Snow:
Chapter II
Pulling the scarf tighter about his neck, Felix stared up at the rather forbidding entrance to the shrine and clutched the paper bag to his side (though he wouldn't exactly call it "clutching").
"I guess... going inside would be a start..." he murmured to himself, as he looked over his shoulder, intending to glance longingly towards his next destination, but instead made eye contact with an Olacion member. The man was wearing funny square glasses perched on the end of his nose and had another member, rather surly-looking, trailing not too far behind, with crossed arms. In accordance with his charming personality, Felix flashed a quick smile at the newcomers, the first of which gave him a mild smile in return and a slight nod. Feeling strangely compelled, he moved out of the doorway, to make room for the other two, though the rear of the pair didn't shoot him more than a disgruntled glance.
After he had given the door another once-over, Felix felt that it might behoove him to actually enter the place. Drawing a deep breath, he threw open the doors with what limited strength he had and did his best to look as if he was gliding into the building (magical ambiance, you know). Not as if his display got any attention, though, as no one even bothered sparing him so much as a glance, all too preoccupied with their own apparently prayer-oriented activities, except for the two from earlier, still walking in the aisle.
The glasses-wearing one turned around, face still adorned with that smile, and nodded again, which prompted the overly-muscled counterpart to turn around to throw a quick scowl at him. Careful to wait until the pair continued on their way, Felix rolled his eyes scornfully, as if he didn't really think much of their responses.
His mind went back to the task at hand and he turned his head to stay with his roving eyes, looking at the other occupants and wondering at their apparent disinterest in everything and everyone in the environment. Making full use of what could be considered amazing self-confidence, he promptly settled himself next to a small purplish-haired (a little outlandish for Olacion, he thought) girl, her feet dangling a few inches above the floor.
"Ah, excuse me, miss, I'm dreadfully sorry to bother you, but..." he started, tilting his head and attempting to look contrite.
"Oh not a problem at all!" she answered in a predictably cheerful tone, which he hoped would be a sign of her helpfulness. "What's wrong?"
"Well, you see, my friend had a delivery that she was responsible for, but... somehow she managed to dump it onto me. Really dumb of me, I know." While he may not know much about the Order, he figured that if they were like any other religion-oriented organization, they would take well to stories of shirked responsibilities, sympathizing with the poor individual with enough decency to pick up the slack. Also, self-deprecation most likely made him look even more humble and thereby generally a better person. "But... I decided that I might as well do it, since someone was expecting this delivery."
"Mmm, of course, of course!" As predicted, her eyes practically lit up with either admiration or empathy, which of the two he wasn't sure, but either way, Felix just knew that he couldn't lose now. "So what exactly is wrong?"
"See this bag?" He held it up, allowing her a brief visual inspection before lowering it to the spot beside him. "I have to bring it to someone, but I just... I have no idea who it might be; all I know is that they're a part of Olacion. I want to get it to them as fast as possible, so I don't inconvenience them anymore."
Her smile widened, which, rather surprisingly, made her chubby face a great deal prettier (even if it could never compare to his own) and the slightest tint of pink filled out her cheeks, though he couldn't quite make out why. "Well that's great! I pretty much know everyone here, so I can point you straight to them!" Folding her hands politely in her lap, she looked up at him expectantly as he quickly glanced down at his crumpled bag.
"I believe the name was... Kain, yes, I'm pretty sure that's it..." he murmured as if he hadn't quite managed to get a clear name of the recipient from the responsibility-shirking Marietta, which he hoped would tinge his story with even more credibility.
"Ah, that's just him, right up there!" She pointed, with a bit less excitement than he would have expected, though he followed the direction of her finger and realized that she just had to be pointing at glasses-man. "He's the head of the Order, you know. I'm surprised that you've never heard of him."
"Well, ah, I spend a lot of time studying..." he murmured as an excuse, still staring up at the light-haired fellow up front, trying to figure out how someone so young(looking) could have possibly risen so fast through the ranks. Something like that would never happen at Vareth: you had to have brains, experience and finesse to lead a group of potential-laden individuals. Looks and comforting smiles could never get you too far there. "I suppose I might as well go hand this over, then."
"Mmhm. As quick as possible. Also... I should warn you, that big guy next to him, well, he's almost like, um, a bodyguard I guess, so don't look threatening. Or maybe try not to look at Kain at all. I don't know. Achilles is just a little strange, I think..." she whispered, eyes wide, as if this was a sort of secret about the Olacion Order.
"Don't worry. He's pretty huge and I'm pretty small, so I'll keep away from him. Basic instinct," he reassured her, feeling that the conversation had gotten decidedly hennish and, well, he didn't really want to make her feel like he was her friend. Without another word, he hopped up and snatched the bag off of the pew, then decided to throw a quick "thank you" wink over his shoulder at his informant, to make her feel appreciated.
Taking a deep breath, he strode up the row separating the shrine into two halves, this time his walk making him seem more purposeful rather than magical, with determined steps. The point here was to keep his goal in mind and get all of this nonsense over with as quick as possible. And to not look at the frighteningly muscular guard. If he did all of that, there would be no need to fear having a broken anything. Not that he spent his time living in fear or even resting in fear, really, in fact, he feared very few things, but really, that just wasn't the point. His fearlessness would extend to this ridiculous chore. Of course, by the time he had finished his (mostly incoherent) inner monologue, with corrections, he was looking up at the robed leader of the Order, and constantly reminding himself not to look at the bulky Achilles guy.
"Excuse me, sir, Kain?" he asked, injecting just the right amount of hesitancy into his voice, perhaps only a little more than he honestly felt. "I... I was asked to deliver this to you..." Obviously, he had decided to spare the older man the boring details of how he came to be in possession of this package, since he was sure it would only waste Kain's time.
"Is that so? Hm, Curtis certainly is correct about the reliability of his students. I only just requested this of him yesterday," he said in a voice that, to be honest, more than matched that nearly permanent smile on his face, but for some reason, it completely took Felix by surprise. For a moment, it seemed to the small mage that he was just standing there with his mouth open, completely dumbfounded yet he could not managed to pull himself together enough to stop looking like a plebian. Luckily, however, he was able to spit out a small, "Thank you so much sir..."
"Oh, much too polite as well, wouldn't you say Achilles?" Kain compounded his, er, mistake, if you will, of speaking, by letting a soft chuckle escape his lips. Achilles, on the other hand, did not find it nearly as amusing, so simply stuck to his standard grunt. "I'm sure you're much more learned than me, young man."
Gulping in a breath, forgetting his earlier thoughts of the other's possible inappropriateness for the job, he shook his head with a strange ferocity and squeezed his eyes shut. "Not to be rude, but- but- you must be smarter!" He let an inner curse slip, though, in his favor, it didn't reach his lips, as he berated himself for the sudden desertion of his eloquence.
"Ah, well, I shan't argue the point with you. What is your name, if I may be so bold? I would like to let Curtis know about the incredible promptness of this delivery," Kain asked, sensing Felix's more than mild discomfort and deciding to close off the conversation.
"Felix, sir," he responded, gathering his wits with much less speed than usual, but finally he looked his composed self.
"It was pleasure meeting you, Felix. I will be sure to put in a few good words for you at Vareth, though I'm certain it's not necessary." He turned his smile up a notch, no longer mild, but more pleasant, and at the moment he said his goodbyes, Felix realized, with a suddenness, that Olacion operated in a completely different world: perhaps Kain was smarter than him, but that was not important in this case, not at all.
Slowly, Felix turned around and, with little effort, regained his appearance of floating out of the shrine, as he was struck by another realization. He was smart, goodness knows he was smart, but it occurred to him that he had no idea about the world outside of Vareth. If he was any more naive, he would have attributed Kain's voice to some sort of magic, hence the effect that it had on him, but he was cognizant enough to understand that was not the case. What was it though? Is that why he was so well-respected? His ability to create awe in the people? Perhaps that was what religion was all about.
At any rate, he couldn't recall ever being so affected by a voice, feeling so warm from a few inconsequential platitudes, not since he was small. His past was so fuzzy anymore, he really couldn't remember much before Vareth. But as soon as Kain had started to speak, he felt much safer than he ever had in his little dorm at Vareth.
Not that it mattered, he doubted he would ever have any reason to go back to Olacion, so he decided to forget about the incident. Putting the it out of his mind, he realized with a jolt that he was outside again, freezing to death, toes going numb. With a discontent grumble, he began making a bit more effort to get to the nearest pharmacy.
Notes:
That was much lamer than I had hoped. Oh well. Maybe I'll attempt to fix it up some.
Also! Thank you Elly! I was hoping Felix would be at least enjoyable, but I'm so happy that he's believable.
And. Felix loves his dresses. Don't you make fun of him. He feels pretty.
The chapter titles? I'm sure someone has noticed that they are all from Taking Back Sunday, so far. --;; Yeah, pretty much all that I've been listening lately.
As always, I do love reviews, especially any sort of constructive criticism. I only proofread this once, so please let me know everything that slipped past my not-so-discerning eye.