Once Upon a Time... (Kai)

[aella]

Aella had awoken excited that morning, more excited than she had been in quite the long time. A few days earlier, she had successfully created a pair of children -- twins -- with her own magic. Of course, she had had to fuse her magic with the hair of a particular witch that she did not like all too much, but she had created them all the same. And the best part? She was eventually going to send them to kill the woman with whom Aella stolen a strand of hair to make them with: the Fairy Godmother. How ironic it was going to be, especially when the good fairy realized it, as she probably would. Her plan was brilliant.

Or it would be, if she could ever get the kids to learn magic. That had been a problem, she realized, after they were created. They were almost fully grown at about fourteen years of age in appearance, and they had all of the intelligence they were supposed to have at that age, yet they seemed to have no magical abilities whatsoever. Well, today Aella planned to bring them out. And she was going to ... or in the least, give tireless effort trying.

What if the children proved not to be magical? The thought almost made Aella scowl, as she stood up from her bed and began to get ready. She slid a simple -- though soft and elegant -- dress over her shoulders, a frown appearing on her face. If they proved not to be magical ... she didn’t even want to think about it now. Somewhere, deep down, she had a certain attachment for the children. They were named after her own deceased children, after all, the ones that had died so many years ago in a horrible killing. But these two were not her children, not technically, as far as Aella was concerned. And if they proved to have no magical abilities, they were of no use for her. So she already knew what she would have to do if they confirmed that they were useless.

The sorceress sighed and continued getting herself ready. In no time, she had slid on a pair of comfortable shoes and was out of her bedroom door, on the way to find the two kids -- Kai and Coraline. She headed down to one of the sitting rooms, where she assumed one or both of them would be, her mind almost entirely focused on how she would help them bring out their magical abilities -- provided they had any.

[Kai Starshine]

It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay awake when I’m awake
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

Kai had got up earlier this morning. The boy was a few days old and didn’t know what to make of his new existence. He had got washed and dressed and was now thinking about his creator; Aella. She had tried fruitlessly to get him and his twin sister to bring out their magical abilities; he suspected that the witch would try to do that again today. Kai didn’t know what Aella wanted him and Coraline to do? To manifest their powers in a most flashy way; or make a candle alight with a snap of his fingers? To make matters worse, for some unknown reason, Kai had been created without the gift of speech. His sister, Coraline, was able to understand what he wanted to say just by looking at her brother’s gestures but their “mother” had a hard time, at times.

The blonde boy went to his full-length mirror, which was across from his bed. He wore a satin-red tunic with dark green trousers, with the belt over the lower half of the tunic and the top half of the trousers. He had blonde hair, which Aella didn’t have. Kai took a book from the shelf and flicked through it. The mute blonde figured he should stay in his room so his “mother” could find him. Coraline was in the room opposite, and would be asleep most likely. He was tempted to wake up but he had learned not to do that, since when he had tried to wake her up once, she had punched him in the stomach. He wouldn’t do it again.

Having flicked through the book, Kai had put the book back on the shelf and waited for Aella to come get him.

Tag: Aella

Words: 288

[aella]

Aella headed to the kitchen before she went to look for Kai and Coraline, to get something quick for breakfast. She ended up grabbing the twins a pastry, as well as one for herself, and slowly ate hers on the way up to their room, still musing over what the day might bring. Hopefully, Kai and Coraline's powers. But she could never get her hopes up too high. She had been hoping, with the powerful witch that she was, that the twins' magical abilities would develop immediately when they were "born". When that hadn't happened, she had been disappointed, and decided that it might take a day or two. Now it was a few days after that, she she was getting impatient and anxious. She had tried to create people before, and never had they turned out so "perfect", like Kai and Coraline. Kai and Coraline resembled regular humans more than any other creature she had made, but if they did not have any magical abilities...

The witch shook her head to get the thought out of her mind. Again, she would just have to wait and see what the new day brought. Preferably, something that gave her hope in the twins, seeing as how her original excitement was starting to fade.

Aella knocked on Coraline’s door first, and opened it when the girl did not answer. Her eyes searched the room for a moment, before she noticed that Coraline was still sleeping, tucked away in her bed, bundled in the covers. Aella sighed and thought about waking her, but in the end, she closed the door and continued onto Kai’s room. She figured she would give the young girl a while more to sleep. She was sure to wake up soon.

At Kai’s door, Aella knocked quickly, but did not even wait for a reply before she opened the door. Maybe he was asleep, too? That wasn’t very likely. Kai seemed to be an early riser, even though he hadn’t been alive long enough to really tell. Still, the twins were developing normal habits quite quickly, which Aella considered a good thing. It made them more human -- more real. And that gave her a little bit of hope that they might develop some powers soon.

“Kai?” Aella glanced around the room, and landed on Kai almost immediately. Her lips twitched upwards into the slightest smile when she realized he was awake. “Oh good, you’re awake. Are you having any luck with your powers?”

[Kai Starshine]

It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay awake when I’m awake
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

Kai saw the doorknob twist and turn and saw Aella come in. she asked if he had had any luck with gaining his magic, which he shook his head at in response. Kai so wanted to learn magic, to please his ‘mother’ but for some reason, he hadn’t been able to. He wondered why he hadn’t been able to learn magic; it should have come to him as quickly as say, blinking. He felt a tad inadequate, on top of being mute. What was peculiar though, was that Coraline wasn’t able to perform magic either. Surely, she should have been able to; she wasn’t mute. Maybe they just needed to have a traumatic experience or something, so that their magic could be activated through that.

Kai thought about how best they could get the magic to manifest. There were all sorts of ways for magic to manifest; but he didn’t know which would be best without inducing pain. Then, he had an idea. Once he had the idea in his head, he spoke it aloud.

"Sorry, Mother. Maybe we should try a new tactic? Perhaps a traumatic experience would help."

Kai wondered what she would think of that idea; he hoped she would like it. He needed to learn magic, so that his ‘mother’ would be proud of him.

Tag: Aella
Words: 219

[aella]

Aella watched as Kai as he got the parchment and quill from his bedside table, slightly critical. Yes, he was mute. She tried to pretend like it didn't matter to her, because as long as she could bring out his magic, why would she care? But she did care. It bothered her. It made Kai seem a bit ... inadequate. And no "child" of hers would be seen as inadequate.

Nevertheless, she watched silently as he wrote down his words, then looked down at them when he was finished, her eyebrow inclining as she got closer to the end.

"A traumatic experience?" Aella couldn't help but laugh a little bit. Sure, it made a little bit of sense; but how was she supposed to make that happen? She could think of a few ways, but then again... "And do you have any suggestions of how this could happen?"

The prospect was still interesting, but not necessary. After all, she had gained magical abilities through training, she hadn't needed any sort of traumatic experience. Plus, Kai and Coraline should have been able to do magic at a young age -- they might have been recently "born", but they had her magic and the Fairy Godmother's DNA in them; that should have been enough to make formidable sorcerers.

[Kai Starshine]

It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay awake when I’m awake
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

Kai frowned as he tried to think of a way. How could this happen? It had to be something that would make him actively want to use magic. Ugh, where was Coraline when you needed her? She had some pretty good ideas at times. Despite being fairly newly-created, the two were already very in tune with each other and inseparable. He had noticed that Maleficent, the other witch seemed to be near to him a lot, which unnerved Kai somewhat. Maybe he should tell Aella about Maleficent’s hoverings; that’d stop her maybe, though he didn’t want to cause an argument between the two.

He thought for a while and came up with a few ideas but he didn’t know if Aella would approve; some were a tad risky but he needed to try. He wanted to learn magic so badly; he’d try almost anything to manifest some sort of ability no matter how minor it was. He glanced to Aella and decided to tell her. Who knows; maybe she’d approve some of them.

“Well, cold water could work. There are also leeches, being cornered by some beast, trying to drown me, locking me in a tank of water. There are others, Mother, but I am not sure they’d work.”

He wondered what she would think of the suggestions. Would she approve or would she scoff at them and leave him alone? Kai didn’t feel that Aella truly loved him and Coraline; there was something about her. She became cold at times and would yell at him if she was losing patience. Kai stood up, waiting for his ‘mother’s’ answer.

Tag: Aella
Words: 269

[aella]

Aella's eyebrows inclined slowly as she listened to his suggestions. She was slightly surprised that he was making them. She knew that he and Coraline thought she didn't care for them, and the truth was she didn't, not really -- at least not until they learned to use magic. Then, maybe, she would warm up to them, because then they would actually mean something to her. But as of now, they were of no worth to her, and therefore deserved nothing close to affection.

"I'm surprised you'd suggest such things," Aella replied coolly. "It seems like some of them would be a risk to your own life ... and Coraline's." A smirk appeared on her face, breaking her emotionless exterior. "But we could always try those. Maybe start with one of the less extreme ones."

Aella thought about his suggestions for a moment. She wasn't so desperate, as of now, to lock them up in a water tank and expect them to fight their way out of it. No, even some sorcerers new to magic couldn't do that, so she couldn't expect that of a couple of kids who hadn't displayed any magical abilities to date. The same with the beast. The leeches might be plausible. But maybe there was something else ...

"Tell me, Kai, are you afraid of anything?" Aella asked suddenly. He was only a few days old, which was why she had to ask -- he and Coraline, for all she knew, were like babies with their sense of fear; they hadn't experienced anything to strike them with it.