Closed Birthday Depression (Alea)

[Ana Sol Starris]

Winter 11th, 512AV Petal of the Endless Epoch Birthdays. How Ana loathed them with a passion, spent alone for quite close to six years and running; why should she change that trend now? The thief thought to herself gloomily, laying on the cold ground; staring up into the cloudy sky. No one knew her birthday, much less her age, they didn't know where she had come from, only where she had started. Name just a lie, a clever mask, that had truely become apart of her- there had been no turning back when it sunk in, like fangs of a snake to the ankle of a human. Ana Sol Starris. The name implied nothing, it was completely made up but it was her, it was her idenity. Neille Catrabuch, a simple, and far away nightmare that had once been a reality. Years spent in a room, the isolation- mind scarring. Years spent in a chaotic, lawless city, where no one cared, no one knew- she was a face among many faces that could have at any given moment dissapeared: poofed! Just like that. The thief blinked, not all of that was entirely was true. It had been a fluke, of course, that one day she and Wrenmae had met 2 days after her birthday. At the time to the thief it had seemed to be a total god send, which quickly spiralled into a living hell; with Shroud at the steering wheel most of the time. Did she regret staying? No. Ana was quite certain that if she had dissapeared from him, she wouldn't be here in the Spires, alive, right at this very moment. Sunberth was just too cruel like that, you either lived, or you died, there was no two other ways one could have described the cities habits. Murders were frequent, women raped, residents mugged and pickpocketed from- all in the name of survival and the fittest of the strongest whom could live through such unfortuanate circumstances. The strong devoured the weak, simplicity at its best. Luckily she had been adopted into the Crimson Edge, along side Wrenmae and his fractured mind. Though she was certain he had more than less earned his way into there, she hid under a table during a bar fight, and lived to tell the tale. Only to be incorporated into the organization with welcoming arms, whether she had liked it or not- there wasn't really much of a choice considering she was afraid of its leader: Cade. For possibly chopping her head off like he had one sailor to start the bar fight... As time went on, she became fiercely dedicated to the Edge and its' ways- she had made friends and family, life was good, she had belonged somewheres after so many years of hiding and running. She felt as if she could finally come out with herself, and grow. Then came the Spires reclamation. Here she was now. Away from Wrenmae, and his fractured mind, seemingly put back together again from what she had learned through letters. How she fretted over him, constantly wondering if Shroud had taken over completely.. Sleep was scarce once they had left, and for some reason being next to him had offered her some ease of mind, just enough for her to become droopy, and tuckered out. Insomnia wasn't fun, she had suffered from insomnia before she had met him, but the few seasons which they had spent together- how she wished she could reclaim better sleep once again because of him. It just didn't seem fair to her, because here she was, running on fumes of energy because of her inability to sleep properly... No. Ana forced in her mind, No. Repeating it and sighing again, shutting her eyes to take a blissful moment of silence. Pin drop hearingly peaceful silence. Spires was peaceful, to say she regret coming into the city hidden in the trees was a complete and utter lie. She had learned so much about herself, she met new people every day, she got to take care of horses.... She and Jakobi lived together, and while she didn't feel head over heels for him.. she was thankful for him. The thought of leaving him was almost as painful as it had been to leave Wrenmae, but she wondered... Through Wrens letters- he didn't seem to hate her.. What if Jakobi began to hate her if she were to suddenly just dissapear? It was... It was an unbearable thought, it made her chest tighten up, and constrict, heart heavy with onset depression. Ana's mind began to fall away, the conscienceness giving into serenity for but a few moments. Giving her the appearence of sleep.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea meandered around the petal, having just come from the Everliving Wood. She had been looking at the furniture there, trying to decide if she needed a new table, or maybe a dresser so that she could put her clothes somewhere other than the floor. She ended up deciding that she was fine for now; she wanted to save her scarce money, and just having her own house was amazing enough. She didn't want to clutter it up with furniture just yet.

Just then, something at the edge of the petal caught her eye: a stray lock of familiar blonde hair, poking out of a dark hood. Was that Ana? What was she doing napping in a place like this? That girl sure liked to fall asleep in weird places.

When Alea went to look closer, she noticed Ana was shivering, and frowned. Didn't Ana have a warm house she could sleep in? Why wouldn't she go somewhere warm? Was she sick? Too sick to get up maybe? Well if that were the case, Alea had to help her!

Alea approached, treading softly, not wanting to wake Ana up if she needed to sleep so badly. Not bothering to speak to the clearly unconscious woman, Alea simply grabbed Ana's arm to lift over her shoulder, intending to carry her at least into the nearest building, if not all the way home.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Shivers radiated about her body, she was cold but she didn't mind, it wasn't to the point it was making her uncomfortable with being on the ground. Spires was peaceful, or at least the city was, and she hadn't needed to worry about something terrible happening. Maybe that was making her far too soft, and unaware, trusting, the time in Spires was molding her into a docile girl rather than a organizations temporary leader. Ana had been so calm, and occupyed with listening to silence that when she heard the light foot steps padding their way to her, the thief was alert the moment she felt a hand grip her arm, causing her to lash at her assailent and fumble for her sword with her other hand. Ana grabbed and held at the wrong place, beneath the hilt, she unsheathed her sword a smidge before letting it go as pain stung at her. The blade had left cuts in her hand, hissing, the thief managed to shake herself away from Alea with a violent jerk of her arm backwards, and then forwards, turning to stand as she had done so. Alea? Ana paused and looked at the girl, the cuts in her hand bleeding, not too terribly deep but just enough to proove to be annoying as time went on, were now not on her attention; instead it was on Alea. The crazy girl she had pushed off into the nets along with herself. "The bloody petch you think you're doing?!" Ana cussed out as she attempted to stem the light bleeding by balling the hand up into a fist. Shaking her head, it had seemed Ana had stood up in the process of disconnecting herself with Alea, promptly sitting down again to look past the edge of the petal and into the horizon; a small pout gracing her lips. How stupid had that been? Ana wondered to herself, now thouroughly embarresed, how would Wren have acted if he had seen her be so off gaurd like that? After a moment of seeming silence, "you caught me off gaurd.. Sorry.. What do you want?" Ana prodded at her with the question, pride hurt.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea was not expecting the seemingly unconscious woman to flail about so, and when Ana jerked away, Alea dropped her and took a few steps back. Then Ana started yelling at Alea, who was so taken aback that she could only respond with a crestfallen expression. "I... I was just..." She had just been trying to help, but somehow Ana didn't look in the mood to accept an apology.

Luckily, sat down on the edge of the petal, taking her accusing gaze from Alea long enough for the younger girl to recover. Alea noticed she was feeling guilty, and it was making her awfully self-conscious about every move she made, every word she spoke. She was so worried about what Ana thought of her that she was afraid to do or say anything. She didn't like it. It had to stop.

Alea remembered her first adventures away from home a little over a year ago, when the world was bright and shiny and new, and not nearly so hard and tiring it was now. She remembered how curious she was, and it was amazing how easily she could slip back into the person she was back then.

She promptly sat down next to Ana, swinging her legs gleefully in the open air under the petal. It occurred to her that Ana had asked a question, so she might as well answer the girl. "I just saw you shivering and thought you might be warmer sleeping inside. My place has a couch and a fireplace... Say, what were you doing sleeping in the middle of the petal? it seems like and odd place for a nap...not that there's anything wrong with that!" she finished hastily.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Upon hearing the younger girls explanation, Ana immediately felt guilty and proceeded to shroud her face in darkness by pulling up her hood. It was quite nice of Alea to go ahead and offer entrance into her own home, which slowly gave the thief ideas, what did this girl have on her? Or in her house? She breathed out a sigh at the thoughts, shaking her head not once, but twice- going to gesture at the edge. An apologetic tone in her voice, she wasn't use to people seeming to 'care'. In fact.. It seemed as if those who actually cared for her were Zandelia, Ximal, and Jakobi. If Wren did.. Well, she didn't actually know his true thoughts on her. "I was observing the sky.. and the horizon.. Then I felt dizzy, so I layed down, and shut my eyes.. If I looked like I was sleeping, I wasn't. I hardly sleep, if at all now. What's it matter to you?" The girl had been right though, on her shivering, it did seem to be quite cold to be just laying on the ground. But in the midst of her own thoughts, her depression, she hadn't taken notice to the chill. Instead, it seeped into her body, much like a.. Hah! Much like a thief in the night! Stealing her precious body heat, and whisking it away. However, what had made Alea think she was anywheres close to the middle of the petal? In fact, they were quite close to the edge, dangerously so. Ana glanced at Alea, shaking her head again, getting far too lost in her own thoughts. Ana crossed her arms and brought her knees up to her chest, a rather detached expression on her face (hidden by the hood for the most part.) It was rather nice for this girl to care... But why should she? Why should Ana accept her hospitality? There were so many questions that she kept asking herself, but she knew none of them would be answered directly. There were only a few select people she could talk to, but sometimes they were busy, or wandering around the Spires, Ana would never be able to find them without wasting time. Talking to the Jamoura was out of the question. "It's nice of you to offer.." Ana started off somewhat strong, before her voice fizzled out.

[Alea Davenport]

"Well no wonder you can't sleep if you try in places like this! I've tried sleeping in the cold before, and trust me, it's pretty much impossible." Ana's quetion--why did it matter to Alea--was lost on the younger girl. Alea rarely thought about why she did things. She just assumed the question was meaningless syllables, not even really hearing it at all. Suppressing a sigh, she swung her legs somewhat impatiently. Was Ana going to come to Alea's house, or just sit here shivering and looking depressed? The awkward silence stretched for a few ticks until Ana mumbled something else.

Something in Alea clicked then, as Ana's mood was starting to infect Alea, and Alea's response to that sort of mood was usually to kick it out and slam the door behind it. She jumped up suddenly. "That's it, you don't get to sit there and be boring while I'm here. Come on, get up." Alea bent down to pull Ana up, and as she did, something on a chain around her neck fell out of her shirt. It appeared to be some sort of golden medallion.

"What do you have to be depressed about anyway?" At the slightest sign of hesitation from Ana, Alea added in a harmlessly menacing tone, "If you keep being ridiculous, I will drag you home by force, and keep you there until you're properly warm." She gave Ana a generous number of ticks to come willingly.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Silence. Ana did not reply in anyway whatsoever to Alea, had she stunned the poor girl? Or was she simply thinking, much like Ana was doing herself. That when Alea had jumped up and said in a very striking voice, and started to tug at the thiefs shoulders, attempting to pull her up. Ana looked up to spit something at the girl, she stopped, frozen, as if slow motion had deemed itself to be apropriate right then and there. Something akin to a medallion, or a locket fell out of her shirt upon a golden chain. The whole thing looked as if it had been made with gold, and gold... Oh gold was rather nice, it stated power, it had symbolism, it was very nice indeed. Ana's eyes snapped to Alea's hazel ones, away from the gold, she could not be caught staring at the trinket. Blinking, the look which Ana gave Alea could have been akin to a stupefyed deer, what had the girl said again? The thief tumbled the information about her head, trying to remember and put the pieces together, her mouth didn't want to work correctly it seemed. Something about being boring? Depressed? Ridiculous? Why... Ana's head seemed to cock to the side, after what had seemed to be a generous amount of time- she just turned her head away, but in turn stood slowly. "Huh? If you insist.." it was a blunt statement, with a hidden warning underneath- if Ana wanted to.. She could, no- she would steal that locket off Alea. It looked as if it would cost a pretty miza, but how would she know until she took it to an appraiser that was outside of the Spires? It would have to stay in her posession until she could apropriately sell it, maybe even fence it. Ana took notice to how Alea seemed to be impatient with her indecisive words, muttering to the girl "lead on Alea, thankyou." How... Bittersweet was it, that Alea would become a victem of her own mistakes? Thankyou, indeed.. The thought was a little darker in Ana's mind, than she had intended to think.

[Alea Davenport]

Alea cheerfully half-dragged the older girl all the way to her house on the Petal of the Timid Cougar, humming a jaunty, off-key tune along the way. Soon, they arrived, Alea's house being easily recognizable as the one shaped like the head of a stag. A large, black fur hung across the entrance (where the stag's nose would be), and Alea brushed it aside as she pulled Ana into her home.

Finally releasing Ana, Alea gestured for her to sit on the couch as she immediately went to start a fire. Within a few minutes, she had a small flame licking at the logs, and it promised to fill the room with warmth before too long. Satisfied, she shed her winter furs and sat on the floor in front of the couch, fixing Ana with a curious gaze.

"So, if you weren't sleeping, why were you lying down with your eyes closed? It just seems like there are more comfortable places for that sort of thing." Now that she was getting in the mood for it, several other questions popped into her head. It occurred to her that only the Jamoura seemed to stay in the Spires long enough to have families, so everyone else was most likely a visitor. "Why did you come to the Spires in the first place? Have you been here long?"

[Ana Sol Starris]

Ana was unimpressed, she half resisted the whole way there mostly because of the insistant girls grip on her wrist- pulling her to her house like a little nitwit. There had been countless moments where she felt like digging her heels into the ground and smacking the hand off, for whatever reason, Ana had managed to keep her cool for the most part. Only a simmering expression of disgust coated her face, as if a bird had deicded to poo on her hair from above (not that any bird had done so on the way there.) The girl was completely oblivious to the thieves somber gaze, boring into the back of her skull, burning as many mind felt curses at the younger woman as she could, allowing herself to be led like some little sheep. It wasn't until they got to Alea's house that Ana seemed to relax a bit, she even seemed to be amazed by the home; it was in the shape of an animals head- most likely a buck in her eyes as she had no idea what a stag was. Why... Once she had been let in, Ana's curiousity got the better of her and she was looking everywheres, eyes scanning the place, taking in as much detail as she could. There did not seem to be much, simple furniture, a hearth, stairs upwards, it was all beautifully made and Ana had to admire the craftmanship put into the house. But she remained standing, her movements were limited, and most of her search was done from few spots, and simple gazings. The thief wrapped her cloak around herself tighter, crossing her arms as she looked above at the ceiling, eyes blinking once or twice as she began concocting plans. That medallion would be hers by the end of the day, she just knew it, somehow... It would land itself into her own pocket. Ana sniggered at Alea's comment about more comfortable places, catching herself, and shutting up promptly, scowling at her own action. Furrowing her eye brows as she thought, carefully. Her questions were easy of course, assumptious, she wondered too why a girl such as Alea would come to Spires as well. Ana didn't care to know, however that didn't mean she wouldn't attempt to make small talk to keep herself occupyed- before going crazy. "Reclamation, I came from one of the cities far away to aid the Spires.. I've been here since," Ana paused, held her chin with her thumb and forefinger as if she were trying to calculate something "around the end of last Spring, or so I believe." Yawning, she stretched her arms up a bit, underneath the cloak that promptly revealed her clothed body was a scabbard and shortsword. She rewrapped her cloak again in the same position again where her arms were crossed, and her hip cocked to the side slightly "so you live here permanently? And with anyone?" Ana asked, now curious enough to pry into Alea's life "place looks pretty new.. From what I can tell."

[Alea Davenport]

As Ana talked about the Reclamation, a large, pure-white spider skittered rapidly down the wall to the faint sound of angry cat. She had slowly been getting used to the antics of her pets, but it was still new enough for the sound to startle her into looking up in the general direction of her cat. Tom had not taken well to a new member of the household; he seemed to consider Zed an intruder into his domain. The poor hassled spider crawled into the safety of Alea's lap and promptly curled up into a favorable impression of a soft cuddly pillow.

Taking this in stride, she turned back to Ana, and continued their conversation while hugging the spider. "I'd heard about the Reclamation. When I was in Avanthal, several of my friends came to help out. I..." She frowned, trying to remember why she hadn't come to. Was it just because she wanted to stay and help Avanthal? Oh, no, she remembered. Oluse, Riverfall... and then Denval... yeah, she didn't want to talk about this after all.

Luckily, Ana herself changed the subject to safer, happier topics. She grinned at the inquiry about her house, and launched into a babbling rant. "Yeah, I just built this place last season, with the Jamoura's help of course. I haven't lived here very long yet, but Yuros is here, and he doesn't want to leave his mother, so of course I have to stay. Oh, Yuros is my Kelvic friend; this house was actually designed to look like him. He's visiting his mother at the moment, but he stays here sometimes too..." She trailed off, hints of feelings starting to emerge, but none of them were relevant to the immediate situation, so Alea ignored them.

"But you, you said you come from far away?" She fixed Ana with an eager gaze. "Where do you come from? What's it like? How far away is it? Did you meet any crazy new people? I know when I left home, seeing a kelvic transformation was the most amazing thing ever, and I just know there has to be even more out there somewhere. My entire reason for leaving home in the first place was to see the world and experience all of the mysteries of Mizahar." She laughed a little and went on, "I was actually sort of inspired by stories of Kenabelle Wright, but I didn't want to just sail around. It's like..." She struggled to find a way to express what she felt about this. She spent a few moment stuttering as her brain tried to some up with an appropriate metaphor.

Screwing up her face in a frown of concentration as she tried to remember basic math, she said slowly, "It's like how, in a circle, the part that goes around it is smaller than the part that's inside it. Like, just going around something, you only see the edges, but there's... a whole bunch more stuff on the inside." Blinking, she looked up and concluded, "I want to see what's on the inside. I want to see everything."