FALLING (Ithica )

[Aponi Lebennon]

((OOC: Before anyone says it's by an EMO band, it is actually a song by Jamiroquai. Own.))

Aaran was perplexed. He was reading up on Fae history and culture, but he was in the university, as he hadn't been able to find much at the academy. He had a distinct feelign eh wasn't supposed to be there, some people occasionally gaave him strange looks. But Aponi's fierce glare was usually enough to avoid trouble. Ever since they'd made the pact, she had been watching over him like an eagle. Sometimes it was almost disconcerting, but she was takign things very seriously, and, having someone to watch out for him was nice. He leafed silently through the pages, not really understanding much. It didn't matter. He was there with Aponi, and he felt at peace. That was all that mattered to him.

"Hey, Aaran, some strange lookin' guy's lookin' at you." Said Aponi, tapping his shoulder. The man appeared to have some strange mannerisms, but, hey, she wasn't really one to judge.
Aaran looked up, and swivelled around to glare at Aponi. She KNEW she was supposed to call him Sophie in public. Ahh well, she probably couldn't help it.

"Aponi, you're supposed to call me Sophie!" He complained. It couldn't hurt to remind her. He leant up and kissed her. She blushed slightly as his lips drew away from her cheeks. That was something he'd never actually seen before. Then again, he hadn't known ehr for long.

"Sophie That guy's quite cute. He has stubble, and cute glasses and all." She looked down at Aaran and winked. He'd forgive her one day. She smiled at her "son". He was so innocent, it made her heart ache every time he stepped out of the door of his little apartment. How could she protect someone so pure form all of the horror of the world? She would have to think of a way, because, no way was she letting anythign spoil Aaran. Her Aaran. She smiled, thinking about that.

Aaran looked up from his book, and Saw Ithi. His heart leapt a little but he remembered his place, and it settled back into it's place. He hoped the strange man would forgive him for just collapsing and crying. He waved and softly called his name to see if eh would come over.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica was metaphorically knee deep in his research. What was he researching? His mother. It's not like he could ever find her, not even knowing her maiden name (his father refused to tell him) and he knew it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. But he felt better reading about all the missing Marias in the world. Why? He had no idea. He rested his head in his hands, blowing his hair out of his face while balancing a pen on his nose.

His eyes floated off to a familiar blonde. Sophie! He never forgot a face -- he didn't forget much. Ithica tilted his head, studying the brunette with a raised eyebrow. He could tell she could see him, but not much else than that. Then he saw Sophie kiss her, and Ithica fell backwards out of his chair. He scrambled back up, muttering under his breath and rubbing his sore arm. He meant to do that. Of course. Maybe the brunette was her mo-- no, her mother was dead. Maybe Sophie was a lesbian! That must be it.

Ithica walked over when she called to him. "Hey, Tink." Sophie looked like Tinkerbell, so therefore he had nicknamed her in his head. He wondered if he should apologize about what happened last time they had met, but decided against it. "I swear I'm not stalking you this time."

He looked over to the brunette, and offered a smile and his hand. "I'm Ithica. Nice to meet you." He paused, then furrowed his eyebrows. "I've seen you before, I think." Then it clicked, she was the dead girl that Sophie had been drawing in the restaurant they were in. He couldn't be sure (she was drawing with Crayola after all).

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aponi raised an eyebrow at the stranger. He had guts, she could give him that. Slowly, she wrapped herself around Aaran, and said;
"I'm Aponi. Sophie's mother" She growled. SHe looked at him with her best glare. She was looking after Aaran liek a daughter, probably because it was the best thing. If he stayed, then, he was probably gutsy enough to even find out about Aaran's secret.

Aaran, however was not amused.. In fact, when Aponi wrapped himself around him like that, he was actually aroused. It felt wrong and right at the same time, but he really couldn't help it. He blushed a deep crimson and stood up and pushed his "mother" off of him, before she did anything else.

"Hey, Ithi!" He beamed, but then his face became terribly nervous. What if he hated him? What if he was gonna ebat him up? Oh, no, he walways made a hash of things. He was breathign heavily. He was giving himnself away. He just needed to calm down.

"This is Aponi. She's my mum." He said quietly. There were a few people looking at them, and Aaran blushed even deeper. Aponi was brushing herself down, and looking at Ithica with a strange look. He was a bit old to be going after Aaran, wasn't he? Well, the boy WAS seventeen. He still had nothing on her. She knew all the tricks.

She wondered if Aaran thought of it like that. Maybe he was gay. Yeah, definantly gay. But then again, he seemed really awkward around girls. But, he seemed to be good friends with this man. Urgh, she would simply have to wait and see. If he were a girl, the guy was fairly good looking anyways. But how would any man register that Aaran was a boy? Aponi was anxious about the reveal, who wouldn't be for their only child?

At least the man gave a first impression of being friendly. He had even called her... him Tink. Probably like Tinkerbell. Aponi silently giggled to herself - if she were in that particular story, she'd have a thing or two to teach the lost boys.

"Sorry about before." He said quiety, before smiling wryly. He couldn't help it and ithi seemed the understanding type. He was also very clever.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Sophie's mother? Ithica tried very hard to shrug off his doubts - he was always trying to trust people and not to think they were lying. Besides, maybe Sophie's dad had gotten remarried, or maybe he had misheard her and her mother hadn't died. He watched her wrap herself around Sophie, and saw Sophie blush and look uncomfortable.

He also wondered vaguely if all mothers wrapped themselves around their children like cats. But Sophie didn't seem like she was used to being treated like that, or at least not in public. "Aponi? Like that singer you were talking about in the restaurant?" He asked. Ithica wasn't feeling a trifle uncomfortable being stared at by her mother. He had to admit that it did look back - a devilishly handsome man talking to a beautiful under aged girl. With her...mother standing by.

At Sophie's apology, a lazy smile crossed Ithi's face. "Don't worry about it. I tend to do that to people on accident. But are you okay?" His smile dropped slightly and his eyebrows raised, as much as a concerned look that Ithica could manage. "You're not hurt or bruised?"

"Oh, and I'm sorry about Rosie. She's kind of.." A witch? A jerk? A meanie? A dumbface? "Awkward. She's awkward. Around humans. And vampires. And werewolves. And other vicious creatures of the night."

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran smiled. Ithica was still watchign out for him. Unlike Aponi who was being... Overpowering. He still loved her, in a way, but she was a little pushy. Aaran sneezed, spreading dust everywhere, which Aponi quickly collected. He giggled slightly, and returned his stare to Ithica.

Aponi's mind was racing, however. She wasn't comfortable - there were too many eyes upon them, and Ithica had done something that might have hurt Aaran. SHe decided to do something, and grabbed her "son", or, rather, ""Daughter"" by the ear, and dragged him out of the room, and beckoned for Ithica to follow.

"No, it's ok. I was just really tir..." Aaran felt a tugging, and squealed slightly as Aponi tugged his ear. He squirmed and tried to grab her to get her to stop, but he only ended up touching her innapropriately. Blushing bright red once more, and trying to avoid his ear being tugged off, he followed her, wincing.

Aponi hadn't realized that she had been actually hurting Aaran, and continued to drag him into an empty room, and let god of him, before gathering the dust around her, and all the ash, and forming a little stone statue of Ithica.

"He better be legit, honey" She said in an almost cruel manner. Aaran was rubbing his sore ear and glared at her, tears brimming his eyes.

[Ithica Pettineo]

He returned Sophie's smile, and watched her mother collect his dust. Ithica raised an eyebrow at her antics, and was about to inquire when she grabbed Soph's ears and dragged her away. What the hell was she hurting Soph like that for? Some mother she was.

His hands formed into fists as he followed them, his nails digging into the palms of his hand. Ithica watched Soph try to get out of the woman's painful grasp and his anger was growing exponentially. He had a very strict definition of a mother set in his mind, and this witch was not meeting them.

"Why are you hurting her?" Ithica asked, attempting to bite down his anger. He unclenched his fists, and crossed his arms. "That's not acting--" he put an emphasis on 'acting' "--like a very caring mother." He took a step closer to the woman, too angry to be concerned for his own well being.

"And maybe you could have listen to her instead of tightening your hold on her. I don't really appreciate my friends being treated like animals." If Ithica had taken the time to clear his head, he would have realized that the woman most likely did not mean to injure Sophie. But it was Ithica, and he wasn't exactly the most rational person alive.

How the hell did she raise the dust? He didn't know of any gift that could do that, and Sophie was half-fae and half-gifted. He was sure of that. "You're not her mother, are you?" Ithica asked, his voice noticeably less angry. It was weary. She was probably going to kill him or something for his impulsive yelling. Sometimes his impulsive nature had consequences. Sometimes those consequences happened to be turning into a statue.

All right, well, the whole statue thing had never really happened to him before.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aponi stared at him. He was angry. She wondered if he had a powerful gift, or was something else, and could do bad thigns to ehr but she doubted it. She had proven hard to kill. She constantly had a protective layer around her heart. SO unless this guy waS like, insanely talented, she'd be ok.
Aaran was also ok, as his bio-crystalization could save his ass from most things. And even if not, he could regenerate fast enough.

But maybe that wasn't the point. She hadn't actually decided if she had liked seeing people unhappy or annoyed. She decided to be undecided for now, and concentrated on him. He annoyed her slightly - just somethign about his aura got on her nerves.

"Look. I don't know why you're in such a huff, but I don't think this is any of your buisness." She said, calmly. There was no point getting pissed off over this guy. "And," She continued, "If you want to make it your buisness, then you'll have me to deal with." She sharply stomped on the little stone statue, and it crumbled into dust. She smiled. That one usually had quite the effect.

Aaran twitched and suddenly yelled at Aponi in hebrew;

"Tuma śaitāna!" he said. It meant, "Devil Woman." She couldn''t speak to Ithi like that. She probably shouldn't have manhandled him either, but she would never hurt him on purpose.

"Aponi, leave Ithi alone! He's my friend! He was just looking out for me!" Aaran was crying now, and his usually perky pretty face was ehartrendingly melancholy. Ithica had been so nice, and the last thing he wanted was for Aponi and Ithica not to get along. That would be terrible.

"Ithi, Aponi adopted me." he said, staring sullenly at him. "Sometimes she's a bit overpowering but she's really nice!" He squeaked, then blushed, than sat on the floor and yawned.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica took a step closer, meaning to do terrible, terrible things to this monstrous woman. He made up a thousand plans - from pulling out toy soldiers and making them stab her foot to beating her over the head with a baseball bat. He didn't take kindly to rude mothers, especially when his friends were involved.

He was going to make a retort that she had made it his business when she had motioned for him to follow her. The words died on his lips when Sophie started yelling. Ithica sat on a desk, watching Aponi with clenched fists. He didn't care about the statue - although, he did look handsome as stone.

The half demon observed Sophie crying, and resisted the urge to cry as well. All he had wanted to do was make a friend, and now this.. witch was stomping around and breathing metaphoric fire. What the hell was up her? Women.

"Adopted you." He repeated. Why would anyone want this chick to be their mother? Ithica chuckled when Sophie spoke about how nice she was. "Kay then."

He sighed, pushing all of the negative feelings out of his mind. Which meant totally ignoring the wicked foster mother and concentrating solely on Sophie. He walked past Aponi and sat across from Soph, taking her hands and grinning at her. "Why are you here, anyway? I mean.. at the university. Bit young, aren't you?"

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aponi glared hard at him. She was about to sand-blast him when he came closer but stopped when he just held Aaran's hand. How sweet. Maybe she should just leave them alone? Aaran was fine on his own. He could kick that guy's ass if he tried anything... funny. She hoped. She might as well leave them alone as she hadn't been as popular as she'd hoped.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds." She said with a smile and a wink, before quickly exiting the room.

Aaran smiled bashfully and scratched his ehad. Aponi was so weird sometimes! He glanced at Ithica. They were completely alone. He blushed slightly when eh realized this, but he wasn't quite sure why. He seemed to have forgotten that he was a guy again.

"Sorry about her Ithi. She's a bit unpredictable. But she's really quite sweet! And she's usually so nice to me." Aarn smiled once again and stood up, unfurling his weak wings. He fluttered them slightly, and he could almost feel himself lifting up from the ground, but not quite. He could not fly. And, it would stay that way.

The dust flew everywhere and he sneezed. He looked out of the window and saw it raining. Great. They were stuck inside. He walked over and hugged Ithi. Apart from the monsoon, Aaran had always felt miserable in the rain.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Lovebirds. Lovebirds? Bah! Ithica's cheeks went red, and he put his hands back in his pockets, muttering something about inter-species relationships and how there must be laws against that sort of thing. And age differences. His mutterings finally trailed off as he watched Sophie stand.

"That's quite all right. I suppose, as a foster mother-" Ithica couldn't help but say the word bitterly "-she was just being overprotective of you. We did kind of get off to a bad start, didn't we?" Ithica cleared his throat, embarrassed. "I thought she was going to hurt you... or something." He trailed off at the 'something'.

"I would like to meet her again. When she's not dragging you away. And when I'm not yelling at her like.." A demon? A troll? A gnome? A leprechaun? "..a mean person." He stood up, leaning against the wall as he watched her flutter the wings. When he saw that it was raining, he smiled. He generally liked the rain as long as wasn't barefoot. He couldn't stand the mud between his toes.

He patted Sophie's head as she hugged him. Unsure of why she was doing this, but happy for the affection, he stopped patting and genuinely hugged her back. Then he broke the hug, going to sit on a desk. He had a smug expression on his face - something that was happening exceedingly often, he found. "Lovebirds. I look nothing like one."

Ithica had read a book about lovebirds about three years ago, and was slightly offended by her comparison. He wasn't green. "I'm much too handsome to be one, and you're much too blonde. Well, there are yellow lovebirds." He walked back over to Sophie and patted her back. "You are more of a lovebird than I am. Adorable, yellow, small, and you even have the wings."

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran tittered girlishly as Ithica said so many nice things to him. No-one had ever said anything like that to him before. He giggled when he proclaimed his good looking-ness, and blushed a deep scarlet when he was called adorable. That was something that he had been called a couple of times, but it really meant something else when Ithica said it.

He also found his embarrassment quite cute. But then he remembered. Aaran was a guy. But, even though he and Ithica were of the same gender, that really didn't seem to matter to him. Ithica had been so nice to him, and, Aaran had lived in a world where no-one cared about him for so long, that it was something he clung to desperately, like Aponi.

So, without a second thought, he kissed Ithica on the lips.

He blushed an even deeper red. Was that too much? What if Ithica found out? What if he did something horrid!? No. He would never. But Aaran was so scared. So scared something would go wrong. He almost cried, but he clung tightly to Ithi, which gave him a kind of strength.

Maybe, even as a girl, he would be rejected. He happened to think that his guise was quite effective. But he didn't know if he was... attractive. He hoped so.

If he WAS a girl, would this even be acceptable? Ithica must have been about five years older, and they weren't even dating. Well, they'd kind of been on a date. Which hadn't really ended well... And besides all that, Aaran was a guy! a guy! He shouldn't be doing things like that! But he really liked Ithi... he was so confused. He blinked a few times and looked slightly dazed, wondering what would happen next.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica's first reaction was to push Sophie away, most likely because that was his first kiss and, being a guy, he believed that first kisses should be initiated by the man. However, he went with his second reaction, which was to pout when she pulled away. Ithica was going to make a teasing comment (something along the lines of 'Sophie Pettineo' or the 'sitting in a tree' song), but instead patted Sophie on the back.

"Why are you so scared?" He asked, hugging her. His mind drifted towards the children they could produce. Strange children. Half Ithica half Sophie. A third faerie, a third demon, and a third gifted. Was that even possible? They could find that out later. Much later. After the wedding (maybe), and after they had three cats, two dogs, four goldfish, and a sugar glider.

Of course, the half-demon had a tendency to overreact. For all he knew, the kiss was probably some spur of the moment thing. Perhaps he reminded her of some boyfriend she used to have. But honestly, how could anybody even be remotely close to him? Awesome, charming, amazingly good-looking, and.. some other nice adjective.

Ithica kissed Sophie's mouth, partly because he was determined to make up for the lack of control he had in his first kiss, and partly because a certain Tinkerbell was turning his normally witty (okay, so maybe he was the only one who thought it witty) into mush, and his brain thought it a welcome change to his normal overdrive.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Ithica could tell something was wrong. Aaran wasn't sure that he COULD keep his guise up. He clung to Ithica with a certain desperation. he just wasn't sure of anything any more! Nothing really made sense, and the fact that Ithica had kissed him back made things worse.

In the end though, he just smiled. Pulling away, and looking into the man's eyes, he could tell that Ithica was confused as well. But probably not as much as himself. He blushed a dep purple, as he realized that he was sitting on Ithica's lap.

He quickly stood to his feet in an awkward fashion, his face still a deep crimson. He looked once again at the man who he was so unsure about. He'd always been so girlish, but he never really considered what kind of person he'd want to be with.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Under normal circumstances he would have stood up and said something. But his legs felt like jell-o, his throat was dry, and his brain could only formulate the word 'nrgh'. Ithica was wondering what the hell had just happened, why she was blushing so much, and why she had suddenly taken a vow of silence.

"I'm sorry, Sophie." Ithica looked down at his feet, wondering vaguely if it was because Sophie hated him so much that she was silent. But then why would she had kissed him, and clung to him, and smiled at him moments before? Fickle teenage girls.

He tilted his head, realizing she had never really answered him. "What's wrong with Tinkerbell?" Ithica inquired. "If it's me, I can.. leave, if you want me to. I'm sorry." His voice got quieter near the end, for two reasons: he was really hoping she wouldn't ask him to leave, and to hide the fact that he was about to cry.

Maybe he wasn't the most manly of demons. All right, so he definitely wasn't. He rubbed the back of his neck, muttering some other lame response to her silence. What would that Aponi lady say now? Do now? Probably turned him into stone, rip him apart, and then smush him with a hammer. Sounds like something a woman would do.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Why was he sorry? Had he done something wrong? Had Aaran done something wrong? It was all just so confusing to him! He didn't know how he felt about why, but he knew that he wanted Ithica. He didn't care about anything else at that moment. He sat on the floor and yawned.

"Ithi.. I know, this is strange to ask..." Eve stranger for Aaran, presumably... "But, do you want to... go out?" he asked, shyly, before blushing. He could barely believe he had just asked another man if they cold date. ut he had, and he meant it.

Would Ithica even wan to go out with him? Maybe. Maybe not. He as so cute and eccentric, and funny. He didn't look too bad either, not that Aaran would really know. He smiled warmly, and stood up, excitedly. Ithi would say yes! he'd kissed Aaran after all. Yes. He beamed, his face like a ray of sunshine.