Closed To Meet Again

A hunter, a spiritist and a house reunite.

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The Diamond of Kalea is located on Kalea's extreme west coast and called as such because its completely made of a crystalline substance called Skyglass. Home of the Alvina of the Stars, cultural mecca of knowledge seekers, and rife with Ethaefal, this remote city shimmers with its own unique light.

To Meet Again

Postby Zach Grasswind on November 8th, 2021, 10:08 pm

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5th Fall, 521 av.

"Speech"


As the first week of Zach’s return to Lhavit was drawing to a close, the hunter realised there was one visit he still had to make. A whole family that he had missed while he had been away waited not too far from his apartment at the Solar Winds. He smiled to himself. No, they would not have waited for him, for if he knew Madeira Craven at all he knew she would have carried on with the scary efficiency she always possessed and had likely very quickly found a new hunter to gather her work supplies.

But they would be happy to see him again, of that the Drykas hoped. For outside of the strange arrangement Zach had with the petite blonde, he had come to know her and her family on a personal level. He had spent dinners in their very much alive home and had taken her daughter out for city adventuring. He had missed them while he had been gone, and that was something he had not expected.

The day was overcast and damp - rain was already falling when Zach had peered out of his window shortly after waking. He had spent most of the morning over at the Hunter’s Guild catching up with old acquaintances in front of a roaring fireplace and the afternoon was already marching on by the time he began to wander his way over to Infinity Manor. Leather boots splashed through puddles as he wove between people, his hands stuffed into pockets in his coat that was buttoned over his customary green shirt.

It did not take long before the familiar and imposing form of Infinity Manor rose up to greet him through the grey haze of rain. Zach paused at the gate for a moment, simply watching the house, water dripping steadily off his hood. It didn’t appear to have changed at all in the time he had been away, but knowing what he did about the place he was sure it could have looked different to how he saw it now less than a bell ago. At least that was what he assumed with his limited knowledge about the strange building anyway.

After perhaps a chime he swung the gate open and meandered his way along the cobbled path before stepping up to the porch. Zach reached up to push the hood off his head, shaking water off his hands before smiling at the familiar plaques tacked beneath the door knocker.

Don’t mind the ghosts
they live here too

and
Stop stepping on the flowers
you're upsetting the house


As he read them, Zach was overcome with an odd sensation that someone was watching him. There was a creaking coming from somewhere, perhaps above him, almost as though the house was moving. He wondered briefly if it were the residents of the Manor causing the noise, before remembering that the two children were Kelvic, and not likely to be racing around as young children anymore.

With a mental shrug to brush aside the thoughts, the Drykas reached out and took hold of the door knocker, rapping twice to announce his presence to anyone home. The Manor appeared quiet, much quieter than he was used to and he hoped he hadn’t shown up on a day where it was standing empty.


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Zach Grasswind
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To Meet Again

Postby Madeira Dusk on November 9th, 2021, 3:25 am

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A moment passed and the door in front of Zach rattled.

There was a pause, a click of a bolt sliding closed and back again, and the door rattle again.

“Ma’am?” Came a young male voice from the other side, muffled by several inches of sturdy oak. “It’s locked.”

“It’s not locked”, a familiar, exasperated voice corrected. “I think the Manor is in a frenzy.”

“Is that why-“

“I think so. Emma? Come here. Oh be careful Spooks. I don’t know where those suds came from but they look slippery.”

There was some muffled commotion on the other side of the door, as the several people piled against it shuffled around to allow the presence of a new member.

“Why is Infinity hiding all your toys?” a cheerfully girlish voice chirped.

“They’re not toys, kitten, they're tools. Can you please see who’s outside?”

A moment later a ghostly spectre popped its head through the stubbornly closed door. Brown curls bounced around a crusted, diseased face that had not changed at all in the year since Zach had last seen it. Bright brown eyes travelled up from his muddy leather boots, to the hem of his weather beaten coat, and up to his dusting of blonde stubble before finally meeting his eyes.

They were hard to miss and even harder to forget: a starstruck gold ringing a bright sky blue, looking for all the world like the stars had come out on a bright sunny day.

Recognition dropped the girl’s mouth into a startled o before her brown curls whipped back behind the door and out of sight.

“It’s him!” Though her ghostly shroud didn’t make a sound, there was something about her voice that suggested the pronouncement came with much hopping and hand-flapping.

“Who?” chimed in three more voices of varying pitches and and patience.

The young ghost didn’t seem to answer, but some kind of pantomime must have gotten the point across. There was a surprised gasp of a reaction, then a tapping of shoes, a curse, and a rather squeaky sounding slip, before the closest window to the left of the door flung open with a bang.

"Zach Grasswind?”

Kneeling on what looked like the back of a chair, hands braced on the window ledge and leaning precariously out over the porch, was Madeira Dusk. Jewels dangled from her neck, ears and hands, but her smile was the brightest thing she was wearing. Her expensive silk dress was rucked up under her knees, and the dark young boy nervously steadying his mistress by the waist was having a difficult time finding leverage in the volumous skirt.

“Gods, it is you!”

Reaching out a hand, she trusted Zach to catch her as she awkwardly half-climbed, half-tumbled out the window and onto the covered porch. She was up again in an instant, not a hair out of place, looking for all the world like the kind of woman who wouldn’t be caught dead climbing out of kitchen windows.

Behind her, heads poking out of the window she had just vacated, was a desert-skinned green-eyed boy, the ghost of a dead girl, and something that might be mistaken for a black house cat, if the beholder was blindingly drunk, or drunkenly blind. All three were wearing the same curious expression that dropped into shock as their mistress reached up and pulled the man down by the shoulders, wrapping him in a rare embrace.

“I missed you, Zach Grasswind”, she spoke into his damp blonde hair. “Welcome home.”
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To Meet Again

Postby Zach Grasswind on November 9th, 2021, 11:05 am

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"Speech"


It was not long before Zach heard, and saw, the door rattle in front of him. He fixed a smile onto his face in readiness for greeting whoever he saw on the other side, but as the ticks passed it slowly dropped to be replaced by a perplexed expression.

The door rattled again, but it still did not open, a muffled and confused voice sounding through the thick oak wood. It was unfamiliar to the hunter, definitely male but fairly young sounding. He thought for a brief moment it could be Moritz, but the words were too formal.

A second voice sounded; one he did know. Madeira was commenting on the Manor. Zach was relieved she was home, but puzzled at her words. Was the door broken? Perhaps the wood had swelled with all the rain and gotten stuck in the frame. Zach was about to shout as much through the door at them, when a whole head popped through the solid surface to look at him.

Zach leapt backwards a step, heart hammering in his chest. Startled eyes took in a familiar face that was peering at him with an intense scrutiny. The ringlets framing the scabby face of a young girl meant this was none other than Emma, the little ghost he was quite fond of.

Once he had regained his composure, the Drykas managed a quiet chuckle as surprise overcame the ghost’s features. Before he could say anything however the head disappeared and Zach was staring at the blank oak door again. He could hear a commotion on the other side and wondered just how many people were clustered around the door that wouldn’t open.

Before he could do anything else, a window crashed open to his left, making him jump again. He spun round to see the familiar blonde head of Madeira peering out the window at him.
“Zach Grasswind?”

Zach chuckled. “The one and only!” He moved to see her better, grinning at the woman as he did so. She had started to lean rather precariously over the ledge and he was surprised she didn’t fall right out of the window.
“Gods, it is you!”

Zach managed to catch Madeira as she finally did all but fall out of the window. She hadn’t changed in the time he had been away. Dressed in silk and covered in sparkling gems, the Spiritist appeared exactly as he remembered. He glanced at the window to see the others collected there. There was of course Emma, the cat-who-was-not-a-cat and then a new face, obviously the young boy he had heard on the other side of the door.

The hunter was almost as surprised as they were when Madeira pulled him into an embrace. He returned it, arms wrapping round the slender form of his friend. He smiled over her shoulder at her words.
“I missed you too. All of you.”
He knew then that he had made the right decision in returning to Lhavit. This city, that was home to this family, was what he needed. The chaos was comforting and it felt right to be back here.

He untangled himself from Madeira and looked down at her.
“I’m sorry that I left so suddenly. It was… unexpected.” He then smiled at the little ghost in the window. “Hello Emma. Have you been good while I’ve been away?”

Next he addressed the young boy. “Hello, I’m Zach. Are you all having a problem with the door?” He glanced sidelong at Madeira too before moving over to the heavy oak door again.
“It might be easier to open from this side if it’s the rain that’s got it stuck.” Zach reached out to put a hand on the doorknob, pushing gently to see if he could gauge how stuck it might be.

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