taxonomites | [Holo] First Performance [001]

"This shouldn't be happening! It can't be happening!" Stefen hadn't intended to speak out loud, but the frustration and the fear obvious in his voice had, it seemed, other plans aside from stunned silence. Maybe not stunned, if the look of resigned terror on his face said anything--like someone watching their worst nightmare come to life, only they had been expecting it. Nothing was ever simple, and the half of him that was still a child wanted to complain about how unfair this all was, while the half that was more what he should have been--the half that was Master Bard Stefen, performer to the King-- knew that it wouldn't have changed anything if he did.

"Well-guarded, indeed. One moment in Haven, the next here..." Not that he hadn't heard of stranger things happening from the Heralds and with his particularly strong ties to both King Randale and Herald-Mage Vanyel, he was a particularly prime target.

Vanyel.

Oh gods. He had been right. If they knew who he was, it was only a matter of time before the worst happened and if they didn't know how important he was to either, it was only a matter of time before they found out and...

"V-Van...?" But he wasn't really expecting an answer. This place looked too alien, even for the kind of "company" that Van tended to keep. And if the Herald wasn't here, then there was only one real option left--Stefen was being used as leverage. Abducted by some invisible force with some phantom goal in mind. Vanyel had enough enemies that there was no telling what any of them wanted.

It wasn't until he reached up to run a hand through his fiery red hair that he realized that he was still clutching an instrument against his slight body. That added a whole other level of confusing to the situation. This looked enough like a strange prison, so...why was he permitted an instrument? And his favorite, no less.

"R-Rosewood? What are you doing here?" He held her a little more gently against his chest, but she was a small comfort in the face of abduction.

Calm down, Stef. You've had training. Nothing is wrong with Vanyel or you'd know. He closed his green eyes and took a few deep breaths to steady himself. He was supposed to be attached to the palace, not dealing with magic or prisons or any of...well, this.

Someone has to be looking for me. Let's face it, at this point I'm too important for someone not to have noticed that I've vanished. But that would only make them--whoever "them" were--try even harder to hide him. After a few moments of silent internal struggle, an oath that would not have been very welcome at Court all but exploded from him and the look on his face turned into a mixture of frustration and rage. There wasn't anything that he was capable of doing to get himself out of this--all he could do was wait to be found.

And that was precisely what he set out to do, dropping to sit on the floor and sulk (even if he would never have called it that) very much like the child that he had barely outgrown.

"Havens..."

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The unhesitating answer made Alexis smile. It reminded her a little of the people at the precient, of Dr. Parish and the detectives who ~~tolerated~~ worked with her dad. People like Kate Beckett. And it echoed somewhere deep in her own heart and soul, in the part of Alexis that wanted to have that, that courage and soul deep conviction for helping others.

"There are plenty of people here." She paused before admitting. "Though they don't seem to like being helped."

That sounded almost painfully familiar. But it was something that he'd gotten used to, and he would just have to deal with it now. It was hardly the worst thing that he could be going up against, but it still wasn't exactly great, either.

"I can't really do much about that, except try anyway."

It wasn't so much that Alexis hadn't tried helping, but more that she found it difficult to be taken seriously by a city full of adults. Mental maturity only went so far, sometimes.

"Good luck," she said sincerely, then a though occurred to her and Alexis blinked. "You don't have anywhere to stay, do you?"

If it hadn't been for his Gifts, he would have been much older before he'd ever made Master, and it would be even liess likely that he'd even be at Court. He wasn't so blind as not to know that. He owed a lot to Lynnell for finding him and even more to whatever divine force had decided that he was worthy of having them.

At that question, though, he had to shake his head. He hadn't even thought about a place to stay and damned if he was sleeping on a street ever again.

"No. I don't."

She paused for a moment as she considered the possibilities. She was already a guest of Dr. Reid and Kate, so she couldn't exactly offer him a place there, and she was pretty certain they'd both have a fit if she offered to let Stefen stay in the apartment she'd appropriated for her study space. Not to mention that would be awkward.

"There's rooms here in the Sanctuary," she said, pensive. "They're not very big, but they're comfortable." She'd looked into the idea a few days after she'd found herself in Taxon, but had decided against it despite her misgivings about staying with Dr. Reid and Kate. Alexis rubbed again at the silver bracelet fused to her wrist, an idle gesture.

"But if you want something bigger, I think there's a few empty apartments in the building where I live. And other buildings too, of course. There's lots of empty ones."

Little did Alexis know that she was entirely safe with Stefen. He simply wasn't inclined to lay a hand on her, even without being lifebonded. Still, he was more than happy with a plain room. His old one back home wasn't all that big, and there were always worse places that he could be sleeping.

"I think I'll be alright here, if there's a place for me."

She nodded and took her tablet, frowning a little in concentration as she pulled up the map again, zooming in until the floor plan of the Sanctuary was clearly visible, empty rooms and all. "See, plenty of space," she answered. "But there's more to do outside in the rest of the city. The Extras aren't really good for talking to."

That was going to take some getting used to. All this...metal and technology. It almost felt like a dream, or like he was seeing something that he shouldn't be. "I'd hope there's more to do in a city." They were supposed to be exciting, but from what he'd been hearing, it was relatively boring.

"There's a library." The fact that it was Alexis' first thought showed exactly how much time the redhead spent in said library. "There are stores too, and parks." She held up her hand, where the silver bracelet shone, fused to her skin. "And the people who have these are real. They'll talk to you and understand what your're saying. The ones who don't..." She looked pensive for a moment. "They're like ghosts, really. Or robots."

Library was a good place to start. He couldn't exactly say what kinds of things would be in a library in a place like this, but he could find out rather easily. Maybe learn a little more about where he was now.

That would probably be far too easy.

"Ghosts?"

"Well, they're not dead," she amended quickly. "They're like people, but they don't respond the same way. Like... the shopkeepers just look at you blankly if you ask them about the city. But if you try to buy something they can help," she explained. She hadn't really talked to many of the Extras herself. Despite her explanation, Alexis still found them more than a little creepy.

"That's--" not the strangest thing he's ever heard of happening (especially around the Mages), but still terrifying. Not something he ever wanted to think about. Was he going to end up like that if he stayed here long enough? Little more than a doll wandering the streets with only one purpose?

"--strange."

That made Alexis giggle a little, and she clapped a hand over her mouth belatedly. "Something like that," she agreed, hoping he wouldn't think she had been laughing at him. It was just such an understatement. "I haven't really talked to them much. It's kind of unsettling."

Somehow, Stefen thought that "unsettling" might have barely begun to scratch the surface. This wasn't anything that he had experience with and he didn't really want to, either. He was more than happy to leave all of that to the Heralds.

"I can see why it would be."

She nodded and pushed a lock of red hair back behind her ear as a thought occurred to her. "I'm sorry! You're probably tired, aren't you?" she asked. Alexis remembered how it had been like, how much there had been for her to absorb and all she'd wanted to do was curl up and cry. She had, even.

A faint blush began creeping up her face and she scrambled to pick up her bookbag. "And here I've been going on about things that you'll figure out too! I'm really sorry. I should just let you rest."

"It's fine," Stefen assured with a soft smile, designed to be as comforting as possible. He sure as hell didn't feel the way that he tried to look, but that was the whole point of Bardic training--looking calmer than he really was, hiding the nerves, being a diplomat, all of it. "If a Bard can't go for a few hours without rest, he won't get very much done!"

[Holo] First Performance [001]

[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]

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[location: Sanctuary]

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[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]

[location: Sanctuary]