count the shadows (Xavier)

[Ithica Pettineo]

[ooc: D: sorry about the lameness.]

Ithica was laying beneath a picnic bench. His bookbag was about three meters away, with his books scattered everywhere. He was watching the clouds through a crack in the table, muttering his alphabet backwards. He rolled around in the dirt, twigs and leaves collecting in his hair.

"Bah bah black sheep have you any fur?" He sang, his voice offkey severely. He touched the little porcelain doll that lay beside him. Rosie immediately sat up, and crawled out from under the table. He whined, reaching a lazy hand pathetically towards his porcelain companion. "Roossiiee!" He called dramatically, putting a hand on his forehead. "How can I live without you, my little rosebud?"

Rosie stared at him, and smoothed out her dress with stubby hands. "You're a creeper." She said solemnly, rolling her eyes. "Go find a real girl." She started teetering towards his backpack with the intent of picking it up. She looked down at a textbook, then at him, and sighed. "How do you carry these things?"

"I'm not two pou-- hey! Real girl? I don't need girls." He muttered, and paused with the implications he said. "Or guys," he amended quickly. "I can live without both genders. I also don't need bratty dolls!" He called, throwing a muffin that he had saved from breakfast at her.

He sat up, hitting his head on the picnic table. "Ow." He muttered, crawling out from under the benchseat. He landed with a thud on his back. Ithica crawled up, and tripped once again due to his shoelace being tied to the bench. He glared at Rosie, who was laughing hysterically, and attempted to untie the knot. "I really hate you sometimes, Rosie."

[Xavier Yorston]

Like most mornings in Xavier Yorstons life, she had absolutely no idea what she was doing 'there'. Of course 'there' was more than the grounds of Prenumbra University, but this morning that is where 'there' was. She had a pounding headache and she was in what she thought was last nights look. Though she could never tell for sure, but the indication that she had blonde hair was enough for her to only guess that it was.

As her eyes adjusted to the sunlight, she watched bewildered at the sight before her. Was that man really talking to a doll, and ever more, was the doll actually talking back? Or did she just have to lay off the rum? Her dark optics watched with child like interest as Ithica sat up hitting his head on the picnic bench. Xavi cringed slightly to herself upon hearing the thud from her distance, then she actually laughed louder than she intended as Ithica tripped over his shoelaces that were tied together. Upon letting out the laugh, she clapped a hand over her mouth, hoping that the man hadn't heard her and thought her rude.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica stopped moving, and his ears metaphorically perked up. He slowly turned his head in the direction of the noise, and smiled broadly at the stranger. "Hey!" He said, standing up a little too quickly. He stumbled slightly, but he caught himself before he fell down once more. He took off his shoes, unable to unknot the knot.

Rosie had already fallen limp, and Ithica went to check that she hadn't cracked anything (she was fragile, being porcelain and all..) when he was satisfied that he didn't, he put her on the end of the table. He turned his attention back on Xavier.

"Hello!" He called cheerfully, walking closer. Ithica had grown used to people laughing at him, so he didn't think much of it. He held out his hand. "I'm Ithica. Like the Greek place. Well, except that's spelled with two a's.."

[Xavier Yorston]

In the time it took Ithica to stand and take his shoes off, Xavier had managed to push her aching self to a standing position. She had known that after she had laughed aloud that he would probably come over and give her hell for laughing at his misfortunes...or he could do as he was.

For a moment Xavi looked at Ithica as the barrage of cheerful words spewed forth from his mouth and invaded her ears. She was still in recluse mode and she was definitely not ready for such cheer this early in the day. Rubbing her forehead with the heel of her hand, she stayed silent still. Xavi didn't necessarily like conversing with people on a good day, but it was worse when she felt like utter crap.

More tense and awkward silent moments passed before she even attempted to open her mouth.
"Charmed" she said, her usual monotonous voice sounded more like her vocal cords were made of sand paper. It was her 'early morning sexy scratchy voice' she had concluded.

"I'm Xavier..." she responded as a quizzical expression creeped onto her facial features, "And I don't normally find myself on random...campus lawns?"
Finishing her statement she turned her attention back to Ithica; looking up at him she figured that he would think her a mess for some of her hair stuck out at odd angles from the tree she was leaning against.

"And I don't normally look and sound this bad, you've caught me on an off day"

For once in her life, Xavier was actually only slightly concerned about what this complete stranger thought about her.
Only slightly.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica dropped his hand, rubbing it awkwardly on the side of his pants. "Well...sometimes I find myself awake in odd places. Mm, for example the other day I woke up in a tree. It was probably due to Animating a stone wolf.." He sighed. "They're very scary. With their stone...teeth.." He bared his teeth. "Frightening.." he trailed off.

"I think you look and sound fine." He grinned blithely at her. "But then, I've never heard or seen you any other day, so I don't have any comparison. For what it's worth, I normally don't trip over myself so often."

His smile dropped, his eyes widening at her. "Do you need some medicine?" He asked quietly, having the realization that she may hangover dawning. "I think I have some aspirin.." Ithica waved a hand towards his backpack. "Although...people generally don't take medicine from strangers."

[Xavier Yorston]

Animate a stone wolf? Why on earth would someone want to do that? There was something very off about this boy...man...whatever he was; but at the same time it made Xavier do something that she normally didn't do around people.

She laughed.
Then tucking a stray piece of blonde hair behind her pointed ear she looked at him gratefully as he quieted down and offered her aspirin. It was almost as if she was an addict of some sort looking for the next dose, and at this point she was desperate for something. Sleeping against a tree was all sorts of not comfortable.

"You'd be at the top of my list if you did have some aspirin" she replied, a small smile crawling across her lips. In doing so, the jeweled end of her labret bar seemed to dance and catch the small bit of sunlight that made itself known to her face.

This time, she had no hesitation about taking 'medicine' from a stranger because Ithica seemed genuine; though you never know, he could have murdered his granny with a hammer.

[Ithica Pettineo]

"I love being on top of lists." Ithica beamed. He did like lists as well. They were fun. He went to his bookbag, taking out various items. A holepuncher, a stapler, two binders, a few textbooks, and then a bottle of aspirin. He threw it at Rosie, who caught it and then tumbled down off the table. He worked on putting everything back inside his backpack. "It's bigger on the inside," he explained with a wink.

Rosie rolled her glassy eyes, carrying the aspirin to the woman. "Here. I can't read or open it, so I guess you can do that." She sat down, patting out her miniature dress. "He wakes me up too early to be a pharmacist."

Ithica bounced back over to them, quickly taking the life out of the doll again. "Sorry 'bout Rosie. She isn't good with other people." He sighed, shaking his head. "I think you take two. But I'm not sure." He held up his hands as a gesture of ignorance. His eyes found her ears, and he laughed, thwacking himself on the forehead.

"You're a faerie! Or an elf.." He paused, his eyebrows furrowed. "Are elves real? So far I've met dragons and faeries... and vampires.. and werewolves.. but not an elf. And I think you're too tall to be an elf, and you're not wearing green, so you can't be a leprechaun.. therefore, by process of elimination, you're a faerie." He beamed, then his smile faltered. "Unless you just have pointed ears.. in which case, please ignore everything I just said."

[Xavier Yorston]

Xavier stared at Rosie for a minute as the doll handed her the bottle of aspirin. First it was Ithica having a conversation with the doll, now an endless backpack and the talking doll....again. This was certainly something she hadn't seen much of in her many decades. Gingerly her slender fingers plucked the bottle from the doll, careful not to knock her in the process.

Opening it she popped three into her hand and was about to take them when she caught sight of his flitting toward her ears. Then she looked at him incredulously for a moment as another barrage of cheerful words came out of his mouth. Xavi averted her eyes, staring off to the grass just past Ithicas right knee cap.

Xavier still had trouble coming to terms with her being a fae when she was raised with human parents. She had never known her fae kind and she had never really fit in with human kind either; the subject was sensitive as she felt like she was an invalid. Quickly she popped the aspirin in her mouth, dry swallowing the pills as she had done so many times before. Her hand moved swiftly to her ear and she brought the hair over it, hoping to execute the move in such a way that he didn't think she was offended by his asking.

"Fae, but you're an odd one aren't you?" she asked, bringing her eyes to look back at Ithica.

[Ithica Pettineo]

He bit his lip a little when she tucked her ear away. He wasn't about to comment (he had started to learn the signs when people wanted him to shut up and switch subjects. Normally Ithica would apologize for landing on a touchy subject, he was used to accidentally doing that. He opened his mouth to make aforementioned apology, but she changed the subject for him.

Ithica closed his mouth, debating the question. "I suppose it would depend on your definition of odd." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "I think I'm normal, but I've been around myself for almost twenty years." He shrugged. Then a thought struck him, as such things often do, and he smacked his forehead again.

"Unless you were talking about what I am! I'm...a demon. And a human. Both. At the same time." He had never really appreciated being a halfer. Given the option, he would have been full demon. Or full Gifted. Although sometimes he really wished he didn't have such a great memory. And sometimes he wished he couldn't touch things and have them come to life -- although he had been working on keeping that under control.

"Do you have a whatchamacallit?" He asked, happily taking the spotlight back off him. Ithica racked his memory for the right word, and snapped his fingers. "Aspect. That's what they're called. Sorry, I get so confused about the Traits and the Gifts and the Aspects and the Anamajiggers." It was simpler back when he didn't know about such things, and when special people were just special.

[Xavier Yorston]

Call her still very old fashioned, but Xavi was quite naive when it came to the other species that roamed God's green earth. It was all very confusing to her, which is why she normally kept to herself and tried to fit in as human the best she could. She of course knew about Gifted Ones and Faeries, but Demons? In her mind, demons were hairy, ugly, fiery beasts in the stories Olivia told her, so the fact that she was staring at one who looked nothing like the stereotypical demon was perplexing to say the least. That is to say the most perplexing thing was that Ithica was a halfer.

"Aspect...."

Olivia had told Xavier all that she knew about the fae and how they had control over certain aspects, though since she never knew how to control it she actually didn't know what her aspect was. This is where the invalid feelings came in to play; what good is a faerie who knew nothing about what she could do?

"I suppose I do, but between you and I....I have no clue what it is" Xavier said quite sheepishly, a small frown adorning her face.

[Ithica Pettineo]

"You'll figure it out," Ithica smiled confidently. After all, isn't that what the school was for? But she had said she wasn't accustomed to waking up here.. maybe she wasn't a student? But if she wasn't a student, and she wasn't a teacher, then why was she here? Eh, she was probably a student.

"How long have you known you were a faerie?" He asked. "It doesn't seem like you've known very long." Ithica didn't mean to offend her, it's just that sometimes he lacked the tact necessary to deal with sensitive issues. And she had gotten embarrassed over her ears, and she didn't really know what her Aspect was.

But then again, she could have known all her life but her Aspect never really showed itself. All her life. How long was 'all her life?' "Hey! How old are you? I know you don't generally ask a lady that. You like you're twenty, but faeries always look young and pretty."

[Xavier Yorston]

His prying began to put Xavi on edge just a little bit. She could flat out lie and say that she hadn't actually known how long she was a fae, but he would figure out something was amiss when she had told him how old she really was.

Weighing the options she crossed her arms over her chest. Lie and keep having him pry into her life, OR tell the truth and have him be confused.....and then keep prying into her life.
This was exactly the reason Xavier kept to herself.

"137" she said in response to his question regarding her age. In the end she went with the truth route because she had figured that if she had stuck with the lie, it wouldn't turn out in her favour. The worst that could happen in her opinion was that Ithica might suggest she go to the school for the Gifted Ones that she had heard about.
That just wouldn't fly. Xavier was 137 for goodness sake! She didn't need to go to some school to learn about her aspect.

"You're just full of questions," she said after a brief moment of silence,"But you are a special breed Ithica"

Her dark eyes seemingly piercing through him. In no way did she mean for that last statement to be an insult, and to prove it she smiled genuinely. Something she rarely did to people let alone the opposite sex, but Ithica was beginning to prove himself tolerable. Which was a lot more that everyone else that had met Xavier could say.

[Ithica Pettineo]

"Special?" He tilted his head, wondering if, among the other things she could have called him, special was the most accurate. He was annoying, socially awkward, nosy, inquisitive.. but special? Not so much. He rubbed the back of his neck, debating on whether not to break eye contact.

He hadn't been hiding anything from her -- he wasn't a big believer in subterfuge, but nonetheless she was making him nervous. "I'm not anything special. Just Ithica." Ithica smiled, finally dropped his gaze towards his bare feet. He looked back up at her.

"One hundred and thirty seven.." Ithica tapped his chin. "You don't look a day past 136." He teased, although after he said it, he realized that she probably wasn't in the playful mood. This is why he needed to take social lessons.

[Xavier Yorston]

"Then you....are just Ithica" she said, picking up that he was nervous. Xavier didn't necessarily like hanging around people, but when you're around for 137 years you notice things, like body language for example.

Ithica was lucky that Xavier found him tolerable, else she'd have knocked a few teeth out for joking. She could joke too, though she just wasn't very good at it.

"Who knew 137 could look this good" Xavier replied, though she frowned slightly realizing that it was a thoroughly lame attempt at trying to be witty. Oh well, she'd have 137 more years to work on being witty after she had perfected being aloof, uncaring and slightly mysterious.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica was relieved she hadn't taken a blunt object to his head. He's had that happen a few times, and it led to groggy mornings, brain cells lost, and an eccentric demon. "Well," he grinned, "I'm sure 138 is going to be better. Not to say you've had a bad year." Maybe Ithica should learn when to bite his tongue. Open mouth and insert his foot. Where did that expression come from? Perhaps people shoved their foots in their mouths as a self-punishment kind of thing. Or maybe people stuck their feet inside other people's mouths. Weird.

He looked down at his feet again, and then at hers. Ithica made a solemn vow never to have someone's foot in his mouth. Although he didn't know why he swore that. How would the situation come up?

Ithi opened his mouth to poll her opinion about feet, but lost his confidence after about six syllables. It sounded a bit like: "Would you have a foot in yuuhhrrr.." He cleared his throat nervously. "Shoes! Do you like shoes?" He wriggled his toes, beaming back up at her.

Rosie snickered from the ground. "Talking about shoes...could you be any more of a boring dork?"

He glared down at her, nudging her with his foot.