Where Outcasts Call Home

Flash_Guardian stirs slightly where he lays upon his bedroll, blanket thrown over him for warmth. In spite of how calm he usually appears in his waking hours, he seems quite restless while he sleeps. The blanket is messed up, covering just the lower part of his torso down to his knees ... but surprisingly he doesn't seem to mind or care. His head turns over to face the wall, mumbling something lightly.

Anwyn 's woken before dawn, her body clock no longer driven my the coming of light, but rather with the waking of those things with perception, even in her dreams those little webs beyond her control waved in the air like beacons waiting for signals from alien life, and now the waking of the Islands bird population had sparked her into alertness, and after a week or more of pure bedrest, into movement, slow, steady movement. Her way felt with clumsy but silent hands, fingers extending in spirit, probosci to feel out her place in the world and give her a picture as the robeclad younsgter, trailed by a softly padding cat makes for the freedom of the outside. Powerlevels fluctuationg wildly with her excitement.

[PhorenNarqu ] "Aaaaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhh!" His cry stretched out as he fell from the sky, his newest spell having gone awry, depositing him a hundred above the island. But fortunately he landed n the beach, and the sand cushioned his fall, but he still sank down several feet in it, but gt out in time, before it collapsed on him, and staggered up to the dojo, clutching his head, but with a wicked grin on his face

Flash_Guardian 's sleepy tossings become gradually more active and come faster with the passing of time, until at length he freezes in a single position for a moment. Eyes dart open now, as if he had suddenly become aware of his embarrassing movements and was checking to make sure nobody saw. Instead, his eyes fall upon an empty room, much to his belief. A breath of relief is let out, eyes closing as he pushes himself a bit more upright, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He pauses again, though ... the room is empty ! Where is the girl? A bit panicked now, he throws the covers aside, half-leaping to his feet. "Anwyn?" he calls aloud, somewhat worried.

Njoka flickers into the sky, a commonly seen way of nearing a land in the keep it seems.... Though his awakening has been long held back, this place still stood... He looks down at the island, and at the dojo from where he last picked up a stragler whom now lays dead most likely.... He slowly floats down to the ground, landing softly and quietly, and walks to the dojo, though staying outside the area of sight, only looking past the tree he hid behind for the moment, all energies from his body remained hiddin

Anwyn had noticed the sleeping man with that only seeing eye of hers, her cheeks still flushed at the warmth of the man's turbulant sleep, and at being so close, the girls powers as bright as a lighthouse in the dawnlight, webs of spirit lashinng out to touch in an almost wild excstasy at the freedom, trees, grass, the building, all touched wildly, the scream she could not place and the brightness of her sight startling the youngster and leaving her on her knees, a shivering little bundle haloed by the rising sun.

Flash_Guardian trots through the door of the classroom, peering out into the hallway ... no sign of the girl. Stopping to think for a moment, eventually he gets an idea. He stops, closing his eyes and trying to relax and 'feel' where the girl is at the moment, thinking that perhaps she may be leaving some sort of psionic trail for him to follow. If anyone would come upon Flash now inside the dojo, they would see a very curious sight as Flash follows what sensations he can, exiting the dojo slowly with eyes closed and a hand held out to the wall at his right, guiding him.

PhorenNarqu continued on, and blinked at the sight of Flash. That was odd. But he slowly, and silently, tried to sneak up behind him, and tap his shoulder

Anwyn trail is as bright as a busy highway, tendrils of those webs having hooked onto the corridoors and archways, rainbow spills of light and energy throbbing through each, amazinf what the girl would be 'seeing' now, so much to take in for what had been darkness, too much from the sheer display of power in the webs, and the plaintive mewls of an unhappy cat as his mistress overs her sightless eyes with her hands and touches her forehead to the earth, overloaded by the sheer magnitude of the Island, the beauty of it....Flash himself becoming prey to the prying fingers of her web, the remembered warmth of it crawling across his skin like a lick.

Flash_Guardian speaks just inches before he is tapped. "Can I help you?" He says this without turning around, instead continuing to feel his way along until he reaches the south door of the eastern wing. Though he speaks to Phoren, there's no indication that Flash actually knows who he is ... just that he's there. His third eye is not so potent as the one whom he seeks. And indeed, one who seeks him as well, it would seem. He shudders suddenly as he is contacted by an otherworldly presence of some kind, smiling after a moment. "There you are," he says quietly, releasing the wall and stepping out onto the lawn, opening his eyes to look around ...

[PhorenNarqu ] "Well, I don't know, given hhat I came here to set fire to the dojo, since you people don't want me around anymore, and for ruining my future."

[PhorenNarqu ] *that

Flash_Guardian casts a wholly startled glance back to Phoren, his head shuddering. "Excuse me?"

[PhorenNarqu ] "I'm here to destroy the dojo, since you destroyed my future by casting me ut. It's quite simple. Do I have to draw you a diagram?"

Anwyn 's touch, the warm blossom of her innocent spirit, draws around Flash with the same urgency it had previously, the webs pulling from walls, tearing away from floors to touch to him as if he were an Oasis in the dessert of her sight, each little lacelike ribbon of energy pulling him closer to the womanly form hundled in the treeline, the alost pheonix like waves of her spirit webs tangled in the trees around her, but even she seems to hear Phoren's words, that large cat prowling about her suddenly hissing as the sightless woman looks up and at the man threatening the only person to ever show her kindess of peace.

Flash_Guardian just stands there looking completely baffled by Phoren. "But I never cast you out ... what are you ...?" An overwhelming pull is felt by Flash, the girl's familiar connections surrounding him, almost blinding him to any other surroundings. Flash looks now directly to the woman's position hidden just outside the clearing ... yes, somehow he knows that's where she is. "I'll ... deal with you in a minute, Phoren. But please don't touch anything!" Flash moves swiftly now across the lawn, trotting over to where Anwyn is, slowing his pace slightly upon reaching the trees ...

[PhorenNarqu ] He moved on inside, bringing out his flint and steel, not bothering wi9th tinder, searching for readily flammable materials. He'd burn this place sky high for what they'd done to him. He'd kill them as well, but he wasn't evil, so he would let them live

[PhorenNarqu ] *with

Anwyn 's trapped in the webs it seems, hovelled to her knees and chained in the knotted sensations that overwhelm her as easily as the transferred panic blinds Flash, so much to see that she sees nothing, her power upon waking so much more than it had ever been, but still she clings to him, those webs emanating from almost every pore of her skin. Sightless eyes piercing up at the man, tears luminescent in the wide, slanted pools " Fvlash? " Scared, timid, full of wonderment all at once.

Flash_Guardian can feel the waves of panic washing over him from the girl, his breathing beginning to quicken pace and adrenaline surging through him. Quickly, he makes his way to the girl's side, paying no heed to the hissing cat as he reaches out to grasp her hand, kneeling beside her. "Yes, it's me! I'm here ... there's no need to be afraid, Anwyn!" In spite of the emotions being forced upon him, he does his best to smile, and think calm and reassuring thoughts.

Anwyn 's beyond Flash for now, even if her hand was clinging so strongly onto his, rainbow webs locking about their twinned hands as those tendrils seep out and over the Dojo, seeking the intruder with the determination only the young could possess, the building - as little rainbow shafts of spirit energy- being another of her senses, Phoren's steps as if he were stepping across her own back " He wvill burn everythvink to zee ground...Wve must not let him... " Her voice so much stronger in spirit, disbodied and wild as somehow, the webs at his skin seek to burrow, to link, to fuse powers as if a battery for her energies

[Anwyn ] *disembodied

Flash_Guardian gives the girl's hand a gentle squeeze. "I can deal with him, Anwyn ... but will you be alright here?" Flash is still fighting off a bit of panic, and doesn't want Anwyn to overstretch herself if he can help it. Her psionic/spirit abilities are far too untamed for him to want her risking such.

Anwyn shakes her head, not relenquishing her hold on his hand, webs pulling back from the trees, sending a shower of cold morning dew down upon them with the shuddering force of it, force of will alone willing her to her feet, the girl was going to be beautiful, one day, for now she was just a determined street urchin, holding the hand of her would be guide, her own voice finding itself weak "Ai wvill be comink wivth you..." Tugging his hand to lead him towards his home, and what would hopefully remain hers. Risk, nothing. Gain, nothing.

Flash_Guardian nods, quickly, and jogs his way back to the dojo, hoping that he isn't going to fast for her. Indeed, his nimble legs can carry him in great strides if he wants them too, but for now he chooses a pace that is easier for her to keep up with. Quickly he makes his way back to the southern entrance of the east wing, stepping inside the dojo and holding the door open for Anwyn, meanwhile looking all about him to see if anything is out of place just yet.

[PhorenNarqu ] Nothing would be out of place, at least not by his doing, as he was gathering his own things from this place. Ready to burn it. To do to Flash what he had done to him

Anwyn has to run to keep up with him, so run she does, a little limp in her right leg fought off with a tap of webs lacing about the joint and linking it to earth, the woman-child naturally gifted in the art, it was a survival trait. Her vision, or what she used for vision little torrent of thready rainbow shivers, energy pulsing about her to give her sight, though she did seem to be tiring. Breath coming in little pants as she follows through the open door, her hand not even beginning to relinquish his a fraction, she needed him close.

Flash_Guardian can hear the shuffling of various items nearby in one of the rooms, slowly leading Anwyn in that direction, his hand never leaving hers and very careful just where he directs her, not wanting her footsteps to meet any unexpected surprises. Slowly he makes his way to stand in the door now, looking back at Phoren as he packs up his things. He calls to the man now, voice soft and filled with hurt confusion. "Phoren ... talk to me. What on earth brought this on?"

[PhorenNarqu ] "You did, when you cast me out. After you made me think you cared. Couldn't even do it to my face. Had to send your lady friend. You are scum. Weak."

Flash_Guardian is caught completely of guard by this. "Serielle?" he mutters quietly, blinking. And then his face is taken by a bit firmer grip as he looks back to Phoren, not amused by the elf's petty insults. "If Serielle told you any such thing, I am sorry ... however she and everyone else should know that I am the one that has final say in such matters. So tell me ... for what reason does she wish you out?" Flash would cross his arms were it not for the girl's grip, so instead rests a hand on his hip as he waits.

Anwyn half hides herself behind Flash, the young redhead looking like some wild Sidhe scared of the world, her hair a crazy mass of curls, blind eyes a vivid, tear stained green as she 'looks' upon Phoren from around Flash's shoulder, tendrils of a warm rainbow bouncing off the man to give her picture of him and the room. Lip biten to keep from crying at the pain and bitterness within the room, that greay tabby cat of hers edging closer to the stranger.

[PhorenNarqu ] "Because all I ever do is hurt Aislinn. Well what about me, Flash, what about me! I try and do what's right for a little girl, and I'm cast aside! I try and get her mother to be just that, a mother, and I'm rejected, and abused!"

Flash_Guardian sighs, understanding all too well what this issue is about. He shakes his head sadly, voice marked with disappointment. "I know very well of the relations between you, Aislinn, and Blue. As for me, I could care less what either of you thinks of the other. All I have ever wished is for them and you to leave each other be. So far that I have seen, Aislinn and Blue have made no actions against you. You , on the other hand, continue to this day to openly show them your hate and pain in ways that no man in their right mind would call 'civil.' I wanted the bad blood to stop. They stopped. You didn't." Flash shifts his position slightly, letting his hand come to rest at his side. "And as for Alison, you have no authority over the relationship between Aislinn and her. And neither do I. I admit, Aislinn was harsher than perhaps I would have been, but such was her choice."

[PhorenNarqu ] "But if it had been you, would you have liked being cast out? Or having the one who loved leave? I was there for their wedding! I even gave them a gift! I was civil! I kept my pain to myself that day! I'm missing a finger because I helped her! I have tried to be civil, and maybe my civil isn't what you call civil, but I do not openly show my hatred anylonger! But still I have been exiled!"

Anwyn is lost in the sea of words, names, meaning, intonations that just became the ebb and flow of emotion to the girl. The fingers holding Flash's hand so tightly shaking a little, the constant use of power that flowed without a lens, with no direction of control so demanding on her, leaving her looking more tired by the moment but she was standing tall, strong and determined to be prepared for the threat she has sensed as if she was hit herself earlier. Quiet though...hushed, the hatred in Phorens voice seeming to make her wilt like a flower in a hot house, to much for her, too strong....Firing memories she had no will to face, not when she could 'see' the pain of emotion on his face as he spoke through hte throbbing tendrils of rainbow.

Flash_Guardian isn't buying the explanation at the least. Phoren's angry words break over Flash like so much sea spray over rocky shores. "You cut your hand open during the wedding and threw a blood-stained handful of gold at the happy couple's feet, Phoren. Not exactly what I'd call a friendly gift." Flash closes his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief, though his demeanor remains calm for the benefit of the girl standing beside him. "I offered you friendship, Phoren. And a place to stay, here. And this is how you repay me. By threatening to destroy all that has been accomplished here. You were here when this place was built, Phoren. Your hands helped to shape this very building. As such, it is just as much yours as anyone else's. And still you would burn it? For what good reason? What will it accomplish?"

[PhorenNarqu ] "Because... Because I am no longer welcome. Because you destroyed my future."

[Anwyn ] "He havs zaid you are welcomed, and have shown more kindness zan I vouldto vone who vanted to burn my home..." Her vocie soft, tentative, riddled with the accent of her past, even as she hides half behind her would be protecter, all the webs attached to him, she didn't want to see anything else, he was safe.

[Flash_Guardian ] "You're wrong, Phoren," Flash argues flatly. "I offered you a future. Here." Flash sighs again, his hurt clearly showing. "But apparently this place isn't what you need." Flash looks over Anwyn's head, in the direction of the land bridge on the far side of the island. "Go, then. Or stay. I don't really care, Phoren. I just hope that wherever your future leads you, it brings you the peace that I could not." He nods to Anwyn, affirming her words and marking the fact that Flash is done with such a conversation. Quietly he tells the girl, "Let's go, Anwyn. Best to leave him be." Slowly, he guides her away and out the door into the hallway beyond.

[PhorenNarqu ] "Wait... You mean... I am still... Welcome here?"

Anwyn 's fingers tighten about the man's wrist, her skin almost burning warm with the flow of energy unfettered around his skin, by now a familiar warmth if cloying as a limpet to a rock "He does not vish to be alone zhough...Zhat iz part of hiz pain..." Muttered softly, the girl saddened, reaching to pick up the large scrawny ghost of a cat that tries to trip her steps for attention.

Flash_Guardian stops as the girl does not budge, looking at her and quite surprised by what she tells him. Slowly he looks back to Phoren, only to find that for some reason he cannot bear to do so. Flash stands there, seeming to be slightly uncomfortable for some reason as his eyes dart to every possible unoccupied space in the room. "Phoren ..." Flash stumbles over several possible words, finding that none of them fit what he feels, save these few. "What is it you want?"

[PhorenNarqu ] "I want somewhere I belong."

Anwyn is quite quiet again, the cat filling her free arm, and hanging in what should be discomfort from it, pressed to her chest, the scrawny beast seems to big for her, but he's purring as if in heaven, and she in turn seems more relaxed, still holding herself blind to all but Flash and the cat, her awareness bright and strong, invasive for the poor man who'd befriended her, whether she meant to be or not.

Flash_Guardian contemplates Phoren's request, trying to find the best piece of advice that he has to offer. But instead, he merely finds himself with another question. "And do you feel like you belong here, in this place of sanctuary?" Flash clearly shows a desire to elaborate on his question, but thinks better of it and bites his tongue.

[PhorenNarqu ] "I... Do not know. I will not know until I learn if you can accept me for who I am. Despite my flaws."

Anwyn pipes up again, that voice of hers timidly spoken into the darkness of the world she was no longer a part of "Ai am flawed, an impervfickt...I vas sent vrom vhat vas my home after vhey gave me the darkness vor my sinz....Fvlash haz shown me...zancktuary, despite vhat ai am a wrong person...It iz not uz who haz to accept you, it iz yhou 'ho muzt accept yourself..."

Flash_Guardian can't help but smile at this, just a little, looking between Phoren and the woman. "The first step to enlightenment is just that, Phoren. Know thyself. Strengths, weaknesses, gifts, flaws ... all these things combine to make us who we are, whether we would wish it or not." Again, Anwyn's words are spoken wisely, Flash nodding to them approvingly before continuing. "I'm not asking you to be anyone or anything that you're not. Either of you. Live goodly, or live badly ... but live truly . I can ask no more than that for anyone."

Anwyn sees well enough for a blind child, so soon to pass the cusp into womanhood, timid to a fault now as she seems to shrink back behind the cat, whatever she was she was still trying to know, but she was not afraid anymore, and that was in no short thanks to the man she was coming to swiftly to idolise, the first she had seen since the world went dark. A blush tinting her cheeks at praise unspoken, but felt.

[PhorenNarqu ] "Then I have much to tell you."

Flash_Guardian gives the girl's hand a reassuring squeeze, now guiding her back into the room slowly, making his way toward one of several bedrolls to set her down upon it beside him. "And we have naught but time, Phoren. For the moment, at least." And why not? Phoren and the woman seem to have at least some things in common ... maybe it would be good to hear from both of them, and certainly they both would have much to tell.

PhorenNarqu slowly sat, dropping the bundle of things he was holding with a loud clank, which was no doubt his armour. "I have a new lover now."

Anwyn seems as his shadow, or at least as close as it, still firmly gripping his hand, and now, with a greying palloured yawn her head rests to his shoulder, eyes open but sightless, the gift seeming frazzled to just the living bond of skin to skin fingres gaze. Hearing trying to make up for the sudden plunge into darkness, silent and stroking the head of the cat by her side.

Flash_Guardian blinks, making a bemused face. "Do you, now? Somebody new in your life once again? You seem like quite the lady killer," he says with a grin, though in thinking about it the grin is wiped from his face in short order. "Well ... maybe not lady killer ... err, I mean ... so, who is it?" he eventually asks, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly and silently cursing his befuddled mouth.

Anwyn smiles a little at the confusion "A lady's man, neh?" Soft words, near into his shoulder, as another yawn runs down her spine, though the tak of lovers had the youngster turning beetroot again.

[PhorenNarqu ] "Nala. And in this case, yes, she is a lady."

Flash_Guardian looks back to the girl resting now upon his shoulder where he sits, likely leaning up against him. Her touch is warm with her now calmed spirit, creating that same sense of tingling as before. The sound of the cat's purring is comforting ... but after that little outburst of his, he doesn't feel much like speaking, preferring to let the other two do the talking and practice his listening skills. And Flash does just that.

Flash_Guardian looks back to the girl resting now upon his shoulder where he sits, likely leaning up against him. Her touch is warm with her now calmed spirit, creating that same sense of tingling as before. The sound of the cat's purring is comforting ... but after that little outburst of his, he doesn't feel much like speaking, preferring to let the other two do the talking and practice his listening skills. And Flash does just that.