to distrust, anymore.
He glanced at the wolf with a both curious, and unrelenting gaze. He didn't counter her answer, however, an eyebrow arching at her comment, instead.
She knew about Cody?
"I am."
His wings twitched, curiously, as his gaze rested on the sole flame at the wicker of her palm.
Little emotion touched the Fallen lord's face - but his gaze, almost pointedly, narrowed.
Perhaps nervously. One couldn't truly tell.
"And yes, they are. Our genitics are far more prominent in our descendants, than human genetics.."
Stacey nodded understandingly. She looked back to her flame. She brough her other hand up and gently touched the flame. It flared to life, expanding to about the size of a volleyball or basketball. It turned bright blue with heat, though Stacey barely felt it, it would melt normal human skin.
Her eyes flickered back to the man. She wasn`t sure of his name. She knew how it sounded, but coldn`t pronounce it herself. So she didn`t call him by his name, that would be too odd anyway; she didn`t even know him, and he was an adult. It would be rude to call him by name.
"Sit." She whispered toward the dog. The wolf turned its bright eyes to Stacey and sat down slowly. Stacey looked up to the man, locking eyes with him.
"Does the fire bother you?" She asked, having noticed how his wings twitched when he looked at it.
He heard her whispered command as easily as her spoken words. The dark oceans of his gaze flickered from her, to the wolf, then upon returning met the girl's gaze steadfast, his own calculating and calm almost to the point of cold. His orbs were as shuttered as they were seeing. Closed off from the world and prying eyes, but ever watchful. Quick, intelligent, and laced with an the uneasy anxiety of a wild animal brought in for questioning. He was as solemn as he was gentle, however, and he rested on the heels of his feet rather than his toes, not poised to spring though none other than a fool would attack him at point-blank range, physically.
Xaver's gaze, by instinct, trailed back to the flame as she commented.
"It does."
It was as natural for him to dislike fire, as it was a hardship for him to withstand too much heat.
Heat, fire.. They could do far more damage to him than he'd ever admit..
Especially not to a lone wanderer at Hogwarts.
Stacey nodded again, and quickly diminished the flame with eficient hand movements. The flame flattened to the thickness of a single sheet of paper and then disappeared all together. She looked up to the man again.
"I didn`t know." She said softly pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her knees. She gently rested her head on her left knee and her eyes flickered gold. "Doesn`t the cold bother you?" She asked, noting how he didn`t wear anything above the waist and a cool breeze was winding through the trees.
Her hair blew softly away fromt the rusty wolf, who was staring up at the man with large, unblinking eyes. Her head was tilted silghtly, as if in question.
The flame dwindled, and it could be said that the tenseness in his figure did, as well. He said nothing as she sat and adjusted herself, his dark gaze moving to the wolf, and back, in a similar watchful, cautious manner.
"It doesn't."
Xaver almost smiled, then, knowing that Ginny would have laughed at his less than subtle lack of syllables.
The girl hadn't done anything wrong, anyway, and she didn't really deserve his hostility.
"I was born of the cold.. In the cold.. I suppose it is more natural to me, than it would be, to you."
Stacey nodded, her eyes becoming the color of a newly-risen moon. She brushed her hair aside and looked at the tense wolf. She moved her arm and gently placed her hand upon its head. The wolf turned its head to look at Stacey.
Stacey rubbed its head for a moment before turning back to the man. "Can you even feel the cold?" She asked curiously. Personally, winter was Stacey`s least favorite season. she really didn`t like snow; it melted and became cold water. It froze and became slippery ice.
Months of having to walk through the long winters was enough to make Stacey almost hate winter.