rainbowlounge | RP Time? You betcha!

"Lucien? What did I tell you about running off on your own?"

Somewhat unsurprisingly, his son didn't answer him with more than a grin. And a splash, once Claude had drawn closer.

Leave it to any child of his to throw off his nice new boots just to stick his feet in the first likely looking stream that came along.

It wasn't even as if they'd gone that far out of town, but away from the roads, from the other sorcer-sorts and Aethies, even the breeze felt calmer, though it had hardly caught to much all the while they'd been walking. Claude being glad they had any at all, as hot as it had been the past few days.

The storm the night before had left lacy scatters of twigs and leaves and knocked down spider webs. Clean and still damp, the leaves overhead and tangled in the grass, they looked pieces of stained glass. And the trees, when they nodded, they sounded clear as harp strings with nothing else to cut the sound.

Out of farmland use and the whiles of any humans at all, the stream had been left so clear, so delicious looking. Just begging for some little blond imp of a boy to come along and kick his heels in it.

Well, one already had. Claude didn't bother with another sigh. He pulled his shoes off and laid them in the stones at his side, stretching lazy as he reached his own toes towards the glittering surface.

And promptly jerked back with a yelp. "Child of mine? That's /cold/."

"I know," said Lucien. "I think it feels nice."

"Maybe if you're part bear. I've always halfway figured, you know."

They had some teasing hums between them and Claude crossed his legs, feet now on the warm pebbles along the bank where they damnwell belonged.

"I think I got that from your side of the family," his son suggested after a while. "Anyway, why do you think it's like that? I don't hear anybody around."

"That wasn't tagging along?"

"Well..." The boy knitted his fingers in his hair, tugging himself a wingtip curl along his temple. "I think I'd only notice Nene if she was /gone/."

"And as for our new friends?"

"They couldn't have gone far. They know we have candy." To which, he nodded. Ever so sure of himself.

Ah, children. Children had gotten him this far with their self-assured beings. And children had found him what was really a rather strange clearing on closer inspection. The stream wore deeper through some places in the grass than others, showing shifts of rock, glints of moss and tree roots sneaking by. It divided the clearing just about cleanly in half.

Besides, on the edge of the forest easing back into being, a great, old ash stood.

Covered in tiny flowers. Pink and violet and hints of white. All of them, growing in streaks as if the bark had long ago turned to soil, though the tree seemed healthy and strong otherwise.

Besides.

"Papa," said Lucian, voice hushed. "There aren't any birds here, are there?"

"No," Claude answered after a moment. "It's just you and I and /a bunch of stinkers who ran off from us/."

"Oh, so that doesn't include me?"

"Child of mine."

They had a few more hums, there in the quiet of the clearing.

There, before something very strange and very faint began to creep along Claude's Aether lines.

It felt like being tickled almost. Anyway, it made him smile. Lucien too.

And next, there his son darted off again, racing over the grass and into the middle of the clearing, where he stood staring into the sky and whistling. Expecting a giant Gust to come sailing down in the form of a giant bird? It might just be that.

Welcome!

Note that anything your characters do in the clearing may result in posts back of things happening around them, even if these aren't exactly invited. Something's lurking around here, and it wants a snack!

Feel free to bring your own fairies, ghosts, mages and seriously confused regular people.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"A little of both. Mostly the latter," Mark said with a smirk.

Richard shrugged, smiling innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Almost believable."

Richard gave Mark an amused look. "You're one to talk," he said, and glanced back at the women. "Who do you work for, out of curiosity?" Given the last time they had met someone from a universe that had sapient lightning, there was no guarantee he would know it. But it never heart to ask.

"I don't know if the Corlionis are still a big presence in... import-export and... other things," Janet said, which was as comfortable as she felt talking about it to strangers, "but I work for Johnny Corlioni. Or Giovanni, whichever name you might know. I'm his assistant."

"And I," Alyce said, "am the nanny and housekeeper for Salvatore Corlioni and his wife, Eileen. If you know who the Corlionis are, you might know him as Torey."

Janet tipped her head back. "I'm going to have to tell him you said their first names."

"Only because I was explaining something," Alyce replied, faux-primly.

"I'm afraid the names don't ring a bell," Richard said, shaking his head. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything, though--the last time this happened to us, we ran into a woman who inhabited a universe that used sapient lightning to power their electronics. These...meeting places seem to acquire people from everywhere imaginable."

Mark, meanwhile, restrained a smirk. Given the euphemistic language, he was guessing a criminal enterprise of some kind, which didn't bother him. He had always found organized crime far more preferable to other options. Chaos was infinitely more intolerable.

"In that case, I think we could be a little more blunt and say they give the Mafia a run for their money," Alyce said.

Janet elbowed her in the calf. "They could take any of the Mafia families," she said, looking over at Richard and Mark. "Believe me. I'm around them five days a week, sometimes fourteen or fifteen hours at a time."

"They have a legitimate import-export business, too," Alyce explained. "I understand it's pretty profitable."

"That's an understatement," Janet murmured.

"Impressive," Mark said, nodding slightly, a little smug to be proven right. He couldn't help but wonder how this enterprise might fare in his and Richard's current time.

"Fifteen hours at a time?" Richard asked, raising an eyebrow. "I certainly hope you're well-compensated."

"Oh, extremely," Janet said, "and I get cash bonuses whenever Johnny's pissed off all day. He doesn't take it out on me, but I think he still feels bad."

"And on her fifteen-hour days, I'm with Mr. Corlioni and Ms. Smith's kids until one of them gets home," Alyce added. "But since they bought me a new car last year, I'm fine with it."

"I'm glad to hear it," Richard said. "I don't think much of any business that mistreats its employees."

"He's certainly made that point clear," Mark said, amused. "He can be a very formidable businessman." Richard Montgomery might be the most charming and gentlemanly person you'd ever meet, but he was also ruthless and extremely business savvy. He knew his way around a hostile takeover.

It was one of the reasons Mark liked him so much.

"I've had the chance to work with Mr. Corlioni--the patriarch--when he's come in a few times," Janet said. "His more considerate, polite children follow his example."

Alyce smothered a laugh: Janet's diplomatic way of saying David and Leo had no excuse.

"Excellent," Richard said. "I'm hoping my son, Vincent, will do the same, some day."

"He will," Mark said. "The way he takes after you? He will."

"How long have you two been together?" Alyce asked.

Richard smiled almost ruefully. "We've been friends since school," he said, "but we've only actually been together for about six months. It's been a complicated road."

"You have a spectacular gift for understatement," Mark said dryly.

"It's one of the reasons you love me," Richard replied, smirking. He glanced back at Alyce. "How about the two of you? How long have you been together?"

RP Time? You betcha!

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