Calli shook her head, she seemed quite set on her idea, since she didn't come up with them often.

"Ne, ne, must be a wick. Otherwise you wouldn't be with a troupe. We have parse too, you know. You're not as big as humans are and you don't have their eyes." She said this as though she were an expert on them, "If we make a big enough distraction, we can all run out at the same time and not be checked at all. We should set something on fire. Like the guard house."

Something in Calli liked fire, it was the same part of her that liked Dorian. It appealed to her sense of adventure and romance and jumping off buildings. She was beginning to look more manic already.

"Yessss, set fire to the guardhousseeee." She said, hands clasping together, "I like this plan."

Ariel turned to Dominic, looking at him as if he had said a terrible lie.

“Don’t be silly, kov,” she said gently. “This is going to be fun and no one will get hurt. Don’t worry.”


Wait, what? Ariel almost cracked her neck as she looked at Calli; was she serious?
“Uh, you sure?” Ariel asked her carefully, more shocked than concerned now.

Putting yourself in danger was in The Dictionary of Ariel’s Mind called an adventure and was marked under acceptable, but setting a guardhouse on fire? Someone could actually die, like, die of real death.

And after seeing Calli’s strange expression, Ariel decided to be the ‘reasonable self’ again.

Especially after this.

“Chip, honey,” she began slowly, carefully patting her shoulder. “Honey, don’t you think that would be a teensy bit too much? I know it would be exciting, but I’m not sure we want to cott someone, ne?”

Alternate plan, alternate plan.... Why she couldn’t think of one? She could remember just one thing.

“I can still play delusional. Or drunk; they can’t lock me up for forever, right?”

Dominic smiled thankfully at Ariel. He hadn't experienced such kindness in such a long time, Ariel sounded like a saint. Meanwhile, he saw that Calli was too wrapped up in her plans to even consider backing out. Dominic wondered how her fiance would react to the situation once Calli tells him about her plans.

His eyes grew wide as Calli went into further detail about her plan, but a soft smile stayed on his lips. "Fine, then, I'll be a wick. But we're not setting fire to the guard house. We could get jailed for that anyway. Maybe set fire to a nearby tree or something and exit quietly while the guards are distracted with that, but we're not going to cause unnecessary harm to anyone." The passive's voice sounded very determined. He was not ready to hurt someone when there was an alternative. However, if there wasn't an alternative. . .

He shook his head away from such thoughts.



Dominic shook his head even harder now. "Nobody's going to get jailed! Nobody gets left behind. Understand?"

Calli seemed disappointed by her companions apparent lack of dedication.

"No one'll die, they're gollies, they'll get out right away. We need something that will actually pull them away from the gate. Like trying to stop their records burning." Gollies seemed to like records. "We won't have to get arrested, just run away from the fire until we're outside."

She laid her hands out, a clean, clever movement that came with a flick of her hips and a little side step.

"Trust me, it'll all go like a clock. This plan can't fail."

It was a plan that could possibly fail.

Somehow, Calli was right; gollies are more than capable of rescuing themselves. Ariel let out a long hmmm. She was still a bit reluctant.

“All right,” she then agreed. “Let’s do it then. This way at least no one will get jailed, unless they have some strange ‘tracking the crimes’ magic,” that lets them see the culprit and hunt him down like an animal.
And then rip him limb by limb with summoned wolves ... Ariel felt cold shivers run down her spine. Sometimes, too much of imagination wasn’t really an advantage.

“They don’t have magic like that, right?” she looked at Dominic, thinking that he knew more about that since he was living in the University.

“When will we start?” she then asked Calli.

However, deep in her mind stayed that evil what if, hidden to the world behind her small, carefree smile, hidden even to her.

Dominic was torn between hesitation and reckless excitement. It was true that burning a tree would not cause panic amongst the guards as much as burning their records. His decision was made when Ariel agreed to the plan.

"Alright, then. But we have to make sure nobody gets harmed. And what would our means of transport be?" He sighed.



Dominic grinned. "Well, I don't know so much about magic, seeing as it's pretty useless to me, but I'm pretty sure there is no such thing. We don't have to worry about it. And if it exists, there would be no chance of getting away, anyway, so it wouldn't matter," he said, tongue-in-cheek.

Excitement was surging through the boy. Adrenaline was pumping through his blood as fiery images played out in his head. His freedom was so close!

Calli shrugged her shoulders, transport was the easy part. There wasn't enough room in her kint for two more people, especially not when she considered the necessity of privacy.

"We can sort something out, I think I can borrow a kenser, I know some Crows nearby." She said, considering their options. "Otherwise you can come with Dorian and me, the roof's not bad for sleeping on."

She slapped her left fist onto her right hand. Action! They needed action!

"I have to ask Dorian about specifics. I'll get some of his clothes for you, you're just a bit smaller than he is. You should come meet our circus, in Vienda."

Calli liked to make new friends.

Ariel sat on the nearest crateand pulled her knees up to her chin. Their plotting resembled more and more to some epic story or poem. She could already see the grand beginning: the guardhouse on fire, lightening the whole street, no, district in red, thick black smoke circling above their heads as they rush past the panicked people on noble kensers. The guards had left the main door unguarded and kensers breake them down with their mighty cloven hooves; the last thing the guards see are they disappearing figures.

"Wow, epic ..." said Ariel with a dreamy voice and distant gaze.

She wasn't listening to the two anymore.

Dominic may not have completely agreed to Calli's plan, but he liked her determination. He was energized by it.

"Alright, then, I supposed we're all settled. When do we meet up? And where? I can't leave the school at anytime I wish, I'm afraid," He sighed apologetically. He leaned against the wall behind him and started biting his lip. So everything is settled. His thoughts were turning mundane once more, unable to comprehend the future any longer. He started thinking of Rosie's Bakery and bread. He thought of the punishment he may receive for his tardiness. The adrenaline was filtering away, but the excitement still stumbled around his stomach.

Dorian wandered the streets of Brunnhold's Stacks, rubbing his slightly stubbly cheek as he went, looking for his lovely but impulsive fiance. It was hard. There wasn't anyway to actually track the blonde girl, it was more of a 'run around and look for her' strategy. It wasn't the best of strategies, but it was something. Then there was the other one.

"Calli! Caaaaallliii!!!!" He hollered, hands around his mouth and voice booming. People stared at him, and the sword swallower stared back with a grin.

"Lookin' for my fiance, dontcha know? Blonde girl, this high, pretty. Real pretty. Bouncy." One of the store keeps raised a finger.

"Bouncy, sorta jumping off anything and anyone. Real friendly like?" Dorian nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes! Best girl you'll ever meet mister!" The keep pointed down the road.

"Saw a girl like that, goin' that-a-way, with two others. Seemed real...excited?" He faltered as Dorian ran down the road, grin on his face.

"Calli, hey!?" He called out as he jogged, looking down all the side roads he could see. How hard was it to find a fiance!?

Calli had been thinking of a time when she heard a voice call her name.



She SQUEALED. It was like hearing condensed joy escaping from a bottle at high pitch. Her wide grin became face-splitting.

"Dorian!" She cried out, happily. "Be right back!"

She ran out of the alley, arms pumping like a sprinter and caught Dorian just as he was going past. She planted her hands on his shoulders, jumped and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she kissed him, joyous. She was exquisitely happy.

"Hama, I misssssed you." She purred, butting their noses together and then kissing him again.

It was the sort of thing no human or golly would ever do but it was fairly normal for a wick. It was her standard greeting for Dorian. Distance made her heart grow fonder and currently, any distance would do.

Calli's voice almost threw Ariel off the crate. She was in the real world again, confused but present. The last thing she saw was Calli's back. She couldn't help but giggle.

"My, that's what I call an energy ball," she said to Dominic and stepped down. "I presume we'll finally meet the wonderful guy she sang about."

Ariel put the lute on the crate and stretched her long hands before taking the instrument again; caressing its strings so lovingly like if they were lover’s hair. Ariel might have looked like someone had just pulled her out of the gutter, yet her instrument was so well kept it looked like it had been just made. After all, it was her only companion and it deserved no less than a human being. However, thank the gods it didn’t eat! Then again, it would probably eat wood or something so that wouldn't be such a problem after all.

"Will you miss anyone when you leave the university?" she then asked the passive, placed the lute in the right position and started playing something lively to capture the moment of Calli’s energy.

Dominic grinned and shook his head at Calli's sudden excitement. It must be such a nice feeling to have someone to love that much. His eyes followed her down the street until she was out of view.



Dominic grinned even wider. "I suppose so," he said. "Let's just hope he likes us as well." However, Dominic couldn't worry any longer. The girls had put him into a happy, defenseless trance. From the cold attitude from his own parents to the harsh punishments of the school, he had rarely encountered such kindness in his life and he was savoring every moment of it. Dominic wasn't ignorant. He was aware that nobody is completely selfless, but at the moment he didn't care. He was sick of being the despised time-bomb, sick of not belonging. Every time the girls had uttered a 'we' his determination to escape Brunnhold grew stronger.



"Not at all. I've kept to myself in Brunnhold mostly, as I'm used to doing that. I might be curious as to what becomes of some of my passive acquaintances, but that's all they are: acquaintances. My thoughts have always been to what's outside the gates, not what's behind them," he shrugged as he listened to the music.

"You're pretty good," he confessed, not knowing a thing about music himself. A pause. "What made you decide to make your living as a bard? You, um, well, it doesn't look like you're living on a pile of tallies, you know? Is the music worth it?" He was trying to keep the conversation alive to avoid any awkward moments, but he wasn't sure if he had just created one himself.

Dorian grinned widely as the witch found him, wrapping his arms around her in a spin as she jumped on him, returning her kiss fondly.



Giving her a squeeze, the boy chuckled, walking casually down the alley she had come from.

"You wouldn't miss me if you didn't wander so far away. I have been looking for you for ages! Whats down here then?" He said as he strode, raising his eyebrows curiously at the other two youths.

"Morning! Seems like an interesting place to convene..." Pausing, he smirked, then looked at Calli with a sort of stern face, albiet a playful one.

"Calliope?" He asked in a questioning tone, indicating he knew something was brewing.

Calli did not release her grip of Dorian immediately. She stayed wrapped around him like a koala in a tree.



"What?" She asked, a picture of innocence, almost entirely spoiled by the fact that she had her legs wrapped around his waist. "I'm making new friends."

She put her left arm on Dorian's shoulder and bent back over her right arm to look at Dominic and Ariel. She was smiling, though she seemed less like a rabid pyromanic.

"This is Dorian, Dorian, Dominic, Dominic, Dorian, Dorian, Ariel, Ariel, Dorian." She said pointing from her fiance to the passive boy and back, the from her fiance to Ariel and back. It made sense in her head. "We're going to help Dominic move, isn't that nice?"

She tried to word it as though it weren't an illegal act.

The bard was pleased to hear his words. She was always happy when someone complimented her playing.

“Yes, the music is very much worth it,” she mildly said.
The tempo of the music changed from lively to peaceful now, as she thought of the answer.

“It’s not the tallies I’m after, kov; well, it’s good to have them for food and shelter, but overall that’s all. They come and go, just to make you unhappy. Yet, being a bard,” she made a short pause here, while she was thinking how to explain the reason to him. A short, almost too silent to be heard, sigh escaped her. “Ah, collecting words and songs and making them alive, it’s like – like magic to galdori. It’s part of me and it makes me happy, even more if with it I make other people happy,” she chuckled. “A purpose, you know; something that drives you to live.”
Hoping that she fully answered to Dominic’s question, Ariel stopped playing just to wave to Dorian who was apparently being a tree to Calli now.



“Nice to meet you,” saying that, she put the lute on her shoulder. “Yep, we’re just helping him move,” she played along, looking at least as innocent as Calli. “We came here to this shady alley because... because of my skin condition... thing. It itches, you know, when it’s, uh, sunny - I mean, during the day.”

And today was such a lovely sunny day. And she was so going to blow up the plan ...

Dominic blushed slightly while Ariel explained the reasons she took up music in the first place. His blush probably would not be noticed within the darkness of the alley. Of course, he was stupid enough to think that a bard works for money. Most bards don't even earn that much. His self-abashing thoughts continued until Ariel answered his question.



Dominic stayed silent. He was wondering about his purpose. Since a few years ago, that was to get away from this dreadful life. But now that this was becoming a reality, what was his purpose after this? He did not have any 'true calling'; none that he had discovered, anyhow. His head began to hurt, but before he could mull this over thoroughly, two figures approached.



"Hi, there," Dominic greeted, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. It didn't take too much effort. A goofy smile stuck to his face while he waved at his hero-to-be. Then he digested the rest of what Calli had said. Wait, what?



What was going on? he wondered to himself worriedly. His smile turned into a frown of confusion as he looked from Ariel to Calli and back to Ariel, hoping that one of them would explain to him why they were talking as if what they're about to do was just a picnic in some nice weather.

Dorian nodded to the others, his face a grin and his eyes suspicious.

"Alright, I don't need to know the finer details, just the basics. What are we destroying and how are we doing it? Fire? Fire's always a good choice." The sword swallower might be Calli's fiance, but he was still a teenager and a circus rouge. If it was going to be fun, he wanted in. Glancing at Ariel, he released Calli with one hand to rub his chin.

"Y'know, we went to Gior about a year ago, the circus I mean. I remember seein' a lot of people looking like you. They were all covered up an' stuff an'..." His speech slowed as he thought of something.

"Helpin' Dominic move? Where in Alioe's name y'gotta move from?"

((Sorry for the super late post ))

Dominic was taken aback by Dorian's response to the situation. No wonder him and Calli looked completely in love; they sounded like they completed each other. The passive started laughing to himself. The other races were strange, though not in a bad way at all.



The sudden change of subject startled Dominic, and he stuttered in his reply. "U- Well, I-I li-live in Brunnhold. N-never left the Stacks myself," he said lamely. Shrugged. Looking around at the three, his nervousness left him once more. "Well, when is all this happening now? I need a date, time and place before I leave to buy some bread." He nodded, ready for action once more, the punishment for his tardiness lingering at the back of his head.

((I'm a bit confused; whose turn is now ?))

((I was waiting on other people but I can post now.))

"So, how about three days from now, in the morning? We should do it when the guards are tired." Calli liked mornings, "Could I get you two to stand side by side? I need to take in some clothes for Dominic."

Calli pecked Dorian on the cheek because this usually made him slightly more amenable to her doing something inconsiderate like taking his clothes and giving them to a stranger.

“Oh, silly me, didn’t take more clothing when I left home,” Ariel giggled when Dorian told her about Gior. “But I’m saving money for a hat and maybe for a new jacket,” saving money in Ariel’s context meant considering about saving money. Eventually, she intended to buy some more clothes, but when would that happen was a mystery.
When Dominic spoke, she remembered that they were actually in hurry, so she remained quiet until Calli had a word.

“Three days? That’s awfully long time,” she wanted to do everything at this very moment. “What will I do in this time? I’m too excited to play now and I’ll be bored,” she knew Dominic had to return to Brunnhold and she had no idea when she would see him again in those three days, she also wasn’t sure where Calli and Dorian would go.

Nevertheless, she imagined herself being lonely again.

Dorian rolled his eyes, but stood beside the other youth. He was rather fond of his clothes, but he was more fond of Calli. Looking at Ariel as she joked, the boy snorted a laugh.

"Ha, good call! I dunno. What do you usually do during the day? When your not planning on explosive escapes?"

Dominic liked the timing. Mornings were perfect, as he was fantasizing about an escape into the night, which wouldn't do at all. Not as impressive, he grumbled inwardly, but we have to make due. He could leave the school in the morning by trading errands with another passive. Three days from now should be fine, as well.



Dominic shuffled towards the boy. Standing side by side, he tried to look at the difference between their heights.

He, too, laughed at Ariel. The life of a bard sounded like it had a lot of free time in it. Nothing like his life. He hoped to enjoy a similar life once he was out of this wretched place.

He then looked at Calli. "So, will I be able to get some clothes?" he asked, looking up at Dorian.

Calli wasn't sure what Ariel should do but she imagined it would be what Calli was planning on doing, performing and... Ariel wasn't allowed to do that with Dorian! Calli clutched his arm tighter. She'd never really felt irrational jealously before, possibly in a mild form against Taegan. It was kind of fun! Calli's day was about as wonderful as it could be.

"I suppose we can watch the guards a bit for the next few days, perform nearby. We can definitely get you clothes, Dominic." Calli smiled at Dorian, becoming more aware that he spent a lot of time humouring her and feeling quite grateful for it.