DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Underground Unlimited
HTML https://undergroundunlimited.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Woodland
*****************************************************
#Post#: 4205--------------------------------------------------
A Grandly Gilded Adventure (Hastings & Idris)
By: guest165 Date: November 12, 2018, 12:21 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[sub]In Character Date & Time: Friday, 20th November UUY 1,
mid-afternoon[/sub]
Rain pattered unrelentingly on the window panes as a damp black
nose pressed against the cold glass, a heavy sigh blossoming
forth from the narrow snout to fog the inside of them with a
pair of twin plumes. It simply wasn’t fair that it had been
clear and sunny all week, and now that school was done and the
weekend begun, he was being forced to stay inside for something
so mundane as the weather. Even the dripping branches of the
sprawling forest beyond his bedroom window seemed to beckon to
him, wondering why he wasn’t out there frolicking among them,
climbing and exploring as he so often did any chance he could
get.
Idris Canawyr wondered the same thing himself, but the only
answer he got from his nursemaid was that he would catch a cold.
This hardly seemed like the worst thing in the world, as it
would mean getting to skip tutoring while he was ill.
Then again I guess it would kinda suck a little.
With another blossoming sigh, the young vulpine heir pulled away
from that window, letting the thick curtains fall back into
place to cover the view that only seemed to mock him. With the
great outdoors cut off from him, the only recourse left was to
entertain himself indoors. He knew his sister Tesni would be far
too busy with whatever she was doing – probably thinking about
boys, eugh – to play with him, and his brother Neirin was
typically helping their father with the House’s affairs, seeing
as he was most likely the next in line to inherit the title as
eldest of the trio. Idris definitely didn’t want to ask his
nursemaid or his mother to play with him, as either of those
choices would likely put his idle paws to work, and after
spending all week working on his lessons, the last thing the
young pup wanted to do was more work!
Glancing around his room, there were the various books on the
shelves – most of which he’d already read – and of course a
reasonable variety of toys that he’d explored to doldrum at this
point. He wished he had a computer like Tesni, but apparently he
wasn’t yet “old enough” for such a thing, being only allowed to
use one while doing his schoolwork. He’d have loved to play some
of the games he’d heard about from other kids, but there simply
was no remedy for it, and as his mother would say, he simply had
to lift his chin and carry on.
Such a thought made him scrunch up his furred features into a
tooth-baring grimace as he stuck out his flat tongue in an
expression of annoyed disgust. He caught sight of his face in a
nearby mirror and the ridiculousness of it was enough to make
him utter a brief bark of laughter, wiping the expression from
his face and bringing a little more cheer into his green-gold
eyes. “Okay, okay, I guess Mum does have something of a point,”
he admitted aloud, reaching up with a paw to scratch along the
back of his black-striped neck.
The gesture seemed to help him think, as his inner ruminations
soon turned toward the space outside his room, particularly as
his belly added its grumbling to the mix. Lunch was long gone by
this point, but it wasn’t quite time for dinner either, as that
was still a few hours away. Normally he’d have just gone to the
kitchens and asked for a snack and listened to the various staff
as they chatted amongst themselves, but today such sitting still
seemed absolutely intolerable.
Time for some ‘takeout’ then, Idris decided, already slinking
towards his bedroom door. There were no footsteps in the
corridor beyond that his large black-edged ears could detect, so
he slipped out with a silent twist of the handle and shut it
behind him with equal stealth. Everyone would assume he was just
in his bedroom until dinnertime anyway, but no sense breaking
that illusion with a carelessly ajar door!
Padding barefoot down the halls with intimate familiarity – for
what child didn’t know the way to where the food was by heart? –
it wasn’t long before the black and white kit was slipping into
the kitchens, where the staff was already starting to bustle in
preparation for dinner now that lunch had been thoroughly
cleaned up. It wasn’t just his family that was being fed, Idris
knew, but also all the people who worked here at the manor,
along with any guests that might show up, and even those who
would have otherwise went without. He’d visited the Capital once
with his brother on some errand, and still remembered the hungry
eyes of some of the beggars he’d seen in the shadows.
It had been a good reminder of just how fortunate he was.
Such a thought was pushed from his mind as his nose caught wind
of some freshly baked rolls sitting on the counter. These he
soon realized were the kind stuffed with meat and cheese, and
sometimes other savory things. Saliva gathered in response and
forced him to swallow before he made a mess, and he swiftly
ducked between the various countertops and tables to snatch up a
couple of cloth napkins from their neatly folded pile.
Fortunately his still short stature made him nigh invisible
among the adult throng far too busy with their own affairs to
worry about a small furball underfoot, and Idris was quick to
take advantage of this by snatching and stuffing a good handful
of those rolls in his makeshift bags. He found a skin of freshly
pressed apple juice from their orchards to go with it, and with
those ill gotten goods in his possession, the young scamp was
quick to egress from the kitchens and back into the corridors,
making some haste to get far away from the scene of his ‘crime’.
[hr]
Filled with wanderlust due to being denied access to the world
beyond those walls from the weather, Idris’ already moving feet
took him in new and unusual directions with some amount of
alacrity in his escape. By the time the young fox stopped to
catch his breath, he realized that he had no idea where he was,
as he’d never seen this part of their home before. It wasn’t dim
and dismal by any means, but the lighting here was sparser,
showing it was some lesser used portion of the manor than what
he was used to.
Curiosity beckoned him onward, for getting to see something new
– and possibly forbidden? – was almost as exciting as getting to
run around outside. At the very least it was something new, and
definitely what the child was craving after a week of monotony.
Most of the rooms he peeked in didn’t seem very interesting –
largely empty spaces and the odd spare bedroom – but one finally
did catch his interest enough to make him open the door fully to
peer inside. It seemed to be some kind of storage room, filled
with various odds and ends stacked and leaned into various
corners and arrangements. It was pretty dim inside with the only
light coming from the western facing window, the dust motes
glistening in the air showing that nobody had been in here for
quite some time. It seemed like the perfect place where he could
enjoy his snack in peace, so Idris slipped in and shut the door
behind him, eyes quickly adjusting to the dim ambience.
Various trinkets and antique figurines drew his attention as he
wandered through the room, already having brought out one of the
meat rolls to munch on as he did so. Curious fingertips brushed
over details and shapes, leaving behind trails in the gathered
dust on those items exposed to the still air. It was enough to
make him sneeze occasionally, but not enough to deter him from
that illicit exploration even slightly. It was like being a
treasure hunter and finding a long lost trove! No way was he
going to quit over a little dust!
Idris was halfway through his second roll when a glint of
something golden caught his eye on the side of the room opposite
that window. One ear cocked in curiosity as he made his way
over, munching all the while. A large dust cloth covered
whatever it was, and without a second thought the kit reached up
with his free hand to tug at the canvas drape until it came
slithering down into a puddle before what turned out to be an
antique and ornate mirror. It was pretty big – at least as tall
as him – and had clearly been made for someone with pretty
elegant tastes.
Of course, being a child, Idris cared little about such details,
for upon seeing his reflection in the polished surface mid-munch
on the roll, he couldn’t help but make a ridiculous face with
bared teeth in a playful growl, soon after cracking up and
inadvertently spraying some half chewed crumbs on the surface.
“Oops.” Normally he wouldn’t care too much about cleaning up
such a mess, but today he knew it might give away his little
adventure, so after shoving the rest of the roll into his mouth
– which left him looking just a bit more chipmunk-like – he took
the last roll from the first napkin and started to use that to
clean the brilliantly polished surface in an effort to restore
it back to its former lustre.
#Post#: 4207--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Grandly Gilded Adventure (Hastings & Idris)
By: Antiqua Hastings Date: November 16, 2018, 9:25 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
In spite of the heating the house might have had installed, this
heating did not seem to extend to this room. The added chill of
the rain bringing the room to the crisp oaken and dust scented
edge of subzero. Renovations likely having not touched the
minimal insulation of the walls in this old and seemingly
forgotten store of antiquities and keepsakes.
The kits breath fogged the mirror as he drew close to it to wipe
the spray from the mirrors surface. Only adding short lived
streaks to the otherwise pristine nature of the looking glass.
Even for a mirror which had been covered and forgotten for so
long, there was little to no sign of any imperfection in it's
surface. The only aberration he encountered besides those added
by his crumbs and saliva was that if a hair thin crack running
from the top right corner of the surface to it's center.
Normally, such a detail would not mean much to one so young.
Idris's however still owned the inquisitive eyes and the
frenetic curiosity of early youth. untempered by age and the
ruin of fancy, he caught something rather strange. While the
crack itself appeared to remain... part of it was gone. Where he
had wiped his kerchief, he had seemingly erased the crack.
A trick if the light? No... It took no effort to see that in
spite of the rain pelting the window and the lighting
distortions therein, always the crack remained. Even the
possible allusion that the fogging of he breath was responsible.
Again, his breath evaporated from the mirrors surface and the
cracks (although shortened) remained. His eyes too catching a
brief flicker of motion within the reflection.
It was slight, but it had clearly come from the image of his own
person. While even his eyes could not have caught the exact
motion, his brain saw it. And it was wrong, prompting the cold
fingers of primitive instinct to crawl up his spine from his
bushy white and single black striped tail to his neck.
Hiding amidst the crates, boxes, refuse, and dust... he knew
that he was no longer alone.
#Post#: 4208--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Grandly Gilded Adventure (Hastings & Idris)
By: guest165 Date: November 17, 2018, 8:51 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Though Woodland was known for its eternal state of summer – in
contrast to its sister province of Snowdin and its eternal
winter – rainy days such as these did often bring an almost
autumnal crispness to the air, particularly if they lasted more
than a few days. It certainly never got as balmy as Hotland – it
wouldn’t do to compete with that fiery province seeing as it
would be bad for crops after all – but it never got truly cold
either, meaning that such a frigid temperature was definitely
unusual indeed. The only places in the manor that Idris knew of
that got that cold were the large, enchanted cold storage
larders that served to preserve foodstuffs, either before they
were used by the household, or in preparation for their
transport to other provinces for sale and processing.
Of course after his helter skelter pelt away from the core of
the domicile, the young kit was fairly warm to begin with, and
that coupled with the excitement of so much discovery prevented
the observant lad from noticing such a detail immediately as he
wandered the room and eventually found his way to the mirror.
And even as his fur began to prickle in response to feeling that
chill as he cooled off and cleaned the mirror in the aftermath
of his guffaw, it was easy to ascribe it to this place being
unused and the exterior weather – to a point.
After all, how could one be afraid of monsters when you already
were one?
Granted, the vulpine child could hardly have elicited a fear
response from someone even if he tried, given his rather scrawny
build and overall furred cuteness. It wasn’t really in his
nature to try at any rate, despite his mock snarls in the
mirror; those were merely goofy faces that every child makes,
and it wasn’t like they were remotely intimidating anyway.
Perhaps it was that certainty that he was alone that let Idris
be so bold as his breath fogged the mirror in his efforts to
polish away the crumbs, the safety of his home lending him
security even as he had his little adventure without any
supervision – or even adults nearby to aid him. Such confidence
didn’t lower his guard per se – seeing as it hadn’t ever been
properly raised as of yet – but it did allow his inquisitive
mind to come to the fore as he soaked in all the details about
the mirror, finding it intriguing the more he looked at it.
Particularly when that scratch seemed to melt away with the
warmth of his breath.
As Idris squinted at it – and even went to fog another portion
of the scratch with his breath to try cleaning further after
quickly chewing and swallowing his mouthful – there was that
motion in the mirror that, while his eyes couldn’t quite
perceive, his mind certainly did and sent up a few instinctual
red flags of alarm in response to this visual oddity that felt
wholly unnatural. Reflections did not move, not unless the
source did or they were enchanted.
Or perhaps the mirror were more than just that.
Despite the cold that was already raising his fur to insulate
him further, Idris felt the hackles along the back of his neck –
and in fact all down his spine – raise in response to the sudden
crawling sensation he felt along his length. Having been so
certain that he was alone, the young heir now had a sudden
certainly that he wasn’t, and given that the door had not opened
since he’d shut it behind him, that meant that whomever – or
whatever – was in the room with him had translocated in, or –
perhaps worse – had been here all along.
Help – if he needed it – was much too far away, and to even seek
it would mean admitting to his illicit exploration of this part
of the house. And even to run would be tantamount to admitting
some kind of guilt, not to mention potentially rouse the
predatory instincts of whatever was in here with him now. No,
Idris realized, he was all alone on this, and if he wanted to
get out with his pelt intact, he was going to have to face his
fears head on, just like Undyne. Thus, steeling his nerves like
he imagined the Heroine of the Underground must do before facing
her own foes, the youngest Canawyr child turned to face the
direction where the feeling of that entity lurking was the
strongest, attempting to keep his back to something solid while
standing tall – relatively speaking – as he addressed the
unknown more calmly than he felt:
“Who’s there?”
#Post#: 4209--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Grandly Gilded Adventure (Hastings & Idris)
By: Antiqua Hastings Date: December 2, 2018, 10:47 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
There was no reply, only the pattering of the rain outside the
window and his own breathing to mark the presence of anything
outside of his person. His instincts however had not begun to
wind down and cease to warn him of the unseen presence.
Bafflingly, the natural intuition of direction, while offering
no clear line of sight or direction, nagged earnestly to him...
...that he may have already laid eyes on it.
In spite of the mirror's solid structure and the fact that it's
surface made no perceptible physical change beyond that which he
had already smudged away in the form of the crack, but there was
a flicker of motion in the corner of his vision from it's
vicinity.
#Post#: 4210--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Grandly Gilded Adventure (Hastings & Idris)
By: guest165 Date: December 5, 2018, 1:30 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The silence that met Idris’ address – the pattering of rain
aside – felt anticlimactic to say the least. Still, the intense
feeling of something or someone still being in here with the
young kit did not wane in the slightest, despite the lack of an
audible response to his verbal demands. It kept his senses on
full alert, the sound of his own heart beating in his ears
feeling loud by comparison to the muted audio of the storage
room. Dark nostrils flared with his quietly panted breath,
green-gold eyes darting from place to place as he tried to spy
the source of this persistent nagging feeling.
Logic and instinct alike both ultimately brought his gaze back
to that reflective surface.
That it was solid was without question, at least in the mundane
sense that every mirror was. It was unclear if his further
attempts to breathe away more of the crack had been successful
or not, but that had become much a background concern to the
more pressing feeling that had the hackles along his whole spine
raised and prickling like they were charged with electricity.
Still, in a world full of magic, one learned that not everything
in it was ever as it seemed, and the flickers of his reflection
at the edges of his vision only seemed to nag harder at the gut
feeling that this ancient object was far more than met this
youth’s eye.
Fear still clawed at him, gnawing away at his innards and
wending around his soul, but a simple thought fought back as
Idris took a step away from where he’d put his back to, right
hand outstretching toward his own reflection: What if it’s just
as alone and afraid as me?
Such a notion brought an upwelling of kindness from the kit, who
was filled with the sudden realization that if there really was
a being in the mirror, that it had been down here for a very,
very long time. The whys and wherefores weren’t nearly as
pressing, simply the knowledge that maybe they weren’t so very
different in this moment was enough to make this noblemonster
reach out, paw pressing to the mirror in a gesture meant to
emulate one of friendship. “It’s okay,” he murmured softly, eyes
scanning his own reflection, “I don’t wanna hurt you. I’m Idris.
What should I call you?”
#Post#: 4212--------------------------------------------------
Re: A Grandly Gilded Adventure (Hastings & Idris)
By: Antiqua Hastings Date: December 9, 2018, 8:24 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
With his paw against the pristine surface of the mirror, a
strange warmth seemed to bloom from the palm of his hand along
the reflective surface, like another being had placed it's hand
on his through the thin glass veil of a window pane. The twinge
of movement occurred once more, this time unmistakably from his
own reflection as 'his' ear idly flicked without any impetus
from Idris.
"...Hastings..." his reflection answered with some hesitance.
The voice however was not his own, a soft, cracking, and dry
pitch like ancient papers rustling against themselves on some
forgotten shelf. His touch being the breeze which once again
moved them after centuries of neglect.
With his paw still raised, the newly dubbed "Hastings" leaned
forward. Looking cautiously about the room, both within and
without of his gilded frame. A look of subtle distress creasing
the features of Idris's reflection as it spoke to him again,
looking him in the eyes like a small lost child.
"...Where are we, Idris?"
*****************************************************