Boring Flottenheim

Life, Identity

Fendir asks Kastella to go for a walk in the forest where he asks her to accompany him on an adventure into another dimension.

Fendir knocked on Kastella's door and bounced on his toes waiting impatiently for her to answer it. Kastella had been acting funny recently and it made Fendir worried he had upset her somehow. She didn't hang out with him like she used to when they were younger. She was normally busying herself with practicing her fencing skills or her studies. Finally the door opened and Fendir saw Kastella's icy blue eyes glaring at him under her bushy, curly red hair that clearly hadn't been brushed yet. Fendir smiled at her cheerfully to try and distract her from the fact that he had clearly woken her up. He sometimes forgot that other races actually sleep through the night. "What the hell Fen, it's like six thirty in the morning?" She mumbled as she rubbed her eyes. Fendir couldn't help but notice she was still in her sleep wear and couldn't stop his eyes from glancing down at her chest a few times as he spoke. "Good morning! I was actually wondering if you'd like to go for a walk today down in the forest." He tried to smile at her charmingly to distract her from the fact that he was bothering her. Her eyes softened a bit and she sighed, "Okay, but like, give me a couple hours okay?" She begged tiredly. "Of course!" Fendir said smiling, "Take all the time you need! I'll be in the ballroom-no, damn it, the stupid party is today-I'll be in the throne room I guess, or the library. I'll be somewhere." Fendir shrugged. Kastella chuckled at him, "Okay weirdo, I'm sure I'll find you." Fendir smiled at her, "Great! See you in a bit then!" He nodded at her politely and she rolled her eyes at him as she closed the door. Fendir pursed his lips trying to decide what to do and stood for a moment before a door down the hall opened and Sasha walked out. She waved at him and Fendir smiled and waved back. She moved toward him and he met her halfway down the hall. "Morning." She greeted him. "Good morning!" Fendir said, "Do you know what the shindig tonight is all about? I heard they're setting up in the ballroom already." "Shit really?!" Sasha said, annoyed, "I wanted to go practice in there." She grunted, "I'm not really sure what it is. Supposedly some of the lords from Lyrian are going to be here though." Fendir rolled his eyes, "You know, honestly, I'm kind of bored of the constant partying. It's the only thing that ever happens here." Sasha laughed at him, "Wow, Fendir himself saying he's bored of partying. I've truly heard everything." She teased him and flirtingly elbowed him. He playfully pushed her back and they lightly spared with each other for a few moments before Sasha pinned Fendir against the wall. "You don't pose a challenge anymore!" She teased up at him sounding bored. Fendir was a good head taller than her but knew she definitely had the advantage when it came to strength. Fendir glared down at her and went to kiss her. She kissed him back for a few moments and soon he had her pinned against the wall. His hands caressed her neck as he pulled her sandy blonde hair from her face. "Fendir! Stop!" She finally pulled her face away giggling. He smiled at her as he let her go. "I thought we had an agreement!" She teased and couldn't help herself from clinging to his chest. "Nobody's around!" Fendir said before glancing around to make sure that was true. Sasha sighed and took Fendir's hands in her own. "Hey, there is something you should know." She bit her lip and looked down. Her seriousness caused Fendir to pull his body off hers with concern. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Nothing's...wrong...I just..." She glanced off into the distance before meeting Fendir's eyes and lowering her voice, "I...I'm going to study at the temple of Diavari in Lyrian. With Tarin and Henryk and possibly Aelarad himself." She couldn't hide the excitement in her voice as she whispered this to Fendir, "Don't tell anyone yet! It's kind of a secret. I leave soon though." Fendir was insanely happy for Sasha but he couldn't help but feel a bit jealous about such news. He had left Flottenheim a few times for festivals and things around Thymryu. He had even visited the temple a few times when he was younger to visit uncle Tarin and Nerlureel but he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed that she had such an opportunity. "That's...that's wonderful!" Fendir said, squeezing her hands, "You'll be wonderful there! Tarin is great and...man I haven't even met Aelarad!" He smiled at her, genuinely happy for his friend. She smiled and sighed with relief, "Right?! I'm so excited! My mom isn't too thrilled but she'll get over it." She giggled. "Does my mom know?" Fendir asked knowing such news would make his mother beam with pride. Sasha nodded, "Yeah, she helped get me in touch with them and everything." Fendir nodded and tried to hide the pain and jealousy he felt. He couldn't help but feel like his parents still treated him like a child, especially compared to Sasha and Kastella who seemed to be growing up without him. "Well that's wonderful. When do you leave?" He asked. She smiled, "Next week actually." "Great!" He said, quite upset by the fact that the only exciting thing in his life for the past few weeks had been that he had managed to convince Kotsik to play a drinking game with him one night and Kotsik managed to sneak into Kastella's room and get a glimpse of her shirtless and showed this image to Fendir. Fendir wasn't proud of this and actually paid for it dearly when Kotsik inevitably ratted them both out to his mother. "I mean, I'll probably be gone by then anyway." Fendir said, trying desperately to come up with some exciting thing he could possibly do with his life. "Gone where? You never leave Flottenheim!" She teased confused by his sudden announcement. "Oh yes, you see-" He glanced over to see Kastella's door-"Stella and I...are...going...on...an...adventure." He lied. "Really?" Sasha said confused and only partially believing him. "Yup!" Fendir said smiling awkwardly realizing the corner he had backed himself into. "Where? Why?" Sasha asked him. "Somewhere...new." He said slowly trying to think of something. Suddenly he remembered Niko saying something about interdimensional travel and how he had managed to do it. "To another...dimension. It's quite exciting really. Niko has figured out a way to do it and he needs some people to try it out." Sasha squinted at him, "And Killion and Fenneck are okay with letting their children walk into a portal that Niko created?" Fendir shrugged, "Well Killion's child created it." He tried to laughed it off, "My mom says it will be good for me to get out in the world anyway. To fight some dragons or save some people. I don't know, she muttered something about how I am a privileged palace brat who could use some character development." That was true. Sasha sighed, "She has a point there." Fendir shoved Sasha playfully and she giggled and pushed him back, "Hey, wanna go...spare in the arena together? I could use some extra time practicing on a dummy before I leave for Lyrian." She teased him as they wrestled. Fendir tickled her to the floor and sighed disappointedly. "I told Stel I'd meet her in a bit and go for a walk. We'd have to be quick and well...we aren't exactly good at that are we." He winked at her. She rolled her eyes and stood up. "No...I suppose not." She hesitated a moment before helping Fendir to his feet, "So Stella huh?" She teased. "Oh please, you know she isn't into that sort of thing." Fendir said scoffing at Sasha's presumptions. "I'm just wondering. You totally should hit that though. She's insanely sexy and I'm not that into women." Fendir rolled his eyes, "She's made it quite clear that she's not interested. I don't think she is into elves." He said frustrated. "Or twinks." Sasha teased him. Fendir glared at her. Sasha waved her hands in defense. "Just saying! Hey, you wanna hang out at this thing tonight, and maybe afterwards you can...tell me goodbye." She played with his chest and gently kissed his neck. Fendir nuzzled her back and kissed her head, "Sounds wonderful." "Hey maybe Pyotr will join us." She said pulling away and started walking off toward the lifts. "Perhaps!" Fendir said, "I'll see you tonight." Fendir eventually walked off toward the throne room. As he passed the throne room his mother greeted him. "Morning Fendir." Fendir turned and saw her walking toward him. "Good morning mum." Fendir said as she hugged him. "How are you doing?" She asked him. Fendir looked behind her to see his father discussing something boring and important with Killion and another tiefling and a half-orc Fendir didn't recognize. "Oh I'm fine. Kastella and I are going to go for a walk this morning." Fendir said passively trying to figure out who these weird people were. Natalya smiled up at her son, "Oh how nice. These are some of the lords from Lyrian. They are here for some business and the party tonight." Fendir nodded understandingly. "I see. Well, I'm going to go to the library for a bit. If Kastella ever wakes up and comes down will you tell her that's where I am?" "Of course. Take a weapon with you if you're going down into the forest though." She said, not seeing any forms of self defense on her twig of a son. "I will mum. Don't worry! I'll grab them before we leave. I just hate lugging them around inside." He rolled his eyes at his mother's fussing and he trotted off to the library. After what felt like eternity, Kastella finally walked in. Fendir couldn't keep himself from admiring her beauty. She was a light pink tiefling with bright red curly hair that put even his mother's red locks to shame. She had dragon like horns that were bright white with purple tips and her tail had the same purple on the tips of its ridges. Her eyes were a bright blue and her lips a dark, sultry purple. Physically she was sturdy with very strong arms and legs from all the fencing she was constantly doing and she was naturally quite curvy. Fendir had tried not to think about her that way as they had grown up together and she had made it very clear she didn't want to take part in the fluid orgy-like partying the other elves and half-elves they had grown up with did, but it was quite difficult for him. There was something about tieflings that sparked an erotic curiosity in him. He pushed these thoughts away as she walked over. "Good morning." She said in a much better mood than she had the last time Fendir had seen her. "Good morning sleeping beauty." Fendir teased her as he closed the book he was reading on dragons. "What did you ask me this morning? I don't quite remember what I agreed to." She chuckled still rubbing her eyes a bit. Fendir smiled, "I asked you to join me on a walk. I...I just feel like...I just want to catch up is all." He said. Kastella nodded, "Yeah, okay. You ready then?" Fendir hopped up from the sofa, "Yes, I just need to grab a bow so my mum doesn't pitch a fit. I'll grab one from the guard quarters on the way out." They headed out into the hall which was now bustling with people Fendir assumed were from Lyrian. As they made it to the entrance Natalya's voice rang out over the crowds, "Fendir! Stella!" Fendir sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes as he and Kastella made their way over to his mother in the crowd. She was standing next to Fenneck who was dressed ornately for the festivities and they were speaking to a couple tieflings. Killion was also there and he smiled at Kastella when they arrived. Fenneck spoke, "Lord Syrion, this is my son Fendir and Killion's daughter Kastella. Kids, this is Lord Syrion Badcock and his son Gifartus Badcock." Fendir bit his tongue so as not to laugh. He could see his mother close her eyes disapprovingly and felt Kastella's tail wack him gently in the back knowing he wanted to crack a joke. Kastella spoke and reached out her hand to Syrion so they wouldn't notice Fendir's immaturity. "Nice to meet you." She said charmingly. Syrion was a red tiefling with dark blue hair and his son was a shade of orange with the same blue hair. Gifartus' eyes were a shiny gold and he had a very fancy beard. When Gifartus took her hand, Fendir swore he saw this tiefling's eyes fill with lust and Fendir felt immediately jealous and protective. Gifartus spoke to Kastella as he shook her hand and brought it to his face to gently kiss it. "You are one of the most beautiful tieflings I have ever met." Fendir cleared his throat loudly and reached out his hand as Kastella blushed and thanked him quietly, "I'm Fendir, nice to meet you. Welcome to Flottenheim." Gifartus reluctantly dropped Kastella's hand and took Fendir's. "Nice to meet you." He said. Fendir heard his mother sigh rather loudly in disapproval. "Well, I'm sure we'll see you all tonight. We have to go now. Have a lovely day." Fendir said, hurriedly pushing Kastella toward the door. He heard his father let out an exasperated sigh and his mother start apologizing. "You're so rude." Kastella muttered once they were finally out the door. "Gods, there were way too many people in there." Fendir said, ignoring her as he continued to walk down the mountain. Kastella stopped, "Hey. If you're going to be rude like that all day I'll go back inside." Fendir stopped and dropped his shoulders as he turned around. "Oh please, that guy was being totally creepy." "Like you're not that way." She said glaring down at him. Fendir felt his face start to flush. He didn't like it when she called him out for that sort of behavior. "Look, it was awkward, okay? If you want to ask him out later, by all means go for it." He threw his hands up annoyed and turned to go back down the mountain. "I'm not going with you unless you apologize." Kastella said. Fendir laughed, "Oh I am not going back in there. That would be insanely embarrassing and frankly unnecessary." He said, turning back to look at Kastella whose tail was whipping back and forth angrily behind her. "I meant to me." She said harshly. Fendir looked at her confused and sighed dramatically. "I'm sorry I embarrassed you in front of Mr. Badcock." He said sarcastically. Kastella whipped around and headed back to the door. "No wait! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Fendir ran up to her and grabbed her arm. "I'm sorry Stel. I...I'm sorry." She stopped and turned to look at Fendir. "Do you have to be so immature all the time?" She asked him sadly. Fendir sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. Do you have to take everything so seriously all the time? You didn't used to be this way. You used to like making fun of the other lords with me and you used to enjoy having fun. Now all you do is study and practice all day. I miss the way things used to be." Fendir said sadly. Kastella sighed and looked down into the Vallee. "I don't know Fen. I'm growing up. I just feel like...like you aren't." Fendir felt frustrated. He knew she'd say that. He knew that it would inevitably become a race thing. "I can't help that Stel. I...I am a child. I'm an elf-" "Yeah I know. I know Fen." She cut him off harshly. He sighed and looked down at the ground and felt frustrated. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you." Kastella said awkwardly rubbing his arm as if she didn't really know how to physically comfort someone. "Let's go for a walk." She said turning back toward the woods. Her tail gently pulled Fendir behind her until they were walking down somberly together. They walked in silence until they made it into the woods and Fendir finally broke the awkward silence between them. "Can you really blame me though? His name is Gifartus Badcock! You really expect me to just swallow that? I mean his name is Badcock. Of course I'm not going to swallow that. Hell, I wouldn't even lick it with a name like that." Kastella burst out laughing and Fendir smiled proudly to himself for making her laugh. She had a funny awkwardly loud laugh and it was one of Fendir's favorite sounds. He would gladly allow her to consider him an immature asshole as long she continued to laugh at his jokes. "It really is an unfortunate name, isn't it?" She said, still giggling. Fendir giggled with her until he suddenly heard a scuttling on the forest floor around them. "Spider." He said alarmed and Kastella instinctively drew her rapier. Fendir reached behind him to grab his bow and froze in horror as he realized he had forgotten to grab one when his mother had distracted him. "Damn it." He muttered and Kastella met his eyes and realized he was unarmed. "You're such a dumbass!" She whispered. "If I die and my mother says anything, it was her fault." Fendir whispered as he frantically searched the ground for a stick under the snow. "Just stay behind me!" Kastella whispered and her tail wrapped around Fendir's waist pulling him up off the ground. "Don't you know any magic?!" She asked. Fendir plunked his forehead into her shoulder as he realized this. "I forgot. You're a genius." "Dumbass! Where is it?" Kastella asked him. "What? My magic?" Fendir asked confused. "No dumbass, the spider!" "Uhhhh." Fendir looked around, "There." He said pointing into the bushes. As he pointed he sent a wave of magic into the underbrush and suddenly large spiky thorns shot up toward the trees and a giant spider's body was severed in the branches. Kastella rolled her eyes, "You're an idiot." She said lowering her sword. Just as she did another spider lurched from the trees down at them and she raised her rapier up at it and screamed as its body sandwiched her between itself and Fendir onto the ground. It hissed disgustingly at them before going limp. "Ow." Fendir whimpered as his groin was crushed by Kastella's tail. Her horns had landed on either side of his neck, missing his throat by centimeters, pinning him to the ground with a mouthful of her hair. She tried to move but her horns had pierced the ground. "Fuck." She muttered. She tried to move her legs to kick the spider off causing Fendir to squirm in pain. "I'm impressed." She sighed, laying back on him defeated. "Why? Because you almost stabbed me to death with your horns?" He muttered. "No. Because you aren't making a dirty joke about this." He chuckled, "Well there are a few things that do put a damper on the mood. The main one being the eight dead eyes staring into my soul." He said in disgust. "Yeah, that's fair." Kastella chuckled. Suddenly some vines slithered up to them and wrapped themselves around the spider before lifting it into the air and carrying it off of them. Suddenly Fendir saw his mother's disapproving face staring down at him and Kastella. "You forgot something." She said staring down at him holding his bow and quiver. Fendir chuckled ashamedly. Natalya reached down and helped Kastella up and Fendir got to his feet. "You two should be more careful." Natalya said handing him his things. Fendir strapped his quiver on. "To be fair, it was your fault for distracting me in the palace." Fendir told his mother who gave him a look prompting him to quickly take back that statement. "I'm just joking of course." He looked down to avoid his mother's eyes. "Be careful out here." Natalya said sternly, "And make sure you're both back in time for the party tonight. It's very important for all three of your fathers that you be there." "Of course Natalya. We shouldn't be long." Kastella said politely. Natalya nodded and turned back toward the palace. "You're such a dumbass." Kastella said. "You should really come up with something more clever than dumbass." Fendir suggested as they headed deeper into the forest. "No, it's fitting." Kastella smiled at him, "So why did you drag me out here? You acted like you had something you wanted to ask me." They kept walking as Fendir spoke, "Well, I wanted to ask you if..." Suddenly his conversation with Sasha came back to his mind, "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go on an adventure." Kastella stopped and looked at him confused, "What the hell are you talking about? You don't just 'go on adventures'. You get roped unwillingly into adventures. You don't go and find them." "Well, what if we did?" Fendir suggested, "Niko was telling me he found a way to travel between different dimensions or something. I thought it might be interesting if we...well you know...did." He continued walking. "Yeah, but Niko is also a dumbass who literally set your nursery on fire when you were a baby." Fendir shrugged, "Well I don't remember that and I really doubt you do either considering you were also a toddler and anyway that was years ago. He's one of the best sorcerers in the kingdom now." Kastella raised her eyebrows in disagreement, "That's a bit of an overstatement don't you think?" "What? Are you jealous of your brother's accomplishments or something?" Fendir teased her. Kastella rolled her eyes, "No, I'm just not as willing to hop into one of his experimental portals as you might be." "Fair enough. But seriously. I just...This place is boring and I want to do something exciting with my life." "This place is our home, Fen. We're safe here and our parents have worked very hard to make that the case." "I know but I'm getting bored of killing spiders in the forest. It's all we ever do. I want to fight dragons and meet aboleths and travel to new and exciting lands. Don't you want those things too?" Fendir asked Kastella. Kastella shook her head in disbelief at Fendir, "No! That's...stupid! We're safe and happy here Fen. Don't throw that away just because you're bored!" "Let me guess, you want to just get married and have a boring scribe job like your sister now?" Fendir said accusingly, "You really have grown up haven't you." "That is not what I want at all! Gods, you think you know everything Fen but you don't know crap! Especially about me." She said angrily. "Oh right, because I'm just a pathetic child." Fendir said getting upset. "Maybe!" Kastella said frustrated. Fendir stopped walking and looked at her hurt. "Come on Fen. Face it. You are a child. I'm...I'm not anymore." Her voice grew quiet and sad, "It's a bad idea. Our parents would never let us do that sort of thing anyway. We should head back for the party." She turned around and started walking back toward Flottenheim. Fendir was frustrated. He wanted to plop himself down in the snow and throw a fit until Kastella would come and apologize and tell him he was right that an adventure was a great idea but as he watched her walk away he knew that would just prove her point even further. He stumbled home behind her and they went their separate ways to get dressed for the night.