Best Foot Foward [Naelona / Open]

[Anolean Ezel]

The doors never moved, no one even noticed when a foreign guest had appeared into the palace. No one was alerted to warn the other boogies that an important figure had appeared within there large home. It was to easy for him really, but then again he didn't mind that so much it just made his life a bit more entertaining.

The main entrance was silent and the candles that hung as lighting flickered from time to time giving the area a dark look. There was a shadow on the stairwell, and that shadow started to quake, it was a gentle quake as if someone had just poked the surface of the water to watch the ripples form.

From this shadow, an elegant booted foot stepped out easily and then an arm. Slowly a body was emerging, the shadows pulling away from the figure as if he was just born into the world, ripped from the mothers womb. The boogie stood still, a cane resting on the stairs. A man stood there on the middle of the stairs dressed in nothing but grey and blacks, with a touch of white. Elegant was the man with the cane, thick and long black hair tied back into a weave that formed a braid.

He was a handsome man, but a stern one by appearance. His grey eyes looked to the left and then to the right slowly. He saw no one as of yet and so he turned his body and began climbing the stairs at an easy pace.

Behind him, came a black leopard that jumped from the very shadow in which he had been born from. The leopard padded up beside his master and then in front. The feline walked on ahead of him while the boogie spoke in a stern voice, "Announce me."

The feline was gone, having jetted down the halls at top speed, its paws never touching the ground in its run. meanwhile, the male took his time climbing the stairs and then turned, following the same direction his familiar was running, but at his own easy pace.

Else where, the black feline had come to a stop before a door. He looked at it with high expectations as if the door should be opened as soon as he came to a stop. But when the door did not open the leopard gave out a warning purr. How dare someone not be prepared for him!

[Naelona Ezel]

Naelona was within her quarters, papers laid out in an elaborate and defined order. Each sheet and ledger in it's place each to whatever page she required as she wrote upon a clean one. A new entry of what would become the most recent summary of Wonderland's inhabitants. Such things really did need to be put into regular motion.. but did anyone?

No, save for herself most everyone seemed to mind their own lives, live their own way, wallow in their own distorted chaotic messes. She did wonder, now and again while her gray eyes grazed over the papers, how did Wonderland ever survive before her?

But even in the most intent and concentrated of moments, something sometimes pricks the mind and stirs the emotions in a strange way. Even Mar seemed to notice as the creature stopped whatever it was doing and stared at the door. "I know.." with a murmur Naelona rose from her seat and hesitated her hand at the handle. What a strange little presence to sense upon the other side. It unnerved yet angered her at the same time. For a baited moment her hand rested a hairs breath away from the door, before an odd smirk crossed her face.

"He wants to visit, he can knock." The boogie mused, returning to her desk in a flow of grays and black. She wasn't a respecter or persons. Even if they were supposedly kin. Besides, had he wanted a greeting, he should've sent her notice.

[Anolean Ezel]

If a leopard could scuff then Locke, the leopard, would of done so just now. How dare this woman blow him off like he was nothing! He was Locke the prized familiar to the one and only Anolean Ezel! Sibling or no sibling Locke wished to rip this woman a new hole. To bad his master would never allow such a thing. But the feline stayed where he was, growling lowly at Naelona through the door. The leopard stood on its hind legs and put its large paws on the door.

Then using its right paw, it slammed it against the handle and forcing the door open with a violent swing. Then, sitting back down he peered into the room with narrowed eyes. A rush of cool air entered the room from the door being opened so suddenly and there, in the darkness emerged the same figure as before, standing beside his feline, cane resting at his side and a look of low amusement on his face.

The man stood there, staring at the woman at the desk and then oozed into the floor as he merged with a shadow. Naelona would of never noticed him, his form disappeared from the doorway, him only having been standing there for less then a second. The room was silent and the beast that belonged to the eldest Ezel remained seated as if waiting for a signal to come into the room.

From behind Naelona, the figure appeared again and this time he tilted his head to the side and raised his cane, poking the dark haired woman in the middle of the back. "I do not knock. I believe would gather this by now." He said with a bit of boredom hidden in his voice. Grey eyes glanced at Locke, the beast then padded into the room.

[Naelona Ezel]

Mar flinched when the door flew open and banged loudly against the wall. At sight of the other familiar the monkey hissed from where he sat, beady eyes flickering over the shadowing brother and made no other sound. Naelona had a bit of her own contempt for the beast, it'd better not have caused a dent in her wall or otherwise damaged it or she was going to have a nice pelt to lay across her floor whether the cat's boogie liked it or not.

"I do not knock. I believe would gather this by now." The boogie didn't budge at the prod. At least he used his cane to do so this time. "Yes, well it's never too late to learn a few manners, for both you and your familiar, Anolean." His name got it's own bit of bite, though subtle. Ah.. such a name she hadn't said in many years. She wished if only it would've stayed that way. Anolean there within the boogie palace only really meant one thing, nothing good was about to come of this.

"Why are you here, Anolean? Become bored with your own musings?" What he did she wasn't even sure anymore. She didn't keep in contact with him, never really had since she'd left home. For all she knew nothing might've changed at all, for all she cared nothing had. "Father come to make amends?" Turning in her seat she met her brother eye to eye, gray looking upon gray. "Or mere morbid curiosity driven you here?" In short, Naelona was not a family sort of individual. Not one at all.

[Anolean Ezel]

He ignored his sister as he tapped his cane on the ground and then looked for a seat, finding on, he pulled it up and sat down beside his twin and looked at her paper work idly. "I am hardly bored with my activities." He said with the same bite in his voice that she had used on him. Unlike his sister, he could careless about being here and so he flipped through the papers, keeping them in order.

"Father has not sent his apologies for anything, as you well known his head is to far up in the abyss to think of such a thing. Furthermore you could at least show some care for me. Were we not join to the hip since birth?" He inquired although never looking at her. He read through a page and then shot a glance at his sister as he spoke once again with a bite to his voice, "I am here due to rumors. The Higher ups, or Elders, have sent me here to check on matters. They are not pleased, Naelona."

He then stacked the papers and put them neatly back in their proper spot. "You have been letting the humans have a bit too much freedom, I hear." Ah, so that was the matter in which brought her twin here, the rumors of the uprising against the Boogies. "Far to much freedom, when one kills a boogie, shouldn't that human die as well?" He tilted his head, "Why hasn't this human been captured and put down? It only takes one to make war." His gray eyes looked deeply into his sisters.

[Naelona Ezel]

The idle flipping of pages as Anolean turned through her work bugged her slightly, but at least he was still as orderly as she was and didn't shuffle any out of turn or replace them in the wrong order. By the time he was done it was just as tidy and neat as when she'd first set them there. Eerie, if one thought about it.

"Father has not sent his apologies for anything, as you well known his head is to far up in the abyss to think of such a thing. Furthermore you could at least show some care for me. Were we not join to the hip since birth?" Figures Kazn wouldn't have changed at all. Naelona's pen stilled at Anolean's mild request. They'd followed each other everywhere, when they were small. "We were." She seceded at length, closing her booklet softly. "Don't ask me to think of past things brother." Naelona murmured quietly studying the table more than the paper upon it. "They are painful and leave my mind at ill." More of a confession than anyone would derive from her, but even Naelona doubted her brother would realize it. Even so it still derived a cold sensation from her long stone emotions. T'wasn't pleasant.

Seeing her brother after so long was bittersweet. Sweet as they'd been so close, bitter for the circumstances his presence reminded her of. Their own childish cheer was before death, and illness on her part. Her nightmares hadn't helped anyone to sleep, she was sure. Hadn't she been sent to sleep with the slaves one night for it? She didn't remember as clearly as she liked, and couldn't forget as much as she wanted. Rather a catch-22.

"I am here due to rumors. The Higher ups, or Elders, have sent me here to check on matters. They are not pleased, Naelona. You have been letting the humans have a bit too much freedom, I hear." Well.. that was news. So the Elders were at least some meagerly functioning unit of society. She'd grown to wonder after some time. "Me..?" She asked, looking to her brother. "The Elders are then studying the wrong boogies. I am but a one boogie trying to keep order in this chaos. I manage well for the most part, but I am still but one woman. I left the matter of the killing to his Master, an acquaintance of mine who's garnered my respect, who in turn turned him over to our resident dissection-fanatic. I've yet to hear more on the matter since."

"However as far as allowing freedoms." Naelona studied her brother's face steadily. "Ask anyone around, I'm the strictest there is."

[Anolean Ezel]

Anolean seemed pleased with his sisters answers, especially with the rebellious slave haven been taken care of for the time being.

"Ask anyone around, I'm the strictest there is."

Her brother held a twisted smirk on his face at her words, "If that is the case," he started slowly with a cool voice as he kneaded the top of his cane in the palm of one hand. "Then you have no fear of me being within this area. The other boogies here, are a whole different story." He studied his sister for a long moment.

"Nonetheless, I am here to observe and see what may lie here within this area of our world. If I find a single slave out of line, I have orders to do as I wish with them, beyond their boogies wishes. I am sure you understand why, Sister. This also, includes your pretty blond and others you might have occurred over the years."

He grew silent then and his smirk grew rather large and it was not a pleasant expression upon the older sibling. It looked rather disturbing and twisted, "Speaking of slaves, how does your own fair? I am saddened to say my latest slave has...passed on, she did not choose the correct answer during a little game I put her into. So sad really, had a pretty face. Blond too." He chuckled lightly then.

[Naelona Ezel]

"Then you have no fear of me being within this area. The others though, are a whole different story." Naelona smiled faintly at the prospect. "Really? Come to raise a bit of havoc have you?" She chuckled with a wicked look. "I can suggest some troublesome names to you if you'd like." She had her limits of what she could and could not do, after all. Hell, she'd even help him if it so suited. Or rather - he could accompany her. Either way it resulted in the same thing.

"Nonetheless, I am here to observe and see what may lie here within this area of our world. If I find a single slave out of line, I have orders to do as I wish with them, beyond their boogies wishes. I am sure you understand why, Sister." Naelona regarded Anolean interestedly. "What nice orders. Does that include any I might desire to tell you of? Perhaps you should accompany me on my rounds. I encounter more misfits, boogie and slave alike, than I care to think about." This was turning rather ideal.

"This also, includes your pretty blond and others you might have occurred over the years." Mostly ideal. Naelona turned a sly look to him. "Anolean, I should hope you hold your sister in at least a little higher regard than that." How he mentioned the blond.. she wasn't sure it agreed with the tone but understood. "The two will be the least of your worries, though I'm sure they should be of some assistance to you and point you towards some of more troublesome counterparts." Brother had been turned into a proverbial right hand of god of Wonderland. "I may even lend one to you for a time if you promise not to harm them without my say."

"Speaking of slaves, how does your own fair? I am saddened to say my latest slave has...passed on, she did not choose the correct answer during a little game I put her into. So sad really, had a pretty face. Blond too." The sister could only scoff. "You and the blonds. Ever since we were young you liked them.. and mine fair quite well thank you." With a look and a subtle motion, Mar hopped off the desk and bounded off down the hall. Time to go find said slaves, if they weren't already busy. At least she only had one blond to keep an eye on.

[Anolean Ezel]

"Really? Come to raise a bit of havoc have you? I can suggest some troublesome names to you if you'd like."

Ano raised a hand into the air by his chair, his familiar came to him then and rubbed his furry head against his master's hand. "I am always willing to cause a bit of havoc and that would be most helpful, Sister."

"What nice orders. Does that include any I might desire to tell you of? Perhaps you should accompany me on my rounds. I encounter more misfits, boogie and slave alike, than I care to think about."

Ah, he knew it was coming. The sibling issue coming into play. Personally he did not care if his sibling back talked or told him off for something. She did in the past and he was sure she would contuine to do so at her own leizure. "It does not, I rather like it when your mouth takes off without your mind." He chuckled then.

"Anolean, I should hope you hold your sister in at least a little higher regard than that."

"Touche are we? I meant no disrespect, just merely letting you know what I have been told to do. You know as well as I that I will uphold the law where it needs to be." His hand the started to scratch his leopard's ear casually.

"The two will be the least of your worries, though I'm sure they should be of some assistance to you and point you towards some of more troublesome counterparts. I may even lend one to you for a time if you promise not to harm them without my say."

He raised a brow then, so his sister kept more then just one slave now. How interesting. At the rest of his sisters words, he shrugged them away and did not care. "What can I say, the blonds make me a happy man." He mused, and then looked at her strangly for a moment. "Oh, so you will let me have the blond then in my free time?" He asked with a sick look on his features. "Or is he off limits and I will have to settle for the other?"

[Naelona Ezel]

"Touche are we? I meant no disrespect, just merely letting you know what I have been told to do. You know as well as I that I will uphold the law where it needs to be." Naelona smiled softly, watching him pet his familiar. "As do we all, Anolean." It was amazing what flak one could catch merely by doing what was needful to be done. She found it often.

"Oh, so you will let me have the blond then in my free time? Or is he off limits and I will have to settle for the other?" Did he really need to ask? "I thought you knew me more than that, Anolean." She chuckled, getting to her feet and glancing to the door. Mar shouldn't be too slow. Her boys weren't that difficult to find after all, were they? "No, the blond is mine. Though perhaps if I have no need for him you may steal him away for a time or two." Oh if Kristopher ever heard those words coming from his Mistress' lips..

She wasn't one to share.

"So what has occupied your time since I've been gone?" She asked, resting her arms upon her brother's shoulders, absently messing with his clothes, taking off a fuzzle or fixing a crease in the collar.. "It must've been boring, having no-one to cause havoc with.." No one to create oh-so-convenient shadows so they could pull otherwise impossible pranks. Pranks? Naelona? Oh what little hellions they'd been.. The memories elicited a chuckle, she almost missed those times.

[Anolean Ezel]

"No, the blond is mine. Though perhaps if I have no need for him you may steal him away for a time or two."

"I shall hold that to you, you realize." Ano said in a flat tone. Anolean adored blonds on a high level and if he got his hands on one that suited his fancy, well, they would never get rid of him. Ever. Too bad is dead slave tired to get away...with another human. So sad, but he supposed it was bound to happen.

"So what has occupied your time since I've been gone? It must've been boring, having no-one to cause havoc with.."

He chuckled lightly, very lightly. "Father has kept me busy as has the Elders with jobs. It is a pain being within their favor to the point of being one, even though I am far to young." The older brother drummed his fingers on the head of his cane as his sister adjusted his fine attire.

"Is your monkey always this slow at finding your toys?" He inquired with a raised brow and his head tilted back to the right to gaze at his lovely sister.