stranger than earth / p

[ROSEMARY]

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She found herself irritated by the lack of books in this place. If she found herself properly motivated, she considered she might just have to build a library - but, for now, she contented herself with slowly growing her own personal stash of books. But she also needed something else: a chess set. For now, she made do with her own craftsmanship, but... her pieces never lasted too long.

Sitting in one of the rooms deep beneath the hull of the ship, the ocelot's twin tails flicked behind her as she concentrated on her mysticism. The room, charged with her energy already, seemed at least 10 degrees colder than the rest of the ship; a feat that might make some assume she conversed with spirits. Rosemary, though, held little to no interest in the hollow remnants of the dead; instead, she wanted to hone her powers and create a useful tool at the same time.

For, you see, Rosemary liked to play chess even against herself. But with no chess set in sight, she needed to make her own; and what better way to do that than with just s smidgen of the nearly infinite amount of water around them?

A bucket placed before her, she mumbled incoherently to herself as she focused, all four eyes narrowed on the still water within. With an orange flash to her eyes, the water suddenly leaped to the floor in 32 small streams. Yet, as soon as the water touched the floor, it froze - and all of them took the pattern of a chess piece; one set with rectangular bases, the other with circular to represent black and white respectively.

Huffing from exertion, the ocelot resolved to just find someone with a decent set to trade with. This solution wasn't viable long-term, since the ice would simply melt without her mystical interference.

[member=469]coldblue[/member]

[coldblue]

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The ship is among some of the last places Coldblue ever willingly spends a large amount of time within. It stinks of sea, salt, and filth, no matter how much scrubbing is done. The youth values his appearance far too much to risk dirtying himself in some rickety old boat. So why does the lean tomcat prowl through the dark halls, avoiding the creakiest of wooden planks? Simple: he is looking for someone. Rosemary, to be exact. His, uh, unusual aunt caught his attention when she first joined. How could she not with the extra eyes and tail? Coldblue cannot fathom how that wonderfully strange creature is at all related to his boring father is beyond him, but that is not the point of this visit. The point is that...it's...well... Okay, so maybe Blue isn't quite sure what he wants from Aunty Rose, but the boy is not the type to ignore his whims. Instead, he embraces the wholeheartedly, even if it takes him into the aged belly of a docked sea vessel.

It does not take him long to find her. The boy has always possessed a good intuition, allowing him to find his way to unknown places with minimal effort. Halting at the door to Rosemary's room, Coldblue knocks quietly on the wood. He can be quiet rude, but only to people he doesn't like or respect. Blue respects his aunt, though, so he is not particularly inclined to be anything other than mannerly. "Aunt Rose?" he calls, not wishing to barge in just in case she was eating dead bodies like Roxie. "May I come in?"

// thank u for making <3

[ROSEMARY]

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Distracted from her frustration with the chess set by an unexpected knock at the door, the ocelot's ears twitched as she tilted her head. She identified the person by voice alone - because, otherwise, how could she call herself an Aunt to the young feline? With a wave of her paw, she concentrated as she managed to move the door knob with a powerful gust of wind angled just perfectly so. The resulting click of the metalwork and following creeeeak of the opening wooden door followed her success, and she found herself quite pleased her small accomplishment. Controlling air never came easily to her, as she found herself much more comfortable with the mystical water arts - with those, she could always see what she worked with.

"Of course you can, Blue - excuse the mess and chill, I was practicing a bit," she meowed to him, expecting that the opening door already introduced him to odd temperature of the room. At around ten degrees cooler than the rest of the ship -- along with the ice chess set in front of her -- it was fairly obvious what she was doing. But, Rosemary never really made an effort to keep her mystical abilities with water a secret. Everything else, though, remained rarely spoken. Tilting her head, her forked tail flicked as she added, "I hope everything is alright?" Usually, people only visited her in a panic about Goldie getting injured or ask if she could provide free air conditioning; she wasn't quite expecting a social call.

[coldblue]

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With a creak, the door opens of it's own accord. At least, that is what it seems like, especially as he slowly enters Rosemary's chambers only to find her sitting across the room. Cool. Coldblue always thought his aunt was a touch different from most. No, it was not just the four eyes which caused him to suspect she possessed more...supernatural abilities, but also the fact that whenever she is around, strange things tend to occur. Wonderful things. "Wow..." The boy cannot help but gush at the sight of his aunt's quarters. It is everything he imagined and more. Piles of books are stacked haphazardly around the room, and there is a distinct chill to the room which is different from the rest of the ship. "Oh," he says, glacial blue eyes finally observing the chess board magically constructed from ice. "That's why it's so cold. Awesome." Emboldened by his curiosity, the handsome seal lynx bengal takes his time inspecting some of the baubles decorating the room, reading the names of books, and simply enjoying the otherworldly space Rose has created for herself before joining his aunt.

His head cocks to the side as he listens, the silence dragging on for several moments following the conclusion of Rosemary's queries as he ponders his potential responses. Does he tell the truth or play it cool? Blue has never been a very honest creature unless it is regards to telling someone how much they displease him or expressing his, uh, interest. Otherwise, the young tomcat keeps his feelings under wraps; choosing to embrace an established facade for himself as opposed to expressing his true nature. Rose, however, is among the few individuals who Coldblue trusts. And maybe she scares him just enough that he is not fond of lying to her face. "It depends on what aspect of my life you're asking about," he laments finally, a troubled look marring his handsome features. Almost immediately, he feels as if a massive weight has been removed from his chest--and he has yet to even get to the main point! It's amazing what simple communication can do for a person, especially one as lonely as he. "I just feel so weak and useless. Everyone loves Goldie and my father, but I'm just...nothing. I don't matter. I want to be able to do more for our family." The forgotten son. The black sheep. "I've been wondering if...if you could teach me what you know?" Please. The latter is unspoken, but it is clear from his expression that he is earnest. Something within him tells him that the person who can help him is his aunt and no one else.

[ROSEMARY]

ROSEMARY ROUX

A soft smile grew from her lips as she heard Coldblue's words and saw the genuine curiosity glowing from the bengal's aura. She watched him explore with her own curiosity, noticing how much he adores her book collection and notice of the various jarred plants and other herbalist objects. She found herself puzzeled why the young tomcat never properly seemed to express this side of himself around others - like his father, she only saw the boy treat the captain with a frigid callouseness. She, not unused to the idea of family secrets, never pressed to learn the reason why Coldblue seemed to dislike his father while Goldie adored him.

But, she noted to herself, it almost seemed like Coldblue became a bit more himself when he entered her quarters. No doubt, being away from others' prying eyes played a part, but she had to wonder if he really just needed to escape the weight of his family for a moment. As the silence stretched on, she thought about this oddness most of all but didn't press him. After all, Rosemary herself knew her authentic, private self was strikingly different from her public self.

As his words, her smile turns to a small frown - for what troubles a young apprentice like this so much? She could see the ghoulish color for embarrassment color the boy's words, and she felt a ping of empathy for him. Even in her family coven, Rosemary always found herself the odd one; the one that mastered concepts the quickest, but nevertheless seemed to incur disappointment from her elders whenever she used her abilities. "You're not useless or weak. Everyone has a few odd talents that define their usefulness to the group. You're young; you simply haven't figured out these talents yet," Rosemary countered him, her voice calm with a strong undertone of conviction.

She frowned again, slightly, as she contemplated his question. "I can certainly try to teach you everything I know, but most of my talents are innate - not everyone can make a chess set out of ice, for example. I can teach you medicine and plants, but you might not find the subject interesting and thus fail to stick with it. And you might have talents that I can't teach you, like how to fight or grow your own garden," she answered him, her head tilting to the side. After a small pause to gather the rest of her thoughts, she added, "It's not that I'm saying no, I'm asking that you keep searching and perfecting your own talents, rather than just learning from me. You can only go so far with one teacher." Rosemary, herself, accredited her strong magical and medical abilities to the fact she learned from everyone in the coven - without that wonderful environment supporting information communalism, she doubted she would have been ready to leave the coven after her little incident.

She smiled slightly, though, as she added, "I will be more than happy to help you with magic. I'm going to try and elicit a response from your magic with mine - it might get... uncomfortable." Narrowing her smaller pair of eyes, she focused on creating a telepathic link between the two of them. She could do this without his telepathic abilities, but she hoped the snap of its formation would create a small backlash from the boy's own mental magic. To help this along, she attempted to send a fluttering memory of yesterday's hunt for orchids, where she'd managed to find a couple growing out of a giant rock cracked down the middle.

© MADI