Somebody That I Used To Know

AURORA HELVIG
Kiss Me Softly

The trail ended here, her heart only sank deeper as she moved slowly into the underbrush of a woodland she had never touched before, making her become all the more lost on where she was headed. So long as it didn’t rain though, she should be able to find her way back to the Lowlands if she needed to do so alone but maybe she may run into her new friend again and he could guide her back in that case. A breath chilled her lungs as she continued on in the projected direction her mother’s scent had been going, not so sure it was a good idea but to leave without her felt even worse than being lost. Keep close apparently didn’t go both ways, fearing the worst while hoping for the best despite a mosaic of scents foreign to her might be the only thing making her lose direction and she might just be around the corner. That was her wish.

She tried to stay covered, hoping she looked like stone but the more inland she went, the more wolves she started to see. Her body tinged with bounding anxiety, a feeling that never left her but after meeting a friendly Highlander it didn’t feel as scary. Not all of them followed Jacob and not all of them wanted to cut her up into little pieces. This would cause her to let a nice breath out, the thought easing her some. Maybe more were like that and maybe some would be willing to answer her questions of the Fae and their curses.

Porcelain and silver. The figure was like a haunting apparition as it passed her by into the delicate fog that tumbled over the land silently.

She continued on for a few more steps before stopping, realization slowly bringing a name to her lips. “Elias?” whispered softly, one likely unheard by anyone as her heart leapt into her throat before sinking back down into her chest, thudding against her fragile ribs. No, that couldn’t be right. Her head turned to the direction he was headed before settling on him, a mixture of emotions welling up. Part of her wanted to dismiss the thought and trek on as far from him as possible but her nature refused to allow her such a freedom. If it was him and he returned, what would that mean for her?

Drawing in a breath, she didn’t think beyond that before uttering the name louder, a prominent amount of worry lavishing her tone in a breathy call that wasn't that loud but louder than her voice normally went. “Elias!?” She didn’t wait to see if he would acknowledge her before moving toward him with a delicate but quickened gait, vaguely more emboldened by recent unplanned adventures. “A-are you safe? Hurt? I-I thought you were dead.” She stammered gently but urgently, coming up to his side till she might step in front of him to some capacity, in hope to garner his attention without being too forceful to deliberately draw him to a stop on any physical level. Though part of her expected him not to stop, that he wouldn’t give her the light of day if it really was him. That cold demeanor she knew him to have truly could chill her to the bone. All she could tell thus far is that the Mainlands did not mix within his cologne.

"You d-didn't leave b-b-because of me... the t-talks, did you?" she hesitantly asked, trying to catch some semblance of his gaze if he turned toward her. If something might stop him, might that? She knew she thought of running once or twice once his name entered her ears in whispers filled with expectation. Though, did such rebellion even dwell in his bones?

code by claerie
@Elias

ELIAS VANADIUM

"..."

He wasn't sure when this land had become home. Perhaps it was when the old man down the street had learned his name—likely from Orlaith—and had started coaxing him with food for labor. Despite his thin frame, the man needed help digging up his garden and clearing out old roots in anticipation of spring. Most of the men in Perth had gone north to prepare for the war effort and those that were left were busy hunting for their families. McBride—the man's name which Elias eventually decided to remember—had no sons. He'd lost them in the battle of 1707. So he'd give Elias warm stews made of bone broths and cured meats so long as Eli showed up to work.

McBride eventually introduced him to Haddie. Haddie had started giving him eggs so long as he watched over her chickens and chased off any foxes or raccoons that dared to get close.

And... well. Now he knew Perth quite well. He had a route and a routine. A purpose, although he wouldn't admit it. To Orlaith, he always expressed that he planned to return to the mainland one day. He remembered nothing else—but it was too cold, too rainy, or he was too tired to go each day. They'd make a plan and he'd break it.

Although, there was one face that had started resurfacing from the murk. It was much like his but while he had mixed gray and black on his brow, she had it around her eyes. He knew she was important but every time he tried to ask her in his dreams, she never answered. She just looked at the moon—before causing it all to ripple and wash away with a light tap of her paw.

One day he'd find her.
But as much as he felt the urge to, he felt... worried as well. Worried in a way he didn't understand. So he took solace in this little life he'd made in Perth.

...

He was on his way out into the fog around the outskirts of the town when he heard a voice. A voice that said his name.

He stopped, brow furrowing as he looked over his shoulder at a delicate figure. She was blanketed in black with a swipe of silver along the underside of her eyes—not unlike the girl from his dreams but inverted. She had eyes like river stones —eyes that were now round with worry. Then she said his name louder and quickly approached him.

In truth, he didn't know who she was. The scent of her, however, ringed some bells. Reminded him of... something he couldn't name. It was like an itch he couldn't scratch and his eyes narrowed slightly.

“A-are you safe? Hurt? I-I thought you were dead.”

Ah. Elias felt his heartrate quicken as he realized now that she wasn't some girl from Perth come to fetch him for a job. That scent, while he could not place it, must have been from the mainland. She must have been as well. And if she thought he was dead, perhaps he had been gone for too long. Or maybe he'd vanished over a cliff face? Got lost in a river? Everything he'd experienced before coming to in the Highlands was little more than an inky void.

"You d-didn't leave b-b-because of me... the t-talks, did you?"
"Who are you?" Elias asked then, cocking his head and ignoring her questions.

A man of manners would have explained his predicament, but he had never been one of those.

lost boy from neverland

@Aurora

AURORA HELVIG
Kiss Me Softly

The moment he’d turn to her and she’d catch the frost of his gaze, her heart would flutter as she came to a stop of her own but not from a place of infatuation or timidity. Quite the opposite. Her gaze collected every bit of his visage like a divine passage in the pages of a book she regretted reading but couldn’t look away from till she got to the end. Taking little notes of each hair that might be misplaced to the way expression or lack thereof might cause faint shadows that would only temporarily age a youthful face. That ice crown so perfectly poised upon his brow, hardly different than she remembered. It was those eyes, eyes she couldn’t hold for long before her gaze would peel from his vanity that felt hollow yet those arrogant airs felt more subdued than she remembered, quizzical even. Attentive, only slightly or curious? An oddity that made her nervous but there was no denying this looked like him and he stopped to the name uttered upon her lips.

It was Elias Vanadium. It was the Cold Prince, there was no mistaking that.

So when he spoke, her heart nearly found its way into her throat, suddenly feeling so small by the question alone that it made her peek back up at him but the porcelain wouldn’t crack that easily despite the turmoil it caused inside. That worried expression would not fade and succumb to that crushing feeling, Who are you?, a simple three words, could cause. Doubt would swarm within, suddenly thinking her mind was just playing games on her, that she had the wrong person. He did look less frail than she could recall, no longer the same kind of ceramic as she. Wanting to believe that even so she could turn tail and leave and yet she remained fixed in place to answer that question even if only to humor him. “Aurora Helvig. The o-one that was poss-possibly going to be b-b-betrothed to you… S-s-sorry I’m so easy to f-f-forget,” she said softly, shifting the blame onto herself far too quickly rather than accepting any of it was his own fault for always being so distant to the point she really knew nothing of him.

“But that i-isn’t important right now.” This wasn’t about her, not in the slightest as she slowly took a timid yet worried step forward as if thinking him just a ghost that would vanish if she made any distance between them.

“There’s been so many r-rr-rumors spread about you. The most worrying of them having been that y-your maid possibly had…disposed of you,” her ears would draw back, a look in her gold and crystal gaze that would ask if Roisin truly had anything to do with it, without uttering a word. She didn’t know the servant; she couldn’t even really say what she looked like but it wasn’t a kind rumor should it be entirely false. A target placed upon the woman’s back that may be entirely unfair. She knew she got her own maids in trouble from time to time then felt horrible if they were punished for her own poor mannered selfishness. “I’m just g-glad you look to be whole,” she added softly with a delicate smile, a bit of genuine warmth as she didn’t wish ill to befall him or really anyone for that matter.

code by claerie
@Elias

ELIAS VANADIUM

"..."

"Aurora Helvig."
She was a porcelain doll, her fur a rich ebony like hearthfire smoke. Her paws were delicate, not unlike his cat's, and her eyes were like two polished riverstones. He could not deny that she was beautiful, impressively so, as if she'd been drawn by an artist first in graphite before being breathed into life.

He wasn't sure why he felt disappointed when her name brought no clarity to him. No irritating itch of near recognition.

The name made him think of nothing. Nothing at all. And his expression did not hide his disappointment—although his brow furrowed in confusion as she explained more. "The o-one that was poss-possibly going to be b-b-betrothed to you… S-s-sorry I’m so easy to f-f-forget."

A pale ear flicked in annoyance for he greatly disliked her stuttering. In the moment, however, that was the last thing on his mind to correct.

She took a timid step forward and Elias only continued to stare, his gaze sparking with intensity.

“There’s been so many r-rr-rumors spread about you. The most worrying of them having been that y-your maid possibly had…disposed of you."

He'd had a betrothed? A maid?

Some part of him flushed with a sense of satisfaction as if he'd been entitled to such things. It suited him, he thought. Although—maid? At that, he felt oddly uncomfortable. He heard the haunting echo of the voice that'd plagued him for months now: "You’re not capable of caring. That would require a heart and you are clearly lacking one."

“I’m just g-glad you look to be whole." Her voice and sweet smile brought him back. Rather than speak immediately, he took a moment to search her face for any additional clues or signs of dishonesty. Alas, she seemed to be telling the truth. If anything, she was too easy to read, as if her feelings were blooms of color within a transparent case.

"Who was—am—I?" Elias asked then. Part of him debated asking if she loved him—but that wasn't of much consequence for his current predicament. And he might have asked her if he'd loved her but quickly decided it wouldn't matter.

"The maid, who was she?"

lost boy from neverland

@Aurora

AURORA HELVIG
Kiss Me Softly

She couldn’t make heads or tails of what was going on in his mind, where his expression wasn’t void it was subtle enough not to be wholly transparent either. It would make her fidget internally but his presence would make her not allow it to spill beyond her eyes, not wanting to appear poor at all in his eyes and yet she felt as though she very much was as he said nothing for the longest time. Her name not granting her any more familiarity within his features, if anything he looked more perplexed than anything, making her feel like she was nothing but a disappointment to him. She had grown up believing her worth was in who she would marry, from her uncle and it seems she was forever failing at acquiring the only goal he had placed on her shoulders in life. A name that could hold enough significance that it could strengthen the Helvig’s booming riches.

Her head would tilt down as she moved closer, that bit of boldness to meet his gaze starting to dissolve, if anything her whole body felt made of ice just by being this close to him. Maybe it was best she just go, for both of their sakes. It was clear he didn’t want anything to do with her and she couldn’t tell if that was on purpose or not. She was already roaming out of her comfort zone and it was getting her nowhere, only more lost and heartbroken. So much for not being alone now.

“For-” she started to dismiss it all, ready to turn tail and continue on her quest to find the one that mattered more to her. She felt bad but if he didn’t even know who she was, it wasn’t like she had much of a choice, right? There was no importance but as his voice faded in, cutting her off from telling him to forget it, confusion of her own would line her face as she looked back up at him. She stared at him timidly but with vast intrigue. Who was he? Did he have amnesia? That would explain a lot of things, like why he actually looked like he had been using his body to do his own things for a change instead of looking as porcelain as she remembered.

“You are the you-young Lord Vanadium of the Mainlands. U-umm Elias Vanadium,” she leaned in just a little to whisper this to him, so no prying ears could hear, worried such a title would get him smited in the Highlands if what her mother said was true. “Or what many often seem to r-r-refer to you as the Ice Prince,” she finished softly before withdrawing such close proximity, preferring not to go into why. Maybe if he didn’t remember he’d come back with a better personality, that was her hope anyway. A man as elegant and alluring as ice but just as cold.

The question that followed made her head perk up once more. “Ms Roisin Samaire, she’s a H-Highlander from what I am aware. I didn’t r-r-really knnnow her but you two d-didn’t seem to get on well, for g-good enough reason,” she answered, trying to remember the woman as best she could. She mostly just recalled the passing quarrels rather than the woman herself.

Her ears would perk up before pulling back as a messenger bird came swooping down to inform her of her mother’s whereabouts, her eyes widening as it flew away just as quickly. Khepri? She had met him before but for her to just go to him first and foremost for what seemed to be a spontaneous illness was alarming. At least she knew where she was and that meant she didn’t have to look anymore, and her focus could hone only on Elias now and getting home. “It’s not sssafe here Elias, not for us. Please, let’s go home, I’m sure your f-family will be s-so relieved to see you are okay as am I,” she would beg gently, even if it wasn’t ideal, she’d prefer his company over no one at all on such a long voyage back to Castle Stuart. She was ready to leave wherever he may roam.

She couldn’t leave him here, so he would either follow her or she'd follow him, she wasn't about to give him a choice in the matter. He was but a lost boy.

-exit to wherever elias may roam or fade to more talking lol-

code by claerie
@Elias

ELIAS VANADIUM

"..."

While her tongue seemed to flutter within her mouth like a caged bird, incapable of fully flying free with all that it knew, she was knowledgable. About him, a feature that he quickly warmed to despite any annoyance he felt for her stutter. More to her credit, she did not toy with him either. Unlike the Highlanders that seemed to wield information like some prized secret, always playing cat and mouse with those they deemed ignorant, this Aurora was quite forthcoming. It allowed her to keep his attention which was as fickle as ever, amnesia or no.

“You are the you-young Lord Vanadium of the Mainlands. U-umm Elias Vanadium."

Vanadium. Recognition sparked within his pale, periwinkle eyes. His toes flexed as if he had just stepped into shoes that were undeniably his own. Vanadium. It simply felt right, and this sense of familiarity was like an electric shock. Such elation overpowered his initial distaste for her proximity, the likes of which he would have jerked away from if not for the importance of the information she held.

Briefly, he snorted at the mention of "ice prince". However, he accepted the moniker without much complaint. What use was it to battle with a layman's perception of the world? It mattered little to him what his label was so long as they used his name to his face.

A pale ear flicked as those opinions floated to the surface of his mind so naturally that he hadn't stopped to question them.

Similarly, his muzzle wrinkled as Aurora mentioned Roisin Samaire. Disgust rose within his chest, frustration burned within his veins, and his brow furrowed most severely. Inside, he heard that voice again—and he stepped to the side if only to remove some of the pent up energy. In this alone Aurora was wrong. They did not merely fail to "get on well". If anything, he had the distinct conviction that they were enemies. That he, dare he say, hated her.

...

A bird drifted by and Elias ignored it, as well as Aurora's attention to it. His thoughts settled exclusively on the news that this young woman had brought him—and what he wished to do about it, if anything.

“It’s not sssafe here Elias, not for us. Please, let’s go home, I’m sure your f-family will be s-so relieved to see you are okay as am I.”

Slowly, Elias looked back at her—at her fragile frame and round, imploring gaze. His was as unreadable as ever, but ultimately, he nodded his head in agreement.

"But first, there is someone I must collect."

- exit elias -

lost boy from neverland

@Aurora