Thursday, January 24, 2013

Perseus Frivolidad: Misted Castles in the Distance

Perseus was a handsome man. Hispanic with dark brown hair. It looked black, but if you looked close enough you'd see it was brown.  It was pulled back into a tiny ponytail. His startlingly blue eyes flickered nervously around, clearly not trusting anyone, or his general surroundings. He was tall, a little over six foot, and wore a thick, long, black overcoat with a navy jumper, peach scarf and filthy jeans. He had a little facial hair; the beginnings of a moustache and curly little sideburns. It was basically an experiment, as he had never let facial hair grow before.. He had stepped out of his most recent abode for just a moment. Just a moment away from screaming, wailing children. It was his job, a job he had invented himself. Think of it like a social worker. The children were natural Mages learning their abilities with little to no coaxing. He would get information about them and their existence from Anemophobia Heel, a girl he had known since his youth. Heel was Hungarian, her name was actually Sarok, but Perseus found it easier to call her Heel, or Annie. Perseus himself was from Cuba. Anyway, getting back on track, when Annie called him about another case, he would go and gage the safety of the child. Would it be a great danger to itself or those around it? If not, he left it, providing its parents knew of magic. If not for either of those factors, he would kidnap the child, replacing it with a reflection. He usually only did this for children of Mortals or Mages who had never discovered magic, but there were a few exceptions, such as one of the children in his care being the child of a Mage named Arachne Basilisk, who had been deemed an unfit mother by the Cuban Mage. That particular child was about six, was already considering her taken name and was already positive that she too wanted to be a Child of the Spider.

He stubbed out the cigarette on the greying walls and wished there wasn't a sea of kids between him and his room. Well, not a sea. There were seventeen of them in his care at the moment. Even so, he hated to walk through them smelling of smoke. It was horrible for his health and he didn't want to influence those children to smoke in the future. Next time, he decided, he would keep a can of deodorant in his pocket. It was always safe to do that when Annie wasn't around, but she was this time. She always joined him once the number of kids reached over eight. Eight was as many as he could watch safely and happily, and even then they drove him crazy and he often skipped meals or sleep to make sure they were okay. Five was okay. He was perfectly fine with five kids. Seventeen was a nightmare.

The lights of a castle far off in the distance caught his eye. They had been staying in a castle the other day. That one looked heated, though. Their one had been old, crumbling and abandoned. They often stayed in places like that. Perseus always made sure the kids were warm enough though. It was tough enough to have to move around so often. The thing was, no matter what the purpose behind it, the kidnapping of the little darlings was still illegal. They moved around a lot to keep police off their trail. One of the little boys opened the front door and tugged at the Cuban Mage's trouser leg. "Mr Fibby? Steve wet himself."
Perseus looked down at the child. "Tell Annie, Cynyr." They had taken this boy while in a settlement in Wales. Cynyr shook his little head.
"Annie's dealing with Dawn...and she's saying you're taking too long out here."
Perseus hesitated before nodding and following the child inside. It was just as cold in there as it was outside.

-----

Advantageous Twist felt a sort of numbness inside. He walked stiffly, what little he could see not even making any sense to him anymore. He had seen Jerry's death. They had pushed him forward to step over the body, Gale had sprawled himself on the floor, pretending to have been knocked out cold by the escapees. He realised he was frightened. He had been kept away from any death so far, kept as a guard and suddenly he felt like a hostage. These people weren't afraid to kill, and he had already antagonised them. Somehow, despite hardly being able to see, he was able to lead them towards the entrance. He knew the patrol patterns of everyone on the same level as him or lower. Some higher as well, such as Esra and B-J. Avoiding those he knew was easy and would remain easy until someone noticed Jerry's disappearance. Twist himself had been found in the cells soon enough, but the keys had been stolen, so he was stuck. The spares had gone missing as well...it was strange. "I...the rest of the way out is confusing for me, even when my vision is fine..."
He felt the others move past him, happy to leave him there. He followed. He had to leave, talk to his family, he would call Esra later, try and come up with a good excuse for his runner. Maybe Mr Motionless could vouch and say he had escaped at night. This would be awkward, but Twist needed a break...providing these others would let him get out free. They might still kill him. The fact that Repine was still alive was, for the moment, a good sign.

Vex broke away from the group and went down a different hall. He wandered around until he was genuinely lost. Part of him was saying that this was a stupid idea. It was. But he was hanging back to stop any chance of the Faceless Ones' return. This was how he ended up working with both Esra and B-J...
-----

Lilia bit her lip. She had sliced a bit too deep, but she was sure the damage was repairable. Not that she was an expert. In fact, she knew nothing about medicine, just that it wasn't healthy for Ravel to be bleeding that much. Still, it was his fault for not backing down. He had backed away when he had seen the Gist. He knew his stuff, after all. Now he was just lying there. Bleeding. Cadence made her way over gingerly. "You've killed him..."
"Nah, just maimed." The smaller girl picked up the clunky heel and handed it back to Cadence. "Cay, you should get us out of here, ASAP."
The Necromancer nodded. She looked around and finally took in the carnage. Lilia had not gone soft on anyone, and her Gist had ripped right through a few people, leaving a group of dead. Erskine still struggled, albeit far too weak to make any difference now, as Cay took hold of him and began to shadow-walk again.

A car waited outside for Miss Nightwish once more. Cadence loaded the Grand Mage into the back and debated whether or not to let Lilia come with. Lilia forced her way in anyway. The necromancer sighed exasperatedly and the car set off. Really, Lilia was a very corrupt person anyway, and she would do anything for a fight, and killing and maiming was all too easy for her...she would be too good an asset to Mevolent. Cadence wished she had called anyone else.

-----

Perseus was asleep when the door was forced open. He jerked awake, a small child doing the same beside him. He was about to ask what the child was doing there when he heard the unfamiliar voices of fully grown adults in the next room over. He told the child beside him to be silent and crept over to the door, grabbing a plank of rotting wood as he went, holding it as a weapon. The voices continued.
"Shh!"
"I can't help it if I can't see, can I?"
"Yeah, and do we really need to be quiet?"
"And why did that other guy hang back?"
"Where are we?"
Somebody stepped in front of Perseus' door. "We just need to be careful, is all." He had a French accent. The last place Perseus had taken a child from had been France. He took a deep breath to calm himself, then flung open the door and charged, swinging the wood at the nearest person. He trusted no-one other than Anemophobia, after all, and he only trusted her because he had carved a loyalty sigil into her flesh one night. He stumbled and crashed into the tiny man with white hair who had been outside his room. They tumbled to the floor, rolled and ended up with the small man on the Hispanic man's chest. Their noses were touching and their eyes were locked.
"Ah...this place has residents...this, Austin, is why we have to be quiet."

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