~*~* Chronicles Of The Rift *~*~ Starts {Closed RPG} {Mature}

[Roy Karrde]

[size=7]Chronicles Of The Rift
Brought to you by:
Roy Karrde and Tsukasa

[font=Pristina][size=3][color=#006600]Two worlds collide, two worlds subside.
[color=#00712b]Two different strokes that create brilliant,
[color=#007b55]Vivid objects upon the canvas of life are blended,
[color=#008680]As the brush overlaps colors.

[color=#0090aa]As the two connect,
[color=#009bd5]The surreal surroundings become obsolete
[color=#00a5ff]As they begin to spiral into a centrifugal web of emotions.

[color=#008df0]As they cross barriers,
[color=#0076e2]Each become archeologists of the heart,
[color=#005ed3]As each dig to find what each world has to offer.

[color=#0047c5]Things are discovered,
[color=#002fb6]New territory to be explored,
[color=#0018a8]Terrain that has never been mapped is uncovered,
[color=#000099]As each set sail upon the ocean of discovery.
[color=#A50033]—Anonymous

[color=#009999]For as long as records can trace, there have been two worlds which vie for each other’s life energy, also known as mana. Every one hundred years, each of them prepares for a ritual in which a series of seals scattered throughout the world is unlocked. A group of fated individuals, known as The Chain, would travel their respective planet and unlock these seals. The first world to release their seals would free the mana until the next set of trials another one hundred years. This would allow that world to experience flourishing life, health, and advancements in technology. Meanwhile, the other world suffers from famines, virus outbreaks, and death, yet, is rewarded with an abundance of magic. The balance would tip back and forth every century to keep each civilization from declining or flourishing for too long... Until about five hundred years ago. The flourishing world won the trial and kept its mana for the third time, causing the declining world continue its downward spiral. Ever since then, the declining world lost every trial for the next five hundred years. Now, the world is in despair. The half-breeds, a race that feeds off of magic, continues to flourish while Human’s who rely on mana are sick and slowly dieing out. On the flourishing world, Human’s have taken control with the use of technology, and, with almost no magic, the half-breeds have become weak and virtually enslaved and are looked down upon just like the humans of the declining world.

Presently, it is 2006 and the next trial is upon the worlds. In a last-ditch effort, the half-breeds of the declining world send out a plea, with their vastly enchanted powers, in order to take warriors from a far off dimension and bring them there as the next Chain. From observations made on our world to find their ideal team, they discover the art of role-playing and mistake it recruitment for battle. Their cry of help appears as a sign-up thread on this very RPG forum. You are browsing the forum one day and see this RPG awaiting members. With few inspirational games running at the time, you feel more compelled to join it because of the strange passion in the help message portrayed in the plot. After filling out your character form and submitting it, a strange pop up appears, asking for your approval to enlist. You choose “Yes” almost instinctively. The screen flickers... It flickers again... Then, it is followed by a white flash that blinds you into unconscious submission.

When you regain your senses you realize you are no longer at your computer or in your house, let alone your own body. Surrounded by six other people, both human and half-bred, you find yourself inside a rather dismal palace. You have become one of the Chain that will hold life within the grasp of an entire civilization.

[color=#009999]Magic System: In this RPG the Magic is up to the users imagination. There is several types of magic that could be used from Summon magic, to Tarot Magic, to Object Magic, to Elemental Magic, or what ever else you decide. Magic will vary every time you use it, since nothing can ever be recreated exactly the same down to every detail, magic is no different. Colors can be different such as blue flames instead of red along with intensity and other elements of magic. No two times you use a spell will be exactly the same.

World Name: There are two worlds, the declining being named: Plyos. While the rising world is named: Genoa

Members Permitted in this RPG
Half Breed:
Tsukasa
Bulbasaur4
Weasel Overlord
Doomy_McDoomdoom

Humans:
Roy Karrde
Vulpix.ck
Plantae
Emotional Faun Chiko-sai


Real Name: Ryan Lutz
Gender: Male
Personality:[i] He cares about his friends the most, he would bend over backwards to help a friend and do about anything for them. He isn’t that easily annoyed and shrugs most things off. He likes to joke around a lot and have fun; he is also a bit of a womanizer and enjoys flirting. Lately he has had a lot of stress, which has caused his usual happy personality to be somewhat depressed.
[color=tan]~~ ~~ FORM START ~~ ~~
Name: Adalia
Gender: Female
Race: Human
Age: 13
Bodily Appearance: Only measuring 4’8” she’s about right height for her age. She has soft light hazel eyes and long golden blond hair that stretches down just half way before her elbows, she doesn’t have much of a body figure yet, and it is pretty much kept hidden under the thick robe. She has soft skin that with her healing powers allows her to keep from having a single blemish, She has a bit of a small button nose and her hair dips down to just above her eyebrows.
Clothing Appearance: A long flowing white robe that reaches her feet, the robe covers both of her arms up to her hands. The robe’s color is a pure white to represent her power, with a light purple border that goes around the bottom of the robe and around the sleeves of the robe. The robe has a hood that also has the light purple border; she uses the hood most of the time that she is in town. Her feet are sandaled which are of a tan color with leather straps. The robe comes with a white sash that she keeps around her at all times and is sometimes used to hold the staff.
Weapon: It’s a brown staff in design and about 2 feet tall, it’s made out of three small branches that are wrapped around each other. At the top of the staff rests a light pink diamond shaped crystal that is held by the three branches. The staff is used as a focal point of the body’s mana to create magic for humans.
Magic: She channels the mana in her body through her arm and into her hand, before flowing it out into her staff and into the crystal which emits healing powers or what ever she decides for the mana to do.
[color=lightpink]~~ ~~ FORM FINISH ~~ ~~
Changed Personality: With a new found sense of freedom, Adalia is a lot more relaxed and loose, she will tease and play around as much as she wants, and almost never takes anything seriously. Also with all the female hormones she isn’t very attracted to girls, yet has a hard time trying to be okay around boys sometimes.
Other: She has a soft melodious voice which is a distinct change from his old deep voice.

[color=tan] David Ryan Lutz
[color=tan]~*~*~*~*~ Bored at his Computer ~*~*~*~*~

[color=tan]With a sigh and a small shuffle in my seat, I leaned back from my computer and propped my legs up. I was done with classes for the day and there was no work, so I was stuck at home, alone. Well not technically alone, I had my best friend with me, and my other would be on soon. My best friend being a man that lived several thousand miles away, yet he was a friend never the less.

‘What are you doing?’ Tony asked very unenthusiastically over the chat room window. I rolled my eyes and rose up. I knew what he was getting to, we had a Karaoke thing happening in a few days, and I still hadn’t practiced.

‘Practicing for the Karaoke.’ I lied while bringing up Pokemasters. A few seconds went by before he sent the next message, which seemed a bit enthusiastic while at the same time suspicious.

‘Really?’ he wrote. I moved the cursor down to the RPG forum and typed in the next message.

‘No.’ I typed making it short and sweet. He sent back a set of glairing or annoyed eyes, with Tony I could never tell. ‘I’ll practice, I’ll practice.’ I wrote back trying to keep it from becoming hostile. I usually just winged the Karaoke things, with my voice you could never really tell if I was trying to sing or not.

A few minutes went bye as I browsed the forum. No one had posted in Only a Fairy Tale yet, and frankly I was getting worried about it dieing off. I refreshed the page and another RPG popped up. ‘Chronicles of the Rift’ was the name. ‘Hey a new RPG popped up, checked it out yet?’ I asked Tony while clicking on the RPG.

The plot was magnificent, something that seemed almost unreal, the struggle of good against evil. The oppression of people, a last ditch effort for help. A character began to form in my mind almost automatically. My fingers flew across the keyboard so fast that I didn’t even notice that Tony had sent me another message. The character just seemed to write itself, I would talk to Tony later. Right now posting seemed to be on the top of my mind.

With out even previewing it to make sure I got the coding right, I reached down and pressed Enter to submit it. The screen blacked out as it loaded, after a second or two another message popped up, one asking me if this character dimensions were correct. I quickly pressed Yes with out a second thought. Tony was probably starting to get annoyed that I hadn’t answered him, and more people would be signing up any minute once they read the post.

The message disappeared and the screen flickered white, it then flickered again, and again. I reached out to tap the screen to make sure it wasn’t malfunctioning. Just as my finger made contact on the cold glass surface. An overwhelming white light flashed out filling not only my whole field of vision. The white seemed to just expand, and expand. My whole world became white as I lost all sensation in my body. Slowly darkness began to threaten at the edges of my vision, the darkness began to quickly spread until it enveloped me, and the white became, cold, silent, darkness.

~*~*~[color=lightpink]*~*~*

I let a soft moan out of my mouth, as my mind became conscious of the world I was in. I could feel smooth concrete underneath me. Was I lying out in the hallway? No one was home so who would have pulled me out of my room? My eyes began to flutter open slowly as I became even more aware of the world around me. To my right and left were body like shapes. This wasn’t the hallway, was it the hospital? I began to rise up only to have a wave of dizziness and nausea force me back down. “Take it easy.” A soft sweet voice fluttered past my ears. Her voice seemed soothing like a mother, yet it was strained as if from years of stress and exhaustion. “The whole thing can be disorientating at first.” She warned.

“Where…where am I?” I asked, my voice coming out soft and smooth almost like silk, instead of the rough abrasive voice that I usually had. It was a bit higher pitched instead of my deep one, and it took a few seconds to even realize it was my voice. “My…voice?” I brought my trembling fingers up to my lips as shapes, colors, and textures began to come into focus.

I, or should I say we, were in a huge room that seemed to measure several stories high. Large murals and banners draped the walls in a tapestry of thousands of different colors. To the front of the room stood a woman who looked every year of fifty, her face worn down by wrinkles and exhaustion. Her eyes baggy and tired, as if exhausted and in need of a few years of sleep. Behind her a lioness tail swayed back and forth in synchronous motion. To both of my sides lay others, some with tails, some with strange tattoos. All dressed in clothes that seemed to come right out of the days of Robin Hood. It was like some weird Cosplay.

“You’re a human..” She gasped a bit in shock and surprise. Okay what ever kind of weird, insane trick this was. It wasn’t funny. Of course I was human, and how did they get the robotics to make those tails look so lifelike?

“Of course I’m human..” I mumbled sitting up fully and taking in the surroundings to their full extent. I began to rub my brow as I tried to make sense of everything, lion tails, weird clothes and what was I wearing? I was draped in a long white robe that seemed to cover my legs while almost covering my hands. Next to me what had to be a Giant moaned and began to toss and turn as he came to. “Hey take it easy…” I said quickly turning to my side and offering him a hand up.

If I was six feet tall, than this guy had to be around seven or eight feet. “You should play Basketball for the Mavs.” I smiled a bit, mentioning my home team while taken a bit aback by how lightly I was treating this situation.

“Wh-who are you?” He asked taking my hand in his giant ones and slowly helping himself up. I felt like a mouse next to this guy who seemed to almost tower a foot over me.

“My name is Ryan.” I said as others began to come to life all around me.

A few strands of blonde hair dropped down into my face that I quickly brushed away. I must have gotten some of Samantha’s hair onto my face earlier, or I was wearing a wig. “Ryan? That’s a strange name for a girl.” The giant mumbled back shaking the cobwebs out of his head.

Behind me another female voice spoke up that seemed to be about chasing squirrels around campus. At the same time my brain was beginning to put the pieces together. Blonde hair, this robe, my voice. My eyes grew ride in shock as one hand reached down between my legs to fill nothing, while another grabbed my chest and squeezed. I was rewarded with a sharp pain as my nails dug into my small breast. I wasn’t sure who screamed first, some guy across the room, or myself. I just know for the next minute or so I was screaming at the top of my lungs.

“Please, Please calm down.” The elderly voice spoke up again, her voice cutting swiftly through the noise to quiet us all down. People continued to mumble and talk in low levels until she spoke up again. “I am the High Queen of Plyos, yet you may address me as High Queen Kiiah.” She spoke which finally quieted us all down.

“You are the members of the Chain, we tried to make your bodies to your specifications, and laying next to you are your weapons.” High Queen Kiiah said, this time her voice returning down to a softer pitch. She was right; next to me was the staff that I had described in my sign up. I slowly picked it up and began to twirl it a bit in my hands as I examined the rod and the crystal placed on top of it.

After a few minutes of talking again and examining the weapons the Queen began to speak. “Now please, please hear me out.” She commanded as the room again fell silent. “Please, we need your help, you agreed to take part in this quest, and we are short on time, so I will have to be quick and brief on my explanation. You have a long way to go, and only a short time to accomplish it.” She talked, her voice growing weaker and weaker with every word. I glanced an eye slowly over at the giant, to see him glance over at me. I quickly focused back on the queen and awaited the explanation. This may be my only way home, and the only way back to being a boy.

Get there and talk amongst yourself if you want or just wake up and hear about what the Queen has said till now. Tsukasa should post soon with the rest of her speach.

[Weasel Overlord]

[color=#ffe4c4]Here's my sign up, I changed some stuff...or rather, added some stuff. So enjoy the newness! ^^ Alas, I have no time to post an, um, post right now. I shall do one later, however. Perhaps when I get home.

Real Name: Kirsten (or Weasel, Wurz, whichever you please ^^)
Gender: Female, yes it’s true. I am actually a girl!
Personality: Ho hum...she could also be placed in the ‘lazy’ category, and she is quite laid-back, although she has a short temper that is usually ignited by irritating people, and she changes her mood so much that she usually forgets why she was angry in the first place! Oh, she’s also extremely forgetful...to the point where she forgets something she told you two minutes ago... ^^;;
Extremely loyal to her friends, she would probably fight for them if she had to, although she doesn’t like violence in any form.

~~ ~~ FORM START ~~ ~~

Name: Morrigan Broin Irven Macha, but you can call him Morgan! Or Morrgan… or Morrigan, for that matter...whichever! (Mor-i-gan | Bro-in | Irv-en | Mach-a)
Gender: Male (hee!)
Race: Half Breed. Human, plus pure white Raven. Also, Morrigan Macha is the avatar of the Celtic Goddess of war, Morrigan. Becasue of confusion between their names, I shall refer to the goddess as 'Morrigan the goddess', and the character as 'Morrigan Macha', his last name.
Morrigan the goddess can place herself in the body of her avatar, inbuing him with her own qualities; namely a warlike nature, and a thirst for killing. Upon placing herself in Morrigan Macha's body, his eyes are filled with blood, turning red like the right one, until he looks purely demonic. Macha's voice takes on a womanly timbre, which is extremely alluring, if dangerous-sounding.
A side-effect, as it were, of containing the spiritual energy of Morrigan the goddess', Morrigan Macha's magical powers increase, although only by a little.
[NB: the raven is a symbol of Morrigan the goddess, and, being a raven, is usually black; but they are white in Morrigan Macha's case to symbolise his purity.]
Age: 27, but he appears much younger, occasionally looking around 10 and sometimes around 17. This is because of his Avatardom, and when Morrigan the goddess places herself in his body, Morrigan Macha looks younger than he actually is.
Bodily Appearance:Morrigan Macha has short but silky hair which looks very carefully sculpted. It sticks out everywhere, and it has an air of messiness about it, though it manages to stay pretty much in place, almost as if it were held by glue. It is sort of spiky, though the spikes lay flat, and it resembles feathers a bit in the way that it lays. His hair is a dirty white in colour, with veins of dark grey running through it here and there, and extremely long on the left side of his face. It runs all the way down to his chin (not an emo style, by the way) like an elaborate white curtain, but it isn’t cut in any type of style, rather, it’s like someone tried to give him a haircut, but totally forgot about the left side! All in the back of Morrigan Macha's hair there are white feathers. Inexplicably, he seems to be a very feathery person, and they just, kind of, flutter off him if he runs. Otherwise, they seem to be perfectly happy with their home.
Though his body is a medium stature, with no obvious malformation, there is an odd air of longness about him. His arms seem to be almost too long for his body, which can be explained by the whole raven thing, really. He is quite lanky and tall, with not much flesh on him, although he hides some strength in his invisible muscles.
He stands at about 6’ 3”, although his height is enhanced by the tall, white raven who seems to have taken up residence there, only to be dislodged by any sudden movement, such as running, in which case, he (Morrigan Macha presumes it is a ‘he’) flutters off in a huff.
Morrigan Macha is in the possession of a very odd pair of eyes. One single eye, on his left side to be precise, is a bloody red. No irises can be found in this eye, but there are a series of darker red lines which run from the middle to the very outside, much in the way of bloodshottedness. The other eye, however, is perfectly normal, a lovely powdery grey colour, reminiscent of snow, this eye shows Morrigan Macha’s inner peacefulness, which isn’t apparent from first meetings or impressions. His hair is cut so long on the left to hide the demonic eye, which is one of the signs pointing to his possession of great power.
The other is a series of Celtic patterns, etched into his face in the darkest of red inks. Chasing themselves round the left side of his face, and over the bridge of his nose to the tip of his chin on the right side, these tattoos resemble the traditional Celtic tribal designs. Thorny in their appearance, they give Morrigan Macha quite a rakish look, which is offset by his gentle and often tranquil eye, topped by a soft grey brow.
Clothing Appearance: Morrigan Macha is fond of wearing soft linen garments, usually dyed in a pale grey hue flecked with creamy white. He has a single piece of armour, hand-crafted by himself when he was young. It is a fine silver breastplate, gently curved to fit his torso, and elaborately decorated with feather designs. A blue dye in a powder form was rubbed into the designs when it was first forged, and left there to set in the cracks, leaving the feathers and rushing lines tinted a pale and ethereal colour which gives the plate a mystical feel.
He wears a simple linen tunic underneath the breastplate which comes down to about his knees, and is drawn tight about the waist with a pure white cord with a blue stone and a feather tied to the end. The cord is tied to the right of his waist, and the stone makes it hang down, reaching about to his knees, where the tunic ends.
Morrigan Macha prefers to wear leather pants, held up by the said cord, and though leather wears quite well, he often has holes in areas such as the knees. On his feet, he likes to wear a pair of simple boots, tied up to the knee with leather cords. His boots are tough and sturdy, and unlikely to let in water, much like wellies! ^_^
Weapon:Clicky!
Clicky again!
Morrigan Macha chooses to wield an odd weapon which is a bit of a cross between a long spear, a halberd, and a pike. It has a blade like the one in the picture, only it is an ominous red colour, and at the bottom, where it joins the pole, there is a cross-bar, similar to that of a pike, which reaches to either side of the blade.
Curved in shape, it has a vicious point on the end, similar to that of a raven’s talon, and the actual pole of the weapon is a deep grey colour, with swirly designs like those on his face.
When he swings the weapon, he uses a dancy sort of style (think Seong Mi-Na in Soul Calibur III), swinging the blade around to a loud swishing of wind. The blade has a series of holes near the tip, and the noise of the wind rushing through the holes makes an eerie, bird-like call.
He fondly calls this weapon 'Anyon', and the raven, Fiachra enjoys sitting on the crossbar when Morrgan Macha's head is not available. Although he does prefer to have some hair to pull...
Magic: He basically has the magic of birdies! Morrigan Macha is a summoner, and a summoner of white ravens at that. Like his incarnation, Morrigan Macha is associated with the birds of death and general corvids of the Celtic Goddess Morrigan.
He has a small magic, as in he can only summon up to five ravens, not including the one living on his head, and they have a tendency to pop out of existence if hit by anything. The ravens are white, like his lodger, and they have razor sharp claws and bloodthirsty beaks, ready to tear and rend at innocent corpses or not-so-innocent living people... O.o
He summons by twizzling Anyon around, the call of the wind through the holes is the magical trigger which brings the ravens to his side. He suspects that the holes, or at least, the blade, is infused with mana in some way.
If not killed, the summoned ravens disappear after about five minutes, but expect this time to increase as Morrigan Macha’s magical powers do.
When Morrigan the goddess is in possession of Broin’s body, the birds he summons become more powerful, increased by Morrigan the goddess’ powers. They become evil-looking, with bloodied beaks and crazed eyes, and they are likely to disobey Morrigan Macha if he orders them to do something they don’t like.

~~ ~~ FORM FINISH ~~ ~~

Changed Personality: Calm and peaceful when he’s being his normal self, Morrigan Macha, loves animals, birds most of all, and he has a sort of empathy with them. Despite this calm nature, Broin is an excellent fighter when the need be, although he is always the first to show mercy when needed.
However, when Morrigan the goddess takes over his body, Morrigan Macha becomes much more violent. He turns vicious, and totally merciless, killing without discrimination, in the most cruel ways possible. This inhabitation of a female personality, especially one as loathsome as Morrigan the goddess, has caused Morrigan Macha to become somewhat bitter, though her presence gives him moderate power, he resents her for choosing him as her avatar (representative on earth), and has a tendency to be slightly moody just before and after a transformation.
Other: Morrigan Macha has named the raven on his head ‘Fiachra’, (lit: eagle), for his vicious temperament and bloodthirsty nature. Fiachra enjoys pecking Morrigan Macha’s head, ears, pulling at his hair, and generally being a pest, but deep in his heart, Morrigan Macha is sure that he is a lovely bird, only in need of some loving attention.
Also, Morrigan Macha being the avatar of the Goddess Morrigan, he goes through stages where his ‘other’ personality takes over. Meaning that he occasionally gains a more...feminine lilt. When Morrigan the goddess takes over, Morrigan Macha becomes much more bloodthirsty, much like Fiachra. He then wields his weapon with more finesse, the blade almost becoming invisible with his speed.
He also is very fond of saying 'feh!' (snigger...not stolen from InuYasha at all...*shifty eyes*)...

[Loverly picture of Morrigan plus Fiachra incoming!]

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

Real Name: Yi-wen. Most people call me Human IRL... ^^;
Gender: Female
Personality: Lazy and not overly social. Generally a pacifist until angered, (when angered, gets really very unreasonable and scary) and avoids or smooths over any conflict that she's not directly involved in. Has a rather idealistic outlook on life, but she'd like to think that she's a cynic at heart. Too serious for her own good, and is easily made to feel guilty. Is in most ways a perfectionist; messy rooms, things left about and by extension bad grammar piss her off. Will help people if she can. Blur is her constant state of being, this haze only lifted very occasionally in momentary flashes of brilliancy.
-- -- RPG FORM START -- --
Name: Tané Marré Ghéde
Gender: Male
Age 17
Race: Human
Bodily Appearance: Tané's got dark skin and, oddly, lavender hair. His eyes change colour depending on which spirit he's currently under influence of, but they're naturally amber. (see picture for a profile view) Note that his earlobes have been elongated as a result of wearing heavy brass ear weights. The white smudges on his cheekbones and forehead are of sacred ash. He's a thin wiry type of about 5'10" in height, and slouches a lot. There are raised ritual mutilation scars on his upper arms and chest in the shape of circular arabesques.
Clothing Appearance: He has a whole collection of brass/bone bangles that extend from his wrists to his arms. Around his neck hangs a necklace that appears to be made out of a collection of animal bones, skulls, feathers, carved wood and bits and pieces of jewellery that nobody liked enough to keep. He has a nose piercing, but removed the bone as he felt it looked like a moustache. As for his actual attire, it's a beige, smocklike shirt, made out of coarse fabric and cinched at the waist with a belt, from which hangs all kinds of things, like a multipurpose dagger, little bottles of... stuff, etc. One important bottle that Tané always makes sure he has with him is one of dark glass containing raw rum steeped in 21 spices [this is an offering to Baron Samedi]. His pants are an indeterminate dark colour and ragged at the cuffs, and over this he wears a shapeless sepia coat. Tané goes barefoot, though there are bandages wrapped around the arches of his feet.
Weapon: An old, gnarled ebony staff, with feathers and crude bells tied onto one end with bright red cord. The bells are for calling the dead back to the living, or for leading the recently departed to the world of the dead. The staff is not used for fighting (although when it comes to desperate situations, hitting people with it would suffice) but more for ritual dances; the sound of bells plays a major part in these as well. He also has a small drum, although obviously this is not used to fight with. His loa (guardian spirit) is Baron Samedi of the Ghéde, who has no real shape but sometimes appears in the form of a long dark man in a tall black hat and a black cloak. Baron is the manifestation of a dark god, some say demon; his temperament is malicious when provoked and his powers inclined towards the chaotic and uncertain. He has many incarnations, but so far Tané can only handle his basest avatar.
Magic: His healing abilities are not magic/mana-related like the white mage, but rather through practical application of available ingredients, like a herb healer. Technically, he can also 'soothe souls' in a spiritual sense as well as physical, (ie. see the innate character of people, and based upon that, give them advice/exorcise the bad feelings) but he just isn't too good at this yet. Baron Samedi is his main summoned loa, but his relations with him aren't very good, as yet - Baron treats him rather playfully as a verbal punching bag and often refuses to be channeled, shifting the responsibility to other, lesser Ghéde loa, or even ghosts who happen to be around at the time. Baron gets hissy fits if Tané partners loa of families other than the Ghéde, though. Tané also talks to ghosts, and as of now his channeling ability is limited to the 'crossed-wires'-type, as ghosts may decide to use him as a voicebox whenever they want; he cannot really control this.
Sometimes the loa's intention may not be that of Tané's, and in that case he will be unable to channel the loa's power; all use of power is dependent upon the whim of the loa, not Tané, who merely moulds and controls the power accorded him by the loa.
All loas (also ghosts but to a lesser extent) have distinct personalities of their own, though to certain lengths this is mediated by the 'family'/pantheon they belong to. (ex. Ghéde are practical jokers and love to use phallic imagery *sweat*) This will become very apparent in the RPG when I actually start RPing Tané's interaction with them, the rituals, and the occasional full possession.
-- -- RPG FORM FINISH -- --
Changed Personality: Spazzes more easily; oft-repeated sentence is now, alternatively, "Being a person... is difficult" and "Life is bitter" (the latter being a Cantonese phrase usually popular among people going through mid-life crisis; if children/youth say this in front of elders, they get whacked) Yi-wen's personality is living on long in Tané; old habits are hard to break, and this is no exception. However, traces of a darker nature are surfacing as he goes into closer contact with the loa, especially the Baron, and he will soon begin to discover his real self, and the reason for the connection with the Ghéde.
Other: Hates cakeboxes. Sneezes really loudly.
------------------------
Yi-wen + Tané Marré Ghéde
"HELP HELPPPP I'M DYINGGGG"
----------------------------------

I was rather happy. This week happened to be my week off, and with no one at home to stop me I was monopolizing the computer like nobody's business. Homework and timezones be damned. (Homework? What homework? What colour wheel? What figures? No, no, I don't need to go begging for cloth scraps from the tailors for my texture project. I don't need to sew these on painstakingly; I don't need to glue sequins onto the scales of my paper dragon; I don't need to murder my mop in order to get a 'hairdo' for said dragon...) Hell, maybe I even had time to play mahjong! I had many fond memories of Chinese New Year, what with the gift money, the confectionery, and of course the mahjong table, where players engaged in the art of swimming on dry land...

Ahhh. Mahjong.

But back to reality. The downside was that my friends had all returned to their respective hometowns, or were in collective hibernation, or did not belong to the same college as me and therefore did not have the same holiday schedule, so that there was no one to hang out physically with, or pester to play mahjong with; however, when all else failed, there was always the ones over the sea and far away.

Oh yes, the forums. I'd been a good human lately and updated some of the RPGs I'd signed up for, as I had a whole week stress-free and everything. OAFT was plodding along at a rate that I liked, the procrastinating creature that I was, and so was Otherworld and the River. Of late I'd been psychoed into joining Axis Mundi on PCG, and surprisingly found it a fun and rewarding experience. (This is partially a lie because sometimes the participants really tick me off.)

Wow, a new RPG that actually looked interesting... we hadn't had these in a long while. Cry for help, save a dying civilisation, blahblahblah - it opened up a golden opportunity for portraying yet another wussy character who's got a horrible job to do and knows it. Naturally I clicked on it, and just as naturally I signed up for it. Never give a monkey the key to a banana plantation.

I did my research for my character's background with the usual zeal, although this time I felt that I was purposefully being pointed in the way of choosing a shaman-esque character, even reading up in detail about spirits, loa and the spirit world, as well as offerings, and the method of channeling: it was as if I was preparing to become a novice shaman myself. I could feel the overwhelming presence of the Baron, could visualize his jabs and vulgar talk, his penchant for rum and the dance. And his wife Maman Brigitte, also one of the Ghéde, in some ways kinder than her husband but in others much more vicious, and the other Ghéde, with their devil-may-care personalities and their ability to mediate between the living and the dead - these all came to me in a nascent flow as if old acquaintances, long lost in the slipstream of time.

As blur as I normally was, I didn't exactly notice anything offhand about the topic when I submitted my form until I observed that my foot had gone to sleep, much in the way that it goes to sleep when I get pins and needles. In fact, my entire leg seemed to have fallen asleep. I tried moving my hands to massage the foot and get circulation going, but they wouldn't move, either. Oh great. My mom *would* have something to say if I stayed in this chair, miraculously glued to the computer, as she had so often predicted would happen.

Then the screen flashed.

"Well if it don beat all. Issa little lady in a manshape."
"You think so, Baron? He look reel comfy, sleepin dere like that, showin off he schlong an all."
"You don know balls about peoples, Nibo. She- He our kind. You spendin too much time talkin to dem head-in-de-clouds Rada. You watch me."

At this point Tané woke up. He had no time to feel odd or displaced because at that very moment Baron Samedi manifested in all his dark glory about five centimetres away from his nose. Baron was a tall loa, a rakish man with an irresistible smirk, and his black hat made him seem taller; he gave the belled staff lying by Tané an experimental twirl, and grinned to himself. Tané's eyes widened into dinner plates; he instinctively backed away, but hit the wall instead.

"B-B-B-Baron Samedi..."
"Oh you a natural one, you are. Make a good houngan. Most they do first times they see me is scream, scream, scream, bow and scrape, sorta thing. Come on, peche. Don look so frit. You my houngan now."

Tané took the opportunity to give the room a once over while the Baron flicked the staff over and under like an expert baton-twirler leading the parade; there were all the expected medieval trappings of an RPG setting (but Tané really had not the slightest idea what he - he? - wasn't it.. she? was doing here, after having gotten an apparently fatal attack of pins and needles), an entire crowd of beast-men (and women), and about three other humans all lying prone on the floor; also, at the very front of the area, someone who looked the spitting image of a Queen who was extremely tired of the whole job of Queening.

"Ah... Baron... there must be some mistake... Houngans are male, aren't they?"
"Ah, you says now. You look at every other dem thing except yousself. Like a dumb schlong lookin for some clit. Go on, give yousself a good coppin feel, an you tell me if you a man now or still a little lady."
Tané thought that he was flatter than usual... hmm... weird purple hair... brass ear weights flopping around every which way, and earlobes as long as the Buddha Maitreya... what was this... raised mutilation burn scars... that must have hurt... down a little lower... to the vital bits... and where there shouldn't have been anything, there was something...

"YAAAAAAAAA-"
"Heheheheheh, you sees now, don you?"
"-AAAARRR-"
"You best stop yellin now, you gone all blue in the face."
"AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!"

Someone else across the room must have also undergone sex change, for there was an echo to Tané's scream. It was comforting, in a morbid way, to know someone else was also undergoing serious mental trauma at the moment. Tané slumped forward. Baron was still grinning; if anything, his grin had gotten wider - it was obvious that he was highly amused by all this. He ventured to give the distressed shaman a mocking pat on the back.

"Aw, cmon now. You gots yousself a staff now, you know? (here, there was an extremely suggestive wink) And of course you got me. I help you along if I feels like it and if you gives me what right. You know what right. You a houngan. I be goin now."

And he was gone, as fast as he'd come. Tané's left eye twitched involuntarily as he gripped the staff in his hands tightly, as if it was the only connection between him and the world he'd come from. He felt like hitting someone over the head, hard, with it. Breathe in. Breathe out. Don't lose control...

How many other weirdos, or rather, fellow unfortunates, were there in here? He spotted a cute blonde; a white-haired, beravened Jay Chou lookalike; a mysterious character, also in the pale and white colourscheme; a tiger; a fox; a... singularly odd person wrapped in what looked like scarves; and a warrior-type that Tané was automatically intimidated by.

The Queen at the front was saying something. She was High Queen Kiiah of some weird place called Plyos. Tané thought that he'd never willingly go to a place where the ruler looked so rundown, then remembered that he was already there.

He sighed, and settled in for the required briefing that every heroic party of rescuers gets before they set out. It wasn't even an hour into his removal from Earth, and he already missed his mom's nagging.

This was not a good sign...
------------------------
houngan = priest, shaman (or something to that effect)
peche = sinner (affectionate)
Jay Chou = popular Taiwanese singer *hearts*

[Vulpix.ck87]

Real Name: Carkly
Gender: Female
Personality: Despite often complaining about trivial things, Carkly tends to subconsciously look on the Brightside - there’s a part of her that always pipes up with a ‘could be worse!’ kind of thing. If a challenge represents itself to her, and she knows that there’s a way of achieving her aim she’ll keep trying, and can be quite determined in that aspect. She’s never really been the type to fight, though likes to jab playfully, and in moments of rage she has been known to clobber people. She has a deep sense of morality, and would like to believe that she’ll go by her principles where they apply and would speak out against something she thinks is truly wrong. It greatly disturbs her to see someone being prejudiced against or verbally attacked for little reason, and can often sympathise with them. She won’t betray you, and she’s loyal to those she cares for - having a few friends that really mean something to her makes her happy, and she wants to protect them. She doesn’t get a kick out of hurting people’s feelings, and though not strictly honest, she would never lie in ways that would purposefully get people hurt. If someone sets her work she gets on with it (excluding chores), feeling guilty if distracted. She understands that you’ve got to do what needs to be done, even if it‘s not fun. Eternally curious, she likes to play, though can be very serious at times. She’s pathetically shy around people she’s not comfortable with, which really annoys her.

~~ ~~ FORM START ~~ ~~

Name: Marxiach[Marks-Ziack] Marten
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Age: 18
Bodily Appearance: Despite standing at a modest 6’1”, his most eye catching feature is the thick red hair that stands vertically from his head in an unruly tousled fashion. It’s not actually bright red, and though still unusual it suits him very much so; being a mixed tone of blood crimson and lustrous russet with roots half-shot black-brown, it still manages to complement his peach-pale complexion. Thick, smooth and soft, it weaves itself into a matted mess and, though clean and silken, to run your fingers through it is to lose them - forever more will you be entangled. So he’ll never attempt to comb it, and parting it to see his scalp is not really a possibility, even at the nape of his neck and sides where it’s shorter.
His eyes are an endless dark brown, eyes you can fall into, and only by looking closely can you distinguish the iris from the pupil - from any more than five centimetres away they look almost black. His eyes can even acquire a golden hue when exposed to the right light, but this is rare due to the shade his sweeping lashes provide. He has a subtle brow topped by brisk messy eyebrows, and his chin and upper lip quickly sprout a mess of stubble when left to their own device for any short length of time. The face itself still bears the telltale signs of lingering youth, a young man of approximately 18 years of age, but with harshly pronounced cheekbones and a straight sharp nose. His chin and jaw are strong features, often fixed in an expression of resolute determination.
As previously mentioned he’s fairly tall, having long slender legs that give him his speed, and needless to say the hair adds a couple of inches. The technical term for this boy is ‘bean pole’, but with his broad shoulders and lean muscle he’s no pushover. His stick-ish limbs are like those of a horse - scrawny yet laden with muscle - and they can pack a sharp punch. He is therefore exceptionally fast on these lengthy athletic legs of his, and he has a good pair of lungs too, so he has decent stamina. He has a number of thick white scars crossing his right palm and absolutely no idea how they got there.
Clothing Appearance: His footwear consists of fitted leather boots, no soles/heels, more like socks than anything, bound by a thick black cord crisscrossing towards the knee as well as several small silver buckled belts. He wears a thick black-brown belt that rests upon what little hip he has, and it holds a place for his sword on his left side. His left eye is covered by a worn black leather eye patch, a thick brown strap coming over his right eyebrow to the patch, and two smaller straps braking away at the other side into his hairline. Lift the eye patch and underneath.. His eye is fine, intact, same pigment, yet not responsive to stimuli (ie. It will not focus and acts blind). He wears a white hooded wolf pelt around his shoulders that fastens below his neck with a pewter brooch. Below this he wears a short black tunic - t-shirt like, with a small v cut out at the front, crisscrossed with thick hemp cord and with short sleeves. Ragged gloves and tufted undergarments poke out of his sleeves and wind up his hands, though his right palm is still bare. He wears skin tight armour beneath his tunic and shorts, plated and cyborg like.
Class: Swordsman/Beserker. A warrior-sorts, though it’s debateable whether he’s more animal than human or vice versa, and due to this his fighting style has no contributing magical influences. He fights with a certain etiquette, graceful sword movements, impressive arches and rapid momentum. And when he needs to.. He loses control. He’s a beserker. Fists, feet, teeth and claws, they are all his weapons. He cobs, stamps, twists and snarls, and his bloodlust is not easily satisfied... To induce this he slashes his palm and closes his bloodied hand around the pommel of his sword, upon a crimson set stone. This is the trigger, what little magic he has has left him bound to this sword. His left eye suddenly sees more than blackness, infact it sees everything, accurate and intricate and in various shades of red. Lifepulse and vital organs become enchantingly illustrated with this new vision - his left eye actively seeks out the quickest way to kill.
All senses sharpen, reflexes quicken and animal instinct rules over human emotion.
Weapon: click

The sword has a red stone set deep in the pommel, the hilt is bound with crimson fabric. The sword appears ancient but has lost none of it’s strength, seemingly carved from an ancient stone(the khaki-cream/grey granite they build Greek temples out of), and with an aura suggesting that it is only held together by magic alone (as Marxiach does not have magical powers we can assume that the magic originates from this sword, and what little Marx has is given to him by the stonily conscious weapon). The cracks that were engraved into it’s surface are deep, and when blood hits the pommel a scarlet glow emanates from deep within these carvings.

~~ ~~ FORM FINISH ~~ ~~

Changed Personality: The shock is quickly overcome by the urgency of the situation, it’s something very affecting and Marx finds himself unable to refrain from the fight. A bloodlust is imbedded deep at the back of his mind, and is controlled until blood spills upon the stone in the pommel. A part of him doesn’t want to kill, and yet a part of him knows he must, and a whole other part of him desperately wants to. Disturbing dreams are filled with the latter state of mind. It’s taking a lot of control to keep from voluntarily bringing himself into beserk, A LOT of control. The sense of duty has only increased, it seems like he is bound to oblige. The warrior sense is somewhat instinct. The animalistic part of him seems to watch him from the back of his mind, but he can feel it in everything he is, everything he does: his own blood flow and breath, his bones, muscles and senses. He feels like it is fighting his will to take grasp, to fill it’s insatiable lust for blood and raw flesh using his body as its method.
Other: The animal part of him is kind of his spirit animal, it is deeply bound to him, if he died it would too, and yet it does not obey him, nor listen to him, nor care for him. It cares only for it’s own survival, and that is why the need to beserk becomes so strong when he fights. Often he can resist, but if the animal becomes so sure that they are losing it pushes through, forcing Marxiach unwillingly to cut and to fight so violently. It takes over and Marx is powerless, all he sees is a haze, helpless in the remnants of what he would once call his body. The form of the animal, which rarely emerges separate from his body, and is more of a ghost, or gheist, is that of a large black stallion, fanged and wild.
Perhaps as a defence mechanism, he barely remembers what he did and saw when beserked. Returning to his human state of mind he feels full and warmly satisfied, and there is an odd peace in his head, but he is left completely drained of energy. If he did remember the sins he committed they would probably destroy him, leaving him unable to function as a living creature let alone a warrior.
He loses his old sense of Carklyness quite easily, it’s something that just slips away, and though he knows who he was it seems more like it was someone else all along. He remains friends with the people he knew, I hope.

Carkly J Ross

I nestled down in the blankets covering my bed (having finally changed out of my work clothes with much relief) and tried to find some warmth in the freezing cold room. My window had been left open again, and I was probably the one to blame for the chill that had crept in. The radiator was stone cold, the window briskly slammed shut as I entered the room, but I left the curtains open - I liked to see the stars at night, and always hoped the dawn’s light would help wake me up in the morning, after all, my alarm clock never did. I glanced at it, it’s neon red numbers reading 11:34 through the darkness. Cocooned in my quilt, I wondered who would be online at this hour, and patiently waited for Mr Shiny, my laptop, to load up. His happy blue tones cast a nice glow on the lilac bed sheets, and then gave way to my custom back ground.

Usually I sign straight into msn or aim and talk to a few friends before browsing the internet, but tonight it felt like I had something more important to do. I typed the TPM address into the empty white bar, and it loaded almost instantaneously. Peering down the main forums page one link, and one link only, caught my eyes, staring at me all alluring in it’s cool blue hypertext. Chronicles of the Rift, it read, and I noticed that Roy Karrde had already posted, a guy I had known for around five years or more through TPM. I had no idea why, but the title certainly peaked my intrigue, and I noticed that it was a signups thread! Truthfully, I hadn’t been participating in TPM role play for the last couple of months, but this rpg looked.. Well, I guess I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get back into role playing.

After skimming the plot summary, and finding the words all sliding neatly into my head, I began to type in the reply box. The words came fast, my fingers fluent on the keyboard, and if I had even been thinking I would have been surprised at the speed of it all after the writing absence. After a few minutes I finally came to, this character, his name was Marx, just popped up right in front of me. I hadn’t thought too much about it, I was kind of in a haze the whole time I was writing. I stopped and just blinked at the screen at the end of it, finding I was done. And then, I felt.. weird. Like some odd compulsion I found myself clicking the post button without even reviewing my post, and the screen faded to black. My mind shuddered a little, and wooziness filled my head, and then it was gone, like a flicker.

It was strange, but even after years of posting on the forums I didn’t even acknowledge that the next box that popped up was not of the ordinary. I clicked 'yes' impatiently, barely registering the question in my mind. My computer loaded at a lightning fast velocity, and only then did I reflect back on what I had just done, shutting my eyes and furrowing my brow. I was confused, I could barely concur to what I was doing, and I didn’t even have long enough to find out as suddenly, my whole body froze. I felt like I had been dipped in cement, my body cast and stuck in it’s position. I tried to move, and it wasn’t like when I occasionally got lock jaw and found my movement jammed or jarred at a certain point. This was utterly different.

Despite being able to feel the rough fabric of my quilt beneath one hand, and the cool plastic of the laptop keyboard under my other; despite being able to hear the near silence of the room, gerbils scuttling softly in the peat filled tank behind me, my breath non-existant; despite being able to see the glow of light that filtered painfully through my eyelids.. I was powerless. I tried to turn my head, tried to move my fingers, open my eyes - all to no avail. I tried to breathe, and found that I couldn’t. My body wouldn’t respond to my calls, and so my lungs began to burn in my mental panic, and I thrashed around in my skull, slamming imaginary palms against the bone walls.

I started getting frantic now, and tried to remember how to make myself move, how to make my fingers twitch, but I couldn’t remember. It had always been a subconscious thing and now I was at a loss. I was cut off. I was reminded fretfully of the scary moment when I had once undergone a leg operation some years ago, placed under anaesthesia. For a few scant moments I had been paralyzed upon the operating table, and yet fully aware of everything. Then the effects had finally kicked in, and I had drifted off to sleep.

But this time, this was no chemical reaction putting me to sleep, I was in stasis, everywhere but in my mind. I began to feel increasingly claustrophobic and longed to kick out, and the fear of death swam before my eyes. My lungs cried out for oxygen, my throat and mouth desert dry, and my eyes stinging from the immense white light of the plasma screen. And as all this feedback rushed into my head, building up and up and not getting a reply, I felt the gorge rising up in my throat, and at the same time a hard feeling in the back of my mind began pushing out, like a tumour growing with a time-lapsed legerity behind my brain. It was growing, reaching, stretching and I saw my body twitch, as if from afar. A myriad of colours danced before my eyes, and a buzzing grew in my eyes.

The pain was immense, and I felt like my head would split open at any moment. It was as if a fist was in my skull, a real, human sized fist. Then all of a sudden it opened up to reveal it’s palm, stretching out it’s digits, thick and probing. And I felt strong fingers curl around my wrist. My desolate shell of a body shivered and buzzed and trickled with cold sweat, and then I felt the tumour in my head explode, and my eyes snapped back to a white-wash scenery: blank, empty and soulless. The hand on my arm pulled, and I had no choice but to go along with it.

Marxiach.

When I came to, I wondered if it was all a dream. I laid on my back with a certain amount of bliss and thought about the hazy happenings in my head. And when I opened my eyes, I wondered if I was still in a dream. There were colours everywhere, and they all blurred together in a nauseous fashion. I could hear people talking around me, but I couldn’t distinguish the words. I could tell that one voice was a child’s, that high sweet chirrup of a little girl, but my head was too messed up to interpret anything any further. There was.. There was too much in my head. I felt clouded, like someone had jammed half of it up with thick puffs of cotton wool.

I found that I could sense my surroundings, and I could remember who I was, and where I lived, and all my friends’ names. I could feel a breeze tickling the hairs on my arms and my eyelashes, and the buzzing in my ears had subsided. The lump in my head had gone, only to be replaced by an anonymous presence. I really didn’t know how to feel about this. It carried no emotion, and I could not identify it as anything I knew, anything human or creature from my world. All I knew was that it was separate to me, and unreachable, and yet it held a permanence in my head. I had opened my eyes some seconds ago, and they had become to adjusted to the subtle lighting of the room, but the high ceiling was still a distant mess. It swirled less, thankfully, and respectively it didn’t make me feel so ill.

Yet like the space within my head, my vision seemed halved, reduced somewhat, and realised I could feel the fluttering of my eyelashes against something solid placed over my.. My left eye. I closed my right in a dizzy wink and was rewarded with point blank darkness. I opened it again and saw figures out of my peripheral vision. As of yet, they were no concern to me.

I felt that before I could get used to my surroundings and people who inhabited them I had to get used to my body. Yeah, I could sense that it was different. All the little things, like the waythe breeze tugged at my hair and failed to sway it, the way my fingers reached those extra few millimetres, the unusual taste in my mouth, of taste buds that were different. My nails felt like they dug deeper at the base tips of my hands and feet - my toes and fingers tingling not unpleasantly. I felt as scrawny as ever, but heavier, and bound down by the thick but comfortable garments I was wearing. I couldn’t think about this all too much, I wouldn’t let myself, it wasn’t right, or correct in this sense of myself. I made my mind forget all the little things and then tried to distract myself.

While I knew that I was no longer paralyzed, with the breathing and the blinking, I prepared for the worst as I clicked my tongue and cautiously, hesitatingly, thought of moving my fingers. They twitched, scuffing the dusted stone beneath me. I exhaled a sigh of relief, and smiled a little giddily, back in control. I sat up confidently and felt the blood rush to my head, and little white stars burst in my vision, reminding me uncomfortably of last night's events. What happened? I shook my head to get rid of them, and lost my balance. I felt woozy, and out of place, and too tall, too gangly. All my weight was placed wrong; my long red-brown hair didn’t fall down to touch my cheek or dangle annoyingly in front of my eyes; and the hand I put out to break my fall was too far away from my shoulder. I misjudged the distance and slipped, bending my elbow painfully.

Confused and bleary, and yet more awake than I had ever felt with this nervous energy rushing through me, I tried to lift myself up slowly again, this time on hands and knees, and then falling back to sit on my folded legs with a numb butt. I turned my head slowly. To my right a small girl was looking confused and anxious and a woman, tall in comparison, with a tail, was trying to comfort her, or explain something to her. Right.. Tail. I thought, and went back to examining myself, this changed form that I just didn‘t belong in. To be perfectly honest, I was scared as hell, and I knew it, but there was a fascination with everything that I was.

Of all things, my hands caught my eye. They were thicker, rougher and coarser, and the right one had a thick white scar right across the palm. As I prodded the smooth raised surface with rough fingertips I felt like I was examining someone else’s hands, and my mind wandered back to the feeling of disconnection. But I realised those feelings, those sensations of touch.. Were mine. My hands. My arms. Christ. I shivered. The inevitable anxiety that had been growing in the back of my mind made itself noticed, and confirmed everything I had been denying myself of in the last few minutes. No, no, no.. I thought, my mind going blank and barren, full of a paralyzing and yet very real dismay. This isn’t right, it isn’t right, no, no, it’s just not-

Out of my peripheral vision the young girl in the robe groped herself, and began to scream. I winced at the sound, and bared my teeth. But I knew what she was screaming for. I raised a hand and placed it upon the black tunic I was wearing, my fingers feeling the ridges of smooth plated armour against my flat chest. I felt for my eye and felt my eye patch; I counted my molars and nearly began to cry. Everything about this cursed body was a goddamn anomaly! And to add to the total loss of my female parts, there was this whole new.. Presence, something like I’d never felt in my life, completely alien and yet very much a part of me. I was.. Male. I didn’t have to convince myself of that, it was a cold hard fact.

Flipping out somewhat I cradled my head in my hands, my jaw, heavier, bolder, clenched in anguish. I felt a sincere loss for everything I was, a despair for what I was now. I wanted to cry but the tears just wouldn’t come, something in my mind said no. A large lump obstructed my throat, which already felt swollen, and I choked on my sorrow and frustration, coughing an unrecognisably gruff cough. My fingers raked my hair, finding it matted and near impenetrable, and I pulled back, instead resting these unfamiliar palms on my knees. Afterwards, my mind let me be, the emotions subsided slightly, and I noticed that there was quite a commotion around me. I opened my eyes and ears truly now, and saw that there were people all around me, all in similar states of anxiety, disbelief and stupefaction.

The woman I saw earlier was talking now. She held an impressive figure, majestic, like something out of fantasy tales and the fiction I used to role play in, and yet I knew she was real. The sorrow in her eyes put me in my place, and as her words registered in my brain and pulled at my heartstrings, and I found this undeniable longing to do whatever she wished of us, whatever she asked me to. I must do what she asks of me. I thought determinedly. She was beautiful, and so magnificent in her sadness, and to disobey her would be a crime.

As she talked, she glanced over in my direction, and her eyes met my lone eye, and I was so filled with meaning and desire. With that look she told me who I was: I felt to my side and found a furred pelt beside me like I knew I would - heavy and wrapped around a long thin object. I carefully loosed it in my hands, and let the hefty stone sword fall into my lap. As soon a closed my palm around the thick handle it became apparent to me in a flash. I wrote all this for myself. The form.. The message.. It hadn’t been a game. The hilt was a perfect fit to my hand, my fingers curled around it so easily, and the sword was balanced to suit this arm of mine. I tenderly nudged it into the sheath on my belt, and it slid in with ease. Throwing the pelt around my shoulders and clipping the pewter fastening into place, I stood up, more steadily this time. Myself and the others - some human, some indistinguishable - turned to the one who had brought us here.

Eyes watched coldly from the back of my head, and I tried to ignore them as I listened to Kiiah, my new Queen..

[Doomy_McDoomdoom]

Real Name: Matt
Gender: Male
Personality: Matt is very logical, he often takes other under his wing and tries to care for everyone he can. Sadly, his need for guarding others often makes him appear cold, or too commanding. Apart from that, Matt is actually incredibly compassionate and wishes only the best for others, even if it means sacrificing himself.
~~ ~~ FORM START ~~ ~~
(this is the form that appears in the RPG that your character joins)
Name: Adonis
Gender: Male
Race: Half-Breed Tiger (i.e. A smaller version of Shenlong from Bloody Roar 4 only with more human characteristics)
Age: 33
Bodily Appearance: Adonis stands roughly 6'11'' or 7' and has an incredibly large build. He is by no means obese, only unbelievably muscular. He is certainly someone who belongs on the front lines of a battle, his build commands respect; if not only because of his size, but because of the scars that race along his pale skin that show signs of a life of fighting. His skin is striped similarily to a tiger, the largest of his stripes trace across his back, they end at his sides, leaving his chest with an otherwise human appearance. The stripes also trace along his arms and legs, both of which lead to inhuman hands and feet that more closely resemble paws. His hands still have the human quality of fingers and an opposable thumb, however where fingernails would typically be, he has claws. His eyes are an ice-blue and are hard to avoid once they've caught your gaze. His platinum hair is cut into a short crew-cut, futher insinuating his soldier life-style, along with his rugged, unshaven face. Despite his tattered appearance, kindness can be seen in his eyes and general appearance.
Clothing Appearance: Adonis wears black, loose-fitting, cotton style pants. He wears black gauntlets that come from his wrists to just below his elbows and he has a small black tunic that ends at the small of his back allowing some of his stripes to be visible.
Weapon: Adonis' weapons are his gauntlets, they bestow upon him even more strength than his body implies. They are incredibly versatile and can be used to block many attacks, mostly physical, though they do shield against magic but only dampen the blow.
Magic: Adonis is able to emit a shield that protects all those around him. The shield is inpenetrable, but not everlasting. After a long assault the shields power will fade and the shield will shatter, the only compensation this offers is that the shards can act as projectile weapons, but it leaves its occupants unprotected.
~~ ~~ FORM FINISH ~~ ~~
Changed Personality: Adonis "Matt" has not changed much since this event excluding of course his shock and will to survive. He still hopes to protect his newfound companions as best he can, making his power suiting to his personality. But little has changed otherwise, he simply is more ready to fight now that his body is practically honed to kill.
Other: Adonis "Matt" is rather uncomfortable with this entire situation, role-playing has never been something unnatural to him, but in the past his characters had a bad tendency to die, so he's naturally very worried about his joining in this particular adventure.

Matt: After A Very, Very Long Day

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! A violent ringing tore Matt from his sleep. A few grunts escaped
from him and he needed more sleep, his body pleaded with him for more sleep. But, the decision was already made for him. The decision of Laoshi Guan, he must attend Chinese 102, it was impossible to avoid the class, he needed every bit of help he could get. He just thanked God that he had very few classes today, and that was a blessing he knew he could not take for granted. The clock seemed to betray him as he frantically prepared for what promised to be a long day. And ran out his door towards the building that held the foreign languages department.

Matt took his seat as he did every Monday and awaited Laoshi Guan to arrive and teach for an hour and five minutes as he did every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Conjuctions and vowels ran together into a blur that made little sense to Matt, but somehow he grasped the general idea of Chinese, it didn’t entirely allude him, it only appeared to while he was in class, but he was stuck there. Regardless of his confusion and frustration. The clock moved slowly to reach 10:20 AM, the time of his release, and he quickly packed up his things and fled the building, back to his dorm to work on homework and sleep again.

Time passed throughout the day and more classes came and went as they always did and the day moved on. Rehearsals happened and homework was completed, and there was a great, great need for Matt to be done with his day.

It had been a very, very long day. Most of Matt’s days were long. He had two releases, Kalah and gaming. Kalah wasn’t around when he got back so there was no other option than to sit and find an RPG to play. There was this new one that came up under his usual forum. Something about a medieval/ancient world that needed to be saved by a select group with incredible powers, it was pretty normal, and certainly nothing too spectacular. But, it would be something else to eat up time, but at least it wasn’t class or homework.

He signed up as he usually did, it took him awhile, but he got it done. A pretty original character in his mind, and definitely not something he was used to. A half-breed, a powerful tiger man who could shield any and all his allies with his magic, and if he wasn’t protecting the weak, he could fight the strongest people with a decent amount of ease and a tendency to slaughter his enemies rather deftly. It was quickly finished and he posted.

It wasn’t long at all before a small pop-up appeared that stated, “Character Appearance Correct?” And offered two radio buttons, “Yes” and “No” he instinctively pushed yes which turned off his screen. “What the hell?” Matt struck the side of his monitor but soon it lit again with a white blinding light, Matt could hear the faint hum of his speakers and suddenly the light was too much, it filled the room and that was the last thing Matt remembered before…it happened.

Adonis: Confused Beyond Any Comprehension

Matt woke up laying on the a slab or bed or something feeling incredibly groggy. It was if he had passed out and woken up long before his body had had enough rest. His eyes focused slowly on his surroundings, he didn’t immediately recognize where he was, but that didn’t matter, his main concern was standing up.

There was a bar hanging above him just off the wall, he gripped as best he could and attempted to pull himself up. A loud groaning came from the wall and eventually the crunching noise that generally comes from cracking rocks, the wall gave way and the bar came down with the great amount of force that accompanied Matt’s arms. The bar came flying down and hit Matt square in the face.

“OH @#)*@!%&) WHY?!! OH MAN!!!! GOD#$@&)*#@ THAT HURT!”

Matt rolled around on the bed clutching his face for a short while, but that seemed to hurt too. He took his hands away from his oddly shaped face and his newly adjusted eyes finally focused on his hands, well at least, what his hands used to be. He scooted back frantically, terrified by his new body and the sudden change.

“WHAT?! Oh Dear Lord…I have claws…big claws…and big arms….”

He continued to scoot back, as if cowering from himself. Until he started to run over something that sprouted from behind him. He cautiously reached behind him as if he was trying to defuse a bomb and grabbed the growth, feeling his way to the end, he pulled it to his face.

“A TAIL!!!! I HAVE A #&@!*)^#*!$ TAIL!”

This was it, Matt had to get the heck out of there, and fast. He stood quickly cracking his head against the overhang of the bed that he found himself in.

“OOOOWWWW!!!!”

This was not shaping up to be a good day, not only did Matt have a huge presentation due tomorrow, but now he was a mutant and he wasn’t sure why, apparently he was quite a huge mutant.

“Ok Matt, calm yourself, you’re a giant cat man. A very, very strong cat man. How could this happen?” He stood there as if he was waiting for a response from himself.

“So…giant cat man…giant claws…”

My voice!!!

Matt’s otherwise sweet baritone was replaced by a very deep, and very growl-like.

It wasn’t until now that Matt took the time to look around the room and realize where he was. The room was several stories high, and it was filled with people who seemed to either be chattering in a worried fashion amongst themselves or just as confused as he was. There was a girl, he couldn’t quite place what it was about her, but he knew there was something about her, something that reminded him of his life before this weird dream, mistake, miracle whatever it was. He approached her, cautiously, he didn’t know what to think of this whole ordeal.

“I can’t help thinking that I know you from somewhere, I’m Matt. At least I was Matt, but I still am. My body is just different…” He sighed. “But I suppose that is nothing to worry about right now. Why do I know you?”

[Bulbasaur4]

I drew my character... so I don't have the attachment up yet, but I'll be adding it either tonight or tomorrow.


Real Name: Kalah
Gender: Female
Personality: On the outside, she’s very carefree and optimistic- the type of girl who always has a smile on her face and has the ability to place her cheer into others. She constantly feels the need to make others happy and to generally do things for others. She can get some inward sadness on occasion, but she usually tries to hide any of her pain from others.
~~ ~~ FORM START ~~ ~~

Name: Ryien’niou Yorienta [ Shortened to “Ryien” or “Niou” by some ]
Gender: Female
Race: Half Breed (Ninetails)
Age: Appears to be in late teens or early twenties.
Bodily Appearance: [See Attachment] She is just like that. It is important to note that half of her body is covered in ancient tattoo markings, while her other half is virtually flawless of any marks. Her eyes are a penetrating and deep violet color and her hair mirrors this color by being of a very dark raven-blue hue. Her skin is pale but hinted with a slight golden tan and the tattoos upon her skin are a mixture of various black and greys with a few hints of crimson. Her skirt is made of semi-transparent silkish material that is a deep blue in color, almost matching her hair. Her belt is black with a red jewel in the middle, rimmed in silver. Her upper garment is black, rimmed with lace of blue hue. Her boots are also black, rimmed with bits of blue. Her ears and tail are black as well, matching her overall dark color scheme.
Clothing Appearance: See above.
Weapon: She has no weapons, but she has a sort of ‘familiar’ animal with her. He is a Gryphon (can be seen in 1st attachment). His colors are all black, with a few mixtures of deep grey for his wings. He’s extremely small and is known as “Tako”. He’s rather small and comes across as helpless, which is a bit different than Ryien. However, with the help of Ryien… his body can change shape and properties.
Ryien has a rather peculiar magick-like prowess with Tako. She can place ‘elemental properties’ into him, which often causes him to change shape or appearance. This is almost effortless and easy for her… but depending on the level of elemental power she wants to place into Tako, it takes more strength. This ability is some thing she’s learning to enhance with Tako to make him useful (and he was meant to be used this way.)
Magic: Ryien is… a dangerous sort of creature, with her magic. Her magic is not any form of ‘psyche’ but rather it is unexplained. She has the ability to move and manipulate objects that are around her. (Starting out, her power is weak so she can only do this to objects about 10 ft around her… and her manipulation skills are untamed.) She doesn’t do this with her mind however, but rather with an ‘invisible’ hand sort of thing. Her power seems to increase with extreme emotion, and with this extreme emotion she has a lack of ability to control her “magic”. Occasionally, a few glimpses of ‘other’ magic will reveal themselves… but this is tied into her Ninetails persona, having an almost split purpose to be evil and to be good. [color=royalblue]

~~ ~~ FORM FINISH ~~ ~~
Changed Personality: Ryien… can be a bit bi-polar, which comes from her Ninetails half. Her one half - she is far more sinister and rather quiet, being cold and illusive. She tends to put people in their place and doesn’t tolerate incompetence. Nothing is a game but everything is serious. However, her other half is playful and toying… but because of her overall ‘dark’ overtone, this comes across as almost sexual and seducing. This other half also doesn’t take anything seriously, but just thinks everything is a ‘game’.
Other: It is noted, that Ryien’s tales can manifest themselves… or rather, some times she has one tail, some times she has more… never more than nine though. This is usually connected with her emotions or how mad she is.

.: Kalah: Victim of Squirrel Rampage :.

Exhausted, I collapsed into my hard wooden chair and withdrew a deep breath. It had been a long day, and for once I had returned to my room to relax and browse the internet for a while.
“Never… ever… am I going to run around campus chasing squirrels again. I’m… so… tiiiired…” I grumbled, scratching the back of my head absently while I waited for my computer to load. It had been a long day, consisting of classes and small attempts to amuse myself. One of my friends had bet me that I couldn’t catch a squirrel, and… well, being bored and such; I decided to take up that bet and try to catch one of the furry animals. Of course, I had failed and wasted a tremendous amount of energy. It didn’t help that my medication hadn’t come yet, and thus I was feeling quite sick.
“Gaaah… Matt is going to kill me! He told me not to do those sorts of things…” I groaned as I accessed the internet. Swiftly I opened up AIM and saw that both Tony and Ryan were online. With a grin, I swiftly IMed them and waited for a response… but strangely neither of them replied.
“Huh… that’s odd.” I said softly, but I shrugged it off. They must have forgotten to put an away message up. Humming to the song “Ensei” from Mai HiME, I browsed through the internet and checked my email. There wasn’t anything of interest… so I swiftly checked the RPG forums to see if any new posts were up. Sadly, none were and I was about to log off when I realized that there was a new RPG.
“Chronicles of the Rift?” I questioned in my head, shrugging. I didn’t recognize the user name who had posted it, so I automatically assumed it was a newbie of some sort. Still, looking through the RPG I realized that it indeed had a great a plot and would be a fun thing to RP in. Grinning, I immediately went to work on my character form. I already had the perfect idea for a character… someone who was unlike my usual self, but actually someone I wished I could be more like in some aspects. It didn’t take me long to finish my character form- like usual, and I swiftly posted my form. However… strangely there was a pop-up that instantly asked if my character was correct. Puzzled, I clicked “yes” and watched as my computer screen went completely black.
“GAH! RYAN!” I cried, for my laptop’s name was Ryan long before I actually knew Roy’s name. However… as I watched the screen, suddenly it began to blink and then a blinding flash of white lit up all around me. I blinked and instantly shielded my eyes, but to no avail- the white light consumed me and I felt my mind slowly lose itself.



.:~*~:..:~*~:..:~*~:..:~*~:..:~*~:.

[color=silver][font=tahoma]
My eyes slowly began to open… and the first thought in my head was, “Why… why did I over exert myself by chasing those stupid, stupid squirrels?!” I didn’t get up right away however, instead I closed my eyes again. My head felt like someone had taken several hammers and smashed them against my skull, and my body had a tingling sensation. Withdrawing a breath, I could feel a cold marble-like floor beneath me (of course, thinking it was marble being that was the first cool-floor substance that came to my mind) and that caused me to reopen my eyes. Above me was an elaborately decorated ceiling, and turning my head to the side I saw that I was indeed laying upon a marble floor. I rocked my head side to side several times, checking out the massive room that I was in and seeing that several others upon the floor were in the room as well. It wasn’t really a room however… for such a name seemed short of comparison. Rather, the “room” was more like a castle chamber… like some thing from a faerie tale.
Slowly I lurched forward and sat up, resting my arms upon my leg-
“EEEEEEEEEEH!?” I made an odd noise as I stared at my legs… and then soon looked at my arms. Seeing such a drastic difference, I swiftly changed into a kneeling position to look at my reflection in the marble floor.
“It’s… It’s… Ryien?!” I instantly recognized my character, for I had drawn her and had a great concept of what she looked like. Why though… why was she looking back at me?

Then I suddenly made the connection.
“I’m … I’m Ryien!!!” I proclaimed, looking at myself more thoroughly. Shock basically consumed my whole being as slowly I comprehended what… or rather, who I was. I noticed that my chest was definitely bigger (which I wasn’t too sad about) and my skin was a tad bit tanner. The biggest shock was that I had tattoos covering my entire left side of my body… however, they were even far more elegant and ancient than what I had drawn them to look like. (They reminded me of elvish markings). Of course… my entire appearance was quite shocking all together. The garments I was wearing were absolutely ridiculously risqué… and I felt extremely exposed.
“Holy sh*********************t! They’re… bigger than what I thought! GAH!” I proclaimed, covering my chest with my fish-netted arms, which only caused them to squish together and create a more prominent cleavage line. This caused me to make another inaudible noise, as I dropped my arms immediately and sigh. Without even consciously making an effort, my big bushy black tail swished in agitation.
Wait a minute… a tail?
I had almost forgotten that Ryien was part Ninetails… yet it was extremely odd having the sensation of a tail. This consumed my thoughts for a while, as I tried to control its movements. It was rather strange… for I could control the movements of my tail, but yet even when I didn’t think of it… it still moved! Of course, I then immediately touched my head and found that- like I suspected – I had two large, Ninetails ears with a different earring in each one.
“At least… I look neat…” I thought, smiling to myself at my wonderful color schemes. My black bushy tail and ears, belt and rather tight corset-like top matched perfectly with my deep blue raven-hued hair and additional deep violet-blue garments. However, suddenly my attention was diverted as a few of the others began to come to as well.
Wait… others?!
That’s right… I remembered that just a moment ago, well, when I was on the floor. There were others in the room- a few humans (one of them was particularly short) and many odd-looking half breeds. Most of them seemed to be waking up like me… but there were other half-breeds that looked at us as if they were expecting some thing.
“This is stra-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEE!” Suddenly, a black flurry of a blob seemed to latch onto my chest in the matter of an instant. It caused me to take a few steps backwards, as I slowly looked down to see a furry creature latched onto my corset. It looked up at me suddenly, opening its large beak and giving a small purr-like chirp while staring at me intently with its warm, honey-hued eyes of brown. My eyes widened for a second, as I gave a happy coo.
“It’s… a GRYPHON!” I proclaimed, wrapping my hands around his small torso and … well, forcefully detaching him from my waist. (He was much like a little kitten- latching onto me so profusely). He was absolutely adorable, being no bigger than a small cat and having a pair of rather large and floppy wings compared to his small body. His front legs were adorned with silverish eagle-claws, while his hind legs were that of a wolf. His tail was a wolfish tail as well… matching his overall dog-like appearance.
“Aww… you’re very cute.” I said softly, and the Gryphon gave a smile.
“I’m Tako!” It proclaimed, which caused me to give yet another shriek and instantly I dropped him. He landed upon all fours, but he tilted his head to the side. I was breathing heavily and with so much shock, I felt my emotions on the high rise. Swallowing back a bit of my shock, I glanced about but instantly my eyes fixated on a person- no… not a person… a tiger-like… monster lurching towards me. Monster was the only thing that came to mind- not that he looked scary or like your traditional monster, but in the fact that he was HUGE. The worst part of it all, was that he was coming straight towards me .
“Oh God…” I whispered to myself, looking up at the towering guy who was now staring down at me. (A faint voice about my cleavage came to mind as well… but my fear pushed that random thought aside very quickly.) He said his name was Matt and that he recognized me some how, but didn’t know who I was… and then wanted to know why he might know me.
Matt… that name sounded slightly familiar… and then suddenly it dawned on me. Despite the… huge stature, the scary growling voice, the cat-features… and all other strange and odd qualities, there was some thing in his eyes that connected to the Matt I knew.
“OH MY GOD IT IS YOU MATT!!!!” I suddenly practically yelled, but with out any warning… I felt a rise of power and Matt was flung back. It was as if some unknown force went and smacked him in the chest, causing him to crash backwards. In horror I gave a slight yelp, as he smashed into the ground and skidded a few feet backwards –leaving a nice indent in the marble-like ground.
“Scrreeee…” A small little terrified purr rose into the air, and I looked down to see that between Matt’s legs, was Tako- the little black Gryphon. He was huddled tightly, cowering as if his life had flashed before his eyes while Matt’s tiger tail was draped over his head.
“Geez! Are you alright Matt… and uhh… Tako?” I asked, rushing over to them. I didn’t know why he had fallen over… but I had this sneaking suspicion that it had to do with me. However, before I could talk or try to figure anything out, a voice filled the room and instantly my attention was turned to a rather royal looking figure. She introduced herself as Queen Kiiah, (which again, reminded me of some thing…) and went into a rather long yet interesting speech about why we were here and such.

[Weasel Overlord]

[color=#f5deb3]~Kirsten J. North~

It had been a rather boring day at college only punctuated by my usual efforts to either not do any work, or to delay doing work til at least the next day. My sessions on the internet broke the monotony of two free periods in the morning, and scanning Pokemasters in my usual search for something to do, I espied an interesting-looking new rpg. Interesting, albeit rather cliché, I had thought to myself, although I found the mouse gliding to the link almost of its own accord, which was interesting.

Two clicks later, and I found myself engrossed in what appeared to be a bog-standard fantasy rpg, against all of my personal principles and preferences, I found myself enjoying it! Unfortunately, the time for my English lesson had drawn nearer, leaving me to charge up the multitude of stairs, lugging my too-heavy bag on one shoulder, leaving me out of breath and almost crippled by the time I reached the classroom.
Luckily for me, my teacher was notoriously late, and I had just taken my place when she arrived, looking as flustered as myself.

For the remainder of that lesson, and indeed, the remainder of the day, I could think of nothing but Chronicles of the Rift. My mind wasn’t even on grammar, and my English teacher pointed this out, as she herself had a tendency of calling me the class ‘grammar-freak’. I drifted through the day, my mind on a certain Celtic myth I had previously been researching.

The goddess of war, Morrigan. Her symbol was the raven, but my character was pure, so ravens would be white...thoughts jumbled themselves around my head, and, pen in hand, I started to doodle ideas and phrases on my hand and arms, careful to miss any eczema areas. Soon my arms were covered in doodles, black ink, but covered by my large coat, no-one could tell of my obsession.

Finding myself on the bus home, and the floating down the long road to my house, I began to muse on the Morrigan again. She was one of a trio. Goddess of battle, strife, the Morrigan. Goddess of war, Badbh. Goddess of death, Macha. She feeds on the heads of the dead. These names seemed significant somehow. They resonated around my head with a startling familiarity, until I woke from my reverie in front of my gate, the eager pair of dogs barking their greetings through the black bars.

I muttered a word to them both, and stumbled through the door, tripping over my brother as I went, and ignoring my mother, to her consternation. Staggering upstairs, I plonked myself down in front of my computer with a great sigh of relief. My mission was over. I could work on my character (Morrigan) without interruptions. Singing softly, I opened Pokemasters and went straight to the thread in excitement. I saw that some others had signed up already, and I opened word to knock out Morrigan before all the places were taken.

My fingers whirred over the keys with none of their usual clumsiness. My keyboard worked properly for the first time in an age, not a single letter was missing. Least of all an ‘i’. My post was done in an instant, and soon pasted into the little white text box I knew so well. Hitting the post button, I sat back to wait for my pretty new character to make his presence known to the world, plus the lovely picture I had managed to whip up. Morrigan sauntered once more into my mind, with a snort of “Feh!”, he sauntered back out again, the white bird on his head fluttering his wings slightly in an attempt to stay on his perch.

A box flashed up, and I subconsciously clicked at it, unthinking the connotations or consequences of such an action. My mind was all on the game. Engrossed, I fell forwards, my head resting on the cool glass of the screen, slight ripples in the plasma forming a slight semicircle around my forehead. Closing my eyes, I imagined Morrigan once again. He was me. Only, I was male, perfect. I had long been dissatisfied with my female form, and its limitations of strength. It was acceptable for a male to be messy, to be pale or angry. Whereas I was expected to be tidy, prim as a lady should be. Every fibre of my being rebelled, leaving me to throw my towels ever more carelessly; to unmake my bed almost deliberately...

My eyes flickered uncontrollably, the glass became unbearably warm against my skin, causing me to convulse in my chair. I could smell flesh being seared, and it sickened me to the very core.

I could feel the chair beneath my legs as I twitched, quivering with the sensations overloading my nervous system. I could almost feel every searing pain travel through my body, transmitting itself to my brain and making me cry out with pain with every twitch, every rush of my senses.

Finally blacking out, my body a heap of heat and pain, I fell into the screen itself, weightless.

[color=#f5deb3]|| Morrigan Broin Irven Macha || The Avatar of the Celtic Goddess Morrigan ||

[color=#f5deb3]The crumpled heap of person shook itself and sat into a crumpled pile of sitting person. Shaking its head, it looked around cautiously, aware of a strange weight on its head.

Putting up a lithe arm, the person felt around, only to feel a sharp pain in one finger; a nipping sensation that drew blood.

Pulling its hand away, the white-haired one stuffed the injured finger into its mouth and sucked away the blood carefully and musingly. Whatever the weight on its head was, it was dangerous, and the white-haired one considered carefully before deciding to jolt his head sharply to one side, dislodging his lodger with a flurry of feathers.

A pure white lump of bird sat in front of it, a peeved expression on his face as he hopped forward to once again peck at the white-haired one’s finger, before fluttering back onto his perch in the hair.

Deciding that further conflict was probably useless, the white-haired one examined itself, poking around and feeling places where new...things had sprang, and places where older things had disappeared.

It appeared that it was now male. He was sure of femininity beforehand. Something whispered in his mind that all was not right, though that voice had an eerie tone to it, a strangely seductive, barbaric tone, dangerous in its timbre, but alluring in its rich texture.

“My name...My name is Morrigan Broin...” He looked around at the various others scattered about the hard floor. They appeared as bemused as he, although he was certainly less traumatised than they seemed; some of them even screamed, once again dislodging the raven lodger with a flurry of feathers.

Covering his eyes with his hands, Morrigan noticed a certain...featheriness about his upper limbs. Indeed, they seemed to be lengthier than before, and his fingers had an air of pinionhood about them reminiscent of the raven lodger itself.

A pecking sensation throbbed its way through Morrigan’s skull as the raven kindly informed him that his name was, in fact, Fiachra. And that he was, in fact, one of the nobler races of bird, perhaps even directly descended from the eagles of his namesake.

At this, the landlord snorted, leading the self-proclaimed Fiachra to peck furiously at the skull again, tweaking some hair while he was at it. Shrugging, Morrigan turned his attentions to the elegant lady making herself known by speeching in the centre of the room.

The bird, no, Fiachra, squarked loudly in Morrigan’s ear, so he missed much of the speech, although the gist of it seemed to be some sort of heroic mission to be carried out by the persons in the room. Morrigan was only too eager to try out his new form, and he thought this to himself, while flapping his arms in an odd way.

“Feh! It would seem that I am of the avian persuasion...”

[Plantae]

I believe you can find your way to my sign-up well enough- it is right here after all.

This post did not come out to my satisfaction.

= Joseph =

A gaunt figure stood about the window, dallying quietly at its pane and staring blankly out into the fields of brightly dreary snow. He always knew he had a certain affinity with the look of it, but they saw his manner, his sprightly gait and sneer, and assumed he was all but a personification of technology. It brought a keen and poignantly miniscule half-smile to his cheek, for there laid it, and he yet continued to comprehend the elegance of Earth’s majesty.

Then he sat, coolly, and though the temperature was not warm, he did not shiver; he did not like to shiver, for it bequeathed connotations that he was not so willing to give.

He pressed a few keys, in a manner of speaking- the mouse moved gently, and a barely audible click brought up a familiar page. He went straight to the core of it. A title, but the real attraction was its glaring and forlorn newness.

Another click and a tumultuous but musing yawn of discontent emitted. There was a sinister and rumpled appearance to the man in the astute wooden chair, for his posture was too straight; what formality was he attending to?

A few verbose words later, and his hand quivered at a simple question. He knew a difference when he saw one, and this had implications he wanted to brood over.

Then he saw out the glass to the whimpering trees and the siren’s wind, and it was numbly final. What need for another of these visions when there would be feeling to be done?

There lay blankness, and a presence of apathy so gone that he was not missing. When the world looked again, the man in the chair was not there. And only soon, so soon, was he never there at all.

Or was it wishful thinking?

= Dadrielaneianeneenalefenarwanewenelgelafonesavouen retaliondauelvehliga =

She stood calmly but hesitantly outside a sturdy door. She could not tell the grain of it, be the wood oak or pine or a material entirely foreign to her. She did know that the stony hallway, forbidding and lit only by torchlight, was but a pretense to the room ahead. It was her destiny, more or less, she thought, to enter the room from where the light emitted so strongly.

She wanted to take it all in, and to take the time to prepare a name for herself. For when she had seen the results of but a chance in scenery for her, how drastically different she would have looked in an expensive mirror, she understood that her other title was no longer fitting. Not in this world, she was sure.

So she called herself Da, simply, but followed by a string of nearly nonsensical letters. To her they had a special connotation- seventy characters all in a row, and she had always been taught by the fantasies given her that seven was the most magical number. That and she felt that such a long name would be a precursor to her personality.

She had understood the moment she came through into the world that parts of her would change, had changed. She had learned to formulate her thoughts along those lines, and was faced with a murky ignorance, arrogance- and when she had discovered this countenance, vanity. She molded herself along those lines, and forgot all her old morals and all her old desires. This was a new start, and she was to let herself become and bequeath what she may.

So she yet stood in a dimly lit and dank hallway. She took a heartbeat of time to ponder one last, and she pushed gently on the arguably wooden surface affront her. It was not locked or even entirely shut, as she had seen by the brighter light spilling through the cracks around its edges, and the hinges made not even a creak. She was not used to efficiency, but as she presumed this a castle, she was not surprised to find it as such. Kings and Queens made sure all the parts of their domain worked as they liked them to. That was, even if it required bribery.

She reached a hand casually into a pocket amongst the sashes and garments, so tight and unwieldy on her- so awkward. Da felt at the tip of one of her slender fingers a snap and a shock and she suppressed through the pain a scream. Swiftly out came a hand, blooded, and soon also a small bit of frustration.

She willed her aggressor into the light, and he came, unexpectedly. A mouse floated but a foot from her upraised hand, gesturing in power, and she was gladdened she had found a mark and of her magic.

“Silly little man, what have you done to my finger?” She giggled as the mouse twirled about, trying in all hell to find out why it was in the air, and at the same time; the blood was forgotten. She knew not why it brought such amusement to her lips to see it as so, but she quickly became used to the idea. Da chuckled a second time at the floating animal.

“I will call you Snip- Snis- Snir- er… Snig. That is it. Like a snigger, it is. Perfect for such a sneering face, oh ‘aw’ you little thing.” She fumbled a second with it, but brought forth a small piece of a sash, maroon in color, and through telekinesis tied it about the lurching mouse’s tail. He immediately began to nibble at it with a ferocity bordering on criminal.

“Why you poor and crazy boy! What shall I call you- oh yes, it is Snig. I am losing track of myself.” Da voiced it loudly, but it seemed only the velvet-piled blackness was her witness- that and the still-hovering mouse, her nascent companion.

She took a minute then, marveling at the frantic escapee in her grasp. She knew not if she wished to continue to hold this telekinetic bond on him. So Da queried, to an animal mind you, “Would you wish to get down now Mr. Snig?” Da could not have known it in the dark, but her bastard pebble-sized compatriot was leering at her mercilessly. Then it emitted a gleeful and pitiful squeak, not at all amazingly.

Da squeaked back at it. She could not fathom reason why, but if she could do telekinesis, why not talk with the fellow? Of course, he was a mouse, she told herself; she could not get over the curious desire she had to coddle him, though. She let off her hold by gently lowering “Snig” upon her shoulder, where he sat casually, continuing to pry at the mini-cloth on his bite-ragged and skinless tail. Any sensible person would have realized that he was quite capable of chomping it off entirely, but Da was not sensible at this time, or most any time from that point forward.

She put a careful finger towards him, but only careful in her silence, not in her rapidity. Snig let his fur be stroked, and ceased to gnaw at his garment. After a mere second in which a sense of false security had been asserted, he scampered up Da’s arm and face with surprising traction and before she knew it she could see almost fanged teeth right below her eye. She desperately winged her telekinesis on the creature, who returned again to his previous position- that being in midair.

“Shame on you, funny rodent. Funny, funny- now you sit and be good… in here.” Da gestured and the now-scheming Snig was escorted crudely to a pocket amongst her furious swath of clothing.

All this time she had been standing in the doorway, and it was as if Da had walked in on a funeral. Silent faces with swishing tails were all around, robotically swishing they were, and there eyes fixed. Some of them had gotten so still in watching her tirade with the mouse that they had forgotten to twitch their pleasant animal tails. Da, noticing her perplexing situation, surveyed the enormous room, stories high with murals and tapestries about, fantastic and almost human people, and at a withered and battered old woman with an elegant crown. She screamed then, in triumph, “I knew there was a queen here!”

She walked past the silent statuettes of the servitors of the queen’s servitude, passing instead to the woman with the lioness’ tail and powerful presence, if withered. She bore her eyes into the queen as she went, and then it began.

She asked, ever so uncurtly, “What have I been put here for miss? Am I supposed to be here? This is all so strange. Who are you? What are they? What is this?”

The queen rebounded from the questions and everyone gasped. Da had made the mistake of acting royalty to the royalty. The queen seemed un-offended, and took it only as further pronunciation that she was definitely not from a world where bowing to one’s liege was expected. And so, with the measured patience of a ruler her age, she began, “Welcome. We tried to make your body and weapon-“ and she looked curiously at a sling Da only now realized she possessed. She could not decipher what would make someone choose a body to these specifications; it was utterly ridiculous, and so was Da to her. She never had the chance to finish speaking for Da interrupted her.

“You really are quite funny with your tail…” Da was mesmerized by the rhythm of the tail, which she followed back and forth. “…what a dodgy woman you are.” The queen started, and looked to grow a few years older in a half-second. The court drew back with enthusiasm, though some less so, and the suck-ups gave their measured histrionics in “hands-to-the-brows” and fainting and careful looks of utter horror. It seemed in that moment that she had gone too far, as unlikely as it was Da could be turned on; it was everyone’s saving grace when a brilliant flash and a cacophony of noise and color brought seven other human carapaces into the world. They ignored Da then, who was again hypnotized by all the new sights, and by the screams and groping and extravagant gestures and white ravens- her lazy eye had a field day with it all, and Da grinned fanatically at her group.

She looked them all up and down again and again, and then settled even after the queen started speaking again that she would have to get to know them all explicitly! What interesting times this would make. She would have to show them all Snig, dear Snig, and chocolate coins and sewing needles and all of it! Da was certain they would all befriend her quite soon.

She’d grab the arm of the nearest, tell them her name, and be off to a rousing start. And then she began to jig terribly.

=====

[Fai D. Flowright]

Real Name: Tony, aka Tsukasa, Tsuki
Gender: Male
Personality: I like to keep a comical aura around myself as much as possible, but I’m also not afraid to tell people the honest truth. Even if they don’t want to hear it, I’ll say it straight to their face because I think they should know. Besides that, I enjoy song, dance, and other forms of art and being with friends and family.
~~ ~~ FORM START ~~ ~~
Name: Zeal
Gender: Male
Race: Half-Breed Lunar Demon
Age: He appears to be in his late teens (17-19)
Bodily Appearance: Zeal has a fit body, but not rippling with muscles; enough to give him decent physical strength. Standing at around 5’11”, Zeal is much taller than Tsuki. His skin lightly tanned in color, which is a nice contrast to his pure white hair, which is trimmed shorter everywhere except for the bangs that are longer and black on the very tip. (The attachment below might give you a better idea). His eyes, unlike a normal human, have no pupil and are silvery, making his iris look like the moon. This causes it to seem like he has cataracts, but, on the contrary, his vision is normal and even enhanced in the darkness. On his upper back, the outer side of his lower legs, and backs of his hands he has black, tribal tattoos as specified in the other attachment.
Clothing Appearance: Zeal wears a black half-cape on his upper half that only falls to elbow length. The top edge is very open and just barely rests on the tips of his shoulders. Along the top border is a white belt that that fastens the material in an off-center position to his right. Under this, he wears a light grey sleeveless shirt with a low cut neck, only visible below the cape and out on his shoulders where the capes doesn’t cover. This shirt is tucked into a pair of white pants made a silk-like material. The waist fits him well but the outside seam, from the knee down, is split. The slit and amount of material increases as it goes down from there and is held together by three black belts, allowing for his leg tattoos to be mostly visible. He wears a pair of dark grey, ankle-high boots and a solid, medium grey headband along his hairline.
Weapon: Zeal’s weapon is called the Callisto, which is a set of eight clear orbs that can be utilized in a variety of ways. This can differ anywhere from physically-attacking weapons or the concentration point for magical techniques, but it has some basic forms that it will take. The first involves the spheres spinning rapidly in a circle, creating an invisible, but solid, surface. This can be used to defend against attacks like a shied or as a platform for soft landings and hover-like flight. The balls can also be placed in certain order to create weapons (straight line for a sword, curved for a bow, etc). Whenever the Callisto is used as a weapon, it is surrounded by a translucent, crystalline substance to create a solid object. Another common form involves each orb individually, allowing them to be used like projectiles on enemies.
Magic: He’s an elementalist of sorts, relying on the mana in his body and surroundings to conjure earthen-bound magic focused through the Callisto. Used in various symbolic ways, almost every single spell has a unique ritual for its casting. An example might include a wind-based attack created by spinning the balls rapidly in a circle in a certain location; depending on the location and rotation of the spin, it will create funnel of wind that can push the enemy away or suck them in like a vacuum. Until he gains more finite control of the Callisto, he's unable to direct an attack at a specific target without accidentally hitting others, allies included.
~~ ~~ FORM FINISH ~~ ~~
[color=#3366FF]Changed Personality: Zeal, being somewhat similar to Tsuki, is still joyous and easy-going in nature, but is a little more sarcastic and sharp at times, though not at all times. He isn’t quite as instantaneously trusting of people and will question authority and integrity, but keeps this to himself. Being more of an intellectual, he has an affinity towards language and general linguistics. Overall, he’s a tad bit more serious and mature that his original self.
Other: Being partly of a race from the moon, Zeal suffers from a case of Pyrophobia (fear of fire/intense heat). Also, whenever he casts a spell, one or more of his tattoos will glow dimly.

[color=#C0C0C0][size=5][font=Papyrus]~+=^v.~ Tony McHugh ~.v^=+~

[color=#3366FF]“Another lovely day in Algebra...” I thought, rolling my eyes as the professor scribbled what looked like a general proof for permutations on the, ironically, green blackboard. As normal, I attempted to block on some of this complicated nonsense by chatting with friends on the laptop I carried with me on a daily basis. Ryan was one of the few online at the time, but that was always enough to keep me distrac-... err, company. “What are you doing?” I questioned him as I zoned out the droning teacher.

“Practicing for the Karaoke.” He responded. I had to stifle my laughter because I knew this couldn’t be true in the slightest, especially since he usually practiced with his sister, Sam, and she wouldn’t be home. Yet, I still had to play along, just to taunt him all the more.

“Really?” I interrogated him with a little sarcasm. It was never my impression that he actually enjoyed doing these karaoke sessions, but it was still more fun than simply talking all the time.

“No.” This short response was enough to make me roll my eyes even more. Somewhat irritated with his own sarcasm, as well as the dull atmosphere, I gave him a pair of shifty ‘>.>’ eyes in return. Of course, this was my best tactic, as there was no verbal response that could usually match it. “I’ll practice, I’ll practice.”

After what seemed like an eternity of conversational silence, Ryan added onto his last bit, “Hey a new RPG popped up, checked it out yet?” My mind shuddered as I read through the deplorable grammar. Taking the liberty to check the TPM forums, which I had not done since I left for class that morning, I found the new topic he had directed me to.

I entered the board and thread and began to read the plot. It seemed quite familiar, rather clichéd, but it sparked my interest, as most adventure RPGs do. Ripping the form from the end of the plot, I transferred it to a Word document and began typing away. Unfortunately, I could not get far as this class was about to end, but English as a boring class as well, which implied more time for me to create.

As the class drug on, I typed away, mixing together aspects of the various characters I had always enjoyed, resulting in a rather unique design which suited my tastes oddly well. Yet, before I could code and prettify the post, the class, again and thankfully, was over.

Thankfully, between this and my last class, I had quite some time to polish off this character and post. As I sat, casually conversing with my fellow classmates as we waited for class to start, I made the final touches and pasted the form back into TPM. With a swift preview to check my choice of coding, I posted! “Yatta! All done!” I exclaimed.

“With your homework?” Usagi-chan prodded at me. One thing that our little clique knew was that I was horrible at getting homework completed on time, so it had been an on-going joke all semester.

“Ha ha... You’re a riot.” I retorted, shaking my head. Looking back to the screen, I submitted my form and agreed to the awkward ‘character approval’. “Wait... What was the homew-” I was suddenly cut off by my own inability; a lack of capability to speak. I tried to move my gaze back to the friends that sat in desks around me, but it pained me to discover that I was unable to even move my eyes, let alone the rest of my body. It was like being hypnotized; the more you fight, the deeper you sleep and the harder it becomes to resist the loss of control.

My eyes were suddenly filled with a bright flash, multiple actually, and I finally understood what it felt like to be epileptic. I could see Lauren motioning towards me, but I couldn’t react. “Tony? Are you okay?” She began to seem concerned. “Tony, stop playing around. Tony? TONY!?” She gave my shoulder a push, but all I could do was collapse down onto my keyboard. My three friends surrounded me as my body was absorbed into the purity of the light...

[color=#C0C0C0]\ v / ^ \ v / ^ \ v / ^ \ v /

[color=#3366FF][size=5][font=Papyrus]~.v^=+~ Zeal ~+=^v.~

[color=#C0C0C0]My sensations rushed back to my body in a wave. I vaulted upright and gasped, “Lauren!” before covering my mouth in shock. It was not my voiced that spoke the name, but I knew that I had told myself to say it. The voice was deeper than my own and was quite foreign to me. Sliding my hand up, I covered my face with my hand and massaged my temples, only to find my bangs to be far longer than they had ever been in my lifetime. “What’s going on?” was the only question that slunk through the depths of my now-clearing mind.

“Take it easy...” I sweet voice echoed into my ear as a hand came into my sight. Cautiously, I took the offering and was helpfully boosted to my feet. As I looked down, it seemed as tough I was towering over a small girl, whom I assumed to be a young child, somewhere around the age of 7 or 8. Her gaze tipped up to meet with mine, causing her to make an odd comment. “You should play basketball for the Mavs.” She gave me a smile. I didn’t know who the ‘Mavs’ were, but, then again, I knew little about basketball; actually, sports in general.

“Wh-who are you?” I hesitantly questioned the girl. Others around began to stir, causing me to take note of the six other presences.

“My name is Ryan.” She confidently responded, unlike my own question, as she brushed a couple stray, blonde hairs from her face. This piqued my curiosity a bit, as not only was that the name of a friend, but it was a female who was telling me this.

“Ryan? That’s a strange name for a girl.” And quite honestly, I didn’t believe it was her name. Although, to a child of that age, I would never reveal such discouraging thoughts in fear that it may scare her into shock-induced submission. Regardless, this comment seemed to cause her dread and she began to note certain aspects of her body, including head, clothing, chest, and of course, genitalia... The resulting scream seemed to synchronize itself perfectly with the fright of another that had recently come to.
“Please, please, calm down.” A shaky voice announced to the group. A humanoid lioness in front of us seemed to demand attention. Other continued to talk, but ceased as she began to speak more. “I am the High Queen of Plyos, yet, you may address me as High Queen Kiiah.”

It was here that I realized that this could no longer be earth; that I was no longer with my friends or family; that I was no longer myself, but the speech of this aged, yet kind, queen was all that required my focus now.

After a short introduction, she began to introduce our quest. “Our troubles began years ago. Before then, the natural balance between our and neighboring world remained constant, allowing for equality in the life, death, and advancement of each. For each cycle, which would be about one hundred years by your standard, we would send out our strongest warriors to go and unlock the six mana seals scattered across the planet. Everything remained in good health for what seemed like an eternity. That is, until a few cycles back, when our chain failed even though it was time enough for the mana to head our way. Every cycle since then the chain groups have fallen victim to either sabotage...or death.”

“So why bring us here, if you have warriors of your own?” I couldn’t help but ask. This unexplained phenomenon still required sound proof and reason.

“Our warriors are now busy guarding the single gate that links our world to our sister world, in order to prevent a saboteur from coming through. As for the others in our populous, humans are few and most have fallen ill while even the strongest half-breeds just do not measure up to the task at hand. So, you all are our only help. I am not accustomed to petitioning the help of foreigners, but our society is on the verge of caving in. I beg of you, please help my people.”

Mumbles of concern, interest, and sheer amazement spewed from the group, finally ending in both willing and forced agreement by each member.

“Thank you.” Queen Kiiah sighed in relief, as if centuries of burden had been lifted from her soul. “Your transportation is located in the pen at the west end of the market. Please, hurry and depart for Galloway, to the south, which is several hours, even by riding the fastest of Caligrey. The seals of Wind and Earth are located in the nearby mountain range; speak with the townspeople there for more exactly directions. You must hurry, before nightfall sets in. The faster you get to Galloway, the less likely it will be that you get ambushed by the many creatures that hunt after dusk.”

With a grateful bow and a wave of her hand, the soldiers at the chamber doors behind of began the arduous job of opening the palace doors. The midday sun shown brightly and warmed the darker halls of the castle within moments. It was here that adventure and discovery would begin...

[Roy Karrde]

[color=pink] Adalia
[color=pink]~*~*~*~*~ Onward to the Marketplace ~*~*~*~*~

The mid day’s sunlight streamed through the newly opened wooden door that had served to guard the front of the throne room. Light crept through the room and illuminated every crevice and outline of the old ceremonial room. Holding my hand gently to my eyes to protect myself from the light, I began to take a few careful steps toward the door. The illumination also provided me with a better look at my fellow companions. One of the most interesting ones there was a dark skinned woman that seemed to be dressed in attire highlighted by several deep colors.

Another was a tiger man and a fox like woman who seemed to have known each other. Both of them with tails that seemed to sway back and forth that almost made me jealous that I had no tail or any idea what it felt like to have a tail. Most of all the main trademark of everyone is that they seemed a whole lot older or taller than myself. Which in reality made me feel a bit intimidated. “You coming?” A familiar voice broke me from my own internal thought. I brought the hand away from my face now that my eyes had adjusted to the light and recognized it as the giant that I had met earlier. Well to be fair enough I guess he wasn’t a giant by any standards, except that I used to be six feet tall, and now wasn’t even five feet tall.

“Yeah..” I piped up before instinctively messaging my throat at the sound of my youthful and light voice. The giant looked at me a bit inquisitively as if I had done something out of the ordinary, and then his face soften a bit at possibly the thought that my throat was hurting. “Oh, I’m okay…it’s just that I’m not used to having a girl’s voice.” I mentioned my voice dropping low almost in shame at the last half.

He raised his eyebrow a bit at that, he most likely hadn’t figured out I was a boy before this. I shrugged this off and began to follow the others as we were led past the door. As we made it to the large doorway one of the guards handed each of us a leather sack, which seemed to hold several round objects. “This is your mananite, it’s the currency in this world. The clearer the mananite the more it is worth, this amount should be enough for each of you to buy any necessary supplies for your journey to Galloway.” The guard spoke up after we were all in front of the large stone built building that we had all exited.

With out any further explanation the doors to the large throne room were closed and we were left in the outside hustle and bustle of the marketplace. “They said the animal pen is at the west end of the market, we should head that way.” A dark skinned man with long ears and lavender hair spoke up, his voice barely heard over the sound of the market place around us.

“Sounds good to me.” The tiger man spoke up, still staying close to his fox like companion. The tiger man’s voice seemed strong and fit his overall frame; he seemed to have a confidence in him that resembled that of a modern day hero. I was almost struck at awe at how he acted and didn’t actually realize the group was beginning to move in a westerly direction.

With a quick hop and a running start I quickly caught up to my giant friend. The marketplace around me looked like something out of the movie Aladdin with the buildings having a tan tint to them. The small shops either located inside the buildings or outside in small open aired stores which featured almost all half human, half animal. Each selling various objects that went from weapons, to food, to clothing or beads, to finally carpets and tapestries. In fact now that I noticed it, most of the customers and people walking around the market place were of the half animal variety. With the only humans being relegated to almost slave duty or crouched down or lying in the alleyways in-between buildings. All of them looked sick or exhausted, along with malnourished. “All these people…” I whispered to myself as we continued to walk, some of the people in our group stopping only for a few minutes to grab food and other things for our journey.

The mid day sun continued to bear down as we stopped at another shop to pick up various fruits. The others were walking around looking at the fruits and other foods as I waited at the edge of the shop. Even though I had gone shopping for food countless times. I had no idea what to buy or what was good. In fact I was a bit afraid that I would pick up something wrong. My curiosity and boredom drew my eyes downward. My memory flashed back to the sudden sensation of grabbing my chest to find that it wasn’t completely flat. With curious fingers I pulled open the top of my robe, just enough to allow myself to peek inside, but not far enough to allow others to see.

I was greeted with the sight of two small mounds that didn’t even seem large enough to fill a small bra, yet they were there nonetheless. My own skin was almost a milky white instead of the somewhat deeper brown that I had in real life. Yet the main shock was the small breast that I was presented with that made my face flush with embarrassment. “Find anything interesting?” My giant friend asked as I quickly closed my robe and my face grew even redder in embarrassment.

“I-I just have ne-never seen the-them before” I stumbled over my own words to try and find a adequate enough excuse to why I was staring at myself. We both stepped out of the shop in silence and began walking to the next booth. “You know, you never told me your name.”

“Oh it’s-“ He began, suddenly two massive creatures pushed between us, both with rhino like features and large thick gray skin. One glanced at me from the corner of my eye and gave me a nice shove that threw me down to the ground.

“Out of the way human.” He grunted before continuing along his way. I winced and slowly began to pick myself up, before finding the helping hand of my giant friend there. I slowly rose to my feet with his helped and dusted off my clothes. Pain began to radiate from my hand from which I used to try and break my fall. The lower part of my palm was scratched up with a light trickle of blood running down it.

With tentative fingers I reached out with my left hand and touched the wound. My left hand began to feel warm with almost a tingly sensation. I withdrew my finger away from the wound and the sensation faded. To my astonishment the wound was nearly healed. The only thing that remained was a light scab from where the blood had started. “How is your hand?” My giant friend asked, his voice drew me out of my own amazement of my newfound power.

“C’mon were moving on.” Another tall man from our group, with a kind face spoke up, he had an interesting series of tattoos running along the side of his face, and his hair looked weird along with a Raven sitting on top of his head just added to more strangeness. Yet his voice was deep yet almost a bit feminine in nature.

“I’m fine.” I faked a grin and gave him a light shove in an almost friendly manner before spotting what looked like the beginnings of the animal pens at the end of the road. “I bet I can race you to those.” I added with a hint of excitement in my voice, in an attempt to draw attention away from the manifestation of my sudden power. My friend sighed as if I was acting childish as I reached into my mananite bag and withdrew a few of the small round marbles that reflected off the mid day sun. I quickly rolled them over to a human girl who looked about the same age as new self, except that her face was covered in dirt and her bones shown through her skin. I didn’t wait for any gratitude, I really didn’t expect any. I just felt like I would feel awful for the rest of the day if I didn’t try to help at least a few people.

Either way I still had a race to win, even though my friend didn’t seem like he had any care for racing. Which made winning and taunting him even easier for me. I quickly ran past him going as fast as my legs would carry me in this robe. Stands and weird looking half human half animals became a blur out of the sides of my vision as all I cared about was winning. The finish line was right in my sight, I could feel it. I closed my eyes and began to breath in the sweet smell of victory when I crashed headlong into a wall. “Ow..” I winced rubbing my nose and opening my eyes. Actually I take that back, it wasn’t a wall. It was a human like creature with a tiger tail. It was in fact that tiger man that I had seen earlier with the fox woman.

“You alright?” He spoke up; I nodded a bit while rubbing my nose and glanced over to see the fox woman staring at me. In her arms was a small baby like gryphonish animal. My eyes grew wide in amazement and I quickly forgot about the pain in my nose. Out of all the creatures that I had seen so far, the small gryphon was what surprised me the most.

“I’m Tato!” It exclaimed happily, my eyes widened even more at the shock that the gryphon could talk, instead of just making noises like the ones you see in the fantasy movies.

“I’m Ryan, Ryan Lutz.” I completed the introductions by shaking the small animal’s paw that it slowly extended while using the other to cling to the fox woman’s chest. “It’s nice to meet you Ta-“ My voice was suddenly cut off by the fox woman.

“Ryan…Roy?” She asked in sudden shock, her voice just radiating with millions of different emotions.

“Yeah…” I replied carefully not sure if I had known this person before or even met her or possibly him before. Yet the way she had said Roy, it seemed almost familiar

“It’s me Kalah!” The words almost seemed to knock me over in shock; my legs almost became weak as my body shook in indescribable joy. I found the strength to run forward and wrap my arms around her in the tightest hug that my small body could possibly muster.

“Imouto..” I sobbed; tears began to drip down my eyes as I uttered the nickname that I had given Kalah, since I had always treated her like my little sister. Now she was here, I actually had a friend here. Some how this whole place didn’t seem as scary anymore. “Thank you for being here, thank you thank you.” I whispered.

“It’s okay.” She stroked my hair softly in an attempt to calm me down. “And I think, you’re my imouto now.” She remarked, I laughed a bit as I realized that now she was older than I, and I was in fact a girl. So technically I was her younger sister instead of her being my younger sister.

“Let me get a look at you.” She added as I stood back about arms length allowing her to look me over. My face reddened a bit in embarrassment as I realized that she was seeing me as a little girl, instead of the young adult that she was used to seeing. “You’re so cute.” She said in delight as my face reddened even more.

“Kalah..” I whispered trying to keep her voice down as we finished walking to the animal pen. An old man came out and looked us over; one of the other members in our group told him that the High Queen sent us here. He mumbled off some remark about the queen being something that I couldn’t quite make out before leading us to a large pen filled with creatures that had been saddled up.

Each of them upon closer inspection had the body of an antelope, the hooves of an ox on its hind legs, and the claws of an eagle on its forelegs. “These are Caligrey’s they are some of the fastest animals in the kingdom.” He remarked with pride before leading eight of the Caligrey’s out a gate in beyond the protective walls of the city. We each followed him out to find ourselves facing a majestic grassland, full of sprawling hills and lush green grass. With the hints of a forest far off in the distance. “Need any help little lady?” The old man asked me after helping some of the others onto their Caligrey’s. I looked over at the Caligrey and noticed that it was bigger than myself. I sighed and nodded as he helped pick me up and place me onto the saddle of the creature.

I grabbed the reins and glanced over at Kalah who was looking over and talking to the Tiger Man. She glanced over at me as a sly smile crossed her face. She continued to stare at me for a few more seconds before bursting out in a fit of laughter. “What?” I complained, my voice coming out a bit whiny which made me wince.

“You really are a Pretty Princess now.” She breathed between fits of laughter. My face quickly narrowed into a glare at the mention of the nickname dubbed to me by Tony and Kalah during a Karaoke night.

“Shut up.” I mumbled back as I hitched the reins, and the Caligrey started off in a slow trot.

“I’m sorry to offend you my majesty.” Kalah laughed even harder this time, as I began to slump down in the saddle seat that I was sitting in. I was glad she was here, I really was. Yet I knew that I would never ever hear the end of the Pretty Princess jokes. Atleast Tony wasn’t there to continue with the humor at my expense.

All right you guys can go through the market and grab what ever you want or think you need for the journey. Also you can test out your powers. If you want to take the Caligrey stuff further then just make sure you don’t get in a fight yet, that will be coming soon. Also remember that Humans are treated lower than dirt in this world, meaning some shop owners may not even acknowledge the human characters when they try to buy something.

Oh and becuase Kalah said there might be some confusion.
Adalia's Index of Nicknames
Giant Friend = Tony
Fox Woman/Imouto = Kalah
Tiger Man = Matt

[Bulbasaur4]

Ryian

After the queen was done speaking, I watched in amazement as the large doors were pulled open and instantly the sunlight began to spill through. I covered my eyes slightly- half expecting the light to be blinding- but strangely, the light didn’t affect me too much. Instead, my eyes adapted swiftly and instantly I could see into the outside world. Forgetting for a moment about the others around me, I swiftly walked with the others to the outside. The sunlight felt good against my skin and I withdrew a deep breath. It was nice to be outside, even if the outside world was now a busy marketplace.
The marketplace was massive… reminding me a lot of the old Persian cities that you read about in story books or saw in movies. However, instead of the marketplace having humans… it had half-breeds. Many different and exotic varieties of half breeds were everywhere, and only a handful of humans could be seen. The strange thing however, was that these humans were malnourished and treated like trash. Many of them were doing cleaning upon the streets, while some just sat in the corner and begged for food. They were starving and dirty… and it was a rather painful sight. Yet, the entire group was making its way to the animal pen in the farther part of the marketplace.
My violet-hued eyes scanned the group for a moment. We sure were an odd sort of group- even in this world. Many of the half-breeds had very odd garments compared to the regular half-breeds in the marketplace, and of course the humans were odd as well. A few of the members in our group struck a cord with me- as if I should know them, because their appearance seemed to follow a certain taste that I was accustomed to. Shaking my head, I knew it was nearly impossible to discover their names and talk to them in such a busy place… so I would have to wait.
“Eeee… some one almost stepped on me! “ A little voice caught my attention, and swiftly I looked down at my feet to see Tako, the small little Gryphon companion I had acquired. He was dodging as many feet as possible, but his small body was making it hard for anyone to see him.
“Can’t you fly?” I said with a rather agitated tone- which slightly surprised me. Of course, my voice had changed… it was more exotic, silk-like and smooth with an intense flare. However, it was my tone I used that surprised me. He was so adorable… so cute… why would I speak to him that way? Swiftly I shook my head, surprised at my own tone while I bent down and picked him up.
“Here… I’ll carry you.” With that, I carried Tako and ran up to rejoin the group who had gone ahead. My eyes were feasting upon the sight of the marketplace… until I suddenly remembered one very important happening from before. That large tiger-like man…
“Excuse me…” I stated, tapping one of the sides of his rather large arm to hopefully get his attention. Swiftly he turned, to which I took a step backwards as to avoid him from bumping into me with his massive body. Tilting my head to the side, my ears perked forward in curiosity.
“You’re name… you said it was Matt. Do you have a last name?” I spoke; surprised again by how my voice sounded different… almost reminded me of that one lady from Dragoon. (Darn… it seemed already like ages ago that I was watching Neal play that game.)
“Yeah… wait a minute, what’s your name?” He asked, looking at me quizzically.
“It’s Kalah.”
“Wait… you’re… Kalah?! Holy #@$@#&(#$!!!! YOU’RE HERE TOO?!” He practically roared, and my ears flattened severely with his deafening roar.
“Quiet down! You’re making everyone stare at us…” I swiftly said, looking around before suddenly it dawned on me.
“Wait a minute… you’re… MATT?!” I cried, and once again Matt suddenly let out a grunt as some unseen force smashed against his chest and caused him to fall over backwards. Unfortunately, he fell on top of a display cart and smashed it into pieces that seemed to erupt into the air. The small half-breed rabbit who owned the cart instantly swore and started going into a frenzy of words at the shaken Matt.

After everything was settled, Matt ended up paying for the entire cart and losing almost all of his mananite.
“I’m so sorry… I’m not sure what happened… but I think I was the reason you fell on the cart.” I stated, having Tako perched on my shoulder.
“Why… errr… well… how the hell did you do that?!” Matt stated, looking at me puzzled.
“I’m not sure! I mean… both times it happened, it was with you… and I was excited because… well, you’re Matt! As in… my boyfriend!”
Then it dawned on me, that indeed I was in a magical world with my boyfriend. (Despite my personality taking a turn for a change, this fact alone was enough to excite me.)
“It is YOU!” I exclaimed with happiness, but much to my dismay suddenly Matt fell over once more- this time almost landing on two members who were from our group. Luckily they had great reflexes, so he only managed to make a rather large marking in the ground from where he landed. He merely glanced at me, but this time I swiftly went to him and hugged one of his massive arms.
“Things are pretty chaotic… but it makes me so relieved to know that you’re by my side!” I said with a smile, attempting to help him up as he just slowly rose upwards by himself.
“Yes… I am too. However, let’s try to control our… umm… emotions. It seems bad things happen when you get excited.”
I blushed slightly and nodded, “alright.”


[ I will add more in a part 2 post, after Matt posts a bit. ]

[Doomy_McDoomdoom]

“Kalah?! You’re…..KALAH?! @!#^(&!#(* YOU’RE HERE TOO!” Matt exclaimed. She was here; he hadn’t lost her! The confusion didn’t even matter at this moment, Kalah was with him, and that suddenly made everything a lot better in his mind. Kalah shouted something, but it was lost in the sudden thud against Matt’s behemoth chest. Matt stumbled back and tripped over the edge of a rabbit man’s cart, crashing down on top of shields and various metal works.

Matt’s large body tore through the wooden cart as if it was nothing and came crashing to the ground with a booming “whomp”! The rabbit man started spurting out various profanities that Matt didn’t pay much attention to. He brushed himself off as he got back up and surveyed the damage that he had done…Well, I might be able to fix this Matt reached down and grabbed one half of the cart in each arm and lifted, to Matt’s surprise each piece lifted with great ease and he practically mashed them back together until the cart stuck as one again. Granted, it wasn’t a pretty cart, but it was a solid mass again. Matt tried to reason with the dealer, but not being able to understand much of what was said, he just tossed a substantial amount of mananite on the mass and left.

Matt caught up with Kalah and the rest of the group after dealing with the shop owner and continued his conversation with Kalah. They were both excited and equally confused as to why they were there. But, they were there together now, and that made a lot of things better. Unfortunately Kalah was excited again and ended up hurling Matt across yet another room, this time almost crushing a few members of their party.

Matt brushed himself off. “Maybe we should try to control our emotions a bit…until we learn what’s going on.” Matt picked the last few bits of wagon debris and dirt floor off of him. “I’m just glad you’re here.” He bent over, and very, very, very gently put an arm around Kalah and simply flexed mildly so she would feel the squeeze. He stood again, surveying the animals.

I somehow doubt that these will suit me for riding. I’m a bit bigger than I’ve ever been. Matt decided now would be a good as time as any to see if Kalah knew anymore about this place than he did.

“Hey baby doll…” Matt turned to speak to Kalah and he saw her eyes well up with excitement. Oh Shit Matt quickly crossed both his arms as if about to block a kick and he could see the air be blown as an unseen force rushed towards him. But, no sooner had Matt’s gauntlets touched each other that a large, blue, semi-transparent apparition formed in front of him and took the full force of the blow, barely pushing Matt back. After the hit, however the shield itself exploded and sent shards of blue energy flying forward.

Kalah and a few others quickly ducked out of the way of the attack. “Ok…I now think that it is a good idea if we simply stop doing much of anything until we all figure out what’s going on here. Or I fear one of us is going to be seriously hurt before we even get moving.”

[Bulbasaur4]

[size=1]Ryien
.: Kalah | F | Half-Breed (Ninetails) :.

[color=silver][font=tahoma]

While walking with Matt down the street, I felt a huge sense of relaxation over come me. I didn’t really understand what this new ‘adventure’ would bring, or where the heck I was… but it at least comforted me enough know I wasn’t alone. I had my number one person right there with me, and that was enough to ease any fear or anxiety I might have had. Yet, finding Matt made me wonder… could perhaps more of these people whom we were with be people I knew?
However, as we walked down the street suddenly a small girl ran straight into Matt’s massive figure. Blinking slightly, I turned along with Matt to see her rubbing her nose- she perhaps had bashed herself into him quite hard. Matt didn’t seem phased, but rather stared at her and inquired if she was alright. Yet, the girl didn’t seem to respond to him… but rather looked at me- or rather, Tako. Tako chimed in to quickly introduce himself, but I swiftly inquired as to who the girl’s name was. There was some thing about her that bothered me… as if I knew her, but I couldn’t quite place my finger on it.
“I’m Ryan, Ryan Lutz.” With that knowledge, I suddenly gave a huge smile and swiftly introduced myself.
“It’s me, Kalah!” I said with a smile, and suddenly the small little girl whom I was talking with practically glomped me. I smiled and let Tako swiftly climb to my shoulder as I embraced her. Ryan- little girl Ryan – started to form tears in her eyes as she told me about how happy she was to know she wasn’t alone. Of course, a bit of the old me came into par as I stroked her hair and smiled.
“Yep, you got me now.” I stated, and soon I pushed Ryan back. He was a little girl now… and I looked him over and couldn’t help but smile. He was a cute little girl! Of course, I swiftly told him this, and Ryan only blushed in embarrassment.

Walking down the busy streets, we looked like a family and it made me chuckle slightly-the monstrous Matt to my left, little child-like Ryan to my right… and me in the middle, as the designated older sister and mother figure. Well, at least I felt like a mother figure… now that I had little girl Ryan with me. I had to admit, it was rather nice to see him as a girl… for the pure fact that it not only amused me, but I deemed that it rather suited him at this time. I didn’t dare ask myself why- it just seemed to be that way. As we continued to walk downwards, one half-breed caught my eye. It wasn’t a half-breed in our group, but rather just a small little boy at the side of one of the buildings we walked by. I didn’t know what caught my attention… or why my violet gaze seemed to peer into him. Perhaps it was fate, maybe destiny… but whatever the case, I knew that the small little jewel he was holding would hold some importance to me in the future.
“What do you have there, little one?” I asked, kneeling down so that I was eye level with the boy. He was definitely a half-breed… but just barely. He looked completely like a little Italian boy- equipped fully with dark brown hair and dazzling eyes of honey-dipped mahogany. His skin was smooth and his face was simply perfect, and for a flash of an instance I saw my future in the boy. The only noticeable features that he had of being a half-breed were the small little dog-like ears of white which stuck out from his head and the raggedy fluffed tail that protruded from behind.
“I… I uhh… have dis newklace…” He said, having troubles forming his words as he unveiled the small necklace he held in his chubby hands. Tilting my head to the side, I saw the small glimmer of the faint crimson jewel deeply embedded in silver upon the necklace. It was absolutely stunning… and it confused me as to why the little boy would have it. The entire necklace was a small silver chain- looking delicate and fragile. The center piece of the necklace was a half-star shaped pendant, and in the middle was a faint crimson jewel. It was only faint however, because half of it seemed swirled with a transparent white while the other half was tainted with red.
“And what are you doing with this necklace?” I asked further, not knowing why I had just stopped to ask him this. It didn’t appear like the small boy was selling anything, so why I would just stop and randomly ask was beyond me. Its like… I have a new sense… like I can feel things that no physical means could possibly feel… I thought, withdrawing a sharp breath. It was a rather odd sensation.
“Mama shaid to git some manwahnite… cuz me fahmaly is hungee.” He stated, looking at the ground as if embarrassed to tell me. However, with a smile I reached into the bag of mananite that I had been given, and emptied out half of the contents.
“I will buy that necklace from you. Will this be enough?” Startled, the boy’s eyes seemed to grow as big as some of the mananite pieces. He was shocked, perhaps not expecting for some one to offer him so much money. I merely smiled, and soon he had placed the necklace into my delicate hands.
“Thank yew purdy lady…” He said sheepishly, gathering up the money in a small bag he had. I merely smiled and ruffled his hair between the ears.
“Make sure to bring it all back to your mother.” I stated, standing back up and swiftly looking to see Matt and Ryan both had gone ahead only a little bit. They had stayed a bit behind- waiting for me perhaps, which I swiftly thanked them for. Clasping the necklace in my hand, I soon attached it to the belt which I had so that it dangled from my waist. For some reason, I didn’t feel it was the right time to wear it yet.

It wasn’t long until we reached the animal pen. Our group was introduced to the strange and captivating beasts before us – Caligrey. I watched as Ryan was helped onto one of them, and then looked at Matt who seemed a little confused. Matt spoke with a few of the half-breeds who were helping up with the Caligrey. It was obvious that one Caligrey wouldn’t be able to carry him- perhaps even two wouldn’t be enough. One of the half-breeds seemed to have an idea, and it wasn’t long before he came out with another creature.
“Yeeeah… that will work.” I chimed in, having my Caligrey trot over by Matt.
I wasn’t sure what the creature was, but one of the half-breeds called it a “Taratu”. If I had to translate that name, I would say it meant, “Big Beast of Doom” or some thing along those lines. It had the overall shape of an extremely large lizard, like one of those Komodo Dragons, but only twenty times bigger. It was about as big as an elephant… but of course, having the body of a lizard made it easier to ride. Its back was indented slightly downwards in the back, so that one could ride it perhaps easier. Its neck was more along the lines of a cobra, curling upwards from the neck so that it could easily look at anything ahead of it. However, its feet were a different story. Having the overall appearance of a reptile didn’t seem to apply to its feet- they were definitely like that of a Rhino. The tail of the beast was more like a feathery lizard, having a tail with some feathers protruding from the end of the tail along with a few feathers around the ankles of the beast as well.
My Caligrey was a bit nervous at the approach of the Taratu, but I managed to calm it down enough so that it would stand side-by-side with the beast. Of course, any movement the Taratu made towards anything made my Caligrey quite jumpy.
“Scary thing… that Taratu is…” Tako commented, perching still upon my shoulder as his large golden-tinted eyes glanced about. We slowly said our goodbyes and thanked the half-breeds in the room who aided us. Then, we headed out to our first known destination.

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

Tané Marré Ghéde
"I shoulda learned to play the guitar...
I shoulda learned to play them drums."*
--------------------------

"Our troubles began years ago."
Tané nodded to himself. This was a standard opening line for RPGS styled after the fashion of Greek tragedies.
"Before then, the natural balance between our and neighboring world remained constant, allowing for equality in the life, death, and advancement of each."
Nod, nod.
"For each cycle, which would be about one hundred years by your standard, we would send out our strongest warriors to go and unlock the six mana seals scattered across the planet. Everything remained in good health for what seemed like an eternity. That is, until a few cycles back, when our chain failed even though it was time enough for the mana to head our way. Every cycle since then the chain groups have fallen victim to either sabotage...or death.”
Nod, nod - ...DEATH?
Someone else, the mysterious white-haired man (sans raven) he'd seen earlier, asked an intelligent question: “So why bring us here, if you have warriors of your own?”
He got an intelligent answer. However, the only line that really caught Tané's attention was: "I beg of you, please help my people.”
Shakeshakeshakeshakeshake. This was what I was waiting for... The opportunity to DECLINE to help...
Tané opened his mouth to refuse; it was then that the treacherous little voice that lived at the back of his brain whispered, derisively: Well now, Tané Marré Ghéde, even if you say no, have you ever thought about how you're going to survive here? Or did you think you were going to be magically teleported home, returned to your original gender? Wouldn't it do you good to be noble and overestimate your abilities once in a while, and forget about the millions of complications? Most importantly... - here the voice was distinctly heard to smirk, not unlike Baron -
...do you really think you have a choice?
Tané would have whimpered, but his conscience decided to land its victim hook, line and sinker, and went on: You know you don't want to NOW, but what about five minutes later? Fifteen minutes? An hour? You'll WANT to help when you see everyone helping and having fun. In fact, you DO want to help. You're just suffering from that inferiority complex of yours again. And just think of that horrible guilt complex you'll have in place of the inferiority complex if you don't help.

Defeated by crushing logic and an unsympathetic conscience, Tané Marré Ghéde, spirits considerably dampened, said, in a small voice possibly not heard by anyone else in the room: "Okay, count me in."

The guards manning the doors appeared to be over-exercising their right to Impress newcomers, because the sunlight streaming in created a magnificent golden sfumato effect that would have rivalled da Vinci's. Da Vinci. He didn't exist in this world. Rrrright.

As a random observation, Tané noted aloud: "If the High Queen knows so much about everything, why shouldn't we grab her and use that knowledge instead of having to go through all the trouble of asking people?"

The tall, youngish warrior beside him, who'd been rather respectfully silent all though the Queen's speech and whose attention to her bordered on adoration, replied, stiffly: "We must not doubt the Queen's word. She is in need of our help, and it is within our powers to offer her this help. Is that not enough? Should we expect more of her, of she who has given so much already to the people?"

Tané cringed slightly. He was cringing a lot, lately. "Oh... okay..."

*

At the marketplace, Tané blinked. There were people everywhere... Half-breeds, to be precise, of all kinds of mixes and races... leopards, rhinos, goats, etcetera... there were even a few that were semi-transparent. Semi-transparent... that must be extremely convenient if you wanted to insult people and not get hit back in retaliation because of course their fists would go right through you... Good idea, that one... look at that old transparent crane-man... you could see the crates of half-wilted produce right through him... He'd like to go transparent too if he got a chance... wait... TRANSPARENT?

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Oh yes... the form... I said I could see ghosts, didn't I?
::Hey, you! You can hear me?::
Tané looked up from his little fit of depression, surprised. It was the crane-man.
::You CAN!:: The crane-man-ghost brightened up immensely. ::HEY EVERYBODY! There's a SHAMAN in town!::
::Yesyes? Nono? Shaman!::
:haman!::
::Well, he's human, but at least he can hear us!::
:HAMAN!::
::SHAMAN!::
Tané began to back away slowly as the paranormal intensity of the area immediately around him was raised to the maximum. Nearly-invisible beaks, hands and paws besieged him from all sides, all clamouring for justice, a shoulder to lean on, someone who'd hear their cries; and in the case of a little girl who had a pair of nauseatingly cute bunny ears, someone who'd send her her dolly, she was so scared and lonely, and Mommy wasn't here to read her bedtime stories...

Oh, this was going to be a GOOD day, Tané could tell.

Nearby, in a pub that carried a hundred different kinds of alcohol and quite a few varieties of crème de cacao, Baron Samedi flicked a glass and poured himself a tot of best Kostroman rum, which was now so rarely produced and so expensive that the bartender hid it in the bottommost reaches of his cellar, not that this had ever been a problem for the good Baron. He imagined that his charge was probably undergoing fifteen kinds of embarrassment, all in public, as he watched the crowd gathering outside; and grinned to himself.

*

A long while later, Tané stumbled into the animal pen, his arms full of whatever junk the grateful ghosts had given him in return for doing them all 'little favours': including, yes, a bedtime-story manuscript; a cobwebbed bottle of grog; several crusts of dry bread; a few measly coffee beans; and a stash of clotted mananite which an unprejudiced shopkeeper had informed him would probably get him, at the most, a small toy ball with a hole in it in shops at the terrible rate of inflation these days (despite the assurances of the ghost that had given it to him that it would buy him a fine mansion with grounds). He'd taken the precaution of buying a small canister of coarse-ground coffee for emergencies if he ran out of offerings for loa.

He'd also bought a sling bag to keep all of the junk in. It wasn't polite towards ghosts if you threw away their junk. They tended to haunt you afterwards asking ::WHY? why? why? WHY?::

"Uhhh... sorry all, that I'm late- Gah!" Tané jumped backwards in an excellent display of acrobatics.
The keeper of the pen gave him an odd look. "Anything the matter with my animals, son?" (tch... humans...)
Tané swallowed, and shook his head.
"Go on then... mount a Caligrey. You've got to be going."

When they had all finally saddled up their Caligrey, even the large tiger-man who'd had to have an even larger creature called a Taratu because a Caligrey couldn't take his bulk and the weird character covered in scarves who kept on trying to talk to her bewildered Caligrey, the Jay Chou lookalike, complete with ornery white raven, rode his Caligrey over to Tané, who still looked rather shaken after the incident in the pen, and asked, in a nice, quiet, most importantly *normal* sort of way: "What happened to you in there? You looked as if you'd seen a ghost."

"I DID see a ghost. Lots of ghosts. They were all Caligrey." And they were all STARING at me... as if I was responsible for their deaths, untimely or otherwise... Tané massaged his temples with a free hand. "It was... terrible. Like a mortuary, or something..."
----------------------------
*Dire Straits: Money for Nothing

[Vulpix.ck87]

More postieees.. or one more, to be exact ^^;;

Marxiach~

Upon entering the market, I have to admit I was pretty much enthralled. This was a completely different world from mine, despite the similarities it showed. I strolled past a variety of stalls, and though impractical for our journey, many held extremely entrancing objects, some which bore resemblance to items of my own world, and so many more that I would never have set eyes upon in a million years. I passed an entire stall full of bejewelled combs and wire brushes, in a variety of sizes, and the male hybrid creature who sat behind this table cast a disapproving look at my dark red hair, matted and wild (whereas he himself, as well as many of his customers, looked like overgrown poodles). Grooming seemed important to these mostly furry folk, and I backed off from the huge crowd that had gathered. Whilst marvelling at the stalls I also admired my own ability to walk. I was getting steadier on these legs, though now and then I teetered a little. I was like a baby deer learning to walk. Plus I kept smacking into things, with my broad shoulders and lengthy arms.

Two large stalls spread out beside each other displayed a variety of dusty books and ancient scripts, and I saw the Raven headed man being drawn towards them as if magnetised. He quickly began to pore over the table's contents, and I let out a small chuckle as my old friend Kirsten flashed into my mind. I bit back on the chuckle and a small tinge of sorrow came over me, wondering if I would ever see her again.

I moved on, passing a fabulous menagerie of cockatiels, abundant and glossy in their miniature aviaries, peculiarly positioned next to a simmering vat of honey. How curious. Stacks of cheese and fronded baskets of bread caught my eye; a tray of scone like biscuits spread next to oval tureens of fresh fruit preserves. I started feeling sorry for the cockatiels as I realised I was in the food section of the market.

Figuring I should buy something for a snack at least I approached a fruit stall, though I couldn’t recognise anything vaguely Earthish. The stall owner began to glare at me as I teetered around, trying to decide on what to buy, and in the end I purchased what looked like a big red banana, it’s smooth skin disconcertingly bloody. I instantly wondered why I got it. When I peeled it’s layers though I found that the insides contained a fleshy turquoise pulp, segmented along it’s length. I plucked off the top piece and nibbled at a corner gingerly. Mmm, tangy.. It was very sweet, like strawberries, and yet equally fragranced, more like a flower than a fruit. I ate the rest happily, and though it did nothing to satisfy my leering hunger, it did a spectacular job of quenching my thirst. I bought a small animal skin flask, the hide pouch impervious to water, on utter impulse, and realised that it may come in rather handy later.

I passed into the next quarter of the market, most of which bore clothes too thick and heavy for the current weather. And though I must admit I lingered passively over a pair of furred goggles (the lens lined with something that looked like copious amounts of yak hair) I soon realised I had lost sight of everyone else. I hurried on, still with intentions on buying something non-edible and handy for my journey. I didn’t need weapons, I had my sword, and my clothes were satisfying enough, but it wouldn’t hurt to get something else, like a compass or map for starters.

Finally I found a lone stand full of gadgets, devout of customers and nestled in one of the shadier nooks of the market. The owner looked fierce, a Mongolian badger looking fellow, gruff and wary of.. Well, me, the demon-haired eye-patched human with the sword approaching him. I scanned his wares, and didn’t know where to start examining in more detail. There were thick lengths of sturdy rope, a woven mix of what looked like long lustrous blue fur and mossy hemp, as well as singular strands clearly used for sewing as well as more delicate works. There were reels of something like catgut, with unfamiliar symbols chalked onto the sides of the wooden spindles. They reminded me of the crosses that hospitals bore back in my world, and I made the assumption that this was for first aid. I saw what looked like more medicine, and asked the owner what they were for but he appeared not to hear me. My curiosity overcoming wariness of his hostility, I carried on looking. There was so much to see! And all of it so alien.

There were thick square blocks of green and brown camouflage paint, and similarly coloured tubs of what I presumed was henna to dye fur and hair. There was a pack of what looked like metallic faceless playing cards with serrated edges and rounded corners; and a small rune covered box that housed a jumble of cogs and the most sophisticated mechanical components, only miniscule. I spotted a compass on a thick leather arm strap, but then something else caught my attention - my eyes fell upon a small tube about as long as my hand span, with a width just short of my fist. Half the tube consisted of charred metal, obsidian black in colour but dull, opaque and seemingly light absorbent. The other half was a green-tinted curve of glass, semi thick but transparent nevertheless. Inside I could see a network of glistening strands, joined in an erratic but precise fashion. It reminded me very much of spider webs. The silken web was laced with minuscule shards of something like silver, which I could barely distinguish. There was a small rounded lantern like top, and a narrow but sturdy wooden handle curving over the top of it. The handled top appeared to screw off.

“May I?” I asked the stall attendant. He grunted in reply and I picked up the tube, carefully turning the lid. The top of the tube was protected by clear colourless glass, highly polished with not a speck of dirt. The inside of the top was solid wood, all apart from the inch-long circular indent in the middle, where a semi circle of some thing or other could be inserted. A thin rough wire ran straight across the halfway point of the indent, and disappeared into the curved wooden surfaces on either side. Only a small ring pull on the outside of the lid suggested that it connected to something. I looked fondly down at the object. It was an exquisite torch, of sorts.

“How much is this?” I asked politely. The keeper gave me a dirty look, then a small smirk.

“Not for sale,” He told me with a certain amount of malicious satisfaction.

“It’s on display, and I can pay good mon-” I stopped and corrected my self, “-anite. Hem. I can’t see this item as being merely for show. It’d be a waste.”

“It’s not for sale. ”He repeated firmly, then added meaningfully. “To humans. What use would it be to them? None. They’re too weak to work jobs or go places that require such instruments, yourself included. It would be a waste. So leave.”

I felt my face heating up, I was getting angry. That kind of prejudiced attitude was that? I was lugging a stone sword with me for god‘s sake, no strength indeed! He bore no sympathy or compassion for his fallen co-race, more of a superiority. He didn’t even WANT to help!

Despite my anger I knew not to attack at him - I had the feeling that the law would not sway in my favour. And yet another part of my mind interrupted, stating that he clearly deserved it, and like a fool I listened to that part. If I had been in my right mind I would’ve noticed that the part of my mind suggesting that was laced with unusual bloodlust and an eagerness for fight. The part of me that dwelled mysteriously in the back of my head had just come a little closer to the surface. A flash of sharp fangs and a black mane flickered through my mind, but I ignored it as I found my fingers wrapped tightly around my sword hilt, and I had a good few inches of it’s stony blade unsheathed when a snowy figure appeared beside me.

“Hello good sir!” The white haired boy piped up. “I would like to purchase something today! Whyyy, this looks like a nice object!” He said, after faking a quick look around the table with a look of overenthusiastic delight on his face. I doubted he was normally this much of a happy shopper, but more so a bad actor. He pointed to the torch though and I turned to look at him, a little confused, and more so grateful.

Whilst the shop keeper looked disbelievingly from him to myself the raven boy flashed him a cheesy grin, and I let my sword slide back into it‘s sheath, my mind becoming all shiny clear and calm again..

“You want to buy… this?” he asked, looking completely unimpressed as he gestured to the object of my desires.

“Injeed I would!” Exclaimed the boy (I shuddered), and pulled out his bag of mananite. “So how much would that be..?” The shop keeper sighed and passed the cylindrical lantern over the counter, and then instructed the bird-boy into emptying a large portion of his money over onto the table. I backed away whilst they finished the transaction, and rounded the corner to wait for my new friend. Raven boy walked up to me brandishing the torch, two smaller opaque tubes of god-knows-what, and a huge grin. The Raven on his head smirked at me somewhat.

“I managed to get these tubes of hummus thrown into the deal too! The shop fellow said it was necessary for that.. Bong thing.. you wanted. Now let’s see..”

I popped open one of the smaller tubes and sniffed, receiving a nostril full of nastiness. The rotten smell of hydrogen sulphide stained the muddy claylike mixture, and my hand flew to my nose as I simultaneously choked and sneezed. It was some kind of gunpowder pate.

“That’s a torch, not a bong,” I said, after I recovered from my brief coughing fit. “And I think this is some sort of combustible fuel to light it with, so you better not eat it.”

He shrugged.

“Either way you owe me lots of money.” He said, and seconds later we had swapped money bags. Then he handed some mananite back to me. “I treated myself to something too, so here you go.. That should be about right! So what’s your name?”

I blinked at him, caught off guard by the question. I was astounded by this guy’s permanently cheery disposition, but it wasn’t a bad thing. Reminded me of someone I knew, that and the outburst of ‘injeed’. I smiled uncertainly at the boy, but spoke clearly so he could hear me.

“Marxiach. That’s my name, Marxiach. Yeah.” I must have sounded shifty. I cursed myself, yet he seemed not to notice.

“Right, I’ll call you Marx then! If that’s ok, that is.” I nodded and looked at him expectantly. He smiled back at me happily, not elaborating on his own persona even when I raised my eyebrow enquiringly. I finally had to ask, knowing I could not call him ‘Raven-head’ for ever.

“And you are..?”

“Oh! Sorry! Im Mirrrrst- Morrigan. Broin. That’s Broh-inn, not broin like groin or anything..” I simply nodded again, a little overwhelmed by this stream of information. In a way I was used to it though. So very familiar. I took my new torch from him and pocketed it along with the tubes of gunpowder slurry in a pouch which I had bought and affixed to my belt.

“Ah, my thanks then, er, Morrigan. Better be on our way now. We should catch up to the others, huh?” Morrigan agreed and we set off in a hasty walk, which soon turned into a hasty run after we realised how far behind we were. We found the animal pen quite easily though, and seeing that most people were already mounting the antelope ma-jobbies we separated to find our own. I carefully approached one available steed, and went to pet it down it’s long nuzzled nose but it got agitated and shuffled briskly away from me. Blinking in confusion I saw the mane image flash through my head again, as if painted upon my eyelids, and I sensed a certain equine arrogance in my skull. I was about to approach the Caligrey again, but it seemed increasingly defensive towards me, and I noticed it had talons for feet. A little more wary, I turned to the side and looked to see what my new companions were doing. Everyone seemed to be getting along fine with their steeds.. Morrigan was cantering in gleeful circles, and I scowled a little in his direction. Smarmy git. I slowly approached my steed again, hands lowered, palms out in a peaceful gesture, and I attempted to let it sniff my palm. It did so gingerly.

“See? Im not going to hurt you..” I said softly, and it seemed to realise that until it’s antelopeon nostrils crossed the scar on my right palm, and then the creature pretty much flipped out, moving away from me FAST. Eventually the Caligrey keeper reined the fretful creature back to me, but I was a little bit disheartened.

“Tha’s unusual,” He said, not unkindly but making me feel worse. “They usually have sucha good temperament. Nah put yer foot up here..” I carefully mounted my ride, feeling extremely apprehensive. I was going to get bucked at any moment, I just knew it. The poor creature quivered beneath me, but managed to stay sane and relatively calm - something I wasn't going to complain about.

Taking this as a good sign I steered the Caligrey towards the others, keeping to a cautiously steady trot.

Wheeee, clip clop clippity clop! Pony ride!

[Plantae]

= Da =

She had grown uncomfortable in these hot clothes, and even taken off her mananite necklace that she had just bought for a meager price (for it was impure) from a passing, shifty merchant; she was alone on her way to market, all the others being occupied, no one caring about simple Da. It was money, the queen had said, so why would she have it all about her person? A silly thing to do. Silly Da.

“See the one, over there, the one with the globe top and the delicate brass bottom? That lamp is mine.” Vehliga was having a short conversation with a merchant at the bazaar. Yes, the conversation was laconic, but she had spent a considerable amount of time looking for the right lamp. She had concluded it was this shoddy piece of work.

“Hm. That would be a good ‘un…” contemplated the rural trader, stroking his wickedly sculpted moustache of dirt-colored hair with affection, and scratching his less similarly partially bald head. He gave it a fair moment, and Laneia offered up a handful of raw mananite beads. Most of them were impure, but she had thought herself a prankster to polish them a bit. Her target buyer was more skilled in the exchange of money then this, however, soon thrown away when he pointed to the largest bead in the bunch, continuing, “… this’ll be the one, miss.” She giggled back at him widely, and then set her face in a prim and poignant glare.

“How about you give it to me?” She asked, ineptly and as her own personal joke. The man behind the counter was certainly not laughing.

“Free, eh? What are ye’, a beggar? Get your filthy mitts of my merchandise then, off with you.” His deliberate solecisms, he thought, made him appear folksier. He assumed his customers wanted it that way. So it turned out, Da did not like folksy- no, she relegated “rural” to the back corner of her mind. Gypsical or no, she would have none of this “hoo-ha-ho-hum the chickens are waiting” attitude.

“You do not understand. You will give it to me,” she began sweetly, switching quickly to cordial, and gradually deteriorating into a gamble, “since you want to?” She questioned, and her lip quivered with hesitation, and she tried to push the glee back into her face.

“You be a’ wastin my time, little lass. Remove yourself from my stand now, you right mouse.” Instead of appearing offended, Narwene took the initiative to raise her chin all the higher. Compared to her seller, a man of elephantine strength and build, her gesture was lost as his stomach was in folds of fat; still, there was a quality eerily disarming about it, causing the once-confident dealer to fidget hideously. Onesa had a pre-disposition to twitching- that being the predisposition to violence. She could not quite assert where it came from, but there was a quality about a person incapable of standing still that made her furious. So she raised her chin all the higher, in an awkward way, and dropped her jaw lackadaisically, preparing a torrent of speech to come forth.

“You owe me work! I am queen’s servant, yes- Kagah, oh, wait Kiiah. Yes, I am hers, her majesty’s! Her majestic and marvelous majesty’s! You owe me this lamp. I deserve this lamp. Give me this lamp.”

“I ask ye to leave… what in the-“ A creature of fangs and fury had reached the merchant by some method or another, its minute sash trailing behind vindictively, and its teeth digging into his soft nose. His howls were suppressed by a carefully manipulated sash of such fine weave that it was nearly as light as air. The wails stopped, and a sash was given up as a businessman lost both blood and dignity. It sat on her hand, raised on its hind legs, mockingly. The merchant swore he heard a squeak of triumph, and then the owner of the pygmy beast, Elane, beckoned the balding one to stand with a hand. She spoke gently, and condescendingly, chin raised high and pet at the ready (who was quite occupied by a tiny slice of flesh, namely by devouring it), “Give me the lamp. And throw in three pints of oil with it too, good sir.”

The wagon owner took no time to hesitate and nearly flung them from his kneeling position, nursing a bleeding nose. His eyes gave not even effects of his intimidation, or fear, or anger, nor any refusal- as he cursed on the floor of the stall, as a pointedly plain and ecstatically exotic lady pranced onward with a lamp swinging in her left hand, and an innocent chuckle framed on her thick lips.

With all suddenness she tripped on a stray swathing in a rather nondescript way, drawing no looks, for no onlookers were nearby (her being so privy to her previous actions); she flung out a hand in a frantic sign, and her brightening implement, a lamp not of the best quality, returned to her hand with its pints of oil.

She trotted then with a lingering joy, visiting a few more carts as she went, and well-stocking a hide pack; but when she passed through the backer alleys, she took a swig of gin.

=====

[Weasel Overlord]

Shorry, I hated that wheaty colour...all posts will be in this perdy blue colour from now on!
Also, enjoy a weasel's attempt at flirting...

[color=#c2cae7]|| Morrigan Broin Irven Macha || Avatar of the Celtic Goddess Morrigan ||
comes across all shy and coy
just another nancy boy

[color=#c2cae7]My eyes widened at all the bustle in the marketplace. The noises hit me like a metaphorical tone of bricks, and I could tell that Fiachra disliked it because he clawed my head before taking flight and perching on the top of a nearby stall.

“Feh! You can stay there too!” I shook my fist after the pesky bird and rubbed my head ruefully where he had clawed, pecked and tore at my scalp. He didn’t half have a temper, that bird.

Glad to be free of his weight for a while, I shook my head and went for a wander about the market. The coloured stalls were enough to keep my attention, and I espied many an exotic product that would have enticed me into buying it if I wasn’t so used to trying not to spend money.

But what’s this? A leather stall? I meandered over, with the intention of stopping some of my pain. Fiachra had obviously claimed my head as his permanent home, so I might as well make myself more comfortable. Browsing through the large pile, my hand fell on a pair of straps in soft blue which looked perfect for the job. Holding them up, I raised my brow at the store owner.

“Two.” He said shortly, before turning back to his friend and continuing his conversation. I presumed he meant two pieces of the strange currency that the queen had given us, so I rummaged in the little pouch on my hip and produced two balls of mananite, whatever sort of name that was for money.

As the light sparkled off the balls, the attention of the stall holder was instantly captured. His gaze fell right on my mananite, and I held it up quizzically.

“Two?” I held up the straps in my other hand and he shook his head. Dropping the two balls back into the pouch, I felt around in the pile for some more straps, with the intention of haggling. I fancied some of this nice material to wrap around my weapon, it would give me more of a grip.

Holding up four straps, the other two in a dark green colour, I grabbed three balls of mananite and held them up too. “Three?”

The vendor grinned ruefully, knowing that I wouldn’t pay anymore for the leather and held out his hand to seal the deal. I took the hand, though it was more like a paw, and shook it carefully. Dropping the balls onto the table, I turned my back and left.

There was still much more to see, and I had spied a book stall earlier that was crying out to me. A heavy weight on my head told me that Fiachra had got tired of his stall-perch, and a friendly tug of my hair told me that he had missed me, at the same time as yanking out a load of strands. Wincing, I patted Fiachra, only just avoiding his beak.

“I’ve missed you too, you vicious sod.” Hefting my weapon, I looped one of the green straps around the haft tying it tightly before looping the second one. Hopefully that would give me a better grip. The last two straps, the blue ones, I had saved for my skin. Wrapping one around each palm, I tied them in the middle, leaving the delicate skin on the backs of my hands protected. Though for how long was debatable knowing Fiachra’s penchant for causing harm to me.

Tottering over to the bookstall, I leafed through the many piles, a look of excitement on my face. I had obviously not lost my love of books, a fact which I was happy with. Overturning an ancient-looking manuscript, noticed that it had map-like markings. Hollering to the vendor, I held it up.

“How much?” He smiled greasily, swinging his striped tail behind him.

“That, good sir, is out of your pocket, if I am any judge.”

“Feh! You are no judge. Now how much is it?”

“That piece, sir, is worth five pure mananite. Which I very much doubt you own...” He eyed Fiachra on my head, who spread out his wings and hissed, and my raggedy appearance. Jingling my pouch, I opened the drawstring.

“I will pay four and no more.” He gasped, and I pulled out the currency. “Four.”

Nodding, the greasy-looking, betailed man grimaced and held out his hand. “Fine, four. Now leave my stall sir, before you are removed. And try to train that...that animal on your head while you’re at it!” He almost spluttered, and threw out an accusing finger at the spot where Fiachra, a smug and gleeful look on his face, had befouled a pile of very old-looking books. I smiled happily, and, grabbing the parchment, made a getaway before he could charge me for damages.

I almost bumped into another of our group, a human man who was on the verge of drawing his sword. I sensed trouble, an odd, almost animal scent was flowing off the man which was likely to get him arrested or killed or whatever it was they did in this place. Elbowing my way past him, I took a slight control of the situation. The stall-holders seemed to be extremely prejudiced against humans, and myself being clearly of the half-breed persuasion, I figured that I would have no problems dealing with him.

Ten minutes later, the trouble was averted and I had swapped payment with the bigger man for the lamp I had wheedled for him. We had exchanged names, his was Marxiach, mine was Morrigan Broin and we departed to the home of the steeds we were to ride. Caligrey was their name, and a charming one I found it to be too.

Marx had a little trouble mounting his chosen steed, though I was not without trouble myself, the pest Fiachra choosing that moment to awake and peck the poor animal. After soothing it’s temper, I swung over the side, the mounting coming naturally to me. I cantered around a while, showing off my new skills and eyeing up all the members of our group.

A small child, she looked as awkward in her body as the others did. Odd, that I felt perfectly comfortable n my new self. I wondered a little about what my old friend Carly would think of this situation, me in the possession of a seemingly handsome boy’s body. Or rather, a man’s body. I had taken a moment to eye myself up earlier, and I was pleased to find that I wasn’t too well-muscled, just the right amount in my opinion. I was also gratified to discover that I did indeed have rather a nice arse. Not that I groped myself, of course...

Tilting my head and causing Fiachra to screech and peck I trotted over to the elongated ear man. He looked white in the face and somewhat terrified, and not to mention the fact that all the Caligreys seemed to be terrified of him.

“What happened to you in there? You looked as if you’d seen a ghost.”

“I DID see a ghost. Lots of ghosts. They were all Caligrey. It was ...terrible. Like a mortuary or something.”

I raised my eyebrows questioningly in his directon.

“Just...don’t ask okay?” It was his turn to raise a brow at me. “And what’s with that bird?”

I nodded upwards, dislodging Fiachra in a flurry of feathers. “That is Fiachra. He seems to have taken up house on my head.” I shrugged. “Unfortunately, he almost pecks my hands off if I try to move him...So it seems I’m stuck with the bugger. Feh!”

I held out my hand by way of introduction, and found myself scanning the guy almost unknowingly, in the way I used to do back when I was female...

“My name’s Morrigan Broin Irven Macha. Although you can call me Morrigan, or just Raven if you prefer, since that is my most distinguishing feature...” I grinned ruefully, and took his proffered hand in return.

“I am Tané Marré Ghéde.” He took a glance at me. “You can call me Tané.” He smiled coyly and cantered away, looking back at me. I gave a little wave before realising that I was checking him out...Old habits die hard it seems.

[Roy Karrde]

[color=pink] Adalia
[color=pink]~*~*~*~*~ Midway to Galloway ~*~*~*~*~

I winced and continued to close my eyes until I finished, the enjoyment of having the pressure relieved and that out of my system was completely off set by the feeling of embarrassment. We had stopped for dinner after several hours of riding and while some were cooking dinner and getting to know each other. Nature had called for me and I felt that I had even less control of holding it back then I did when I was a guy.

“Here.” Kalah handed over several leaves that didn’t exactly look sanitized. I gulped as my face turned an even deeper shade of red before I reached down and cleaned myself up. The rough pain of the leaves against the folds or what ever they were called began to draw tears to my eye. I threw them down in frustration and pain before fixing my robe and walking back to the group.

I emerged from the tree line and walked past the small area where our Caligrey’s were grazing over to the small hillside that everyone was pretty much sitting and getting to know each other. Deciding to try and give Kalah a bit of space, and not seeing my giant friend I summoned my courage and walked over to a dark skinned woman who was clothed in beautiful multi colored sashes. “May I sit down?” I asked her in a bit of a timid voice.

She glanced up at me and smiled a sweet smile before padding the grass next to her. “Sure, little one.” She spoke in a voice that seemed relaxed in nature. I sat down as graceful as I possibly could and prayed that I did it right. In the town I noticed that some of the animal like girls seemed to act so graceful and didn’t just plop down like I usually did as a boy.

“It’s hard being a girl..” I winced still having a bit of an abrasive pain in my lower regions from the improvised toilet paper. “I never knew it was this hard, oh my name is Ryan”

“Da.” She extended a hand, which I shook as quickly as possible. Being in this group made me feel even more of an outcast. Everyone, even Kalah, seemed so mature and grown up. It made me envious and long for my old body. “And do you mean you weren’t always a girl?”

My eyes darted away from her as my face grew a bit red. How could I explain this? How would I say something and it not come out weird? I began to turn my eyes back toward her, keeping them low and focused more on her waste line than actually meeting her gaze. “You see…” I stammered fumbling around for the correct sentence. With almost out warning a small gray mouse head poked out of one of the pockets in her garment. “Hello there!” I exclaimed thankful to the destraction.

I reached out with an open hand, bringing it slowly down to the same level as the small gray mouse. The mouse stuck its head out a bit further before finally scampering onto my open hand. “You’re so cute” I smiled bring my other finger up to stroke the underside of the mouse’s muzzle. The small thing bent forward to inspect my finger, it sniffed it a few times to see if it was okay. “Don’t worry I wont hurt you” I brought my finger forward as the mouse seemed to give no indication that it minded the finger.

Just mere centimeters away from its muzzle the mouse quickly jerked forward and sunk its teeth into my skin. I screamed out in pain as blood began to run down my fingertip while the mouse disappeared back underneath Da’s clothes. “I’m sorry, Snig has a mind of his own.” Da quickly apologized trying to find something to stop the bleeding. I kept my eyes focused on the wound on my index finger and began to rub my thumb against it. The warm sensation returned as my thumb stroked the wound and almost a light green glow seemed to surround it. Within an instant the glow faded and the small bite wound was gone.

“It’s just a little trick I know..” I smiled sheepishly to a shocked Da. Looking for a hasty escape out of the situation I quickly found Kalah cozying up to the Tiger man who had to be Matt. I quickly excused myself away from Da, getting up I moved over to where Kalah and Matt were snuggling up and pushed my way in-between them. “Five inches apart!” I sat down defiantly between them, acting as a buffer.

“Hello there princess.” Kalah grinned mischievously while messing up my hair.

“Don’t call me that!” I pouted my face growing red in embarrassment that she was calling me by my nickname in front of Matt. I shifted around uncomfortably as I instinctively patted my hair back down. Kalah shot a sideways grin at me before something soft and almost bushy came up and tickled my face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her tail trying to tickle my face. “Stop that!” I laughed giving in to a series of giggles from the tickling and moved away from trying to act as a buffer between her and Matt and trying to grab Kalah’s fast moving tail.

The game of catch the tail ended quickly, and with the realization that Kalah had used it to trick me while she gave Matt a quick kiss. I gave a quick and painful yank on Kalah’s tail to make her break the kiss before pushing my way back into the spot. “You’re not going to trick me again.” I grumbled bringing the hood up over my head.

“Are you hungry?” A familiar voice asked behind me. I turned to find my Giant friend standing over me holding out a few strips of beef. I nodded and slowly took one of the strips from his hand as he handed one to Kalah and Matt before walking away.

“Thanks” I spoke up as Kalah’s eyes went from me up to him, and then back as I slowly munched down on the dried strip of beef. The taste seemed to be almost like the kind of taco meat you would find at Taco Bell or something. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Kalah looking at me curiously while I finished eating the small strip. “Wha?” I asked wiping some of the stray strips of beef away from my mouth.

“You have a crush on him.” Kalah smiled, teasing me in a way that a mother would tease her daughter, or an older sister would tease a younger one. “You do!” She added as my face turned various shades of red as I recoiled backwards.

“I’m still a guy” I yelled back as I tried to rise to my feet, my legs shaky and my face mixed with blushing and shock. How dare she say I have a crush on another guy. I wasn’t gay, I didn’t like guys. I liked girls, that was why I was checking out girls back in town. Okay I wasn’t checking girls out, but in the next town I would. How dare her make some kind of accusation.

“Sure.” Kalah strung out the taunt as Matt just seemed to sit back in enjoyment. My face turned from embarrassment into anger at her taunt. I was still a guy, I liked girls, how dare she doubt me. “Pretty..” Kalah began the final taunt that would have caused me to throw myself at her in a violent rage. The only thing to save her was the sudden scream of a Caligrey.

The rest of the group rose in unison at the sound of the scream, in only a few seconds most of us had ran the quick distance to where we had left the Caligrey’s to graze. What we found was several-shocked Caligrey’s, and three horrendous spiders who seemed to be larger than a small one-story building. Each spider a color of black and red, with beady eyes, poison dripping from it’s maw, and large sacks swinging from it’s belly. “Diamond!” I yelled out to my Caligrey when I noticed that it had been the one attacked by the spiders. I had nicknamed it diamond due to the unique shape of white fur on the top of its head.

Diamond looked at me weakly from underneath the spider, who’s sack had already burst releasing thousands of tiny spiders that were crawling into diamond through various wounds and carrying meat and tissue to the large spider. “Get away from her!” I screamed grabbing my staff and running forward to attack the spider.

“Ryan, don’t” Kalah screamed some where off in the distance, I didn’t care, I had to save diamond. Halfway towards the spider, two large muscled arms reached down and lifted me into the air.

“It’s too late..” Matt whispered his voice low and full of sorrow. Diamond’s eyes began to grow cloudy before it finally uttered its last breath. The small spiders quickly over took it’s mouth and began to eat away at it while the other spiders waited to decide on what to attack next, the rest of the Caligrey, or us.

“Diamond.” My voice broke as tears threatened the edge of my eyes. All the while I was tossing and turning in Matt’s icy grip. I could still save her, I could, I had to. “Let me go!” I yelled in anger and continued to thrash me about as Matt held me back.

“We have to save the other Caligrey before the spiders eat them too.” Matt said coming back to us as he slung me over his shoulder. My body was just limp, Diamond was gone, I felt like I had just lost my pet, and yet I still wasn’t crying. I wouldn’t let them see me as weak or as a crybaby; I had to prove that I was still Ryan, that I was still twenty years old. Matt sat me down near the long earlobe man before returning back to the rest of the group. I didn’t look at him, I didn’t look anywhere except for down at my hands. I couldn’t even save Diamond, everyone else was going into battle and I just sat here useless. How was I any good to this group?

All right you guys can stop for the break, get a snack, and meet each other. If you want to go after the Spiders, that is fine just try not to kill all three before at least everyone or almost everyone has somewhat of a chance to fight them.

[Vulpix.ck87]

Marxiach

My eyes widened in horror as I saw the little girl’s Caligrey being ripped to shreds, devoured by the thousands of spiders that'd been birthed by the monstrous arachnids looming over us. From what I could tell, these spiders weren’t like any from my own world: in their masses they acted more like ants, shredding the skin of the creature with precise razor mandibles. And the spiders on my world weren’t twenty feet tall either.

I stepped forward with intentions to free the poor Caligrey as the girl struggled and fought against the tiger-man’s grip, but I heard the hybrid’s words: ‘It’s too late’, and I knew he was right. To save to creature now would be a cruelty in itself - it was mutilated now and bore little remaining skin. I held my gaze as many turned away, the Caligrey died an inevitable death and the spiders closed in to finish the job. The small girl was one of the few others to watch the fall, and I saw her go limp in the tiger’s arms at the sight. He retreated back with her, and as they fell back into rank, the girl looking tired and defeated, I strode forward, a new confidence and duty welling up inside of me.

This time I drew my sword without hesitation and I strode forwards boldy, then sped up as I neared them. With the last twenty metres remaining between me and the spiders, I then went into a full on dash, before hopping, skipping and leaping through the air over the swarms of baby spiders to land directly in front of one of the main adults. One enormous piercing leg slammed down to impale me, but I rolled to the side and swung my sword in an arc towards my attacker. The leg sliced clean off, the exo-skeleton’s chitin was thick and hardened, but had no defence against a honed blade. The severed leg slowly slid away, strings of juicy spider blood stretching from the dismembered hunk of leg to the remnants of the limb. Though my face remained stoic I heard a sneer in my head, or more so a snort of triumph. The sickening thought that a part of me was enjoying this revolted me. I ignored it and focused on what I must do.

Whilst more members of the group joined the battle and others led the Caligrey to safety, I kept on with my offensive attacks. One leg gone had done little to hinder the spider I was fighting - it was still so fast - and I raced to keep up with it, mostly staying beneath it’s own abdomen, out of sight. It swayed from side to side, trying to get to the small annoying creature underneath, and I found myself caught in a jumble of legs again. I swung my sword but to no avail, it did not connect with the spider lifting a leg just in time. Unfortunately for me it brought that leg hurtling back down in an attempt to stab me in the nose. I stumbled backwards and it missed me by millimetres, slashing me on the arm instead.

I snarled and backed away only to find my legs submerged in a sea of the minuscule spiders. As they bit my leather leg-bindings with no effect they seemed to learn a little something, and the next thing I knew they were swarming up to bite the unprotected flesh above my knees. I let out a small cry of pain, then gritted my teeth in defiance. I jigged and danced to get rid of the spiders, which must have looked rather peculiar as the battle raged around me, spider limbs flying everywhere and some indefinable magic crackling through the crisp afternoon air.

I frantically tried to brush the spiders from my thighs, hell, I was more than frantic - they were heading towards the vitals. It did no good and I stumbled and retired to using my weapon. Swishing my sword around myself was more effective than I ever could have hoped - as the stone sword met the slabs of natural rock in the grassy clearing sparks flew. The spiders scattered, and I gladly repeated the process, wearing deep lines into the surface of the rock. The spiders were scared of the sparks, if only I had something to light a fire with.. I looked around desperately for the campfire we had been using before the attack, felt at my waist for the tubes of fuel I had purchased earlier.. And then I realised that I had left my carrying pouch back on the hill with all the food. Crap.

“Anyone got a something to light?!” I yelled out, but no-one seemed to hear me. As Da, the exotic sash swathed woman ambled past, flinging spiders from her clothes and skin telepathically, I noticed a small whiskered nose push a tiny tankard out of one of the many recesses in her baggy clothing. I caught it before it hit the ground, opened it up and sniffed it. Recoiling at the heavy stench of spirits, I then licked my lips, and without further hesitation I let a solid stream of the colourless liquid flow out of the top and splash onto the ground in a rough ring around me. Da turned, saw me and screamed in horror waving her arms in a rather pointless fashion. For a moment I was certain I saw a look hate in her eyes, amidst the alarm..

With no time to waste I dragged my sword around myself again, watching the sparks fly. And then the alcohol suddenly flew up into a blaze, forming a protective ring of fire around myself . The spiders within this three metre radius either backed away or shrivelled up charred and dead. Unfortunately, the barely half-a-metre high flames didn’t bother the more gargantuan spiders one little bit, and they approached me once more. My thighs were now rid of spiders but tingled, a bloody mess. I stood there calmly and watched the spider lunge towards me, the seven legged monster that I had marked earlier as my prey. It leaped for me, and with mere split-seconds until it would reach me a raven swooped in and gouged at it’s many eyes, slicing them relentlessly with it’s talons. The spider would have howled if it had vocal cords but instead merely twitched it’s pedipalps with the sudden sensations of pain and frustration. As it staggered blindly I leapt through the wall of fire and plunged my sword straight up into it’s guts.

The spider fell, and I moved on, avoiding the skeleton corpse of a caligrey, feeling more than a little satisfied by the kill.


I know it was lame, leave me aloone ><

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

...Yeah, bruv, innit. xD

Tané Marré Ghéde
"So I'll be WISHY one day, and WASHY the next!"
-----------------------------------------

Tané's baser instincts screamed: JAY CHOU!!!!
Tané's conscience screamed: AAUGH!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Do you even KNOW who that IS?!
Tané's loa screamed: "Heheheh, he a masisi!"
(Which was really out of context, all things considered.)

Baron appeared riding sidesaddle on Tané's Caligrey, complete with spiritual glass of rum and a cigar too foul-smelling to be purely astral in nature. Keeping a carefully straight face, Tané said, "Well, actually, technically I'm not one, if you remember that inside, where it supposedly matters, I'm female, and I have every right to flirt with someone with looks like that, and you know-"

"How you know he not lady like you say you are?"

Tané covered his face with his hands. The premise of the whole convoluted theory had just hit home, and he really didn't feel like thinking the whole thing out; it would probably make his stomach hurt, as well as his head. In the very short space of a few hours, he was already somewhat wishing that his original personality would hurry up and quickly be taken over by the new one, and regretting that he had not put a more distinct specification for it in the form, back in the life.

Taking advantage of the situation, his Caligrey, which was one that had just graduated from being called a youngling by its elders to the less grudging appellation of rapscallion, decided to try its hoof at galloping free of its rider's control. It dashed ahead happily, ignoring Tané's exhortations for it to stop. The wild cackling of Baron was all Tané could hear as he clung onto the Caligrey's neck for dear life, and he was pretty certain he was about to be thrown clear off until a hand shot out and grabbed his reins, jerking on them and halting the excited creature.

There should have been magical shoujo sparkles when Morrigan said gallantly, "Having a little trouble here, are we?" and cantered off. Fortunately for anyone sane who was witnessing the scene, there were none - there was only wishy-washy old Tané with a ridiculously soppy look on his face.

"Ay, peche." Baron edged back into view, still smoking his cigar. As the scent of the cigar wafted into his nostrils, Tané snapped out of his daze, and back into his regular hangdog expression. "I goin tell you something good cos I likes you. It don matter what you be in dis world cos rules be differen here. In't wrong to be a masisi. Acourse I ain't no masisi cos I do's the lovely lady Brigitte, and it goin be hella difficule tellin dat to everybody we meets cos dey say, hey, you houngan he a masisi, you shoulda be one too. I doin you a favour here so you remember to be good."

Tané poured out a little special rum onto the bottlecap obediently, and watched as it evaporated in a matter of seconds, the fumes curling up and then finally disappearing; at the same time, Baron's glass refilled itself. "It don hurt to have some confidence once inna while, you know?"

A few hours on it was dinnertime. The little girl-mage seemed to be going to the toilet in the bushes again. Tané reflected absently that he was glad that he didn't have that handicap any longer, especially on bowleg-inducing journeys such as this.

And before he knew it, there were spiders. Spiders and a dead Caligrey. As the creature's scream died off into the twilight, Tané, hands gripping his staff raised defensively in front of him, saw what he had been expecting to see: the risen ghost of the Caligrey, the one with the white star on its forehead. It stared curiously in his direction, and then back at the remains of its body; it nodded to itself in a morose sort of manner, then glanced briefly at its rider, the upset girl-mage, as if wishing her good luck; then drifted off into the afterlife.

The buff tiger-man deposited the girl-mage beside Tané, probably figuring that the place where the wuss was would be the safest place to be. She seemed shell-shocked, and Tané, having been a girl before, knew that this was the part where she would either burst out crying, or hold it in.

"It's okay if you're going to cry, you know," Tané said to her, gloomily, as he watched the battle-ready members of their group fly out in full force. "I won't tell."
"I'm not crying!" she snapped back at him, frustrated. "I'm Ryan Lutz, and I'm twenty, and I'm NOT going to sit on my ass here and CRY!"
There was a classic stop-motion moment where Tané tried to connect the image of his large, extremely masculine friend with the little blonde girl currently perched next to him, and failed.
"I'm not useless," she continued, completely missing out on her companion's sudden silence. "I can... well... I can heal them... I can... hit them with my staff..." Here she faltered in her tirade. "I can... I know I can..."
"Yes, you can," Tané interrupted, with conviction. "Without you, we wouldn't be able to stay healthy enough to successfully murder gangs of evil spiders. Without you, this whole group of ragtag misfits wouldn't be working together half as well as they are now. ...And of course, without you, there wouldn't be anyone we could call Pretty Princess."
Ryan (Tané was going to have to get used to this) pouted at the last comment. "I'm NOT a Pretty Princess! And how do you know, anyway?"
Spunkiness is always the first sign of recovery... Tané thought to himself, and answered: "Well... now I'm Tané, but I used to be female... and I used to be called Yi-wen..."
"Oooooh! YI!" Ryan launched herself at Tané in a bear hug, which turned out more of a glomp as Tané was over a foot taller than her in their present forms.
Tané, grinning sheepishly, pared the little girl off himself and put her back down on the ground. "Yeah... so you wanna go heal somebody now? I think Marx is a little hurt... not that he looks like he needs the healing..."
"Sure thing," Ryan seemed almost back to her usual self, now. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to be a watchdog and look after the stuff. I'm used to these coolie jobs; anyway I wouldn't be any good in a real battle."
"Yes you would. You've got Baron. What you don't have is the confidence to use his powers. Come on, Yi, you could knock off one of those spiders with a little dark energy- I bet it's easy! Promise me you'll try?"
"Maybe..."
"PROMISE?" Ryan made herself as intimidating as possible, which rather backfired when Tané kept thinking of the term 'Pretty Princess'.
"Yes boss." Tané mock-saluted.
"Good! And now I think I'll- Oh no! My giant friend - he's in trouble-" She coloured becomingly.
"....Giant friend? He's not much taller than I am - oh wait. He IS in trouble... I don't think he knows how to handle that weapon of his really properly... ah, you've gone."

Tané watched the white-robed figure rush off to the aid of her friend. Then he sighed, and all the life seemed to go out of him. How was he going to summon Baron? Could he handle the power he felt when he first came into contact with Baron, the sheer crackling feeling of chaos, the pool of endless darkness ready to be moulded-

"Getchore act together, peche," Baron hissed in his ear. "I don think you ready for me yet, so I be givin you my Nibo. You treat him good, like you treat me."

It was then that a new voice came to him, jokey and earthy; yet still with a tinge of the sensual and the knowing, the joyless and the sombre, and the hue of mortality that distinguished the Ghéde from all other loa. It was song, and it was Ghéde Nibo: Nibo of the youth, Nibo of the foreplay, Nibo the watchdog - and it was all Ghéde Nibo.

"Ay there, masisi," said Ghéde Nibo, with a smirk and a tip of his snazzy hat. "You know what to do. You a houngan."

So everyone keeps telling me... But Tané bit his lip, and reached in, and pulled out.

A spiderling signalled to its siblings, and they made for the lone man on the hill, who was so foolish as to stay by himself when everyone else fought in tight-knit groups. Scurry scurry scurry up the hill over the grass over the rocks - and a flash of teeth of a black dog, tongue lolling, breath flecking - and three spiderlings were smashed against the flint; pressing on hurry hurry hurry over the ground over the weeds, and soon a scraping of something colourless, a claw reaching out, and there were still less spiderlings; coming now in droves sally sally sallying up, further, just a little more, and the black jaws coming fast, fierce, snapping quick...

lunging...

...and the sac of a spider, engaged in battle with the others, burst in a flurry of spiderlings, each detonating separately before it could reach the ground.

Ghéde Nibo, the watchdog, smirked and smirked as he used Tané's hands to douse his face with rum, rubbing it in hard, ignoring the smarting in Tané's eyes; not a little trickled between his teeth and down his throat, and you may be assured that it was intentional.
--------------------------------------
masisi = less than polite term for homosexual
...No, my battle posts do not make much sense.

[Plantae]

=Dadrielaneianeneenalefenarwanewenelgelafonesavoue nretaliondauelvehliga =

The woman so casually named Da was, quite simply, drinking more and more by the minute. After being gleefully amused by Snig's sadistic tendencies and subsequent nibbling of one Adalia- she had excited herself so much as to be sneaking sips of gin. Well, sips were an understatement. They were gulps, and chugging, and a flask was almost gone and wasted- and so was Neena.

Her voice was slurred, and when there were Calligrey screams and spiders in fighting- she was a bit doodling in her movement. The way she walked was a tragic gait now, swaying side to side like a top, and threatening with each step to tumble to the ground. Luckily- or possibly unfortunately for the future- Elvehli was quite a violent... intoxicated person.

So when her toddling ways and manner made there way downwards the hill, to spiders devouring and one dead- she would swing her handbag amidst her frantic running about. For there were spiders on her. Oh yes- spiders everywhere, biting, and she was flinging them to the wind like pieces of confetti. And then they rained when the fires blazed, and the spiders groaned of pain. Vehl grew sick of them, tried a patented stop, drop, and roll- and they were more or less snuffed out, or, to say more nicely, crushed. She was quite hateful of that dreadful boy who had stolen her nearly empty flask.

But then she was atop a Calligrey. She had not a faintest idea how the bucking monster had suddenly found itself with her strapped in the saddle, or how she was making it ride towards the already frantic pitch of battle- but she was and it was and she giggled and nearly fell off. With a hand and an eye less than accurate, she loosed a few stray rocks upon the large spiders and could only smile when they missed entirely.

"Hipf the dahm thinks! Strikpf trutpe!"

And then another, and by such a kindly coincidence of luck- there was a small spider dead, in the thousands (or so it appeared to Arwan who saw in double). She did notice that one stone had killed a couple (or at least one and its mimics, in her obscured vision). She rejoiced, and then she realized she had not grip on the reins.

This brings us again full circle, for when Laneia fell, she was, more or less, drunk on her ass.

In violent protest from the woman who had just gotten herself relentlessly dirtied, she yelled in fury. "Bastarpf spi- spyf- arachnids! Cursh yeu alk!"

She sat, fuming, in the midst of what was serious business. So, naturally, it was not long before a myriad of small forms rushed again over her and she raised her arms in fear and rolled around in her histrionics. She rolled downhill, far, far, and struck the leg of a much more sizable beast.

Here lay it, she thought as she looked up at a gaping pair of fangs and she nearly cried in horror. The horrendous thing towered, and then it began to strike. And then, instead of flesh, was a rather light rock, for not to spoil a diet, in its maw. And then there were several rocks, pelting its head, and a very irritated ten-foot behemoth. It hissed at Wene, who quailed and then chucked another. She kept it at bay a considerable time as one of her flasks of oil came dancing above it and sprinkled its contents with a prance. And then she was out from under it and doing what little her talents prescribed: fleeing.

She was towards the almost dying light again, the gin fire. She would have paused on any other day to lament the gin lost. Oh, precious alcohol. She tried to comfort herself mentally that the chocolate was good yet, un-melted- but the gin! Dear gin, sweet gin- she devoted herself that moment to the annoying of a certain Marx. It was by eavesdropping she'd learned the name, or more of chance, for she had lost control of her Calligrey earlier and caught it in the process. Not like a horse at all, she had concluded after she kicked it. No, typically horses merely went faster when you prodded them, not galloped headlong at a pace that left their rider behind. No sir, thought Onda. And then she was crossing her fingers, toes, arms, head, any place she could- and forcing it with kinesis too if they would not bend quite- and jumping over the candle, yes Da jump over the candlestick/smoldering-ring-of-flames indeed.

She was through and she heard the bewailing cry of a spider combusting- less than spontaneously. And then she sat, as the fire finally went out, and took a taste of the ashes. Surprisingly- to Nar- they did not taste like gin. Quite frankly, they tasted like burnt grass and, well, soot. "Ipf was worf ith."

And then the vicious cycle continued. She so nearly fainted numerous times as she dashed, pace-like back and forth, trying to dislodge more dark forms from her body. The legs, she concluded, were the worst part. Not because they crawled, but because they crept- crept indeed and instilled in Lefen a sense of piety for someone who might exterminate these critters. Yes, Nelg decided- what they needed were exterminators. With that miraculous innovation, she had consequently, and definitely temporarily, exhausted her telekinesis with dottily tossing all those creatures. Clarity was returning to her now, the alcohol being fumigated by all this wheezing smoke, and her in need of food for thought. The philosophic sort of sustenance, if you will. So she took out a bag of chocolate marbles, popped a few in her mouth and chewed. Yes, how she chewed- masticated them with force, deadly force, like the chocolate had insulted her clothes. It had, she even told herself, for she needed it to get down her throat all the faster. And then she dropped a marble, and it rolled- chocolate in all, to rest in a far-gone position. It was down and out of sight, and though she was no genius she had a proposition.

She grabbed her kit of herbal remedies, a random vial and nearly tripped over herself to get to a body of a second Calligrey. This was the only remaining egg sac, the last spider occupied and the other fully hatched. It was soon to burst, so she took the initiative and pulled off the stopper... she poured it all over the poor bird-mount's corpse and she backed away, dizzy, to wait. And then she tripped, luckily without damaging the glass objects about her person. It did give off a loud "jingle!"

And then the sacs were open and silly scurrying spiders slithering, eating scrumptious sustenance from the Calligrey. But then they were dying, oh yes, spluttering and speechless and falling dried like husks. And then all the eggs were open, and all the spiders and all their spider compatriots from then flat and lifeless. Aneia had exposed herself to too much of the poison, though, and the alcohol was being secondly processed. With a small victory, and poison splashed on her own person (for any spiders finding her here to bite would meet a similar fate to their kin), she fainted, lights out, black unconscious mind of a girl. With a fitful utterance in her sleep she muttered, "Nopf theg booze! Noo!"

=====

[Doomy_McDoomdoom]

Matt smiled as he cuddled next to Kalah. Granted, they had both changed drastically; but it was never simply a physical relationship. He cared about who she was, and she was still Kalah, which was the only thing that was important. Matt found himself entirely lost in his thoughts and sickeningly infatuated with Kalah, when suddenly a rather adorable little girl wedged herself between the hulking body of Matt and Kalah’s feminine figure. She proclaimed something about space between the two of them and then sat down and look rather affectionately at Kalah. Kalah smiled and called the little girl “Princess” Princess? Is this that Ryan guy that Kalah always talks to?

“Ryan?” The little girl turned and looked quizzically up, way up, at Matt. Matt smiled down, “Ryan! A pleasure to meet ya buddy!” With that, Matt reacted as he usually would when meeting someone he had been acquainted with while sitting, Matt reached back and gave Ryan a hearty slap on the back in a manly fashion. Unfortunately, he had not considered his increased strength and Ryan’s assumed decreased size, and he sent Ryan forward a little bit and plopped him on the floor in front of the bench area that Kalah and he were sitting on.

Ryan looked rather agitated as he climbed back up and Matt smiled sheepishly at his own clumsiness. “Sorry dude…oh sorry for calling you a dude…well, do you want to be called a dude?…” Matt just shied away from this obviously awkward conversation and went to saddle up his “Large Beast of Doom” as many referred to it. It appeared to be something of a war mount from every appearance, simply lacking the heavy armor that is typically required of one. However Matt flung himself on top with a great heave that even shocked the beast a bit. Matt had felt immense while he was simply standing on the ground, he felt gigantic when he stood near anyone, and now on top of this gargantuan reptilian being, he was nothing short of titanic.

“We ride.” He chuckled at his incredibly nerdy reference, though he guess that no one would quite get the reference.

They rode for quite a while, Kalah next to him the entire way, they simply rode next to each other in near silence, just still glad that they found one another. The happiness seemed unbroken, even by the confusion of the situation and the random outbursts by the rather protective Ryan, but the forests in the distance trembled as something moved towards them.

Matt glanced off to the side, it was an odd feeling, a sense he had that something was wrong. He tried to shrug it off as nothing, but his mind wouldn’t let him, something was out there, and that something wanted to slaughter everyone he was with…

It wasn’t long at all before the trees parted and revealed 3 monstrous spiders, each wielding a sack that swung from below their underbellies. One leaped forward and landed on the ground before the resting group and their unsuspecting mounts. Ryan’s mount was the first to be struck by the spider, the spider swept down with one of its legs and slashed open the side of Ryan’s creature, and it wailed in pain, falling over and lying under the obviously predatory spiders. But, entirely unexpected by Matt, the sac burst and released thousands of tiny spiders onto the body of “Diamond” as Ryan worriedly screamed in regards to his fallen pet. The spiders swarmed the warm flesh of Diamond and began to tear large hunks of it off and bring it back towards the larger main spider. Ryan attempted to rush towards the creature, but Matt quickly reached down and gripped him/her by the shoulders and held him/her firmly in place, not letting Ryan move in the least.

“It’s too late Ryan, Diamond’s gone and you can’t throw your life away over it.”

Matt could see Death take its icy grip on Diamond, and the beast was dead. Ryan was hurt deeply by this, the same way Matt knew he would if he had lost a pet.

“Leave the battling to the big guys…”

Matt released Ryan’s shoulders gently and began walking at a slow pace towards the most forward of the spider beasts. He was mad now, there was a lot that Matt could tolerate, but the death of a rather adorable animal was not among those things. It took the feeding spider only a few moments to notice that Matt was making his way toward the beast. The beast roared in its insect-like manner and flung its body back rocking the sac and sending a spray of baby spiders towards Matt, who simply put up his arms and generated one of his energy shields and counter the onslaught and the babies simply hit the shield and sizzled as a bug would against a bug zapper. With that Matt parted his arms and shattered the shield, sending energy shards towards the spider and lodged a few of them in one of its eyes and sent it shrieking back.

Matt noticed Kalah had moved next to him and joined him in battle. With the spider on its hind legs Kalah took the opportunity to fling her force at it, sending the spider end over end and landing it on its back. Matt leapt into the air, but with the added strength in his legs, Matt entirely overshot the spider and landed on the other side of it, in front, standing right in front of the head. Matt reached back and delivered a punch as hard he could muster into the front of the spiders face, or as much of a face as a spider could have. Now, Matt had been a boxer, he had been a member of clubs, but this was quite a blow. The spider shrieked and became airborne once again, flying end over end towards the rest of the group and their animals.

While the creature was still airborne Matt began running as fast as he could towards where he anticipated the creature to land. It came crashing down directly before Matt’s mount and laid writhing for awhile. Matt eventually reached the spot, well before the spider showed any signs of getting up, but before he could deliver another blow, Matt’s “Giant Beast of Doom” bent down and took a large bite out of the spider, leaving it nothing more than a steaming, gurgling pile of ooze.

[Bulbasaur4]

[size=1][font=tahoma]Ryien
.: half-breed | F :.

[color=royalblue]

I could only sigh as Ryan worked his way in between Matt and me, focusing on the fact that we should not sit so close together. I managed to trick Ryan for a sneak little kiss upon Matt (which was rather difficult, considering his height) and afterwards, poor Ryan was sent to the ground. Matt looked a little sheepish at accidentally pushing the small, little-girl form of Ryan upon the ground. It was more amusing to hear Matt stumble over his words for he didn’t know if Ryan should be considered a “dude” or not. Retreating, Matt meandered off to his massive creature companion which left Ryan and me alone.
Ryan and I exchanged a few words and the group managed to dispatch a few times and then reform together. Regardless of what happened, a scream filled the air and caught everyone’s attention.
Turning my head about (for I was about to inquire to the heavily-eared male as to who they were), my eyes widened in shock at the sight of Ryan’s Caligrey being ripped to shreds by tons of spiders. Three large spiders were around the body of the Caligrey, while their spawn… their little spider children, ate and tore flesh from the body and brought it back to their elders. Ryan gave a cry and charged at them, hoping to perhaps do something… but luckily Matt caught a hold of him and prevented him from going any further. I didn’t pay attention to what they said, but rather I focused upon the spiders. Usually I would have not been so angered- for predators will always look and kill their prey. Just how a lion hunts the young antelope of the safari, so does any other predator. Yet… these spiders were different. They didn’t seem too natural… for they almost whispered- or seemed to be enchanted or hold some sort of power that most feral predators did not.
“Squeeee! Ryieeen… Ryiiieeen… please help me!” A little voice suddenly shrieked into the air, to which I swiftly narrowed my eyes and saw a little blackened figure of fluff clawing at the ground. It was my little Gryphon friend, Tako. He must have been upon the ground- perhaps sleeping, like he seemed to like to do- when he must have been ambushed by the tiny spiders. They obviously must have assumed that he was weak, considering his size and such… and now he couldn’t rise into the air. I narrowed my eyes and charged straight towards Tako just as one of the tiny spiders bit into his flesh upon his back. Tako gave out another cry, unable to shake any of them off as he looked at me in terror. I reached him swiftly and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. Yanking him up, I swatted the small spiders off of him with my hand… shivering a bit as I did so (for they reminded me of scarabs.) After brushing all of them off, I swiftly ran towards two figures- the one with large adorned earrings and Ryan. Small spiders followed me… but I swiftly turned about and tried to step on one. I had Tako tucked in my arms, so it took a while but then another member of the group suddenly came to me and took care of the spiders with a few swoops of their ability.
“Thanks…” I said, and they just nodded and ushered me to go onwards. So I cantered over to Ryan, setting Tako by his feet.
“Here… since you cannot fight, you must heal. Please heal Tako for me- he was bitten by a spider. Also, keep watch over him so he doesn’t get into any more trouble, will you?” I said, looking down at Ryan with a small smile upon my face. Ryan seemed absolutely delighted to be allowed to watch over the small Gryphon and he eagerly nodded.
“Thank you, Pretty Princess.” I said quietly, taking a hand and ruffling his…erm…her hair. Ryan scowled slightly, but his attention was diverted when Tako gave a whimper of pain. I then gave a nod to him and dashed off.

In the distance, I saw Matt attempting to take on one of the larger spiders. Narrowing my eyes, I watched as a few of the smaller spiders sought to take advantage of his diverted attention.
“Oh no you don’t…” I said to myself quietly, as I ran towards him and concentrated hard. I knew I had the power to control… whatever it was that was triggered by my emotions. I didn’t feel as if it was one explosive power, but as if I had many… different types of vectors that seemed to almost reach out and do my bidding. I concentrated on those small spiders that attempted to crawl up Matt’s leg, and I watched in amazement as some unseen force seemed to swat them off. The blows were not that powerful, and the spiders continued to try to crawl up his legs. (Not to mention I occasionally missed the spiders all together and ending up leaving ‘slap’ like marks upon his legs.)
“I want to squish them… squuuiiish them…” I thought, narrowing my eyes as I attempted to concentrate further. With out further ado, suddenly the spiders were no longer being slapped off… but it was as if someone was taking a rather large hammer and started squashing the spiders one by one. Their guts squished onto Matt’s legs (and some were squished upon the ground) and left their stained blood (and some body parts) upon his leg, stuck there. Of course… I, on occasion, accidentally missed my “squishes” and ended up smacking Matt with a small hammer-like force upon his leg. Matt seemed to grit his teeth as he attempted to try to fend off the larger spider, and I focused my attention away from the baby spiders and looked to the larger one. I wasn’t sure if Matt needed much help or not, but I figured I could attempt to try. Everyone else in the area seemed to be discovering that they had their own abilities which to fend off and kill the other two spiders (and the swarm of baby ones), so helping Matt seemed to be the easiest. Looking at the large momma-like spider, I attempted to try to slap the thing away- like I had done to Matt so many times. However, all I ended up doing was slapping the spider in the face like a little girl would do if insulted. The spider gave a grunt-like cry of annoyance, turning to look at me.
“Ewwww… it does look like a scarab!” I thought which sent shivers down my spine. I then swore that I heard Matt – or some one- suddenly shout ‘scarabs!’ which reminded me of the time I went on that ride that had pretend bugs. That was a really freaky ride. Of course, all these thoughts about bugs suddenly seemed to weld up inside of me… which caused me to freak out even more when the spider opened up its jaws. All I could think about was ‘scarab!’
“Guhhhheeeeeeee!!!” I gave a scream, closing my eyes and holding up my hands by my face. I heard another cry from the monster, and I literally felt Matt leave the ground and jump into the air. After a few seconds, I realized that I was still alive and I had not felt the ‘jaws of doom’, so I looked. Surprisingly, the spider seemed to have been knocked away several yards by an ‘unseen force’ when it had gone up on its haunches, and Matt had jumped as well. At least, Matt seemed to have jumped on his own.

I stood there, watching… and I was simply dumbfounded at one point. Here, Matt and sent the spider a ways away and near his ‘creature of doom’ that he had been given to ride. I half expected the creature to run away like the Caligrey had been doing… however, the creature of doom merely looked at the spider and seemed to go “meh” and then it took a huge gaping bite out of the thing. My eyes widened and I believe that silence almost filled the air… as a few more party members seemed to gape at the sight. The creature was… eating the spider!!
“That… is disgusting…” I murmured, looking about to see that the rest of the spiders had been killed or chased off.


After everything was settled, the group decided it was best to hop onto our Caligrey (and the creature of doom) and attempt to make it to the city. That way we wouldn’t have to risk getting eating alive by spiders or encountering any more foes for tonight. A few of the party members in our group seemed a bit tired while others almost seemed pleased or happy to have come across a battle. (One of the members seemed a bit drunk and perturbed that their booze was gone.)
“I must make a point to get everyone’s names at one point or another…” I commented softly aloud, looking about. I looked to Ryan, who had come up to me with Tako in his arms. Tako gave me a smile and instantly fluttered out of Ryan’s arms and upon my shoulder.
“He’s all healed up!” Ryan said with a girly satisfaction, which caused me to smile slightly.
“Good, thank you Ryan.” I then glanced about, watching as everyone seemed to mount their Caligrey and I frowned at the realization that Ryan no longer had a ride. Ryan seemed to frown a bit and he looked as if he might burst into a fit of tears again. A slight hint of agitation came to my mind at the thought of someone crying again, and so I swiftly patted Ryan upon the head. “How about you ride on my Caligrey? You can ride with me… unless…” I looked over to Matt, who was sitting on his ‘beast of doom’ and looking quite proud of himself. He saw me glancing in his direction and gave a cheerful wave. I chuckled slightly at his boyish enthusiasm and looked back to Ryan. “… Unless you’d rather ride with Matt on his… doom creature thing.” With that, Ryan glanced in Matt’s direction as well and instantly shook his head in a furry.
“That thing might eat me.” He commented with a quiver and I instantly laughed.
“Alright then… my Caligrey it is.”

[Roy Karrde]

[color=pink] Adalia
[color=pink]~*~*~*~*~ On The Road Again ~*~*~*~*~

I began to close my eyes again, concentrating to the point that only my hand existed in a universe in utter darkness. My hand was the focal point of all life and energy, I had to push that energy, push it out and forward to guide it. My hand began to tingle again as it glowed a light green color. I could feel Tako squirm lightly in my arms as the energy in my hand transverse the small space between myself and his wounds. The molecules of energy lightly knitting together his wounds. The small gryphon gave a small whimper as the energy finished its job.

My eyes fluttered open slightly to see my Giant Friend next to me. Yi had pointed him out after giving me a small pep talk that I was grateful for. I could morn for Diamond later, right now I had a job to protect Tako, and I wasn’t going to let him die like Diamond did. “Are you okay back there?” My Giant Friend asked, glancing behind only for a second as metal balls swung around his wrists and picked off small spiders.

I gave a short nod as I cuddled Tako in my arms like a baby. “We’re both good.” I smiled only slightly. It felt good to smile, to let the pressure off of my shoulders from Diamond’s death and relax. We were going to win this battle and that only increased my feeling of safety. Matt was doing his job as the hero of the group and we were all helping out. It felt as if we could take anything on no matter what came our way.

I began to make my way over to Kalah once the battle was finished and it was safe to come out of my Giant Friend’s shadow. “He’s all healed up!” I grinned adding a bit of enthusiasm at a job well done to my voice. Kalah ruffled my hair a bit as I lowed my head in a bit of a sheepish grin while Tako fluttered back to Kalah.

“Good, thank you Ryan.” She congratulated me as others began to mount their Caligrey’s. I bit my lip slightly and started to look around wondering what I was going to do. I crossed my arms more in an effort to hold back tears as I realized I could be left behind. I didn’t have a ride and I would be a waste on the group from now on. “How about you ride on my Caligrey? You can ride with me…unless…” Kalah chirped up as her gaze fell on Matt who was mounting his own monster.

Matt waved at us and gave a toothy tiger grin when he noticed we were looking over at him. “…Unless you’d rather ride with Matt on his… doom creature thing.” She asked as I eyed the creature before shuddering and shaking my head as fast I could. I was bite size now. That thing could eat me in one chomp.

“That thing might eat me.” I said echoing my own thoughts, as Kalah laughed before pulling me up with strength that almost made me feel quite helpless in her grip. Was I really that weak now? “Alright then… my Caligrey it is.” She picked up the reigns of the animal and gave it a slight jerk as I pressed myself against her back and wrapped my arms almost all the way around her. I would have been able to fully wrap my arms around her just they were too short to completely make it.

The ride seemed smooth enough this time around; everything was peaceful and almost restful as we crossed the open fields that led us towards Galloway. A few hours after our battle, as the sun scorched high overhead at what had to be around five pm if we were still on Earth. A small group of wild Caligrey rode up next to us and began to speak with their own kind. I noticed some younger kind in their herd, one of which rode up near Kalah and myself. She took notice of the smaller one and glanced back at me as I slowly reached out and pet it. The baby Caligrey licked my fingers in return and I let out a giggle that surprised even myself.

The other wild Caligrey began to pull away and continued to run with majestic beauty. I snuggled close to Kalah and watched them run. Almost with out thinking I drew in breath and began to sing. “..A whole new world, a hundred thousand things to see, I’m like a shooting star, I’ve come so far, I can’t go back to where I used to be.” I sang with a voice more beautiful than anything I had ever heard before. The lyrics coming from a song that I sang with my sister when Tony and I had karaoke night.

I shifted my head away from the wild Caligrey to notice my giant friend watching me with his mouth open in shock. I grinned slightly and waved at him with a free hand as he found the words to speak. “Ryan?” He asked in disbelief. I nodded as realization struck me, only one other person would know that I knew that song, either Tony or Samantha, and Samantha was at school when I signed up for the RPG.

“Tony?” I asked as he nodded back in shock.

“You’re, You’re… a girl!” He shouted in shock while letting go of his reigns accidentally. The sudden shout and the release of the reigns caused his Caligrey to buck in shock before shooting forward with an amazing burst of speed.

“Tony!” I yelled as our group tried to follow him. It took a little while and a bit of Matt’s creature grabbing on to the tail of Tony’s Caligrey, along with a few spells and abilities from everyone else. The ride began to go smoother after that as I slowly began to lean my head against Kalah’s back. Everything seemed so peaceful, the slow rhythmic movement, the soft breeze blowing across the grassy fields. I let out a soft sigh as I closed my eyes and slumped against her back.

Off in the distance I could hear some one say, “Here let me take her.” Yet everything seemed so distant and fading. My body was limp and relaxed as I could feel arms move around me as I was moved onto another person’s Caligrey.

“So warm..” I mumbled in a trance like state as I curled up against the chest of who ever was holding me and slipped into the nice comfort of sleep.

With a jolt I was awoken to find that it was much darker around me. The sun was just slipping below the horizon as I glanced around to see that our surroundings had changed from what had been that of a grassy field to that of a ancient city. “You’re finally awake.” Tony spoke up as I looked up to see his face. My face warmed to a bright red when I realized I had been sleeping in his arms this whole time. “We’re going to drop off our Caligrey next to the hotel.” He pointed out as he allowed me to drop down on my feet to the muddy ground. While his Caligrey was taken to a pen. I looked over and found Matt and Kalah, along with Yi and the others as they started to walk into the two-story hotel. With nothing else to do I took out my bag of Mananite and followed them in.

The first story of the hotel was a large bar like restaurant full of tables and half-breeds while the humans were all pushed into a small corner of the place. The second story was connected by a staircase that led upwards to rooms with four beds in each. From what was being mention I could pick up that there were two bathrooms on the second story, one for girls and one for boys of course. “Have a nice nap?” Kalah asked as Tako jumped into my arms. I nodded slightly before stifling a light yawn.

“The mananite we got off of the spiders should be enough to pay for tonight.” Yi commented while Matt walked over and ordered us two rooms. I took a second to look over our group, with that one woman with the mouse that bit my fingers, the guy with the blood red eyes that scared me, the other guy who seemed so wild and untamed. And of course there was Matt, Kalah, Tony, and myself.

“We should get a snack and then head to bed.” Kalah commented while Matt handed her a key and then one to Yi before throwing an arm around her in comfort.

“So which room are you sleeping in?” He asked me as I cuddled Tako in my arms.

I glanced up at Kalah with a smirk and then moved in between her and Matt. “There is no way I am letting you make any moves on my big sister.” I laughed before pushing away from them and running upstairs to our room. Already my bladder again was aching for release while my stomach growled for nourishment too. Yet I wanted to get a shower or bath or what ever in first before eating. Kalah opened the door to the room for me before disappearing away to most likely where ever Matt was.

I shrugged not caring seeing how they wouldn’t do anything in public anyway. I slowly shut the door and noticed towels sitting on each of the four beds along with nightgowns and pajamas for the boys and girls respectively. I allowed Tako to jump down onto my bed as I slipped out of my robe and grabbed a towel. “C’mon lets go” I motioned for Tako while wrapping the towel around my waste. As I began to leave the room my eye caught the gleam of a reflection off of a full-length mirror on one side of the room.

I turned and looked at my self, no longer would I see the tall handsome man in the mirror, now all I was, was a young girl with golden hair and budding chest. With a sigh I turned away from the reflection and snuck across the hallway into the boy’s bathroom. The bathroom had a small box that seemed to have pipes connected underneath; I would venture a guess that the box with the hole on top of it was the toilet. While the buckets of warm water above it served as water to fill the tub that was no bigger than a kiddy pool.

At first I winkles by nose at how unsanitary everything seemed, before the realization struck me that this was it, this was what we would have to make do with from now on. “Is everything okay?” Tako chirped up in my arms. I nodded and slowly allowed him to stand on the ground as I began to fill up the tub with water. This was all we had, we would just have to make do with it.

[Vulpix.ck87]

THANK GOD!

Marxiach

I had supposed that the ride had had some wear on me because, at the end of the day, I felt like absolute shit. The riding had been easy going, the Caligreys took care of us and, as the dusk settled in, they even managed to lull the smallest of our party to sleep. Nevertheless, by the time we reached our destination - a small hotel in an ancient, rustic city - my temple pounded at every clop of hoof, my sides were rigid with what I assumed was fatigue and my chest and limbs were seizing up with a dull aching cramp. And yet even though my mind was weary, I found my eyes drifting upwards as Morrigan swung down from his Caligrey, the true epitome of grace. Mmm.. I thought and mentally slapped myself before pulling my entranced eyes away. Damn it.

Quit oggling, get moving, I told myself, and confidently went to hop off my horse as the enviable Morrigan had done. And yet.. Instead of dismounting in that most admirable of manners that I had envisioned, my foot caught on the left stirrup and I tumbled off the unfortunate Caligrey in a tangle of sore and aching limbs. And though a small spot of luck aided me in planting my two feet firmly on the ground, my right leg buckled and I hit the dirt. Hard. A small cloud of dust rose to envelop me.

Despite the flailing and the dust and the minor ‘oof!’ I uttered, no-one really seemed to notice, and I took this opportunity of privacy to try and untangle myself from the Caligrey’s riding gear and, well, the rest of myself. Unhooking my left arm from behind my back, my foot from my mouth, and mostly coming out of my twisterish stature, I proceeded to tug at my right leg, the adjoining foot being attached to the Caligrey by a mess of straps and cords. And with my leg being in the vertical position it was in (not to mention being about two inches from my nose) I finally happened to notice the small bud of a septic looking blemish that had erupted from one of the spider bites. It had a nasty blue-black tinge to it surrounded by a burning crimson flare, and as I stared at it engrossed it glared back at me. No, it didn’t look too good at all. I reached out to prod it (a good poke always being a satisfactory diagnosis of minor wounds and afflictions) but was halted by a voice.. That voice. I looked up to see him standing there, him inevitably being Morrigan.

“Are you alright down there?” He called jovially, and proffered a hand down to me. I felt my eyes twitching up at him, and over him, past his still hovering hand.. I blushed, and cursed myself. Not a girl! You can’t think those kind of things anymore..!

“Im ok, just a bit tense after the riding..” I said gruffly, and I pushed myself up instead of accepting his offer. He looked a little bit put out as I struggled solely to my feet. When I finally managed it I stood straight-backed and defiant, and I stared at him, a stare that was meant to be a ‘see, I’m ok!’ look but came out more as a ‘grrr, I’d like to disembowel you’ expression. He frowned, and turned away, with an ‘oh, alright then..’, and I slumped a little with exasperation, nearly swaying myself off of my feet again.

I would have felt bad about Morrigan, but I suddenly realised I was trembling from head to foot, not that I was cold or anything, no, I was quite warm, I was burning up in fact. I tugged at my collar and winced. Crap, what was this? My stomach felt so weak, my limbs were like lead, and I couldn’t believe it was just from the riding. Every time I put weight on my right leg it felt like more-than-metaphorical pins and needles were giving me a good old stab down there, only with kebab sticks and skewers for substitutions instead. Jeesus..

“But no, be the stoic warrior, be an ass to the only near-friend type person you’ve got here..” I grumbled at myself as everyone else walked inside, and I was left alone on the street.

I walked indoors slowly, pretending I was taking my time by choice, pretending my leg didn’t hurt like hell. It was no-one else’s concern, I told myself. The front desk was empty of my fellow travellers by the time I got there. The attendant there informed me that he’d already given my room key to the lavender haired boy, or ‘Mr Ghede’ as he had introduced himself. I nodded, and made my way up the stairs, more-so dragging myself up and along the banister than making progressive headway with my feet.

I found my room at last, unlocked but empty. I supposed ‘Mr Ghede’ had gone to get some food first, and (as there were three beds) I figured he’d taken my other roommates with him. That suited me just fine, all I wanted to do was-

“Huh-Ooooaeh!”

-vomit all over the floor.

I stared at the mess fuzzily, and winced as the wave of pins and needles stung it’s way up through the rest of my person, stabbing around my circulatory system. And my respiratory system. And a few other systems too, just for fun.

You know, maybe you should have mentioned this to someone-

“Shut up.” I retaliated, bitter and nauseated, to my conscience. But it was right, of course.

I felt myself sway and swoon, my ankles and legs simply going slack it would seem, and all of a sudden gravity was catching up with me. I felt the solid Thud as my head connected with the bed post. I saw the trickle of blood meander out in front of my vision, settling amongst the dust in the rivets of the oaken floorboards beneath me. I saw the door open, emitting people more than a few seconds too late to catch me. Two pairs of rugged man feet in man shoes entered the room, two man type voices were talking, and then everything stopped oh-so very suddenly. I wondered groggily if they had noticed little old Marxy laying down here on the floor. Silly Marxiach, floor hugging again.

“MurdeeeR!” One voice cried, coupled with a synchronous gasp of horror, whilst the other person hastily knelt down beside me. The last thing I saw (and Marxy wasn’t complaining, no he wasn’t) was Morrigan’s concerned face, and then I slipped off into fuzzy-wuzzy-land. With a big dumb grin on my face.

Not dead, just spider poisoned and bumped on the head and I think he’s gone craaa-zee.

[Emotional Faun Chiko-sai]

A very lousy post. ><;;;

Tané Marré Ghéde
"Minor Swing"
---------------------

When Tané woke up he was sprawled on the hillside. His eyes were smarting, all he could smell was alcohol, and there was promise of a hangover, as the most the shaman usually drank, both in his present state and former state, was the odd can of beer and sometimes, if he was lucky, Bailey's Irish Cream. (OOC: like chocolate milk...)
Some sort of disgusting dry slime seemed to be coating his tongue. He tried moving it, but the slime must have cut off all neurons that responded directly to his brain, because it wouldn't move. At least not in the direction he wanted it to, anyway.
He tried a hand. It worked. Good.
Approximately ten minutes later he managed to sit up completely. He was aching all over - what the hell had Nibo been doing with his body...? Flashes of black energy echoed briefly through Tané's mind; a dog with many heads, teeth, claws. The 21-spiced rum was fogging his vision, and no wonder: the forlorn bottle next to him, propped against the staff, was almost empty. He'd have to get a refill at the next town.

The foxy lady, passing him, winked a little suggestively, and drawled, "You'll have to teach me dancing one day."
Tané blinked. "I was dancing?"
She giggled. "With the staff - like this" - she made a few rapid, bawdy movements - "absolutely wonderful."
She walked off, still giggling, while Tané cradled his head in his hands for the umpteenth time that day.

The Caligrey ride to Galloway was uneventful, except that every time Tané's Caligrey went over a loose stone or uneven ground, he felt as if his head was about to split open. This was not helped by Baron, who had obligingly reappeared, riding sidesaddle again, and seemed to be enjoying giving him an unwanted lecture in pidgin Creole on the dynamics of homosexuality, or 'masisississyism' as he called it. He knew that Baron didn't like masisis, but surely this was going a bit too far? Torturing your poor houngan with enthusiastic gesturing and raucous laughter? WHAT-

Naturally, this was all going on in Tané's subconscious. His conscious brain had shut down a long time ago, and was only active enough to enable him to cling to the neck of his Caligrey, and nod occasionally when Baron looked at him expectantly. He lasted in this manner all the way to Galloway, Baron hightailing it the moment they got to the inn, no doubt to pinch a free benedictine in the bar.

Having a key thrust into his hands wasn't a turn of events, if it could be called that, that Tané particularly welcomed. Against all reason, his eyebrows were throbbing. Nevertheless, he thanked the tiger-man in the appropriately deprecating way, and nearly walked into Morrigan and the lady with the long name and sashes on the way to what he thought was the staircase. Something bit him on the arm, just exactly where he had jostled Da, or Daddy, or El, or whatever her name was. He reflected, muzzily, that it was painful. Then, as the jolt set in, he jerked his arm away, mouse attached.

He forgot to scream, but that was all right because he was busy waving his arm up and down in a haphazard fashion, attempting to dislodge the mouse. Busy... busy... busy...

Daddy, with a sound that came out as something between a trill and a screech, or possibly by a very long stretch of imagination a squeak, reached for her pet, finally enticing him back with a bit of grubby chocolate. Tané continued waving until he realized that Morrigan's head was moving up and down in amused correlation to the swing of his arm, after which he stopped, sheepishly. Then he blinked again, and shook his head. Something was pecking it. Something with white feathers... there, he could see them floating down past his eyes.

He extended a finger, which was duly pecked. Then he looked up, and his forehead was also pecked. This raven had a serious attitude problem. Or perhaps it was some sort of obsessive-compulsiveness that only manifested itself in avians.

He wasn't quite sure what happened next, but it entailed getting up to the room, a soothing voice talking into his ear, an occasional hysterical whoop reminiscent of a harpy who had decided to be nice for the day, unlocking something, and eventually, soaking his head under cold water till it felt better, which was when he came up spluttering.

Morrigan was there, and he was very pretty, even in the dim light afforded by the oil lamps of the inn. The maroon shades of his single visible eye seemed to waver in Tané's vision, back and forth, up and down. He was probably the only truly sane person in the entire convoy of oddities, so Tané merely nodded timidly when he suggested, "C'mon, let's get something to drink at the bar." He would do anything for that swimmingly mellifluous voice, especially in the current state of affairs.

--------------------
Tané abuse... yaaaaaayyyy... tag Wurzel! *evil grin*

[Fai D. Flowright]

[color=#3366FF]~.v^=+~ Zeal ~+=^v.~

[color=#C0C0C0]Entering the market prompted the members of this group to scatter about and purchase any items of interest. As I followed some of the members around, I found myself near center of the market place, where mostly perishable goods could be bought. Unsure of whether the others would buy any sustaining food with their mananite, I decided to purchase some food of my own. After haggling, bartering, and agreeing on prices, I had spent nearly half of my ‘money’ on some dried meat, odd-looking fruits, and something that looked like cheap ramen noodles.

With the necessities covered, I decided to stop in a book shop I had spotted on my way over. As I made my way back with my supplies in hand, (inside what was like a crude paper bag), I noticed the odd gypsy woman removing some of the many sashes wrapped around her. It was understandable in these conditions, hundreds of people bustling about and the afternoon sun blazing down on everything, but it was not this that caught my attention. The pearl-like necklace she cautiously removed caught my eye. ”I can understand the swathing, but why the necklace...?” Making a note to question her about it later, I slipped into the small book store.

Once inside, I found myself surrounded by rather mundane and everyday books. Nothing really particular caught my eye as I looked through the shelves to crammed text. I was really looking for something in a foreign language, but most seemed to be in English, or a similar form of it for this world. While it wasn’t something required to live, the journey would be long and I would need entertainment aside from the group and whatever else may cross our path.

As I moved past the third row of books and began to near the last row in the store, a rather old book caught my eye. The markings on it were different than the ones before, and not just in subtle ways. It was as if it had been composed in an entirely different language. With impatient fingers, I pulled the dusty old book away from the shelf only to have it replaced by a small blonde head that peeked through and caught me by surprise. “These books are boring.” The voice sighed in a soft, melodious tone that I instantly recognized as the girl who called herself Ryan. The shock of her sudden appearance and speech jolted me in reverse. Before I had time to recover, my legs began to give way as I tipped backwards in a fall that would crash the bookshelf behind me down. I closed my eyes as my legs gave way to the fall and I waited for the crash that never came.

Instead of falling all the way back, I hit a solid object which caused me to then fall straight down on my rump. The young girl rushed around the corner just in time to see me collide with the ground. As I turned to inform her that I would be okay, I saw the stunned look on her face. “Yeah... I’m fin-” I started, as my gaze turned to meet her focus. Eight translucent, but visible, orbs were spinning in a circle approximately where my plummet was blocked. “What the heck is that?”

As I stared at the whirling spheres, the radius of the circle shrunk as they moved toward me. I slowly reached out and grasped one before picking myself up right. The orb levitated in my hand as if it and the others were waiting for a command. I glanced left toward the young girl only to see, out of the corner of my eye, all the orbs spinning off in the direction I looked. The young girl gave a yelp and dropped to the ground as the other spheres flew past her head with amazing speed. I glanced back down at my hand and with the simple, mental command of 'here', the first orb instantly returned to my hand; the rest of them seemed to waver before completely disappearing. I pocketed the orb as I helped the young girl stand up. "I'm going to go wait by the door," she said in a very shaky voice before scurrying away without saying another word.

I didn’t want to leave her alone for too long. She was small and this city was quite bustling and busy. I quickly made my way to the shop keep, setting the ancient text on the counter before him. “Dis awe you want?” He spoke with a horrible, Caribbean-style accent. I gave him a nod, making sure he knew this was all. He grumbled something and pulled out a price book. “Dat be two strong Manananites.” Assuming he meant more glamorous mananite, I pulled two from by satchel and placed them in his impatiently unsteady hand. “Dank ya, sur.” I swiped the book from the counter and left the store in search of my young friend.

I found her just a few stores down, a look of curiosity and horror stricken across her face as she looked down her robe. "Find anything interesting?" I asked as she quickly closed her robe, her face beet-red in embarrassment. Was she surprised to see me? She had to be the first girl shocked to see breasts.

"I-I just have ne-never seen the-them before" Her voice shaky in shock, I tried to write off the event, even though it piqued my interest. "You know, you never told me your name." She spoke up as we started walking side-by-side down the street. Suddenly, and without warning, a rather large half-breed slammed his way through and pushed her down to the ground. He uttered a rude comment before walking off. As I helped my friend back up to her feet, the small injuries she had incurred magically faded in a faint, green aura. I would have inquired about it further, but she now seemed to be interested in a race. With a shrug and a sigh I drafted behind her as we made it to the pens, mounted our transports, and headed out.

\ v / ^ \ v / ^ \ v / ^ \ v /

[color=#C0C0C0]It wasn’t long before the caravan decided to take a pit stop. It was to be expected, considering we had a few ladies with us, but I was surprised we made is this far without making more stops. As we waited for not only the girls, but a couple of the guys to relieve themselves behind various bushes, trees, and other foliage, I took note of my correct assumption: no one had really purchased any substantial food stores. Pulling out some of the meat stripes I had bought, I began rationing it off to the other seven members of this party as they all returned from their ‘duties.’ Seeing the young girl, whom which I had still not exchanged names with, I made my way over to where she had squeezed herself between the fox- and tiger-crosses in our group. “Are you hungry?” I questioned them, disrupting their conversation as I approached. I offered a couple pieces of meat to them and they all took it somewhat gleefully.

“Thanks.” The little girl spoke out. He cheeks reddened slightly as she accepted the small morsel of food. Giving a warm smile, I moved on to the others I had not shared with yet, but before getting too far, I heard an interesting comment from the fox woman.

“You have a crush on him.” She clearly stated, a twinge of smug sarcasm in her voice. ”Silly girl... I’m too old for her, but I’m flattered, nonetheless.” I thought to myself, a smirk crossing my lips as I continued my rounds.

Our break was soon disrupted by the presence of several large arachnids. Each member ran into battle as if they were preparing for a surprise attack. Using my new found spheres, I was able to keep the smaller spiders away from myself and the young girl who had just lost her Caligrey. Luckily that was the only casualty in this short battle, which lasted only a few minutes. With the spiders defeated and our small camp packed up, we returned to traveling across the countryside, the young girl riding with the fox woman.

As we rode, a small group of wild Caligrey began to ride next to our group. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw my young friend reach down to play with one as they road along. The wild Caligrey soon departed and we road in silence for only a few minutes longer before a faint, yet beautiful voice began to grace the air. “..A whole new world, a hundred thousand things to see, I’m like a shooting star, I’ve come so far, I can’t go back to where I used to be...” I glanced over at my small girl as she sang. Suddenly the pieces fell together: the name ‘Ryan’, not used to being a girl, and the song. It was him, the young twenty-year-old that I communicated with nearly everyday, was now riding next to me, only in the body of a youthful female. She glanced over at me and noticed that I was staring at her slack-jawed and shocked. I tried to find the words to speak, yet my head was spinning at this sudden event. "Tony?" She asked as I spit out her name in shock.

"You-you're a...girl!?" I questioned, my mouth quivering from this sudden revelation; my brain still trying to comprehend everything. One of my close friends now was in the body of a foreign body, and not just any body, but that of a girl which, supposedly, had a crush on me, that is, if the fox woman was to be believed. I dropped the reigns in shock, which caused my own Caligrey to shoot forward in excitement. Behind me I could hear Ryan screaming my name as I whipped through the woods on my mount. "Stop! Slow down! Please!" I pleaded with it to no avail. I glanced behind to notice that the tiger man and his obscenely large creature were following in hot pursuit. I once again tried to reach for the reigns to slow my pace as the tiger creature leapt forward and bit the tail of my Caligrey, causing it to slow to a halt until the group caught up with us.

My heart was still beating faster than my own creature’s feet as we began to move again. The wind swept across the plains and greeted us as we emerged from the forest. The sun began to dip even lower in the sky, signaling that the night would be upon us in the next few hours. The fox girl gave me a sideways glance as Ryan began to slump against her back, obviously exhausted from all of the day's activities. I pulled my Caligrey over to the fox’s ride as Ryan began to slide over, almost slipping off of its back. "Here, let me take her," I whispered, slowly wrapping my arms around the child as I brought her gently over to my Caligrey. She seemed so light and peaceful in my arms with her golden hair gently swishing in the breeze.

She gently nestled herself into my arms as my calmed steed trotted forward. The brighter stars in the sky began to twinkle as the darker shades of the sky faded into control. I still found it uncomfortable to call this young one “Ryan,” as she so suggested, seeing as she no longer resembled the college student I remembered from pictures and webcam chats. Even though I knew it was him, I couldn’t call this girl as she wished; another name would could soon, as well as one for myself...

As her head gently nuzzled my chest, she whispered in a dozing state, “So warm...” She let herself go limp as she slipped into full slumber, knowing that she would be safe in my presence. “Enjoy your nap, Ryan. We’ll be to town soon.”

[Roy Karrde]

[color=pink] Adalia
[color=pink]~*~*~*~*~ Relaxing In The Tub ~*~*~*~*~

I lay in an endless sea of pleasure, the water slowly washing against me as I arch my back in an almost animal like nature. My breath gasps as I suddenly find myself with out of breath. Every muscle twitches in anticipation until it finally happens, like millions of exploding stars my body jerks and I gasp again before finally settling back into the restful water.

“Are you okay?” Tako fluttered closer to me, a panic stricken look on his face as I grabbed the bar of soap from the washtub floor and began to run it through my hair. “You’re breathing really hard.” He added settling on the edge of the washtub.

“I-I’m fine, I just, it was so… different” I rose on shaky legs, different being a lame word for how indescribable the experience was, yet it was the only one to come to mind. “I’m fine now, really” I smiled and petted him on the head. Tako nuzzled against my hand in appreciation of the attention while I wrapped a towel around my waste with my free hand.

“Hey, if anyone is in there, I’m coming in.” Tony’s exhausted voice came from the other side of the door before it creaked open. “Anyone in here?” He asked his head peeking in before swinging the door open.

“It’s all yours” I replied stepping out of the tub, Tako perched on my shoulder. Tony stepped in, a towel around his own waste as if he were about to prepare for his own bath.

“Thanks I…” His voice stopped, his voice quivering as his eyes focused lower than my face. Tony suddenly turned a bright red while his eyes grew wider and wider. Curious at what he was staring at, I followed his line of sight to see that, while my towel was covering my lower half. I had forgotten that I did have breasts now, breasts that were fully exposed to Tony. Tony let out a loud scream in shock and fear as his head turned from side to side trying to do something, anything. As for myself, everything suddenly crashed down on me. I had exposed my boobs to Tony, with that thought in mind I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“Get out, get out, GET OUT!” I screamed back, lunging for the soap in the washtub. With a grab I snatched it up, flicked my wrist back and tossed it at him with as much strength my little body could muster. Next were the buckets of water that I used for the tub, I didn’t care if they were filled with water or not, I grabbed the nearest one and threw it at him. Even though it only made it half the distance, the bucket had fell onto the ground and soaked Tony for the most part.

“I’m sorry.” Tony tried to apologize, the hand holding the towel around his waste suddenly moved to his eyes to try and shield them from my nudity. While this probably seemed like a good idea for him, it did cause the towel to drop to the floor, revealing his own nakedness.

I screamed even louder at this and shut my own eyes while Tony stumbled out of the room, his eyes shielded and the floor slippery causing him to stumble on the way out. “Boys.” I snorted almost instinctively while I repositioned my towel to cover my entire self just incase anyone else walked by.

“What happened?” Another boy asked running in as I made my way out of the bathroom, my face beat red from screaming and from embarrassment. I glanced at him and noticed it was that tall boy that had the pretty snow eye and a bird that usually rested on top of his head. His whole face and body seemed to be shocked or at least concern about something. “Hey you can heal right, Marx is sick, really sick, can you please help?” He asked.

I nodded quickly as he took me by the hand and led me to the room where Marx had collapsed, vomit all over the floor and his body in a heap, he was covered in sweat. “What happened?” I asked in shock as I bent down to feel his head. He was burning up with fever and his breathing seemed uneasy, this couldn’t have been a cut or something, he was sick. How could I heal something like this, I had only been able to heal cuts and small things. “I-I don’t know what to do.” My voice shaking in fear, I was being useless again, just like back when Diamond died. Now someone else was going to die because of me.

“Do something, please.” The bird guy yelled, he seemed so scared, so concerned for his friend. My lip began to quiver in fear as I closed my eyes instinctively from how loud and threatening his voice had gotten. “Please try.” He begged his voice becoming a bit more calm and soothing.

I opened my eyes only slightly to find him bent down face to face with me. I nodded slowly, my whole body shaking in fear. We both seemed to take in deep breaths as I slowly reached out with my fingers and touched Marx’s sweaty skin. The fuzzy sensation returned to my fingers as they glowed a light green. This time though it was different, the waves of energy didn’t seem to travel from my fingers, now they seemed to be pulled into my fingers.

Marx began to cough as his eyes creaked open; his lips blue and skin almost a pasty white that was only slowly beginning to get its color back. “Hey..” I smiled as the glowing in my hand died out. “You’re all fixed up” I grinned, a grin which quickly turned into horrible racking pain, as my stomach heaved and I vomited a black horrible contents all over Mark.

“I…think that was what made you sick.” I added weakly as the black vomit dripped from my lips. “I don’t feel so good.” I mumbled before tipping over from exhaustion.

She isn’t poisoned, just tired and sick from the over use of mana from her body.

[Weasel Overlord]

TAG! Hehe…*hi-fives Yi* *Ew to Ryan* That’s disgusting, boy! Don’t think we don’t know what that little minx was doing in that bath!! Vile..*shakes head in a hypocritical manner*

[color=#c2cae7]|| Morrigan Broin Irven Macha || Avatar of the Celtic Goddess Morrigan ||
and it's plain to see you were meant for me, yeah
I'm your toy your twentieth century boy

Ah, alcohol. The poison of the mind. The inhibiter of common-sense. Also, a great tasting beverage that got me stone-cold drunk!

It was almost entirely Tané’s fault. I found my old girlishness coming over me whenever he was around, with the addition of much more boldness than I could ever remember being in the possession of. He made me forget that I was now a man...all I could think of was that he had purple hair…and a sexy arse…and the fact that Fiachra hated him only made me like him even more. Anyone who Fiachra hated must be worth liking, in my mind. And he walked with an annoyingly sexy wiggle, blushing when I spoke to him, or looked at him.

In my mind, I shook with pent up tension. That boy would be the embarrassment of me! But what did I care? In the last few days, I had, in turn, joined a perfectly normal-looking RPG, suddenly become my own character, a male no less, and been enlisted for help on an important mission which I had no chance of escaping from. Not that I wasn’t enjoying every minute of it, mind. It just felt a little odd that the body I inhabited now seemed to be…well…a shell. Merely waiting for something to come along and fill it. And I had a feeling I knew what that something was. During the battle, I didn’t have much memory of my fighting, but I only knew that I must have done something. Blood on my hands, on my weapon [Anyon] and on Fiachra told me that I had fought. Though no memory lingered…Or at least, nearly no memory. There was a hint of redness tinged about my mind on the long ride to Galloway. A hint of a fierce feminine nature, bloody and tired from the fight, but exultant. A feeling of great power, held back by my own limitations.

Shaking my head, I dashed all thoughts of the battle from my mind. I had an entirely different prey to hunt. An altogether sexier one…

We had arrived at the hotel, dumped our stuff in the room, which I was delighted to find I was sharing with Marx and Tané. The former, however, had not arrived yet, and I felt like a drink, sure that it would sooth Tané’s nerves after his brushes with angry pets of woe. He was easy to persuade …didn’t seem all in control of his senses actually, and we meandered slowly downstairs, a tense silence hanging in the air.

“So…um…nice hotel…?” I ventured. My old awkwardness with people I fancied coming back to me in a flood.
Tané nodded, a faint smile playing on his lips before his cheeks reddened and he looked at the floor. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, shuffling along carefully; head down as if he was examining a particularly exciting pattern on the carpet.

Fiachra squawked, breaking the silence, and I waved my hand vaguely around near my head, hoping to be out of pecking range. I wasn’t, and a minute later, my finger was stuffed ruefully in my mouth, sucking away the pain.

“Stupid bird...” I mumbled, grimacing at the stinging pain. “I guess I’m gonna have to get used to the bloody sod.” I shot a grin at Tané, who kept his head stubbornly down.

“Oh look! The bar…” I pointed and flung open the door. It was a seedy hole, but I didn’t care a jot. If alcohol would dissolve the tension between us, then all the better. And maybe some confidence would appear in me, as soon as my senses were inhibited. I could only hope…

We scurried to the bar as quickly as we could, the stares of the customers following us. We were a funny pair. Me, a raven on my head. A bizarre sight anywhere, but from what I could gather, the fact that I shared my company with a human was even more of a talking point.

I ushered Tané towards the bar, giving him a little nudge in the hollow of his back to hurry him up.

“Come on! The regulars don’t seem to like us…” He nodded in agreement, and stared around at them, propping himself up next to the bar, on a tall wooden seat. Waving in the direction of the barkeep, he coughed discreetly. No response. A louder cough. Nope. A frantic wave. The barkeep pointedly turned his head in the opposite direction and busily swirled his cloth in the glass he was cleaning.

Thumping my hand on the bar, I gesticulated wildly at the rude man, who came pottering over as soon as he saw me. Shooting a glance of frustration at Tané, who was once again examining something fascinating in the woodwork, I cleared my throat and prepared to order.

“Um…I’d like…wait…Tané? What are we drinking?” I hissed under my breath.

“I would like some rum…” He offered, quietly.

“In that case, I’d like a bottle of your finest rum, good sir. And two glasses.” He showed an amazing speed in serving a half-breed, yet he had completely ignored Tané, my human friend. Pulling the glasses towards us, I pulled the old cork out of the rum bottle and poured us both a hefty serving. Handing one to Tané, I raised my glass and tipped a large amount down my throat.

Coughing and spluttering, I gasped at the fiery liquid travelling down my throat.

“It burns!” I coughed. Tané merely smiled and took a gulp of the rum.

I gaped at him. “How do you do that?”

“I’m just used to the stuff, I suppose.” He smiled at me, then blushed and looked down.

“Well, I’ll just have to get used to it!” I quaffed another large quantity, some dribbling down my chin. Shuddering with the heat, I managed a sickly smile. “It’s getting better…” Swigging off the rest of the glass in an attempt to look manly and attractive, I poured myself another with a swimming gaze and shaking hands.

“How shtrong is this stuff?” Tané smiled his little smile again, and I almost swooned off my chair.

“I would say it’s quite strong.” Spluttering, I gaped once more at him, in what I presumed was a very unattractive, mouth-wide-open fly-catching pose. I looked morosely back at the bottle, still mostly full, and made a promise to myself. I will be manly! I will be manly in front of sexy Tané… I will show him what I can do…I blushed at the turn my own thoughts were taking, and promptly made no attempt to remove them from my mind.

Sipping my second glass daintily, I attempted to make conversation.

“So…Tané…um…what about that battle, eh? ...Shame I don’t remember much of it…” I trailed off, noticing his gently reddening face and pointed glare at the wood of the bar.

“You can look at me, you know.” A tinge of anger entered my voice. Why wouldn’t he look at me? From behind a blurred curtain I saw my hand reach down to cup his chin and raise his face.

“That’sh better.” He looked mortified as I fixed him with my eyes, his flickering away to look anywhere but back at me.

“You’re eyesh are love...hic…lovely. Did you know that?” He shook his head, still avoiding my gaze.

“Tanéeeeeeee…” I whined. “Look at me!” Lord…I was drunk. A veil of blur hung over my vision, the only thing I could see clearly was Tané, and his refusal to look me in the eye. It grated on my nerves. He must hate me!

My thumb unconsciously stroked his cheekbone, and I felt him shudder under my touch. Was he so disgusted with me? His eyes flickered once to mine, beautiful amber, wary and frightened-looking, before shooting away to the table, the ceiling, anywhere but into mine.

I brushed away a stray strand of hair, beautiful lavender hair, and gazed upon his face.

“You…you are shexy…that’s what you are.” He looked shocked at this. Great! He’s probably a homophobe, I tried to think, though it came out slightly more slurred than intended, even in my mind. “An…and…an I like you…” Damn my inability to speak! I’d never been good at expressing my feelings in words…

Leaning forwards, I found myself delightfully close to Tané. My hand tightened on his face, drawing him closer to me until our lips touched. So soft…so..yielding…but..but I thought he hated me…

I melted into the kiss, even drunk it felt so good. And what felt better was his returning passion. So shy, yet he kissed me fiercely. We came closer together until I could feel his body against mine, the stares of the clientele bored into our heads, but we did not care.

We must have been in a state of lip-lock for at least ten minutes before I broke away for air, gasping with pleasure.

“T…Tané…” I gazed at him in wonder, and this time, he looked back, his eyes locking with mine. There was no need for words, I fell into his amber stare, dumbstruck with happiness.

“Shall we..er…go upshtairs?” My eyebrows wiggled, seemingly of their own accord and it was my turn to blush. My drunken state was making me more forward than I’d ever been…

Tané nodded and clutched my arm to hoist himself upright. We turned to the stares of the customers, who were in various states of gob-smackedness. Obviously a human and a half-breed had never kissed in their bar before…*

Staggering into many hard, and mostly sharp-cornered objects on our way, we fell out of the bar and somehow made our way upstairs.

In the corridor we fell into a soft, jingling, biting person and promptly staggered away from her in pain as she shouted vaguely rude comments after us. I was in too much of a drunken state to care, and Tané seemed to be oblivious to everything but me, he was positively eating me up with his hungry stare. Quite a turn of events.

After falling over many times, grazing ourselves on the carpet, and breaking ornaments, statues, doors, we finally fell through the door of our room, where I saw the most sobering sight since finding out I was a man.

Marx lay, unconscious on the floor, a gentle pool of blood collecting about his head, and a soft moaning erupting from his mouth. It was like a slap to the face. Marx injured! There was something I liked about that man, although I could not put my finger on it.

Tané had gone white at my side, and tightened his grip on my arm.

“I’ll….I’ll go get helpsh!” I staggered out of the room, trying to look heroic, my hair being pulled by Fiachra who had reappeared and was attacking me with his usual tenacity. I saw Tané smile as I fell through the door, and stumbled off down the corridor, in a drunks attempt to get help.

------------------------------------------------------------

Woo!! Drunken man-love! Score! Prepare for more, innocent people! Bwahaa!! TAG! Go...um..someone else!

[Plantae]

= Snig’s Servant AKA The Woman of Many Names =

“Miss Da-“

“That is Dadrielaneianeneenalefenarwanewenelgelafonesavouen retaliondauelvehliga.”

“Yes, Miss Dadrielaneeneffar…liga.”

“Dadrielaneianeneenalefenarwanewenlgelafonesavouenretaliondaeulvehliga.”

“Madam… I am sorry to inform you that I cannot, I repeat, cannot spare the suite at this moment. You may not have it!”

What followed was catastrophic. Nalefena insisted, while yelling brutishly, that she would have the suite. She so insisted that she disturbed several patrons, who looked on her with an avid fear, the wild mouse woman she was. Without tact, she publicly insulted the barkeep, berated his ale, to which there were several muttered oh dears, and to which a few more faces turned white. Never had there been seen such a furious jig of mediocre speak and mangled gibberish, jingling juxtaposition of both bangled buffoonery and irate irrationality brought a bartender to his knees by jabbering madness. She did it quietly too, when she kindly said, one last time, “Now the suite is mine, aye?”

And then she was walking pleasantly up the stairs, keys in hand, though their swinging muffled by the rest of Wenel’s hilarious and garish garb. These keys, certainly, were commandeered at any rate; and the tavern may have lost a few customers that night. Not to which a pride-bruised and nose-bitten owner was complaining.

She was about and enjoying the suite for but a while, and then she found herself downstairs again… she was tempted yet by promise of alcohol, and so had set herself nibbling chocolates while carousing about the main hall of the inn. As she was doing so, most would have supposed she was pondering nothing, as it were with Neian; she brooded little. And then she saw that, and suddenly she was purple-green-blue with envy.

That was an offensive display. That was not appropriate, ignoring her own outburst before for a suite. This was ruining her day entirely. It took a time in which it had to register. Boys… two… kissing… Fonesa waited patiently for her own mind to catch up to the variables given here, and its own shock, and then it was screamed in the back of her mind, growing louder, and louder, “Sodomy…” and then “Sodomy!” She slapped her hand over her mouth before a sound could come out, and then she retreated from the doorway and back into the hall by the stairs, to the rooms where it went.

She leaned against the banister, alone, and her face took on a mask. It would have been impossible to decide what Miss Gela was thinking at that particular moment, but it was quite possible it might have a bit or nothing or a lot to do with the jealousy for her own lack of attentions. Sure, in this day and age, the medieval sort, the term was almost non-existent… and the act; but her mind was supposedly more sophisticated from that, part of it likely being from another time.

So she stormed upstairs, in stomp and in chatter, jangling as she went, and then she was at the top, still ringing pleasantly with metallic noise, and then she was leaning against the wall. Her room in particular was right next to that of Marx, Morrigan, and Tane. The latter two of which she had seen- there faces quite stuck together, as she would call it- downstairs.

She mumbled at her pocket where a creature was resting. She said in a harsh pitch, above the capacity of human sound to hear, “Bother these bonds, Snig; what is this strange thing they’ve done, those two?” And she petted the pocket, the cloth of it lunging at her hand repeatedly, and teeth nearly piercing the intentionally tough fabric. A hole was tearing in it now, certainly, but a sash was in the way and a maroon-tailed monster was foiled.

For the first time in a time, Neena was brooding oh so explicitly. So brooding was she that when those two tumbled upstairs, in drunken madness, of which she was much familiar, she was not able to move until they were themselves upon her and knocking her in the fray onto the ground, her getting crushed by their marvelous weight and being pecked at by an unpleasant avian.

And then it was out in a flurry of claws and teeth, eyeball-biting madness the same and she cursed repeatedly in tongues she did not know. She yelled, over her crushed lungs, “Masisi! Masisi!” She pointed at both of them in turn, having stolen language from that oh so lovely Baron. She’d be making jokes of them yes, or so she resigned, but it was unlikely that Newene’s talents were aligned to the art of joke-making.

She continued to curse them all the way to the room right next to her, which they had so missed in their rambling alcoholic movement; Snig was all over them for their slowness, biting here and there and gleefully taking a piece of flesh or two. He’d retreated to the pocket, to fight another day… for his enemy was newfound, a bird atop the head crown of one. He joined Nesa’s torture mission, but his would not be puns but morsels taken so dearly from their eye sockets. Oh, yes, the mouse decreed. Oh yes.

Anei could have been personable, she really could have; but she’s tired now, the lot and she see the door opened. Marx is there, sick even for the healing of the white mage. She curses him, mutters him to worsen (him having stolen her gin), and dodges fervently as an all-too ridiculous Morrigan comes tumbling tipsy past.

So she steps her merry way, trudging all of it, but down the stairs again. She gets a bit of the stuff, the good kind, from an already a’ feared bartender. The flask is full again, but she asks for water instead. She sits to drink her chamomile tea, for which she knows will make her nod off to sleep… hopefully not the dreaming kind, unless the worlds beyond will serve the Da! To concede, however, is a bit of gin in her tea. Couldn’t hurt?

Nodding off goes she, and then she sees what she had seen before a stalker afore whose name is… never mind it. She knows some of them more and some of them briefly and this is of the ones which she knows but little of for he is a little known man. Here sits he in his black half-cape, astride a chair and cheerful but wary, his slightly tanned skin shining blissfully in the torchlight. For it is moonshine beyond the windows.

“Da are you… quite alright?” She’s beginning to nod off due to the tea. It always puts her to nap, to go to fairyland again. But she can hang on a bit to talk to this curious man. He knows the name of Da, little Da! He deserves a little attention now.

“U’m fane… wha’ ye want, gawk?” Her vocabulary deteriorates further in her exhaustion.

“That necklace there, in your pocket-“ She notices it hanging out, and pulls it out to see, for she has forgotten it too.

“This un’ funny lad, the very same?” She half-speaks half-slurs her words which come about like they were the tea themselves and not hers.

“Where did you get mananite? A necklace surely… that stuff is quite hard.” His question is valid and Lafo will oblige it.

“Mananite it are, I guess, but what it means no matter… I just like ornaments… wonderful bangles… now leav’ it alone, bother you git!”

“But where did you get the thing?” His voice is patient enough, but sharper now, despite his rather pleasant demeanor. Ulveh could not notice sober, so she does not notice nearly drugged by “herbal remedies.”

“The merchant, wunnerfal man… liked Snig he might of, or Snig his nose. Can’t remember I. But he sold it to me, just last town, for a medium price. I think it beautiful.” There was a brief moment of clarity, and for that one question she was sane enough to answer. Zeal seemed mostly convinced, for it was a valid response, and likely truth.

“Well, it is… gorgeous…” his tone was mildly sarcastic at this, pepping up again for, “but impure. I can sense it to be, I believe. You might have been swindled there.” He sounded a right intellectual, and Ianen disliked him for his fanciness even in her near-sleep state of now.

“But… luzurous it is, rit? Pretty things I wear, aye?” Zeal was growing frustrated, and though accepting her reason, had given up further conquest for her vapid state.

“Have a- night of some kind. Farewell.” He was off the jimmony second, not so quickly. As he stood she gave a nod, he returned. Nods can mean many things, and next to winks who mean many more, they can be quite cruel. For Da’s nod was out of contempt or so anyone with supreme empathy could determine. It was not anywhere else, but her nod was but a little too fast and harsh. It was quite possible Rwan thought him coveting her comely charms, the jewelry of course.

In a surreal mo or two she was upon the steps again, and up the creaky blasted banisters of the boisterous place, still lively at the hour. She passed Marx’s room.

The healer had worked her magic once, the whitey mage. But he was sick again, miraculously; it would wear off soon surely, but he was being tended by Morrigan and Tane. Still, either way, that girly who’d done it first, to cure him, was spent by now and such he could only nurse himself the mundane way.

So anyone knowing people would have thought at this point that she, Uenre, to the cot she whiffled, must have felt guilty for she had jinxed him before (but only in word), wishing him to worsen; powerless or not, she still had wished him ill indeed. She was no not the culprit but regardless she might have tossed and turned that night for this tragic coincidence.

She might have, that is, after resigning that if she heard any funny business (mainly grunts or moans or “Oh yes”) to be up in a jiffy and over peeking through the door, the silly room next door.

And in her dormancy the shrew twisted about, and gave a little prod to it, an utterance, and a finite, “Sodomy… humph.”

But that was superceded by the all-powerful, “Where’s me gin?”

And then the room was full of snores, door closed and lights out in the halls of Aneneen.

But she did have vagary though, a dreamscape where she was forced to repeat over and over again, especially to whom she had forgotten (that being the man Zeal) that her name was not Da, but Dadrielaneianeneenalefenarwanewenelgelafonesavouen retaliondauelvehliga. And then the mind of the long-named, useless, rodent gypsy was vague, foggy, and then black.

=====

[Doomy_McDoomdoom]

Adonis swiftly closed the hotel room door behind Kalah and himself. Finally, some time alone with her. Ryan would be staying with them too, and while he was in the bath, Matt was going to take full advantage of having time to talk with Kalah. The door creaked a little and Matt let the bolt fall, sealing the door to further access from anyone else, if Ryan wanted to get he could knock. Today had been rough on everyone, especially Ryan, but right now Matt only cared about one person, Kalah. She was here, they were together and he would do everything within his power to make sure that she was relaxed and was doing well over all. He sat on the bed next to her and the entirety of the bed sank towards the ground.

“How are you sweetheart?”

She sat there with her head hung, not saying much of anything.

Matt extended just a single claw/finger and placed it under her chin lifting her face to his. He caught her eyes within the deep brown of his feline iris’. “Baby, we need to talk. What’s going to happen here? Death, adventure, everything else I could care less about. What’s going to happen with us?”

She looked at him for a while, she didn’t let a smile take her face, but he could tell she wanted to. She was, more than likely, upset because she was bothered by the same thing that Matt was, the fact that this might in some way affect their relationship.

“I still love you…you know that right?”

“Of course I do, sweetheart, I love you too.”

Matt just took Kalah and his arms and they snuggled, sitting on their slowly collapsing bed. “There’s nothing that is going to come between us, not here, not back where we came from, and any number of giant spiders are certainly not going to stop me from protecting you, of course, while we’re here that whole protection thing is going to be a little more survival oriented.”

Matt chuckled and Kalah nuzzled herself into the side of his massive chest.

“So baby, what do you make of this whole thing?”

[Bulbasaur4]

Ryien
.: Kalah | F | Ninetails Halfbreed :.

[color=royalblue]


Finally escaping everyone swept a huge feeling of relief over Ryien’s tired body. Although she did enjoy watching everyone – the bird girl, Yi-wen, that young man (Zeal) and Ryan- she wished and desired a moment alone or with Matt. Using his usual charm and tact, he managed to usher both himself and her into a room and seal the door behind them. A guaranteed moment of being together.
Cuddling against the side of Matt’s large broad-shouldered figure, she withdrew a delicate sigh as her intense violet eyes looked up towards him. He had asked her what she thought of everything… and pondering for a moment, Ryien seemed lost in her own thoughts.
“I’m not exactly sure what to make of it all…” Ryien stated slightly, leaning into Matt further. “I can say that I am extremely thankful that you are here with me. I don’t know what I’d be like if you were not here…” her eyes widened slightly at a thought as she looked to Matt. “And I will always love you… regardless of what we look like now or any dangers we face, I will always love you and continue to stand by your side like always. I promised that a long time ago… remember? I’m not going back on that promise.”
Matt smiled lightly as he leaned forward and Ryien leaned upwards to plant a gentle yet heart-filled kiss upon him. Her tail curled about him slightly, contacting with his own tail but overcoming it with it’s thick bushy coat.
“Things are different… and who knows if we’ll… well, if we’ll ever get back to our own world…” Kalah continued, pulling away from Matt for a second as she held up her hands.
“And these… these powers… my powers… I hope I can control them. I’m worried that I might hurt you…” Kalah looked at Matt painfully, and Matt nodded.
“I know what you mean… just look at me! I’m huge… I’m afraid if I try to hug you, I might crush you…” Matt sighed inwardly, and Kalah nodded.
“ We’ll find a way. We’re not used to these bodies… I’m sure eventually they’ll come natural to us along with the surprises that come with them.”
Matt nodded and for a moment the two of them just stared at the window in the room. It was facing the outside world and the sun was setting. Ryien nuzzled up to Matt further and closed her eyes briefly, and for a while they were left alone in silence… being granted a moment of piece to comfort each other.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An alarm went off in Ryien’s head, as she pulled away from Matt. She had drifted asleep for a bit, and she glanced up to see Matt staring down at her.
”oh… I dozed off… I’m sorry…” Ryien murmured, but Matt smiled.
“Don’t worry babe, I’m glad you got to rest a bit.”
Ryien nodded and then swiftly rose to her feet. It was amazing how graceful she felt- her tail seeming to only add to the grace.
“I think some thing is wrong… I’m going to go out and check on it.” Kalah looked at Matt, who nodded.
“Okay. It’s getting to be dark outside… so I’m going to be getting my own rest soon.”
Kalah nodded and swiftly walked towards the door, unsealed it, and then exited into the main part of the Inn.
Walking amongst the halls, Ryien heard voices that she recognized as Yi’s… erm, or Tane’s… and a few others that were familiar to her. She reminded herself to learn who everyone was… for she had a sneaking suspicion that she would know the true identity of most of them. However, for now they were a mystery… and Ryien had to concentrate upon those she cared about now.
“He… he just passed out… must be tired…” A voice echoed down the hallway, and Ryien swiftly followed it to find a few of the members of the group glancing at Ryan’s collapsed body.
“Ryan!” Ryien exclaimed and within a blink of an instant, she was crouched and by his little girlish figure.
“She healed and passed out…” One of the men commented, and Ryien gave a nod.
“I’ll take care of her… she’s sleeping in my room anyways.”
Ryien gently scooped up the girl’s small form and carried her into the room that she had been in with Matt. Entering the room, she saw that Matt was not in the room… so she figured he must had stepped out for something. Perhaps to get some fresh air or make a few acquaintances. Looking at one of the bed’s closest to the window, she gently laid Ryan down upon the bed and covered her up.
“Little Ryan…” She laughed gently, placing her hand upon his forehead to see that his temperature was normal. He would be fine… no doubt he simply used up his mana power. Yawning slightly, Ryien realized that she still was tired. Glancing at the nighttime air, she realized that getting rest would be the best thing for her. Scattered clouds dotted the sky… covering the moon.
“Kalah…?” Ryan’s soft and gentle voice rose into the air, and Kalah looked at Ryan- or Adalia. She gave a small girlish smile but looked about as if wondering where she was.
“You passed out when you used your healing powers. You should go to bed and rest up.. if you want to put on some nighttime clothes, there are some in the drawers.” With that, Ryien walked to the dresser and opened it. She grabbed a garment and tossed it to Ryan. Yawning lightly, Ryien slowly removed all her garments from her soft skin. Glancing out at the beautiful night air, she gave out a gentle sigh as she gently pulled a silk and silver-colored night dress upon her slender body.
“Wow…” A small voice echoed in the air, and Ryien swiftly glanced over at Adalia with her violet eyes.
“What?” She asked sharply, but with out a cruel tone.
“You’re… beautiful… I wish I was as beautiful as you…” Adalia said in utter bewilderment, and Ryien merely laughed.
“Dear, you are becoming such a girl.” Ryien stated, walking over to another bed. There were many in the room… three, and Ryien naturally assumed that she would attempt to sleep with Matt.
“Umm… Kalah?” Adalia’s timid voice rose once again, and Ryien turned to look at Adalia.
”yes?”
“I’m… I’m sort of scared… do you think you could lay with me for a while- just until I fall asleep?”
Ryien smiled gently, “Of course.”

Slowly Ryien slid into bed next to Adalia, and after a few moments both of them were sleeping tenderly beneath the sheets. Adalia was upon her side facing Ryien, her small arms wrapped about Ryien’s waste while her head rested against Ryien’s body. Ryien laid upon her back, one arm over Adalia’s back while the other was outstretched over the side. It seemed that they would sleep in peace and quite soundly… even with Zeal or Adonis arriving.

Yet… the moon’s mysterious rays had yet to fall upon Ryien…


[ The later half of this post was crafted with the help of Ryan… so some of the convo is his doing. Lol ^^; ]

[Roy Karrde]

[color=pink] Adalia
[color=pink]~*~*~*~*~ Sleeping ~*~*~*~*~

The wind swept across the plains causing my hair to tickle the back of my neck. “Tony? Kalah?” I called out to the emptiness. The only reply came was the small whine of a Caligrey. My head turned curiously to find Diamond coming up to nuzzle my shoulder lightly. “Hey there,” I spoke gently running my fingers up and down it’s muzzle. I was about to speak again when a low rumbling arose from behind Diamond.

Craning my head around to see, I caught the glimpse of one of the legs of the giant spiders. I turned my head back to Diamond, only to see his body dissolve into a skeleton, the Caligrey shaped head in my hands. I screamed as loud as I could and began to back away from the advancing spider, yet my body quickly became immobile. The spider continued to advance, it’s maw glistening with poison that oozed off of it and onto my shoulder as it leaned down and opened wide enough to fit my entire body inside.

“NO!” I screamed sitting straight up in bed, sweat clinging to my hair, arms, and face. I continued to breathe as if I had just ran a marathon, the room was pitch black and that spider could be anywhere. There could be spiders anywhere in this room, and I didn’t know where they were.

“Ryan.” Kalah’s voice groaned from my side, I turned to see her laying next to me, her body twisted in an awkward position from moving around in her sleep. “You have a bad dream?”

“I think I…” I whispered, my lip quivering and my eyes filling with tears. Kalah slowly rose up with exhausted eyes; she took one glance at me and then around the room at the other sleeping occupants before placing a finger at her mouth for me to be quiet. Then led me down stairs to the bar.

“There were spiders, and they, they tried to eat me, and there were big ones.” I mumbled my eyes fixated on the glass in my hand that held a pink mixture that tasted like grape juice. I glanced up to see Kalah’s eyes focused on me, which only caused me to look away again, she wasn’t looking at me like a adult anymore, she was looking at me like I was a child. “It all sounds pretty stupid I guess.” I mumbled.

She sighed and scooted a bit closer over to me so that I could rest my head against her arm. “It’s not stupid, and your safe now, I’ll protect you.” She whispered softly into my ear, which caused me to giggle a bit from the touch of my hair blowing against my ear.

“Promise?” I asked with a grin before holding out my pinky finger.

“Promise.” Kalah extended her own pinky finger and shook it which both caused us to start laughing. We continued laughing only for a minute more before Kalah shot a side ways glance up stairs, obviously worried about Matt.

“It must be great to be so deeply in love.” I sighed reflecting on my own past feelings for Danielle, how I would always worry about her and cared about her so deeply. Now I could see those feelings shared between Matt and Kalah.

Kalah glanced over and began nudging my side in a playful manner. “I’m sure there is a boy here that you have a crush on, Tane perhaps?” She asked speaking about Yi. My face instantly reddened as I tried to look away, obvious that I had a horrible poker face. “Marx maybe?” She probed further.

“I’m a guy, I’m not like that.” I shot back, which sounded completely unrealistic coming from my high-pitched voice.

“Oh c’mon there has to be someone.” She prodded further causing me to turn away completely in fear of saying something stupid. “Tell me!” She laughed tickling my sides and under my arms to the point that I started kicking and knocked the grape juice liquid over.

“To-Tony.” The words seemed to just come out instinctively, and the moment they left my lips my face reddened to the point that it felt boiling hot. “I-I mean..” I tried to back step to cover up my error.

“Our Tony? Tony Tony?” Kalah asked in shock, I glanced away, ashamed of the small bit of weird feelings or what ever you want to call it that I felt in my chest when I was near Tony. I had never felt that way when I was a boy and around Tony, why was I feeling it so much now? “Wait Tony is here?” She asked her mind reeling from all the shock.

I nodded slowly, more ashamed than ever. “He, he was the guy that carried you while you slept when we rode into town!” She suddenly placed all the pieces together in her mind. “Oh he’s cute, you two would make a great couple.” She grinned mischievously; a grin that I knew could only lead to trouble.

“Ryan and Tony sitting in a tree.” She began to sing as I got up and ran upstairs as fast as my legs could take me. Kalah’s singing following me all the way up and back into our bed.

Okay guys the end of Day 1, you can head on to bed or do anything to wrap up the day. If you want you can take the liberty to expand a bit into Day 2, just head downstairs and get some breakfast or something.

[Plantae]

= Beastly Bed-head =

When it was said that the mind of her contained sugarplums dancing- well it was likely to be true that the dreams of such a sweet tooth maid did contain sugarplums, gumdrops and chocolate. Seas of it, possible, and statues of her, carried by armies of mice-men! Yes, the cocoa empire of Her High Mistress, Confectioner Iela. She would levy her jig tax upon them all and force the mice in their sashes to go to balls where they might find the wonder of a dusty slipper. But this was no shoe, no, mice had no shoes; it was a privy. And as it so happens, Snig was quite partial to- well- doing his business in shoes. But such utterances were vulgar and not voiced by anyone with a sane mind. But she was, oh yes, suggested to be quite the personification of that mind’s opposite. Or, to put so frankly, cuckoo. Twenty three and a half cards out of a full deck and/or or a piece of blue cheese, really azure that is, or an elephant ballerina. Yes, she. She was definitely off her rocker, up the chimney, and riding about on a yellow-locked mare yelling- “Heigh-ho, Goldilocks!” She was a twisted tale, or so most anyone would probably claim. But what was she? The lovingly lovely witty old woman of three hundred seven, with a myriad of animals, or the sort of wretch that baked children in an oven: oh which could it be? In a time far from now, when she is but living as another like her, even if there is none like her, the pappy of the papa might tell his chickadees that this Dadr-girl is but the mystery of our age, his age, his grandfather’s brother’s sister’s son’s nephew’s great-great awesome, awe-inspiring old geezer, and the generations past. The wise man, that is to say not the demented ancient one, would probably ignore her; he could ignore her abrasiveness and lack of charm, tact and all measure of charisma, and her inability to pronounce poverty upon herself, so selfish. Yes, the wizardly wizened male would walk warily from her, saying that the monologue of her was feasibly naught more than the following repeated henceforth on and on: “Where is my gin? I need candy. I want it. Mine, mine, not yours, mine, oh, yes. Where is my gin?” But then he would marvel again, as she rose from her cot in adornment never taken about and thrown aside, why suddenly she was so abominable.

She would garner a cult following with a hairdo so awry that it was questionable how hair so short could become so wrongly placed. It was not understandable in the least, but what was?

Terrifying more so was the way she galumphed her way down the stairs. One step, two step, stomp! Three step, four step, creak! She was groggy, lacking all the necessary components of her usual demeanor, and with a smirk and sadistic glare to kill an ox.

She found several of them up and about before her. The indomitable Zeal, his cohorts, or not so, Adalia and a particularly nasty half-tiger whose name she did not recall. She gave them all the death leer, they knew the one; everyone knows the one. And then she sat, with a flippant noise, like legs breaking on a chair; or so that was the prediction of the precarious chair, for which she sat on with such difficulty and making such pause that it threatened itself to oust her out if only to breathe again from her cavernous bottom.

And then it hit them all with force of gale, for the inn was so high-class to serve breakfast, but not five-star, no. Not good enough for miss Wanewene. But she reconciled herself, even in all this dreariness and exhaustion (for which there was no explanation with her wondrous sheets and fluffy pillows, plethora of poignantly stuffed devices which were anything but agonizing). She gave, oh she said quietly... for she was at a piece of particularly devious wheat bread slice, of which she seemed to be gawking at as if it had prodded her dearly and beyond reason… in whisper it came, “Would someone…” and then the tide rose, and swallowed up was the castle of their lack of haste, their mistake to try her patience, their folly, for it reigned now a sense of despicable, ”Pass- Me- The- Butter!?” That is the way you make the slice of life, she would lecture them, if she had the ability to speak in metaphor. Her metaphors were mangoes.

The others might have learned something now about Da’s morning manner even when she’s stayed in a suite. And they might then, conclude, the very trouble that was likely to occur when she slept on hard ground on a bedroll in the wilderness. Oh they could hear the birds and animals fleeing from her ire that very moment. But such events are for further documentation, when they would actually happen. Oh happenstance pray they do not.

=

It had been an hour or so, a suffering and trying hour (further documentation to come) that had worn on all but Elafo- for it seemed instead the more pain she caused, with her racking screams mostly, the better she grew. It was a phase; it was a period of time, actually. They could have been thinking how it would be if they had woken up later. And then they would think how it would have been if they had woken up later. And then they might have sickened themselves a bit, and vomited mentally on their mindly bowls of gruel, seeing in it a perfect reflection of their resident monstrosity.

It was at this point that she was instead rather working the room. She went round-a-round that is to say, pat-a-gallop and silly neighs a-accompanying voracious but lolling vicissitude in her manner.

Finally she must have decided on an article. An empath might say you could tell by the curl of her lip, and that dowdy countenance. She was to make a request, for she was nearing the “not-nice” half-tiger. She asked him, rather noisily, but probably in wont of the fact that she intended to say it in hushed tones (for her intentions often escaped even her), “Would you like to go shopping at market? You could use a tiara or two. A bracelet or necklace would fit you so well, yes?” She even snatched up his wrist, stroking it and continuing like a bad clothes salesman to tell him how some bawdy decorations would fit him. He was not having that, and was on his way to be again seated, but the display was no over. It had been overheard and the few left at the table stifled chuckling.

She queried a few more, and then went upstairs where one Adalia and Zeal had left to. Adi Ada had been there prior for a half hour past but Zealous Ziphead had only now gone; they were in the same room no less. But then she heard banging.

She pressed her ear to the door, swearing for all the world the giggles from within. Concluding there was dirty things afoot, she pranced astride the wall and shimmied down her way again but the door opened before she made it.

“Is that you-“ and then there was a frantic and small ”whuhzername.” “Da?”

She clapped open and clapped shut her trap to say. She wanted to tell her, my name is “Dadrielaneianeneenalefenarwanewenelgelafonesavoue nretaliondauelvehliga,” wench. But if that certain Nalefen was misunderstood, it might have been shown when she instead answered the kindly Adalia. She gave sheepishly, unnecessarily so, “Tis.”

“Did you want something?” Her cheeks were a little red. Yes. When she was little she had fallen on her face, but now she fell on her back. Yes, yes.

“Want to go abaht fer frippery and thingers?” It was olden and irritating but after several seconds evident to the loosely teasing Adalia.

“Shopping? Sure! Right this minute even?” And suddenly the Anewe was renewed.

“Yes, oh! Yes, yes. Come with me!” She grabbed Adalia by the arm and pulled her onward, to which she did not resist, and they went swinging along to market. Oh, to market, to market, they go! Hey!

=====

[Vulpix.ck87]

Marxiach

I strolled down the road at a leisurely pace, it was early spring and the first blossoms had erupted from the trees as one, in a body of fey pinks and soft lilacs. The road that bore me meandered neatly around the corner, flowing as a tarmac stream, the pavements lined with stone walls, bushes and the furled gates leading to drives and houses. Ahead, three different trees gave three different shades, an overhang of the tarmac, pavement, and curb. Pass underneath the trees, and stop, turn to stare back down the road. The great boughs above me block half the sky from my view, and bright rays of sunshine filter down through the tree leaves, different shapes, sizes, hues of crisp autumn red, lush leaf green and pink-white petals. Pale snowy leaves nestle under the blossom buds, a few scant petals float on the breeze to litter the street. No cars pass by, I’m staring at an empty road. Stood at the bus stop, I’m not waiting for the bus, just waiting to go somewhere, and I have all the patience in the world today. Behind me the small stone wall stands between myself and a crisscross of branches - I can hear bird song and scuffling; perhaps fat liquid grey squirrels, or a hopping finch, skipping from branch to interwoven branch, twixt the random flourishes of green. Overhangs of the tufted leaves from the bushes where I used to hide from the rain now tickle the top of my head, but there’s no rain today. There’s nothing but blue skies, so pure and sweet, and the smell of summer carried on the warm wind, barely a single cloud on the wide canvas above. The scent of cut grass reaches me, and of flowers and warmth, but mostly of anticipation of the summer to come - I feel the adrenaline and electricity in my blood and in my bones, so excited.. With butterflies in my stomach and an undeniably hopeful smile on my face, the sun beats down on my skin, warming it..

Finally, yet in no time at all, the bus is coming, the bus is here. Rolling around the corner and into view - slower than I always think down that short space of road - I have more time to walk to the curb than expected, and then I’m there, kicking my toes against the tarmac, half hanging off the lamppost, swinging weightless, and waiting. The bus approaches, and it’s the one I’m getting on, but it doesn’t have a driver - there’s no driver at the seat, and there’s only one seat in the whole place, or maybe all seats are for me. I flag it down, and it halts, screeches to a stop, and steams, no snorts, as it lowers the platform and the step. But it has hooves not wheels, and black velvet skin, it’s taller than a bus and more powerful, whilst remaining only a foot taller than myself. It waits and stares at me expectantly. And I climb aboard, and travel to somewhere that’s not home, or a friend’s house, or college. I’m not headed to summer either, and the stir in my stomach is less anticipation and hope, than duty and intent and a story taking place. I’m scared, but I keep the fear locked away, and it all disappears as I fall back into a heavy lengthy body that’s not really my own. I feel hot, and fevered and uncomfortable, damp with blankets tugging at me, and a hand at my head. I wake up confused and startled, and a little bit of my old self shines through before Marxiach kicks in, and keeps me from being anything less than him.

I woke up.

Lifting a weak paw to rub the sleep from my eyes, I sat up only to find that my torso was still extremely tense. I blinked rapidly as I came out of my dream - as I adapted to real sunshine. Stars swum before my dazed eyes and I struggled against my blankets.

“Hey, relax, you’ve had a rough night.” A soft voice reached my equally dazed ears and I tuned into the world, squinting in the bare sunlight coming through the windows. It was early morning, and most of my view was taken up by the handsome face above me. I laid back down to relax as instructed and Mr Ghéde took his hand from my forehead.

“Well, you’re certainly cooler than you were, I think your fever’s going.” The purple haired boy remarked. “Do you feel better this morning?”

“Why-what happened?” I could recall a night of relative unrest, and I certainly felt cruddy, but mostly it was a haze.

“Well, seems you got poisoned. Luckily Morrigan found the little healing girl and, er, Adalia she.. She healed you! So you’re fine and dandy now!” He beamed at me. I grinned nervously, and my lashes fluttered low in my embarrassment.

“Oh, uh, thank you Mr Ghéde..” I muttered most formally, and I heard my voice being taken over by that serious tone that had become second nature to it lately.

“Ah, you can call me Tané, ok?” He said blushing, and he shook my hand briefly.

“Marxiach.” I said, introducing myself needlessly, and he nodded knowingly, before stopping to quickly clutch his head. He groaned.

“Are you ok?” I wondered out loud, admittedly anxious, but he only shrugged sheepishly.

“Hangover.” He said, simply, and as the door creaked open it was likely that he blushed again, but I didn’t notice as I myself was feeling rather hot in the face at that moment.

As Morrigan entered with armfuls of toast and Tané hurried over to help him, I glanced around a bit more to get a feel of my surroundings, and perhaps to remember what had happened. Yes, this was the room I had seen so briefly last night. I remembered coming in through the door.. Hrmm. And I remembered falling. There were three beds, one of which was occupied by me - I must have been lifted into it. My wolf pelt and belt were laid in a pile in the far corner, along with my boots and my pants and my shirt-! I blushed immensely before peeking under the sheet to find myself in my underwear alone. As I sat up stiffly in alarm Morrigan strolled over to me with toast and fresh fruit juice in his hands, and I accepted them gingerly with a suddenly shy ‘thanks’. It seems like they had been taking care of me all night, so instead of complaining about the absence of crumpets, I simply took my food like a good boy, and resigned myself to remaining in their custody.

There were worse things I was sure.

Munching on my toast and raising my hand to take another bite, the back of my knuckles brushed my chin, and I jolted some more, eyes wide. My chin felt like sandpaper - a messy array of prickly hairs had sprouted from my upper lip and jaw. It was a second or two before I realised that this was now perfectly normal - just another thing to get used to, though I wasn’t sure it usually grew this fast. My mind flitted back to the character sign up I had written, and I mentally cursed myself for my want of stubbly men. Pah.

My hand flitted to my forehead, and my fingers danced at my hairline, finding the roots matted with dried blood. At least they’d cleaned Adalia’s vomit off of me. I shuddered as I remembered more of last night‘s events, but then felt guilty, hoping the kind Adalia girl was ok. God knew I wasn’t worth getting sick over. I would have to go and see her, check she was ok.. I pushed my arms down against the hard mattress and lifted myself up, swinging my long skinny legs over the side to touch the floor. And as I attempted to place weight on my feet another nasty spasm shot up along my spine and my neck muscles cried out in pain. Tané and Morrigan quickly bustled over to force me back into bed. I would’ve blushed some more if I wasn’t reflecting on the fact that my back muscles felt like they had a red-hot poker pressed against them. The two boys hovered above me looking concerned for a few seconds before Morrigan swooped down to tenderly probe my bare shoulders..

“Are you alright..? Tense, so tense..” He muttered. Tané looked pensive, and then as if he were hatching a plot of sorts. I could only dream what it might entail. And then all my dreams came true.

“Maybe we could help him with that..” He raised his eyebrows at Morrigan.

“Hrmm.” Morrigan agreed.

Blah-blippety post but perhaps it could lead to something interesting..

[Fai D. Flowright]

[color=#3366FF]~.v^=+~ Zeal ~+=^v.~

[color=#C0C0C0]The room remained deathly quiet as I lay awake in bed. I could hear the deep rumbling sounds of the Tiger-man snoring and the soft sound of Ryan's breathing. After some time, I decided to head outside to watch the sun rise. It wasn’t peculiar that I was restless, but never AFTER attempting to sleep. I lifted the unfamiliar linens from my body and sauntered to the glass doors that led to what could barely be called a balcony. As I stepped out into the night air, a breeze shifted past me, guiding my gaze to the large moon in the southern sky. It barely peaked over the village buildings, requiring me to move higher to see more of its rustic beauty.

Finding the roof to be a more suitable place, I glanced up, only to see another floor of rooms above ours before the primitive shingles of the building. Not wanting to disturb my roommates or others bunking in the inn, I had to find another way up. “I want to see more of this sky, though.” I whispered to the silent scene above me. Thinking for a moment, I held out my hand, allowing the sphere I could control to appear. Soon, the other seven appeared as well. Logic began to occur and thought emerged, ”If these orbs, while spinning, can make a solid object, maybe I can use it to stand on too...” I placed both of my palms toward the stone beneath me, directing them to spin around my feet. As they did, I lifted my hands back up allowing me to be swept off the balcony! While balance and poise was offset and quickly massed downwards to lower my chances of falling, the invisible slab held solid, even with the quivering orbit of the balls as my concentration wavered between them and my survival as I floated over the empty streets below.

Slowly and shakily, I made my way to the lightly pitched roof, hopping off my transport and sitting gently on the peak. Placing my hands behind me, I leaned back to stare into an unfamiliar sky. While the stars looked the same on the outside, none of them were the same as in our universe; at least, not that I could tell. I searched the sky for the Big Dipper, Orion’s Belt, even Venus and Jupiter, but there was no sign of them; only the larger-then-ordinary moon that hung just above the horizon. I held out my hand and the orbs, which continued to wait for my commands, moved in front of it, nearly framing the moon behind my fingertips. A sight that could give any mind inspiration let a single name slip off my tongue, “Callisto.” With this new name to my weapon, a new day came as the first rays of sunlight rose from the northwest.

Majestic blues and extravagant oranges brightened the dim sky as the sun peeked across the lonely horizon. Gone were the buildings and freeways that populated Earth and would block the sunrise. Now all to see was the beautiful lush landscape that surrounded the city. The early settlers must have felt this sense of awe and beauty every morning to wake up and see this. I let the moment linger only a second longer before silently and cautiously returning to the hotel room. I quietly opened the door to sneak in, in hopes of not waking anyone up, only to find that all the beds were empty. This meant that they probably got up while I was up stargazing on the roof.

“Got you!” A young voice sprang up as well as a body from behind the door. A light weight landed on my back with arms and legs suddenly grasped around my waste and neck. I began to jerk around rapidly in shock, which only caused Ryan to laugh and giggle more. “I’m riding a Tonygrey!” She shouted, as I ran around the room a few times to continue her enjoyment before throwing myself, back first, on the bed, causing her to let go and moan a bit as I slowly rose to my feet.

"That hurt..." She rolled off the other side of the bed, causing me to chuckle slightly. She was fine, of course; I hadn't threw myself down too hard. Yet, to continue the game she obviously wanted to play, I peeked over the bed slowly only to get the welcoming shot of a pillow to the face followed by more childish laughing and giggling as she scampered under the bed, between my legs, and over to the dresser. "Now, get out, I have to change." She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. Not wanting to argue, I just ruffled her hair and meandered out of the room before she could complain that I was, ‘treating her too much like a kid.’ It was getting harder and harder to believe that it was Ryan in there. I knew he had a childish side, but in that little girl's body, it just seemed more amplified.

As I walked downstairs, I began to wonder if she was having any female urges and attractions with all her new hormones. Was she attracted to boys now? How was she dealing with that? All of these questions I wanted to ask my friend but couldn't. Maybe that one woman she went off to talk to late last night could answer my questions on what was going through Ryan's mind.

Some of these questions I could answer by talking to the fox girl that Ryan seemed to be friends with. And, speak of the devil, or demon I should say, there she was, sitting at a table in the corner of the inn’s pub.

“Hi, I’m...” I began to introduce myself as I slid into a chair next to the fox girl at the table. The girl’s eyes lit up as she strangely embraced me in a hug, which was the last thing I expected her to do.

“Tony!” she said excited before finally releasing me. At that moment, it all clicked; the hug, her excitement to see me and knowing my name, the fox tail and treating Ryan with such care.

My mouth moved awkwardly for a second as I tried to wrap my mind around this revelation. “Kalah?” I asked, astounded that she was here. Finally sitting back into the seat, I took in everything that was happening. Was everyone here just from Pokemasters? If so, who was everyone else?

“In the flesh, so to speak. Hey, you look good.” She grinned, her eyes running over me. I darted my eyes away to keep from blushing and tried to change the subject. “Do you have a tail like me?”

“So, I guess you already know who or should I say, what Ryan is.” I grinned happy to change the subject off to someone else. She leaned forward onto the table like a snake about to go after a rat with a large grin across her face. “He’s all small and cute now! A true pretty princess.”

Kalah nodded in agreement before leaning back in her chair, the smile remaining on her face. “Yep, and she has a crush on someone.” She commented which took me totally by surprise. I brought an eyebrow up as to ask whom, but I really didn’t need to know. Kalah’s face gave it all away. It had only been a day, but we had already changed so much. I had wondered how the hormones were affecting Ryan. Of course, he would find men more attractive now with all the estrogen running through that body. “He has a wittle crush on you.” Kalah teased as I rolled my eyes.

If anything, Ryan wasn’t acting like his true self. It was a childish crush, nothing real or tangible. There was no way I could believe it was real. “Well, speaking of Ryan, shouldn’t she have come down by now?” I questioned Kalah as I turned to look towards the stairs. I hadn’t noticed any use them since I came down myself. Turning back to Kalah, she shrugged, knowing no more than I did. “I’ll be back shortly. I’m gonna go check on her.”

I rose to my feet and scurried to the staircase and up to our room. Pushing the door in, I found the room empty, just like it had been yesterday when we had first arrived. “Ryan, you in here?” No response. “Adalia?” Still nothing. I began to rummage through the room, checking the bathroom, under the beds, behind the dresser; anywhere she might be able to hide. After thoroughly searching the room, I became aware of something: the balcony door was unlocked and wide open. Of course, the first thought to occur was the worst. ”She could have been kidnapped! Crap! She’s only thirteen and completely defenseless.”

There was no time to waste! I hadn’t been downstairs long, so they would still be in the city. Since the streets would be easy to scan from above, I summoned Callisto and, cautiously, took to the skies, huddling close to the spheres again to keep balance. I never realized how many people stare at you when you float by, just above their heads. It felt like flying on a magic carpet as I sped through the city, looking down small alleys and corridors, keeping an eye out for that pure white cloak and long blonde hair.

After being unsuccessful in the first main street, I lifted up, over the buildings and flew threw the next chasm of buildings. About halfway down, I spotted that signature cape of hers. Closing in, I could see she was with someone. “That must be the menace...” As I approached them further, the person beside her become clearer; a woman swathed in lavender-colored sashes and various materials. There was only one person I knew like that, which was the gypsy woman from our group.

Hovering above them and slowly lowering back to the ground, I think I startled Adalia slightly with my sudden and awkward appear. She stumbled back a little as I landed and approached her. Her eyes began to tear up as I reached out embrace her. She was safe with me around, even if she ended up not being in danger after all. It was still relieving to know that she was okay. “Thank goodness you’re unharmed.” I sighed, ruffling her hair as I released her. “And thank you for keeping an eye on her, miss.” I gave my gratitude to the mystic woman.

“It’s Dadrielaneianeneenalefenarwanewenelgelafonesavouen retaliondauelvehliga.” She informed me of her name, at which my eye twitched every so slightly. The woman seemed smug but informed. “But it seems as though I’ve run across knowledge of the nearby seal which might be of use to us.”

“Excellent,” I beamed! Gaining any information in this world would be very helpful. “Come on, Ryan, Dadrielane-... Da. Let’s go back to the hotel so you can tell everyone at once.” I gently pulled on Adalia’s arm and we pushed our way through the crowded streets, back to the inn where the others would probably be waiting.

[Roy Karrde]

[color=pink] Adalia
[color=pink]~*~*~*~*~ Playing Around ~*~*~*~*~

With sneaking anticipation I hid underneath the bed. Tony had left before I woke up and Kalah and Matt were all off somewhere. So I had to weigh my chances that Tony would come back and so I was here waiting. The door began to crack open and feet walked into the room before the door was shut back. With as much energy that I could muster I leapt from my hiding spot underneath the bed and latched on to Tony’s back! “Got you!” I yelled out in wild enthusiasm as Tony ran around the room. “I’m riding a Tonygrey!” I giggled.

I yelled out in a girlish scream with energy and enjoyment before Tony finally flopped onto the bed. “That hurt..” I moaned in slight pain as I rolled off the bed, secretly grabbing a pillow when I fell off the bed. Slowly he peeked over the bed allowing me to smash him over the head with the pillow. As fast as I could I scampered between his legs and over to the dresser, standing up and crossing my arms over my chest while placing up a defiant face. “Now get out! I have to change,” I said in the most authoritative voice possible. Tony grinned and ruffled my hair, causing it to be even more messed up and left the room as I changed into my old clothes.

The bar downstairs seemed to only be filled with our group. The usual crowd of drunks and everything else seemed to be gone, which made me feel a bit safer. Using the railing of the stairs to guide me down, I made my way over to where Marx, Yi, and Morrigan was, Yi and Morrgain seemed to be engrossed in conversation while Marx was standing around nodding slowly. Eager to fit in, I ran over and peeked through the waists of Morrigan and Yi. “So what do you think of that one girl that hangs around the Tiger man?” Morrigan asked as my head shifted back and forth from Yi to Morrigan than back again to try and catch a hold of the conversation.

“Oh that’s Kalah, she’s nice, her and her boyfriend seem to be really close.” Yi replied as if it was common knowledge. Morrigan pondered over this information for a second before shifting a glance over at the table where Kalah and Tony were talking.

“The way Kalah and the Tigerman are so close to each other, do you think they could be engaged?” Morrigan leaned forward his voice dropping to a low whisper as Yi’s eyes lit up. Marx kind of chuckled slightly either in shock or amusement at this guess before shifting his focus down on me. “What do you think Adalia?” Morrigan asked bringing me into the conversation. Adalia being the name that I told Morrigan and Marx the evening in before since I was too scared of them finding Ryan a weird name.

I stuttered for a second or two in shock as I tried to figure out what to say. What could I say that wouldn’t be embarrassing or stupid? I decided on just going with the first thing out of my mouth. “I think her tail is pretty.” I mumbled and then realized how stupid I sounded. My face grew a deep red while I shut my eyes in embarrassment. I could feel the gaze of all three of them weigh on my shoulders before Morrigan and Yi burst out into fits of laughter.

“Relax okay?” Yi asked messing with my hair causing me to scrunch up even more. I nodded to her keeping my eyes gazed up at her while my shoulders scrunched up. I didn’t wait for another embarrassment and walked away to a table. Marx followed a few seconds later and slid over into the seat across from me.

We sat together in silence for a few seconds before he finally spoke up. “Thanks for everything you did.” I smiled slightly at him grasping both of my hands on the table.

“It was nothing really.” I tried to act modest and polite to him, he wasn’t like Tony but he was cute too, and really the only person right now that seemed to even want to pay any attention to me. So I didn’t want to seem rude or mean. “Besides, it seems to be the only thing I am good at.” I mumbled slowly my gaze drifting away.

Marx cocked his head to the side and studied me for a second before answering. “Why do you say that?” He asked calmly.

I glanced down at the table not wanting my gaze to meet his. “I used to be twenty one and strong and everything, now I am just a weak little girl that needs to be saving all the time. I just feel kind of useless, and babysat.” The words seemed to trail out, as my real feelings of the last day seemed to come to the surface. My hands began to shake and my eyes filled with hot tears that threatened to spill over. “I hate feeling useless.”

Marx began to look around, not sure on what to do; finally he rose up and walked over, placing his hand on my shoulder lightly. “You saved my life, with out you I would be dead right now. To me you are the most useful person in the group.” He said, his voice filled with self-assurance. I looked up at him with tear filled eyes and nodded, wiping the tears away. Marx nodded, and smiled only slightly before walking back over to Yi and Morrigan.

I walked upstairs and sat back down on my bed as I began to ponder Marx’s words and what they meant. My mind slowly started to shift back over to how Tony was running around the room and I started giggling at the thought when I heard some thing move past the door. “Is that you-.” I began to say, but quickly found that I was having trouble saying her long name, most of which I couldn’t remember. “Did you want something?” I leaned forward and asked.

“Want to go abaht fer frippery and thingers?” She asked in the accent that always made me giggle. It took me a second to even realize what she was asking.

“Shopping? Sure! Right this minute even?” I asked as my eyes lit up. Da nodded and took me by the arm pulling me down the stairs and out the side door of the bar out of sight of everyone else. I just pranced along happily through the market, looking at all the different shops and traffic that bustled about around me.

“There sure are a lot of people here.” I spoke up through the noise of the crowd as my small hand tried to grasp Da’s hand as we walked. Da spoke a reply that I was unable to hear through all the noise. “Da!” I yelled out frantically as a boy a bit older than me fell into me. His arms and legs flailing as he pushed me onto the ground, I felt a lot of pain in my breasts and looked down to see that both of his hands were grasping my chest on my shirt. I began to scream when he got off and ran off.

I slowly began to upright myself, my whole body shaking at what I had just happened. I had been violated; I had been touched in a spot that usually I didn’t care about. I was a lot more open now, more vulnerable. “Come now little one.” Da grasped my arm and pulled me into a shop as I tried to calm myself down.

The final shop had a musty almost dirty smell to it, a thick fog hung over the air, most of which came from the cigar like things the shopkeeper continued to smoke. All around me was little trinkets and other things that seemed to be hand made with incredible detail. “Don’t break anything hicks.” The eight-handed shopkeeper growled, using the word hick as an insult for humans.

I nodded in compliance and clasped my hands behind my back to act as non-threatening as possible. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Da began to go over and question the shopkeeper about the seals. The shopkeeper seemed to act hostile to Da at first, which only got her even more annoyed. While this was all happening I tried to keep as far from the conversation as possible, by picking up a star rock that seemed to have holes drilled into it that resembled constellations. Closing one eye I peered into the star rock to see that inside you could actually see what looked like the constellations of the night sky. “Tony will love this!” I grinned, skipping over to the shopkeeper in enthusiasm.

The shopkeeper glared down at me with his several eyes, while his many arms grasped the desk he was standing in front of. “What does a hick want with this?” He growled, Da shot a glare at him and instantly his face began to soften. “I’m sorry, that should be enough.” He apologized grasping the mananite pebbles I held out in my hands.

Da nodded amused at his sudden change of behavior and took me with a hand over my back and started moving me out of the shop. “I found the location of the two seals, lets head back.” Da said in her funny accent, or at least that is what I thought she said, it was kind of hard to make out.

We both began to walk out of the shop when Tony lowered himself down out of nowhere, I jumped back startled and shocked at how he could just appear out of no where. The star rock tumbled out of my hand and onto the ground, shattering into a million pieces. No! It broke, my present for Tony broke. My eyes began to tear up as Tony hugged me. “Thank goodness you’re unharmed.” Tony sighed ruffling my hair and letting go of me as I bent down and scooped up the pieces to the rock. It was destroyed, I had wanted to give it to him and now it was gone.

“Come on, Ryan, Dadrielane…Da. Lets go back to the hotel so you can tell everyone at once.” Tony grabbed my arm causing me to let go of the pieces as we walked away from the scene. Tears continued to streak down my cheeks as people trampled over the pieces of the rock, grounding it into dust. “Ryan? What’s wrong?” Tony asked once we reached the hotel, he didn’t even notice the rock, or what had happened.

In anger I just pushed past him and ran up into my room, throwing myself under the covers and curling up at the bottom of the bed. I started to sob there in the dark as waves of emotion swept over me. “Ryan are you in here?” Tony asked, slowly opening the door to the room.

“No.” I answered bitterly as I curled myself up tighter under the covers. Moments of silence past before I felt a large weight sit down on the bed.

“I wonder where she could be.” Tony thought out loud as he laid down on top of the bed, his head resting on me. “This bed sure is lumpy.” He grinned before rising up and pressing down gently on me as if he were trying to smooth it out.

“Go Away!” I yelled out my voice cracking in anger and in sadness as Tony slowly pulled back the covers to reveal me at the bottom of the bed. “Please just go away.” I sobbed, hot tears running down my cheeks.

“Ryan, what’s wrong?” Tony asked softly sitting down on the bed and slowly rubbing my shoulder. To try and comfort me. “Did I do something wrong?” He asked rubbing my back softly, I began to relax and looked up at him, holding out the few fragments of the star rock I had left.

“I just wanted to get you a present, I spent all my money, and it broke, and, and..” I trailed off as new tears began to soak my cheeks. Tony slowly picked up the few remaining pieces I had in my hands and began to study them.

He slowly placed the pieces aside and touched the side of my face, helping to bring me up from my curled up position to where we were both sitting on our knees. “Thank you so much for thinking about me, it doesn’t matter if the present broke, you still tried.” Tony told me softly, his hand stroking my cheek to wipe the tears away from my left eye. I grinned weakly as he moved his hand away and moved in, hugging me in one swift motion.

“Tony, I..” I began to say that I liked him, but never got the words out. The door was pushed open by Kalah and Matt suddenly walking in. The shock of this suddenly happening caused Tony to fall forward onto me and both of us to fall backwards onto the bed. I had closed my eyes during the fall, and when I opened them Tony’s face was just inches away from mine. His lips just centimeters away from mine, we were so close to kissing that it would just need a sudden movement for it to happen.

Both of our eyes locked with the realization of this, as both of our cheeks grew a deep red. “What’s happening?” Kalah asked in shock of finding us laying on the bed, our lips inches away from each other.

* Tags Kalah, Matt, Yi, and Wease *

[Weasel Overlord]

[color=#c2cae7]|| Morrigan Broin Irven Macha || Avatar of the Celtic Goddess Morrigan ||
harder faster

[color=#c2cae7]I prodded Marx’s shoulders gently, feeling the tenseness underneath his skin. Mumbling to myself, I turned to Tané, who nodded at me.

“Tané, can you fetch me, um...some oil?” He raised his eyebrow. “Some nice smelling oil...yes?” He smiled slowly, realising what I was intending on doing.

“Sure.”

“Oh, could you get me a couple of rocks too. Flat ones, without spiky bits. And some petals and some candles and some soft, rhythmic music and a fluffy towel...” I stopped for breath, as realised that Tané had already gone. He knew what to get, and I was getting overexcited.

Rubbing my hands together, I pressed my palms against the hard muscled-shoulders in front of me.

“What have you been doing to yourself? You’re so tense...” My voice was low, suggestive. I was going to enjoy this immensely.

The door creaked back open as Tané staggered in, bent under the weight of rocks, candles, oils, towels, and all the other objects draped about his person. Dumping them all in a pile, he rubbed his back and grimaced.

“Heavy rocks.” I wiggled my eyebrow at him.

“Oh, are you wanting one too?” He smiled shyly, and shook his head before busying himself placing the flat stones in the dimming fire.

Grabbing a pair of large, smelly candles, I pulled a face. They were nasty, plain things and they smelled like a bees arse.

“Didn’t they have any scented ones?”

“I don’t think they have scented candles here...” I shook my head in disgust and poured a little oil over the wicks.

“Maybe this’ll help. Feh! But they do stink...pass me some fire will ya?”

I lit the two candles and put one on either side of the bed containing poor, tense Marxy. Pouring the rest of the oil into a china bowl which I hoped wasn’t used for what I suspected it was used for, I swirled it around a bit and rubbed some into my palms.

“How’re those rocks coming along?” Tané picked one up and deftly wrapped it in a towel, passing the little package to me. It reminded me of a nice hot-water bottle from back home, and I hugged it for a second before remembering where I was. Gently placing the bundle down, I patted Marx on the back briskly.

“Don’t worry, Marxy boy. We’ll have you fixed up in no time.” My voice dropped slightly. “Or...I could take more time...and we could enjoy ourselves a little...” I couldn’t see his face, but he shuffled at the mention of this, and I thought I heard him growl a little in anticipation.

Pulling at the sheet, I tugged it back and dabbled my hands in the bowl of oil some more, soaking them thoroughly. Tané passed me another hot package and dipped his own hands into the bowl. Going to the opposite side of the bed, and a little further down to the back area, he rubbed his hands together, and picked up a towel-wrapped stone. Placing it gently in the centre of Marx’s spine, he pressed carefully. A grunt expelled from the prone body beneath us followed by a sigh and a gentle moan. Tané spread his fingers out, and began to knead at the hard flesh at the bottom of Marx’s back.

Following his lead, I placed my own heat-rock between the shoulder blades and pressed down a little.

“Oof! Warm...” Marx gasped, his back twitching beneath the rocks. I lifted the stone and pressed it a little further down his back before loading up with more oil and flexing my fingers.

Gently feeling the shoulder muscles, I kneaded my fingers deep into the skin, to muffled groans from Marx. His head was still buried in the pillow, and I could just see the top of his hair rustling as he twitched in enjoyment.

Spreading my fingers out, I rubbed in gentle circles, feeling the tension beneath my hands dissolve slowly away. Tané worked his way further up Marx’s back, kneading from his spine outwards, quiet cracking noises following his movements.

His brow was creased in concentration and his hair kept getting in his eyes, causing him to blow it out of the way every two minutes. A faint grumbling from the pillow and Marx lifting his head reminded me that I had stopped moving for a second to watch Tané, and I snapped back into massaging Marx.

“I hope you don’t intend on stopping again!” His muffled voice floated up from the pillow. I pressed down on the back of his neck, forcing his head down with an ‘oof’.

“Quiet Marxy boy. We’re not done with you.” I chuckled, and scooped some more oil into my palms. Dribbling some down Marx’s back, I saw him shiver and giggled.

“Is that nice?” A groan answered my question and I dribbled more on his shoulders.

“Hmm...these are still tense...” I rubbed vigorously, squeezing the muscle between my oily fingers until my arms began to ache.

“You know, I blame that sword of yours, Marxy boy. It’s just too darn heavy! You should let the men in the party fight, you know.” I sniggered at this, I was far from a man. Being in a man’s body didn’t mean a thing! I kissed Tané! Hell yeah! And my old girly mechanisms just kept taking over. It’s not like I could help myself. And now. Now I felt the need to leap on Marxy too. Even his back was enticing...

My fingers began to stroke, almost of their own accord, and I felt him tense and untense beneath my fingers, soft moans coming from the pillow.

Tané, working his way around his shoulders now, caught my eye and smiled gently, his fingers kneading the muscles and glistening in the flickering candlelight. I could tell that he was enjoying himself as much as Marx and myself were, his eyes almost closed and a dreamy smile on his face.

Feeling the big muscles beneath my hands, I squeezed Marx’s shoulder, turning him slightly, his face coming out of the pillow and, well, facing us. The soft glimmer of the candles caught his single, sparkling eye, and I leant down to get a better reach of his shoulders.

My hair must have tickled his face, as he began to quiver, a deep moan rumbling in his chest. The light traced the line of his lips, oh, they looked enticing. My fingers traced the line of his collarbone, following the shape all the way up his neck and across those beautiful lips. Surrounded by a little stubble, my hand brushed against the roughness for a second before his own hand came up to grasp mine, to draw it to his face, to kiss the fingers gently. His other hand came up behind my head and pulled me down to make contact with him, his tongue flickered gently against my lips before pulling away.

Flopping onto his chest, I sighed happily as he drew Tané towards himself, kissing him deeply before pulling him down to join the pile.

I tittered slightly. “We’re in a man-pile!” Marx prodded me in the ribs and I squirmed away, falling off the bed with a thump.

“Ow.” I giggled some more, and then shivered a little. “It’s cold down here...” A pair of arms reached down to grab me and I hoisted myself back onto the now-full bed, rubbing my elbow ruefully. Marx kissed it gently, and rubbed at the scraped area before pulling the quilt over the three of us. Running my still-oily finger down his chest, I poked him gently on the nipple. Wrapping his arms about me and Tané, he pulled us close, until our hair draped over his oily body.

“Now...” He purred. “What shall we do for the rest of the night?”

[Plantae]

= Madness March, Starring What’s-Her-Face Couturier =

There were stalls and shawls and all bits and pieces of fantastic parts, the creations of cloths and whimsical gemstones; there was gold, obsidian- bronze, a derivative- tin and copper, ebony bracelets and silver rings. All sorts, she concluded: the market was self-possessed by its own adornments. Then there were the farming implements and stranger devices of which she had no clue of their workings, possibly those deviant inventions of half-elves where lamps and torches looked dangerous. Then again, it was possible to conjecture that as a human in a land prejudice against such kind, everything was to be approached with such caution. She was then likely surprised when but a glare from her eye brought forth honesty from a shopkeeper at the final stop. She was shocked when she managed to extricate information from said man, aberrant knowledge that she was puzzled as to his knowing it; it was as if a spontaneous will from the heavens above and below had plucked with an obsequious care the seeds of which such a mindly approach was planted. She grew in a right suspicious of coincidence; a few might contest there was no coincidence. But this was a world with some verisimilitude, and so a more philosophic Da would have dismissed the notion of gods plotting the way. Were there such beings? Ye gods, it was probably in Lefena’s interest not to think so, for what was life if it was fated, and surely no such blind tyrants existed.

And so she had distracted herself, in retrospect, before this inevitable seal-information proprieter, stopping briefly and out of Adalia’s eye-line at times- for the girl was so rambunctious about her present, Alionda musing “ram” was on her agenda- at a store of threads and strings and wooden bobbins to secure them (zealous spools for which needed to be secured in dahlia- a flowering basket worth of such rods). But she put such inappropriate thoughts behind her as she remarked to the bizarrely human merchant at the rolling stand. It was set upon axles which were, more or less, full of themselves, and in this over-confidence let the stand lean precariously as Elgela un-cordially freighted her elbows upon it, brooding if her bottommost finger was the correct size for her current thimble; the shopkeeper cast her a cursory viewing. She gleefully snatched a peachy skin-colored yarn; she guessed that should she sew incorrectly, the head of her seam ripper would have the hardest time removing the tight stitches of such material. Not only that- it was such a rusty seam ripper and so blatant a young pink-like sovereign thread. But she would save such blasphemous bright tendril for further union, for its consummation with the seam ripper scalp was inevitable.

Once her materials were again in union, fruitfully, she galloped her way back to Adalia. There was a quality that was plainly wrong with this female, but she could not place it; it was for that reason that she had asked her along, maybe, or possibly because she was the second-to-last person she had asked. But Nesav did make the “subtle” blunder of querying in their striding, “Zo I sum’at ‘eard ze ‘banging’ from jour room last nigh. What that a’out, eh?”

It was possible that Adalia blushed at this moment, if she comprehended, but the unobservant woman astride her was not currently observing her. One would be compelled to say at this fitting display, “Go figure.” Then the girly piped up, “Zeal was giving me a piggy-back ride.”

“Sure ‘e were. Much of a long ride?”

“That’s not… you have it…”

”Sure ‘e were…” The jig-woman missed the progeny of her insistence, a sordid sigh at which Adalia might have pondered her companion’s mental status in a furious manner.

But this was not the nadir of their ambiguous and desiccative trip throughout the bumbling square, for only without the title-woman was such a trek not such. As it was, a forcible clothesline brought zenith to physical pain, for Riela struck, nay, almost punched her in the gut with the accidental force of it all, frail indeed, as she made Adalia again yield for her own obsessions. Their destination was a frondrous* tent, colors familiar to her and her, but more to her, for they were black-tinted pastels of pinks, crimson, scarlet- purples, maroons- and other brilliant depictions via sickening versions not of the earth but unearthly mixes that could only be found in the most garish flowers. Then again, these blossoms were very real with consideration to the despicable, sashed beauty demeaned by downtrodden plainness. “Fer if any were attracted by gewgaw…” spouted a mesmerized countess, “it were me.”

And then it was but all a humdrum gomenate* inside the structure, blissfully temporary, by a wanderer and a slightly reluctant companion, still energized by her shopping search for a proper gift for her master, or so her partner could only be called for his… protracted seasons in proper concentration with hers, that is, Adalia’s.

It was curio. It was souvenirs. It was habitual habitation by bibelots and anomalies, knurly knicks and knacks and knickknacks, forte for antique flair were those here. And then a table inside, a stool or two in such state of quality that any sensible person would have suspected a con within (though the crystal ball the more telling), or to say, a level-headed compos mentis reasonable lass; pace-pace woman here had no such traits. And for it all she stringed with glee as came out to temper with the customers the “oracle” him or her (of which not certain with such a masculine physique, rude countenance, long hair, kilt/skirt and halfway androgynous tone), “O jolly! Hither ‘e, tell ye fortunes?” And as the human-thing opened its mouth, slow motion interruption brought her to the top again with, “Have you those cards, silly placards- thut divin premonitions, aye? I could use ‘um, aye? Eh? Indeed. Tarot!”

And it was. It was bloody tarot; how remarkable the coincidence that it translated into this new world. Apparently the first and the second and the third were all running parallel or some nonsense, but this was not what she was pondering. Enarwa was bothered not with concept, but the conception of the images of this deck forth. She stood hypnotized as the she-he-it balanced it from hand to hand, stating with an obvious chicanery, “Interested, eh? I could sell it to you… but you would be hard-pressed to convince me-” the he/she stroked the deck with a seeming loving look, “for it is-“ a near-kiss gesticulation happened and then, “-so valuable to me. This deck was passed to me by my ancestors, and theirs! Oh it is an heirloom so high of stature.”

Etalio played the martinet in return, a grave nod of manipulation later, “I cannot afford it then. See I have but three-“ and sleight of hand brought aback three shiny mananite marbles of no small size, “-moneys a’ kin.”

The genderless let incognito fancy bubble to the surface with a shout of, “Oh that would-“ and halted as the bated breath ran dry, “-possibly do well enough.” The merchant reached in…

“Da: don’t you think that this is somewhat overpriced?” She piped in unblemished, always the helpful, but speaking only freely. It was but a suggestion, but for it the treacherous oracle reached in and clamored for the change.

“Pleasant doing business,” it cough-wheezed to make Adalia cease. “Now your fortunes told?” It demanded, but Enarwa was already out and about the streets again, then to the shop with seals and Zeal's present.

To the distress of the rest she offered her services of Tarot at the inn when she arrived back. She told most of them something nasty.

And then she found the man-pile and oils and shrugged. She’d seen it, but she but sighed. A pip from nowhere was, “Guess I nut ‘ave to deal with dis tonight, I ‘ope.” She warned them sternly with another lackadaisical nod-shake shrug and was in the common room; that is to say, she was in the common room after she set their fortunes with her tarot as, “Yer sex’al futures look-en the bleak.” Skill at tarot was questionable here, as the card atop was “The Tower.”

What followed further was grotesque. It was a scarf. She might have planned to accessorize someone a little more, give them a tassel or two. Zeal could have been the target for her rash actions, or if she was sadistic enough, because she knew refusing her scarf would be rude and that for it he would be obliged to keep it lest he hurt her alias-convoulted feelings. So she knitted the terrible scrap in beige and a puke green so virile… drinking tea and slopping and devouring chocolate marbles. Most were at dinner now, a sup’ for which they believed they might find a plan for the seals.

Enelg accorded sarcastically as she later ended in a chair nearer them all, “Might as well split up, eh? Nut’in like being monster-vittles.” The beast-food was missed and the first taken too seriously; they were all now on discussing splitting up to cover more ground. Enee could have questioned their empathy for not understanding her cynicism, but it had brought passade only to more weaving about by wicked needles.

No, only at completion of the horrid garment and gifting to Zeal was she actualized. His expression of pseudo-felicity was lost on the similarly pseudo-sane. But it was all of her diurnal course.

=====

*frondrous - fantastic and wonderful
*gomenate - promenading gait

[Bulbasaur4]

[color=royalblue]Sorry for the delay in posting… have had a (few) rough week(s)…

I’m beginning to enjoy watching the man-dom fest. Lol…
Excuse the crap-post, but my writing has been lacking as of late...


Ryien
.: Half Ninetails | Female :.


Night had fallen… and Ryien’s chest slowly rose and fell as she fought in her dreams. She didn’t hear Zeal or Matt enter, but was in a content slumber that seemed to be deep. However, unbeknown to her… the moon was taking its full effect upon her.

Ryien stood at the edge of a very large lake. The air was dead and the air was refreshingly warm yet light to her skin. Everything was dark… she couldn’t make out anything that was around her but the water and the moon. She could tell the stars were out in the sky, but she could not see them. In fact, she did not really “see” the water but the reflection of the moon’s rays upon the surface of the water. All she saw was the moon and it’s reflected rays… she could not see anything else.
A strange feeling began to overtake her… she saw the moon… but yet she could feel it as well. She felt the moon’s aura and the rays upon her flesh- a strange tingling sensation that had a hint of erotica. She suddenly was aware that the rays themselves felt like flickering tongues lingering over her flesh… stroking her with a delicate touch. Her breath had become slightly staggering although she felt compelled to go to the moon. She wanted more…

Ryien’s eyes opened abruptly from the dead of her sleep. A change had overcome her… as if another and deeper persona had taken over her body. Her usual persona was now suppressed and “sleeping” deep within her. The moon had revealed that Ryien was not just herself… but the strange merging of two beings… two essences. Whether or not they were divisions of the same or strictly different was a mystery.
Ryien’s eyes still contained their inner vibrant violet color, but the color was intensified by ten-fold. They were glowing… emitting their own vibrant light and perhaps they even seemed to emit an aura of their own erotic nature. Perhaps they were an inducer of erotica or their sight simply implied such feelings. In any case, her posture and attitude were obviously different. Her facial expression had intensified with a sultry seductive look, while her movements were more graceful and lingering. Ryien slowly slinked out of the bed and she withdrew a deep breath as if absorbing the night air. Her hungry eyes seemed to overlook Adalia without a fleeting glimpse and instantly looked to Zeal. They narrowed as if anticipating his body, but a loud noise caught her attention and swiftly she looked at Matt. He was sleeping peacefully and a slow remembrance of whom he was flooded into her memory. A smirk flickered across her face as she slowly meandered over to him.
“Matthew… oh dear Matthew…” She said softly, bending over and gently rubbing her hands over his face and chest. Perhaps normally he would not have awakened to such a soft voice, but for some reason it seemed that she was able to rouse him from sleep.
“Whuh… errm.. Kalah?” He mumbled, his lazy eyes glancing at her without showing much emotion. He was indeed a heavy sleeper but this didn’t seem to bother the “new” Ryien.
“ Wakey wakey little kitty…” She said softly, grasping his one arm and pulling on it gently.
“What are you doing…” Matt said sleepily, but Ryien swiftly made a hushing noise.
“Hush. No questions. Follow me… I have something I want to show you…”

Some how, Ryien managed to coax Matt to get up and follow her. They managed to get through the door and down the stairs of the inn with out trouble or much noise. Ryien swiftly opened the outside door of the inn and led Matt to the side of the inn. It was a deep alleyway… and it was apparent that when night fell, no one was outside. Ryien’s glowing violet eyes stared intensely at the alleyway for a second- as if seeing through it- and then she looked back to Matt. He scratched the back of his head sleepily and seemed to be uninterested in the alleyway.
“Why are we outside… here…?” He said, obviously confused, and Ryien smiled coyly at him.
“Look at the moon… isn’t it enticing?” She said gently, leading Matt further into the alleyway. Matt gazed up at the sky to see the brilliant rays of the moon, and shrugged slightly.
“It’s nice…” He managed to say, but then suddenly something seemed to dawn upon him. He looked intensely at Ryien, tilting his head to the side.
“Are you… okay Kalah?” He said, perhaps noticing that there seemed to be a change within her. Ryien smirked and playfully pressed her body well against him- her chest pressing into his soft tender flesh (he had slept shirtless after all.) He could feel her large and supple chest through her silk night gown, and a rush of heat seemed to enter his body.
“I’m feeling absolutely wonderful…” Ryien responded thickly, her voice obviously sounding different and more seducing. Matt opened his mouth as if to say something more, but Ryien shook her head and swiftly spoke up.
“I’ve been wondering… your body… it’s quite different now. You’re so much larger, far more muscular… and dare I say it- more manly and enticing than ever before…” Ryien’s eyes seemed to flash with a dangerous look as she licked her lips.
“But I wonder… is this change true for… everything?”

Before Matt could do anything, Ryien suddenly seemed drop herself downward and remove an article of clothing. Instantly a warm rush of pleasure began to grow and a large moan escaped his lips as his body stumbled against one of the alley walls…


~*~*~*~*~

Morning came and Ryien opened her eyes slowly. After blinking a few times, her vision cleared and she yawned slightly. She absently licked her lips as she rose upwards and stretched. Looking around, she saw that Matt was snoring loudly in his bed and Zeal was no where to be seen. Ryan was still sleeping soundly in bed, and visions of last night came rushing into her mind instantly.
“Oh my god…” Ryien exclaimed, clamping her hand over her mouth. Did that really happen last night? Did she really go down and…
“But I… I had no control…” Ryien thought, but she realized that a pair of eyes were glancing at her. Looking over, she saw Matt had woken up and was staring at her softly. His eyes said everything and immediately Ryien blushed and swiftly rose.
“I… I have to get ready…” She said and swiftly she grabbed her garments and rushed out of the room.

Entering the washroom, she soaked in the large bath for a while as her thoughts stirred within her. What was that all about… why did she feel as if last night, she was a different person? She remembered everything… but it seemed more like a dream than reality- a dream where she didn’t really have control.
“What is happening in this place… what is happening to me?” Ryien said softly, feeling a slight twinge of annoyance. It wasn’t long until she had fully bathed and washed herself, and soon she put on her rather risqué clothing and went downstairs.
She soon sat down, and Zeal came over- or Tony rather. After a brief conversation, he realized who she was and Ryien couldn’t help but smile. Tony was still Tony… and it wasn’t long until she revealed about Ryan’s little crush. Normally Kalah… the old Kalah… would have never revealed such a secret, but she was changing and it was becoming apparent she was having no reserve. Tony then went off and Ryien became aware that Matt was about.
Matt was sitting at the table and she sat by him.
“About last night…” Matt began instantly, but Ryien shook her head.
“Breakfast. Let’s eat… and see what’s going on today and then perhaps we can talk. I’m a bit tired…”
Matt nodded, looking slightly concerned but soon they both were eating and talking about other things. A great amount of time had passed until Ryien finally spoke up.
“Well... Tony and Ryan I think are upstairs, let’s go up there and see if they know what our next course of action is.”
Both Matt and Ryien headed upstairs, and as Ryien opened the door she was shocked to hear a bustle of movement and then see Tony on top of Ryan. It looked as if they either had been kissing or were about to… and instantly Ryien’s eyes widened. Matt seemed positively speechless as a brief moment of silence ensued.
Ryien was about to say something rather amusing, when suddenly the one known as “Da” seemed to walk by- stop- and then gaze in. It was all rather comical had it not been so awkward.
“Ooooooo…”