Circlet [SEC2014]

Circlet

Entre les lèvres du baiser, la vitre de la solitude (Between two mouths in a kiss, windowglass) -Roger Gilbert-Lecomte

I

Brigitte Faucher was furious! Never before had she been both simultaneously embarrassed, and pissed off. All she wanted to do was get there, to the only place that truly gave her solace. Her hands were still shaking so she thrust them into the pockets of her favorite purple hoodie. This was definitely not one of her best days.

It had begun innocently enough. She woke up, showered, ate a croissant, and sucked down some coffee. Then she dressed quickly, and headed for rehearsal. She had been preparing for months now to compete in the Concours International, and it had been going quite well so far. Though according to her instructor Lucette, she was still too stiff and sloppy. But what did that old goat know. She had been playing the piano since she was four years old, and by the time she was six she was performing in public. Her entire life up until this point had revolved around the sounds she could wrangle from the ivory encrusted monster. Lucette be damned, she knew she was ready. Lucette wanted her to stay and practice for another four hours, but she could not stand to be in the same room with him any longer and so she just left. She was glad that she left, otherwise she might have just flat out punched the old goat right in his smug little face. Besides, now she could do what she really wanted to do, spend time with Julien.

He would be at work for another couple of hours, so she figured that she would go and chill out at their favorite café until he got off. It was such a beautiful day out, perfect for sitting outside at one of the little tables. Her mood improved slightly at the thought of downing a nice cool glass of Chardonnay, maybe two.

When she rounded the corner, her heart skipped a beat. He was already there. Her sweet Julien, with his black leather jacket casually draped nonchalantly across the back of his chair. His handsome features never ceased to make her shiver with excitement every time she saw him. She had been so enamored with his titillating visage that she scarcely noticed that he was not alone. As she drew closer she could see that he was sitting with someone. And not just anyone, but another girl! The young dark haired girl was laughing too hard at something that he had said. The girl's gigantic smile engulfed her entire face, and her nose was too long and thin. And the girl was skinny, infuriatingly skinny.

Her surprise at this scene had rooted her feet to the ground, and she could not bring herself to move another step. Just then, he leaned in and whispered something into the girl’s ear. The girl smiled, and then grabbed his face and kissed him hard on the lips. Brigitte’s heart sank into the bottom of her stomach, and then shattered itself into tiny pieces.

He should be at work, he shouldn’t be here, she thought, and who the hell is this skank? I should run over there and slap the lips right off both of them! How could he? And at our favorite place, the place we met at! This is supposed to be our place! We are supposed to be married this fall!

But she could only bring herself to think such actions, and she noticed that her feet had turned her around making her run away from the scene as fast as they could manage. She knew that they had not seen her. But if they had, she didn’t care. She only knew that she needed to go somewhere, and she knew exactly the place. And now, she noticed that she was approaching the bench that she would climb over to get to where she needed to be.

The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont was the most beautiful place she had ever visited. Opened in 1867 during the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, it was the fifth largest park in all of Paris. It has thousands of trees, shrubs, an artificial lake, waterfalls, a miniature Roman temple on top of the promontory called the “Temple de la Sibylle”, and almost two miles of paths. She had explored them all. Her favorite spot was underneath a huge cedar of Lebanon tree that was planted in 1880 that stood tall upon a hillside.

As she approached the tree, she began to calm down. Countless times she had found herself lost in her thoughts under this great wooden giant. It always seemed to put her at ease. She sat down and wrapped her hands around her knees. After some time, she found herself dozing off.

The sound of a twig snapping woke her with a start. She had temporarily forgotten everything that had happened earlier that day, but now her memories all came flooding back with a vengeance plunging her heart once again into a vicious pool of acid. Like her heart, it was getting dark out, and as she moved she noticed a small glint of fading light shimmer from her right wrist. It was the sunlight reflection bouncing off the bracelet that Julian had given her for their six month anniversary. The bracelet was nothing fancy, just a small silver chain with two interlinked hearts holding it together. The anger, and hurt began to swell in her once more.

Not gonna be needing this anymore, bastard! She screamed in her head.

She ripped the bracelet from her wrist, and threw it as hard as she could. At that very moment a small brown squirrel darted right into the path of the hurled bracelet. Both bracelet, and squirrel were introduced quite rudely with an audible *smack*!

A slight gasp escaped her lips, and she immediately intended to walk over to see if the creature was OK when she noticed that something was not right. Where there should have been a slightly injured squirrel, sat a tiny man. The man was around the same size as the squirrel, but he did not have a tail. Aside from his strange clothing, and being around six inches tall, he looked like a normal human. He was sitting up rubbing his head with one of his hands when he looked up. Their eyes locked together for a brief instant. His tiny eyes were the lightest blue she had ever seen. She felt his gaze wash over, and through her entire body. It soothed her, sang to her, and caused her heart to rise up and mend itself. Just when she thought that she would burst with happiness and love, there was a loud *pop*, a puff of smoke, and the man was no longer there. In place of the small man, was the same squirrel she had hit with her bracelet. She watched in amazement as the squirrel picked up the bracelet with its mouth and ran off.

Standing there with her mouth open, she thought to herself, That wasn’t real, that did not just happen.

As she stood there, she began to weep. She knew that she had now lost the second man that she had ever loved. As the night devoured the remaining daylight, she began to head home. For who knows what kinds of things lurk in the park at night.

II

Castien was late, again. His father, Malgath, would not be pleased. This would be the third time this month that he was late for council, and he had used up all of his best excuses. He would have to pick up his pace. He rushed forward, and barely avoided slamming head first into a huge Hackberry tree.

Phew, that was close, he thought, I’m going to have to pay better attentio…
*smack*!

He rolled to a stop. Something had hit him hard right in the middle of his head. He ran his fingers through his long silver hair, and felt a sore spot where he knew later would grow into a huge bump. Then he looked down at his legs….his legs! They were not the legs of an Earth squirrel, no, they were his real legs!

Oh no, he thought. My camospell has been broken! I’ll have to fix this quickly! If I am seen, the Maguses will have my hide!

Just then he heard a soft gasp. As he turned his head towards the sound he was greeted with the most beautiful vision he had ever seen. It was a blond headed human female, about five feet tall. She was wearing a purple hoodie, black jeans, and purple and white tennis shoes that had a circle and star logo on them. Her face was pale, and she had dark purple paint covering her lips. It took him a nanosecond, but he knew it was her. He had seen her here many times before, but he always had a camospell active. She had never seen him in his true form, until now.

His gaze drifted upwards towards her eyes. Her eyes in the fading dusk light reflected tones of red, orange, purple, and the brightest green. Even greener than they normally were, or had he just not looked at them as closely as he did now? As their eyes locked together he felt his eight chambered heart open up like a lotus flower in super high speed motion. His magenergy exploded all throughout his body flowing through his open eyes, and into the human girl. He could feel her magenergy mingling with his, tickling him, engulfing his whole being. It was fantastic, amazing, no, better than amazing! The happiness, the love! There just weren’t glyphs, nor sounds enough to express it.

It had happened so fast, and was over just as quick. His heart chambers closed, and, regaining his wits, he slammed his hands together while picturing the proper glyphs in his mind. The camospell went into effect immediately, and when the Phae dust cleared he spotted the offending projectile. A small silver bracelet held together by two interlinked hearts lie directly in front of him on the ground. He scooped up the bracelet with his mouth and held on tightly as he darted off as fast as his squirrel legs could go.

Castien wasn’t ready to head to council just yet. He was already late so a few more moments wouldn’t matter. He shot up the nearest tree and held perfectly still. Hoping that she thought him gone, he waited, and watched. The human female started to cry, and then she walked away. He wanted to follow her, but then something sparkled on the ground where she had just been standing. Deftly bouncing down the tree he closed in on what had caught his eye.

A single teardrop rested on top of a fallen leaf. He dropped the bracelet out of his mouth, slammed his hands together, and changed his form back into his true self. Slowly he untied the string that attached his dewpouch to his waist. He then unscrewed the lid, emptied its contents onto the ground, and carefully curled the edge of the leaf so that it fit neatly in the open end of the pouch. Cautiously he lifted the leaf so that the teardrop would roll down its bumpy surface, and very slowly he let it fill the pouch. The smell of salt, and sadness permeated the air around him. But he would not let it distract him, because he knew that this was too important.

Once the drop was safely inside his dewpouch, he screwed the lid back on tightly. Using a doubleknot he had learned from his father, he fastened the dewpouch securely to his waist again. He did not want to lose his precious cargo.

Slamming his hands together again, he recast the camospell, became an Earth squirrel once more, grabbed the bracelet in his mouth again, and dashed off towards the temple.

a reply to: AutOmatIc

Lovin' both parts here! S+F even before more is posted!!

Is headin' off in a great direction!!! Syx.

a reply to: AutOmatIc



Great! Good job! I love it!