[02:20] As promised, they will meet.

Yet, it isn't quite as expected. There is no time nor place. Wherever the Stellus sat, writing his letters and sending them out on messenger birds would be a place of rest.

A sudden drowsiness overtook him and while communing with the Supreme via messages, he drifts off. Perhaps the day left him tired or the happenings with his younger sister.

Regardless, it's time to dream.

The Stellus awoke in a home, one with a scent of love and care, within a room, a bedroom. His own that meshes together- Familiar yet so, so distant.

Just a little house in Alabastre following the siege of Osrona.

Sizzling first alerts him outside his cracked door. A usual occurrence. Breakfast for the little boy. Five? Six? Seven years old? The little Joyau would be elated for the first meal of the deal.

It starts out rather pleasant.
(Jianyu Xi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[02:29] Waylan could have sworn he was writing letters, but in the process he must have fallen asleep. Something about this felt different. It's like a memory of his past playing before him when everything was much simpler.

Memories from his childhood buried within the deepest parts of his mind, his guard was let down as a smile formed across his features.

He waited to see what would happen, wanting to see his mother again almost reaching out to speak to her. He wanted to tell her of what he's accomplished and the trials he faced along the way.

He wanted to tell her, and nothing was stopping him. She might not believe him, but he had faith she would form his mouth to speak.

"Mother..?"

It's all the Stellus could get out at the moment, different emotions filled his mind. He couldn't ask for a more peaceful sight than this.

Blessings form Sae shine bright.
(Waylan mer Joyau)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[02:40] Awakening and leaving the little room. Toys scattered along the floor. He must've been loved and cared for. When out, he walks a small hallway. Pictures are on the wall, a mother and father, then a mother and father and their child, an infant.

Waylan, one within a child's body, found himself met with the back of a woman as he emerged into the kitchen. Taller than himself due to his age but nothing imposing. Long blue hair trailed down her back.

It's... a familiar tune. One hummed a lot and sand quietly to the growing Waylan until one day, he simply couldn't hear it much longer.

It's stolen from the essence they have and his. Memories meld, manipulated by them and from stories heard. The spaces merely fill at their command.

The woman, his mother, turned to him. Big azure hues meet the little boy, a smile on her face as they crouch, turning away from the sizzling meat on the pan.

"Hello my little gem." Her hand reached out and planted on the boy's head. "Are you okay? Did you have a bad dream?"

Lips curve downward to a small frown. Her hand slipped down from his hair and to his cheek.
(Jianyu Xi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[02:49] It really was here? Though his dream felt so real from the visuals, the toys on the floor gave him his feeling he's missed.

It felt like all his worries we're slowly fading away, and the troubles in his life were gone. The figure before him could only be one person, he has this image of her and he wouldn't forget.

She spoke, turning to face him it was really her? He hadn't seen his mother in such a long time. It's like he didn't believe his eyes, but she was there touching him.

This dream was unexpected, but he showed a side of him that he keeps dormant from others. He took a deep breath, again trying to form his mouth to speak.

"I'm okay.. I'm not having a bad dream, if anything it's a good one."

he answered in response, moving to pull her into his embrace.
(Waylan mer Joyau)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[03:11] "A good dream? That's good. You look like you're on the verge of tears."

Dangerously real. The woman fell into their son's embrace, still crouched with her frown shifting to a smile. Arms wrap around their son. "I'm glad you slept well then."

Emerging from another room came a man, tall and with dark long hair tied back into a ponytail. Most nights, the boy witnessed his mother brushing his father's hair.

He doesn't say anything except greeting his son with a smile.

"You know I love you, right?" His mother leaned into him a bit too much. Her body felt far too heavy... "I love you... very, very much, Waylan..."

Her hold felt weak. If not supported, she'd fall over and to the floor.

"So much... Can you forgive me for not being there...?" His mother's face hid a bit unless moved... Will he look at her once more?
(Jianyu Xi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[03:22] Something about this just didn't sit right with him he started to feel uneasy. He wasn't sure what the issue was or how he could fix this, but he continued holding his mother.

"I love you too."

He said plainly, holding back tears he felt now wasn't the time for them. She was back within his grasp should he be happy? He should figure out what he could do for all the lost time.

"It's not your fault... it's okay."

He wanted to reassure her that everything was fine, blaming her was the last thing on his mind right now. He felt something he hasn't in a long time, love.

"I love you so much..."

He couldn't stress that enough, feeling the world was at peace, what more could he ask for..?
(Waylan mer Joyau)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[03:28] "I'm sorry I-"

Yet of course neither Waylan or Jianyu knew the innerworkings of the mind of Dellarossa mer Joyau. Such could not be replicated.

The woman shook her head, soft voice trailing. When her lips parted, words don't quite come out. It's as though she's choked or choking.

She trembles and falls from his hold and onto the floor. Sizzling bacon and meats still fill the air, a quiet morning disturbed.

Did he recall waking up that day and seeing his mother off only for her to never return? Then his father's departure upon hearing the news?

The two of them never came back and the house filled with silence for years...

His mother fell and from his neck, slipping onto the kitchen floor came a pool of crimson. Digits twitch as she looks up at him, face pained and no matter how hard she tried to speak she couldn't.

Blood poured and poured.

She... wouldn't make it even if Waylan tried.

The streets of Osrona wiggled into his home and memories.
(Jianyu Xi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[03:36] It didn't take long for the pleasant dream to take a turn for the worst, blood covered the floor it's something he didn't want to see again. He never had an imagination of his mother this way, but now it was burned into his memory.

She was covered in blood, dead on the floor? What could he do? There was nothing he could do but watch in disbelief as her life was taken before him.

He didn't have tears to shed just hate boiling in his heart. He cried enough before, but to witness this brought an entirely new emotion into play.

He stared at her body and muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to save you.."

He stared at her lifeless body, stuck, lost, unsure of what he's to do next.
(Waylan mer Joyau)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[03:47] It's no question how the previous Stellus met her fate, throat slit in the streets of Osrona. Waylan was far too young to have done anything about it but still old enough to recall the nights prior.

Was he lonely?
Did he cry?

Is sister was naught but an infant at the time. Such little time spent with her mother and the memories only existing in stories from her dearest older brother.

Why the witch decided to paint a picture like this for the Stellus?

The Supreme watched from the folds of the dreamscape. Observing his reactions to see a rather scarily real depiction of his mother dead on the floor, blood seeping from a wound at her neck.

"They say you should be careful of where you stick your nose." It's an unfamiliar voice only because both Jianyu and Waylan hadn't spoken since they were children.

"I wonder how she ended up like this. Probably too righteous for her own good. Poor thing, really... That's too bad. I'm sure your own life will run short."

His body grew, the shell of his childhood broken until he sat as the man he was today. Dainty hands reach out from behind out, warm touch along his cheeks.

Yet if he turned, he wouldn't see who it came from but the feeling remained.

"Waaaylan."

Digits trace cirlces on his cheek slowly.

"You must thank me for allowing you to see your mother once more. She's quite beautiful. Is she where you get your looks from? Your father wasn't bad at all."

Toyed with.
Played with.
It's a figment given life by the means of witchcraft.
(Jianyu Xi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[03:54] Waylan stood tall unsure of where the voice came from nor did he seek to find it -yet- it seems he was being toyed with. He took a deep breath and huffed it seems she managed to get into his head slightly.

"Ah, I should have known it was you with your tricks." Waylan stood there examining where he was and everything seemed to have been fine.

"My mother is quite beautiful, but don't worry Jianyu I'm not your type. You prefer to have some mindless pup chasing behind you and jumping when you give an order.

I think that's where our relationship would fail, but I'll gladly take your compliment.

Good looks run in our family. I guess you should have gotten yourself a Joyau, huh?"

Waylan had a smart-ass mouth, but he didn't care. It seems she wanted to toy with him, so he let it rip.

"Why am I here?"

He folded his arms waiting for her response.
(Waylan mer Joyau)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[04:10] "Do you like it? It's quite impressive. No matter where you are in the world, in the country, I can pluck you away to my side. Mentally, that is."

Dainty hands linger at his face still. "You are not. I enjoy strong men at my side." While... the man they were with had strength, it wasn't quite in the way they meant now. Regardless of their own type or not, "Yet, I adore men who listen and follow orders. Though, taking charge is quite interesting."

"Do tell me, Waylan mer Joyau."

Their body became more physical, floating a bit to keep their lips at his ear, whispering to him.

"Your mother would be more than disappointed. Be glad I spared you those thoughts. I'm sure she'd hate you." Of course, they merely sow doubt. Digits rest at his shoulders.

"I'm quite tense. Will you be hunting to burn me at the stake? The same dance like all men of your position. Burn the witch..."

Maybe he knew and ignored it. The witch made a bit of an appearance in the eastern half of the country. "But why? Because I want you to be, silly. You can talk very, very big in writing yet I wonder..."

Jianyu stepped around him, hands full of a large scythe that reeked of occult and worse.
(Jianyu Xi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[04:17] Waylan cants his head finally she decides to show herself. He stared at her examining her entire body for a moment, what did she want?

"Disappointed? I highly doubt that, but I don't have to prove anything to you."

Waylan placed a hand around his staff, as he continued watching the witch.

"Burn you at the stake? I think that's far too simple even for you. I think I'd do better trying to burn that occult magic of yours to leave you wondering.

I never attempted to seal anyone, but you're begging for it, and I don't mind delivering that to you."

Waylan smirks.

"I'll have you know my writing matches my actions, you wouldn't do well to question them."
(Waylan mer Joyau)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[04:27] "Nothing to me of course. But were you to fall into my arms she certainly would worry now..."

"But at least you wouldn't do something so... drab. I'm sure all accounts of witchcraft is mere story. Have you been with one? Sat with us and spoke? Saw the blessings the Lord has to offer?"

Digits tap along the hilt of their scythe. "If you did, you'd see how your faith pales in comparison. Naught is done in return for your prayers. Do you Stars rain gifts upon you? Spells like no other at your very finger tips?"

"But, at least the Stars make your essence... shine. I can taste it from here." Narrow hues luck with his own as their tongue slid along their bottom lip. "Delicious, truly... You cannot quite steal from me, Waylan."

The Supreme started circling him slowly. "No, no. If you ever did, I would have to bring a Hel to you and your family. It signs away her life and ends such prematurely but... Of course, that requires you to get the chance."

Crafted images waver. The scape, that old kitchen from his childhood, his mother's body- It all vanishes into a bright void with few stars up in the 'sky'.
(Jianyu Xi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[04:27] Jianyu Xi says, "She's a little darling... But, if she's a fool or you cross me then that's on you."
[04:28] Jianyu Xi says, "I've no interest in those who play with Stars at the moment."
[04:28] Jianyu Xi says, "No, no. These cogs lack interest but for that very reason I'm fascinated by them."
[04:38] Waylan couldn't help but to chuckle at her. "Is this your love confession? I wouldn't fall into your arms if they we're the last things open for me. You truly are foolish to think so."

Waylan brushes her off; he had no reason to mingle with witches in any fashion.

"You believe I have the time to listen about your 'lords'? The cosmos is vase and requires my attention as I continue stepping forth to unlock its secrets.

I have my only work which requires my attention and if I'm not mistaken the last person to chase after and become your dog died.

I'll take my chance with my work and my achievements will be heard through Esshar."

The necklace emits a faint glow, reaching his hand towards Jianyu he couldn't help but smile.

"I'm the figure head for the Joyau bloodline and your threats don't phase me. I know you're capable of making good on your word, but remember who you're talking to.

You can pay me very little attention if you desire, but that will be your greatest mistake. I thought of you as a friend, but our friendship wasn't as grand.

I don't have an issue putting my foot down or across your neck whichever you prefer. You didn't harm my sister as much as I know you could, so you have my thanks, but you should watch yourself.

We'll cross paths one of these days and this conversation will burn bright. I hope you remember these worlds well because I don't have any remorse for you."

Waylan placed his hand at his side, shaking his head. He couldn't see himself within her grasp, not even for a moment it wasn't part of his plan.
(Waylan mer Joyau)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[05:09] "Oh yes I've certainly stayed up at night thinking of you." Not a hint of sincerity in their tone. "Regardless, I'm looking forward to it."

Jianyu made no comment on their lover, for Waylan's sake.

"Do deliver then. I'm eager to see where you take your... little faith. Call upon one of those sleeping Angels. I'm sure Avalon is rather... quiet."

"When was the last time they showed up? I'm curious!"

If Waylan could succeed in doing anything then they'll be impressed. "I'm working hard, too. Didn't you miss me? Dearest Star, you. You didn't want to pry yourself from me as children. Always so eager to see me well."

"I'll treat her kindly if she doesn't act like she did before, worry not. Let her attack me again?" Their gaze fell to the Stellus' dead mother.

"I want our paths to intermingle, come together and merge into something great. The Stars battling against the beings of Hel. I'm so excited..."

For now, the scythe wielding Supreme turned away. "I'm a bit bored now." Their free hand rose, waving. "Entertain me later."

With the wave it all faded to black and the Stellus awakened wherever he slept.
(Jianyu Xi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------