Cian Lester
20
Elf, of the mystical lands! :D




Morgan Gallagher
19
In college; Goes to Ireland on winter break.

As soon as night had fallen, and her grandparents gone to sleep, Morgan Gallagher slipped out of her bed. She snickered mischievously, quickly tying her shoe laces, and seized her messenger bag on the way out of the house. It was but a short walk to the “Faerie” mounds protruding from the woods behind her grandparents' place and she was determined to disprove Grandma Maeve's superstitious stories. Grandma Maeve always said that if a mortal wandered around the mounds at night they would run into some sort of Fae and, consequently, risk the possibility of being taken to the world of the Fae. "And then you'll never return!" Maeve said. "At least, not while your friends and relatives are still alive! Time passes differently there."

However, Morgan herself was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. She was in her second year at Boston University, at the ripe age of 19, studying Chemical Engineering. Morgan had a rational mind. She was not about to believe her grandmother's crazy stories, and so she always threatened to go off to the mounds by herself and tempt fate. While her grandmother was awake at night, she could never get out the door. Maeve's legitimate anxiety over her doing so resulted in her every attempt being thwarted. What was more, her mother Aimee would then scold her for harassing the old woman. And so Morgan had resorted to sneaking out at night. For science. That was what she muttered under her breath, anyway, while passing through the creepy woods. They were dark and quiet. The brush trembled under a soft winter breeze. Twigs and branches creaked ominously.

After some long minutes of badly suppressed anxiousness, the dark-haired female found herself at the foot of one of the mounds. Her grandparents lived in the countryside, and so many stars were visible in the heavens stretched above her...But rather than lessen the sense of foreboding with their bright twinkling, they seemed to enhance it. She felt further away from civilization and more prone to running into something...Supernatural. That was preposterous, though. "Nothing supernatural exists," Morgan laughed to herself, although her voice was shaky. "That would make life exciting, which it isn't. If I want anything interesting to happen to me, I have to make it happen myself. That's what science is for, after all. No progress is made without scientists."

As if on cue, a loud crunch sounded behind the woman. She snapped her head around to find the source of the noise, her heart skipping a beat, but her sight was greeted by pitch black darkness. Her glasses had slipped, so she shoved them back up the bridge of her nose with another nervous chuckle. "Calm down, Morgan. The only scary thing in these parts is your own mind..."

Cian had heard footsteps entering the woods, and his pointy ears perked up, to hear it better. They were lighter then a man's, he could tell. Lester got up, from the log he'd been sitting on, as he contemplated his own life. It was strange for somebody to be here, he thought, as he lightly(as to not be noticed) started walking towards the person. This was a rare thing, of course he'd want to check it out. Most humans are scared to be here, in fear that they'd be taken to a mystical land. Of course, that does happen. But, only when the elves think they belong in their world. Some people were just born in the wrong land. Or, at least, that's what this White-Haired elf had been told.


He heard faint talking, and noticed he was getting closer. That meant, he needed to keep his mind from wandering, and make sure not to roam to close. He could sense the air around him was nervous, and felt a little bit of pity for this girl. But, she was the one that had wandered in. Though, maybe she didn't know the folklore. Then he shook his head, and decided against that idea. Everybody knows. That's why they rarely have anybody come into their woods.


He heard her reassure herself, and frowned at her words. Denying that supernatural creatures existed, he took offense from that. Of course they existed! He wouldn't be here, if they didn't. Or, perhaps he would.. But, he wouldn't be him.
She was a Scientist, apparently. She really shouldn't be talking about herself, He thought, Never know what kind of creeps are out there, stalking her.. Listening to her every word. He smirked at this, knowing that was exactly what he was doing.
What he was not doing, however, was listening to his own little rule. He wasn't paying close attention, and he stepped on a twig.

He stopped breathing, and hid behind a tree quickly. He couldn't let her see him... Or, could he? How was he supposed to know if she needed to be brought into their world, or not?
Oh, how he wished somebody else was there to take care of this. He'd never been put in this position before..


"Scary?" He whispered to himself, thinking she wouldn't hear it. He was hardly scary. Or, he thought that at least. He couldn't harm a fly.. Well, that may be true, but he has killed a few trolls in his life time... But, those were big, evil, scary... Evil, trolls!

Morgan ruffled her hair in frustration. Now that she was here, what was she supposed to do? Look around? It was just a stupid hill in a stupid forest. Aside from the threats imagined by her anxious mind, she saw nothing amiss about her surroundings. Her grandmother had no idea what she was talking about.

Morgan stuffed her hands into her sweater pockets and began to take a stroll around the circumference of the mound. She started to sing quietly to herself. Any youth of the time would have recognized it as 'Colors of the Wind' from Pocahontas and scoffed at her choice, but no one was around to tell her to pick something better. Besides, it was the only song she could remember the lyrics to. She'd watched the movie over and over again as a child and it had stuck.

"...But I knooow every rock and tree and creaaature... Has a liife...Has a spiirit...Has a naaame..." Truthfully, Morgan could not sing. She had chosen a field heavy in math and science for a reason. Creative pursuits were not her cup of tea. She enjoyed galleries, concerts, and plays as much as the next person, but she had no talent for the arts. Her stroll resulted in a whole lot of nothing, as suspected, so eventually the female stopped walking and dropped her arms limply to her sides.

"Augghhh, this is stupid. What was I thinking? I got so caught up in proving Grandma wrong I forgot that the actual thing would be boring. It's pretty out here and all, but boring. I should go back home and get on Tumblr or something. Even Facebook would be preferable to this nonsense."

Lester sighed from relief as she decided it was nothing, and peeked from behind the tree. The air didn't seem as nervous, and he heard her start singing. He smiled, amused, at the sound of it, and recognized it as a Pocahontas song, he just didn't know which one. He's wandered out of the area before. Multiple times, in fact. And, that was one of the movies he made a point to watch as he tried to find out more about the Humans, because he heard it was based on something that really happened.
He starting humming along to it, the best he could. Elves had beautiful singing voices.. Well, his kind did, anyway. He felt like he was letting his guard down, and didn't know if that was the safe thing to do. But, he let it happen, anyway. Maybe, if she knew he was there, it wouldn't be so bad.
He continued to follow her, grinning as he did so. He was quite enjoying watching her. She amused him. He was beginning to be grateful nobody else was around, for her sake.

He heard her stop, and quickly hid himself against a tree once again. He listened to her voice as she continuously called this place boring. At that, he scoffed, he didn't care if she heard it.
"Well, that's just plain rude." He announced his presence, and stepped out into the open. "I don't go into your home, and call it boring, do I?" He asked her, while he studied her face for any kind of reaction.
"I've stuck by, letting those little offensive comments pass, but that was just to much. It's honestly not that bad, if you just give it a chance."

Besides being of a rational mind, Morgan was also relatively spacey. It might have occurred to her that a voice was humming along with Pocahontas faintly in the distance, but she hadn't paid it any mind. Maybe she'd simply attributed it to an echo effect of the forest, or hadn't thought of it in general. It wasn't until an actual voice replied to her, within range, that the female let out an unattractive shriek of surprise and tripped on a tree root.

She fell ungracefully onto her face and at once began coughing up bits of dead leaves and dirt. The voice had not said anything particularly alarming. If it was a normal person, she would have simply responded that they were free to walk into her house and call it boring because she thought so, too. But the mere fact that this person had been tailing her in the dark at this ungodly hour, watching her and listening, frightened her like nothing had ever had before.

Morgan scrambled to her feet quickly, wiping her mouth frantically on the back of her wrist, and addressed the stranger who had just emerged from the darkness of the woods surrounding the mound. "I offended you?! You're the one stalking women in the middle of the night!" Her heart skipped a beat at his appearance--he had silver, almost white, hair. At this distance she saw nothing else unusual about him, but his presence at this time of night was startling enough. "Who are you and why are you following me?!" she demanded.

Lester couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, as she let out a shriek. She'd insulted his 'home', which was not really his home, but one of the places he hung out at a lot. Which was claimed by his kind, and others like his kind. Since she'd done this, he felt in a mood to mess with her, rather then be as nice as he possibly could.
He watched her trip onto the ground, and was thinking of helping her up, but decided against it. She'd get up on her own. And, she'd most likely be terrified more so then she is now, if he got close enough to do so.

He felt concerned for the girl immediately, once he heard her coughing. And, it showed on his face. He didn't mean to make her choke on the ground. Though, that did sound a little amusing, to his ears. Just a little, tiny bit, however.
He silently watched her go to her feet, his hands calmly in his pockets. As she wiped her mouth off, he felt very tempted to say, 'you missed a spot', but decided against it.
He looked around, and nodded. He hadn't even realized how late it was. That would probably help the fact that he freaked her out badly.

"Yes. You called my home boring, of which it actually isn't, it's very entertaining. You just came when everyone was busy. A ball, or something like that." He told her, ignoring her comment after that. He noticed her studying him, and gestured to his hair, which he also noticed threw her off.
"It's natural." He said, referencing towards the color.
"As for your questions, I will answer them, but I also want to put this in; You are the one invading our privacy. If somebody broke into your house expectantly, I highly doubt you'd be okay with it." He informed her, before continuing, and answering her questions. "As for, who I am, I am Cian Lester. Pronounced Key-In Less-Ter. And why I'm following you," He lifted the hair around his ears, and stepped closer. "You've stumbled down the rabbit hole, little darling. And it just so happens this Wonderland, is mine."
Alice in Wonderland was also a movie he made a point to watch. It seemed entertaining, which, it didn't disappoint him.

What was this madman on about?! Mentioning things like 'everyone being busy at a ball' or something like that. No one lived out here! If he lived out here, he was even weirder than she initially thought! Plus, there was absolutely no way his hair was actually that color unless he was an albino or prematurely gray. It was scientifically impossible for a human to be born with that hair otherwise. And that was what he was, no matter how he made it sound. Morgan had half a mind to tell him so when suddenly he brushed back his hair and revealed pointy ears.

The female yelped, staggering backwards a couple of steps. Her back collided with the trunk of a short tree. Okay, that had caught her off guard, but pointy ears did not an elf make! Well...Technically, yes, but prosthetics were becoming more realistic everyday! Therefore, she could just assume the man was a crazy cosplayer trying to frighten foolish people who dared wander around the mounds at night alone. That was what he was doing now. Faeries did not exist, nor did elves. At least...Not in Morgan's experience anyway. She was not about to believe in them yet just because some stranger had pointy ears!

"Cian Lester," she repeated cautiously, turning the name over on her tongue. The first name sounded Irish enough, and the second she'd heard of before. Surely this was not the name of someone who belonged in a different world, or to another species of supernatural being! "That doesn't sound very foreign to me," she added after a moment. "What are you, a cosplayer? Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm not falling for the 'elf' act. So you have weird hair and pointy ears that may or may not be real! That hardly warrants the title. You're going to have to do better than that."

Morgan puffed out her chest, straightening, and placed both hands on her hips defiantly. "I'm sorry if I offended you by saying this place is boring, but I promise you my own home isn't much better. I understand that I am trespassing on your land, though, so I won't waste any more of your time." The female pivoted on her heel and started towards the woods again. With any luck, the weirdo would let her return home without stopping her.

Cian smirked at the reaction he'd received, from showing off his ears. It was better then he'd thought it would be. He could feel that she was arguing with herself, and waited impatiently for her to decide what she thought of him. Once she finally decided, he brought himself back into their conversation, if you could call it that, and looked her over, and smiled when he realized what she'd gone with. He may just have to play along. He may actually want to.

"With a C, that is." He told her, after she repeated his name. He doubted she really cared how to spell his name, but, he was enjoying this moment. This was unlike him, though, which he knew at the very beginning that he followed her.
"Oh? Well, it's not supposed to. It's a given name, not my actual name. You mortals can't know our actual names. At least, not until we trust you enough, and I usually go by it with everybody, since I prefer it over my actual one." He told her, before leaning his head in, making sure he heard the next thing she said right.
"Oh! So, you think I'm the Mad Hatter of this little tale?!" He said, excited, and amused. "I honestly don't know which character I am yet... I may be the Mad Hatter, I may be Alice!" He said, before pretending to think, "Well.. Alex, maybe. But you get the point." He grinned at her.
"Well, in fact, you are the one that followed the little white rabbit, so perhaps you, are Alice?"

He pouted when she turned to leave, and shook his head, but stayed in his spot.
"Oh, C'mon, 'Alice'! This is fun~" He told her, while watching her step away from him. He had no clue what was really wrong with him. He was actually quite over the insulting his land thing, so it wasn't the defensive side kicking in anymore. He probably should stop this, before she tells somebody.

Oh, so this was fun, was it? Glad someone was having fun, but at the moment it seemed to be at Morgan's expense! The man did not follow her as she attempted to walk away, so apart from his calling after her, the girl probably could have managed to escape with her life if she continued towards her grandparents' house. On the other hand, curiosity nagged at the back of Morgan's mind. What if this man, crazy as he seemed, was not, in fact, human? What if she was unwittingly walking away from some excitement for once in her life? In some ways, Morgan did resemble 'Alice'. She went poking in places she shouldn't, in search of adventure and discovery. But she supposed all scientific-minded people were that way.

And so, despite her common sense, Morgan found her feet slowing and coming to a stop. She did not turn to face the stranger immediately, but glanced back at him over her shoulder. "There was never a rabbit," she informed him with a touch of annoyance. "I can get myself into trouble well enough, thank you very much. Maybe it's stupid of me to linger here--you might end up being a murderous psychopath--but this is the first time I've ever doubted my sanity. Let me ask you directly, then: do you want me to leave, or do you want me to stay and chat? You appear to be getting a kick out of my confusion, whoever you really are. If I go home, I will be just as bored as I was here earlier and so I confess I'm not in a real hurry to do so."

Cain grinned when he saw that she stopped. He was getting to her. Though, he honestly did not know the outcome of what was going to happen, if she stayed. What if everybody came looking for her? What if she got lost? What if people thought she'd been taken? Which, there was a possibility of that happening... But, if so, and she hadn't been, they would most likely not come looking for her.
He couldn't let that happen. Sure, he was having fun, but, at what risk? He was alone, just the one elf in these woods. If he'd had somebody with him, this wouldn't have happened. He would have acted like usual. But, he'd been getting bored, and lonely, and the excitement of a human wandering in, had made him act such as this.
Now, he felt, it was to late to go to his normal self.

He smiled, amused by her comment of getting herself in trouble. He didn't doubt that, not one bit, from the experience he'd just had.
His smile left his face, however, at the mention of him possibly being a psychopath. He acted hurt from that comment, but he continued to listen. That might have actually been when he decided he needed to act correctly.
"Doubting Sanity; Bad. Doubting Insanity; Good. You think you may be going crazy, and so, you are not." He told her once she finished talking. He smiled kindly at her, and nodded. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to stay.." He said, as his answer. It was a change in his attitude, hoping that she wouldn't get to freaked out, and think he was a murderer.

'This is a terrible idea,' The logical part of Morgan's mind informed her. 'He's just some weirdo in a costume. He dyed his hair, he put prosthetics on his ears, and he is making up stuff to confuse you.' However, another part of Morgan's mind chimed in, 'You have nothing else to do. Why not humor him for a little while? It'll make for a funny post on Tumblr later.' The female sighed loudly. Normally the logical part of her would always win, but this time... Boredom. Boredom made it entirely impossible to walk away at this point. She turned around and faced the stranger, arching a thin, dark brow. He did not reply on the subject of his 'being a psychopath' whatsoever, rather choosing to ignore the comment and simply requesting for her to stay in his company.

"All right," Morgan relented finally. "I can stay for about..." She checked her wristwatch. "...Twenty minutes. And then I'm going home. Even if you're not an elf, at least you're interesting. I like interesting." The college student approached the man cautiously, her brown eyes flickering to a fallen log, and moved over to seat herself on it. "Regale me with stories of your elven life, by all means. Do you normally come up to women wandering alone in the woods?" Morgan hesitated. She decided it wouldn't hurt to tell him her first name. Then he would stop calling her strange things like 'Alice'. "My name is Morgan," she added after a moment. "I'm from America. Boston, if you couldn't tell by my accent."

Cian smiled when he saw her turning around, and could tell what her decision was. He nodded, agreeing with her. We probably was interesting, to her. He just needs to figure out how to make her believe that he actually was an elf.
He sat down on the ground, after he watched her take a seat. He was now eye level to her, and looked her in the eye, interested in what she had to say next.

"Ah, well, no. But, that's only because it doesn't happen much. People are scared of this area usually. You are actually the first I've ever encountered." He told her, while he looked up at the night sky.
"Okay, Morgan from Boston, ask me of a subject. I will most likely have some sort of story that has to do with it." He said, looking back at Morgan, with sincerity showing in his eyes. He was hopefully going to be more calm now, rather then.. How he was.

(>< Okay... TV is bad for paying attention.)

Morgan almost scooted back further when the stranger seated himself on the ground in front of her. There was not much distance left between the two of them... It wasn't that she thought he would try anything funny, but she was not about to throw caution to the wind just yet. She didn't have any Mace and had never taken self defense classes, so she wasn't sure how she would fare against the man if he decided to try and overpower her. Morgan, apart from being terrible at fine arts, was also terrible at sports or anything involving rigorous physical activity.

"I came out here to prove my Grandma wrong," Morgan snorted. "She always goes on about visiting the mounds after dark and getting kidnapped by the Fae. I suppose it's offensive if I tell you I think it's a silly notion, but it's what I thought. It's funny that the people around here are so superstitious." She arched her brow again. "I mean, you claim to be an elf but you haven't tried stealing me yet. And don't try it!" She pointed her index finger at his nose dramatically and then allowed her arm to fall back into her lap. "Questions...Hmm... Well, if you're actually an elf...Can you do something... 'Elf'-y?"

Cain noticed she backed away, and nodded in apology, before backing up a little bit, himself. His point now, was to make her realize that he was safe. And not crazy.
He listened to her intently, and made small comments here and there. Such as;
When she said her grandmother had been superstitious, he nodded, "Sounds like she's a smart woman."
When she said she thought it was a silly notion, he nodded again. "A bit offensive, but I've come to expect it."
When she said that he better not try stealing her away, he asked, "And what would happen if I did?" After he stared pointedly at her finger, of course.

He laughed at her last question, and nodded. "Of course I can. I'm an Elf. But, I don't know if what you have in mind of 'Elf-y' is what I have in mind. So, do something, like what, do you think?"
He could have just simply showed her something unnatural, of course.. But, he didn't know where to start. Elves had good singing voices, they were good at being in wooded areas and knowing where they were, some could do magic.. But not him. He was actually, the most plain Elf in his land. That's probably why they gave him the name that they truly had. He really preferred Cian Lester to that..

Morgan paused when Cian asked what she would do if he tried stealing her. Her mouth dropped open and then she shut it again, at a loss for words. Was he legitimately contemplating doing so?! He had better not be! The female wrestled down the urge to beat him over the head with her purse yelling "that's what!", and instead folded her hands neatly in her lap with a smile. "Well, it depends on what your intentions were, by stealing me," she replied, keeping her voice even. "If you were actually capable of taking me to the world of the Fae, I would find it intriguing. As a scientist it would be up to me to study everything and record facts. I could keep journals...Like an explorer! But right now I highly doubt you are capable of doing so."

She mulled over what she considered "elf-y". Magic came to mind, yes, but illusions were easily manufactured. What other abilities did supernaturals possess? "I don't know," Morgan said after a moment. "What do elves usually do that is different from humans? Talk to trees? Jump twenty feet into the air and do eight backflips?" The female started laughing and shook her head. Her messy dark hair bounced every which way.