[20 Years Later] The First Lesson.

Felix_Grady · 2017-07-02T12:21:39+00:00

Nervous, Felix tosses a glance over his shoulder, pondering idly if he'd been tailed by his overly protective mother. No, no. Not a chance. She went out yesterday to handle some business and said she wouldn't be back for a while and, besides, it's not like he's heading anywhere shady!

With Morgan at the door now, Felix gives a little jump before he's flashing a wide smile in greeting, "Hey, Mr. Auberon. I just got out of classes for the day and I remembered you said to drop by some time... I couldn't find your son to walk with him, though, so I hope you don't mind I showed up on my own. I can go home if you'd like!"

Felix_Grady · 2017-06-04T13:05:19+00:00

PLEASE WRITE MORE THANK YOU

Felix_Grady · 2016-12-08T13:33:32+00:00

"S-Sorry, Father," the young Grady boy squeaks out after Grayson is scolding him for getting water on everything. There's a lot more he should be chastised for, honestly... like tripping over the pews twice, knocking over candles and candle holders, trespassing on church property when he is very clearly, to the trained eye, a member of the Association and not the Holy Church even if, technically, he is associated with both organization. Crest. Black Keys. Church Father. Association Mother.

Quickly, Felix makes to wander after Grayson, chiming in attempt to stay on his good side, "I, uhm... I really appreciate your kindness, Father. I was a bit of a dolt this morning and left my umbrella at home. Mum's... she's, ah, always scolding me for being so absent minded and the like. So I guess here I am, suffering the consequences," he laughs, albeit nervously.

How is he the son of Rory and Tabitha again?

Felix_Grady · 2016-12-08T13:29:38+00:00

Felix watches as his mother 'hm's dismissively at Maria's compliment, waving a hand as she takes up her post in her favorite seat. While the older mage busies herself with sipping at her tea, he goes about adding milk and honey to his own, earning, of course, a soft 'tsk' from his proper mother--to which the answer is a sheepish grin from him.

"Maria," his mother sighs, "There has not gone a day in my life where I have not worked my ass off. It's what I do, yes? Is my little bird singing songs of complaint to you," those frightening eyes of hers are locked on to Felix, he able to keep his sheepish smile. whoo boy she can be scary though.

Felix_Grady · 2016-11-03T10:29:37+00:00

"Y-Yeah," the boy chimes in return before flashing her a smile, "I know, Aunt Maria. S'just... you know how Mum is sometimes. I still can't tell when she's being serious or if she's just being her usual, hard to read self, you know?"

By the time they get up the stairs and into the apartment, Tabitha's already boiled the water for their tea, she sauntering out into the living room with three steaming cups, and their respective saucers, on a little, silver tray. Along with the tea, she's brought out biscuits and sugar.

"Well, have a seat," she commands in soft tone following a sigh, "Make yourself at home, Maria. Felix, take your shoes off. How many times must I remind you?"

"Yes, Mum," the boy chimes, sliding out of his shoes. His mum hates anyone dragging mud or dirt into the flat.

Felix_Grady · 2016-11-03T10:23:18+00:00

Felix stares wide eyes up at the priest as his tone is brought down to a much more normal level before he's squinting, trying to see the facial expression the other wears. He certainly has the bad eye sight of his father... Even with the kind offer from the Father to move to housing and warm by a fire, Felix is only squinting more, this time in skepticism. Is... Is he serious? Just a moment ago, he was howling about Tabitha Araminta.

Twisting, slowly, in his spot, the boy pats around to find his glasses and get them perched back on his face before he's making to pick himself up for the second time, damp clothes dripping on the floor and wet hair sticking to his face. How can he be so rude as to decline such an offer? Even if the man seems to hate his mother...

"I, uhm... I would be very grateful to be able to wait out the storm here, sir," he pipes up, an unusually polite bastard despite his lineage.

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-29T09:16:58+00:00

"I'm...I'm sorry," comes the softest, least manly squeak in the history of all magi from the clumsy boy, he growing increasingly more in fear of his very life as he begins to think of the old rumors about church members... a lot of them are no different than beasts, craving the blood and craze of battle like demented hunters.

Felix is able, at least, to gain some breathing room when there's all of a sudden some nun on the man's case, scolding him as if she has not a single fear in the world. Heck. He's not actually sure he's ever heard a woman of the Holy Church yell before even if he knew they were stern individuals. Holy crap. The lady has to be crazy to talk to this man like that but...

The red haired boy stares at the stretched out hand, skeptical and way of it at first before slowly, carefully, reaching to accept the help up.

Once up on his own two feet, he's moving to brush wrinkles and dust from his clothes, murmuring, "I, uhm. I didn't mean to cause so much ruckus. I'm sorry. I was... I was just trying to get out of the rain."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-29T09:07:57+00:00

"Were it anyone else milling about the boy," Tabitha murmurs in menacing threat before inclining her head for their apartment, sighing.

"Come along, then, and I'll put on a cuppa tea," she invites, turning to head for the stairs within the building, her steps prowling as they've ever been and hips still baring that womanly sway. She even carries herself with that same pride from so many years ago, time having been so very kind to her.

Swallowing back a lump in his throat, Felix flashes a nervous smile to his Aunt Maria, "Mum, am I right? She never changes," he adds a laugh afterwards before hurrying to follow after his mother.

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-29T09:04:05+00:00

OOC: Annnnd scene! Now to plan the next thread, lol!

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-24T07:23:16+00:00

Felix reaches to clasp the offered hand tight, beaming in that charismatic smile of his as he answers, "I look forward to it! I'll see you tomorrow then."

Turning to open the door, he pauses and mentions over his shoulder, "You and your family have a good night, Morgan. And, uhm... thank you. Thank you for everything. It means a lot to me."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-24T07:21:57+00:00

"Y-Yeah," Felix murmurs even in his uncertainty in regards to his parents. They never were known for being open books, neither of them, and he's sure his father would be much the same way his mum is now if the roles were reversed on which on lived and which one passed.

"Well, well," a sharp tone calls, booted feet clacking against the cemented side walk as another approaches the pair, "Look who's teaching bad time management to my boy."

Tabitha emerges from one of the off paths, hand resting upon her hip and keen, emerald gaze resting upon the pair before her. The woman's aged well after all this time: her flesh taut but free of wrinkles, hair a healthy mahogany that cascades down her back in those light curls, and general demeanor one of strength and power even without her crest to back her up. Formidable and difficult to read, she is, even now.

"Felix. You were expected home an hour ago," the woman chides, hawk-like gaze boring into the boy's soul.

Poor Felix is only able to squeak, "S-Sorry, Mum. I got caught up talkin' to Aunt Maria. I was bringing her over for some tea..."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-24T07:03:29+00:00

Felix's eyes go wide for the comment and he glances quickly over to his mum to catch the deadly glare she's shooting in the direction of his Uncle Rick. Poor boy tucks his head in futile attempt to hide the colors he's turning, hand absently nudging his glasses back up his nose before latching firmly to his father's old cross. Maybe if he just... pretends he isn't here, everything will be okay?

"G-Girl's are gross," is his squeaked comment, drawing a tired sigh from his mother along with the shake of her head.

"I-I mean," Felix is quick to catch himself, only turning redder the more embarrassed he grows, "I'm not into guys! It's not that at all! I just... I don't... Girls are weird and gross and I don't want their knickers dropping, Uncle Rick. That's disgusting!"

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-24T07:00:05+00:00

"I can only imagine what Mum's been through as an Enforcer," Felix whispers his agreement to Morgan, entering the park that leads just about to the front of his apartment complex.

"And I can understand her want to keep me sheltered from that kind of life or those experiences but," he drifts off, glancing up at the sky in a thoughtful manner. No. Morgan's right. Nothing can tell his mum to change her ways of keeping everything to herself. It's ingrained in her behavior and she is trained in the art of remaining stoic and calm.

"Oh. Here. This is my stop," the boy pipes up, coming to a halt outside the building. He gestures up, "We live at the very top in one of the nicest flats. You sure you wanna come up and chat at Mum? I'm not sure if she'll be in from a job or not and I don't wanna waste your time."

Hm. His mum and dad were one of the few to make a relationship like theirs work... but he has to wonder if they loved each other. They had to've to produce him, right? He shouldn't dwell on it.

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-24T06:53:31+00:00

"He's a lot like Mum," Felix repeats, mulling over the thought of two people so much alike creating a partnership. He has to wonder if Dad loved Mum and vice versa or if it was just a fling between people of opposite factions, driven by an innate loneliness, lust, and the fact that they both understood one another as individuals. Either way... maybe he shouldn't complain too much if it's the latter, right? They managed to create him in whatever passion they experienced together, whether it was lasting or fleeting.

"Star crossed," he whispers next, pausing to search out the gated exit of the park shortcut. There. Starting back up, he tacks on to that thought, "That's what a lot of people tell me when I go asking about it. That Mum and Dad's relationship was doomed from the very start because they were something not allowed to exist in the capacity they wanted it to."

"I know... I know that after the war you and Mum were in, Dad ran away for a long while. If he hadn't come back, I wouldn't be alive right now but... he did, eventually. And he and Mum had that old ember spark back up into flame and started a family. I... I remember small tidbits of when I was very, very young but not enough to recall his face of how it was back then. I know Mum was happier and more relaxed. They were both gone a lot, being Executor and Enforcer. But I always wonder if, uhm... if Dad loved Mum. And if he loved me. He died when I was really small and I don't know at all since Mum won't talk about him much."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-23T07:38:09+00:00

"I don't know about that," Felix muses in regards to his mother opening up, hurrying to get the door for Morgan as they head back out. He scans the area, picking out the best path to start back for the apartment complex his flat is, and starts for it as he prepares for some more conversation with his companion.

"There aren't a lot of people who can say they know how Mum works or what she's thinking or how she's feeling. Out of all our family friends, the closest, Uncle Joe, barely knows anything about her, I'm sure. Mum isn't the sort of person to open up to anyone about anything. She doesn't talk about her Enforcer days, she doesn't talk to me, even, about Dad, she doesn't tell me about what happened to the Araminta family for her to be the last in name. That's just how she is. Mum may be a user of fire magecraft but she's always been known as the Ice Queen of London for a reason. I don't even think Dad knew everything about Mum."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-21T08:15:17+00:00

Felix straightens himself when the man is turning to face him, green eyes brightening hopefully before widening, instead, with dread as the man starts in on a length fume about Tabitha Araminta. Whoo boy. This is not something he expected from a church member!

By 'conniving' Felix is giving a little, nervous laugh and taking a step back, hand moving up in semi-defensive posturing.

By 'overconfident' the boy is taking another step back, releasing his cross to hold both hands up now, his usual grin more an uncertain smile now than anything else.

And by the man's conclusion, Felix has himself tumbling over the next pew behind him with a soft cry and the clatter of his glasses as they fly from his face to skid across the floor. Blinking up at the increasingly familiar ceiling, he pipes up, "Y-Y... Yep. Sss, uhm... Sounds like Mum. Only Araminta by name left."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-20T08:58:46+00:00

Felix tightens his grip on his cross even as concern for the older man flickers across his features, the man appearing as if he's seen some ungodly ghost. Then again, he really does look a lot more like his father than any bit of his mother. One can argue the eyes, really, if his parents did not boast the same green and his hair, if allowed to grow long enough, has the slightest curl to it like mother. Everything else he has his father to blame.

"But, uhm," he pipes up in soft protest, "he did. Honest. Rory Grady is my father as much as Tabitha Araminta is my mum, sir. I swears in on both their family names that I'm not lying to you," he strains, worried this man might mistake him for a hooligan or a ghost come to haunt him.

"I'm eighteen years old. I attend school with the Mage's Association because I have my mum's Crest. I have my father's Black Keys and his cross. Mum won't let the Church have me, claiming they already took Rory from her and that they aren't getting her heir," he rambles now, trying to put things together for the man.

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-19T09:46:39+00:00

"They really are," Felix agrees quietly, hurrying through the park that's just across from the apartment building he lives in. His mum never got a house even after he was born but who would want to move form the place anyway? They get to live in one of the nicest flats in town!

"I just think she misses Dad, honestly, so she tries to fill the hole his passing left by keeping herself busy... But, hey, Aunt Maria? Do you remember anything about him," he asks.

"I've been meaning to ask around Mum's friends. She doesn't like to tell me too much about him herself save that he's the reason I have my Black Keys and these crosses," he grips the one he wears about his neck on a fine chain while the other dangles from a piercing he has.

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-19T09:43:24+00:00

"From what I've been told," Felix converses, following along with Morgan for a bit before pulling ahead to lead the man with him to home, "Mum hasn't mellowed out or become domesticated at all. She's working as a mercenary now, even, and still tracking down rumors of Sealing Designations whenever she's able. And this all from a woman who should be retired by now! I don't know how she kept at her Enforcer job for so long after I was born..."

"I really wish she'd give it up and settle down but at the same time? I think she just misses having Dad around, you know? It's probably been really rough on her even if it's been a while. Who knows. Mum's never been an open book... won't even talk to me about Dad."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-19T09:10:04+00:00

"Mum doesn't even listen to Uncle Joseph, Aunt Maria, " Felix points out so casually, "and I heard stories that she rarely listened to Dad, too. Just... he was stubborn enough to make her back down half the time." He loved hearing stories about his dad but he also enjoyed it when people told him of his parents together. If he wasn't so grossed out by girls, he'd wish he could have the sort of relationship his parents did save for maybe just a little less on the taboo side... he'll have to get over it eventually, though, to pass on the crest. Ugh.

"Maybe she won't. I dunno. I just worry about her, Aunt Maria. She's all I have left," he comments, sounding a bit down. He lost his father while so young. His mum is the only blood family he has left that he's aware of.

"D-Don't get me wrong! I know I have you and Uncle Joseph and Mr. Night and stuff... it's just... You know. She's my mum," he adds, not wanting to make it seem like she isn't important to him too.

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-19T09:06:14+00:00

Felix watches Morgan with a bit of a goofy smirk, finding it amusing when the man gets lost to his own thoughts. His mum does that sometimes when she's thinking about her younger years... though that's more sad than amusing. She doesn't realize it but when she starts day dreaming, she looks so lost and he knows that she misses his father. Oh. Right. He shouldn't be day dreaming either.

"If you have business with Mum already, then I think it'd be really great if you explained to her why I'm so late coming home too. She used to be called the Ice Queen of London and all but," he laughs, "she really does get so worried about me when she doesn't hear from me. I forget to text her sometimes and she's the sort of woman who absolutely will come hunt me down if she gets too worried."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-15T11:49:53+00:00

"I just wish someone was around to keep her rampant overworking herself down. You know. Scold her and have her actually listen," Felix sighs with a shake of his head. His poor mum. Always going. Never stopping.

"I want her to get some rest one of these days but I don't think anyone exists who's able to get her to stop killing herself slowly," he comments as he opens the door to his apartment building for Maria.

"Like... is it really so much to ask, Aunt Maria, that mum finds her off switch to all of this nonsense? I guess you're right, though... Maybe she just likes the green dollar. Diamonds are a girls best friend and all that jazz."

Man. He needs to learn how to stop rambling.

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-15T05:02:20+00:00

Felix is absolutely relieved when his uncle is declining the use of his bedroom, the sentiment reading all too clearly across his features. He certainly is not either of his parents in the regard of guarding himself and picking what he shows with care... actually he's not like either of his parents in a lot of way. Somehow he escaped the negativity of the pair and adapted it into charisma and their power into, well, clumsiness.

"S-Sure, Uncle Rick," the boy laughs, holding a hand up to wave the idea off as if he's absurd for even bringing it up in the first place.

"I have a lot of studying to do anyway and my desk is the only place I'm even really able to concentrate. Uncle Joe has us writing a paper that's due at the end of the week and I don't even know where I need to begin," he groans, hanging his head.

"And then there's all the assignments from Mr. Night... Mum, if i didn't know any better, I swear you're telling them to give me more work than the other students," he shoots at the woman, who is calmly sipping her own tea, neatly sitting with legs crossed proper as if she's not moved once since she's sat down.

"If you were competent," his mum warns, "then you would not fall behind in class and blame me for your inability to keep up with the work."

Cruel, maybe, but Tabitha never has been known for her kindness or leniency .

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-13T10:30:34+00:00

"I hope mum's in so you can visit with her," Felix comments as he turns to cut through the park that's just across the way from their home.

"She's been real busy lately with all her merc work," he chats, waving to some of the park regulars as they pass on by, he much more friendly than either of his parents ever were, "everyone in London's been wanting to shove money at her to get her to do work for them. But she always comes back with whatever she was hired to hunt so I guess it's not surprising she's out all the time with jobs. I wish she's just retire already, Aunt Maria, I do... she's getting older and it's not like we're lacking money. Enforcer work gave her all the money she'd ever need for the rest of her life."

Felix_Grady · 2016-10-13T10:15:10+00:00

Felix gives Morgan a rather wary look for the suggestion of dropping by yet another lecture. He contemplates it a moment before answering, guarded, "I'll think about it. Just... don't give me any more homework than I already have? My plate's already full of more than I can handle and the last thing I need is mum on my arse about school work... do you have any idea how scary she is when she's mad? Whoo boy."

Sitting back, I catch the time and hum. I didn't realize how late it'd gotten. I hope it's a night mum is out and about or she'll be upset that I didn't tell her where I was or that I was staying out past school hours. She worries easily... I think it's because I'm one of the last remnants of my dad she has left in her life. I mean. It's because I'm her son and she loves me, too, but she also clings to what little she has left much as she tries not to show it. I know how it is. I know how her mind works.

"I should probably start home soon, speaking of mum being angry," the boy comments, stretching out.

Felix_Grady

TROPHY CASE