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Post by RONJA IRIS AMALIA on Nov 14, 2009 12:04:14 GMT -5
1964.
"You're 45." Ronja said with a smile. He still had a long time ahead of him. "You could live your life again if you aged like a human, but you age more slowly here, correct? So you have even longer." That comforted her, she had him for a while yet, and so did Ellylon. Ronja didn't really even feel like eating anymore, granted she'd eaten most of it. And she set it to her one side, to make sure Nicholas had the room to join her, he'd get the subtle hint eventually.
"As for why every forty years..." Ronja began, biting her lips softly. She had never told anyone before, she wasn't sure how it would sound. A secret she'd been keeping for about a hundred years or more. But she could trust him, right? "Well, I was... 40, and a fae woman died giving birth, rare, but not impossible in those days. And of course, there's only one thing you can do with an abandoned baby fae, you switch it. Almost every Argentum does it as one point or another, some more than others. I've only done it once. But in my travels, to switch the fae child for a human, I became attached to the fae that I had to thrust into a world that would never understand him. So, I did what I had been told to do, but every forty years I go back, looking. I doubt he's around here anymore, but I can't stop. And it doesn't help the images of his bright green eyes... they still haunt me."
There, that was her story and she quickly grabbed another piece of bacon so she could stop talking for a moment. Her thoughts were spinning now, far off into her past. The human child was long since dead, he hadn't lasted here very long.
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Post by NICHOLAS SANDROSE on Nov 16, 2009 3:14:39 GMT -5
Forty-five. That wasn’t bad at all. Nicholas exhaled, and the tension flowed out of his body. Because he aged more slowly here, he probably had at least a hundred additional years left ahead of him -- and this time, he wouldn’t waste a single day. He would try new things, take chances, and go exploring. He would laugh, love, and cry. He would live. This time, he would live.
When Ronja moved her breakfast tray, Nicholas took the hint and sat down beside her. She seemed nervous. Almost hesitant. It surprised Nicholas to see such awkwardness in someone who’d discussed their first sexual experience without any sign of embarrassment. Whatever she planned on telling him, it clearly mattered a great deal to her. Gently, Nicholas slipped his arm around Ronja’s waist, and gave her an encouraging squeeze.
As she spoke about the fae child she’d switched for a human one, Nicholas listened with compassion. His mother had told him stories about fae who stole human babies and replaced them with changelings. After her death, he’d sometimes wondered if maybe he was one of those who’d been switched -- he seemed so unlike his stern and practical father. But he was just a human, plain and simple.
Other people might have felt surprised by Ronja’s admission that she’d grown attached to the fae child. But it made perfect sense to Nicholas. There had always been a maternal undercurrent in Ronja’s relationship with him -- in the way she took him under her wing like a mother bird. She didn’t often let it show, but despite her wild exterior, there was an impulse inside her to protect helpless things.
There was a moment of silence after Ronja finished speaking. Then Nicholas took her hand in one of his. “You have a good heart,” he murmured. “If you ever do find your changeling, I hope he sees that. I hope he realizes how lucky he is to have someone like you care about him.”
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Post by RONJA IRIS AMALIA on Nov 16, 2009 10:00:57 GMT -5
(( ooc- so cute, what a great post <3 ))
Ronja clasped his hand firmly and smiled softly. Her eyes were slightly damp and she looked straight ahead though, she couldn't bring herself to turn, nor could she let go of him. "Maybe. I partly hope I never find him." She said. If it had been her, she would have hated whoever left her in the mortal world, a fish out of water. Not to mention the child had no obviously personality, there was no way to guess what kind of man that baby had become. And some part of her just didn't want to know. It was all too much somehow. Eventually she'd have one of her own and then maybe she'd be over it. But who knew...
"You know I have a good heart, and I get to take care of you," Ronja said. A real live friend and companion was better than one she hadn't seen in a very long time and would probably never see again. She looked down into her lap and she her head a little bit. Sentiment was for babies who had nothing to live for. At least, that was what she was trying to tell herself at the moment so she could get her act back together. "If I were him, I'd hate me. God knows why I keep looking... I would have travels the globe by now, he'd have to, no way he got away with living in one place for 140 years while he stopped aging."
Ronja turned back to the tray and popped a little pastry into her mouth, chewing slowly, obviously thinking, but about what, even she wasn't sure. Everything was just zooming through her head.
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Post by NICHOLAS SANDROSE on Nov 17, 2009 20:08:10 GMT -5
Nicholas tried to put himself in the changeling’s place. How would he feel about the person who had left him in the mortal world? There would be some anger -- especially at first, when everything seemed so confusing. When there was no one around to explain why he wasn’t like everybody else. And, upon finally learning the truth, he’d probably feel betrayed by his own kind. Why play such a strange trick? Why abandon an innocent child in a world which might never accept him?
Then again, the same could be said about whatever god had fated Nicholas to be raised by a father who hated his gift. On the surface, it seemed needlessly cruel. But sometimes struggle created strength. Sometimes isolation created a deep sense of self. Nicholas wasn’t naive enough to imagine that the world was always fair or that bad things always happened for a reason. However, he did believe that good could come from adversity.
“Would he have been better off here? Without parents to raise him?” Nicholas didn’t doubt that Ronja would have done her best, if she’d decided to keep the child. But she’d been too young, too wild. By fae standards, she’d been little more than a child herself, unready for the responsibilities of parenthood. “You gave him a family and a home. A safe place where he could grow up.”
“Maybe he hated you at first,” Nicholas conceded. “But he’s had over a hundred years to come to terms with what happened. Maybe he understands now. Maybe he even likes the human world. Being a fish out of water isn’t always a bad thing. I don’t really belong in the fae realm...but I love it with all my heart. I’ve always been grateful to the woman who brought me here. Even if some people would view her actions as kidnapping.”
Nicholas wished he could offer to go with Ronja, to look for her lost changeling together. But he couldn’t return to the human world. Not without losing too many precious years. So he just raised her and to his lips and gave it a gentle kiss. “You’ll find him one day. After all, you have eternity.”
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Post by RONJA IRIS AMALIA on Nov 17, 2009 22:09:22 GMT -5
Ronja smiled softly and shrugged. She'd been thinking of stopping her trips to the human world. It was almost painful, but part of her wondered so many things. Maybe he would be like a sibling she never had, maybe he would be her lover. Forty years was hardly an age difference for a fae. But who even know, she was losing hope that she would find him. And maybe that was good thing, better off without the added feelings. On the other hand though, Ronja sought a sort of closure, telling him what he really was would be a good thing, even it all out. And he could come back with her, or stay, it didn't matter.
Ronja didn't feel like continuing the conversation so she didn't comment on it. What was there to say.
"Eternity..." She repeated slowly, looking at her hands. She had forever to live, forever to look... she just didn't want to be forever wounded, forever alone. At least she had a long time left with Nicholas around, and without another word she threw her arms around him and held him close to herself.
"I love you Nicholas." She told him. It wasn't romantic, it was just real and a testement to how alone she would feel without him.
ooc- i think this thread needs to wrap up. wanna make a new one?
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Post by NICHOLAS SANDROSE on Nov 18, 2009 7:56:05 GMT -5
(OOC --I agree. As for another thread...I was thinking that the next logical step would be for Ronja and Nicholas to go looking for Radella. Maybe Nicholas slips off to go get revenge, but Ronja follows him and insists on going along. If Shade is interested, it makes perfect sense for Darius to come too. I don't know if Radella's player is still around -- if she is, Radella could eventually be found. If not, I'm sure we can have other adventures while sneaking around in Atra territory. How's that sound?)
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Post by RONJA IRIS AMALIA on Nov 18, 2009 9:11:09 GMT -5
ooc- i like it <3 and somewhere along the way ronja can tell nicholas about darius, whether or not he comes along because he might not know about him. but yeah that sounds good to me. nicholas goes off for revenge and ronja is like , you cant go without me kinda thing. you wanna start?
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Post by NICHOLAS SANDROSE on Nov 18, 2009 9:16:42 GMT -5
Yeah, I think it makes the most sense for me to start. I'll try to have something up today, unless I get busy with birthday stuff.
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