A Most Devious Deception

[Raeilun]

Raeilun could only stand there, paralyzed, as Taele hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She quickly stepped back, but not quicker than the blood that rushed to his cheeks. But it gave him a small bit of relief when he realized he wasn't the only one blushing. Raeilun grinned. He could remember every day that he spent with her, starting from that first awkward meeting.

It was the day that his father died. When he heard the news, he couldn't control himself. He just ran away. Ran, from the pain that he saw in his mothers eyes. He ran from the fact that he would no longer be able to see his father, to talk to him when nothing made sense. He ran from himself. From the pain that he felt, knowing that he no longer had that one thing in his life that made him feel normal. His father was his only connection to his other side. His father was the only other person that knew what he was going through. The only one who understood.

So he ran. Through the town, through the farms. Finally he found himself in the wilderness. He was there for what felt like days, wandering about aimlessly and without purpose. Finally, when his legs refused to carry him any farther, he sat on a stump and just cried. He just sat. He had no will to live, no motivation. He knew that his mother would be worried about him, but he didn't care. Right then, right there, he just wished that he could die.

And then he heard it. It was nothing but the smallest ruffle of some bushes that were not to far from him - a small animal he assumed - but it was accompanied by the sweetest, most remarkable scent that he had ever smelled. He rose to his feet, and shuffled slowly to the bushes, his legs screaming at him as they suffered from the abuse that he put them through.

He knelt down and pulled the bushes apart, almost afraid of what he would see. Little did he know, the fae girl on the other side would change his view forever. She was sitting in a clearing with her back against a tree, her beautiful face the picture of concentration as she whittled away at a small piece of wood. Raeilun couldn't help himself. He tried to rise to his feet to go say something to the girl, but his legs gave way and he tumbled through the bushes into the clearing. At first she seemed suprised and a little angry to see him; all he could do was offer a small smile, hoping she wouldn't kill him.

The rest is history. From that point on they were the best of friends; though he normally didn't trust many people, there was just something about her. However, he hadn't seen her in a couple of months, and he was worried that he had angered her somehow. But here she was again, and Raeilun didn't plan on letting another chance slip through his fingers. He gently hugged her as he whispered in her ear, "I've missed you."

[Taele]

Taele shivered as she heard his voice after what seemed like ages. She held him tight and whispered "I missed you too."
Her eyes became moist and she sighed, inhaling his foresty scent. Taele forced herself to pull away, though she was blushing through her usually calm exterior. She thought she might love him, but she wasn't sure...she hadn't felt that for anyone since her foster family. Taele physically shook her head to clear the thoughts, sending her long hair all about briefly.

"S..so...you want me to show you all to my house?" she asked, shakily.

[Kaleb Morrington]

(Combined Fusha and Kaleb post)

Kaleb watched, feeling slightly impatient but amused. Impatient because hey weren't moving AGAIN. Amused because it seemed wolf-boy had a little 'mate'. A blind man could see they cared deeply for each other, and Kaleb was no blind man. He glanced at the shifter who still happily ate the fruit, seemingly ignorant of what was going on.

"Well at least you're easy to please." Kaleb told the girl as Raeilun and the fae girl embraced each other. Kaleb looked to the now pleased looking fae man and tilted his head. Who was this dude? Was he even dead? A cold sensation down his entire right side quickly ripped him from his thoughts.

"Kaleb, my love... don't they seem happy?" Kaleb knew where this was going and sighed. "I told you, Amyrea. You're dead. I'm alive. Not happening." Amyrea pouted and sighed.

"Some day I'll have you..." Kaleb snorted. "Sure... maybe once I'M dead." Amyrea brightened at the idea.

"Kaleb my love that's brilliant!" "Eh?" "Why not just kill yourself?" "WHAT!?" Kaleb yelped just as the fae asked if they wanted to see her place.

"Ahh-ahh... I mean... errr.. sure. Sure! We'd love to see your place. Right, hun?" Kaleb asked the shifter girl, who tilted her head. "Yeah... never mind... sure let's go on an adventure!" Kaleb cheered, if not a little falsely.

"Oh that's a great idea!" Eh? Since when- "Lots of people die on adventures!" Fucking ghosts...

[Taele]

Taele sighed, wondering whatever she had gotten herself into. Raeilun had made friends, and she was happy for him, but she was envious as well. She had never really had..friends. Allies, sometimes, but not true friends to share life with. She, for what seemed like the millionth time that day, forced the thoughts down and put on a smile that a blind man could have seen through.
"Follow me then." she said, leading them to her home. They went down the path and arrived at a tiny wood cottage on the edge of the forest.
"Here's my home."
'Home, shitty home.' she mumbled, carrying her fruit over by the door and setting the basket down. She opened the door and gestured for them to enter.
Her house had just enough room for a table, a few chairs, a bedroll in the corner, and a small washbasin.

[Fusha]

Fusha had finished her fruit - accompanied by a sigh - by the time they had reached the woman's "house." Looking around inside, the fruit was immediately forgotten as she saw a small bedroll like she had found in the forest, a little wooden structure with a flat top that bore a basket with a few pieces of fruit and more wooden structures similar to the middle one but smaller and with a flat piece on the back. In the other corner, she saw a flat piece of wood that was attached to the wall and bent with the wall, and had wood boxes with doors on them above and below it, as well as a metal basin with a metal rod bending up over the top. She assumed the woman that led the group here lived in this place, and was amazed at the pleasures these people were privileged with.

She went over to one of the smaller wooden structures and started to inspect it, intrigued by what it's purpose might be.

[Kaleb Morrington]

Kaleb follow the group, still agonizing over Amyrea's realization. Now, as she chattered away happy plans of how to kill him, Kaleb could only wish for peace. When they made it to the tiny fae's home, Kaleb looked around, impressed.

"Nice digs, Tae was it?" Kaleb commented, watching as the shifter-girl examined a stool. He turned to the wolf-boy, who appeared to be in mild shock. Scoffing he looked back to Tae, unimpressed to see the male fae chilling around her.

"You know any creep dudes, Tae? You know, about yay tall-" he held a hand up at about where the male's head would compare to him, "and kinda... I dunno, old looking? You know he actually kinda looks like you." Kaleb commented, not noticing the girl's paling skin. "Kinda pissy at the moment though-"

"Shut up fool." The man hissed, though a little too late...

[Taele]

Taele paled. "F-father?" she squeaked, trembling. She let out a small anguished cry and sank to the floor, sent careening back to the night her parents died. She curled up on the ground and sobbed loudly, lashing out at anyone who came near. Taele closed her eyes and held tight to her position.
The ghost of Tae's father looked at Kaleb icily. "How DARE you upset my little girl?!" he asked angrily.

[Fusha]

Having her natural "sixth sense" as many people called it, Fusha could tell something had upset the taller girl by small and large changes in her body language: the stiffening of the body, the slight change in skin color, a slight shaking which was the prelude to crying. She set the wooden object, which she had finally identified as something that you could sit on, back how she found it and started to stride towards the girl, now identified as "Taele," but was beat to the chase be the older male. He wrapped his long arms around the woman and let her bury her face in his chest while he stroked her hair calmingly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the other person they had come with, who scowled and muttered something under his breath about "ghosts."

Caught awkwardly in mid stride, she shrunk back slowly to the stool. She pulled it out and sat down, at which point she heard a knock near the place they had entered, and everything went still.

[Kaleb Morrington]

Kaleb, feeling very bad indeed for Taele, was about to go hug her but, having seen both wolf-boy and shifter-girl do the same, he held back. The knock, however, he managed to handle. Turning he opened the door to see this little old lady staring up at him, eyes squinting.

"Is Bessie home?" Bessie? "Err... no ma'am, I'm afraid you have the wrong house... in the middle of nowhere... maybe if you go that way," Kaleb pointed towards Shim, "you may find her." She tittered away happily at Kaleb, calling him a handsome, sweet young buck. Patting his stomach, she commented on him being so strong as well. Kaleb glanced back into the house, feeling very awkward indeed. There was Taele, still crying, with wolfie still holding her. The now-cofirmed ghost was glaring at him, Amyrea was glaring at the old lady who was now commenting on more... less appropriate matters, and the shifter-chick was sitting there like an idiot. What has he gotten himself into THIS time!?

Nodding, smiling and generally shooing the woman away, Kaleb managed to send her away and close the door, turning to the ghost and ignoring the hysterical Taele.

"Alright, mister... I'm sorry I set your baby girl into hysterics... but any way I can fix that?" He gestured at her.

[Taele]

"Unfortunately, no. Although if I could gut you for that, it would make ME feel better." the ghost growled at Kaleb.
After a few minutes, Taele came to her feet shakily, feeling upset and sick, but able to sublimate the horrible feeling that came with her flashbacks.
"I...I'm sorry everyone. I just get nervous easily, and..well..when people mention my family it makes me remember things I'd much rather forget."
She sat on a stool and petted the half-canine half-female softly.

[Fusha]

Fusha was surprised when Taele sat on another stool and started to pet her hair, for she had never been petted before. At first, she just sat there, stiff as a board, but after a little while, she started to enjoy the feeling and closed her eyes, relaxing back into the stool. When it seemed the Taele was going to stop, she leaned her head on the other woman's side, trying to coax her into petting her more. Successful, she sighed and relaxed again. After a few minutes, she felt the urge to do something. So she did.

Fusha stood up and smiled at Taele, then walked out the door and stripped out of her clothes and shifted, her human-like features morphing into canine ones, and leaving her in her more athletic true form, where she felt right. She barked a quick message in the air, hoping the wolf-man would hear it, saying "I'll be back soon." She then took off into the forest to stretch her legs and expend some of her pent up energy, and planned to return in a little while when she felt good and loose.

[Kaleb Morrington]

With shifter-girl out of the picture, temporarily he'd been assured, Kaleb was now left with a crazy old-guy ghost, a bad-tempered wolf-guy and a cute but traumatized Fae. Peachy... Amyrea was chattering away at another ghost who'd drifted in - a female fae. And from the way the man was looking at her, she was Tae's mother. Kaleb tossed his hands in the air and slumped into a stool.

He was not going to be able to sell his gems any time soon as wolf boy was too gooey over Taele. shifter-girl was useless... and talking to his ghosts made people think he was insane. His hands were tied, so, reluctantly, he asked: "So what's the plan guys?"

[Fusha]

As Fusha was trotting back through the woods from her little journey, she saw a little road she crossed as she was heading out and knew she was in the right area. However, the road was occupied by a few people this time. A young man wearing a black cowl and nondescript brown clothing was bound and being dragged by two other people in armour towards the place she was headed. Slowing down, she waited for them to be a little farther away and got a little better look at the face of the one younger one. She then dashed the remaining distance to the little house she was at before. She shifted and then dressed, and entered the house. The young man that often seemed like he talked to himself nodded to her, at which point she looked to the one who could understand her and barked out a description of what she had seen. He seemed alerted and repeated it to everyone else in the room, and the one who had nodded to her perked up. He muttered "I think I know who that is... he was a thief like me," then cringed. She couldn't understand what it meant, but the wolf-man repeated it to her and she got the gist. "What does everyone want to do then?" She asked the wolf-man.

[Kaleb Morrington]

When wolf-boy translated the description of Caden, the clock turned back a year for him. Those nights, THAT night.... The crows, the hawks and the hawk hunters.

"That kids sounds like Caden." Amyrea murmured, Kaleb nodding in agreement. He hadn't like the young crow, too quiet for him, made him twitchy. When he was a hawk it'd irritated him more. Didn't know why, but he avoided the hell out of the kid.

"We should help him." Amyrea whispered even as Rae asked the same question Kaleb had asked not 2 minutes ago. "We help him." Kaleb said simply, moving from the wall as old instincts rose. True he'd left gangs in general behind when he stole those gems, but that didn't stop the ever familiar feeling of family rising. They had been an odd family, a bunch of ruffian kids, but the hawks alays looked out for the crows. And in Kaleb's eyes, even if Caden had been initiated, he was still a crow.

Quickly moving out the door Kaleb was opting for for distracting the guard when he saw the girl. Kaleb's heart stopped. He knew her, had liked her, hell he'd roughed up a couple kids for picking on her. But the shifter-girl hadn't mentioned her... Kaleb swallowed. Looks like once again, all the best girls were dead.

[Taele]

Taele stood up and followed slowly, completely clueless as to what was going on. The people who had come into her house seemed concerned about something, though at the moment, all she could concentrate on was how much of a man Raeilun had grown into.
Taele shook her head to clear the thoughts away, a trick she had learned long ago to help her suppress her trauma. She followed after the rest of the group, curiosity overriding her natural sense of societal anxiety.
"Would someone please explain what's going on?" she asked, trying to sound tough and irritable.