Early Snow (open)

[cal]

The snow fell softly onto the gardens just outside the Academy. Small flakes spiraled downward, landing upon the still-green flora. Bits were starting to pile up on the leaves, clinging on with sheer determination. After all, the weather clearly did not call for such precipitation.

The cause of this weather stood in the middle of a fairy ring in the middle of the garden. The mushrooms always attracted Cal, for some reason, and today had been no exception. The Fae had, however, opted to create an impressive, impromptu snow fall. Now he stood in the midst of the falling flakes, his lips moving slowly. Various words for snow passed over them, each one tugging gently at the gathering moisture. At times it almost looked like the snow rode the Fae's winds, fluttering out from his mouth.

Said mouth spread into a slow, confident smile, and Cal slowly spread his arms wide in an embrace of the world around him. The cool moisture gathered on the sleeves of his light jacket, wetting the cotton. If it continued, it would soak through to the long sleeved shirt underneath, then onto the Fae's arms. Of course, a little chill wouldn't bother the Fae that spoke to snow.

Taking a deep breath, Cal creaked open one eye, looking around the garden area he stood in.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Keeping tabs on troublesome fae was one of her many jobs, and Minerva herself said there was no far more troublesome then Cal. Even by the 'power' he had, being so closely connected to the Queen, he would still be mad with it.

She had been observing him playing with snow for some time now, and sighed rather bored of it all. Calcus had an amazing ability to keep himself amused with the simplest things for inordinate amounts of time.

Finally she decided to make her presence known.

"You know, for a king you would think you'd have more important things to do then carry on a losing battle with the seasons. It will snow when it is good and ready."

"There are some rules even royalty can't change."

[cal]

The voice sounded familiar to Cal, and despite all the Fae eccentricities, and there were quite a few, he had a good mind for names. His one open eye swiveled to study the beautiful Fae who approached him now.

"Laws are meant to be broken, else why would there be punishments for those who would do so?" he reasoned. He lowered his arms, and slowly opened his other eye. "Besides, if Nature herself changes simply because of the request of one Fae, then is that not her decision? Dost thou truly think that I truly command the forces of Nature? Verily."

Cal chuckled, the motion of which opened both his eyes. "You expect much of me, Riana. Besides, I'm just a male, I cannot be expected to behave in an appropriate manner."

As if to further prove this fact, Cal plunked down onto the snow covered ground. His fingers trailed along the snow, drawing runes into it.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Riana couldn't imagine what Minerva had seen in Cal that would make him a good consort.

Well the truth was she could see it. Because once a long time ago she saw the same thing in him. But it was not her place, and never was. Calcus was what Minerva needed now and again, a calm, fun loving voice to take her away from the insanity of being a ruler. And Riana just did the part she was born to do, support the leader. It was hard, and it wasn't the best job, but somebody had to do it, and she didn't mind it.

And now here she was talking to the man who almost broke free of her duty once before. To say she wasn't jealous of Minerva would be a lie, she knew that, but she wouldn't allow herself to falter because of some stupid thing like this. Incidents like that with royalty were for humans, fae had learned past that.

"Just male, yes I have very low expectations of the men of our species, yet you also manage to surprise me. What an unusual ability."

"Shouldn't you be keeping your queen company? Or did she send you away so she could get some work done again?"

[cal]

Keep Minerva company?

Cal giggled, the sound slowly bubbling out of him, to come out in high pitched peals. He had to hold his gut, and kicked his feet against the ground.

He eventually regained control of himself, staring up at Riana with a twinkle in his eye, "Minerva likes me away from her about as much as she likes me with her. Makes things fun, that kind of relationship, if you're not in a circumstance like that, you should think about getting into it . You're far too pretty not to."

Cal winked again, then flopped backward, making snow angels in the shallow drift he'd created. After forming one, he rolled, waving a hand at it.

"'sides, I clearly have my uses, after all."

[Karmine de Arcadia]

"Calcus, I thought you would stop flirting with every woman you saw once you took her name. If you keep this up she's eventually going to order me to beat some sense into you." She let that sink in. "Though I don't think even I am up for such an impossible task."

She watched with a little bit of amusement as Cal rolled around in the snow. She knew that this was all part of Cal's act, that he acted like this to throw people off, and maybe that was what she found so enjoyable about his company. He was whatever you needed him to be, serious and wise, or silly and numerous.

At his remark about having uses Riana let a small smile crack her otherwise stern expression. "Yes, and I am sure some child somewhere feels incredibly insignificant under the fact that the Fae King made a better snow angle then he did in the middle of November."

[cal]

"Beauty is beauty, to not acknowledge it would be a horrible waste, an' I am not a horrible waster," Cal began gathering snow in his hands, compacting it together. There was little doubt what he was creating now.

"'sides, it's probably going to be you or the dragon," said Cal. The snow had rolled to nearly the size of a baseball now. "An' no offense, Riana, but I'd rather take you. The dragon would turn me into a toothpick."

Cal giggled, tossing his snowball lightly and turning to Riana with a glint in his eyes. "By the way, it's 'consort,' she hasn't agreed to marry me yet, so I get to play still."

With that, he chuckled the snowball at Riana, then dove into a nearby bush. This disturbed a pudgy groundhog who'd been currently using it, and he darted out of it, heading straight for Riana's legs.

"Aha! My portly friend must have seen his shadow! We're in deep, we are."

Cal popped his head out of the bush and grinned at Riana.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Oh Riana had seen this coming, but she knew a thing or two about dealing with Cal.

She held up a finger and pointed at the snowball. This small motion allowed her to pull the air from behind the snowball, slowing it down so it slid gracefully into her hand.

"Oh poor Cal, I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks." She said with a bemused expression as he dived into the bush. With a swish of her hand she gathered up the falling snow into a small tornado, and then directed at the bush Cal was hiding in.

It was at this point she noticed the groundhog running past her leg, brushing it. Almost by reaction her leg recoiled, causing her to lose her footing on the still wet ground. She landed, rather ungracefully, on the ground, where she lingered but a moment before returning to her feet.

How did Cal have this ability to make everyone into a fool like he was?

[cal]

The last thing Riana probably expected was for Cal to actually jump onto the whirlwind. But the thing was, when you talked to snow, it was more like a friend than an enemy. Which meant that jumping onto a whirlwind of it was something like jumping onto one of those spinning wheels at a part. Cal simply held onto the edges and enjoyed the spinning while it lasted.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Of course, it couldn't last long, with the little effort put into it, and soon Cal found himself spinning in a slow circle over a bit of slush. Since he'd stopped urging the snow to fall, it had started to melt, and they'd be tossing slush balls at one another in a few moments.

"Aww, you missed your chance to make snow angels!" Cal pointed out, actually pointing at the spot on the ground where Riana had landed. You could make out a vague Riana-shaped outline on the wet grass where she'd fallen. The whole thing greatly amused Cal, and he grinned toothily.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

She watched Cal spin about on the whirlwind of air, acting less mature then any child she could have dared to meet. How on earth did he manage to do this? Just act like such a buffoon without wondering what people thought of him.

Of course he didn't wonder, he knew exactly what people thought of him, he just didn't care. At his remark she wiped the water off of herself, the last thing she needed was to give Cal any more chance for mischief.

"I think I'll leave acting like a hyper active little child to you Calcus, the world might fall apart if all of us were as carefree as you. People wonder why nobody ever takes male fae seriously, and you and my brother are perfect examples why."

She crossed her arms over her chest. Not exactly mad, but she'd leave him thinking she was disapproving of him.

[cal]

"You probably wouldn't be very good at it anyway," Cal agreed. He began dusting himself off, then bounced to his feet. "Though really, judging all of the Fae by two people?"

Cal clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, then wagged a finger reprovingly at his old companion. "For shame. After all, if I were to judge all the Fae women based off you an' Minerva, I'd think they were all uptight, shexy shrews who really want to love an' live but find they can't over the stupid little things in the way so instead they bustle about and act all commanding, which is kinda hot."

Cal shrugged his shoulder, bending over to scrape the slush together.

"But then again, I also know Kiri, an' she's about as unlike you two as can be. Maybe the shrewness descends with age," Cal suggested. He began padding the slush together. His expression was thoughtful though, and it almost looked as if he were concentrating hard on his new creation. "After all, Cerri's lighter than her sister, an' Kiri's lighter yet. So maybe... it's menopause."

Cal nodded, looking up at Riana. "Do you suffer from hot flashes an' night sweats? Violent mood swings? Just don't feel right anymore? I hear they've got medicine for that now."

[Karmine de Arcadia]

She couldn't help but smile at Cal's remarks. Perhaps it was folly to judge the race based on the two of them, but it certainly explained why the Fae were a matriarchal society. At his comment about how he liked commanding women Riana could only laugh, a sharp, mirthless laugh. That would explain so much, a stronger woman to keep him in check. He then mentioned Cerridwen, and the Kiri child. She knew of her of course, keeping tabs on all fae in the area was her job, though she had not directly interacted with the child, that was something she was quite sure her brother was better suited for.

And then he mentioned menopause. A human stage of life that fae, thankfully, were immune to. If your natural life could go on without end, how could it break down after all. But the indication did not go unnoticed. And her face contorted in an expression Cal might be used to.

"Oh. I am fine Calcus, thank you for asking. Though, you might want to worry about your own welfare." She punctuated the words, dripping with venom, by releasing and cracking her vine whip on the ground, making a small lash of dirt and slush.

"I'm sure Minerva would forgive me for bringing you back hog tied." She remarked with no humor, sending the whip after Cal like a striking snake.

[cal]

"Oooooh!" Cal squealed. He brought both arms up and together in front of him, his mouth becoming an "O" as he cooed. His eyes bugged out, and he stared at the whip for several seconds. Then he started wiggling his eyebrows up at Riana, and growled.

"Kinky. I'm not sure Minerva would be big on sharing though. You'd have to ask her. But she strikes me as being possessive," Cal's grin threatened to split his face into two, assuming Riana didn't do that for him. "I'm flattered though, really."

He flopped onto his back now, stretching all four limbs out.

"Be gentle."

[Karmine de Arcadia]

[red]She pulled the whip back and pulled it taught between her hands. "I know, as demented as you are, you'll probably enjoy this. But I'll just have to make sure I enjoy it more." She said with a devilish grin. Calcus may have been 'presenting' himself to her, but she wasn't about to let him off easy.

Riana de Arcadia was NOT one you irritated without being ready for a fight.

"What she sees in you I will never know, but we'll see real soon what you are made of Calcus!"

And again the whip flew, this time she would not pull it back.[/red]

[cal]

The whip lashed at Cal, and he kicked out at it. The result was that he caught most of the force of the blow with the bottom of his shoe, and the whip flailed harmlessly around his leg. Smiling, Cal brought his foot down, and lurched to a sitting position, looking up at Riana.

"I said gentle," he stated. He began unwrapped his leg from the whip with an air of nonchalance. "Sometimes I wonder if anyone ever hears me. Or perhaps I am nothing more than words fluttering in the wind, a few well ordered lines between a blank page."

Chuckling, Cal finished untangling himself and rose to his feet, dusting snow from his pants.

"Oh, an' Minerva knows how good I am with my hands. That would be mostly what she sees with me," Cal explained. He picked an imaginary fuzz off his shirt, then rubbed it off his fingers.

"I swear, everyone always underestimates me for some reason. You'd think I was crazy or something."