Taking A New Road to A New Home

[Riven Anselm]

A cool wind blew over the Scottish dunes. Grey clouds were slowly riding it in from the horizon. Glancing back, it appeared it would rain as the wind turned into a momentary gust. Letting it settle, Riven turned back around and continued along the dirt path Henry had sent him on from the boat. He pulled his dark grey hood closer around his face, the wind having jostled it. He had turned his Inverness cape into a hooded cloak once he had noticed the changing weather. The cape had been sewn up the center and modified to form a hood, and his arms were beside his body, the arm holes in the coat sewn together seamlessly. The hem of the hood hung over the crown of his head, casting the upper half of his face into dim shadow.

He hoped he would make it to the Academy castle, or some building, before it started to rain. His cloak would keep him dry, but still. He didn't know how long the path would take on foot, or much about the Academy aside from his letter. He was a new student. He'd been meaning to get some information from the boatman, but he hadn't been willing to talk. Riven had seen a sign for a carriage, but after waiting a few minutes, he'd decided to start off on foot to his new home, not minding a walk and hoping he'd meet the cab on the road. Henry had said the Academy was expecting him. He hadn't expected the weather to turn bad, at least not so quickly.

In the boat, Riven hadn't been in very talkative mood either, not that he usually was. However, aside from that man confronting him about spying at Lillegard, something else had been on his mind. Before getting to the Barabal Tavern, he'd seen someone reading the local paper. One of the headlines had been "Circus Thievery Ring Busted by Police: Shoot Out and Fighting Ensued". It had been about the Fire Night Circus, the night of the coup. Riven had bristled with sudden anger and indignation. "The Ring Master turned himself in, they all did! The Fire Tamer's troupe were the only ones using guns and fighting!"

Having nothing else to occupy his mind now, he'd fallen back to reflecting on that headline, and the whole incident, all over again. He was calmer thinking about it now: more indignant, and even slightly morose, than angry. He did notice the he had come out of the dunes and was passing through the moor, the woods looming past that. The forest would offer some protection from the rain at least, when he reached it.

[AislingGhost]

A young girl could be seen walking down the road, though the odd thing was that she hadn't been visible only a few moments ago. in fact, there were quite a few odd things about this girl: as she walked, her footfalls made no sound and, furthermore, as the air cooled with the coming rain, the girl seemed to not notice the change in temperature at all despite being dressed in only a sweater dress, black leggings, and soft black boots that should be ruined by the rain when it came.

Aisling didn't even bother to think about the weather as she walked uncaringly down the road. she didn't have to worry about getting her bright auburn hair wet. as she neared the stranger, her bright, pupil-less green eyes could be visible from her spot down the path. she turned her head curiously at the stranger, wondering what he was doing out in the rain....

[Riven Anselm]

Riven, breaking his reflection on the content of the biased article, blinked to notice his surroundings more thoroughly again, and was given a slight start. A girl was walking in front of him. He was aware he had been partially absorbed in thought, but he would have noticed someone coming on the trail a couple yards in front of him: seen them, heard them, something. Wait...noticing, he paid closer attention; he didn‘t hear any footsteps from her. Not sure, he blinked again. She was definately in front of him. She looked back at him. Riven saw her clear green eyes had no pupils. They seemed to be the most...genuine part of her appearance, though. Everthing else, her hair, skin, even clothing, seemed somehow lacking in substance. Riven decided to quicken his pace, meeting her eyes and planning to ask for information on the school, maybe get a closer look at her too.

As the wind picked up on the moor, under the grey sky, it ruffled his cloak somewhat, and he confirmed his guess. Her own clothing and hair had been undisturbed by the breeze. Riven was going to meet a ghost for the first time.

He wondered what she was doing here, it not appearing she was here to mourn. The Mentalist, whose powers had included clairvoyance, had dispelled some other false beliefs to Riven. He wasn’t afraid of ghosts. In fact, there was something slightly dampening: she looked a little younger than him. He spoke, as he was close enough to talk now, noticing the look she was giving him was a curious one. He inquired her politely. “Hello. Do you know how far Lillegard Castle is from here?”

[AislingGhost]

Aisling smiled slightly as she came up in front of the newcomer. She took a moment to cast her eyes about the area--she wasn't entirely sure how far she'd popped up from the castle and needed to look around first--before returning her gaze back to him.
"It's almost a full day's walk from the boat drop-off point to the castle." she figured that the beginning of the heron forest was about an 8th of the way there so... "I'd say you have about another 21 hours," she finished with a wry smile.

Getting to the castle would have been a pain for her without any people on the path--however, she hadn't arrived to the castle through normal means. Her first time being here had been during the ball, and so she hadn't had to worry about the trek to the castle in the first place.

Aisling pushed her hair out of her face and looked up at the dark clouds in the sky. He ought to hurry--it was going to start raining very soon.

"It would be easier if a carriage went down this path...but honestly, i've never seen any before." a little frown pulled at her lips at the thought. she hoped this new-comer could either move more quickly than a normal person, or that he had some way to keep himself dry. otherwise the walk would be miserable. she blinked her big green eyes at him, letting her vision shift between the different planes like they had a tendency to do when she let her mind wander.

"are you a new student here, then?" she asked. Amazingly, during the entire time her scottish accent never took on the strange echoing tone that it usually did. She was more solid-looking than she usually was, and her voice seemed to be following the pattern. Her feet stayed on the ground, her hair wasn't floating, and if a passerby were to not scrutinize her too closely, they would think her to be completely solid. It was a strange change of pace, considering that there was only one live person on this road. She would have thought that she would seem more lively in a room full of people, or even an empty, well-used room, rather than an almost-always silent road.


((hey, the assumption that her hair wouldn't move in the breeze was a correct one, but you need to be very careful about rping that way, as it is technically a form of God-moding, because this fact wasn't stated in the reply ^^. just be wary of that, is all.))

[Riven Anselm]

(Oh, alright; I apologize for that. Thanks a lot for the heads-up! I'll be sure to remember that. I'm also sorry I took a week to post this; I had to finish a school project and was working obsessively on a picture ^^;.)

Seeing a smile form on her face, Riven guessed she was kind enough. He also wondered at her looking around the path. Did she not know where she was either? At her answer, he almost hoped she didn't. "A full day's walk?" he thought. Well, oh well, maybe a carriage might still come...

He was forced to reconsider again as she continued, saying she had never seen a carriage coming or going. Then again, she hadn't seemed to quite know the path. He repeated his "Oh well" to himself, adjusting his cloak slightly as he joined the girl in glancing up at the darkening sky. He was going to get rained on then; he was prepared for that. His cloak could remain completely water proof with minimal thought on Riven's part. Walking in the rain wasn't stressful or anything.

He looked back down at the girl, about to thank her for answering his question. It wasn't her fault it wasn't what he had hoped for. Riven noticed, now, off-handedly, that the girl seemed more...solid, than before. He wouldn't have guessed she was a ghost if he hadn't already seen and heard..., well, not heard, that she wasn't entirely corporeal. Wondering at it, he supposed she had just taken some time to materialize.

His phrase caught in his mouth, the girl asking a question herself first. Blinking, he stopped. Riven had hoped to be on his way after thanking her, though once he thought about it there wasn't much of a reason to get on any quicker. He would still stay dry and the journey would take hours anyway. Granted those things, walking through the forest under the rain would be easier ground to cover than what would surely soon amount to tramping through mud on the moor. He made a motion to go forward, meeting this girl's green eyes again and replying instead "We should get to the forest before the rain starts."

The girl looking very nearly human now, Riven had realized the answer to his question, about why she was on the path, after fully grasping she was a ghost: she was probably also a student here.

[AislingGhost]

((that's fine! real life comes first ^^))

Aisling looked to the forest, and gave a little nod, joining the newcomer on the walk towards the forest.

"Be careful, you never know what you'll run into in there," She said with a conspiratorial grin. It was a partial jab on herself--by now, she figured he would have been noticed that she hadn't been all "there" when she walked up--but the comment was based on other things, as well. There really could be all kinds of things in there--including students that wouldn't bat an eye at messing with people's heads, especially new people.

In fact, she wouldn't be surprised if she herself pulled a few pranks on new students into the coming year. Not right now, obviously, but she had enjoyed giving that prissy, narcissistic Larita a little shock, and she wasn't alone. Shae, she discovered from having classes with him, was something of a sadist, and therefore seemed to enjoy messing with people; setting up situations that were bound to turn bad, and then standing back to watch.

She herself was nothing of the sort.

"Sorry about sort of...popping up, earlier. I hope I'm not bothering you....?" ...But for the moment, I don't think I can easily get back to the castle.

Walking on her own was certainly out of the question. Strangely enough, the fact that she felt more solid made her feel much less inclined to simply "appear" back at the academy. Almost as though she feared that such an act would cause her to become less solid again--indeed, she usually only transported herself when she was more of a smoky cloud than a solid-looking girl.

[Riven Anselm]

Also looking to the woods, Riven gave some thought as to why she gave him the slightly ominous warning. She partially said it to put him on slight edge, judging from the grin that she wore. That wouldn't be hard to do to someone with these woods --"woods" didn't describe them; they were a forest: dark and foreboding under the blocked sun. Still, if anything, they interested Riven more than struck fear into him. Dark or not, they offered shelter if nothing else.

Besides, Riven was fairly confident he could handle himself against...what was in the forest? Most of the animals, even ones that could be dangerous, would probably be holed up or in dens by now, but the other things that came to Riven's mind were less mundane. Assuming the girl hadn't just been trying to scare him: did she mean that there might be...other students in the trees? It was going to rain soon, and the path was a day's walk away from the castle; he somewhat doubted it. Riven didn't completely doubt it though. He knew a lot of things appeared to be much less, much simpler, and less...dark, than they really were. This path was an example; he hadn't expected this ghost of a young girl to appear before him on it...

The ghost speaking again, Riven looked at her as she apologized for doing just that, and shook his head when she trailed off. "No," he answered honestly to her question; even if it had bothered him, she clearly hadn't expected it anymore than he had. Why apologize? She could have just disappeared if she had in fact needed to apologize for it. He had been wondering if she would disappear again. Apparently not, but he didn't really mind one way or another.

Riven, not having been in a talkative mood before, still wasn't much now, but at least he could perhaps learn more about Lillegard if she walked with him, and wouldn't mind speaking with him. Her seeming ready to walk with a new student for the time being, Riven thought she would probably answer a few questions, if he did in kind. He remembered again he hadn't in fact done that yet, and she didn't definitely know he was a new student. Her previous question he had neglected to answer, he did so now. "To your previous question: I am a new student, yes."

[AislingGhost]

Aisling nodded her head. Yup, student--that made sense.

"I thought so--there've been a lot of new students coming here lately. I got here....," How long had it been? She'd stumbled across the academy during the ball because of the high density of people in one area, and because of that, she'd been able to bop back to the castle without any problem. But how long had it been? Her brow creased in thought.
"Almost six months ago, I think." Had it really been that long? It didn't feel that long, but she was certain that she'd come during the winter, when classes were still in session. But it felt like she'd just gotten here...

She'd died in June so....
Good God, she'd been dead for over five years now!
5 years, 2 months.

It seemed that she was having more and more trouble with the concept of time, lately. Because she didn't sleep, she didn't really think about when it was day and night, and her odd vision made that even more so. Instead of absorbing light, they seemed to absorb a kind of energy...Like the sun and moon were different types of energy, so if she thought about it, she could tell whether it was day, or night. The overall appearance of everything wasn't much different from her original sight as long as she only looked at this astral plane, save for a few energy "hotspots".

Hotspots...maybe that's why she was so solid now? There had to be some kind of hotspot around here.

"Oh!" --knocked from her thoughts, she turned once more back to this new student "I'm Aisling, by the way."


((despite how her name is usually pronounced "Ashling", she pronounces it "Ays-ling". Long story ^^))

[Riven Anselm]

Riven felt, somewhat oddly, relieved that he wasn't the only new student at Lillegard. He wouldn't be the only new face. He wouldn't stand out, as much, anyway. Not that he cared much about standing out at all: he used to do it for a living. "...That's probably why," he considered his train of thought. Breaking off from it, he looked back to the girl and listened as she continued. He thought about what to ask, and wondered what the other students, and even the teachers were like at the Academy as she trailed off, trying to remember how long she had been a student. The first person he had met was a ghost.

He was already beginning to think that his expectations of the Academy at Lillegard Castle had been off the mark. He had gleaned that it wasn't exactly his idea of "formal" schooling, an ordinary academy, from the letter he had received from it. "Ordinary" excluding it's location, student, and probably teaching body. Riven had been used to what was far out of the ordinary, but Lillegard almost seemed like it would be a new start, including to what was "out of the ordinary", maybe even for him...as well as something like what he had known. At least, to himself, that was something like what he was hoping for...when he had gotten the letter he hadn't been sure what to think... starting new, or at least forgetting his old life? Could he do it?

Riven had never had a formal...much of anything, let alone schooling or a stable home. The Ring Master and Mentalist had been quite enough and his home had been wherever the troupe was. The troupe had been stable. He had approached Lillegard Academy almost like a heist or job rather than a new life at first, now he wasn't sure what to think...

"Six months?" he thought as the ghost remembered. He realized he didn't actually know how long a school year, or even a term, was. Riven's calendar was a little...different. There was a performing season for the circus, but they had moved around quite often, from spot to spot; they could usually find a place to perform at before or during a robbery. The robbery sometimes took place
at their performance. Riven knew the importance of time: how long an audience could be kept rapt, how long to balance on one foot, how long it took to pick a lock, how long it would take for a person to black out, how shortly arrest or a mistake could come. It was starting to show: life would be much different now.

"The Magi..." the title almost slipped out of Riven's mouth. "Riven."

((He unintentionally calls himself "The Magician", Riven might understand lol ^^))

[AislingGhost]

It was then that the clouds finally opened up: it came down heavily almost the moment it started, and from somewhere, the soft rumbling of thunder could be heard. Though they were now under the relative safety of the trees (never mind the fact that Aisling was dead), the ghost girl couldn't help but look mildly annoyed as she glanced up at the dreary sky.

And then it hit her.

"Oh!" She stopped in her tracks and practically self face-palmed. "The storm--it creates an energy hotspot!" She looked back to Riven with a satisfied smile on her face at finally solving her mini mystery. She wondered if the storm would get closer, and how that would affect her.

With that question answered, she continued walking again, giving Riven a sideways glance, just picking up on the fact that he'd been about to give her a different name. It didn't really bother or worry her so much, but her curiosity was piqued, if only a little.

"So, what brought you to Lillegard, anyway?"

[Riven Anselm]

Riven was looking around the trees after his reply, attempting to clear his thoughts and get a small idea of the forest's layout while thinking, after almost giving his old title as his name. He was still getting used to his name being used regularly. Formulating a question about the school year now, the storm interrupted and caught his attention too.

Riven glanced backward as Aisling looked up, though he wore the same perturbed look (finding it surprising Aisling wore it). His was at the approaching storm, because he was fine with the rain. It was thunder storms he didn't like. The thunder still off, he ignored it for now, looking ahead again. He looked to his side next, at Aisling. Rather, behind himself again as she stopped with an exclamation. He stopped as well a couple steps ahead of her, surprised and slightly curious as to what she realized so suddenly.

An energy hotspot? For what? Riven thought in passing; the Mentalist might have used that same term in a metaphor once...yeah, he had said he could turn himself into a "walking hotspot for ghosts and spirits." ...So was that why Aisling had appeared on the path? The storm? Riven wondered if magic had anything to do with it either. All of this went through his mind before they were walking again, Riven not loosing focus on his previous thoughts.

He might have asked, still, but she seemed content, and Riven already had some questions. He did notice she gave him a somewhat odd glance after her smile, guessing she had heard his slip in introducing himself to her. It didn't matter. He could answer a question about it, it was his old title. Answering anything beyond that as easily was...a bit trickier for him.

Her question quickly sent Riven into that territory, the teenager putting his own questions on hold while he thought about his answer. He had just been thinking about it before she appeared, but he wasn't really in any excitement to say to her, anyone, he had come to this school after escaping capture as an international criminal, after...everything else. Especially in no excitement to go into detail about everything else. Remembering the local paper he had seen, he wondered for the first time if he was mentioned in it, if the Headmistress knew who he was. It would be awhile before he found out, given present circumstances.

He spoke a bit louder than he had been to be heard clearly over the rain, answering without too long of a pause. "The traveling circus I was a part of was broken up because of a member. Before we went separate ways, my Ring Master asked me to better myself and live a good life. I came to Lillegard to honor his request." That wasn't entirely why, but Riven decided it was enough to tell. Not mentioning any international criminal intrigue, or magic, or the fact he used it, he wondered if that back story might be sounding a little mundane on this island. "Aisling might guess there is more to it, she already heard me almost call myself something else," he considered in thought. He wasn't trying to hide any of that; he knew they were important details, but he didn't feel like sharing them on a whim to someone he had just met.

Aside from Riven's privacy about these specific events, it was an old habit of his, keeping those details out of a conversation with a stranger. When the Fire Night Circus had been together, they hadn't been caught because they were good at keeping those things a secret. Riven realized he could speak about that now if he chose to. The crimes weren't a secret anymore and he was fairly certain everyone on the island knew about magic being real.

[AislingGhost]

Aisling nodded, satisfied enough at his answer to not pry any more about his past. After all, she had no reason to pry: they'd only just met, and he wasn't acting suspicious to her; she didn't feel that he might be a particular threat to the safety of any of her friends. So, she let the matter rest at that.

She did however, for a moment, wonder at how life would be like in the circus. But only for a moment.

Aisling said nothing more for the time being--after all, she'd hardly given Riven a real chance to speak his mind--that is, if he felt the need to. So she simply kept walking after her little nod at the quick look into his past, her mind every once in a while wandering and noting at how strange it felt when the rain passed through her.

Again, the low rumble of thunder could be hear, though it seemed slightly closer than the last time.

[Riven Anselm]

The thunder was accompanied to a dim flash of grey illuminating the tree tops. Nothing up there except the approaching storm; Riven's nerves were starting to join it. The storm was still ignorable for now, aside from the claps. Usually applause had been appreciated.

Though he would have been glad to do something to take his mind off it, the options were limited, and Riven was glad after a moment that Aisling didn't ask anymore about what had brought him. He didn't want his mind on that either. He considered asking Aisling how she had come to the school, but decided against it. How she might have died wasn't something he wanted to broach, if she even remembered.

What were left to discuss were his questions about the school.

"What is Lillegard like, the academy?" he added the last part; the island itself didn't need an introduction. It was secluded, mostly deserted, and clearly vast and not easy to get to, if the shortest path from shore to the castle was a day's journey, for a human. With this as his first impression, Riven assumed there was something worth the journey at the end of the path. Still, soon "worth the journey" would mean "having a working roof and walls." He was keen to know what would go on inside them.

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