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[exanimatus]

[meanwhile, down in a quiet corner of the castle lobby, there are papers everywhere. half of them are blank, the other half are covered in bizarre crayon drawings. Zelman and his nameless, white-haired, red-eyed kid are both sitting on the floor, and the kid's doing most of the artwork. the journal is buried somewhere around there, to boot...]I

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[bedninja]

[Well, he was just heading out of the Castle to after checking up on Aron, but Pharos stops when he sees Zelman-- and the child with him.

A grin spreads across his face, and he disappers to reappear on the other side of the papers.]

Hello again!

[exanimatus]

[the kid looks up with wide, surprised eyes... but quickly drops his crayon to point.]

Scary monster! [but he's smiling so widely that it must just be what the kid remembers him as. Zelman looks up too, though only subtly amused.]

Well, here's a reunion.

[bedninja]

[Pharos giggles a little at the monster comment - it's clear even to him that the child doesn't actually mean anything by it.]

It has been quite some time since this boy appeared, has it not? I had hoped that I would be able to meet with him once more.

[exanimatus]

A little over a year. He doesn't act like it, though.

[the kid quickly wobbles to his feet and trots on over, on top of the papers, so that he can grab Pharos' hand and try to pull him back over to the side he and Zelman are sitting on.]

Can we... Can you come draw?

[bedninja]

No? [The boy certainly didn't seem to be much different - and at that sort of age children were meant to be constantly changing, were they not?] How peculiar...

[He's a little surprised to be pulled in such a way - he isn't really used to interacting with children very much - but he follows, being much more careful not to step on any of the papers than the boy.

But he glances down at his free hand.] I am uncertain if I would actually be able to... but I can certainly try to if that is what you would like.

[exanimatus]

[the kid happily plops back down, maybe dragging Pharos down with him. Zelman makes room.]

Use this one. [the child will, of course, hand Pharos the red crayon. not his favorite blood red crayon, but the one a few shades up.]

[bedninja]

[Totally did, and Pharos lands with a little thud, sparing Zelman a glance. But he takes the crayon, fiddling with it in his hands for a few moments before deciding on what seems to be an acceptable way to hold it.]

He seems much more social than I recall... I believe I may have frightened him the last time.

Is there anything in particular that I should be drawing?

[exanimatus]

I think he's just grown to like you. He's pretty wary around strangers.

Isn't that right? [he looks down, and... adjusts the crayon in Pharos' hand a little. shifts it up a bit.]

They look funny. You can draaaaw, um... a monster. But a nice one that doesn't eat people. It just eats candy a lot.

[bedninja]

[Oh-- that makes Pharos smile. Almost in a fond sort of way. Zelman's "son" was quite sweet, in his own odd little way, and if he'd grown to like Pharos then it was an honor.]

Perhaps he is simply... is 'shy' the word?

[But he leans forward over a piece of paper, peering around at the various other drawings, then at the boy.] What a curious food source... but there are certainly more peculiar things it could be using for food. [But it seems Zelman did good with readjusting the crayon, since it doesn't slip from Pharos's hand when he starts drawing. Even if it does look a lot more like a mass of clumsy scribbles than anything.]

[exanimatus]

His name is Alex.

[or so the kid decided about twenty seconds ago. once he's sure Pharos is scribbling correctly, he goes back to drawing all his aliens. a similar clumsy-looking monster ends up in his picture, too.

Zelman's just watching all of this with what might be a permanently raised eyebrow--kids are weird.]

I guess he could be. I really don't know.

[bedninja]

[...This is actually pretty fun, even if he can't really manage to draw very much. So Pharos will continue to scribble away while he talks, attempting to give the scribble mass similar-looking scribble arms.]

Well, he certainly isn't around long enough for you to get a very accurate idea of what his personality might be like... and I myself have no idea how to tell something like that. [...frowns at the paper, and then looks up at the other boy.] If you want his name written down, I am afraid you will need to do so - I cannot write.

[exanimatus]

I won't worry about it. He turns out how he does, I guess.

[it's not like Zelman's really attached to the kid any more than he'd be attached to, say, a particularly clever goldfish. it's not worth trying to analyze too much.

the kid looks up at Zelman... then back down at the page. he'll pick up an appropriately purple crayon and scoot all up in Pharos's space, reaching over to start drawing the letters on the bottom of the page.

a little backwards. and and the L is kind of iffy. but hey.]

[bedninja]

He certainly seems nice enough as of yet, at least.

[it's not like Pharos minds being up in his personal space, being the king of home invasions himself - he just tries not to get knocked over, and watches carefully as the kid writes the name down, occasionally glancing at the crayon still in his hand. It looked so simple when someone else did it! >| How could he not master such a simple skill...]

You are much better at that than I am...

[exanimatus]

[the kid smiles at the compliment.] Give him a hat.

[and Zelman just laughs.] You be careful. Give him an inch, and he'll take a mile.

[bedninja]

A hat? [Headtilts at Alex the candy-eating monster, debating just how he should go about making a hat out of odd-scribbles, before he looks up at Zelman. He peers out of the corner of his eye at the moment, before saying in a slightly quieter way,] I believe he is a bit too small for something like that, Zelman. [But he doesn't want to go around making people feel inferior about their size so shhhh]

[exanimatus]

[Zelman laughs, leaning back so that he's out of their way.]

You'd be surprised. He's ambitious.

[the kid is just smiling and drawing a border around "ALEX".]