Seeking answers in the human realm.

[Arin]

Aria appeared beneath a wooden walkway that was posted above a strip along the beach of Newport beach, near San Mateo, California. She looked around, noticing no one was around to notice her mysterious arrival *Good, no one in sight. I didn't have to alter anyone's memory this time.* She noticed a lot of people were walking around on the beach, and checked her own clothing, finding her appearance out of place "...Hmm...I better get into something more publicly adequate." She looked around a second time, making sure no one was around, before replacing her formal and somewhat old-world clothes with those of a beach-goer. She had a black, one piece swimsuit on, with a sheer white sash that she wore around her waist like a dress. She also had a wide-rimmed straw hat that shielded her eyes from the sun, and a pair of dark sunglasses for the glare of the sun on the sand. Her feet were covered with well constructed sandals "There. I'll be getting a few stares, but not for sticking out at least."

She made her way along the beach, looking for a set of stairs to leave the beach. She had a few stares, alright, but mostly from men gawking her as she walked past, some of which getting hit in the head by the ladies sitting beside them. Aria smiled inside as she noticed this, thinking to herself *Mhm, I've still got it. Now, to track down Lance's parents.*

Miraculously, she found herself a currently updated, public use phone book, and started flipping through the pages, looking for Lance's last name "Devereaux...Devereaux...This could take a while...*If only magic wasn't a myth in this realm, I would have found them already...*

[Lance]

One man on the beach noticed Aria and gave her a glance, the man's name was Jonathan, an retired archaeologist who had been living at the beach for over 40 years now. He recognized every face that came through with any regularity, and Aria's was not one he recognized at all. 'Hmm, a Tourist maybe?' When Aria began looking through the phonebook, searching for someone, Jonathan let out a quiet chuckle. "Hmm, maybe I can lend a hand." Jonathan grabbed the worn fedora at his side, dusting some of the sand off before placing it on his head and walking over to Aria.

When he spoke, his voice was a bit rough, but not gruff or unpleasant, more...aged. "Excuse me Miss, are you looking for someone in particular? Perhaps I could help."

[Arin]

Aria was sifting through the pages of the phone book, finally making her way to the D section of the phone listings, when an older gentleman, looking to be in his 60s, came over and offered to help her out "Oh, you don't need to do that sir, I'm just looking for the parents of an acquaintance of mine. I needed to speak to them about a personal matter...Ah, here we are, Devereaux. Now let's see...Jeffery...Kenneth...Lambert, there we are." She turned to give the older looking gentleman a kind smile "Come to think of it, If you could point me in the direction of this address, I would be very grateful." She pointed to the address for Lambert and Mary Devereaux, waiting to see if the gentleman could help her out.

[Lance]

The man looked down at the address and nodded, "Ah, THOSE Devereauxs! Yeah, they've been a fixture here for close to thirty years now." The man started explaining the directions to the Devereaux household, gesturing as he did. As the man gesticulated, there were audible clicking sounds coming from his left hand, sounds that were no native to the human body, indicating that the man had lost a hand as some point and was using a prosthetic, a prosthetic that was either damaged or simply worn out if the sound of the hands joints catching were any indication.

[Arin]

Aria could hear the clicking of the man's hand as he explained how to find Lance's parents, feeling bad that this man had lost a part of his body. She may not be able to restore his hand without bringing attention to him or herself, but she could do something for this man as repayment for his kindness "Thank you sir, you've helped me and I never asked, nor have you asked fro anything in return. Allow me to return your kindness." She reached out and took hold of Jonathan's hand, lowering her head and closing her eyes "I must ask that you never speak of this to anyone, both for your sake, and the sake of others. There didn't appear to be anything happening as Aria's hand covered Jonathan's, but there was some audible clicking and snapping, as if something mechanical was being altered. When the sounds stopped, her hands left his, and she stood back calmly "Thank you again, farewell!" She started walking swiftly in the direction Jonathan pointed her in, making her way to the Devereaux household.

[Lance]

Jonathan examined his hand noticing that the worn gears weren't catching on each other anymore. "What the..." Johnathan took off his glove, revealing a gleaming stainless steel artificial hand, as new as the day it was attached to his arm. "How did she...wait, those ruins." Johnathan had been an archaeologist in his youth, studying myths and legends from around the world. The most intriguing subject had been the one of the "eighth continent" what most people called Atlantis.

While studying an ancient ruin in south America about 30 years before, he had stumbled upon a vast collection of tablets, showing beasts that matched a large number of mythical creatures from around the world. Manticores, Dragons, Hydras, Oni...all of these creatures were shown in detail by a culture that should have had no experience with the folklore these monsters came from. Unfortunately, when studying the ruins, and snapping as many photos as possible as evidence; the ruins became unstable due to an earthquake, and Johnathan was forced to flee, though not before his left hand was essentially pulped by some falling rubble.

Johnathan had never forgotten those ruins, and over the years he had taken to attempting to translate the words on the carvings, the only words he had managed to glean were "Magic" "Mana" and "Kingdoms". Now, having a miracle seemingly happen right in front of him, Johnathan was offered a choice, make noise about this woman's abilities, or respect her wishes. Obviously, the choice was clear. "Hey, I didn't see a dang thing."

With that, Johnathan walked in Aria's direction, singing a jaunty tune as he did, deciding that the beachfront to the northwest was looking mighty calm, specifically that nice patch of beach right in front of Lambert Devereaux's Back yard. 'Heh, typical, I spend my life looking for proof of this hidden world, and it waltzes up and fixes my hand...eh, not gonna complain.'

[Arin]

Aria thanked the man before leaving, making her way to the Devereux household. Upon finally making her way to where the gentleman guided her to the home Lance's parents were staying in, she saw that a car was still in the driveway, which was a good sign "...Well, at least I won't have to wait for them to come home."

She walked up and took a deep breath, pressing on the doorbell button and taking a few steps back to let them comfortably open the door, and not feel threatened at all, despite her non-threatening appearance.

[Lance]

Mary Devereaux was in the middle of cooking lunch for her and her husband when the doorbell rang. Mary checked to make sure the stew wouldn't burn while she was away before heading over to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw Aria. "Huh, why does she seem so familiar?" Mary opened the door and immediately noticed something, this woman had an aura hanging around her body, one Mary hadn't seen in decades.

Mary's eyes widened slightly, but maintained a friendly demeanor. "Why hello there, how may I help you?" Internally, Mary was panicking slightly, the only person to ever have even an inkling of the place she and Lambert had come from was that nice older gentleman on the beach, and now, she had a magic user standing in front of her. A powerful one if her aura was any indication.

[Arin]

Aria smiled and bowed her head respectfully, giving this woman a soft gaze. Just from Lance's memories alone, there wasn't any doubt in her mind that this was his mother "Mary Devereux I presume? My name is Aria Delas, I was hoping to discuss some things with you and your husband regarding your son. May I come in?"

[Lance]

The second Aria mentioned Lance, Mary's heart dropped into her stomach. "Oh, sure, of course...My and my husband were about to eat lunch, I made beef stew." Mary stepped to the side to let Aria inside, calling out to Lambert as she did, "Honey! we have company!" Lambert's voice came from the second floor, "Who is it!?" Mary was silent for half a second before answering. "A woman, she says that she wants to speak to us about Lance!" "Alright, I'm in the middle of fixing the computer desk upstairs, be down in a sec!" 

[Arin]

Aria followed Mary into the house and inspected the home carefully, trying to find any signs of her world's lost history to the world humanity knows today. To mask her intentions, and to speak honestly about her opinion on the home as a whole, she decided to compliment Mary on their home, to try and clear the air of any concerns "I must say, Mary, you have a lovely home. This must hold many memories for all three of you."

[Lance]

Mary nodded, keeping her anxiety hidden behind a friendly veneer. "Thank you, and yes...We've lived here since before I was pregnant with Lance...I still remember the day me and Lambert got the news, we were so happy...It's a pity that my mother and father couldn't meet him." 

At that moment, Lambert came down the stairs. The second he saw Aria, he tensed slightly, he could see the Aura around her, and like Mary, he found Aria's face familiar. "Hello...I'm Lambert Devereaux, you've already met my wife Mary I see." Lambert walked over to Aria and extended his hand. "Now, tell me, what news do you have about my son? We received a message from his commander saying that he'd crashed in the Caribbean." Mary shook her head, "It's ridiculous, he's a superb pilot, he wouldn't just crash for no reason." 'and if someone from back home is here, that means he's not even on this plane anymore.'

[Arin]

Aria heard Lambert walking down the stairs and turned to see him walk into the room. She noticed his slight rigidity, and noted that as suspicious, but paid it no mind for now as they discussed Lance "I've no doubt in my mind that he is such a superb pilot, if he were to fly in the United State's air force. And Mary is correct, he did not crash over the caribbean...Though, I cannot lie in saying he didn't crash at all...It would be best if we all had a seat in the dining room. Would you like me to make some tea for us all? I'd rather not discuss this over any tension in the air."

[Lance]

Lambert nodded, "Yes, let's. Mary, I'll get some bowls and pour us some stew, please, show Aria to the dining room." Mary nodded and gestured to a nearby doorway. "This way Aria..."

As Mary led Aria to the dining room, Lambert began to wring his hands. "My son...back in that damned world of ours, we left that place behind for a reason. The things we made...They drew too much attention." Lambert sighed and walked into the Kitchen, and began spooning portions of Stew into three China bowls.

Mary sat down at the family dinner table, it was small, only fitting 4 people at the most, and covered in a clean linen tablecloth. The Dining room was rather open, with a large sliding glass door that led to a large patio that overlooked a stretch of beach below and let in plenty of natural light. The walls were painted a light cream color, and were adorned with a large number of pictures, both decorative and family portraits. "Here, let me pull you out a seat." Mary pulled out a seat and offered it to Aria, waiting for the mage to sit down before following suit.

Mary sat across from Aria, and almost immediately, her calm demeanor changed to one of protectiveness and almost aggression. "I know who you are, or at least what you are. So you are going to tell me..." Mary leaned towards Aria, her own magical aura flaring to life, flickers of sky blue light and small sparks wrapping around her like a shroud. "What...has happened...to my son!?" Mary's blue and gold eyes glowed slightly with magical energy at the last three words.

[Arin]

Aria noticed Mary was more silent than usual as she led the witch to the dining room. She sat down and watched as Mary followed suit, her demeanor one of aggression, like that of a mother lion defending her cub. She saw the wispy, sky aura and crackling electricity around Mary as she began to flair her aura, the force of her aura actually making Aria's hair flow like a strong breeze. Aria smiled softly, intrigued by this new revelation "...So, my suspicions since meeting him are true. I must say, I am intrigued that your aura is one of a rare kind. And since you know what I am, then this disguise is no longer necessary."

Aria closed her eyes and began materializing her original clothing, jewelry and all, and stared calmly at Mary as she glared at the witch furiously "Please put that aura away, Mrs. Devereux. Your son is alive and well, in fact, he's traveling with my adopted son and daughter as we speak. I suspect they are on their way to the fire kingdom at this time. Now then, for the reason I came here. Your son has many questions, many of which revolve around the family heirloom that he wears around his neck. But now I have some questions of my own, now that I know that you are aware of my true self."