#stellan zephyrus endymion

[flovey-dovey]

The house of the Night Hand Man was full of things. Colorful baubles that each glistened a different color, fifteen sets of silverware that didn't match, three couches, nine cabinets, bottles, woolen socks, jars upon jars of lost pennies, dishes, pots and pans (though he hardly ever cooked), various books from various points in time and even more various genres, chandeliers kept more for their ornaments than illumination, and so on and so forth.

But there was a room in the large and opulent tree-castle that had nothing in it at all. Just one very lonely window and a lamp with no switch. In the summer the view from the window showed nothing but the western sky and its own assortment of twinkling jewels. In the winter, it welcomed the pale light of every winking moon.

Nabber loved spending time in every room of his castle if it pleased him to be seen in it, but this solitary room he kept to himself, all alone at the end of a long hallway that wound through the whole trunk up to the very top. Nobody could see the bags under his eyes there, or hear the tired whimpers from a wayward unpleasantness.

Nabber's daughter looked down that hallway, listening quietly, hearing nothing but the distant whisper of the crisp autumn wind, seeing nothing but darkness and feeling nothing but her own curiosity growing with every glance. She saw her father drift like a shadow and disappear into that dark hall once or twice. Sometimes briefly, other times for hours, but always with a frown he might've thought she couldn't see. For one reason or another she never followed him to find out what he was doing.

The horror of the forest always smiled at her as he tucked her in, but sometimes in a way that made her wonder if something was actually somehow wrong. She smiled back, but it vanished after he'd gone.

Curiosity at its limit in her tiny form and tired of the nicks and knacks that kept her company, Heather slipped from her bed five minutes past the stroke of twelve and crept slowly across the thick carpets through the sleeping castle. At this hour, all the world was seeped in shades of blue, purple, and sea green. She only hesitated for a moment at the looming entrance of the mouth of the hallway that seemed to eat up all the color inside it. Then she puffed out her chest and marched up the slight slope of the pitch-black tunnel. It reeked of old wood and dust, at the precipice of enough fear to turn back.

But she didn’t. Her feet walked on.

She kept a hand on the smooth bark of the wall, the other holding on tight to her bravery. Finally at the top, she didn't at all expect to find her father there all alone, surrounded by none of his favorite things. The silhouette of his feathery back slowly rose and fell as if in sleep, limp as a pile of old clothes on the floor in the nearly deafening quiet. He looked smaller than usual.

Nabber hadn't expected her to find him there, either. He could usually hear a doormouse skittering across a field on a blustery day, but it took two tiny hands lighting on his beak to jostle him from the heavy daze he'd fallen into. His eyes dragged open and looked like deep wells with only the barest flicker of color rippling at the bottom. Truthfully, she found her way there by chance.

The great wraith's body heaved with breath and his weary and thin expression softened- or did it?- when he caught sight of her big, bright eyes, like gemstones twinkling in the dreary hollow. The moonlight was bright that night but kept at bay by a gossamer ashen purple curtain. The rustle of Nabber's feathers Heather's ears, soft as they were, as he swept himself around her and claws combed through her unruly brown locks. The corners of his mouth lifted in a forced smile that made his face creak like a graveyard gate. Nabber, though exhaustion of seemingly every sort clung to his bones, spoke in as fine and merry voice he could muster. "Oh... Hey, kiddo... Can't sleep?" He chuckled airily and fended off a yawn. "Yeah, me neither..."

~~~

Hmm... The pose and perspective didn't quite turn out the way I intended, but I do like the end result anyways.

[flovey-dovey]

A father and daughter sort of moment so maybe the daughter will get some sleep sometime soon 🪄🫧✨

Stellan has water magic so it struck me that he could use them to make floating bubbles of water to bounce some pretty lights around and amuse his easily-entertained (and incredibly restless) little girl.

[flovey-dovey]

The man behind the monster 🌲🦅🌙🌲

In his human guise, he takes on his old name as an actual human, or part of it anyway. I like his sleeves a lot :3c

Also sort of updated his whole ~look~ to have more of a blue theme instead of a yellow one considering his whole deal and water magic/powers.