Fatherly Love [Ezels]

[Kazn Ezel]

"The natives are so restless tonight," said Kazn. "Should I have to put up with much more of their gum it might extend my convalescence. Thanks to the powers that be that I should find myself well enough to cope once more. I digress, I did not mean to espouse my vitriol on this evening. Rare is the chance I can speak with you."

He beheld the woman with all her flowing raven hair and slender figure. She remained silent; Kazn had never known her to be much for words. However, she was a good listener and Kazn needed it some days.

"They're doing well," he started again. "I'll be talking with them soon. You'd be quite pleased with him. He's come a far way from the sod that he once was. The germs that were sown so long ago have finally burst into growth."

Slowly he lifted up his elegant glass to his lips and sipped the crimson mixture from within. He shut his eyes and painted a landscape in his mind. When he opened them again she was gone. With a heavy sigh he felt his features harden with the solemnity that was afforded one of his position. Pulling on a platinum chain a small engraved silver watch case came loose. Pausing for just a moment he pressed down on the top of his timekeeper.

Kazn's features became less amused. "They're tardy once again," he mumbled. Fumbling with the piece he placed it back into his suit pocket and began to pace around this way and that. They would not stand him up. No one ever stood up Kazn Ezel.

[Anolean Ezel]

The waiting father would not have to wait for very much longer. Through the large double doors, a ripple appeared in the doorway and from that ripple came forth a dark beast as graceful as ever. It was Locke, the black leopard familiar that belong to Anolean Ezel.

The beast trotted over towards Kazn and then sat down before him, bowing his head in respect. A fee moments later, Anolean came through the doorway at his own easy pace, cane tapping on the floor with each step he took. His eyes looked upon his father, the son looking as bored as ever, put a hand to his chest-fliiped it and then moved it to the side as he bowed at the waist. A formal greeting to his father.

"Father." He said simply and then stood tall once more, moving to stand beside his beast and placing a hand on its dark head, scratching Locke behind the ear without much thought to it. "You seem well."

[Naelona Ezel]

Also from the same ripple of deep shadow it bellowed forth as some deep swell before melting down to a simple form and the youngest Ezel stepping from it. Sure she couldn't use the shadows to travel through, like her brother, but she sure as hell made it look like it. The raven and white haired woman regarded the elder boogie for several moments silently. She didn't want to consider the years it had been since she'd seen him last. Nor the fact she'd last left his presence on considerably worse terms than with her brother.

"Mr. Ezel." She remarked quietly, with a solemn movement of greeting and respect. She respected his position and the power that accompanied it, but held little for the boogie himself. Even just being within the same room, old ire found new flames. Dressed back within her dark clothing again, and none too soon.

Looking to her brother with coal gray eyes, his familiar seemed just as proud as either of them. Mar was elsewhere for the time being and wasn't present upon her person. She had more important things for the creature to do, such as keeping eyes upon her slaves - both present and former - than to be about for a greeting she both desired and dreaded. Why desire? Perhaps she was a glutton for punishment, or maybe it was him. Kazn Ezel, a father from a time eons ago. Looking to him, his daughter remained otherwise silent, awaiting whatever words he may have for his twin children.

[Kazn Ezel]

Kazn levelled his gaze at his son, quietly assessing him and his person. Locke occasionally would set him on edge at a glance, but once he took the creature's full visage into his gaze the body of the older Boogie would relax. Some of his previous impatience vanished though his demeanor had not shifted at all. "Anolean," he responded quietly to acknowledge his son. "The chill of the shifting season has done me well. The revitalizing fire from the cold currents have always renewed my vigor and spirits." In truth, it was the time when Kazn usually rested most soundly.

However, any improvement that Anolean's presence had made upon Kazn's mood quickly left when Naelona entered. Immediately his brain started picking apart everything about her. She had insisted on making a flashy entrance which really had not been all that impressive. Furthermore, her entire bearing as she had greeted him had been one of mixed intent. Kazn chose to let it slide for now. "Lady Ezel," he chose to greet her. "Still late. The flowers bloom and the flowers fade, but the fire never dies."

Shutting his eyes for a brief moment as he took another sip from his glass he found that it had become harder to swallow. There was no reason for him to feel anything with these two in the room. After all, both were hard workers that furthered his own purposes and proved their value to the family name time and time again.

"I apologize. This meeting has been a long time coming and we're all very late." Moving over to a finely carved cherry table he set his glass down and lifted up a leather-bound volume. Opening it with the reverence that he used for all of his personal records he looked to his two children. "I trust that you're both healthy and that you have some idea as to why I called you here, yes?" Kazn's gazed in silence for only a moment before he began talking again. "It's the rumors and they have the Elders in quite a tizzy. It's not business as usual anymore. Such a thing cannot be allowed. Do either of you know anything about these... these deviants?" Kazn was, of course, referring to the rumors of rebellion.

[Anolean Ezel]

Anolean stood in silence for a moment and turned to his sister, he looked at her as he always did. With interest and fondness, but his face never showed it, afterall, his father would probably yoink out his teeth if he showed any type of affection to his twin. So the elder of the twins located a chair and pulled one up for himself only and sat down upon it. He crossed his legs in a gentlemen fashion and Locke rested behind his chair, silent.

He then raised a hand up and rested his head against his long and pale fingers, looking very much like some great god debating upon what he would do with the mortals before him in his unending game of chess. His cane rested across his lap as if it was some mighty stick in which he would use to push his pawns across the board.

He listened to Kazn and his sister, ah, family tension. It did wonders for the mind, that is if one could think from the tension the two where creating about them. Anolean sighed softly before speaking.

"I do. It appears that these...humans are hiding rather well. I have been unable to locate their rat hole in which they all hide in and the leader is still unknown. The humans I have questioned will not talk and killed themselves. This is rather. . .tricky." He then tilted his gaze to his sister. "Do you know of anything, Sister? Perhaps have a slave that might have a connection to these events? One that we may review?"

[Naelona Ezel]

Naelona failed to remark upon the note of 'being late'. This palace might as well have been her home, for as much as she'd done for it, and often treated it such. Well, in terms of her own agenda and schedualing that was. Kazn might be her father, but even he must acknowledge he wasn't within his normal grounds. She deserved at least that much respect.

The sister kept quiet while her brother, being eldest, first answered. Father preferred him over her anyway, she knew, and so waited. The female boogie disapproved of her brother sitting, and remained standing herself, hands folded beneath black bell sleeves. Proper as always, it was the only way to be.

"Do you know of anything, Sister? Perhaps have a slave that might have a connection to these events? One that we may review?" She turned her gaze to her sibling in response, considering her words. "My slaves are closely watched and soundly controlled. They're well aware it would be in their better interests to inform me than partake interest in such happenings. They know it ill to bite the hand that feeds." What little time she'd possessed Kyle the boy had proved himself enough to earn at least a bit of trust, he oft followed better than his brother had, though Kristopher was the one who'd earned her confidence, and still within another's possession. A trial she still had yet to rectify.

"I know several things, and possess a mind or two of constant vigilance who watch for them. I've taken measures of conducting sudden and unexpected census' of the South Wing. Any slave who is not present, and who's boogie cannot account for their absence has been recorded. A resulting list has been cultivated, with irony it concedes with a suspected list I drafted at the beginning of this. The names are few, but not without histories of their own." There was a note a quiet pride in her work. Though paying attention it wasn't horribly difficult to guess, save for the sheer number of slaves and the relative lax attitudes of the boogies about her. Sometimes she'd recorded names twice within the same night. The slaves could never know when she might come to check upon them.

"Perhaps our sole biggest issue would be their respective possessors. Some believe their slaves can do no wrong within their possession, after all." And any harm that may befall or threaten to befall their possessions.. well.. that just invited ill results.

[Kazn Ezel]

Procuring a pen from his pocket Kazn began to scratch something into his record book. It hardly seemed fitting to respond to his son at this particular moment and he actually found himself considering what Naelona had said with all of his careful observations and insights. "Perhaps our sole biggest issue would be their respective possessors. Some believe their slaves can do no wrong within their possession, after all." She finished and Kazn's lips turned downward. To him that seemed like common sense that it would be a problem. "Apathetic ingrates," he muttered as he continued to scratch his notes into the record.

The air in the room was tense and the only thing Kazn did to break the silence was continue to write in his tome. The ominous scratching of his shorthand kept this meeting for posterity, but he was writing more than what was being said aloud. Kazn was writing his personal thoughts and what was being said without any words passing between the Ezels. It continued that way for nearly a minute, and it would have been rude to interrupt Kazn while he was thinking.

Finally he paused and turned to Naelona. Through his crimson-ringed orbs he stared at his daughter and silently judged what she had said. In some ways she really had just evaded the question and told him nothing, but that wasn't what concerned him most. "You jumped to an assumption rather quickly then, didn't you? At the very least you had the mental faculty to investigate before you destroyed any chance we might have. I want a copies of your notes in triplicate for Us and Anolean, Naelona." The way he said her name sounded like he was trying not to bite his tongue as he did so. There was a great deal of contempt hidden there, but a healthy respect for what she took the care to do. It was all too often that she overstepped her boundaries and Kazn found fault with that. However, while he contested her methods the results were usually on the spot.

He turned to Anolean and stared at the eldest twin. Slowly he lifted up the glass to his lips and paused just before taking another sip. "So tell me, Anolean, are your slaves as trustworthy as your sister's? The way it sounds to me your sister's beasts know quite a bit." The word know was dripping with Kazn's sarcastic vitriol. Clearly he had not been impressed with Naelona's assessment of her slaves. Kazn was the type who called into question everyone's loyalty. Even his own children were not past suspicion as far as he was concerned. If it weren't for the impossibility of running everything himself, he would rely on no other being.

[Anolean Ezel]

"So tell me, Anolean, are your slaves as trustworthy as your sister's? The way it sounds to me your sister's beasts know quite a bit."

Anolean looked to his father with disinterest on the matter and for good reason. The elder twin sat up and leaned back into his chair and began to speak with his hands, "Well, considering my last slave that was no more then fourteen is currently disposed in the proper fashion that slave are meant to be. I would say that mine rather excel at being ignorant of situations." He ended his phrase at that. Afterall, dead slaves tell no tales.

Anolean was well known to play games with his humans, rather fatile ones at that and thus it would be no surprise that the male boogie had no slave at the moment to call his own and thus, off the hook in a way.

He looked amused then as his gray eyes turned towards his sister in a glance, "Although, Naelona keeps tabs on her slaves rather well, as long as she doesn't tally them up to someone else." Ah, the joys of inside jokes in reference to his sister losing a bet. Oh yes, he had heard about it from others. It rather amused him. Still.

[Naelona Ezel]

Naelona didn't respond to Kazn's remark, as sharp as it may have been. "That they are." She murmured at length, but said no more as he wrote whatever he may in his biased book. So were their family affairs. A few facts and mostly perception, yet what was percieved was often kept as fact, and so fact was. A screwed and misshappen world it created, but so it would be. Thus was Wonderland, was it not?

The boogie almost flinched when Kazn spoke to her, but managed to remain mostly impassive to his words. She wanted to chew up his remarks and shove the validity of everything she said and the manner she presented them down his throat - oh what a tempting notion - if only for the fact he could just as well have her head and none would be the wiser. A slight nod from her black and white streaked head she made note to copy the notes. She'd do it to perfection. She'd leave nothing for him to pick at, nothing at all.

Listening to her brother, his voiced sounded strange to her ears. So grown up from when she'd last heard it, yet when she listened, it was still her brother. Her twin. A fellow being with whom she shared more than she cared to with anyone yet no other boogie would she trust. With no boogie had she a choice. Even with her own kin. Her gray eyes rolled within their sockets. His slaves would be ignorant, wouldn't they? Dying before they even could have a chance to learn anything of value, of what she'd learned from him.

"Hush Anolean." Naelona snapped, complete with a well-earned glare to her twin. "Listening to gossips does not become you." She really didn't need her father picking up on her recent misfortune as well. She didn't need give him more reason to despise her than he already did. Not that it mattered. Just that he might leave sooner with the fewer points of interest he found here in this corner of the land.

[Kazn Ezel]

If Anolean thought he was off the hook because he had no slaves, he was very much wrong. As Kazn watched his two children he became dreadfully aware that things were going poorly in his family. He wasn't entirely certain what Anolean was hinting at in regards to Naelona, but his sneaking suspicion was that gambling was somehow involved. For the fate of Anolean's slaves Kazn could have cared less except that this made his individuals relatively useless for gathering information. "They are only slaves, but even a cornered beast may bite the hunter."

He wrote something else down in his book. The problem with memories is that they were faulty and could not be trusted. History was written by those who had power and the memories of those who did not have power was modified to fit the records. Those without power knew better than the contradict those with it.

Kazn found himself oddly at peace with the apparent incompetence of his two children. He could have sworn that he should be angry at the both of them, but couldn't find it in him to work up the rage to go into another tirade. Not about this. "Anolean, I ask that you attempt to keep at least a small fraction of your slaves alive in order to allow them opportunity to discover more about the rebellion. Ms. Naelona Ezel... continue your investigations. I dare say I shouldn't have to remind you to keep a sharp eye on your slaves."

Looking up to the ceiling for a brief moment Kazn found no answers to the numerous questions running through his mind. All of Wonderland was standing at the edge of a dangerous precipice and he felt like only he could stop the fools from jumping. He was still fairly young as far as many Boogies went, but he felt the weight beyond his years. So many responsibilities he had taken upon himself had burned him out and made him irritable when he should have remained the calm, cold and calculating Boogie he had been so long ago.

"We are in a dangerous sort of situation. The resources expended in slaughtering them all to guarantee the last shred of unruly behavior is torn from the patchwork quilt that is our body of slaves may be small, but we'd lose so much potential in the time it would take us to build up the body once more. The fear of death does not seem to stop them any longer, so we must utilize a new sort of tactic. They must come to remember what we want them to remember. I want them to remember why they are here. I want them to remember how miserable their wretched little lives were before they came here. I want them to remember fears that they only wish they could forget." Kazn lifted a rose from the vase on the table and put it to his face. His eyes still shut he took in a deep breath from the flower and then opened his eyes again. "I want them to remember why they need us."

With those words his hand gripped tightly around the rose and a scarlet stain spread in his gloves.