[ Friday Afternoon - House One ]
( Introspection - Locked to House One )

--

[ Saturday - Action / Voice ]
[Today was a new day.]

[For the first time in a long time, Ion got out of bed as soon as he woke up. It took more effort than he'd like to admit, but eventually he leaves his room, wheeling himself along in the wheelchair he borrowed from the clinic. He has only one goal for the day, and that goal is to make today as fundamentally normal for himself as possible. Though still feeling far more tired than usual, without the added strain of trying to force his leg muscles to move, accomplishing that goal actually seems to be within reach.]

[His first stop is the library. It's the place he frequents most often and the trip he knows he'll need to get used to first. Thankfully, these past few weeks of being unable to stand for very long have let him grow accustomed to asking for help reaching the books on the higher shelves. Now, it just means there are a few more rows he needs help with... though on the bright side, the previously inaccessible bottom row was now much easier to reach.]

[From there, he makes his way around to various other parts of the village, sometimes to actually go in but mostly just to get a feel for getting around. The school, Seventh Heaven, the clinic, the plaza... he's not quite brave enough to try venturing much further than that for now, but that was more than enough for one day. He's not exactly a champion of upper-body strength, after all. Before it even starts to get dark, he'll head back to House one.]

--

[Later that night, he pulls out his journal. His voice sounds tired, but his exact mood may be hard to place outside of anyone who knows him very well.]

Perhaps this question is a bit vague... but has anyone ever changed in a way that seemed to be for the worse, only to realize it could potentially be for the better? Not quite a physical change, but... a change in the way you think about certain things.

If you're willing to share, of course.

[It's been two weeks since the incident with Arietta, and there was still no sign of Anise in the village. They never even had a chance to speak before she left for a mission, likely in an attempt to put some distance between herself and Ion after their argument. It's strange to think that the last time they went this long without speaking to each other by choice was around this same time last year, though for a very different reason. He's been so caught up in dealing with all of this that he actually let the anniversary of the day he first confessed his feelings for her pass by without a single thought!]

[It was strange to think so much time had already passed. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it really.]

[But sometime in the late afternoon, he opens his journal. There's no need to bother with a filter while Anise is still out of the village, and it isn't as though Arietta is the one he's trying to reason with here. Her anger is easier to understand and deal with. There's an uncharacteristic hint of exasperation in his voice when he speaks, having spent the last week and a half mulling over this without any obvious solution coming to mind.]

How do you stop two people who hate each other from continuing to hate each other? [Not a very eloquent way of asking, but it's the simplest way he can think of to explain the situation.]

Though this isn't the sort of problem I'm expecting an easy answer to, I was hoping someone might be able to offer some suggestions. Or perhaps if anyone's had any experience in dealing with a situation like this, it might be of some help.

[And regardless as to whether he's heard any solutions to this problem or not, he'll be spending the remainder of the evening in various places around town. He spends about an hour at the library, not quite able to concentrate on his reading. Giving that up, he goes for an aimless walk, lingering on the various bridges around town for a few minutes before moving on again. He probably looks more spaced out than he usually is, and the cold chill in the air probably isn't helping matters. By the time he arrives back home, it's been dark for awhile and he's shivering quite a bit. He probably should have worn his winter coat today.]

[It's been a few hours since Dist disappeared from Luceti.]

[Ion had just spoken with him. He couldn't even remember what about... perhaps he was being scolded for sleeping in again? He recalled only his voice: that irritated, sharp tone hiding a layer of concern he didn't want anyone to know was there. But Ion knew Dist cared far more than he'd ever admit. Perhaps even more than he ever realized he could... just how long had it been now since they had become friends? Why, it was almost strange to think of him as a former enemy... they had been friends for longer than that, hadn't they?]

[But people don't remember Luceti when they go home.]

[Holding the journal in his lap, Ion can only stare blankly at the page. He feels... tired. Tired of what, he probably wouldn't be able to say for sure. But even after telling everyone else in the House, he felt he needed to do this... though whether it was for Dist's sake or simply for a sense of closure, he wasn't sure. When he finally speaks, his voice is soft and sad. It sounds as though he's barely there.]

...Dist has returned to Auldrant.

[A pause. He felt as though he was only just now accepting that it was true.]

I know he wasn't always the most agreeable person, but I hope those who knew him will remember him fondly nonetheless.


[He won't stick around to chat for long. With that done, he's just going to head out of his room, hoping to take a walk and find some fresh air... only to find himself instead walking out of a closet. Worse yet, it's not a closet in his own home, either. And the sudden change of atmosphere is enough to make him jump, stumble, and crash out onto the floor, potentially bringing down a few coats with him as well.]

[And yet somehow, he finds he doesn't really mind such a ridiculous distraction for once.]

[Even with the month of February coming to a close, the weather has still been rather cold. But that didn't stop spring from trying to make its way through, and even now, one could see the start of buds on trees around the forest. Appropriately bundled up for the weather, Ion rests at the foot of the largest tree in the cherry tree grove just north of the village. Taking in a long, steady breath, he absentmindedly opens his journal. When he speaks, it doesn't even seem like he's addressing the journal at first. His voice sounds distant; he's had a lot on his mind lately.]

I wonder what it would be like to live in Luceti longer than I lived back on Auldrant... so far. [Those last words are added rather hastily, like an after-thought. There's a wistful smile on his face.] Thinking about it used to make me feel sad... now I'm almost not sure what to think. It feels like the longer I'm here, the greater the chance is that I might start to forget things about home. The sound of the city bustling to life in the morning. The way the sun shines off the fonbelt in the sky at sunset. The faces of all the kind people I've met...

[He trails off before smiling a little more brightly.]

But I guess it really hasn't been all that long. [Two years in Luceti. Almost a year back on Auldrant. Nearly a quarter of the time he's been alive.] Besides, there are things here that I never want to forget as well...

[He trails off and looks off into the distance. The only sound for a few moments is that of birds chirping overhead. Aburptly, he looks back down at the journal.]

Ah. I think I lost track of where I was going with this. I'm sorry for rambling.

[After being flung into countless numbers of trees from the third party's traps during the last draft, Ion swore to himself he'd never climb another tree for as long as he lived. Obviously, he didn't count on finding a baby bird having fallen out of its nest when he made that declaration. And with the mother bird calling for her child overhead, Ion couldn't just leave the poor thing there to die.]

[Thankfully, getting to the top of the tree where the nest was had been surprisingly easy! Getting down... not so much. He didn't notice the lower branch breaking until after he stepped off of it, and now that he was on his way down, he found himself stuck. He wasn't too high up, but this particular tree had quite a few thorn bushes around it. He'd been able to avoid them going up for the most part, but if he were to try jumping, the chance of him falling into one of these bushes was rather high. He wasn't too far off the path, just a ways north of the village, so hopefully someone will spot him.]

[Though, in restrospect, today was probably a bad day to wear green.]

~

[Assuming the princess is eventually rescued, Ion will be spending the remainder of the day at the library in search of a few new books to read before eventually returning home, his clothes still looking a bit worse for wear.]



[[ooc: Feel free to break time and space for the first part, or run into him walking towards the library looking... well, like he fell out of a tree.]]

[For anyone who knows Ion well enough to be considered a friend, or perhaps just well enough to say you've had a conversation with him at some point in the past, you just might catch a filter at some point during the day. It's a small, weak, empty filter and it'll disappear only a few minutes after it's made, so chances are you might miss it. But for those who happen to see it, there's an explanation that follows... though there's no filter here.]

[His voice sounds rather tired, and perhaps a bit sad.]

...when you can't set up a filter to someone, it means they've gone home, doesn't it.

[The way he asks, it sounds like he already knows the answer.]

[ Filtered from Ranka Lee and Artemis Fowl // 65% ]

[When the entry starts up, the picture is blocked with something in an attempt to make it somewhat anonymous.]

I was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice [The next part is added in hastily.] about girls. There's a girl really like and I was thinking about asking her to go to the festival with me, but I'm not really sure how t---

[There's a short gasp and a somewhat loud crash as the journal is knocked down and whoever was writing comes down with it, revealing the writer to be Ion. The reason for his fall? Why, the girl he was talking about, of course! She's been returned from the AU-equivalent of a kidnapping and was dumped right on top of him, both of them in plain sight of the journal's camera!]

R-Ranka...!

[How deliciously awkward.]



( Mini OOC Note )