Arcadia Springs - 1000 E Windy Street(#194RAL)

This block is part of the city's historical district, with most of the buildings dating back two centuries or more. Elegant manor houses of brick and stone line the broad avenue, neatly hemmed in in by small, manicured lawns. Young maple trees provide natural beauty and shade to those walking along the cobblestone sidewalks. The street lamps and road signs are of an antique design that compliments the neighborhood's character.

Obvious exits:

east <e> Fade's <fa> west <w>

Foxfire stands under the tree in what will be her front yard, keeping what appears to be a watchful eye on the reconstruction. When completed, the grand manor will be quite modern and roomy, quite unlike the small den she and Evil once shared. Her mind, however, is distracted, still dwelling on the abrupt and painful transformation of Reala.

Aunin comes into view from across the street. He waits until no cars are coming by and then he runs over, his little school backpack bouncing a little as he runs by, heading towards the -normal- entrance (likely after being told not to jump the fence), and quickly waves towards Foxfire, "Heya Momma Fox! I had a GREAT Day today, how was yours!?", he smiles widely, full of energy it seems.

Foxfire smiles as she senses Aunin's approach, turning towards the gate as he enters. There are times when telepathy is very useful. She crouches down so that she's more on his level. "Hello, Aunin. My day's been very good. Our new house should be ready in a couple of weeks." She points to the new doors and windows being installed. "See?"

Aunin throws his backpack away a bit and tries to hug Foxfire. If successful, Aunin keeps on smiling widely, not even looking at the new doors, "Uhhuh! I see! I'm glad you're feeling good, I had a busy day today! I learned how to draw really good faces!", and he stopped eating crayons too. However... "And I met a man who said he'd teach me how to draw'n'stuff, maybe!", he grins widely, "He said he was a friend of yours!"

Foxfire is always open for hugs from her cub. And that is how she thinks of him, her child in fact if not by birth. "Oh really?" she remaks. "Did my friend tell you his name?"

Aunin shakes his head, "Nope! He said it sounded like Erin and Ahren and Aurin though!", he giggles as if he thought that was quite hilarious. "He said he was gonna visit! I told him that you might not be in the mood an' he said he'd apologize if that was the case. I think.", he pauses, "Jeremy got in trouble for throwin' blocks.", Jeremy's a child in Arin's class.

Foxfire nods, tucking that information away for later. "I don't mind visitors, so long as they're friendly." Pause. "So Jeremy was throwing blocks? That wasn't nice of him."

Aunin nods slowly, "I'm glad 'cuz he said he'd be coming today...", he looks around and leans in a bit, whispering, "Th'teacher said so too, made him sit in the corner."

Foxfire says conspiratorally, "Good for the teacher. Hopefully Jeremy will learn his lesson." She smiles. "So, did my friend say when he'd be coming? The house isn't ready to live in yet." Not unless one likes drywall dust and unfinished bathrooms.

A man comes into sight from across the street, heading towards the mansion. He shouts the word, "Now!", to Foxfire. He's smiling, but any brief telepathic scan would indicate that he's worried and sad. Aunin looks towards the man and points, "That's him! Wow! That's neat!", probably because the man said so from so far away that he couldn't have heard Foxfire's words... And the man, well, he might be a familiar face and may have a familiar voice for it is Arin.

Foxfire does nothing to disguise her momentary surprise at seeing Arin again. Even so, she gives him a smile as he approaches. "Hello, Arin. It's been some time," she greets once he's within speaking distance.

Arin glances towards Aunin for a moment before looking back to Foxfire, bowing, and saying, "Hello Foxfire. Agreed...", he keeps his smile up, "A very long time, actually. May I have a moment of your time?"

Foxfire says, "Of course." She motions for him to join them under the tree. No sense in standing out under the late summer sun.

Arin stays where is for a few moments, "I...don't think children should hear what I have to say...", he moves a little closer. Aunin pouts and crosses his arms at Arin.

Foxfire glances from Arin to Aunin and back again. "Be kind, cub," she gently reproaches. "Sometimes grown-ups have to keep secrets." She gives the boy a smile. "Besides, you haven't gone to check that mulberry bush we planted together. Will you go see if it needs watering?"

Aunin whines, "But....", he looks towards Arin and sighs, "Okay...", he slumps a little for a moment before saying, "I'm gonna give it the best meal it -ever- had!", Aunin, infused with this knowledge, happily dashes off to check up on it.

Arin's eyes follow Arin out before he looks back to Foxfire, "I've missed you, Foxfire. Especially your diplomacy.", he grins a little.

Foxfire chuckles quietly. "He reminds me that some things are better treated with a gentle hand." She watches Aunin dash off to the other front corner of the lot, then returns her attention to her visitor. "What brings you to my doorstep?"

Arin pauses, "I've been sent to assist you. And to confess something.", he looks towards the ground, "First my confession...I've been deceitful.", he looks back up, "I told you...when I first came that I had come to see you...That is true..."

Foxfire nods slowly, folding her arms, ears dipping a notch. She looks at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

Arin sighs and ducks down a bit, as if he was more comfortable there, "I didn't know what to do, Foxfire...Hurting Aria'd be just...just wrong...but I couldn't let her destroy my home...even if it was beyond her control..."

Foxfire nods, her expression becoming one of sympathy. "One of the most horrible things in the world is to fight your own, be it child, sibling, or parent. I do not envy the position you were in."

Arin looks up to Foxfire. He appears to actually be crying a little. He says, "That's why I didn't say anything, Foxfire... I would've killed myself for an alternative... I didn't see one...", he pauses briefly, "I thought maybe you would... That's why I contacted you when I first arrived. I thought 'Foxfire'd know what to do. She always knows.", he shakes his head, "...And you fixed my mistakes too. I'm a failure."

Foxfire nods slowly, a hint of wistfullness creeping into her expression. For all her other abilities, the vulpine is incapable of shedding tears. "I do not always know what is right, but I do try to do what I think is best. As for you, you raised Aria. You are no more a failure than the rest of us."

Arin closes his eyes, "I failed more than I should have. Did you know, Foxfire, that Aunin's brother was killed too in the flames? He wasn't born yet, but they had a name for him...", he stands up slowly and takes in a long, deep breath. He looks up, "His name would have been Niac."

Foxfire blinks once at that name. "Niac? Strange...I met someone who used that name."

Arin continues with a nod, "He'd never forget his brother or his parents, even though the best person for the job took him in.", he looks around with a sigh, "Maybe Megumi knew...And that's why she insisted you take care of him...She hoped Aunin would forget his past...", Arin looks around for a bit, as if to make sure Aunin's gone, "Altered has an odd aspect about it...", he continues, "Most arrive on Altered through dimensional portals for Altered is a dimensional hub...yet...It is very rare one gets whisked away..."

Foxfire merely shrugs. "Aunin is an orphaned cub in need of a family who loves him. That is the most important thing to me. If he remembers anything before the fire that took his parents, then he has not told me." She cants her head at the mention of a person being whisked away, brow furrowing slightly. "It's almost unheard of, yes..."

Arin pauses for a moment and then continues, "Yes....That's true...Megumi hoped to change the past..the future.", he raises his head a bit, "Because one day an almost unheard of event occoured. A child was taken from Altered. That child was Aunin. He was lost, an orphan in a strange land. A man named Zeus found him...Aunin thought it was Zeus! The man he heard everything about! He was ecstatic!", he sighed, "But it wasn't the real Zeus. Earth's people had already begun to begun to consider themselves near to Gods. It would not be long until they -did- consider themselves Gods. Aunin saw it wasn't the real Zeus and feared the man, but the man was still kind and gave him a home much like Foxfire had given him a home. Soon Zeus brought him to a Doctor, however, who was shocked to see that Aunin's body wasn't uptodate. He tampered with Aunin's genes, his hair changed color, his aging would slow when he got older...", Arin let out a sigh, "And Aunin missed his true home dearly. But Earth did not have the technology to bring Aunin back to his home and so he continued schooling, determined to do his best and find a way back home...He aced every subject, was the first in every class, developed many theories not only on how to get back home, but also in genetics. He was about to finish his schooling when war broke out.", Arin's hair shimmers briefly before changing to the color red, "I became a scientist for the Earth Government."

Foxfire blinks once. Twice. Her mouth doesn't fall open, though for a moment it appaears that it just might. It appears that she is having trouble wrapping her vulpine mind around the idea that her cub and the man he will be are both here, in the same time and place.

Arin continues, almost hysterical by this point, "I perfected their genetic engineering department, or at least made it the way they wanted it to be. That's what the world wanted. What they considered perfection. I became a hero of the times. I met a woman near my age by the name of Megumi but I still wanted to go back home. She knew more about dimensional theory than I did. We started working together.", he looks around again, "Yet the government was going to take away my funding. We had not developed a way to travel through the multiverse.", he pauses for a moment, "They wanted me to create life. Life was immortal now but nobody created Life anymore. So they had me build life. I didn't want to but...I needed to get home. So I built life...and I told this life that he was my brother, Niac, as I made him in the image how I imagined my brother to be. He had no idea what he was...Not at first...", he sighs, "That is where I failed...It was my greatest mistake..."

There are times that Foxfire's mind cannot understand everything, Zeus' child or no. It is at those times that, when comprehension fails, she can only accept. And so, while she cannot fully understand how time has looped upon itself, to steal her son and yet bring him home before his loss, she accepts that the man before her is both Aunin and Arin.

It is not entirely surprising then, that she reaches out to him in a motherly embrace, to comfort him in his pain. "...a mistake it may have been...but I am also guilty of making terrible, terrible mistakes...but I can still love."

Arin is embraced and he follows in kind, the returned embrace seemingly shaken. It's not quite as weak as it is suddenly relieved, as if carrying a boulder for many years on your back and then letting it down for a moment. "...Still love?", he looks to Foxfire, "I never doubted that... But...", he pauses, "Niac found out he was artificially created. I don't know how...but when I later tried to gather up the forces of Order and Chaos into a form...at this time I thought I was doing the right thing...Tried to make them into just normal people, normal lives...", he swallows, "Niac got his revenge and sabatoged it. For revenge, I guess. Thus the Chaos War started... ", he pauses once more before finishing with, "I don't wish for Aunin to be responsible for this."

Foxfire holds him for as long has he needs, not caring how awkward it may appear. One thought flits through her mind: and so both my children will travel through time. She listens quietly, without reproach, only concern and shared sorrow. "Sometimes we set things in motion without realizing their consequences," she says softly.

Arin will let go after a while but freezes for a moment, as if consulting a mental clock. He smiles slowly, "I have about fifteen minutes.", he pauses, "And then the portal will come, right above my head... It'll start small so I might be able to destroy it before...", he closes his eyes, "And since that means I'd never be created, I will be cut off for time is a river that seeks the easiest route. It cannot change itself but it can wear away the pebble that seeked to alter its course."

Foxfire lets him go, albeit reluctantly. "So this would be the day..." She glances around her, as if trying to reassure herself that Aunin the child is still here.

Arin nods slowly, "I am outside of time. There will be no repurcussions.", he pauses, "As for what I was sent here to help you with...It appears that a man and a younger man happened to be sent to Dal'cia. It appears that they are enemies so they shouldn't be too hard to find. However, it appears that the deity of their dimensional homeland has barred their way back. Only they are barred from returning but I know not why."

Foxfire frowns, both at his words and the circumstances that bring them to her. "More trouble for the world. We will manage."

Arin nods slowly, "I imagine so. The deity might just not want them back, though."

Foxfire tries to muster a smile, but it refuses to form. So she simply gives up the attempt. "Arin, I want you to remember this. I love you. In spite of all that happened to you, that has not, will not change."

Arin tilts his head a bit...and then he smiles, "Thank you, Foxfire...That's all I ever needed...Please take good care of, um...", he coughs softly.

Foxfire looks at him for a long moment, regarding him as if for the first time. A single, soft but poignant question comes to her lips. "Was it worth it?"

Arin could guess several possible meanings to that, so he just asks, "Was what worth it?"

Foxfire asks, "Everything that you have gone through, all that you have endured, was it worth the living?"

Arin smiles, "I think I concentrated too much on the sad things...", he takes a step forward, "Every second was worth it. Without the sadness, I would have missed a lot out of happiness... I would have never seen Aria's smile, Daryn's confidence, Kyrara's humanity, Luria's strength, Yamiyo's calm. I would have never met...I would have never met her.", he doesn't say who, though, but he counters, "Is it worth it?"

If Foxfire could cry, tears would form at the corners of her eyes. Since she cannot, she can only let her ears and face convey her feelings. "I would miss the chance to see you grow up. To see you..." she trails off for a moment, words failing her. But only for a moment. "Should I be so selfish as to change the path you've tread, and in so doing wiping out the choices of others?"

Arin smiles, "As I said, I'm out of time... I've removed myself. Everything I have done is something Arin has done...My actions will remain... But maybe not as Aunin's...", at least, that's the theory, but Arin doesn't say that.

Foxfire says, tone somewhere between statement and question, "Then you have made up your mind."

Arin nods slowly, "If you have...different feelings...advice...I will listen, though. It's something...I mean... It's better to be open than closed..."

Foxfire admits, "I understand sorrow, but not regret. All that I may do is accept what I have done and move forward. I...I do not want to lose my son, but your actions..." How frustrating it is to try and imagine things that have and yet have not happened! "Aira...Megumi, Kati, Itak...even Niac...what of them? What of the people that you helped along the way?"

Arin says, "They're still part of time and will remain a part of it...", he pauses, "Though I think Niac has finally healed...", he checks his mental clock, "It's soon. Aunin should be done with the bushes by now, don't you think?"

"Yes..." Foxfire glances behind her, as if expecting for Aunin the child to come running up behind them. "there are no guarantees, you know. I love you, but I will not be able to protect you from everything.."

Foxfire might either sense or hear Aunin returning from his duty, having made certain the plant got lots of water (and getting distracted by a lonely flower he saw, which he watered too). Arin smiles, "We all grow up. I hope ... we'll ... make you proud, if not...well...", he looks up to the sky, "Nobody's perfect, right?"

Foxfire says "No...we were never meant to be perfect. And both of you have made me proud. I only hope that I will be a good enough mother, until you've grown."

Arin chuckles, "Well I suggest you look at Aunin for the answer to that question.", he draws a letter out from air and offers it to Foxfire, "Mind giving this to Megumi?"

Aunin returns at this point, smiling widely. He shouts loudly, to proclaim it to the world, "I watered the plants'n'a'flower too who was lonely!"

Foxfire takes the letter from him. "Of course." How could she refuse him? She turns towards the younger Aunin, moving to scoop him up in her arms since he's still small enough for her to do so. "Oh good. Thank you, Aunin."

Arin splits into three people, much like Inarin has done before, and each holds their hands up to a specific point in the sky. Aunin smiles and says, "You're welcome, momma fox!", he glances towards Arin, "What's he doing now? Did you finish your top secret adult talk?", his eyes widen a little, "Is he leaving?"

Foxfire holds Aunin close, like mothers sometimes do, particularly when their children have just survived doing something terribly reckless. "Yes, Aunin. He has to leave now..." Her voice catches in her throat. "He has to make sure some bad things don't happen."

A small infinitesimal speck of anti-light forms in the air, a soft gust of breeze flowing through into the hole, ruffling Arin's still red hair lightly. From Arin's hands, white thin arcs of energy expel out to the speck and slam into it. The Arins grunt visibly as they try to contain the speck from growing. It appears that even something as small as the speck is taking a lot of energy and effort from the man. Aunin watches silently for a moment, and then says, "Bye...", to Arin.

Foxfire says nothing, fearing she would interrupt his concentration. . o (Goodbye, Arin...goodbye, and thank you. I will keep an eye on Aria for you.) The slight breeze tousles her fur, but she pays it no mind.

One Arin vanishes, the other two continue their efforts, a thought is sent to Foxfire from Arin, <Goodbye...And Thank you, Momma Fox.>, and as that happens the other Arin vanishes, Arin lets out a soft growl as he thrusts his hands forward, sending out a last bit of energy. The speck collapses in on itself and Arin smiles briefly before vanishing entirely as if he was never there.

Aunin himself says, "He forgot to change his hair back.", matter of factly.

Foxfire knows not whether to laugh or cry at Aunin's remark. And so, she hugs him. "I love you, Aunin."

Aunin seems a little confused for a moment, he thinks it over for a moment and then decides Foxfire just doesn't want that idea to become just something thrown out casually all the time. She wants it to remain nice and special. And with that thought in mind, Aunin accepts the hug and returns it once more, deciding he'll have to surprise Foxfire with those statements sometimes too. "Thanks Momma, I love you too'n'I'm gonna make you proud someday! I'll be a fireman!", his smile saddens slightly but it soon regains its strength.

Foxfire brings forth a smile, though the sadness still lingers. "I think you will make a very good fireman." With slightly less reluctance than before, she relinquishes him, setting him back on his feet. "Tonight, after dinner, we're going to do something different. I'm going to teach you how to howl."