ROWAN JUNIOR

After being tossed around in the vacuum of space, Gage suddenly landed on his butt on hard ground. "Ouch," he muttered, slowly getting to his feet. What the fuck just happened, he wondered? He looked around, and realized he wasn't in the ruins anymore. He was in Froom Valley. But at the same time, it wasn't Froom Valley. For one thing it was looking way too summer-y, and there were some other differences too, like missing trees and different flowers and such. What the fuck? he wondered again.

Alecis was walking through Froom Valley like she always did. She and Rheis were winding down from a difficult day. It seemed like everyday was difficult nowadays, stupid Overloridian job.

Hopefully she wouldn't meet anyone from another Eilemaiden today. She didn't think she could stand the stupidity right now.

Well isn't she lucky that Gage is Cuir.

Gage was still looking around when finally he spotted a familiar face. Across the Valley he saw Lily walking. As long as he could talk to someone he knew, maybe he could figure some of this out. He started walking towards her, but as he got closer he stopped.

Wait, that...wasn't Lily. It was a girl about her age who looked a hell of a lot like her though. But Gage knew Lily well, very well, and could tell that this definitely wasn't her. Fuck.

Alecis saw a clio in the distance, and noticed when he started walking towards her. As he got closer, she realized something. It was... Rowan? Why the hell had he dyed his hair?

She rolled her eyes, so much for relaxing. She walked over to where Rowan was standing, looking confused. "What made you dye your hair?" she asked, studying it. "It looks so stupid."

Gage looked at the girl weirdly. "Do I know you?" he asked. Smoothly he added, "My hair is natural by the way."

Who the hell did this broad think she was? She had to be mistaking him for someone else, either that or she was just nuts. And what was up with insulting his hair? Whoever she was mistaking him for she obviously wasn't a fan of.

"Don't play games with me," Alecis said in an irritated voice. Rowan was such an idiot. "It looks gross, you shoulda stuck with the red." She tilted her head a little. Something else besides the hair was different about him, but she couldn't tell what it was.

Gage rolled his eyes. This was a waste of time, and he was so not in the mood to humor some stupid bitch. "I think you're confusing me for someone else, hun," he told her condescendingly. "Why don't you just move along and go annoy someone else, hm?"

It was then that Alecis noticed the daemon. "What happened to Nym?" she asked. "You give her a change in hair style too?" At least this change had been a good one, Nym was one ugly dog.

Nym? That was Dad's daemon. This girl must be nuts then. Or just really, really stupid, like Chloe. "Nym is probably in Dian right now with her actual clio," Gage replied in a voice that did not hide what he was thinking of this moron girl.

"What the hell, Rowan?" she asked in an agitated voice. "What, you expect me to believe you have an identical twin or something?"

Gage knew he looked a lot like his dad, but he sure as hell hoped he didn't look as old as him. "Are you stupid or something?" he demanded, finally getting fed up. "Rowan is my father!"

"Are you stupid or something?" she retorted, "You're not fucking old enough to have a son your age!"

Rowan was such an idiot. "If you want to play a joke, at least make it something interesting or believable, moron." But hey, she had to give him props. Rowan never joked around at all, maybe he was lightening up a bit. Too bad he sucked at it. Just like he sucked at everything else but painting. Haha, he was such a girl.

"What?" Gage asked. Now he was the confused one. "Of course I'm not fucking old enough to have a son my own age. That's not fucking possible." He didn't even know what she was talking about at this point. When had he said anything about having a son? "Look, if it clears anything up, my name is Gage."

Alecis stared at him. "So you're trying to tell me that you aren't Rowan Eligius?" she asked, a skeptical look on her face. "But that you're his son. And how old exactly are you...?" she asked. He was such an idiot.

"Seventeen," Gage replied. He didn't even know why he was talking to her anymore, when he could have just flown off a while ago. Maybe because he was still kind of discombobulated from his odd experience.

"Right. So your father was five years old when you were born. Yeah, you're right, I don't know why I didn't believe you. That makes so much more sense now that it's been laid out for me," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Um, my dad was in his mid twenties when I was born," Gage said dryly, giving Alecis yet another 'you're an idiot' look.

"Your 'dad' isn't even in his mid twenties now," she said back, just as dryly.

"My dad is like, forty," Gage corrected her. "Hell, he's gonna be a grandfather in a few months, once my sister has her baby."

"Oh, and how old is your sister?" she asked, getting a little irritated. Why did Rowan have to be such a freaking idiot?!

Gage was so done with this conversation. "If you're not going to do anything useful, I think I'm going to leave and find someone sane to talk to," he said patronizingly. He floated up a few feet in the air (if that doesn't give Alecis a clue I don't know what will) and waved. "Seeya round, crazy bitch."

"How the hell did you learn to fly?!" Alecis shrieked, floating up after him. Either this was one very elaborate prank, or she was going crazy. Maybe this was just a guy that looked oddly like Rowan, and who Rowan had put up to this.

"I'm not sure," Gage replied sarcastically. "It definitely wasn't when I settled and chose Cuir as my Eilemaiden."

He turned away from her and started flying away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find someone whose brain actually works," he told her as an afterthought as he flew.

"Wait, Gage!" Alecis called, flying after him. She usually recognized the clio in Cuir, and she was sure she had never seen him before. "Did you just settle?" she asked. "I don't think I've seen you around Cuir...?"

Gage groaned in annoyance and stopped. At least she was calling him by the right name now. "No, I settled a year ago," he said shortly. "But I don't live in Cuir, which is probably why you've never seen me. I don't go there often."

He started flying again. This time if she flew after him he was going to just keep going, and if she still wanted to talk she would just have to keep up.