The freak and the walking library. (Ithica)

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran had called Ithica earlier, but he wasn't sure if the flightly demon would even know where he was supposed to be. Of course, he did hvae eidetic memory, but Aaran wasn't sure if he could follow his hazy directions. Aaran wasn't the best navigator at the best of times.

He was at a fairly secluded spot on a hill outside of the city limits, and it overlooked the sun, which had bleached the horison a hazy white, as it prepared to rise. The city was waking up, however, Aaran had been restless for hours.

He remebered vividly the previous night, when he had picked up the phone;

"Hey, ithi." He said.

"Hello, Sophie" Came the demon's hearty reply. Aaran smiled to himself happily before continuing.

"Do you want to meet up tomorrow? I've missed you lots." He said in the most girlish voice he could muster - which in all fairness, was pretty girlish.

"Yeah, that sounds great!" he exploded at the other end, making the fragile boy wince - "Where?"

Then Aaran went on to give a fairly detailed description of where he wanted them to meet, and hoped to god as he awoke the next day that he could follow. He was still quite upset that Aponi hadn't shown up at all for the past week - he was worried sick. maybe today would take his mind off of her. He loved her so much - but she was so frustrating sometimes.

He had made a fairly large picnic, and had packed it away in a wicker basket, before forgetting that he was somehow supposed to get outside the city within an hour. He almost cried. His plans had been laid waste by his own weakness and inabilities.

Luckily, help had come in the form of a kind dragon-boy. When Aaran asked how old he was, he discovered that he was not a boy. By any stretch of the imagination. But he was very... boyish. And very cute.

Aaran winced at this thought. He was falling for guys all over the place, now? Maybe he was suposed to be a girl. But it wasn't like he could change his gender in any way.

Back to his method of arrival - Tommy Goodman (who had introduced himself as Tommy at the time) had more than willingly turned into a huge dragon and flown him directly to where he wanted to go. Kissing Aaran on the cheek, and flying off, he left a deeply blushing Aaran on the steep slope.

There appeared to be several spaces for people to park, and Aaran went pale as he realized that it was a "make-out point". What would ithica think? Oh well. it was an accident. Aponi had taken him there one day, and it had seemed nice.

It was still nice. Just a little... defiled. Oh dear, everything he tried failed, just a little. Even his first boyfriend didn't know what gender he really was.

Aaran looked himself up and down, and sighed. He was such a freak.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithica had once again woken up late. He would have remained sleeping the whole day had not he suddenly remembered Sophie mid-dream and jumped awake. Rosie had reprimanded him the entire time he was tearing his dorm apart for something decent to wear. Porcelain dolls could be very obnoxious.

Once he dressed and raced out of the university he was faced with yet another dilemma. He had no idea where Sophie had indicated. He walked in all sorts of directions, humming as cheerfully as he could to keep his spirit up. He patted his head self-consciously, trying not to think of how messed up his hair was.

He saw the cliff and his mind flashed back to the vague directions that had mentioned something about a slope. He climbed up it and wondered why his girlfriend wanted to put him through all this walking. Was she trying to subtly tell him to get into shape? He poked at his lack of muscles and muttered something about demons not needing muscles.

Ithi saw the girl with the picnic things and smiled, his negative thoughts vanishing completely. He walked over to her and put his arms around her. "Why are you sighing, Tink?" He inquired softly, his head on her shoulder. He lifted his head to look around them and quirked an eyebrow.

Maybe it'd be better not to ask. He didn't want to embarrass her, and she probably didn't mean to. Hopefully she didn't do it on purpose. Not that Soph wasn't appealing, or.. ah, Ithica's thoughts trailed off. He was as nervous as he'd ever been his life. He looked around expectantly.

"Aponi isn't here." He let go of Soph to take a seat on the ground and smiled up at her. He didn't know whether Aponi had told the girl of... bursting into Ithica's room. He glanced down guiltily as he recalled the encounter. She had seen him naked. He fidgeted nervously. Maybe the demon was hiding in the trees or something. Or maybe he really did have Tink all to himself.

Great, now his thoughts were venturing out. He blamed the make-out point itself. Maybe it was haunted by a ... thing that.. gave people weird thought. That's right. A thing. "How've you been?" He asked, unsure of what else to say. He didn't want to give the girl another huge hug, and kissing her still felt weird because normally when he kissed someone or when someone kissed him it was out of... well, not love. But he meant his actions with Sophie and it scared him.

How his father would tease him. Ithica pondered over this statement, and his his thoughts turned to wonder if meeting Aponi was akin to 'meeting the parents'. Sophie's mother had died and she was estranged from her father, so it wasn't as though Ithica would be going to the Wilde household for dinner anytime soon.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran was about to see the sun poke up from behind the horizon, when a head of slightly messy hair got in the way. He was mildly annoyed at first, that someone would do that to him, and eh nearly cried, until he realized it was Ithica. He squealed and leapt up and hugged the demon, after he put his arm around him.

He was well worth missing a sunrise for.

His question took Aaran by surprise. Why was he sighing? It wasn't as if he could exactly answer truthfully. "Oh, sorry, I was just contemplating the fact that I'm a freak because I'm lieing to you and everyone else I know." Because, besides everything else. Ithica would hate it if Aaran called himself a freak. He smiled, however, at the fact that he had been called Tink.

"Nothing. I just got a bit bored waiting for you." He said, with a giggle. He didn't honestly mind if Ithica was late. He laid out a blanket pulled from his wicker basket and laid it on the floor and sat, pulling Ithica down with him. He gazed out as the sun rose over the city, making the sea glisten, as if the sun had left parts of it floating on the water as it rose, making it lighter and brighter than ever. The long shadows cast out across the swathe of buildings, and the right was oddly soothing.

He tilted his ehad at Ithica's statement of fact. No. Aponi wasn't here. He was right. Aponi was off somewhere else. Where she had been for the past week at least, while he was almost terminally ill. And crazy. And he had met a relative. He was sure of it. Sure. He had also made a fool of himself in front of the whole school.

"No, you're right. Aponi isn't here." Aaran said, his voice cold and piercing as an icicle. "In fact, if you consider "here" to be anywhere i am for the past week or so, she hasn't been here for a while." he said, his lower lip trembling slightly. He suddenly clung to ithica, weeping.

"Oh, Ithi, I'm so worried about her! Where could she have gotten to!?" he sobbed on the demon's shoulder. He felt safe near Ithica, and his tears soon subsided, and he curled up into a ball.

"Sorry, Ithi. She just makes me worried sick sometimes. Literally, I think. I was really ill last week, and she just dissapeared for an hour. SHe came back, wnet out again and I haven't seen her since. I was hallucinating, and deluded and sick. It was awful. I've never been sick before. I can't, I have cellular regeneration." He sighed once again, and pulled out a churro from the picnic bag. he handed one to ithica and started eating.

[Ithica Pettineo]

"Sorry I'm late. Couldn't find any clothes.." He explained and looked down at himself. His tie was crooked, his shirt was missing a button, and he was almost positive that he was wearing mismatched socks. He was the very epitome of unorganized. It was happening frequently, and Ithi wasn't sure he liked his mind being that scattered. "Your directions were so helpful," he teased.

Ithica had never been one to sit and watch the sunrise, mainly because he got antsy being in one place for too long, but being with Tink had a rather calming effect on him. And that seemed to be good since she probably didn't feel like having a hyperactive demon for company. He watched her curiously, more intrigued by Tinkerbell than he was the sunset.

At her icy tone he squirmed uncomfortably. He was placed even more out of his comfort zone when she started to cry on his shoulder. "It's going to be fine, Soph." He rubbed her arm. "She came to visit me." He said awkwardly. "We get along now. So now you can have your two favorite demons in the same room." He grinned blithely.

All right, so Ithica had originally been more than willing to animating his bed and attempt to run down Poni in it. "She said something about you being sick. You're okay now, right? You're not going to exhaust yourself or anything?" He poked her. As she explained the hallucinating and delusions and sicky feeling he tilted his head.

"I was kind of sick, too. Nothing bad like that though. I just felt like a sick fish." She probably wouldn't understand the trauma that Ithica had when all of his pet fish died on the same day. People didn't really get why that had upset him so much - he didn't even know why it had upset him so much. He had just watched as his fish sank slowly to the bottom of the tank, squirm a little against the rock, make a meek attempt at swimming before floating lifelessly to the top. It had upset him. And that's how he had felt all while he was sick. Lethargic and.. ick-y.

But then that girl took out a churro, and the thoughts of dead fish and lethargic half-demons vanished from his mind in an instant. He took the churro gingerly and then looked back up at her. He put it down on the blanket and wrapped his arms around her again. "I love churros..." He whimpered happily.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran whimpered and ate his churro. Ithica was right. However, he did not know that Aponi had seen Ithica. or that they got along now.It made him glad the the volatile demon lady and the unstable half demon could get along.

"It was weird. The doctors were worried. And so was... Dorian." he said the name softly. Dorian Wilde. He clung dearly to the hope "But, I'd rather not talk about it. We're both better, so that's all we need to know." he smiled and clung to him, nuzzling his sleeve.

Aaran had given up on the small part of him that urged that this was wrong. He may be a boy, but, in his heart, he was too feminine to function as a man. It was impossible. He was a girl in almost every aspect. And so, he put past all those thoughts and snuggled up close with Ithica.

"I'm ravenous, aren't you?" He asked, pulling some strawberried and ganesh out of the picnic bag. He wasn't sure if Ithica liked strawberries, or melted dark chocolate and cream, for that matter, but Aaran tended to eat a lot of it, as it increased his oestrogen levels.

A cool breeze swept through the empty hill, and Aaran shivered slightly, huddling closer to Ithi.

"Ithi, what's your dad like? Mine was horrible and icky and stuff."

[Ithica Pettineo]

Dorian? The name sounded masculine. He kept his mouth shut, worried that the jealousy would be apparent in his voice. Ithi nodded as Soph stated that they were both okay. He rubbed the churro in his hand idly, not wanting to eat it until his stomach unclenched and the butterflies stopped their roaming. Eating when he was nervous was never such a good idea.

Was he hungry? He stared at his stomach trying to decide. He usually was. Ithica without some sort of food in his mouth was just weird. But she had packed so much food, and she wasn't the strongest person out there so she must have had trouble carrying everything. But he couldn't lie. He nibbled on his churro and grinned at her. "I love you."

He took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. He hadn't needed it, but Ithica's many jackets were a sort of security blanket for him. He wrapped his arm awkwardly around her, not used to feeling so overprotective about someone. That was just one of the many ways that Soph tended to send his brain into a muddled mess. One of the others was asking about his father. Not that she'd ever done that before, but it still made him feel weird nonetheless.

Ithi rubbed a finger over his sore hands as he contemplated his father. Was this her subtle way of saying he wanted to meet him? "My dad is..." He trailed off and tapped his chin thoughtfully. How did you describe the man who raised you? "Strange, I suppose. I can't hide anything from him. He's a telepath and he can he feel emotions."

"But he's not an overbearing person." Ithica shruggged, unsure of how to describe the man. "He wanted me to be gay though. Doesn't want grandkids." His arm immediately recoiled from her and he hugged his knees. "Not that we're going to have c-children or anything. I didn't mean that. I just..meant.. that... ugh." The half-demon put a strawberry in his mouth to prevent him from further embarrassing himself.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran smiled at Ithica, liching a bit of ganesh from his own lips. He always felt so warm and safe next to the man. He appeared to be stricken by the mention of Dorian's name, and Aaran smiled smugly a second. It was good that he could keep ithica jealous. Keep him on his toes. He smiled a little, and reached up, popping a strawberry in ithica's mouth, regardless of whether he'd finished his Churro.

When Ithica said he loved him, Aaran's heart skipped a beat. He... he really did? How could he? Did he just love churros. But they hadn't been together for that long. Well, it had been a couple of months now. Aaran smiled, tearfully. He turned around onto all fours, and looked at Ithica, before reaching up and kissing him, until they were both on the floor.

"I love you too, Ithi." He smiled, before rolling off of the demon, and following his description of his father. He was strange. Well, Aaran had gathered that any father of Ithica's had to be strange. But, he wanted him to be gay. Aaran went a bright red, when he said that, and stifled a giggle. Because, ithica totally wasn't gay. Aaran felt very bad about his deception at this point, and he wanted to tell him. But then the next part came.

Aaran smiled - Ithica didn't want sex. That, that was. That was good. It was overwhelmingly good news, and Aaran kissed ithi on the nose and swalloed another ganesh-coated strawberry.

He suddenly turned quite teary eyed -

"I want children, actually. Later, not now. But... I don't know if Aponi said...." Aaran had no idea if, or what Aponi had said. But if he said that he knew what Aponi had said then it was fine. But if not, then Aaran would say that he was unable to have children, because of a fault in his reproductive system.

Which, was, fundamentally true.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Ithi chewed on the strawberry, his eyebrows raised at the momentary smug smile that had crossed the girl's face. Had she meant to make him jealous? Or was the smile something else? He stared at her for a moment before deciding that he would never understand girls and it was better just to eat the strawberry and not ask questions. Oh, random trivia never hurt anything.

"In some regions of France newlyweds were served a soup containing sour cream, strawberries, and powdered sugar. And borage. Because strawberries are associated with love." He nodded, picking apart a strawberry and chewing on the green leafs. "Europeans also planted strawberries in their gardens because they're pretty."

He could have gone on forever about strawberries had he not been silenced by Soph's lips. Ithica raised an eyebrow as she rolled off him and propped himself up on his elbows. It was the kindest way he'd been told to shut up, if that was her intention. "What was that for? Not that I'm complaining or anything." He teased, sitting up fully.

Another kiss, but on his nose. "You're being rather...emotional." He licked his lips. "I'm not saying that's bad or anything, but... is everything okay?" Ithica knew he was probably just being his usual paranoid self, but he couldn't recall Soph bouncing between emotions like this except for the day in the study hall.

"I like children. I don't think I'd be a very good father." He admitted with a small smile. "And yeah, she told me. But that's okay." Ithi patted her head. "If it makes you feel better I can't get pregnant either."

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran smiled. Maybe they could adpot a child together, when they were older. He smiled, and kissed Ithica again, dismissing his silly comments. Mentally he cringed - they couldn't get pregnant for exactly the same reason. But the man's shapely face and smooth lips let him forget all of his worries.

Well, most of them. Aaran was never not worrying about something. This time it was Aponi, but he didn't let this emotion show. No, he simply withdrew from ithica and smiled, reaching in the bag and gobbling up the last of the strawberries.

"Ithi, everything is perfect. And I think you'd be a good dad. It isn't hard to be better than mine, at least." he giggled. Why linger on something like that and feel sombre about it? Ok, maybe Dewi Wilde had tried to kill him, twice. But, it didn't particularly matter to him. He was drunk. That's all.

He reached in his bag and pulled out a neat little crystal on a rope. It was sparkling intensely.

"Aponi made it. It'll glitter in very little light, too." He smiled, and leant forward, wrapping the string around Ithica's neck. "I thought it was pretty." He said, smiling. He placed himself on Ithica's lap and snuggled up to him. The man was quite cuddly, even if he didn't act it. He reached across and pulled the picnic box cloer accidentally making his skirt ride up above his knee.

Aaran didn't think twice about his appearance usually. Even now, he was wearing a jacket that his his severe lack of breasts, and his flat chest caused him great pain whenever he saw it. How the hell he had managed to fool everyone for so long was just, crazy. He also didn't think much of his face, either. It was so round, and his eyes were a little weird. His lips were also a bit wobbly. Like a curly bracket, he noted mentally. {

However, he was quite partial to his legs. His body may be tiny, however, his legs were quite long, and very pale - a quality he found very attractive, in both genders. They were the one part of his body he was truly proud of. Therefore, he decided not to cover them up, and simply lie half curled up against Ithi, watching the city come out of it's slumber.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Why was she kissing him so much? It was at least the fourth time today. He knew that people who.. loved each other kissed, but he hadn't realized it was done frequently. He looked down at his hands, embarrassed by his embarrassment. He was an affectionate person but he was finding it increasingly hard to show that affection towards the one he wanted to show affection towards. He couldn't help it though. It was the y-chromosome. That was it.

"Thanks," He grinned, and then his grin dropped when she finished her sentence. Was that a compliment? Any dad had been greater than hers, or that's what she was implying. So even if Ithica was the worst father ever as long as he didn't do.. what the Wilde man had done he'd be okay. He rubbed his forehead awkwardly. How come he over-analyzed everything she said? He clung to every word like a thirteen year-old schoolgirl with a crush.

Ithica fiddled with the edge of the blanket. "Tink, will you tell me about your parents?" He asked nervously. He didn't want to step on her toes and force her to tell him anything, but he had a hard time ignoring the curiosity that was always eating him up. "You told me a little bit about them when we first met. I know your mother is dead.. and your father is either insane or dead. Can you remember what they were like before then?"

His thoughts were distracted when he looked at the shiny thing. His attention had been instantly caught. Ithi took the crystal in hand and stared it a moment longer, processing what the girl had told him. "If Aponi made it, why are you giving it to me?" He wrapped his arms around her waist smiled. "It makes me look fabulous~" Ithica teased.

He shifted and put her skirt back in place. "Don't want to give the scary demon ideas." Ithi fidgeted uncomfortably. "Er, not that I.. was.. having ideas. Cause.. I wasn't. I definitely wasn't. Not that you aren't.. I mean.. uhm.." He bit his lip to refrain from speaking again. Sometimes he wished that he had a mute button.

[Aponi Lebennon]

His sudden question about Aaran's parents momentarily stunned him. What were his parents like?

"Well, my mum was very very beautiful. When I was small, I always used to cry around her, but I wasn't sad. That's what my dad told me. She was ethereally beautiful, she made my heart want to tear itself in two." This was true. Aaran's mother was beyond words. Completely beyond words.

"She always told me that she tried to make me look pretty with her aspect, but one of my tutors said that there wasn't such an aspect. I guess that makes sense, as I'm nothing much, especially in comparrison." Aaran sighed wistfully. A tear rolled down his face - he missed his mother a great deal.

"My father was very... compassionate. He was very loving, and protective and very very strong. Willed and physically. But then he started drinking when mother died. I didn't like him then. I don't know if he remembered to eat, or just drank himself to death after I left. It might have sobered him up a little. I don't know." He sighed, wrapping his arms around Ithica. His warm chest made Aaran feel safer, and more secure.

He looked up with round eyes when Ithica pulled his skirt down. Scary Demon? Ithi wasn't a scary demon. And he just wanted to show Ithi the one part of his body he felt comfortable with! He didn't really mind. Ithi was probably nervous about that kind of thing.

"Of course you weren't" he said, winking. He draped his arms around the demon's neck, and reached up to kiss him on the cheek, before resting his forhead on ithica's and smiling gleefully. "I'd say that you aren't a scary demon, but you take unconscious little girls back to your apartment. Am I the only one that's been taken back there, Ithi?" He giggled. Ithica'd really feel bad about that one, but he knew that Aaran was only messing.

The uneasyness of Ithica being another man suddenly returned to him, and he turned away quickly. Rubbing his hands, he turned back, a nervous smile on his face.

[Ithica Pettineo]

Make her look pretty with her aspect. It struck Ithica as odd that someone would tell their child they were trying to make them pretty, because wasn't that implying that they weren't pretty prior to intervention? "Don't say things like that, Sophie. You can admire somebody without putting yourself down," he chided, wiping away the tear. "And I can understand a little bit about missing your mother," Ithi hugged her.

"I'm glad you could have a decent relationship with your father at least for a little while." He tried not to feel animosity towards her father. Grief did terrible things to a person, and while that's no excuse to ignore or beat small children, Ithica knew that Mr Wilde probably wouldn't have hurt Sophie if he had been in complete control of his actions. It didn't mean that Ithica understood. He was fairly certain he would never understand what could drive people to such violence. He patted the girl's head again.

The half-demon pouted at her tease. "I really wasn't thinking about that!" His voice got a little higher mid sentence and he cleared his throat, blushing. He hated how obvious it was when he was lying. "Much," He amended quietly. As she pressed their faces together he raised his eyebrows innocently. "What an affectionate little Tinkerbell." She was getting rather close. Very close, actually. He would have leaned back but that would have knocked them both over. That probably wouldn't have been very good.

At the next words his grin turned into a playful glare. "No," he admitted, "you aren't the only one. But you're the only little girl." That didn't sound creepy. "Small children just like to drop unconscious around me. Far be it from my noble nature to simply leave them out in the cold." Was he noble? He doubted it. He was just Ithica. Creepy Ithica who abducted small children on a regular basis.

Fantastic.

When she turned away from him, Ithi frowned. "Soph, are you sure you're okay?" Had he unintentionally upset her when he answered her question? Or maybe she wasn't feel as well as she had said she was. His stomach clenched again from concern. "I'm sorry if I did something." He doubted the apology meant much since he had no idea what was wrong. He blamed the y-chromosome yet again.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran giggled at his remark about children. He wasn't particularly surprised about the children thing - he seemed to be the type that was good with kids, no matter what he said. Aaran was going to protest at being called a child (he was seventeen, after all,) however he decided to leave it. He just decided to snuggle up in Ithica's arms.

"Everything's perfectly fine, Ithi. I was just a little uncomfortable as all." he said, tittering girlishly. He clawed playfuly at the crystal, like a curious cat, before shutting his eyes, and laying his head down, listening to the demon's breathing.

He didn't really care much about his father anymore, and he preffered to keep his feelings about how much he missed his mother to himself. All he cared about were the few people in his life that he was still with. The people that he wanted to be with, and the people he loved sharing his life with. Namely Aponi and Ithica. He had made a friend in Kiri a while back, but hadn't seen her since. He sighed. Just another person that had simply flitted in and out of his life.

He had also found a friend in the ancidnet dragon, Tommy Goodman. He smiled, remembering how nice he had been.

But that was about it. Apart from Dorian. Dorian, from whaat he remembered, hadn't seemed too enthused with him, however, he was being very sick at the time, and Dorian could tell that there was something wrong with him. He was such a freak. He moved, on, choosing not to dwell on his insufficiencies.

He simply felt god being around Ithica, and the companionable silence settled his ever-beating heart. He kept his eyes closed, and he leaned heavily on Ithica. The early rise with the picnic basket had taken a lot from him. The sun had started to warm them up too, and his hair wisped about in the pleasant breeze. He shifted a bit, and smiled.

"I love you, Ithi."

[Ithica Pettineo]

A little uncomfortable? Was he an uncomfortable chair? Maybe he was like an old recliner or something. Torn and not very comfortable but you keep it for sentimental reasons, even though it does occasionally flip over while you're sitting it. Or maybe Ithica was just being a paranoid idiot again. At least she wasn't a telepath like his father. Ithica had been trying to distance himself because frankly his thoughts were embarrassing, and his father would dwell on them and force Ithica to think things that he didn't want to think.

"Perfectly fine." He repeated, watching her play with the crystal. She reminded him of his cat. Well, except she wasn't as fat or as grumpy as the animal. She also didn't hide under a pile of clothes and wait for him to pass by before leaping out and clawing his leg. All in all he wasn't sure exactly how she reminded him of Magnificent. It could have been the way he felt content around them both and the honesty they both presented.

He patted her back as she leaned against him again. She didn't seem happy, but every time he asked about it she just said everything was fine. He didn't have his father's empathic skills, but he knew when something was wrong. And Ithica did not know what to do in cases like that. Did he press it? Did he just ignore it and let her be sad by herself? Why wasn't there a 'male protocol on date' book out there so that he could memorize it?

"I know you do." Probably not the right thing to say, but he was still sulking about her not telling him what was wrong. "And I have adequate esteem for you." He teased, kissing her forehead. Maybe if he called her 'Aaran' it'd get her attention. That's what Aponi had called her, so maybe it was a nickname. Or maybe it was solely reserved for Aponi only to call her. And maybe it would remind Sophie further of Aponi and send her into a spiraling depression for the rest of time.

Oh, the decisions. "Will you tell me what's bothering you, Aaran?" Hopefully Ithi calling her by her middle name didn't bother her too much. He knew he hated it when people called him Erastus. And Aponi could theoretically have called her Aaran just to make her mad. It was an Aponish thing to do. The last time Ithica had made Sophie angry she had punched him in the chest -- which had actually hurt but he'd never tell her that -- and considering the distance between them at the moment it really wouldn't take much for her to punch him in the face.

[Aponi Lebennon]

Aaran's face dropped. Aaran. The worst five letters of his whole life. The entire world was crashing down around him. Tears streamed from his eyes. Ithi knew. He had known the whole time. But he didn't care? No. He was saving it all up to trick him! No. Ithi wasn't like that! It was all Aponi's fault. He felt a deep seated rage build up for the woman. He was absolutely furious. He leapt to his feet.

"She told you." He said in his most livid voice. "She fucking told you. I am going to kill her. APONI LEBENNON, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU." He screamed out across the empty air, and birds all around them scattered to the sky. He simply slumped down and wept.

"You know perfectly well what's wrong." He sobbed, busying his face in his hands, his wings out and fluttering. He spread golden dust everywhere, making the whole place glitter. There were lights dancing all over him. He sobbed once more, and hiccoughed.

But there was no giggle.

Aaran always giggled after he hiccoughed - no matter how sad. A thought - a distant memory suddenly came to him;

"Aaran. Son, you can't live your life in fear of what people will think of you. Because, what people think of you, and who you are, are two different things." It was his grandfather. The only family he knew for sure he had left, and the only family he still loved and respected. Did it matter that Ithica knew? Did it matter that anyone knew? Probably not. He'd probably get picked on. And the academy might want him to sart dressing and acting like a "normal" person. And he'd have to move dorm. And he'd hate Aponi forever.

He simply stared into the city, cursing each and every person that was so closed minded.